The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is an autobiography that focuses specifically on the 18th U.S. president's military career, both as a solider during the Mexican–American War, and as an officer and commander of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Completed shortly before his death in 1885, the memoirs became instant bestsellers, thanks in large part to the shrewd marketing of Mark Twain, who had sales agents dressed as Civil War veterans sell the two-volume work door-to-door in the days after Grant died. The work has been praised for its simple, direct prose and for its honesty and candor in dealing with Grant himself as well as his foes.