Unconditional Surrender: A Visit with Ulysses S. Grant

The performance focuses on Grant’s experiences as President and Lieutenant General of the United States Army, but it also touches Grant’s childhood in Ohio, his military service in the Mexican War and his resignation from the U.S. Army and subsequent attempts to support his family as a civilian. The show is presented as Grant, in the final weeks of his life, struggles to complete his autobiography before his death from cancer of the throat in July 1885. The performance features mentions of Iowa’s special contributions to the Union cause, and includes a discussion of the effect of the Mexican War on the map of Iowa.

Funded project of Humanities Iowa, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.