Ulysses S. Grant

"Ulysses Grant" redirects here. For other uses, see Ulysses Grant (disambiguation).

Ulysses S. Grant
18th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
Vice President	Schuyler Colfax (1869–1873) Henry Wilson (1873–1875) None (1875–1877)
Preceded by	Andrew Johnson
Succeeded by	Rutherford B. Hayes
Personal details
Born	Hiram Ulysses Grant (1822-04-27)April 27, 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio
Died	July 23, 1885(1885-07-23) (aged 63) Mount McGregor, New York
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Julia Dent Grant
Children	Jesse Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie Grant, Frederick Grant
Alma mater	United States Military Academy at West Point
Occupation	General-in-Chief
Signature
Nickname	"Unconditional Surrender" Grant
Military service
Allegiance	United States Union
Branch/service	Union Army United States Army
Years of service	1839–1854, 1861–1869
Rank	General of the Army of the United States
Commands	21st Illinois Infantry Regiment Army of the Tennessee Military Division of the Mississippi Armies of the United States United States Army (postbellum)
Battles/wars	Mexican-American War Battle of Resaca de la Palma Battle of Palo Alto Battle of Monterrey Battle of Veracruz Battle of Molino del Rey Battle of Chapultepec American Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson Battle of Shiloh Siege of Vicksburg Battle of Chattanooga Overland Campaign Siege of Petersburg Appomattox Campaign

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877) as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America. Grant began his lifelong career as a soldier after graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1843. Fighting in the Mexican American War, he was a close observer of the techniques of Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He resigned from the Army in 1854, then struggled to make a living in St. Louis. After many financial setbacks, he finally moved to Galena, Illinois where he worked as a clerk in his father's tannery shop, making Galena his permanent legal home.

In 1861, after the American Civil War broke out, he joined the Union war effort, taking charge of training new regiments and then engaging the enemy near Cairo, Illinois. In 1862 he fought a series of major battles and captured a Confederate army, earning a reputation as an aggressive general and allowing the Union to seize control of most of Kentucky and Tennessee. In July 1863, after a long, complex campaign, he captured Vicksburg, captured another Confederate army, and took control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy and opening the way for more Union victories and conquests. Abraham Lincoln promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general and gave him charge of all the Union Armies. As Commanding General of the United States Army from 1864 to 1865, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of very high casualty battles known as the Overland Campaign that ended in a stalemate siege at Petersburg. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Thomas. Finally breaking through Lee's trenches at Petersburg, the Union Army captured Richmond, the Confederate capital, in April 1865. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox; the Confederacy collapsed and the Civil War ended.

During Reconstruction, Grant remained in command of the Army and implemented the Congressional plans to reoccupy the South and hold new elections in 1867 with black voters that gave Republicans control of the Southern states. Enormously popular in the North after the Union's victory, he was elected to the presidency in 1868. Reelected in 1872, he became the first president to serve two full terms since Andrew Jackson did so forty years earlier. As president, he led Reconstruction by signing and enforcing civil rights laws and fighting Ku Klux Klan violence. He helped rebuild the Republican Party in the South, an effort that resulted in the election of African Americans to Congress and state governments for the first time. Despite these civil rights accomplishments, Grant's presidency was marred by economic turmoil and multiple scandals. His response to the Panic of 1873 and the severe depression that followed was heavily criticized. His low standards in Cabinet and federal appointments and lack of accountability generated corruption and bribery in seven government departments. In 1876, his reputation was severely damaged by the graft trials of the Whiskey Ring. In addition, his image as a war hero was tarnished by corruption scandals during his presidency. He left office at the low point of his popularity.

After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that was received favorably with many royal receptions. In 1880 he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. In 1884, broke and dying of cancer, he wrote his enormously successful memoirs. Historians have ranked his Administration poorly due to tolerance of corruption. His presidential reputation has improved among scholars impressed by the Administration's support for civil rights for freed slaves.

Early life and family

Ulysses S. Grant's birthplace. Point Pleasant, Ohio

Ulysses S. Grant's boyhood home. Georgetown, Ohio

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822 to Jesse Root Grant (1794–1873), a tanner, and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798–1883), both Pennsylvania natives. In the fall of 1823, the family moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. Raised a Methodist, although not an official member of the church, he prayed in private and opposed religious pretentiousness. At the age of 17, the young Ulysses entered the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, secured by Congressman Thomas L. Hamer's nomination. Hamer mistakenly nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio." At West Point he adopted this name with a middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues at the academy since the initials "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam". He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high jump record that lasted almost 25 years. Although naturally suited for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, achieving the rank of lieutenant, managing supplies and equipment.

Mexican–American War

Grant from West Point to Appomattox, an 1885 engraving by Thure de Thulstrup. Clockwise from lower left: Graduation from West Point (1843); In the tower at Chapultepec (1847); Drilling his Volunteers (1861); The Battle of Fort Donelson (1862); The Battle of Shiloh (1862); The Siege of Vicksburg (1863); The Battle of Chattanooga (1863); Appointment as Lieutenant General by Abraham Lincoln (1864); The Surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House (1865)

During the Mexican American War (1846–1848), Lieutenant Grant served under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Although assigned as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, participating in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Veracruz. At Monterrey, he carried a dispatch voluntarily on horseback through a sniper-lined street. He was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals, particularly admiring how Zachary Taylor campaigned. At the time he felt that the war was a wrongful one and believed that territorial gains were designed to spread slavery throughout the nation, writing in 1883, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day, regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

Between wars

Julia Dent's parents home, where the Grant's stayed in St. Louis.

On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826–1902), the daughter of a slave owner. Together, they had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. "Buck" Grant, Jr., Ellen Wrenshall "Nellie" Grant, and Jesse Root Grant.

Lieutenant Grant remained in the army and was assigned to several different posts. He was sent west overseas to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1852, initially landing in San Francisco during the height of the California gold rush. Julia was eight months pregnant with their second child and could not accompany him because a lieutenant's salary, at the time, would not support a family on the frontier. The journey proved to be a horrid ordeal and Grant narrowly escaped a cholera epidemic while traveling overland through Panama. At Fort Vancouver he served as quartermaster of the 4th Infantry Regiment. In 1854, he was promoted to captain, one of only 50 still on active duty, and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, on the northwest California coast. Without explanation, he abruptly resigned from the Army with little notice on July 31, 1854. Commanding officer at Fort Humbolt, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, had learned that Grant was intoxicated off duty while seated at the pay officer's table. Buchanan gave him an ultimatum and told him to leave the Army either by court-martial or resignation. Whether the threat of court-martial by Buchanan was justifiable, Grant decided to resign, the War Department having stated on his record, "Nothing stands against his good name." Rumors, however, persisted in the regular army of Grant's intemperance.

The home of Ulysses S. Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois.

A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven financially lean years. From 1854 to 1858, he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by Julia's father, but it did not prosper. He bought one of these slaves in 1858, which made him one of twelve U.S. Presidents who owned slaves during their lifetime. From 1858–1859, he was a bill collector in St. Louis. In 1860, after many failed business pursuits, he was given a job as an assistant in his father's tannery in Galena, Illinois. The leather shop, "Grant & Perkins", sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. He moved his family to Galena and lived in a brick house before the Civil War broke out.

