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Ulysses S. Grant

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on the 27th of April 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio, but the name he carried for the rest of his life was a bureaucratic accident that would define his public persona. His father, Jesse Root Grant, a fervent abolitionist and Whig Party supporter, had named the boy Hiram Ulysses to honor his father-in-law, yet the boy was known simply as Ulysses. This early identity crisis foreshadowed a life where Grant would constantly struggle to reconcile his private self with the public image projected upon him. He was not a natural soldier, nor was he a politician by trade, yet he would become the general who saved the Union and the president who tried to hold it together. His journey began in a simple one-story structure near the Ohio River, far from the grandeur of the White House or the battlefield glory he would eventually achieve. He was a quiet man who preferred reading books from the library to his academic texts at West Point, and who developed an unusual ability to ride and manage horses that would later save his life in combat. Despite his father's expectations and the pressure of military life, Grant was indifferent to the army until he found his footing, eventually graduating on the 30th of June 1843, ranked 21st out of 39 in his class. He planned to resign his commission after his four-year term, later writing that among the happiest days of his life were the day he left the academy and the day he left the presidency. This early detachment from military ambition would become a recurring theme, as he was often drawn into leadership not by a thirst for power, but by a profound sense of duty.
The Civil War began on the 12th of April 1861 when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter, and Grant's response was immediate and decisive. He attended a mass meeting to assess the crisis and encouraged recruitment, declaring that there were but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots. His early commands were fraught with difficulty, as he was passed over by senior generals like George B. McClellan and Nathaniel Lyon, yet he persisted. By the 5th of August 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, and by the 2nd of September, he had taken Paducah, Kentucky, without a fight, assuring citizens that he had come among them not as an enemy but as a friend. His first major victory came at Fort Donelson on the 16th of February 1862, where he demanded unconditional and immediate surrender, earning him the nickname Unconditional Surrender Grant. The Battle of Shiloh on the 6th of April 1862 was a shock to the nation, with staggering casualties of 23,746, yet Grant's counterattack at dawn the next day regained the field. He realized then that the South was determined to fight and that the Union could only be saved by complete conquest. The Vicksburg campaign from 1862 to 1863 was his masterpiece, splitting the Confederacy in two and giving Union forces control of the Mississippi River. He ordered Admiral David Dixon Porter's gunboats to run the Confederate gauntlet at night, and his army captured Jackson and defeated Pemberton's army at the Battle of Champion Hill on the 16th of May 1863. The siege of Vicksburg lasted seven weeks, and on the 4th of July 1863, Pemberton surrendered, a victory that Grant later called the turning point of the war. He was promoted to lieutenant general on the 2nd of March 1864, a rank previously held only by George Washington, and given command of all Union armies. The Overland Campaign from May to June 1864 was a brutal series of battles, including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, where Grant suffered 12,000 to 14,000 casualties. He did not retreat after these defeats but continued to press Lee, understanding that the Union could afford the losses while the Confederacy could not. The Siege of Petersburg lasted nine months, and on the 9th of April 1865, Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond. Grant met Lee at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April 1865, and the terms of surrender were generous, allowing Confederate officers and men to return home without disturbance. The war ended with Lee's surrender on the 9th of April 1865, and Grant's strategy had succeeded in breaking the Confederate will to fight.

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1822 births1885 deaths19th-century American male writers19th-century American memoirists19th-century Methodists19th-century presidents of the United StatesActivists for African-American civil rightsAmerican MethodistsAmerican people of English descentAmerican people of Scotch-Irish descentCandidates in the 1868 United States presidential electionCandidates in the 1872 United States presidential electionCandidates in the 1880 United States presidential electionCivil rights in the United StatesCommanding Generals of the United States ArmyCongressional Gold Medal recipientsDeaths from throat cancer in New York (state)

Common questions

When was Ulysses S. Grant born and where did he grow up?

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on the 27th of April 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He grew up in a simple one-story structure near the Ohio River far from the grandeur of the White House.

What major Civil War battles did Ulysses S. Grant win to end the war?

