Gen. Ulysses S. Grant topic of dinner lecture at Riverfront Community Center – Sept. 21

The CGSC Foundation and its Simons Center are hosting a military history lecture focused on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on Sept. 21, 2022 at the Riverfront Community Center in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas (123 E. Esplanade St.). A reception begins at 5:30 p.m., the buffet dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are $35 per person in advance or $40 per person at the door.

– Click here to purchase tickets on the CGSC Foundation website –

In this second lecture of the 2022 Distinguished Speaker Series, Dr. Harry S. Laver, professor of military history and the Maj. Gen. William A. Stofft Chair of Historical Research at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, will discuss leader development through the lens of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Gen. Grant is typically considered one of the great generals of the Civil War, if not one of the best in American history. He won a succession of critical battles, defeated Robert E. Lee, and was a leader of unremitting determination. Nevertheless, he was not born a great commander, and in his early battles he made a number of significant mistakes. Rather than being blessed with an innate ability to command, Grant had to learn the art of command. Laver will take a look at Grant’s earliest battles which reveal how he developed his leadership through experience, mentoring, and a conscious and deliberate effort to improve. He will also discuss how by the war’s end Grant achieved unrivaled battlefield success and become the architect of Union victory.

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Dr. Harry S. Laver is a professor of military history and the current Maj. Gen. William A. Stofft Chair of Historical Research at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He specializes in the American Civil War and World War II Europe. His recent publications include, A General Who Will Fight: The Leadership of Ulysses S. Grant (University Press of Kentucky, 2013), and as co-editor, The Art of Command: American Military Leadership from George Washington to Colin Powell (University Press of Kentucky, second edition, 2017). From 2013 to 2014, Laver was a Fulbright Scholar at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth. In 2017 he was selected as the Educator of the Year in the Department of Military History at the CGSC. His current book project is Grant and His Generals: A Study in Military Command.