Up until the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant kept any political opinions private and never endorsed any candidate running for public office. He also, at this time, had no animosity toward slavery. His father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis, a fact that contributed to a failed attempt to become county engineer in 1859. In the 1856 presidential election, he voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, to prevent secession and because "I knew Frémont", the Republican presidential candidate. In 1860, he favored Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas over Abraham Lincoln, but did not vote. His own father, Jesse Root, was a prominent Republican in Galena. It was during the Civil War that his political sympathies coincided with the Republicans' aggressive prosecution of the war. In 1864, his patron Congressman Elihu B. Washburne used Grant's private letters as campaign literature for Lincoln's reelection. In 1868, Grant, affiliated with the Radical Republicans, was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.

Civil War

Main article: American Civil War

Initial commissions

Brig. Gen. of Volunteers Ulysses S. Grant

Appointed July 31, 1861

On April 15, 1861, after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down secession. Galena was enthusiastic in support of the war and recognized in Grant the one local with broad military experience. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers in Galena and accompanied it to Springfield, the state capital, where untrained units were assembling in great confusion. Sponsored by his influential Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, Grant was named by the governor Richard Yates to train volunteers; he proved efficient and energetic in the training camps but desired a field command. Yates appointed him as a colonel in the Illinois militia and gave him command of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry on June 17. He went to Mexico, Missouri, guarding the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad from Confederate attack. On July 31, 1861, President Lincoln appointed him as a brigadier general in the federal Volunteers. On September 1, he was selected by Western Department Commander Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont to command the District of Southeast Missouri. He soon established his headquarters at Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi. His command was soon reconfigured and renamed the District of Cairo.

Battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, and Fort Donelson

Main articles: Battle of Belmont, Battle of Fort Henry, and Battle of Fort Donelson

Grant’s first Civil War battles occurred while he was in command of the District of Cairo. The Confederate Army, stationed in Columbus under General Leonidas Polk, had violated Kentucky's military neutrality. Immediately, Grant took the initiative and seized Paducah, Kentucky on September 5, 1861. He was ordered by commanding Union Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont just to make demonstrations against the Confederate Army, rather than attack Polk directly. Grant obeyed the order until President Lincoln discharged Fremont from active duty on November 2, 1861. Going on the offensive, Grant took 3,000 Union troops by boat and attacked the Confederate Army commanded by General Gideon J. Pillow positioned at Camp Johnson in Belmont, Missouri on November 7, 1861. Having initially pushed back the Confederate forces from Camp Johnson, Grant's undisciplined volunteers wildly celebrated rather than continuing the fight. Pillow, who was given reinforcements by Polk from Columbus, forced the Union troops to make a hasty retreat. Although the battle was considered inconclusive and futile, Grant and his troops gained the confidence needed to continue on the offensive. More importantly, President Lincoln took notice of Grant's willingness to fight.

Grant became a national hero to the Northern public after his victory at Fort Donelson.

Battle of Fort Donelson, by Kurz and Allison (1887).

Grant won approval from Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck to attack Confederate Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Embarked on Admiral Andrew H. Foote's naval flotilla, the expedition steamed south on February 3, 1862 with two divisions of 15,000 men. During the winter, the river had risen and swamped some of the defenses of Fort Henry. On February 6, 1862, Adm. Foote's Union fleet consisting of ironclads and wooden ships bombarded Fort Henry as Grant's troops began the landward investment. Before Grant could attack the fortress surrendered, while two Union naval officers entered the fort on a rowboat to accept the surrender. Although approximately 3,000 Confederates escaped east before the surrender, the fall of Fort Henry opened up the Union war effort in Tennessee and Alabama. After the fall of Fort Henry, Grant moved his army overland 12 miles east to capture Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Foote's naval fleet arrived on February 14 and immediately started a series of bombardments; however, Fort Donelson's water batteries effectively repulsed the naval fleet. Stealthily, on February 15, Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd ordered General Pillow to strike at Grant's Union forces encamped around the fort, in order to establish an escape route to Nashville, Tennessee. Pillow's attack pushed McClernand's corps into a disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road. However, the Confederate advance stalled and Grant was able to rally the Union troops to keep the southerners from escaping. The Confederates forces, under General Simon Bolivar Bruckner, finally surrendered Fort Donelson on February 16. Grant’s surrender demand to Buckner was popular throughout the nation, “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender.” The general was known from then on as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

The surrender of Fort Donelson was a tremendous victory for the Union war effort. 12,000 Confederate soldiers had been captured in addition to the bountiful weapon supplies at the fort. However, Grant now experienced serious difficulties with his superior in St. Louis, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. Some writers believe that Halleck was personally or professionally jealous of Grant. In any event, Halleck made various criticisms about Grant to Washington, even suggesting that Grant's performance was impaired by drinking. With Washington's support, Halleck told Grant to remain at Fort Henry and give command of a new expedition up the Tennessee River to Charles F. Smith, newly nominated as a major general. Grant asked three times to be relieved from duty under Halleck. However, Halleck soon restored Grant to field command, perhaps in part because Lincoln intervened to inquire into Halleck's dissatisfaction with Grant. Grant soon rejoined his forces, eventually known as the Army of the Tennessee, at Savannah. After the fall of Donelson, Grant became popularly known for smoking cigars, as many as 18–20 a day.

Shiloh

Main article: Battle of Shiloh

In early March 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck ordered Grant's Army of the Tennessee to move up the Tennessee River (southward) to attack Confederate railroads. Halleck then ordered Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of Ohio to concentrate with Grant, before implementing a planned attack on Confederate troops concentrated in Corinth, Mississippi. Buell, whose veteran army was only 90 miles east in Columbia, was hesitant in sending reinforcements, claiming "swollen rivers" were hindering progress. Union commanders Grant, and then Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman, the informal commander at Pittsburg Landing, mistakenly assumed Confederate troops would not attack the Union Army so there were no entrenchments. On April 6, 1862, the Confederates launched a preemptive full force attack on Grant's troops in the Battle of Shiloh; the objective was to destroy Grant's forces before being reinforced by Buell's army. Over 44,000 Confederate Army of Mississippi troops, led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, vigorously attacked five divisions of Grant’s army bivouacked nine miles north from Savannah, Tennessee, at Pittsburg Landing. Union Col. Everett Peabody, upon his infantry discovering the oncoming Confederate assault, was able to adequately warn the Union Army to form battle lines. Nonetheless, the Confederates initially were able to drive back the Union Army.

The Union left, however, under Brig. Gens. Benjamin Prentiss, W.H.L. Wallace, and James M. Tuttle, bravely withstood determined Confederate assaults in a road pocket known as the "Hornet's Nest" for seven hours before being forced to yield ground towards the Tennessee River. This gave the Union army much needed time to be able to stabilize their line formations and gather reinforcements. Prentiss, himself, was taken prisoner and forced to surrender his division to the Confederates, while Wallace was mortally wounded. Grant, nursing a previous horse fall injury, arrived from Savannah where both he and Sherman rallied the troops and staved off defeat. Although Grant's forces were battered, the Army of the Tennessee held strong compact positions with 50 artillery guns while two federal gunboats fired at the Confederates. After receiving reinforcements from Buell and his own army, Grant had a total of 45,000 troops and launched a counter offensive the following day (April 7). Confederate General Johnston was killed in the battle on the first day of fighting, and the Confederate Army, now under Beauregard, was outnumbered and forced to retreat to Corinth, Mississippi.

After the carnage at Shiloh the Civil War was now a fight to the bitter end.

