Historical Figure
Ulysses S. Grant
1822–1885
Civil War general, U.S. president from 1869 to 1877
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Biography
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. He previously led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 as commanding general.
Timeline
The story of Ulysses S. Grant, told in moments.
Born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His father runs a tannery. Ulysses hates the smell of blood so much he can never eat rare meat for the rest of his life. He's quiet, short, and good with horses.
Graduates from West Point ranked 21st out of 39 cadets. He excels in horsemanship and mathematics, nothing else. His name is entered as "U.S. Grant" by mistake. He keeps it.
Resigns from the Army at 32. He's stationed on the Pacific coast, separated from his wife and children. Rumors of heavy drinking follow him. He tries farming, fails. Tries selling real estate, fails. By 1860 he's clerking in his father's leather shop in Galena, Illinois.
Captures Fort Donelson in Tennessee, demanding unconditional surrender. It's the Union's first major victory. The initials U.S. suddenly stand for "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. Lincoln notices.
Accepts the surrender of Vicksburg after a 47-day siege. The Confederacy is split in two. The Mississippi River belongs to the Union. Lincoln writes: "Grant is my man, and I am his the rest of the war."
Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House. Grant arrives in a mud-spattered uniform. Lee wears his finest dress coat with a jeweled sword. Grant's terms are generous. Confederate soldiers can keep their horses for spring planting. Officers keep their sidearms.
Elected president at 46, the youngest to that point. He wins Black voters' support by enforcing the Reconstruction amendments and breaking the Ku Klux Klan with federal troops. During his two terms, 15 African Americans serve in Congress for the first time.
Dies of throat cancer at a cottage in Mount McGregor, New York. He's 63. He spent his final year writing his Personal Memoirs while terminally ill, racing the cancer. Mark Twain published them. The book earned his widow $450,000 and is still considered one of the finest military autobiographies written in English.
In Their Own Words (20)
There is nothing more I should do to it now, and therefore I am not likely to be more ready to go than at this moment.
Note about his Memoirs about a week before he died, as quoted in Famous Last Words (2001) by Alan Bisbort, p. 30, 2001
I don't underrate the value of military knowledge, but if men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.
As quoted in A History of Militarism: Romance and Realities of a Profession (1937) by Alfred Vagts, p. 27, 1937
The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
Statement to John Hill Brinton, at the start of his Tennessee River Campaign, early 1862, as quoted in Personal Memoirs of John H. Brinton, Major and Surgeon U.S.V., 1861-1865 (1914) by John Hill Brinton, p. 239, 1914
My lord, I have heard that your father was a military man. Was that the case?
To Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington, son of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as quoted in Handy-book of Literary Curiosities (1892) by William Shepard Walsh, p. 511, 1892
I only know two tunes. One is Yankee Doodle, and the other one isn't.
Quoted by Robert C. Winthrop in a letter to George W. Childs (c. 1889), 1889
Artifacts (15)
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