Ulysses S. Grant

According to American Heritage magazine "U. S." Grant was "...the supreme Union hero of the Civil War, but Grant's success on the battlefield was neither a good predictor or indicator...he weathered serious problems, both personal and professional, both before and after the war."

The call for volunteers following the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 drew 38-year-old "Sam" Grant out of near poverty. The West Point graduate had abandoned the military when a superior officer discovered him drunk on duty. Returning to his wife's family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, Grant began working the fields during the day and finishing the house at night. The farm was almost profitable, but when things got bad he would cut a tree or two and sell the firewood on the streets of St. Louis.

After trying various careers, Grant turned to his father, who employed him as a clerk in his leather shop. Abraham Lincoln's call for men seemed to revitalize Captain Grant. Hired as an adjutant, Grant appealed to George McClellan for a job. McClellan, who was commander of the Department of Ohio, refused to see him. Grant wound up a colonel in the Illinois state militia, leading the 21st Volunteer regiment. That August he was placed in charge of all troops in southern Illinois and eastern Missouri.

As Union military commanders were pushing the President for more time, Sam Grant began what would be a circuitous route to the White House by taking a couple of small towns on the Ohio River in response to Gideon Pillow's seizure of Columbus, Kentucky. Less than five months later Grant defeated Pillow, John Floyd and Simon Bolivar Buckner at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River just south of the Kentucky/Tennessee border. He then returned to the Tennessee River and followed it south to Pittsburg Landing. Deploying his raw recruits for training rather than defense, Grant's men were subject to a surprise attack on April 6, 1862. The Battle of Shiloh saw the loss of more men in a single day than in any other battle in history.

Just over a year later, on July 9, 1863 Grant secured Port Hudson, opening up the Mississippi to Union shipping. 5 days earlier he accepted the surrender of John Pemberton's army following the Siege of Vicksburg. Abraham Lincoln called Grant to Washington, but wanted him to make a small stop on the way, at Chattanooga, Tennessee. There Grant, along with his old friend William Tecumseh Sherman and Joseph Hooker, rescued the Army of the Cumberland, briefly replacing William Rosecrans as the army's commander. A few months later Lincoln promoted him to Lieutenant General and put him in command of all the armies (General-in-Chief, U. S. Army). Grant plunged into Virginia while General Sherman executed the longest pincer movement in history...some 700 miles. With his Army of Northern Virginia surrounded, Robert E. Lee had no choice but to surrender to Grant.

Less than a week after the surrender, a pleased Lincoln invited Grant and his wife to a play at Ford's Theater. Julia Grant, however, wanted to get back to her children so Ulysses declined. It was a lucky move since Lincoln was assassinated that evening and Grant was on John Wilkes Booth's "hit list."

President Andrew Johnson and General Grant didn't really see eye-to-eye. Grant had given amicable terms to the surrendering Rebels but Johnston want to charge Lee with treason. Lee appealed to Grant to honor his terms of surrender and Grant threatened to take his case to the people. Johnson already had serious problems with Congress and decided to side-step the issue.

In the Election of 1868 the Republican Party decided to run Grant for President. A harsh campaign saw the General beat Horatio Seymour, a rumored "Copperhead," by 300,000 votes. Facing the new President was both the reconstruction of a nation and the Reconstruction of the South, a burdensome war debt and the westward push of our nation.

Links appearing on this page:

Abraham Lincoln
American Heritage
Andrew Johnson
Army of Northern Virginia
Army of the Cumberland
Battle of Shiloh
Election of 1868
Fort Donelson
Fort Sumter
General-in-Chief, U. S. Army
George McClellan
John Floyd
Joseph Hooker
Pittsburg Landing
Robert E. Lee
Siege of Vicksburg
Simon Bolivar Buckner
William Rosecrans
William Tecumseh Sherman

Civil War Encyclopedia >> People - Union Military

Ulysses S. Grant was last changed on - November 1, 2006
Ulysses S. Grant was added in 2005