DUE TO ILLNESS OUR ORIGINAL SPEAKER HAD TO CANCEL BUT WE ARE PRIVILEGED TO HOST GENERAL U S GRANT!!
The Surrender of Robert E. Lee in 1865
In early April of 1865, the federal Army of the Potomac broke through the lines at Petersburg Virginia, forcing Robert E Lee’s Confederate army to attempt a retreat west and south in order to link up with other rebel forces, hoping to prolong their defeat and make one last effort to win against General Grant.
The two days before Lee agreed to meet with Grant started the final act in the fighting in Virginia that would come to a head in the town of Appomattox Court House, in the home of Wilmer McClean, where the two leading generals would meet to discuss terms of surrender of that portion of the Confederate States Army, known as The Army Of Northern Virginia. An exchange of letters led to a face to face meeting between General Lee and General Grant, which influenced further surrenders and the outbreak of peace by the end of May that year.
Discuss with General Grant some of the finer details of the meeting which led Robert E Lee to surrender his army, ending the fighting in Virginia during the civil war. The letters exchanged are merely the very public face of how the meeting comes about, and US Grant will be sharing some of inner workings that lead to this momentous day, along with notable anecdotes from the meeting itself and right after.
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Kenneth J. Serfass, Gunnery Sgt USMC, retired (as Ulysses S. Grant)
Gunnery Sgt Kenneth J. Serfass is a native of Bethlehem, PA born on June 18th, 1966. A US Marine since 1984, his last unit was the First Marine Division Band during Operation Iraqi Freedom, retiring in July of 2004 to become a music teacher.
Ken is a former civil war “reenactor” but now a first-person impressionist with fifty years studying his childhood hero, US Grant. As a full-time professional living historian portraying Grant, he presents between 11 and up to 23 appearances each month between February and November. Ken began appearing as General Grant in 2009 while living in San Diego CA, and since returning to the east coast, he is engaged on horseback tours, rail road excursions, presenting school programs, living history and roundtable events, speaking at public libraries on a regular basis, and annually in Southern California at Huntington Beach’s Civil War Days over Labor Day weekend.
In 2023 the state of California recognized his contributions “to continued education of the public as to our national history” with coincidental certificates from the state assembly and senate in recognition of his efforts, presenting these to him at the Huntington Beach event.
Firmly established on both coasts, there is no other “Grant impressionist” with his reach, visiting fourteen states every year. He jokes that the history talks and as leader of his Civil War era Marine Band, requires all his work to be dependent on time travel.
He has appeared at Pamplin Park near Petersburg VA, and several national park sites during the Civil War Sesquicentennial years. In 2015 he was invited to join The Federal Generals Corps, to be their “Ulysses S. Grant” until the group disbanded in 2020.
In October of 2020, he roamed Tennessee and Mississippi around Grant’s major battle sites, crafting a YouTube video series, “How the War Was Won In the West”, with 9 episodes that cover the campaigns leading Gen. Grant’s rise to become Lincoln’s top general in the Civil War. A similar YouTube series is in the works for Grant’s time in Virginia later in the war.
He has spoken on Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign to the Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Association to develop broader civil war study among their guides and is the first Grant impressionist to present his own topics at the General Grant National Memorial, in New York City, giving public interactive addresses, as General or as President, and developing Junior Ranger programs for NPS, bringing America’s youth closer to history.
His repertoire includes programs on Grant’s battle campaigns, his interactions with Lincoln, Sherman, and Lee, and most importantly, the Grant family, and the two terms as the 18th US President. His knowledge of Grant’s experiences and life led to being cast as President Grant and as tech advisor for a documentary on Fox Nation, debuting October 10, 2021.
It is with a profound honor that he tells the story of one of America’s greatest military leaders and Ken takes it very seriously to reaffirm Grant’s place of honor among the most respected people of our nation’s history.
Entertaining and educational, the variety of his performing venues includes museums and business groups seeking leadership training and inspiration, and across the board they can all provide referrals for how people can talk TO history and share in our rich national heritage with US Grant. Ken will say for all the years as a Marine, and this history work, there is nothing he is prouder of than being the father of his daughter Erin, who works in movie and TV production in Los Angeles. He believes this work inspires her to make her own path and be happy in what she does.
His passion for the subject is evident in his presentation, and it is hard not to be affected by his enthusiasm and believe that you’ve met US Grant in living history.
