"Ironically, the man who achieved fame on the battlefield was particularly squeamish. Grant could not stomach the sight of animal blood. Rare steak nauseated him; he insisted that his meat be well done. He never touched fowl. "I cold never eat anything that went on two legs," he explained. He did not hunt, even as a boy in rural southern Ohio where shooting game was a favorite youthful pastime. Grant was modest, self-effacing, soft-spoken, and mild-mannered. One biographer, W.E. Woodward, went so far as to suggest that he was a bit effeminate. "Young Grant had a girl's primness of manner and modesty of conduct," he wrote. "There was a broad streak of the feminine in his personality. He was almost half-woman, but this strain was buried in the depths of his soul; it never came to the surface, except indirectly, and he was probably not aware of it himself." Grant was somewhat prudish. He seldom used foul language. He disliked dirty jokes. And in the field he always bathed alone, in a closed tent, never allowing even his aides to see him naked. A serious, well-disciplined soldier, Grant spurned military pomp and pageantry. He was loyal to friends. A superstitious man, he believed it bad luck to retrace one's steps. If he inadvertently walked beyond his destination, for example, he would not simply turn around and walk back down the same street, but rather would keep going further away from the place and return via another road."