Ulysses S. Grant won the Battle of Fort Donelson on the 16th of February 1862 and the Siege of Vicksburg which ended on the 4th of July 1863. He defeated General Lee at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April 1865 to end the war.

When did Ulysses S. Grant serve as president of the United States?

Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as the 18th president of the United States on the 4th of March 1869 and served until 1877. He signed legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park on the 1st of March 1872 during his term.

What economic scandals occurred during the Ulysses S. Grant administration?

The Gold Corner Conspiracy of 1869 involved Jay Gould and Jim Fisk conspiring to corner the gold market on Black Friday. The Credit Mobilier scandal and the Whiskey Ring scandal involved federal officials conspiring to defraud the government of tax revenue.

How did Ulysses S. Grant die and what legacy did he leave behind?

Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer on the 23rd of July 1885 while writing his memoirs. His legacy includes national unity and reconciliation though it suffered from the Lost Cause of the Confederacy before recovering in the 21st century.

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Grant was sworn in as the 18th president of the United States on the 4th of March 1869, and his inaugural address urged the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. He appointed Elihu B. Washburne as Secretary of State and John A. Rawlins as Secretary of War, and later Hamilton Fish as Secretary of State after Washburne resigned. Grant's cabinet included former New York Senator Hamilton Fish, Massachusetts Representative George S. Boutwell as Secretary of the Treasury, and New Jersey's attorney general George M. Robeson as Secretary of the Navy. He appointed more than fifty Jewish people to federal office to make up for his infamous General Order No. 11, including Edward S. Salomon as territorial governor of Washington, the first time an American Jewish man occupied a governor's seat. Grant signed legislation that established Yellowstone National Park on the 1st of March 1872, the first national park. He was sympathetic to women's rights, including suffrage, saying he wanted equal rights to all citizens. He signed the Naturalization Act on the 14th of July 1870, which gave foreign black people citizenship, and he signed the Enforcement Acts to protect black people and Reconstruction governments. His Attorney General, Amos T. Akerman, was zealous to destroy the Klan, and by 1872, the Klan's power had collapsed. Grant suspended habeas corpus in part of South Carolina and sent federal troops to help marshals, who initiated prosecutions. He ended the Brooks, Baxter War, bringing Reconstruction in Arkansas to a peaceful conclusion, and sent troops to New Orleans in the wake of the Colfax massacre. By 1875, Redeemer Democrats had taken control of all but three Southern states, and Grant's Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont declined to intervene directly. Grant later regretted not issuing a proclamation to help Adelbert Ames, having been told Republicans in Ohio would bolt the party if he did. He dispatched troops to South Carolina to keep Republican Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain in office, and after Grant left office, the Compromise of 1877 meant Republicans obtained the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes in return for ending enforcement of racial equality for black people and removing federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction. Grant's Native American policy was to assimilate Indians into Anglo-American culture, and he created the first Civil Service Commission on the 1st of July 1871, advancing the civil service more than any prior president.
Grant's presidency was marred by executive scandals that would haunt his legacy for decades. The Gold Corner Conspiracy of 1869 involved railroad tycoons Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, who conspired to corner the gold market in New York. They controlled the Erie Railroad, and a high gold price would allow foreign agriculture buyers to purchase exported crops, shipped east over the Erie's routes. Boutwell's policy of selling gold from the Treasury biweekly, however, kept gold artificially low. Unable to corrupt Boutwell, the schemers built a relationship with Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, and gained access to Grant. Gould bribed Assistant Treasurer Daniel Butterfield to gain inside information into the Treasury. In July, Grant reduced the sale of Treasury gold to $2,000,000 per month. Fisk told Grant his gold selling policy would destroy the nation. By September, Grant, who was naive regarding finance, was convinced a low gold price would help farmers, and the sale of gold for September was not decreased. On the 24th of September 1869, known as Black Friday, Grant ordered Boutwell to sell, whereupon Boutwell wired Butterfield to sell $4,000,000 in gold. The bull market at Gould's Gold Room collapsed, the price plummeted from 160 to 35, a bear market panic ensued, Gould and