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“Images of U.S. Grant: The Soldier”

Through April 2012

Galena History Museum 211 S. Bench St., Galena, Ill. (815) 777-9129

www.galenahistorymuseum.org

Mediocrity plagued Ulysses S. Grant for much of his life: 21st in a class of 39 at West Point; an unsung quartermaster during the Mexican War; in and out of debt. He was working in his father’s tannery in Galena, Ill., when the Civil War broke out. Yet back in uniform he proved a brilliant tactician, rose rapidly through the Union ranks and ultimately won the war. Those redemptive years are the subject of “Images of U.S. Grant: Soldier,” the first of four yearlong installments at the Galena History Museum. The exhibit centers on the museum’s permanent works, as well as never-before-displayed portraits, artifacts and memorabilia from the collection of Chicago radio personality and Grant devotee Bill Margeson.