- Joined
- Mar 21, 2012
It is widely known that General Ulysses S. Grant suffered heavily from migraines, or "sick headaches", as it was called then. At the last stage of the war, at Appomattox, Grant again spent a sleepless night in pain, unsuccessfully trying to fight back a migraine that had him tightly in its grip. He tried various contemporary treatments, but all in vain. Only when he got Lee's note that signaled the chance that the Army of the Potomac would surrender, he was instantly cured from all pain. Some Doctors today even suppose that the mild terms of surrender (officers may keep their side arms, all cavalry is allowed to keep the horses for later farm work, no arrests, imprisonment, or humiliating public spectacle) came from the after-effects (or postdrone) of his earlier migraine, that left him in a kind of subdued mood, or, as he himself put it "my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed". Grant had been known earlier for his harsh treatment of defeated foes. If not for his acute migraine, he might have been inclined to show his enemy less compassion - as Lee probably had feared when he had remarked "There is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths."
How did Ulysses S. Grant try (in vain) to get rid of his migraines during that night before on April 9th he received Robert E. Lee's message?
credit: @FarawayFriend
How did Ulysses S. Grant try (in vain) to get rid of his migraines during that night before on April 9th he received Robert E. Lee's message?
credit: @FarawayFriend