Fisk fled, and economic damages lasted months. The Panic of 1873 led to the Long Depression, which contributed to the Democrats winning the House majority in 1874. Grant's response to the economic crisis was ineffective in halting the Long Depression. The Credit Mobilier scandal involved the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Whiskey Ring scandal involved federal officials who conspired to defraud the government of tax revenue. Grant's Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, was impeached for taking bribes, and Grant's Secretary of the Navy, George M. Robeson, was involved in the Navy Yard Scandal. These scandals tarnished Grant's reputation, and he was inundated by executive scandals during his second term. The Democrats won the House majority in 1874, and Grant's popularity declined. The Senate rejected his proposal to annex Santo Domingo, and the Alabama Claims against Britain were peacefully resolved, but the Senate rejected his proposal to annex Santo Domingo. Grant's foreign policy was limited, and he relied heavily on his talented Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. The Treaty of Washington settled the Alabama Claims, and the settlement of $15,500,000 resolved troubled Anglo-American issues and turned Britain into America's strongest ally. The Korean expedition of 1871 was sent to open up trade with a country which had a policy that excluded trading with foreign powers, and to learn the fate of U.S. merchant ship SS General Sherman, which had disappeared up the Taedong River in 1866. Grant dispatched a land and naval force consisting of five warships and over 1,200 men, under Admiral John Rodgers.
Leaving office in 1877, Grant undertook a world tour, becoming the first president to circumnavigate the world. He visited Europe, Asia, and Africa, and was received with honor in many countries. In 1880, he was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican nomination for a non-consecutive third term. In 1885, impoverished and dying of throat cancer, Grant wrote his memoirs, covering his life through the Civil War, which were posthumously published and became a major critical and financial success. The memoirs were written with the help of his friend and biographer, John A. Rawlins, and they were published by the house of Charles L. Webster and Company. Grant's memoirs were a financial success, earning him and his family over $450,000, which was a significant sum at the time. The memoirs were also a critical success, and they were praised for their honesty and clarity. Grant's death on the 23rd of July 1885 was a national tragedy, and he was memorialized as a symbol of national unity. At his death, he was the most popular American, and his legacy was one of national unity and reconciliation. The Lost Cause of the Confederacy spread by Confederate sympathizers around the turn of the 20th century caused historical assessments and rankings of Grant's presidency to suffer considerably before they began recovering in the 21st century. Grant's critics take a negative view of his economic mismanagement and the corruption within his administration, while his admirers emphasize his policy towards Native Americans, vigorous enforcement of civil and voting rights for African Americans, and securing North and South as a single nation within the Union. 21st century scholarship has praised Grant's appointments of Cabinet reformers, and his legacy has been restored to its proper place in American history. Grant's life was a testament to the power of duty and the importance of unity, and his story continues to inspire generations of Americans.
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on the 27th of April 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio, but the name he carried for the rest of his life was a bureaucratic accident that would define his public persona. His father, Jesse Root Grant, a fervent abolitionist and Whig Party supporter, had named the boy Hiram Ulysses to honor his father-in-law, yet the boy was known simply as Ulysses. This early identity crisis foreshadowed a life where Grant would constantly struggle to reconcile his private self with the public image projected upon him. He was not a natural soldier, nor was he a politician by trade, yet he would become the general who saved the Union and the president who tried to hold it together. His journey began in a simple one-story structure near the Ohio River, far from the grandeur of the White House or the battlefield glory he would eventually achieve. He was a quiet man who preferred reading books from the library to his academic texts at West Point, and who developed an unusual ability to ride and manage horses that would later save his life in combat. Despite his father's expectations and the pressure of military life, Grant was indifferent to the army until he found his footing, eventually graduating on the 30th of June 1843, ranked 21st out of 39 in his class. He planned to resign his commission after his four-year term, later writing that among the happiest days of his life were the day he left the academy and the day he left the presidency. This early detachment from military ambition would become a recurring theme, as he was often drawn into leadership not by a thirst for power, but by a profound sense of duty.
