Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant (27 April 1822 – 23 July 1885) was an American military commander and statesman who served as the 18th president of the United States (1869–1877). As Commanding General of the United States Army, he led the Union to victory during the American Civil War. Though his military leadership earned him national fame, his presidency was marked by both substantial achievements in civil rights and notable political scandals.

Biography[]

Early career[]

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio in 1822. The son of a tanner and small-town mayor, Grant entered West Point hoping to be "safe for life", ensured a career and an income. By mistake, he was registered with the middle initial "S", which he kept for life. He distinguished himself only in horsemanship, but on graduating he was sent to the infantry. Serving in the Mexican-American War as a regimental quartermaster, he saw a good deal of action, proving he had the gift of physical courage - a Union soldier would later say of him, "Ulysses don't scare worth a damn." His military talent was noticed, but this did him no good in the subsequent peace. In 1854, posted to California far from his family, he suddenly resigned from the army.

Rumors of alcohol use followed Grant throughout his early military career, particularly during isolated frontier postings, but his wartime leadership showed remarkable focus and discipline."

American Civil War[]

In civilian life he failed to prosper, but the American Civil War rescued him from obscurity. Throwing himself with immense energy into the raising and training of volunteers, by August 1861 he was a Brigadier-General assigned to the western theater. Grant first attracted the attention of President Abraham Lincoln and the press with the capture of Fort Donelson in Tennessee in February 1862. At a time of low morale in the Union camp, Grant's widely reported insistence on the unconditional surrender of the fort's defenders was lauded. Two months later, fighting his first full-scale battle at Shiloh, he got a different kind of press. His camp was surprised by Confederate forces in his absence and his army nearly routed. Grant returned to take control and managed to achieve an unlikely victory on the second day's fighting, but heavy Union losses shocked the Northern public. Tales of Grant's heavy drinking circulated, but Linkon kept faith him him, saying, "I can't spare this man: he fights."

Sidelined after Shiloh by his theater commander, Henry Halleck, Grant contemplated quitting the army but held on with moral support from William T. Sherman. By fall 1862, he was back in command and seeking a means to take the fortress of Vicksburg, the key to the Mississippi. Grant was a master of logistics, using river steamers and railroads to move troops and supplies. But in swampy terrain crawling with Confederate raiders, conventional maneuvers broke down. Following months of frustration, in April 1863, Grant abandoned links with a supply base and marched across the country. Seizing Jackson, Mississippi, he cut the communications of the Confederate forces who had been driven back into Vicksburg. After a six-week siege, Vicksburg surrendered and the Union had control of the Mississippi.

Grant's successes continued when he was transferred to Chattanooga in October, where a Union army was under virtual siege after defeat at Chickamauga. Grant moved in reinforcements, and then took the offensive, opening the way for an advance into Georgia. In March 1864, Grant had the satisfaction of replacing Halleck as Union general-in-chief. Lincoln had recognized in him the man who would apply the Union's superior force unflinchingly to grind down rebel resistance. Grant moved to the eastern theater, leaving the trusted Sherman to run the campaign in Georgia and Tennessee. Grant was in many ways a surprising person to mastermind the Union victory. He had surrounded himself with a personal staff of acquaintances from Illinois, men of no military training or distinction in civilian life, but whom he trusted and with whom he felt at ease. He hardly ever consulted his subordinate commanders, running operations through a stream of clear, succinct orders written in his own hand. There was, in the words of one observer, "no glitter or parade about him." He made no flowery speeches - indeed, he never addressed his troops at all - and usually wore a private's coat, going around with a cigar clenched between his teeth.

Grant’s approach was characterized by relentless pressure and coordination of multiple armies to overwhelm Confederate forces. Unlike some generals who sought decisive single battles, Grant favored simultaneous offensives to strain enemy resources. His Vicksburg campaign demonstrated mastery of logistics and maneuver warfare, ultimately splitting the Confederacy and securing a pivotal Union victory.

Winning the war[]

Grant's way of fighting was equally sober and gritty. Convinced of the need for the "complete subjugation of the South" through the destruction of its economic life, he fully backed Sherman's "scorched-earth" campaign for devastating the land in Georgia, targeting infrastructure and resources. He later ordered General Philip Sheridan to pursue the same policy in the Shenandoah Valley. His own Overland Campaign in Virginia in May and June 1864 was a relentless series of attacks on Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, kept up regardless of cost and giving Lee no time to catch his breath.

The slaughter at the bludgeoning battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and especially Cold Harbor earned Grant a reputation as a "butcher", but in his view there was no easier way to win the war. The Overland Campaign cost 55,000 Union casualties and failed to annihilate the Confederate army, thanks to Lee's defensive skill. But it did impose losses on the Confederates that they could not afford and forced Lee to entrench around Petersburg. Grant played out the endgame implacably, yet showed generosity in the terms allowed to Lee on his surrender.

Presidency[]

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson promoted Grant to General of the Army, but Grant aligned himself with Johnson's rivals, the Radical Republicans, due to his opposition to Johnson's conservative approach to Reconstruction. In 1868, the 46-year-old Grant was elected the youngest US president of the 19th century, being elected as a Republican. He stabilized the postwar national economy, created the Department of Justice, suppressed the first Ku Klux Klan, appointed African-Americans and Jews to prominent federal offices, and created the first Civil Service Commission in 1871.

During Reconstruction, Grant vigorously enforced civil rights legislation and used federal troops and the newly empowered Department of Justice to combat white supremacist violence. His administration prosecuted thousands of Klan members and passed the Enforcement Acts to uphold the rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments.

In 1872, the Democratic Party and the schismatic Liberal Republican Party united behind Grant's opponent Horace Greeley, but Grant's immense popularity and Greeley's death during the election led to Grant's re-election with 286/352 electoral votes. His second term saw mixed results from his peace policy with the Native Americans, his annexation plan for the Dominican Republic was rejected by the US Congress, numerous public scandals occurred, and the nation entered into a severe economic depression in 1873. He left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-and-a-half-year world tour that captured favorable attention for himself and the United States, but he failed in an 1880 presidential bid.

Despite his personal integrity, Grant's presidency was marred by numerous scandals involving his appointees. Notable among these were the Whiskey Ring, a tax evasion scheme involving distillers and federal agents, and the Credit Mobilier affair, which exposed corruption in railroad construction. Although Grant was not directly involved in wrongdoing and often acted to punish corrupt subordinates, his loyalty to friends and political allies sometimes blinded him to their misconduct, undermining public trust.

Grant at the 1880 Republican National Convention

After leaving office, Grant embarked on a global tour, receiving honors from foreign dignitaries and promoting reconciliation between nations. However, poor investments and financial mismanagement left him nearly bankrupt. In his final years, after being diagnosed with terminal throat cancer and facing financial ruin, Grant began writing his memoirs. With encouragement from author Mark Twain, he completed the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which received widespread acclaim for their clarity, honesty, and literary quality. The book became a bestseller and financially secured his family after his death.He died in Wilton, New York in 1885 at the age of 63.

Grant was widely regarded as modest, unassuming, and intensely focused. He avoided public speaking, and his quiet demeanor masked a tenacious and methodical military mind. Historian Bruce Catton later wrote that Grant's genius lay in "his simplicity, his steadiness, and his calm under pressure." Modern scholarship has rehabilitated Grant’s reputation, highlighting his commitment to Reconstruction and racial equality, while acknowledging administrative weaknesses. The debate continues about his relative standing among U.S. presidents and Civil War generals.