Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio and he was
the first of six children born to religious and hard-working parents. His father
was a tanner who took animal hides and processed them into leather. He made a good
living, but the work conditions were horrible.
As a child, Grant occasionally worked in the tannery, but he hated the work
and swore that once he was an adult, he would never do it again.
Ulysses was a small and quiet youth. The local schools bored him,
and other children mistook his quietness for stupidity, and nicknamed him "Useless."
Ulysses had an incredible knack as a horseman. On the family farm, his father gave him
the responsibility of taking care of the horses and other farm animals.
He was known in the area for managing unruly horses.
Grant's father supported his ambitious desire to go beyond the tanner lifestyle.
The family had little money for college, but the United States Military Academy
at West Point offered a deal. They would give a superior free education in return
for Army service after graduating. Without telling Ulysses, his father applied
for an appointment to the Academy for his son and Ulysses was accepted.
Ulysses did not want to go. With his father's
encouragement, Grant decided to go to West Point to fulfill his desire to
travel and take advantage of the education being offered to him.
When his congressman applied for Grant's appointment to West Point,
he wrote his name as Ulysses S. Grant instead of Hiram
Ulysses Grant. Ulysses tried to correct the mistake but it was too late,
From then on, he was known as Ulysses S. Grant.
West Point was difficult Ulysses. He was good at
math and drawing, but his prior education was limited, leaving him an otherwise
unexceptional student. His skill with horses, however, was unmatched, and he amazed
everyone with his riding abilities. He thought he would win a coveted spot in the Army's
cavalry, its horse-soldier elite, but was assigned to the infantry after graduating
twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine.
The United States Army of the 1840s was small, with about 7,000 men. Grant was
assigned to the Fourth Infantry at the Jefferson Barracks, south of St. Louis,
Missouri. His West Point roommate, Frederick Dent, had grown up nearby, and Grant
often visited the Dent home, where the family's hospitality made him comfortable.
While visiting, Grant met Frederick's sister, Julia Dent. Julia was warm and sociable,
and Grant fell for her at once. She took a little
longer to fall for him. Their devotion to each other was total.
Lieutenant Grant's regiment moved further south, first to Louisiana and then Texas,
for the conflict with Mexico that was brewing over the Texas territory.
From 1846 to 1848, the young lieutenant fought in the Mexican War and was twice
cited for his bravery. He was appointed quartermaster for the Fourth Infantry and
was responsible for providing supplies and transportation as his regiment moved
through the Mexican countryside. This post gave him valuable experience in the
logistics of war. He greatly admired General Zachary Taylor and his confident
leadership but Ulysses mourned his lost comrades and the waste of war.
When the war ended, Grant traveled back to St. Louis to marry Julia.
Julia's father had given her some land, and Grant tried to farm it with only
limited success. Even with slave labor supplied by his father-in-law,
he could not support his family, which grew to four children.
He also attempted a half-dozen other lines of work over the next several years.
One Christmas, he pawned his watch for $22 to buy presents for his family.
By 1860, Grant was forced to ask his father for help, and he went to work
for his younger brother in an Illinois leather shop. Soon thereafter, the South
seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.
The Civil War had begun. The North needed experienced Army officers
like Grant and the governor of Illinois appointed the former captain to lead a
volunteer regiment that no one else had been able to train. Grant instituted
discipline, and focused on the regiment's main goals. He won the men's respect
and allegiance and was appointed to brigadier general.
At the beginning of the war, the South had the advantage of fighting on its own
territory. It also had more support from its citizens superior
commanders. But over the years, the industrial capacity of the North proved
more important. The North had more factories, money, and manpower to fill
the battleground with better weapons and more soldiers. It also could marshal
a Navy that kept the South from importing equipment and supplies.
Incompetent Northern military leadership and strong Southern fighting
ability continued to feed the war for four years. During the early
phases of the conflict, the North lacked a commander with the nerve and
logistical skills to take the offensive against the outgunned rebels.
