Grant, Ulysses S. (redirected from General Grant)

Grant, Ulysses S.

 orig. Hiram Ulysses Grant

Ulysses S. Grant.

(credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, Ohio, U.S.—died July 23, 1885, Mount McGregor, N.Y.) U.S. general and 18th president of the U.S. (1869–77). He served in the Mexican War (1846–48) under Zachary Taylor. After two years' service on the Pacific coast (1852–54), during which he attempted to supplement his army pay with ultimately unsuccessful business ventures, he resigned his commission. His decision might have been influenced by his fondness for alcohol, which he reportedly drank often during this period. He worked unsuccessfully at farming in Missouri and at his family's leather business in Illinois. When the American Civil War began (1861), he was appointed brigadier general; his 1862 attack on Fort Donelson, Tenn., produced the first major Union victory. He drove off a Confederate attack at Shiloh but was criticized for heavy Union losses. He devised the campaign to take the stronghold of Vicksburg, Miss., in 1863, cutting the Confederacy in half from east to west. Following his victory at the Battle of Chattanooga in 1864, he was appointed commander of the Union army. While Gen. William T. Sherman made his famous march across Georgia, Grant attacked forces under Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia, bringing the war to an end in 1865. Grant's administrative ability and innovative strategies were largely responsible for the Union victory. In 1868 his successful Republican presidential campaign made him, at 46, the youngest man yet elected president. His two terms were marred by administrative inaction and political scandal involving members of his cabinet, including the Crédit Mobilier scandal and the Whiskey Ring conspiracy. He was more successful in foreign affairs, where he was aided by his secretary of state, Hamilton Fish. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of former slaves. His veto of a bill to increase the amount of legal tender (1874) diminished the currency crisis during the next 25 years. In 1881 he moved to New York City; when a partner defrauded an investment firm co-owned by his son, the family was impoverished. His memoirs were published by his friend Mark Twain.

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Grant, (Hiram) Ulysses S. (1822–85) eighteenth U.S. president; born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. The son of a tanner, he gained a place at West Point in 1839, from which he graduated with little distinction, except as a horseman. (It was at West Point that he was accidentally assigned the middle initial "S"; it is assumed it referred to his mother's maiden name, Simpson.) He served with considerable bravery in the Mexican War of 1846–48, but afterward languished in remote posts on the West Coast, taking to drink and finally resigning in 1854. He then spent six frustrating years in Missouri, farming and in other pursuits. When the Civil War began, he found a commission as a colonel and was promoted to general in August 1861. Soon he had proved himself the ablest of Northern leaders, winning a string of brilliant victories from 1862–63 that culminated in the capture of Vicksburg, Miss. After he had broken an apparently hopeless siege of Union forces in Chattanooga in late 1863, he was appointed by Lincoln to overall command of Union armies. In that post he created for the first time a single plan for the Union war effort; the main elements were Sherman's campaigns in Georgia and Grant's offensive against Lee in Virginia. After a year of brutal fighting, Lee surrendered to Grant in April 1865 and the Confederacy collapsed. The Republicans seized this war hero as their presidential candidate in 1868; he won a narrow victory in the popular vote. As president, he was out of his element; a cabinet of cronies and political contributors proved largely incompetent and corrupt, and Grant had no overall vision for the country. He managed to gain reelection in 1872 despite the Credit Mobilier and Whiskey Ring scandals and other sensations that would leave his administration—though not his personal integrity—tarnished. Grant left office to make a triumphant world tour, but did not succeed in his hopes for regaining the presidency. Having been swindled by a friend, he took to writing his memoirs to regain his fortune, finishing them a few days before his death.

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Grant, Ulysses S.

(1822–1885) 18th U.S. president; nicknamed “Unconditional Surrender.” [Am. Hist.: Kane, 523]

See : Obstinacy