Battle of Shiloh by Thure de Thulstrup.

The 23,746 casualties at Shiloh shocked both the Union and Confederacy, whose combined totals exceeded casualties from all of the United States' previous wars. The Battle of Shiloh led to much criticism of Grant for leaving his army unprepared defensively; he was also falsely accused of being drunk. According to one account, President Lincoln rejected suggestions to dismiss Grant, saying, "I can't spare this man; he fights." After Shiloh, General Halleck took the field personally and gathered a 120,000-man army at Pittsburg Landing, including Grant's Army of the Tennessee, Buell's Army of the Ohio, and John Pope's Army of the Mississippi. Halleck assigned Grant the role of second-in-command, with others in direct command of his divisions. Grant was upset over the situation and might have left his command, but his friend and fellow officer, William T. Sherman, persuaded him to stay in Halleck's Army. After capturing Corinth, Mississippi, the 120,000-man army was disbanded; Halleck was promoted to General in Chief of the Union Army and transferred east to Washington D.C. Grant resumed immediate command of the Army of the Tennessee and, a year later, captured the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg.

Refugee slave contraband

Further information: Emancipation Proclamation, Reconstruction era of the United States, and Freedmens Bureau

On July 2, 1862, President Lincoln had authorized African American contraband or "fugitive slaves" seeking refuge in the Union Army to be recruited. During the fall of 1862, Grant made efforts to take care of "wagon loads" of black slave refugees in Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. On November 13, 1862, Grant placed Chaplain John Eaton of the 27th Ohio Infantry in charge of the refugees. Eaton organized camps and put the refugees to work to bring in the fall corn and cotton crops on deserted plantations. Eaton proved to be a judicious and fair leader of the Union contraband, protecting them from Confederate marauders. The refugees were not paid directly at this time; however, money was allocated and spent on them reasonably for their benefit. Eventually, these African Americans were recruited into the Union Army and paid directly to cut wood to fuel the Union steamers. With the resulting income the Union contraband were able to feed and clothe their families. This would be the beginnings of what would be known as the Freedmens Bureau during Reconstruction. Similar efforts to incorporate African Americans into the Union war effort were made on the Atlantic coast. Many northern political conservatives in Illinois, however, were against and blocked the influx of African Americans into their state. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederate states. Thereafter, the Union recruited both former slaves and other blacks to fight against the Confederacy in new regiments of the Union Army known as the United States Colored Troops.

Vicksburg

Main articles: Vicksburg Campaign, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Battle of Jackson, and Battle of Champion Hill

Further information: General Order No. 11 (1862) and Antisemitism

Resolved to take control of the Mississippi River from the Confederacy, President Lincoln and the Union Army and Navy were determined to take the Confederate stronghold Vicksburg in 1862. Lincoln authorized Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, a war Democrat politician, to recruit troops, the XIII corps, and organize an expedition against Vicksburg. A personal rivalry developed between Grant and McClernand on who would get credit for taking Vicksburg. The Vicksburg campaign started in December 1862 and lasted six months before the Union Army finally took the fortress. The campaign combined many important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives, and was divided into two stages. The prize of capturing Vicksburg would ensure either McClernand or Grant's success and would divide the Confederacy into two eastern and western parts. At the opening of the campaign, Grant attempted to capture Vicksburg overland from the Northeast; however, Confederate Generals Nathan B. Forrest and Earl Van Dorn thwarted the Union Army advance by raiding Union supply lines. A related riverine expedition then failed when Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was repulsed by the Confederate forces at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

In January 1863, McClernand and Sherman's combined XIII and XV corps, the Army of the Mississippi, successfully defeated the Confederates at Arkansas Post. Grant made five attempts to capture Vicksburg by water routes; however, all had failed. With the Union impatient for a victory, in March 1863, the second stage to capture Vicksburg began. Starting in March 1863, Grant launched the final stage to capture Vicksburg, marching his troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed over at Bruinsburg. Adm. David D. Porter’s navy ships had previously run the guns at Vicksburg on April 16, 1863, enabling Union troops to be transported to the east side of the Mississippi. The crossing was successful due to Grant's elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions that fooled the Confederates on what the Union army was going to do. After crossing the Mississippi River, Grant maneuvered his army inland and after a series of battles the state capital Jackson, Mississippi was captured. Confederate general John C. Pemberton was defeated by Grant’s forces at the battles of Champion Hill and of Black River Bridge and retreated to the Vicksburg fortress. After two unsuccessful and costly assaults on Vicksburg, Grant settled in for a 40-day siege. Pemberton, unable to combine forces with the army of Joseph E. Johnson, which was hovering in central Mississippi, finally surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.

Grant's victory at Champion Hill forced Pemberton into a 40-day siege at Vicksburg.

Battle of Champion Hill
Sketched by Theodore R. Davis.

The aftermath of Vicksburg was a turning point for the Union war effort. The surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat of Confederate general Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg were stinging defeats for the Confederacy, now split in two by the Union's domination of the Mississippi River. President Lincoln promoted Grant to the permanent rank of Major General in the Regular Army. Vicksburg marked the second surrender of a Confederate army (the other being Buckner's surrender to Grant the year before). During the Vicksburg siege Grant dismissed McClernand for publishing to the press a congratulatory order that seemed to claim it was McClernand's corps that was winning the campaign. McClernand appealed the dismissal to his personal friend, President Lincoln, but to no avail. Grant had ended the rivalry on his own terms. The Union army had captured considerable Confederate artillery, small arms, and ammunition. Total casualties, killed or wounded, for the final operation against Vicksburg that started on March 29, 1863 were 10,142 for the Union and 9,091 for the Confederacy.

Although the victory at Vicksburg was a tremendous advance in the Union War effort, Grant's reputation did not escape criticism. During the initial campaign in December, 1862, Grant became upset and angry over speculators and traders who inundated his department and violated rules about trading cotton in a militarized zone. As a result, Grant issued his notorious General Order No. 11 on December 17, expelling all Jews whom he believed were engaged in trade in his department, including their families. When protests erupted from Jews and non-Jews alike, President Lincoln rescinded the order on January 4, 1863; however, the episode tarnished Grant's reputation. In addition, Grant accused by Maj. Gen. Charles S. Hamilton and William J. Kountz for being a "drunkard" and "gloriously drunk" in February and March, 1863. Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand was alleged to have promoted and secretly spread this rumor in the Union Army. Both McClernand and Hamilton were seeking promotion in the army at the time of these allegations. Cincinnati Commercial editor Murat Halstead railed that, "Our whole Army of the Mississippi is being wasted by a foolish, drunken, stupid Grant". Lincoln sent Charles A. Dana to keep a watchful eye. To save Grant from dismissal, assistant Adjutant General John A. Rawlins, Grant's friend, got him to take a pledge not to touch alcohol.

Chattanooga

Main articles: Chattanooga Campaign, Battle of Lookout Mountain, and Battle of Missionary Ridge

When Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was defeated at the Chickamauga in September 1863, the Confederates, led by Braxton Bragg, besieged the Union Army of the Cumberland in Chattanooga. In response, President Lincoln put Grant in charge of the new Military Division of the Mississippi to break the siege at Chattanooga, making Grant the commander of all Western Armies. Grant, who immediately relieved Rosecrans from duty, personally went to Chattanooga to take control of the situation, taking 20,000 troops commanded by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman from the Army of the Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker was ordered to Chattanooga, taking 15,000 troops from the Army of the Potomac. Rations were running severely low for the Cumberland army and supply relief was necessary for a Union counter offensive. When Grant arrived at Chattanooga at the Union camp he was informed of their plight and implemented a system known as the "Cracker Line,” devised by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith. After Union army seized Brown’s Ferry, Hooker's troops and supplies were sent into the city, helping to feed the starving men and animals and to prepare for an assault on the Confederate forces surrounding the city.

