Grant, Ulysses S. (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885)

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18^th president of the United States, a Union general, and the commander of the Union army during the final year of the Civil War.   

He was born on April 27, 1822,  in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Hannah Simpson Grant and Jesse Grant, and spent his boyhood in Georgetown, Ohio, where his father ran a tanning business.  Young Grant attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1843 near the middle of his class.  At this point, Grant did not want a military career, but an education, followed by a college professorship.  Instead, he was sent to Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri.  He saw duty in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) under the command of General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott.  During the war, Grant was twice promoted in recognition of his bravery and talented leadership.  The war with Mexico proved to be a training ground for him as well as other future Civil War officers.    

After the war, Grant was stationed at Sacketts Harbor, New York, Detroit, Michigan, and Fort Vancouver, Washington.  At Fort Vancouver, dearly missing his wife and bored by the monotonous duty, he began drinking.  He resigned his commission in 1854 and returned to Missouri where he unsuccessfully tried his hand at farming and real estate before moving to Galena, Illinois, to work in his father’s tannery.  

At the beginning of the Civil War, Grant was appointed commander of the 21^st Illinois Regiment and saw service fighting Confederate guerrillas in Missouri.  In August 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by President Abraham Lincoln.  He quickly led his troops to capture Paducah, Kentucky, but had to retreat after a Confederate counterassault at Belmont, Missouri.  In February 1862, Grant captured Forts Donelson and Henry in Tennessee, handing the Union its first major victories and earning himself national recognition and a promotion to major general.    

In October 1862, he was named commander of the Department of Tennessee and placed in charge of the Vicksburg, Mississippi, campaign.  The surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 was one of the turning points of the Civil War.  In March 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of all Union armies.  Giving the Confederates no rest, Grant pressed Robert E. Lee throughout Virginia, while Union General Sherman advanced through Atlanta to the Atlantic.  Finally on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, ending the Civil War.  

In July 1866, Grant received the rank of full General of the Army, the first American to hold that distinction since George Washington.  His postwar duties included overseeing Indian Affairs and protection of the transcontinental railroad workers in the west and the enforcement of Reconstruction policies in the South.  Although he had doubts about Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction policies, he accompanied the President on his infamous “swing ?round the circle” during the 1866 campaign.   

Grant became an integral part of the battle between Congress and the White House over control of Reconstruction policy.  In August 1867, President Johnson suspended Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who had been working with the congressional Republicans against the president, and appointed Grant as Stanton’s ad interim replacement.  The general was uncomfortable being placed in that awkward position, but he dutifully served for five months.  When the Senate refused to consent to Stanton’s removal, Grant resigned.  Thereafter, Grant sided with the congressional Republicans and supported Johnson’s impeachment after the president violated the Tenure of Office Act in 1868.   

Although previously a nominal Democrat, Grant became the Republican presidential nominee in 1868.  He easily defeated his Democratic challenger, Horatio Seymour, and was soundly reelected in 1872, running against maverick newspaper editor Horace Greeley.  The successes of the Grant administration, including the Treaty of Washington (1871), were tarnished by a series of scandals (which did not involve the president).  Other important events during his tenure include the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, the Panic of 1873, and the Resumption of Specie Act (1875).  

When he left office, Grant embarked on a triumphant two–year world tour.  In 1880, he was the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.  After leading on 35 ballots, he finally lost to James Garfield, a compromise candidate, thus ending his hopes for a third term.  In 1881, he moved to New York City and invested in a brokerage firm run by his son, Ulysses S. Grant Jr., and Ferdinand Ward.  The firm went bankrupt in 1884, and Ward was incarcerated for illegal business practices.  Left virtually penniless, and battling terminal cancer, Grant supported himself and his family through a cash advance on his autobiography provided by Mark Twain’s publishing firm of Webster and Company.  Completed shortly before his death in July 23, 1885, Grant’s Personal Memoirs are well respected for both content and literary style.  

Source consulted:  David Donald, “Grant, Ulysses S.,” Grollier’s (online); James M. McPherson, “Grant, Ulysses S.,” American National Biography (online).