Galva junior and senior high history class students were recently introduced to President Ulysses S. Grant via Zoom.
Modern technology allowed them to visit with his direct descendent, Ulysses Grant Dietz, the great-great-grandson of the 18th president. His late mother, Julia, was the president’s last living great-grandchild; the youngest daughter of Ulysses S. Grant III, and granddaughter of the president’s eldest son, Frederick. Married and the father of two grown sons, he resides in Maplewood, New Jersey.
The conversation included such things as “What would have prepared Grant to lead the Union Army?” and “How did he feel about slavery?” Student Makayla Blair was one of the students who engaged Dietz, saying “I’ve always had a lot of questions about this war.”
General Grant attended West Point and was considered a bit of a maverick, explained Dietz. He said that historians feel Grant was often maligned but was actually a very good president. He was also kind. “Grant was sympathetic to the slaves, and once the war ended, he insisted that his troops not celebrate victory in front of the Confederate soldiers.”
Profits from the memoirs he compiled before his death ensured that his family would not be impoverished after he was gone. Even so, he died without great wealth. During Grover Cleveland’s first presidency, he secured a person for the recently deceased former commander-in-chief, so that his wife and children would have added financial security.
Because Grant had a reputation for fairness and integrity, Cleveland continued that legacy by making certain that half of his pallbearers were Union soldiers and half were Confederates.
Dietz also has an interesting story to tell.
“I didn’t know that much about my namesake until several years ago,” he said. “I was asked to give a speech about him and had to seek out information about his life.”
Now, every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant’s Tomb in New York City. He is also on the board of the U.S. Grant Presidential Library and Museum at Mississippi State University.
A decorative arts curator at the Newark, New Jersey Museum for 37 years before he retired, Dietz is a celebrated author of several books. A far cry from presentations chronicling the life of his namesake, his writing centers around the life of Desmond Beckwith, a character he created in 1988. Among them are Desmond, Vampire in Suburbia, and his most recent novel, Cliffhanger, published in December 2020.
Tim Pletkovich, a frequent substitute teacher, who has interviewed and written several books about presidential descendants, arranged the Zoom with the general’s descendent as a way for students to learn about the Civil War era.
“I met Dietz a long time ago and was fascinated with his story,” Pletkovich said. “He was very happy to share his history with the class.”
Galva High School teacher Ben Stinson hopes that this Zoom will be the first in a series, with visits from descendants of Cleveland and George Washington in the making.
Pletkovich went on to say that he has much admiration for the Galva school system.
“History teacher Stinson is one of the best I’ve seen, and it is clear that administrators Adam Norway, Marlon Rachael, and Kurtis Smyth are on board with the need for history and social sciences in the classroom.”