Union troops swarm Missionary Ridge and defeat Bragg's army. Battle of Mission [i.e., Missionary] Ridge, Nov. 25th, 1863, Cosack & Co. lithograph from McCormick Harvesting Co., c1886.

On November 23, Grant launched his offensive on Missionary Ridge, combining the forces of the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of the Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Thomas took a minor high ground known as Orchard Knob while Maj. Gen. Sherman took strategic positions for an attack Bragg’s right flank on Missionary Ridge. On November 24, with the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Hooker captured Lookout Mountain and positioned his troops to attack Braggs left flank at Rossville. On November 25, Grant ordered Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland to make a diversionary attack only to take the “rifle pits” on Missionary Ridge. However, after the soldiers took the rifle pits, they proceeded on their own initiative without orders to make a successful frontal assault on Missionary Ridge. Bragg’s army, routed and defeated, was in complete disarray from the frontal assault and forced to retreat to South Chickamauga Creek. Although the valiant frontal assault was successful, Grant was initially upset because he did not give direct orders for the men to take Missionary Ridge; however, he was satisfied with their results. The victory at Missionary Ridge eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864. Casualties after the battle were 5,824 for the Union and 6,667 for Confederate armies, respectively.

Lieutenant General promotion

After the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga, President Lincoln promoted Grant to a special regular army rank, Lieutenant General, authorized by Congress on March 2, 1864. This rank had previously been awarded two other times, a full rank to George Washington and a Brevet rank to Winfield Scott. President Lincoln was reluctant to award the promotion, until informed that Grant was not seeking to be a candidate in the Presidential Election of 1864. With the new rank, Grant moved his headquarters to the east and installed his friend Maj. Gen. Sherman as Commander of the Western Armies. President Lincoln and Grant met together in Washington and devised "total war" plans that struck at the heart of the Confederacy, including military, railroad, and economic infrastructures. No longer refugees, African Americans were now incorporated into the Union Army as trained soldiers, taking away the Confederacy's labor force. The two primary objectives in the plans were to defeat Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia and Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee. They would attack the Confederacy from multiple directions: the Union Army of the Potomac, led by George G. Meade, would attack Lee's Army of Northern Virginia; Benjamin Butler would attack south of Richmond from the James River; Sherman would attack Johnson's army in Georgia; and George Crook and William W. Averell would destroy railroad supply lines in West Virginia. Nathaniel P. Banks was to capture Mobile, Alabama. Franz Sigel was to guard the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and advance in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant would command all the Union army forces while in the field with Meade and the Army of the Potomac.

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

Overland Campaign

Main articles: Overland Campaign, Battle of Wilderness, Battle of Spotsylvania, Battle of North Anna, and Battle of Cold Harbor

On May 4, 1864 Grant began a series of battles with Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia known as the Overland Campaign. The first battle between Lee and Grant took place after the Army of the Potomac crossed Rapidan River into an area of secondary growth trees and shrubs known as the Wilderness. Lee was able to use this protective undergrowth to counter Grant's superior troop strength. Union Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's XVI corps were able to inflict heavy casualties and drive back the Confederate General A.P. Hill's corps two miles; however, Lee was able to drive back the Union advance with Confederate General James Longstreet's reserves. The difficult, bloody, and costly battles lasted two days, May 5 and 6, resulting in an advantage to neither side. Unlike Union generals who retreated after similar battles with Lee, Grant ignored any setbacks and continued to flank Lee's right moving southward. The tremendous casualties for the Battle of the Wilderness were 17,666 for the Union and 11,125 for the Confederate armies, respectively.

Once Grant broke away from the Army of Northern Virginia at the Wilderness on May 8, he was forced into yet an even more desperate 14-day battle at Spotsylvania. Anticipating Grant's right flank move southward, Lee was able to position his army at Spotsylvania Court House before Grant and his army could arrive. The battle started on May 10. Although Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was located in an exposed rough arc known as the "Mule Shoe", his army resisted assault after assault from Grant's Army of the Potomac for the first six days of the battle. The fiercest fighting in the battle took place on a point known as "Bloody angle". Both Confederates and Union soldiers were slaughtered and men were piled on top of each other in their attempt to control the point. By May 21 the fighting had finally stopped; Grant had lost 18,000 men with 3,000 having been killed in the prolonged battle. Many talented Confederate officers were killed in the battle with Lee's Army significantly damaged having a total of 10–13,000 casualties. The popular Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick of the VI corps was killed in the battle by a sharpshooter and replaced by Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright. During the fighting at Spotsylvania, Grant made the statement, "I will fight it on this line if it takes all summer."

A determined Lt. Gen. Grant standing alone in the field at Cold Harbor.
Photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864.

Finding he could not break Lee's line of defense at Spotsylvania, Grant turned southward and moved to the North Ana River a dozen miles closer to Richmond. An attempt was made by Grant to get Lee to fight out in the open by sending an individual II Corps on the west bank of the Mattatopi River. Rather than take the bait, Lee anticipated a second right flank movement by Grant and retreated to the North Anna River in response to the Union V and VI corps, withdrawing from Spotsylvania. During this time many Confederate generals, including Lee, were incapacitated due to illness or injury. Lee, stricken with dysentery, was unable to take advantage of an opportunity to seize parts of the Army of the Potomac. After series of inconclusive minor battles at North Anna on May 23 and 24, the Army of the Potomac withdrew 20 miles southeast to important crossroads at Cold Harbor. From June 1 to 3 Grant and Lee fought each other at Cold Harbor with the heaviest Union casualties on the final day. Grant's ordered assault on June 3 was disastrous and lopsided with 6,000 Union casualties to Lee's 1,500. After twelve days of fighting at Cold Harbor, total casualties were 12,000 for the Union and 2,500 for the Confederacy. On June 11, 1864, Grant's Army of the Potomac broke away completely from Robert E. Lee, and on June 12 secretly crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge and attacked the railroad junction at Petersburg. For a brief time, Robert E. Lee had no idea where the Army of the Potomac was.

Northern resentment

To many in the North after the utter Union defeat at Cold Harbor, Grant was castigated as the "Butcher" for having sustained high casualties without a substantial advantage over Robert E. Lee. Grant, himself, who regretted the assault on June 3 at Cold Harbor, was determined to keep casualties minimal thereafter. Without a Union military victory, President Abraham Lincoln's presidential Campaign of 1864 against former general and Democratic contender George McClellan was in serious doubt. Maj. Gen. Sherman was bogged down chasing Confederate general Joseph E. Johnson into a conclusive battle. Benjamin Butler, who was supposed to attack Confederate railroads south of Richmond, was trapped in the Bermuda Hundred. Sigel had failed to secure the Shenandoah Valley from Confederate invasion and was relieved from duty. The entire Union war effort seemed to be stalling and the Northern public was growing increasingly impatient. The Copperheads, a northern democrat anti-war movement, advocated legal recognition of the Confederacy, immediate peace talks, and encouraged Union soldiers to desert the army. The Northern war effort was at this lowest ebb when Grant made a bold gamble to march deeper into Virginia at the risk of leaving the Washington capitol exposed to Confederate attack.

