He and his wife Julia also relocated in June to a friend's cottage in upstate New York at Mount McGregor to continue writing in a peaceful setting. Grant worked vigorously throughout early 1885 to write the memoirs. The need to write the memoirs quickly became more urgent when Grant was diagnosed with inoperable throat cancer that worsened with time. To sweeten the deal, Twain offered Grant a seventy percent royalty from the profits. Webster and Company, to write his memoirs. Twain convinced Grant to sign a contract with his nephew’s new publishing firm, Charles L. He wrote several articles for Century Magazine, but Mark Twain told Grant that he was not being paid enough for his work by The Century Company. Realizing that he needed to find a way to pay back the loan and support his family, Grant turned to writing. Two days later Grant discovered that he had lost his entire fortune as the firm collapsed. Grant approached businessman William Vanderbilt for a loan and gave the loan money to Ward. On May 4th, Ward approached Grant and asked him for a $150,000 cash infusion to keeping the firm afloat after experiencing temporary difficulties with the bank that managed their transactions. Ward had been engaged in a “Ponzi Scheme,” paying out dividends from new investments rather than sales or interest. Initially the firm produced great wealth and on paper Grant was a millionaire. Grant eagerly accepted the offer in early 1884 and the investment firm of Grant and Ward was created. (nicknamed “Buck”) had entered into a business partnership with Ferdinand Ward, a popular banker and investor who was nicknamed “The Young Napoleon of Finance.” Buck asked his father if he would be interested in joining the partnership. He even declined suggestions from his friend Mark Twain about writing his memoirs.Ī significant event dramatically changed Grant’s mind, however. When the editors of Century Magazine requested his participation in their “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War” article series, Grant politely declined. “It’s all in Badeau,” Grant would often say. A former Adjutant General of Grant’s, Adam Badeau, had already written a three-volume collection about Grant’s generalship. Believing that he was a poor writer, Grant consistently refused to do anything of the kind. Grant continually encouraged him to do the same. For many years after the Civil War, friends, family, and associates of Ulysses S. In the late 1870s and 1880s, a growing number of Civil War veterans-from all ranks of service and from both sides of the conflict-began telling their wartime stories to a larger audience through published memoirs.
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