Rudely Stamp’d will move in new directions in 2018.  At the center of our endeavor is the idea of hosting conversations between historical personas, as we planned for our Adams-Jefferson program.

The idea of pairing historical figures presents all kinds of fascinating possibilities: Jefferson-Madison, Lincoln-Douglas, Adams-Rush, Jackson-Clay, etc. To begin with, we will focus on a Grant-Sherman program and build from there.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. William T. Sherman were famous Civil War commanders and friends.  In March 1865, Sherman’s army reached Goldsboro, NC ending its campaign through the Carolinas. Grant was headquartered at City Point, VA, with the Army of the Potomac as it besieged Petersburg and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army. The Spring campaign was about to begin and both Grant and Sherman could foresee the end of the war. Sherman paid a visit to Grant which would result in the famous conference aboard the River Queen with President Lincoln.

When Sherman first arrived at City Point, the two generals – who had not seen each other for over a year – warmly greeted each other and Sherman regaled Grant and his staff with his tales of adventure. He recounted the march to the sea and spun a “story, told as only he could tell it,” according to Horace Porter, one of Grant’s aides, as a “grand epic related with Homeric power.”

In 2018, Rudely Stamp’d will begin its series of conversations with this entertaining encounter between the Union’s greatest heroes. Stay tuned.