The Ulysses S. Grant Association

Introduction

COL. JOHN W. EMERSON IN HIS STUDY.

When Ulysses S. Grant commanded at Ironton, Missouri, from August 8 to August 17, 1861, he met Colonel John W. Emerson, a leading local citizen. From this relatively brief encounter originated Emerson's lengthy work, "Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns." Emerson contended that while Grant was at Ironton he developed the plan of the Tennessee River campaign, a somewhat dubious proposition. Other prominent claimants have included Anna Ella Carroll and Major General Henry W. Halleck. The plan itself was so obvious that one need not ask where Grant developed it but only where he could have avoided it.

Born in Massachusetts in 1830, Emerson claimed a distant kinship with Ralph Waldo Emerson. He graduated from the University of Michigan and studied law with an attorney in Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the bar and began to practice law at Ironton in 1857. There he lived the rest of his life.

W. C. Perkins, Photographer, Ironton, Mo. A BIT OF LAWN AT "SYLVAN LAKE HOME," Where "Grant's Life" is being written, showing the "Grant Oak," the Grant Monument, and the residence of the author. See outline of Judge Emerson's career, in the Editorial Department of this number.

During the Civil War, Emerson favored the Union cause, and in October 1864 he enrolled as major of the 47th Missouri Regiment, organized at Pilot Knob for six months. As an officer, he participated in the defense of his region against the expedition of Confederate General Sterling Price.

Following the war, Emerson returned to politics and the law, serving for a time as circuit judge. In late 1887, President Grover Cleveland appointed Emerson as U.S. marshal for the eastern district of Missouri, a position which required residence in St. Louis. After his removal from office by Republican Benjamin Harrison in 1890, Emerson remained in St. Louis long enough to join two young inventors in establishing the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company. Emerson sold his interest in 1892 and returned to Ironton, missing an opportunity to hold a major share of a corporation still in existence and worth billions of dollars.

Later in life he began to write about Grant's campaigns in the West. His manuscript was serialized in the Midland Monthly in every issue between October 1896, and May 1899. General Frederick Dent Grant endorsed Emerson’s "statements with reference to the private life of my father, and his re-entrance into the army ... as more accurate than any which have up to this time appeared." Emerson intended to continue the narrative through Grant’s Chattanooga battles, ending his account where that of Horace Porter began. The series ceased before completion, perhaps coincident with Emerson's death in June 1899 and the demise of the Midland Monthly the following month. There was no further publication either in magazine form or by gathering existing articles into a book.

THE FAMOUS "GRANT OAK" On Col. John W. Emerson's grounds at Ironton, Mo., under which Colonel Grant received his commission as Brigadier-General, August, 1861, while there in command. The spring flows out beneath the statue of the Angel, to the left of the oak. "Sylvan Lake" is seen through the openings, in the background.

The Midland Monthly had first appeared in January 1894. Editor Johnson Brigham, former editor of the Cedar Rapids Republican, established his magazine in Des Moines, intending to free people "between the Alleghenies and the Rockies" from the "judgments of Eastern critics in literature and art." Through vigorous promotion and the absorption of rival literary magazines, Brigham raised circulation from 4,500 in 1894 to 13,000 in 1896 but apparently could not do much better. In 1898, Brigham was appointed state librarian. He sold the Midland Monthly, which was moved to St. Louis and soon ended publication. The editor’s enthusiasm seemed necessary to its existence.

Because the Midland Monthly itself had a relatively brief career, files are not easily come by, and Emerson's account of Grant remains difficult to find. Biographers have drawn upon it, especially to use early Grant letters printed by Emerson and available only through that source. Indeed, the disappearance of Emerson's manuscripts has even led to some question of the reliability of the Grant letters printed in the articles. Lengthy conversations between Grant and Emerson during those few days in Ironton are also suspect.

NEAR VIEW OF THE GRANT MONUMENT On Colonel Emerson's grounds, Ironton, Mo., where General Grant made his headquarters in 1861.

These articles, important enough to present electronically, are reproduced with some attention to authenticity. Frequent typographical errors in the Midland Monthly have been allowed to stand. Illustrations have been rearranged and also altered in size. In each case, however, a larger version of each illustration is available through clicking on it.

The Ulysses S. Grant Association intends that the reproduction of Emerson's articles will serve to make information about Grant more widely available. Presentation of these articles is the work of Dawn Vogel, textual editor of the Grant Association, who would appreciate comments about any errors involved.

John Y. Simon

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MRS. U. S. GRANT, COL. FREDERICK D. GRANT, AND PARTY, Viewing the Grant Monument on Colonel Emerson's grounds at Ironton, Mo., in May, 1894--Colonel Emerson, the host of Mrs. Grant and Colonel Grant, on the left of Mrs. Grant in the picture.