I had the same reaction to “Grant” as I did to the movie “Lincoln” a few years ago. Both were/are excellent productions which needed about three more hours and a few fact-checkers to improve the product. But given the limits of time and, sadly, commercials, what they created was among the best Civil War products I have seen.
For those who will “nit pick” the errors and compression of history, I say you are right, but so what? I too thought the last episode was trying to do too much, and I agree that it was a bit hagiographic. But considering the dearth of good Civil War productions in general, we should be thankful for ones like this that achieve so much. Perfect? Not by a long shot. Excellent? Yes, for the most part. Very Good? I think that’s my grade.
GENE SCHMIEL, CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, AND LECTURER 