# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Grant, Ulysses S.

Edition of 1892.
​ GRANT, Ulysses S., eighteenth president of the United States, born at Point Pleasant, Clermont co., Ohio, 27 April, 1822; died on Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, N. Y., 23 July, 1885. (See the accompanying view of Grant's birthplace.) He was of Scottish ancestry, but his family had been American in all its branches for eight generations. He was a descendant of Matthew Grant, who arrived at Dorchester, Mass., in May, 1630. His father was Jesse R. Grant, and his mother Hannah Simpson. They were married in June, 1821, in Clermont county, Ohio. Ulysses, the oldest of six children, spent his boyhood in assisting his father on the farm, a work more congenial to his tastes than working in the tannery of which his father was proprietor. He attended the village school, and in the spring of 1839 was appointed to a cadetship in the U. S. military academy by Thomas L. Hamer, M. C. The name given him at birth was Hiram Ulysses, but he was always called by his middle name. Mr. Hamer, thinking this his first name, and that his middle name was probably that of his mother's family, inserted in the official appointment the name of Ulysses S. The officials at West Point were notified by Cadet Grant of the error, but they did not feel authorized to correct it, and it was acquiesced in and became the name by which he was always known. As a student, Grant showed the greatest proficiency in mathematics, but he gained a fair standing in most of his studies, and at cavalry-drill he proved himself the best horseman in his class, and afterward was one of the best in the army. He was graduated in 1843, standing twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. He was commissioned, on graduation, as a brevet 2d lieutenant, and was attached to the 4th infantry and assigned to duty at Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis. (See portrait taken at this period on page 711.) In May, 1844, he accompanied his regiment to Camp Salubrity, Louisiana. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in September, 1845. That month he went with his regiment to Corpus Christi (now in Texas) to join the army of occupation, under command of Gen. Zachary Taylor.
He participated in the battle of Palo Alto, 8 May, 1846; and in that of Resaca de la Palma, 9 May, he commanded his company. On 19 Aug. he set out with the army for Monterey, Mexico, which was reached on 19 Sept. He had been appointed regimental quartermaster of the 4th infantry, and was placed in charge of the wagons and pack-train on this march. During the assault of the 21st on Black Fort, one of the works protecting Monterey, instead of remaining in camp in charge of the quartermaster's stores, he charged with his regiment, on horseback, being almost the only officer in the regiment that was mounted. The adjutant was killed in the charge, and Lieut. Grant was designated to take his place. On the 23d, when the troops had gained a position in the city of Monterey, a volunteer was called for to make his way to the rear under a heavy fire, to order up ammunition, Lieut. Grant volunteered, and ran the gauntlet in safety, accomplishing his mission. Garland's brigade, to which the 4th infantry belonged, was transferred from Twiggs's to Worth's division, and ordered back to the mouth of the Rio Grande, where it embarked for Vera Cruz, to join the army under Gen. Scott. It landed near that city on 9 March, 1847, and the investment was immediately begun. Lieut. Grant served with his regiment during the siege, until the capture of the place, 29 March, 1847. On 13 April his division began its march toward the city of Mexico; and he participated in the battle of Cerro Gordo, 17 and 18 April. The troops entered Pueblo on 15 May, and Lieut. Grant was there ordered to take charge of a large train of wagons, with an escort of fewer than a thousand men, to obtain forage. He made a two days' march and procured the necessary supplies. He participated in the capture of San Antonio and the battle of Churubusco, 20 Aug., and the battle of Molino del Rey, 8 Sept., 1847. In the latter engagement he was with the first troops that entered the mills. Seeing some of the enemy on the top of a building, he took a few men, climbed to the roof, received the surrender of six officers and quite a number of men. For this service he was brevetted a 1st lieutenant. He was engaged in the storming of Chapultepec on 13 Sept., distinguished himself by conspicuous services, was highly commended in the reports of his superior officers, and brevetted captain. While the troops were advancing against the city of Mexico on the 14th, observing a church from the top of which he believed the enemy could be dislodged from a defensive work, he called for volunteers, and with twelve men of the 4th infantry, who were afterward joined by a detachment