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[DSanner106 AT aol.com]

In those days, slaves could be taken and sold to satisfy debt, so not  really 
different from the rest of his property. Grant paid all his debt once he  
re-entered the military. One of the stories told by Sherman years later was 
that  
he ran into Grant in Kansas City before the war. Grant was dressed in his old 
 army coat, and very ragged clothes. When he saw sherman he stopped him and  
emptied his pockets of money. Sherman tried to refuse, though he could use 
the 
 money himself, but Grant said until he had repaid the 10.00 he had borrowed, 
any  money in his pocket belonged to Sherman. 
 
As for the debts after office, they were new debts acquired by his unwise  
lending of his name to various harebrained schemes and investments with so  
called friends in Washington. He spent the last months of his life, knowing 
he  
was dying, working 12 hours a day writing the memoirs to settle the creditors 
 
before his death. He was a life long fool with money, but he absolutely 
showed 
a  great deal of character in how he handled his debts. 
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/28/2008 7:04:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
Clansgian AT wmconnect.com writes:

> All  very true, but Grant did repay his creditors and had sold other  
>  possessions to do so, if he 
> saw Jones as simply another possession,  why draw the line there.

Because as slave property, Jones was unique  among his possessions.  If he 
manumitted him, Jones was immeditely  beyond the grasp of Grant's creditors 
but it 
cost Grant nothing to do  so.  The rest of his possessions he was going to 
lose anyway.   

Most of his debts were eventually paid, true enough.   But  recall that even 
after having been president, he was so broke that Samuel  Clements had to 
publish Grant's memoirs at Clements' own expense and  basically did so as a 
tribute 
to Grant without profiting much from it  himself. 




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