"MY family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral."Ulysses S. Grant [1822-1885], Civil War Union Commanding General and 18th President of the United States, became a partner in a dubious New York financial firm that went bankrupt. Dying from throat cancer from excessive cigar smoking, Grant wrote a memoir to resolve his debts. It is regarded as the finest work of 19th Century American non-fiction; Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is considered the greatest work of 19th Century American fiction.
An earlier cigar reference here.
