Is there anything in Grant’s papers that provides any validation or refutation of the rumors about drunkeness that always plagued him? (Bruce Catton pretty conclusively refuted the rumors in his two-volume work, Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command; however, I think in the 60 years or so since he wrote those, there were some additional discoveries that re-cast doubts about his sobriety.)

Catton’s theory was that there was little to support the rumors during the Civil War (the prewar record in California is a bit clouded), and he always felt that, if Grant did drink, it was only when nothing was going on between campaigns and/or when Julia wasn’t present.

I don’t recall that Grant directly addressed the issue in his Memoirs.