Happy Birthday Ulysses Grant
On April 27, 1822 (199 years ago today) Hiram Ulysses Grant, the 18th President of the United States, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. When Congressman Thomas Hamer nominated Grant for admission to West Point Military Academy, he mistakenly listed Grant's name as "Ulysses S. Grant" and the name stuck for the rest of Grant's life. Even Grant himself decided to go by the name, rather than try and correct everyone who got it wrong. Emerging from a string of personal and business failures, Grant found success as a military commander in the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate Army as the war, and secession, ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox Court House.
A career soldier, Grant graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican-American War (along with many of the generals he would encounter during the Civil War, including Robert E. Lee, George McClellan and George Meade, as well as Confederate President Jefferson Davis). When the Civil War began in 1861, he left a job he hated, working in his father's tannery, and rejoined the Union army. In 1862, Grant was promoted to major general and took control of operations in Kentucky and most of Tennessee. He then led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh, and he earned a reputation for being an aggressive commander. Of Grant, President Abraham Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man, he fights!"
In July 1863, Grant defeated Confederate armies in Tennessee and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of lieutenant general and to commander of all of the Union armies. As commander, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles in 1864, which ended with Grant trapping Lee at Petersburg, Virginia. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns led by generals William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Henry Thomas in other theaters. Finally the Union Army captured Richmond in April 1865. Lee surrendered his depleted forces to Grant at Appomattox as the Confederacy collapsed. Some historians have hailed Grant's military genius, while others have criticized him for his heavy casualties.
After the Civil War, Grant was elected President in 1868 and served two terms. He worked to stabilize the nation during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed the war. He enforced civil rights laws and fought Ku Klux Klan violence. Grant encouraged passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, giving protection for African-American voting rights. He used the army to build the Republican Party in the South, based on support from "freedmen" (former slaves), Northern newcomers (known as "Carpetbaggers"), and native Southern white supporters (derisively called "Scalawags" by their opponents). Under Grant, African-Americans were represented in the Congress for the first time in American history in 1870.
In foreign policy, Grant worked to increase American trade and influence, while keeping the nation at peace. Even after his Republican Party split in 1872 Grant was easily reelected. But during his second term the nation's economy struggled during the Panic of 1873. Investigations exposed corruption scandals in the administration, not on the part of Grant, but perpetrated by those he trusted. When the Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives, conservative white Southerners regained control of Southern state governments and by the time Grant left office in 1877, his Reconstruction policies were being undermined. Although there were some gains in political and civil rights by African Americans in the early 1870s, by the time Grant left office in 1877, Democrats in the South had regained control of state governments, and most African-Americans lost their political power for nearly a century.
Grant's peace policy with Native Americans reduced violence and created the Board of Indian Commissioners, but conflict continued, which led to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. In his second term, Grant had to respond to a series of Congressional investigations into financial corruption in the government, including bribery charges against two cabinet members.
Grant's foreign policy, led by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, settled the Alabama Claims with Britain and avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair (discussed in another post in this community here). His efforts to annex the Dominican Republic failed.
After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that met with many enthusiastic receptions. In 1880, he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. When a business he lent his name to was swindled by one of his son's business partners, Grant sold off much of his Civil War and Presidential memorabilia to repay those who had lost money. But when he was struck by throat cancer later, Grant worried about how his family would be supported after he was gone. In order to provide for them, he wrote his memoirs during his dying days, and they were a critical and popular success.
When cancer took his life on July 23, 1885, his death prompted an outpouring of national mourning. Historians had until recently ranked Grant as among the worst presidents, but recent analyses including H. W. Brands' 2012 book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, have viewed Grant's presidency more favorably. His reputation had been marred by his defense of corrupt appointees and by his conservative deflationary policy during the Panic of 1873, but his reputation has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, his moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights.
