This next passage fits the bill of complaint that I have with 1. How it came to be that Grant was perceived as a persistent drunk 2. How authors wittingly or unwittingly -- you be the judge -- play into age-old grudges and myth by repeating the allegations in the format of fact, and after the assertion has taken hold, retract it as an act of malice. The feathers cannot be stuffed back into the pillow at this point:
In explaining away stories of her husband's drinking, Julia often griped that people misinterpreted his migraine headaches as instances of alcoholic abuse. Whether coincidentally or not, their brief stay in Memphis coincided with fresh allegations of drinking against Grant. On February 11, General Charles S Hamilton scribbled a damming letter to Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin:
You have asked me to write you confidentially. I will now say what I have never breathed. Grant is a drunkard. His wife has been with him for months only to use her influence tin keeping him sober. He tries to let liquor alone--but he cannot resist the temptation always. When he came to Memphis he left his wife at LaGrange, & for several days after getting here, was beastly drunk, utterly incapable of doing anything. [Brigadier General Isaac F.] Wuinby and I, took hi in charge, watching him day & night, & keeping liquor away from him, & we telegraphed to his wife & brought her on to take care of him [12]
It must be noted that Hamilton, a disaffected general, hoped to supplant the popular James B. McPherson as one of Grant's corps commanders and that Grant resisted his efforts, supplying Hamilton with a timely motive for slander. By late March [1863] Grant removed the embittered Hamilton, alluding to his "natural jealous disposition," and recommended to Washington that his resignation be accepted [13] Ron Chernow,
Grant, [pp244-245]
[12]
PUSG, 308. Letter from Brig Gen. Charles S Hamilton to U.S. Senator James R Doolittle February 11, 1863
[13]
PUSG, 468, Letter to Maj Gen Henry W Halleck, March 24, 1863