The Civil War began on the 12th of April 1861 when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter, and Grant's response was immediate and decisive. He attended a mass meeting to assess the crisis and encouraged recruitment, declaring that there were but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots. His early commands were fraught with difficulty, as he was passed over by senior generals like George B. McClellan and Nathaniel Lyon, yet he persisted. By the 5th of August 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, and by the 2nd of September, he had taken Paducah, Kentucky, without a fight, assuring citizens that he had come among them not as an enemy but as a friend. His first major victory came at Fort Donelson on the 16th of February 1862, where he demanded unconditional and immediate surrender, earning him the nickname Unconditional Surrender Grant. The Battle of Shiloh on the 6th of April 1862 was a shock to the nation, with staggering casualties of 23,746, yet Grant's counterattack at dawn the next day regained the field. He realized then that the South was determined to fight and that the Union could only be saved by complete conquest. The Vicksburg campaign from 1862 to 1863 was his masterpiece, splitting the Confederacy in two and giving Union forces control of the Mississippi River. He ordered Admiral David Dixon Porter's gunboats to run the Confederate gauntlet at night, and his army captured Jackson and defeated Pemberton's army at the Battle of Champion Hill on the 16th of May 1863. The siege of Vicksburg lasted seven weeks, and on the 4th of July 1863, Pemberton surrendered, a victory that Grant later called the turning point of the war. He was promoted to lieutenant general on the 2nd of March 1864, a rank previously held only by George Washington, and given command of all Union armies. The Overland Campaign from May to June 1864 was a brutal series of battles, including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, where Grant suffered 12,000 to 14,000 casualties. He did not retreat after these defeats but continued to press Lee, understanding that the Union could afford the losses while the Confederacy could not. The Siege of Petersburg lasted nine months, and on the 9th of April 1865, Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond. Grant met Lee at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April 1865, and the terms of surrender were generous, allowing Confederate officers and men to return home without disturbance. The war ended with Lee's surrender on the 9th of April 1865, and Grant's strategy had succeeded in breaking the Confederate will to fight.
Grant was sworn in as the 18th president of the United States on the 4th of March 1869, and his inaugural address urged the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. He appointed Elihu B. Washburne as Secretary of State and John A. Rawlins as Secretary of War, and later Hamilton Fish as Secretary of State after Washburne resigned. Grant's cabinet included former New York Senator Hamilton Fish, Massachusetts Representative George S. Boutwell as Secretary of the Treasury, and New Jersey's attorney general George M. Robeson as Secretary of the Navy. He appointed more than fifty Jewish people to federal office to make up for his infamous General Order No. 11, including Edward S. Salomon as territorial governor of Washington, the first time an American Jewish man occupied a governor's seat. Grant signed legislation that established Yellowstone National Park on the 1st of March 1872, the first national park. He was sympathetic to women's rights, including suffrage, saying he wanted equal rights to all citizens. He signed the Naturalization Act on the 14th of July 1870, which gave foreign black people citizenship, and he signed the Enforcement Acts to protect black people and Reconstruction governments. His Attorney General, Amos T. Akerman, was zealous to destroy the Klan, and by 1872, the Klan's power had collapsed. Grant suspended habeas corpus in part of South Carolina and sent federal troops to help marshals, who initiated prosecutions. He ended the Brooks, Baxter War, bringing Reconstruction in Arkansas to a peaceful conclusion, and sent troops to New Orleans in the wake of the Colfax massacre. By 1875, Redeemer Democrats had taken control of all but three Southern states, and Grant's Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont declined to intervene directly. Grant later regretted not issuing a proclamation to help Adelbert Ames, having been told Republicans in Ohio would bolt the party if he did. He dispatched troops to South Carolina to keep Republican Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain in office, and after Grant left office, the Compromise of 1877 meant Republicans obtained the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes in return for ending enforcement of racial equality for black people and removing federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction. Grant's Native American policy was to assimilate Indians into Anglo-American culture, and he created the first Civil Service Commission on the 1st of July 1871, advancing the civil service more than any prior president.
