Jean Smith and Grant (conclusion)

Today's readings are taken from Bruce Catton's Grant Takes Command (Little Brown hardcover, 1968/69), pages 232-233; and from Jean Smith's Grant, page 355.

Catton: "Grant saw more of the fighting here than he did in the Wilderness because the country was more open."
Smith: "Grant was able to witness more of the fighting at Spotsylvania than in the Wilderness because the terrain was more open."

Catton: "During the afternoon he saddled up and rode out to several points where he could watch the fight for the tip of the salient."
Smith: "During the afternoon he ordered his reliable pony Jeff Davis saddled and rode out to several points where he could observe Hancock's troops fighting at the tip of the mule shoe and Wright's assault on the west angle."

Catton: "It seemed to him that on balance things had gone well and that evening back at headquarters he sent Halleck a wire summing up his impression [quotes wire]."
Smith: "On balance, Grant thought things were going well. Back at headquarters that evening he wired Halleck [quotes and paraphrases wire]."

Catton: "On the evening of May 11 Grant had sent Julia an optimistic message [quotes message]."
Smith: "Later he wrote Julia he was well and full of hope [quotes message]."

Smith seems to have used the Catton material as an outline - as with McPherson's stuff discussed yesterday. Some of the phrases break through verbatim, some are rearranged, and some are elaborated upon while preserving Catton's (and McPherson's) storytelling sequence.

Smith's pupils are subject to this Marshall University rule: "It is the student's responsibility to clearly distinguish their own work from that created by others. This includes the proper use of quotation marks, paraphrase and the citation of the original source."

This school now needs a policy on faculty plagiarism; the publisher Simon and Schuster needs a policy for authorial plagiarism; and Amazon is to be commended for allowing the plagiarism charges against Smith to remain on its website.

If Civil War readers don't give a damn, however, it's all moot.

(Thanks to the reader who pointed me to these passages.)
Here are links to previous Jean Smith plagiarism posts: 1, 2, 3, 4.