Ulysses S. Grant was the commanding general of the Union Army during the American Civil War and the 18th President of the United States. He is remembered as the general most responsible for leading the North to victory over the South and as a president who worked to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people after the war.
Ulysses S. Grant’s Early Life
Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27th, 1822 CE in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He was born with the name Hiram Ulysses Grant. His father, Jesse Root Grant, ran a tannery, which is a business that prepares animal hides to make leather. His father was also a strong opponent of slavery. Grant grew up in Georgetown, Ohio, and had little interest in taking over his father’s business. His father arranged for him to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1839 CE. When the congressman who nominated him filled out his paperwork, he made an error and recorded the name as Ulysses S. Grant. Grant kept the new name for the rest of his life.
Grant was an average student at West Point. He did well in mathematics and was an excellent horseman, but did not stand out in most other areas. He graduated 21st out of a class of 39 in 1843 CE. After graduation, he was sent to Missouri, where he met Julia Dent, the sister of a former classmate and friend. The two fell in love and became engaged. Their marriage was delayed by the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. Grant served in that war from 1846 to 1848 CE under generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He did well in battle and was recognized for his bravery. Grant and Julia married in 1848 CE and went on to have four children together.
Ulysses S. Grant’s Struggles Before the Civil War
The years between the Mexican-American War and the Civil War were difficult for Grant. He was posted to remote army bases far from his family. He became lonely and unhappy. He developed a reputation for heavy drinking during this period, which hurt his career. In 1854 CE he left the army. The next several years did not go well. He tried farming near St. Louis, Missouri. The farm failed. He tried working in real estate and other jobs. These failed too. By 1860 CE, he had moved his family to Galena, Illinois, where he worked as a clerk in his father’s leather goods store.
Despite his personal struggles, Grant had always been against slavery. He had even freed an enslaved man he briefly owned in 1859 CE rather than selling him, even though his family badly needed money at the time. When Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in April of 1861 CE and the Civil War began, Grant decided right away to support the Union. He later wrote that at that moment there were only two kinds of people: traitors and patriots. Grant wanted to be a patriot. As such, the Civil War gave Grant a chance to rebuild his life and do something he truly believed in.
Ulysses S. Grant and the Civil War in the West
Grant’s rise during the Civil War was fast. He helped train and organize volunteer soldiers in Illinois and was soon made colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry in June of 1861 CE. Within weeks he was promoted to brigadier general. His first big success came in February of 1862 CE when his forces captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in western Tennessee. These forts guarded two important rivers. Capturing them opened a path deep into Confederate territory. When the Confederate commander at Fort Donelson asked Grant for his terms of surrender, Grant replied that the only acceptable terms were immediate and unconditional surrender. From that point on, many Americans said Grant’s initials stood for Unconditional Surrender. President Abraham Lincoln, hearing calls to fire Grant after the bloody Battle of Shiloh in April of 1862 CE, reportedly said, “I can’t spare this man. He fights.”
Grant’s most important campaign in the western part of the war was the Siege of Vicksburg. The American Civil War was fought across two main areas. The eastern theater was centered on Virginia and the states near Washington DC. The western theater covered states further west, including Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. Vicksburg was a Confederate city on the Mississippi River. Whoever controlled Vicksburg controlled the river. Grant’s forces surrounded the city and cut off its supplies. After weeks of siege, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4th, 1863 CE. The capture of Vicksburg gave the Union control of the entire Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two. It was one of the most important Union victories of the entire war.
Ulysses S. Grant as General-in-Chief
After his successes in the west, President Lincoln promoted Grant to General-in-Chief of all Union forces in March of 1864 CE. This meant Grant was now in charge of every Union army fighting in the war. His plan was to attack Confederate armies on every front at the same time. He wanted to give them no rest and no chance to move soldiers from one area to another.
Grant traveled with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia to fight Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The two armies fought a series of bloody battles in the spring and summer of 1864 CE, including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. The Union lost a very large number of soldiers in these battles. Many newspapers in the North called Grant a butcher. With that said, Grant kept moving forward and pushing Lee back rather than retreating as earlier Union generals had done. He knew that the North had more men and supplies than the South. He was determined to keep fighting until the Confederate army was worn down completely. By June of 1864 CE, he had trapped Lee’s army at Petersburg, Virginia, a city that also protected the Confederate capital of Richmond.
At the same time, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, working under Grant’s direction, captured Atlanta in September of 1864 CE. Sherman then led his army on a long march through Georgia to the coast, destroying farms, railways and supplies along the way. This march badly damaged the South’s ability to keep fighting the war. Grant and Sherman both believed in going after the South’s economy and food supply, not just its army. As such, their approach helped bring the war to an end faster than it would have otherwise.
Ulysses S. Grant and the End of the Civil War
By April of 1865 CE, Lee’s army at Petersburg was exhausted and running out of food and supplies. On April 2nd, the Confederate lines broke. Lee abandoned both Petersburg and Richmond, the Confederate capital. Grant chased Lee’s army across Virginia. Lee had nowhere left to go. On April 9th, 1865 CE, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant offered kind and fair terms of surrender. Confederate soldiers were allowed to keep their horses and go home. No one was to be arrested or punished. Grant said he felt no joy at Lee’s surrender, only sadness at how many men had died. The surrender at Appomattox ended the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant as President
Grant’s fame as the man who won the war made him very popular across the country. He was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868 CE. As president, Grant worked to protect the rights of Black Americans in the South during a period known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War when the federal government tried to rebuild the South and help formerly enslaved people start new lives as free citizens. For instance, Grant used federal troops to fight the Ku Klux Klan, a violent group that was attacking and terrorizing Black people across the South. He also supported the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave Black men the right to vote.
With that said, Grant’s time as president was damaged by a number of corruption scandals involving people around him. Grant himself was an honest man, but he was too trusting of dishonest people close to him. These scandals hurt his reputation. He was re-elected in 1872 CE but by the end of his second term, many people remembered the scandals more than his achievements.
Ulysses S. Grant’s Death and Legacy
After leaving the presidency in 1877 CE, Grant ran into serious money problems. He invested his savings in a business that was being run dishonestly. The business failed and Grant lost everything. Around the same time, he found out he had throat cancer caused by years of heavy cigar smoking. Desperate to earn money for his family before he died, he agreed to write his memoirs with help from his friend, the famous writer Mark Twain. Despite being in terrible pain, Grant worked hard every day to finish the book. He completed it just a few days before he died on July 23rd, 1885 CE at the age of sixty-three. The book sold hundreds of thousands of copies and earned nearly $450,000 for his family. It is still considered one of the best military memoirs ever written by an American.
Ulysses S. Grant is remembered as one of the most important people in American history. His leadership won the Civil War for the Union and kept the United States together as one country. His time as president showed a real effort to protect the rights of Black Americans at a very difficult time in the nation’s history. As such, Grant’s life was one of great hardship, great failure and ultimately great achievement.