Petersburg and Appomattox

Main articles: Petersburg Campaign, Valley Campaigns of 1864, and Appomattox Campaign

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at City Point with his wife Julia and son Jesse.
Photo taken in 1864.

Petersburg was the supply center for Northern Virginia with five railroads meeting at one junction. Its capture meant the immediate downfall of Richmond. To protect Richmond and fight Grant at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor battles, Lee was forced to leave Petersburg with minimal troop protection. After crossing the James River, the Army of the Potomac, without any resistance, marched towards Petersburg. After crossing the James Grant rescued Butler from the Bermuda Hundred and sent the XVIII corps led by Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith to capture the weakly protected Petersburg, which was guarded by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. Grant established his new headquarters at City Point for the rest of the Civil War. The Union forces quickly attacked and overtook Petersburg's outlying trenches on June 15. However, Smith inexplicably stopped fighting and waited until the following day, June 16, to attack the city, allowing Beauregard to concentrate reinforcements in secondary field works. The second Union attack on Petersburg started on June 16 and lasted until June 18, when Lee's veterans finally arrived to keep the Union army from taking the important railroad junction. Unable to break Lee's Petersburg defenses, Grant had to settle for a siege.

Realizing that Washington was left unprotected due to Grant's siege of Petersburg, Lee detached a corps under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force the Union army to send forces to pursue him. If Early could capture Washington, the Civil War would not have ended, but the Confederates would have embarrassed the Union and deeply wounded northern morale. Early, with 15,000 seasoned troops, marched north "down" the Shenandoah Valley, defeated Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Monocacy, and at the reached the outskirts of Washington, causing great alarm. At Lincoln's urging, and just in time, Grant dispatched the veteran Union VI Corps and parts of the XIX Corps, led by Major General Horatio Wright, to the capital. With the Union XXII Corps manning Washington's fortifications, Early was unable to take the city. The Confederate Army's mere presence close to the capital was still an embarrassment. At Petersburg, Grant blew up a section of Lee's trenches with gunpowder planted inside a huge mine tunnel dug by Pennsylvanian coal miners. The explosion dug a huge crater and opened a big gap in the Confederate line. The Union assault that followed, however, was slow and chaotic, with troops milling around inside the Crater. This allowed Lee to repulse the breakthrough.

A victorious Grant reposes with cigar near the end of the Civil War.
Ole Peter Hansen Balling
May 25, 1865

Despite the setback with the Crater incident and a Congressional investigation that followed, Grant was able to lock in Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg. Grant's Union siege at Petersburg allowed the Union war effort on other fronts to finally bear fruit. Sherman took Atlanta on September 2, 1864 and began his March to the Sea in November. With victories at Atlanta and Mobile Bay, Lincoln was re-elected President and the war effort continued. On October 19, after three battles, Phil Sheridan and the Army of the Shenandoah defeated Early's army. Sheridan and Sherman followed Lincoln and Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Shenendoah Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. On December 16, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas beat Confederate general John B. Hood at Nashville. Grant continued for months to stretch the Petersburg siege line westward to capture vital railroad lines that supplied Richmond, stretching Lee's defensive works thin.

In March 1865, Grant invited Lincoln to visit his headquarters at City Point, Virginia. By coincidence, Sherman (then campaigning in North Carolina) happened to visit City Point at the same time. This allowed for the war's only three-way meeting of Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, which was memorialized in G.P.A. Healy's famous painting The Peacemakers. Grant continued to apply months of relentless military pressure at Petersburg on the Army of Northern Virginia until Lee was forced to evacuate Richmond in April 1865. After a nine-day retreat, during which Grant expertly maneuvered his armies to block all paths of retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Considered his greatest triumph, this was the third time a Confederate Army surrendered to Grant. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which was needed to reunite the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was over, though minor actions continued until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865.

On July 25, 1866, Congress had authorized Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, a form of the rank General of the Armies of the United States.

Lincoln assassination

Further information: Lincoln Assassination

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater; he died the next morning. Grant, who was supposed to attend the theater with Lincoln, declined and instead took his wife to Philadelphia. Lincoln had been Grant's greatest champion, friend, and military adviser. Lincoln had said after Shiloh, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant.

After the war

Maximilian disposed

Following the Civil War, Grant, as commanding general, immediately had to contend with Maximilian and the French army who had taken over Mexico under the authority of Napoleon III. Grant put military pressure on the French Army to leave Mexico by sending 50,000 troops to the south Texas border led by Phil Sheridan. Grant secretly told Sheridan to do whatever it would take to get Maximilian to abdicate and the French Army to leave Mexico. Sheridan sent Benito Juárez, the ousted leader of Mexico, 60,000 U.S. rifles to aid in an effort to defeat Maximillian. By 1866, the French Army completely withdrew from Mexico, leaving Maximilian to defend for himself. Maximilian, who had been installed as the Emperor of Mexico in 1864, was executed by the Mexican Army in 1867.

Stopped Fenian Canadian invasion

After the Civil War thousands of Irish veterans joined the Fenian Brotherhood and formed the Irish Republican Army with the intention of invading and capturing Canada. Initially, Grant and President Andrew Johnson agreed to the Canadian invasion by the Fenians until British war ships were sent to protect the Canadian coastline. Johnson and Grant became more cautious in aiding the Fenians to prevent U.S. military supplies sold to the I.R.A. from being confiscated by the British. To stop the Fenian invasion, George Meade confiscated and returned military weapons sold to the Fenians. In 1866, the Fenians were able to capture Niagara Village and Fort Erie; however, the British successfully made a counterattack and repelled the Fenian Army back to the United States. Grant closed the Canadian border and prevented 4,000 Fenian soldiers from crossing over at Fort Erie and ordered that more weapons be confiscated. Without weapons, the Fenians gave up on their attempt to invade Canada.

Reconstruction

In order to bear the fruits of a Northern victory over the South, Radical Republicans deployed troops in the former confederate states to ensure constitutional rights to loyal whites and freedmen. Grant, as the highest military commander next to President Johnson, favored the will of Congress through the enforcement of congressional Reconstruction. Grant reported to President Johnson that military occupation should remain in the South and that the Freedman's Bureau was an "absolute neccessity". Throughout Reconstruction, thousands of blacks would be elected to political office, sheriffs, and accessors while the military under Grant protected their rights by overturning the black codes in 1867. The southern states were divided into five military districts to ensure that African Americans newly granted constitutional and congressional rights were protected. Although Grant was initially in favor of using limited military force, he authorized Phil Sheridan to remove public officials in Louisiana who were against congressional Reconstruction. However, Grant's relationship with President Johnson, who opposed much of the Radical Reconstruction, became fragile and broken. Congressional Reconstruction finally ended with the Compromise of 1877 and the complete withdrawal of military troops from the southern states.

Secretary of War and 1868 presidential campaign

This is an 1868 presidential campaign poster for Ulysses S. Grant, created by superimposing a portrait of Grant onto the platform of the Republican Party.

As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Andrew Johnson, who preferred a moderate approach to reconstruction of the South and was increasingly at swords-point with the Radicals in Congress. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making him the Secretary of War "ad-interim" in place of Edwin M. Stanton. Under the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson could not remove Stanton without the approval of Congress. When Congress reinstated Stanton as Secretary, Grant handed over the keys to the War Department, and continued his military command. This made him a hero to the Radical Republicans, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the 1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago; he faced no significant opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became his campaign slogan.

