Abraham Lincoln has been apotheosized as the Savior of our land, and well he should be: He ended slavery; he put down a rebellion that would have torn our country asunder and fatally discredited the idea of representative democracy; he fought and won a free and fair election in the face of a devastating Civil War between North and South, and in the face bitter division even at the North and within his own party.

Lincoln was, without doubt, the greatest leader our Country has ever produced, and one of the greatest leaders that any country has ever produced. But no one accomplishes anything on the scale of what Lincoln did unaided, and he was no exception. Lincoln was the senior member of one of the most remarkable partnerships in human history: Lincoln & Grant.
Grant was the junior partner, but no less essential of the two. Without Lincoln Grant would never have risen from obscurity to lead the Armies of this great Republic to victory. Without Grant’s military prowess, Lincoln would never have accomplished his political achievements – Emancipation, the 13th Amendment, Reunification.

Lincoln was the leader, but Grant was his essential partner, sword, and hammer.
Grant did much more for Lincoln than win his military battles. First, Grant secured Lincoln’s legacy. Andrew Johnson might well have destroyed all Lincoln accomplished had Grant not been at hand to act as a curb and a check on a President that even considered attempting an executive coup. Second, Grant expanded on Lincoln’s legacy during his own Presidency, fighting hard for the rights of the Freedmen as long as an electorate weary nearly to death of struggle and strife would let him, and making a lasting peace with Britain that formed the basis of the Special Relationship that stands to this very day.

But that is not nearly all that Grant did for Lincoln.
Lincoln is renowned as our greatest President, while Grant is regularly derided as among our worst. But the reality is that he was not among our worst Presidents – not by a long shot. Grant was a remarkable President, both for what he actually accomplished, and for what he tried to do.

During Grant’s Presidency and after, he was viciously criticized as a stupid, alcoholic, corrupt, and foolish bumpkin. Lincoln endured similar vicious attacks during his Presidency. But there is one huge, inescapable difference between the circumstances of Grant and Lincoln: Lincoln died.
Lincoln was murdered, and martyred. And freed from the vicious slings and arrows of his opponents. Had Lincoln lived, and served out his second term, the savage attacks directed at Grant would have been directed at him. Lincoln’s reputation would have been savaged and torn by those bitterly unable to accept the defeat of the Confederacy, as was Grant’s.

But Lincoln died. Grant stepped in, picked up Lincoln’s standard, and carried on the fight – and drew fire. In succeeding Lincoln as President, and as the standard bearer of the Union, and Liberty, and Equality, Grant became the target of the hate and enmity of those who hated the Union and loved slavery, of those who led the Southern states into a futile and devastating war for a doomed institution, and of men who never saw a battle, military or political, who could attack Grant after his death from the safe refuge of their Ivy League ivory towers. They could not accept their own folly, so in the years after the War, and even more in the years after Grant’s death, they systematically attacked, chipped at, wore down and eviscerated Grant’s reputation, to the point where now one of the greatest leaders of this great Republic, one the greatest leaders of any nation, and one of the most practical promoters of liberty and equality in human history, is denigrated and cast down by the people whose very liberty and prosperity is his legacy.

Had Lincoln lived, they would have done this to him. But Lincoln died for us, and Grant took up his standard. Lincoln sacrificed his life for America. Grant sacrificed his reputation for Lincoln.
Grant performed five great services to our great land: He defeated the Confederate armies on the field of battle; he defeated Andrew Johnson at the ballot box; he ushered in an era of peace abroad and at home; he fought for the rights of the Freedmen and of Native Americans; and he took upon his own back the blows that would have fallen on Lincoln’s, saving Lincoln to be for us, the symbol and the example we need him to be.

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”*

Just so. Great will be your rewards in heaven, Lys.

*Matthew 5:11 & 12.