I Sure Got My History Last Week-- Part 2: The Civil War's U.S. Grant

Of course, being in Galena, which bills itself as "The Town That History Forgot" there is history dating to the lead boom which brought the people and even the Black Hawk War.

But, probably Galena's best-known citizen was one who went by the name U.S. Grant.  He was in town when the Civil War started and thanks to the help of one of the townspeople, got back into the U.S. military as a colonel and then, the rest is well-known history.

On Sunday, August 26, I went to his house where an Illinois Bicentennial event was going on.  The general and I had a discussion about the number of stars on his uniform and what one, two, three and four stars stood for.  An enlisted man was also there talking to folks about how they went about their war business.  Another man was playing a guitar and harmonica and singing songs of the era.

--Cooter