Two other recent biographies of Grant that came out are American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (reviewed here in this community) and another by Ron Chernow and simply entitled Grant. Once considered as among the worst presidents in historian's rankings, Grant's reputation has undergone a rehabilitation, largely due to a modern day appreciation of the value of civil rights and those like Grant who valued those rights and strove to protect them at a time when many failed to appreciate their significance.
A career soldier, Grant graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican-American War (along with many of the generals he would encounter during the Civil War, including Robert E. Lee, George McClellan and George Meade, as well as Confederate President Jefferson Davis). When the Civil War began in 1861, he left a job he hated, working in his father's tannery, and rejoined the Union army. In 1862, Grant was promoted to major general and took control of operations in Kentucky and most of Tennessee. He then led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh, and he earned a reputation for being an aggressive commander. Of Grant, President Abraham Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man, he fights!"
In July 1863, Grant defeated Confederate armies in Tennessee and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of lieutenant general and to commander of all of the Union armies. As commander, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles in 1864, which ended with Grant trapping Lee at Petersburg, Virginia. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns led by generals William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Henry Thomas in other theaters. Finally the Union Army captured Richmond in April 1865. Lee surrendered his depleted forces to Grant at Appomattox as the Confederacy collapsed. Some historians have hailed Grant's military genius, while others have criticized him for his heavy casualties.
After the Civil War, Grant was elected President in 1868 and served two terms. He worked to stabilize the nation during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed the war. He enforced civil rights laws and fought Ku Klux Klan violence. Grant encouraged passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, giving protection for African-American voting rights. He used the army to build the Republican Party in the South, based on support from "freedmen" (former slaves), Northern newcomers (known as "Carpetbaggers"), and native Southern white supporters (derisively called "Scalawags" by their opponents). Under Grant, African-Americans were represented in the Congress for the first time in American history in 1870.
In foreign policy, Grant worked to increase American trade and influence, while keeping the nation at peace. Even after his Republican Party split in 1872 Grant was easily reelected. But during his second term the nation's economy struggled during the Panic of 1873. Investigations exposed corruption scandals in the administration, not on the part of Grant, but perpetrated by those he trusted. When the Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives, conservative white Southerners regained control of Southern state governments and by the time Grant left office in 1877, his Reconstruction policies were being undermined. Although there were some gains in political and civil rights by African Americans in the early 1870s, by the time Grant left office in 1877, Democrats in the South had regained control of state governments, and most African-Americans lost their political power for nearly a century.
Grant's peace policy with Native Americans reduced violence and created the Board of Indian Commissioners, but conflict continued, which led to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. In his second term, Grant had to respond to a series of Congressional investigations into financial corruption in the government, including bribery charges against two cabinet members.
Grant's foreign policy, led by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, settled the Alabama Claims with Britain and avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair (discussed in another post in this community here). His efforts to annex the Dominican Republic failed.
After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that met with many enthusiastic receptions. In 1880, he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. When a business he lent his name to was swindled by one of his son's business partners, Grant sold off much of his Civil War and Presidential memorabilia to repay those who had lost money. But when he was struck by throat cancer later, Grant worried about how his family would be supported after he was gone. In order to provide for them, he wrote his memoirs during his dying days, and they were a critical and popular success.
When cancer took his life on July 23, 1885, his death prompted an outpouring of national mourning. Historians had until recently ranked Grant as among the worst presidents, but recent analyses including H. W. Brands' 2012 book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, have viewed Grant's presidency more favorably. His reputation had been marred by his defense of corrupt appointees and by his conservative deflationary policy during the Panic of 1873, but his reputation has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, his moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights.
Two other recent biographies of Grant that came out are American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (reviewed here in this community) and another by Ron Chernow and simply entitled Grant. Once considered as among the worst presidents in historian's rankings, Grant's reputation has undergone a rehabilitation, largely due to a modern day appreciation of the value of civil rights and those like Grant who valued those rights and strove to protect them at a time when many failed to appreciate their significance.