President Lincoln grew frustrated with his ineffective, overcautious
commanders who fought not to win but to avoid losing. In time, he would
settle on Grant to lead the North to victory.
In 1861, Grant led troops into his first major engagement. The fight in Missouri
was a draw, but he showed a willingness to fight. In early 1862, he captured Fort
Henry and Fort Donelson, two critical Confederate installations in Tennessee.
They were the first real Union victories of the war, and Grant became nationally known
overnight.
However, the press blamed Grant for massive losses at the Battle of Shiloh, also in Tennessee.
He had been surprised by an early morning Confederate attack that pushed the Union line back,
resulting in the capture of many Union soldiers. At the end of the day, however,
Grant had managed to hold his position. Supported by reinforcements, he launched a
counterattack on the second day that led to a Southern retreat. The
battle was a strategic success for the Union but it came at great cost.
Lincoln stood by his general. Grant was the first Union commander to truly take the
war to the South and put the region on the defensive. His calm during battle
astounded everyone who witnessed it. He quietly issued clear, concise orders
while puffing cigar after cigar, giving his commanders simple instructions and
staying out of their way in the heat of battle. Grant was promoted to major
general in 1862 by President Lincoln.
Along with General William Sherman, Grant won victory after victory. In early 1864,
Lincoln named Grant lieutenant general and commander of all Union forces. Grant was
thus transferred to Washington, D.C., to oversee the war effort, especially the defeat
of General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Rather than stay in the
capital and direct the war from afar, Grant traveled to the field and joined General
George Meade and his armies.
Grant pressed on until the South lost the means and will to fight.
Union troops trapped the main Confederate Army west of Richmond and forced a
surrender on April 9, 1865, at the little village crossroads of Appomattox Court
House. General Lee's surrender to Grant effectively ended the war.
In 1866, he was named general of the armies, a rank that had been achieved
by only Grant and George Washington. Along with the military promotion
came political opportunity, and it was not surprising that a man
credited with keeping the nation together was seen as a possible presidential candidate.
Lincoln's assassination at the end of the Civil War was followed by the ineffective
leadership of President Andrew Johnson. Johnson urged a moderate approach to Reconstruction
that would not punish the South or protect the rights of the newly freed slaves.
Republicans wanted to protect the civil rights of African
Americans. In the election of 1868 social and economic policies were the
major campaign issues. The Republicans backed Grant, who concluded his acceptance
speech with "Let us have peace." The general won the election.
When Grant appointed his cabinet, he did not turn to Republicans for their advice.
Instead, he chose people he thought he could trust and who would accept responsibility.
This led to some good cabinet appointments and to a number of dubious ones.
Grant was loyal to anyone who had helped him or worked with him,
and was sometimes unwilling to remove ineffective people. Some areas of his
administration suffered from incompetence and corruption.
In his first inaugural address, Grant spoke of his desire for the ratification of
the Fifteenth Amendment, which sought to grant citizens the right to vote regardless
of race or previous servitude. He lobbied hard to get the amendment passed, angering
many Southern whites in the process. He also, on occasion, sent in the military to
protect African Americans from newly formed terrorist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan,
which tried to prevent blacks from participating in society. Grant incurred the wrath
of citizens who blamed him for the economic woes that plagued the nation in the
aftermath of the war. In 1872, however, Grant won reelection.
During his second term, a depression in Europe spread to the United States, resulting
in high unemployment. Although Grant was never personally implicated in any scandals,
he did not disassociate himself from the members of his administration who were
guilty. His inability to clean up his administration tarnished his reputation
in the eyes of the public. In 1875, he announced that he would not seek
a third term. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the 1876 election.
After his presidency, Grant found himself in economic difficulties and dying of throat
cancer. He was determined to provide for his family after his death. After Century Magazine
approached him to write articles about his Civil War experiences, Grant discovered that
he liked to write and decided to compile his memoirs. His final days were spent on his
porch with pencil and paper in hand, scrawling out his life's tale. He completed the
book just days before his death. The book was successful and provided for his family's
financial security.