Grant's General Orders No. 11 and antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign. Though Jewish opinion was mixed, Grant's determination to "woo" Jewish voters ultimately resulted in his capturing the majority of that vote, though "Grant did lose some Jewish votes as a result of" the order. Grant appointed more Jewish persons to public office than any president before him. Although Grant's order was anti-Jewish, Grant had many Jewish friends. To one such friend, Joseph Seligman, Grant offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury. Seligman, who had helped finance the Union war effort by obtaining European capital, declined the offer.

Cartoon by Thomas Nast on Grant's opponents in the re-election campaign

In the general election of that year, Grant won against former New York Governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 votes out of 5,716,082 votes cast. Grant commanded an Electoral College landslide, receiving 214 votes to Seymour's 80. When he assumed the presidency, Grant had never before held elected office and, at the age of 46, was the youngest person yet elected president.

Presidency 1869–1877

Main article: Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

The second president from Illinois, Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868, and was re-elected to the office in 1872. He served as President from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. Grant was the first U.S. President to be elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former African American slaves. Reconstruction dominated most of Grant's presidency with sectional riots over the status of what the new Freedman would have in post-Civil War society. Booming post-war industrial markets and the expansion of the American west fueled wild speculation and corruption throughout the United States, only to come to a halted crash with the Panic of 1873. National wounds brought on by the massive socio-economic upheaval of the Civil War continued to mend..

Although there were initial scandals in his first term, Grant remained popular in the country and was re-elected a second term in 1872. His notable accomplishments as President include the enforcement of Civil Rights for African Americans in the Reconstruction states, the Treaty of Washington in 1871, and the Resumption of Specie Act in 1875. Grant's reputation as President suffered from scandals caused by many corrupt appointees and personal associates and for the ruined economy caused by the Panic of 1873. In his re-election campaign, Grant benefited from the loyal support of Harper's Weekly political cartoonist Thomas Nast.

Domestic policies

Reconstruction

Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction. He supported amnesty for former Confederates and signed the Amnesty Act of 1872 to further this. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South—sufficient numbers to protect Southern Freedmen, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. President Grant signed the Naturalization Act of 1870 that allowed persons of African descent to become citizens of the United States.

By 1873, Grant was confronted by a Northern public angry with the economic depression that began in 1873 and tired of continuing to use the army to control politics in the former Confederate states. In 1873–75, he watched as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of all but three Southern states. The Republican coalition in the South was collapsing. When urgent telegrams from Republicans begged for Army help to put down the violence by paramilitary groups at election time, he told his Attorney General that, "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South,", insisting that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. Grant was concerned that increased military pressure in the South would cause white supremacists in the North to bolt from the Republican Party.

Civil and human rights

Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873.

A distinguishing characteristic in the Grant Presidency was his concern with the plight of African Americans and native Indian tribes, in addition to civil rights for all Americans. Grant's 1868 campaign slogan, "Let us have peace," defined his motivation and assured his success. As president for two terms, Grant made many advances in civil and human rights. In 1869 and 1871, he signed bills promoting black voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. He won passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave freedmen the vote, and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which empowered the president "to arrest and break up disguised night marauders."

Grant continued to fight for black civil rights when he pressed for the former slaves to be "...possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it." However, by 1874, a new wave of paramilitary organizations arose in the Deep South. The Red Shirts and White League, who conducted insurgency in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Louisiana, operated openly and were better organized than the Ku Klux Klan had been. They aimed to turn Republicans out of office, suppress the black vote, and disrupt elections. In response to the renewed violent outbreaks against African Americans, Grant was the first President to sign a congressional civil rights act. The law was titled the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which entitled equal treatment in public accommodations and jury selection.

Grant's attempts to provide justice to Native Americans marked a radical reversal of what had long been the government's policy: "Wars of extermination... are demoralizing and wicked," he nobly told Congress. The president lobbied, though not always successfully, to preserve Native American lands from encroachment by the westward advance of pioneers.

Panic of 1873

The Panic of 1873 was a world-wide depression that started when the stock market in Vienna crashed in June 1873. Unsettled markets soon spread to Berlin, and throughout Europe. Three months later, the Panic spread to the United States when three major banks stopped making payments, the New York Warehouse & Security Company on September 8, Kenyon, Cox, & Co. on the 13th, and the largest bank, Jay Cooke & Company, on September 18. On September 20, the New York Stock Exchange shut down for ten days. All of these events created a depression that lasted five years in the United States, ruined thousands of businesses, depressed daily wages by 25% from 1873 to 1876, and brought the unemployment rate up to 14%. Some 89 out of 364 American railroads went bankrupt.

The causes of the panic in the United States included over-expansion in the railroad industry after the Civil War, losses in the Chicago and Boston fires of 1871 and 1872, respectively, and insatiable speculation by Wall Street financiers. All of this growth was done on borrowed money by many banks in the United States having over-speculated in the railroad industry by as much as $20,000,000 in loans. Grant, who knew little about finance, relied on bankers for advice on how to curb the panic. Secretary of Treasury William A. Richardson responded by liquidating a series of outstanding bonds. The banks, in turn, issued short-term clearing house certificates to be used as cash. By October 1, $50,000,000 had been released into an economy desperate for paper currency. This was done without undermining the value of the dollar. By January 10, 1874, Richardson continued to liquidate bonds that released a total of $26,000,000 of greenback reserves into the economy. Although this curbed the Panic on Wall Street it did nothing to stop the ensuing five year depression. Grant did nothing to prevent the panic and responded slowly after the banks crashed in September. The limited action of Secretary Richardson did nothing to increase confidence in the general economy.

Political cartoon by Thomas Nast: Grant congratulated for vetoing the "inflation bill" on April 22, 1874.

Vetoes inflation bill

After the Panic of 1873, Congress debated an inflationary policy to stimulate the economy and passed the Inflation Bill on April 14, 1874. The bill released an additional $100,000,000 into the nation's tight money supply. Many farmers and working men in the southwest anticipated that Grant would sign the bill. Those with outstanding loans needed greenbacks to stay in business. Eastern bankers favored a veto because of their reliance on bonds and foreign investors. On April 22, 1874, Grant unexpectedly vetoed the bill on the fiscal grounds that it would destroy the credit of the nation. Initially, Grant favored the bill, but decided to veto after evaluating his own reasons for wanting to pass the bill.

Foreign policies

Santo Domingo

The Caribbean island of Hispaniola, now Haiti, and the Dominican Republic (sometimes known as Santo Domingo), were the sources of bitter political discussion and controversy during Grant's first term in office. Grant wanted to annex the island to allow Freedmen, oppressed in the United States, to work, and to force Brazil to abandon slavery. Senator Charles Sumner was opposed to annexation because it would reduce the amount of autonomous nations run by Africans in the western hemisphere. Also disputed was the unscrupulous annexation process under the supervision of Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock. The annexation treaty was defeated by the Senate in 1871; however, it led to unending political enmity between Senator Sumner and Grant.

Grant with family at their cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, 1870.