of artillery, he made a flank movement, gained the church, mounted a howitzer in the belfry, using it with such effect that Gen. Worth sent for him and complimented him in person. He entered the city of Mexico with the army, 14 Sept., and a few days afterward was promoted to be 1st lieutenant. He remained with the army in the city of Mexico till the withdrawal of the troops in the summer of 1848, and then accompanied his regiment to Pascagoula, Miss. He there obtained leave of absence and went to St. Louis, where, on 22 Aug., 1848, he married Miss Julia B. Dent, sister of one of his classmates. He was soon afterward ordered to Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., and in April following to Detroit, Mich. In the spring of 1851 he was again transferred to Sackett's Harbor, and on 5 July, 1852, he sailed from New York with his regiment for California via the Isthmus of Panama. While the troops were crossing the isthmus, cholera carried off one seventh of the command. Lieut. Grant was left behind in charge of the sick, on Chagres river, and displayed great skill and devotion in caring for them and supplying means of transportation. On arriving in California, he spent a few weeks with his regiment at Benicia barracks, and then accompanied it to Fort Vancouver, Oregon. On 5 Aug., 1853, he was promoted to the captaincy of a company stationed at Humboldt bay, Cal., and in September he went to that post.
He resigned his commission, 31 July, 1854, and settled on a small farm near St. Louis. He was engaged in farming and in the real-estate business in St. Louis until May, 1860, when he removed to Galena, Ill., and there became a clerk in the hardware and leather store of his father, who in a letter ​to Gen. Jas. Grant Wilson, dated 20 March, 1868, writes: “After Ulysses's farming and real-estate experiments in St. Louis County, Mo., failed to be self-supporting, he came to me at this place [Covington, Ky.] for advice and assistance. I referred him to Simpson, my next oldest son, who had charge of my Galena business, and who was staying with me on account of ill health. Simpson sent him to the Galena store, to stay until something else might turn up in his favor, and told him he must confine his wants within $800 a year. That if that would not support him he must draw what it lacked from the rent of his house and the hire of his negroes in St. Louis. He went to Galena in April, 1860, about one year before the capture of Sumter; then he left. That amount would have supported his family then, but he owed debts at St. Louis, and did draw $1,500 in the year, but he paid back the balance after he went into the army.” When news was received of the beginning of the civil war, a public meeting was called in Galena, and Capt. Grant was chosen to preside. He took a pronounced stand in favor of the Union cause and a vigorous prosecution of the war. A company of volunteers was raised, which he drilled and accompanied to Springfield, Ill. Gov. Yates, of that state, employed Capt. Grant in the adjutant-general's department, and appointed him mustering officer. He offered his services to the National government in a letter written on May 24, 1861, but no answer was ever made to it. On 17 June he was appointed colonel of the 21st Illinois regiment of infantry, which had been mustered in at Mattoon. The regiment was transferred to Springfield, and on 3 July he went with it from that place to Palmyra, Mo., thence to Salt River, where it guarded a portion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and thence to the town of Mexico, where Gen. Pope was stationed as commander of the military district. On 31 July, Grant was assigned to the command of a sub-district under Gen. Pope, his troops consisting of three regiments of infantry and a section of artillery. He was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers on 7 Aug., the commission being dated back to 17 May, and was ordered to Ironton, Mo., to take command of a district in that part of the state, where he arrived 8 Aug. Ten days afterward he was ordered to St. Louis, and thence to Jefferson City. Eight days later he was directed to report in person at St. Louis, and on reaching there found that he had been assigned to the command of the district of southeastern Missouri, embracing all the territory in Missouri south of St. Louis, and all southern Illinois, with permanent headquarters at Cairo. He established temporary headquarters at Cape Giradeau, on the Mississippi, to superintend the fitting out of an expedition against the Confederate Col. Jeff. Thompson, and arrived at Cairo on 4 Sept. The next day he received information that the enemy was about to seize Paducah, Ky., at the mouth of the Tennessee, having already occupied Columbus and Hickman. He moved that night with two regiments of infantry and one battery of artillery, and occupied Paducah the next morning. He issued a