General Grant and Civil War Rail Roads
The successful military commander wins because he is able to adapt to changing situations, and so it was during the Civil War and the developments in railroad technology and utility. General Grant enjoys a reputation as a fine horseman, but it’s not just flesh and blood horses, but the Iron Horse as well that Grant appreciates.
In this meeting with Lincoln’s General in Chief, he will give some background on the development of rail roads in America during his own formative years and will describe how the nation and its rail roads grew up together, in those tumultuous years of the American Civil War. Gen. Grant will relate his own experiences with trains and railroading from his youth through becoming the victor of the Civil War through stories and artifacts from the period.
If you are a fan of US history, no matter a student of the Civil War, or America’s rail roads, or life in the 1800’s, this encounter will engage and cross over to many areas of interest.
Bio: Kenneth J. Serfass, Gunnery Sgt USMC, retired
Gunnery Sgt Kenneth J. Serfass is from Bethlehem, PA, born in June 1966 and a career US Marine from 1984 to 2004 serving his final tour with the First Marine Division Band during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon retirement Ken became a music teacher in San Diego.
Ken is a former reenactor and now a first-person impressionist with 52 years studying his hero, US Grant. As a full-time living history story-teller he presents from 11 to 20 programs monthly, February through December. His first appearance as General Grant was in 2009, in Southern California and since 2014, now back East, he presents at schools, living history, reenacting and roundtable events, public libraries, and annually back 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, presenting in fifteen states annually. He jokes that the history talks and as the leader of his Civil War era Marine Band, requires that all this work is dependent on time travel.
His repertoire covers programs on Grant’s war campaigns, interactions with Lincoln, Sherman, and Lee, and most importantly, the Grant family, and the two terms as 18th US President. His knowledge of Grant’s life led to being cast as President Grant and tech advisor for a documentary on Fox Nation, debuting October 10, 2021.
He has appeared at Pamplin Park and NPS sites during the “Civil War 150”. In 2015 he was invited by The Federal Generals Corps, to be their “Ulysses S. Grant” until the group disbanded in 2020. In May of 2025, he debuted as a guest speaker aboard American Cruise Line’s Mississippi Riverboat Civil War cruises, making Tennessee his newest host state. At the 2025 California trip to the Huntington Beach Civil War Days,
Ken participated in filming of “Storage Wars’ and is seen in an upcoming episode in Season 14 as General Grant. And in April, appeared as President Grant for the reenactment of the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington DC. In 2020, he crafted a YouTube series, “How the War Was Won in the West”, 9 episodes covering the campaigns of Grant in Tennessee and Mississippi.
He has spoken on the Vicksburg Campaign to the Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Association to develop broader civil war study among the guides and is the first Grant impressionist to present his own topics at the General Grant National Memorial, in New York City, presenting as General or as President, and developing Junior Ranger programs for NPS, bringing America’s youth closer to history.
Entertaining and educational, his performances include the sites above, as well as business groups seeking leadership training and inspiration, allowing for people to talk TO history and interact with US Grant.
Ken will say, there is nothing he is prouder of than his daughter Erin, who works in production in Los Angeles. He believes this work inspires her to make her own path.
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. 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.