Treaty of Washington

Historians have heralded the Treaty of Washington for settling the Alabama Claims dispute between Britain and the United States by International Arbitration. In 1871, Grant’s Secretary of State Hamilton Fish had orchestrated many of the events leading up to the treaty. The main purpose of the arbitration treaty was to remedy the damages done to American merchants by three Confederate war ships: CSS Florida, CSS Alabama, and CSS Shenandoah, built by or purchased from the British. These ships had inflicted tremendous damage to U.S. merchant ships during the Civil War with the result that relations with Britain were severely strained. A commission met in Washington and designed a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, rather than fault. Grant and the Senate approved the Treaty of Washington. The international tribunal awarded the United States $15,500,000. Historian Amos Elwood Corning noted that the Treaty of Washington and arbitration “bequeathed to the world a priceless legacy”.

Virginius incident

Main article: Virginius Affair

On October 31, 1873, a merchant ship, Virginius, carrying war materials and men to aid the Cuban insurrection, was taken captive by a Spanish warship. Virginius was flying the United States flag and had an American registry; the U.S. did not at first realize it was secretly owned by Cuban insurgents. 53 of the passengers and crew, eight being United States citizens, were trying to illegally get into Cuba to help overthrow the government; they were executed, and many Americans such as William M. Evarts, Henry Ward Beecher, and even Vice President Henry Wilson made impassioned speeches calling for war with Spain.

Fish handled the crisis coolly. He found out there was question over whether Virginius had the right to bear the United States flag. Spain's President expressed profound regret for the tragedy and was willing to make reparations through arbitration. Fish met with the Spanish Ambassador in Washington and negotiated reparations. Spain surrendered the Virginius and paid a cash indemnity to the families of the executed Americans.

Scandals

Main article: Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration scandals

President Grant and family pose in an informal portrait outside. Grant is seated to the left and his wife Julia is seated to the right. Their son Jesse is standing between Grant and Julia.

President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872.

Grant's inability to establish personal accountability among his subordinates and cabinet members led to many scandals during his administration. Grant often attacked vigorously when critics complained, being protective of his subordinates. Although personally honest with money matters, Grant was weak in his selection of subordinates, often favoring military associates from the war over talented and experienced politicians. He also protected close friends with his Presidential power and pardoned persons who were convicted after serving a few months in prison. His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that, "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Nepotism was rampant. Around 40 family relatives financially prospered while Grant was President.

There were 11 scandals directly associated with Grant's two terms as President of the United States. The main scandals included Black Friday in 1869 and the Whiskey Ring in 1875. The Crédit Mobilier is not considered a Grant scandal; it actually began in 1864 during the Abraham Lincoln Administration and carried over into the Andrew Johnson Administration. The Crédit Mobilier scandal was exposed during the Grant Administration in 1872 as the result of political infighting between Congressman Oakes Ames and Congressman Henry S. McComb. The involvement of U.S. Ambassador to Britain, Robert C. Schenck, owning stock in the Emma Silver Mine, although corrupt, was an embarrassment to the Administration, rather than a scandal. The primary instigator and contributor to many of these scandals was Grant's personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, who indirectly controlled many cabinet departments and was able to delay investigations by reformers. Babcock had direct access to Grant at the White House and had tremendous influence over who could see the President.

Grant appointed Benjamin Bristow to the Secretary of Treasury in 1874, who uncovered and shut down the notorious Whiskey Ring. When Secretary Bristow discovered that the President's personal secretary Babcock was involved in the ring, Grant became defensive. Grant eventually defended Babcock in an unprecedented 1876 deposition during the Whiskey Ring graft trials. The result of Grant's deposition saved his friend Babcock with an acquittal. However, political enemies and the unpopularity of giving the deposition for Babcock ruined any chances for Grant getting a third term nomination.

Grant Administration Scandals and Corrupt Activities	Description	Date
Black Friday	Speculators corner the gold market and ruin the economy for several years.	1869
New York custom house ring	Three investigations, two congressional and one Treasury, looked into alleged corruption ring set up at the New York Custom House under two of Grant's appointments, collectors Moses H. Grinnell and Thomas Murphy.	1872
Star Route Postal Ring	Corrupt system of postal contractors, clerks, and brokers to obtain lucrative Star Route postal contracts.	1872
Salary Grab	Congressmen receive a retroactive $5,000 bonus for previous term served.	1872
Sanborn Contract	John Sanborn collected taxes at exorbitant fees and split the profits among associates.	1874
Delano Affair	Secretary of Interior, Columbus Delano, allegedly took bribes to secure fraudulent land grants.	1875
Pratt & Boyd	Attorney General George H. Williams allegedly received a bribe not to prosecute the Pratt & Boyd company.	1875
Whiskey Ring	Corrupt government officials and whiskey makers steal millions of dollars in national tax evasion scam.	1875
Trading Post Ring	Secretary of War William Belknap allegedly takes extortion money from trading contractor at Fort Sill.	1876
Cattelism	Secretary of Navy George Robeson allegedly receives bribes from Cattell & Company for lucrative Naval contracts.	1876
Safe Burglary Conspiracy	Private Secretary Orville Babcock indicted over framing a private citizen for uncovering corrupt Washington contractors.	1876

Administration and Cabinet

Further information: Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration

Supreme Court appointments

Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• Edwin M. Stanton – 1869 (died before taking seat)
• William Strong – 1870
• Joseph P. Bradley – 1870
• Ward Hunt – 1873
• Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) – 1874

States admitted to the Union

• Colorado – August 1, 1876

Government agencies and parks

• Department of Justice (1870)
• Office of the Solicitor General (1870)
• "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission" instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel Management.)
• Office of the Surgeon General (1871)
• Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather Service) (1870)
• Yellowstone National Park (1872)

Post-presidency

World tour

Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum

After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. In Britain the crowds were enormous. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany, then ventured east to Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam (Thailand), Burma, and China.

In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor.

Third term attempt

In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Conkling's resignation from office.

Bankruptcy

The trip around the world, although successful, was costly. When Grant returned to America, he had depleted most of his savings from the long trip and needed to earn money. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. In 1884, Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant), bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled. Depleted of money, Grant was forced to repay a $150,000 loan to one of his creditors, William H. Vanderbilt, with his Civil War mementos.

Last days

Grant is reclining in a chair on a porch suffering from throat cancer and writing his memoirs.

Grant, in constant pain, spent most of his last days writing his memoirs on a wicker chair at Mount McGregor.

Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute, having forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. Deep in debt, Grant wrote a series of literary works that improved his reputation and eventually brought his family out of bankruptcy. Grant first wrote several warmly received articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties.

Grant's death mask

Congress restored Grant to General of the Army with full retirement pay.

Terminally ill, Grant finished his memoir just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar." Grant's memoir has been regarded by writers as diverse as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as one of the finest works of its kind ever written.

Ulysses S. Grant died on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. Grant is honored by the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the base of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Cinema and media portrayals

The following is a sample of persons who portrayed Ulysses S. Grant as a character in either historical-dramatic or documentary media formats. A more complete list can be found at Ulysses S. Grant.

Film

Actors have played Ulysses S. Grant in 35 movies. Grant is the third most popular President to be portrayed in movies, films, or cinema.

Portrayals include:

The Birth of a Nation, 1915 silent epic movie, played by Donald Crisp.

Only the Brave, 1930, played by Guy Oliver.

They Died with their Boots On, 1941, played by Joseph Crehen (uncredited).

The Horse Soldiers, 1959 John Wayne movie, played by Stan Jones.

How the West Was Won, 1962, played by Harry Morgan.