Grant's presidency was marred by executive scandals that would haunt his legacy for decades. The Gold Corner Conspiracy of 1869 involved railroad tycoons Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, who conspired to corner the gold market in New York. They controlled the Erie Railroad, and a high gold price would allow foreign agriculture buyers to purchase exported crops, shipped east over the Erie's routes. Boutwell's policy of selling gold from the Treasury biweekly, however, kept gold artificially low. Unable to corrupt Boutwell, the schemers built a relationship with Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, and gained access to Grant. Gould bribed Assistant Treasurer Daniel Butterfield to gain inside information into the Treasury. In July, Grant reduced the sale of Treasury gold to $2,000,000 per month. Fisk told Grant his gold selling policy would destroy the nation. By September, Grant, who was naive regarding finance, was convinced a low gold price would help farmers, and the sale of gold for September was not decreased. On the 24th of September 1869, known as Black Friday, Grant ordered Boutwell to sell, whereupon Boutwell wired Butterfield to sell $4,000,000 in gold. The bull market at Gould's Gold Room collapsed, the price plummeted from 160 to 35, a bear market panic ensued, Gould and Fisk fled, and economic damages lasted months. The Panic of 1873 led to the Long Depression, which contributed to the Democrats winning the House majority in 1874. Grant's response to the economic crisis was ineffective in halting the Long Depression. The Credit Mobilier scandal involved the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Whiskey Ring scandal involved federal officials who conspired to defraud the government of tax revenue. Grant's Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, was impeached for taking bribes, and Grant's Secretary of the Navy, George M. Robeson, was involved in the Navy Yard Scandal. These scandals tarnished Grant's reputation, and he was inundated by executive scandals during his second term. The Democrats won the House majority in 1874, and Grant's popularity declined. The Senate rejected his proposal to annex Santo Domingo, and the Alabama Claims against Britain were peacefully resolved, but the Senate rejected his proposal to annex Santo Domingo. Grant's foreign policy was limited, and he relied heavily on his talented Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. The Treaty of Washington settled the Alabama Claims, and the settlement of $15,500,000 resolved troubled Anglo-American issues and turned Britain into America's strongest ally. The Korean expedition of 1871 was sent to open up trade with a country which had a policy that excluded trading with foreign powers, and to learn the fate of U.S. merchant ship SS General Sherman, which had disappeared up the Taedong River in 1866. Grant dispatched a land and naval force consisting of five warships and over 1,200 men, under Admiral John Rodgers.
Leaving office in 1877, Grant undertook a world tour, becoming the first president to circumnavigate the world. He visited Europe, Asia, and Africa, and was received with honor in many countries. In 1880, he was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican nomination for a non-consecutive third term. In 1885, impoverished and dying of throat cancer, Grant wrote his memoirs, covering his life through the Civil War, which were posthumously published and became a major critical and financial success. The memoirs were written with the help of his friend and biographer, John A. Rawlins, and they were published by the house of Charles L. Webster and Company. Grant's memoirs were a financial success, earning him and his family over $450,000, which was a significant sum at the time. The memoirs were also a critical success, and they were praised for their honesty and clarity. Grant's death on the 23rd of July 1885 was a national tragedy, and he was memorialized as a symbol of national unity. At his death, he was the most popular American, and his legacy was one of national unity and reconciliation. The Lost Cause of the Confederacy spread by Confederate sympathizers around the turn of the 20th century caused historical assessments and rankings of Grant's presidency to suffer considerably before they began recovering in the 21st century. Grant's critics take a negative view of his economic mismanagement and the corruption within his administration, while his admirers emphasize his policy towards Native Americans, vigorous enforcement of civil and voting rights for African Americans, and securing North and South as a single nation within the Union. 21st century scholarship has praised Grant's appointments of Cabinet reformers, and his legacy has been restored to its proper place in American history. Grant's life was a testament to the power of duty and the importance of unity, and his story continues to inspire generations of Americans.
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