Wild Wild West, 1999, played by Kevin Kline

Jonah Hex, 2010, played by Aidan Quinn

Grant has often been portrayed in film as a scowling drunkard, which is historically inaccurate, and has also frequently been placed in false historical events. One notable exception was by Kevin Kline in the 1999 film Wild Wild West. Kline consulted Grant scholar John Y. Simon for advice on how to play Grant, and portrays him as a formidable authority figure who has courage mixed with a hard-bitten sense of humor.

Television series and documentary

Ulysses S. Grant postage portrait, 1895.

The Wild Wild West, aired on CBS, 1965–1969, portrayed by James Gregory (voice) and Roy Angle.

The Blue and the Gray, aired on CBS, 1982, portrayed by Rip Torn.

North and South (TV Miniseries), aired on ABC, 1986, portrayed by Anthony Zerbe.

Gore Vidal's Lincoln, 1988, portrayed by James Gammon.

The Civil War, aired on PBS, 1990, portrayed by Jason Robards. Titled The American Civil War in the United Kingdom.

Lincoln, aired on PBS, 1992, portrayed by Rod Steiger.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, aired on HBO, 2007, portrayed by Senator Fred Thompson.

Sherman's March, aired on the History Channel, 2007, portrayed by Harry Bulkeley.

In The Wild Wild West, President Grant appeared occasionally, as Secret Service agents West and Gordon worked exclusively for him. In Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Senator Fred Thompson played Grant as an astute leader who listens to both sides of an argument.

Fifty dollar bill controversy

U.S. Postage Stamp, 3c, 1938 issue, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan

Further information: Presidency of Ronald Reagan and Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill.

The portrait design on the United States fifty dollar bill in March 2010 was challenged by North Carolina Republican Representative Patrick T. McHenry, who requested President Ronald Reagan's portrait be put on the fifty dollar bill rather than President Ulysses S. Grant. McHenry's reasons included that, "Every generation needs its own heroes," and that a Wall Street Journal poll ranked Reagan sixth and Grant 29th. California Democratic Representative Brad Sherman said that Reagan was too controversial and that, "Our currency should be something that unites us." A Marist poll of 956 Americans taken in March 2010 showed that 79% favored keeping Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill, while 12% supported the proposed change to Ronald Reagan.

Statuary Hall vote

In early 2010, Grant was proposed by the Ohio Historical Society as a finalist in a statewide vote for inclusion in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.

See also

• Grantism
• Grant's Farm
• History of the United States (1865–1918)
• List of American Civil War generals
• U.S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois
• Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
• Western Theater of the American Civil War

References

Biographical and political

• American Annual Cyclopedia... 1868. Volume 8. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873.
• Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant. New York: Times Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8050-6949-6.
• Dunning. William. Reconstruction Political and Economic 1865–1877 (1905), vol 22.
• Garland, Hamlin. Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character. New York, Doubleday & McClure co., 1898.
• Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co. [1957, 1935]. ISBN 1-931313-85-7.
• Mantell, Martin E. Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction. New York, Columbia University Press, 1973.
• McFeely, William S. Grant: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1981. ISBN 0-393-01372-3.
• Nevins, Allan, Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1936.
• Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7, 1920.
• Scaturro, Frank J. President Grant Reconsidered. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1998.
• Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861–1868. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
• Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.
• Simpson, Brooks D. Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822–1865. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. ISBN 0-395-65994-9.
• Simon, John Y. "Ulysses S. Grant". The Presidents: A Reference History (2nd ed. 1997), pp. 245–60.
• Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: A Reconsideration". White House Studies. March 2005.
• Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84927-5.

Military

• Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. New York: D. Appleton, 1881.
• Ballard, Michael B. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8078-2893-9.
• Bearss, Edwin C.. The Vicksburg Campaign. Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1991. ISBN 0-89029-308-2.
• Bonekemper, Edward H., III. A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius. Washington, DC: Regnery Pub., 2004. ISBN 0-89526-062-X.
• Carter, Samuel III. The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862–1863. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.
• Catton, Bruce. Grant Moves South. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960. ISBN 0-316-13207-1.
• Catton, Bruce. Grant Takes Command. Boston: Little, Brown, 1968. ISBN 0-316-13210-1.
• Catton, Bruce. U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition. Boston: Little, Brown, 1954.
• Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel. The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25 – August 6, 1864. Lynchburg, Va.: H.E. Howard, 1989.
• Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1986.
• Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C.. Grant and Lee, a Study in Personality and Generalship. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957. ISBN 0-253-13400-5.
• Farina, William. Ulysses S. Grant, 1861–1864: His Rise from Obscurity to Military Greatness. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2007.
• Gott, Kendall D. Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.
• Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero. New York: Atlas Books/HarperCollins, 2004.
• Lewis, Lloyd. Captain Sam Grant. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1950. ISBN 0-316-52348-8.
• McWhiney, Grady. Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee. Fort Worth: Ryan Place Publishers, 1995.
• McDonough, James Lee. Shiloh: In Hell Before Night. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1977.
• McDonough, James Lee. Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-503863-0.
• Maney, R. Wayne. Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864. Shippensburg, Pa., USA: White Mane Pub. Co., 1994.
• Matter, William D. If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
• Miers, Earl Schenck. The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. New York: Knopf, 1955.
• Mosier, John. Grant. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. ISBN 1-4039-7136-6.
• Rhea, Gordon C. The Battle of the Wilderness May 5–6, 1864. Louisiana State University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8071-1873-7.
• Rhea, Gordon C. The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7–12, 1864. Louisiana State University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8071-2136-3.
• Rhea, Gordon C. To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13–25, 1864. Louisiana State University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8071-2535-0.
• Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 – June 3, 1864. Louisiana State University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8071-2803-1.
• Miller, J. Michael. The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21–26, 1864. Lynchburg, Va.: H.E. Howard, 1989.
• Schenker, Carl R., Jr. "Ulysses in His Tent: Halleck, Grant, Sherman, and 'The Turning Point of the War'". Civil War History (June 2010), vol. 56, no. 2, p. 175.
• Simpson, Brooks D. "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant". The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.
• Simpson, Brooks D. "After Shiloh: Grant, Sherman, and Survival". The Shiloh Campaign. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009.
• Steere, Edward. The Wilderness Campaign. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Co., 1960.
• Sword, Wiley. Shiloh: Bloody April. New York: Morrow, 1974.
• Williams, Kenneth P. Lincoln Finds a General: A Military Study of the Civil War. New York, Macmillan, 1959 (volume 5).
• Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1962.
• Woodworth, Steven E. Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 – 1865. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 0-375-41218-2.

Primary sources

• Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. C.L. Webster & Co., 1885.
  • Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War New York: Oxford University Press, 1962. pp 131–73.
• Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) The Library of America, 1990. ISBN 978-0-940450-58-5
• Simon, John Y., ed. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1967–2009.
• Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887–88.
• Porter, Horace. Campaigning with Grant. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1897.
• Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton, 1875.
• First Inaugural Address
• Second Inaugural Address

External links

• Ulysses S. Grant Association
• Miller Center of Public Affairs essays on Grant and cabinet members
• Ulysses S. Grant: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• Ulysses S. Grant at Find a Grave
• Many rare General Grant photographs
• Collection of US Grant Letters
• Historic White Haven (Grant-Dent home)
• Ulysses S. Grant Genealogy, Mississippi State University Library
• Template:Worldcat id
• Animations of the Campaigns of Ulysses S. Grant (Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Overland, and Petersburg/Appomattox)