proclamation to the citizens, saying, “I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors.” Kentucky had declared an intention to remain neutral in the war, and this prompt occupation of Paducah prevented the Confederates from getting a foothold there, and did much toward retaining the state within the Union lines. Gen. Sterling Price was advancing into Missouri with a Confederate force, and Grant was ordered, 1 Nov., to make a demonstration on both sides of the Mississippi, to prevent troops from being sent from Columbus and other points to re-enforce Price. On 6 Nov., Grant moved down the river with about 3,000 men on steamboats, accompanied by two gun-boats, debarked a few men on the Kentucky side that night, and learned that troops of the enemy were being ferried across from Columbus to re-enforce those on the west side of the river. A Confederate camp was established opposite, at Belmont, and Grant decided to attack it. On the morning of the 7th he debarked his troops three miles above the place, left a strong guard near the landing, and marched to the attack with about 2,500 men. A spirited engagement took place, in which Grant's horse was shot under him. The enemy was routed and his camp captured, but he soon rallied, and was re-enforced by detachments ferried across from Columbus, and Grant fell back and re-embarked. He got his men safely on the steamboats, and was himself the last one in the command to step aboard. He captured 175 prisoners and two guns, and spiked four other pieces, and lost 485 men. The Confederates lost 642. The opposing troops, including re-enforcements sent from Columbus, numbered about 7,000.
In January, 1862, he made a reconnoissance in force toward Columbus. He was struck with the advantage possessed by the enemy in holding Fort Henry on Tennessee river, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, and conceived the idea of capturing them before they could be further strengthened, by means of an expedition composed of the troops under his command, assisted by the gun-boats. He went to St. Louis and submitted his proposition to the department commander, Gen. Halleck, but was listened to with impatience, and his views were not approved. On 28 Jan. he telegraphed Halleck, renewing the suggestion, and saying, “If permitted, I could take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee.” Com. Foote, commanding the gun-boats, sent a similar despatch. On the 29th Grant also wrote urging the expedition. Assent was obtained on 1 Feb., and the expedition moved the next day. Gen. Tilghman surrendered Fort Henry on the 6th, after a bombardment by the gun-boats. He with his staff and ninety men were captured, but most of the garrison escaped and joined the troops in Fort Donelson, eleven miles distant, commanded by Gen. Floyd, who, after this re-enforcement, had about 21,000 men. Grant at once appeared to invest Donelson, and on the 12th began the siege with a command numbering 15,000, which was increased on the 14th to 27,000; but about 5,000 of these were employed in guarding roads and captured places. His artillery consisted of eight light batteries. The weather was extremely cold, the water high, much rain and snow fell, and the sufferings of the men were intense. The enemy's position, naturally strong, had been intrenched and fortified. There was heavy fighting on three successive days. On the 15th the enemy, fearing capture, made a desperate assault with the intention of cutting his way out. Grant detected the object of the movement, repelled the assault, and by a vigorous attack secured so commanding a position that the enemy saw further resistance would be useless. Floyd turned over the command to Pillow, who in turn resigned it to Buckner, and Floyd and Pillow escaped in the night on a steamboat. Over 3,000 infantry and the greater portion of Forrest's cavalry made their escape at the same time. On the 16th Buckner wrote proposing that commissioners be appointed to arrange for terms of capitulation. General Grant replied: “No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. ​I propose to move immediately upon your works.” The garrison was surrendered the same day, unconditionally. The capture included 14,623 men, 65 cannon, and 17,600 small-arms. The killed and wounded numbered about 2,500. Grant's loss was 2,041 in killed, wounded, and missing. This was the first capture of a prominent strategic point since the war began, and indeed the only substantial victory thus far for the National arms. It opened up two important navigable rivers, and left the enemy no strong foothold in Kentucky or Tennessee. Grant was soon afterward made a major-general of volunteers, his commission dating from 16 Feb., and his popularity throughout the country began from that day. He urged a prompt following up of this victory, and set out for Nashville, 28 Feb., without waiting for instructions, but telegraphing that he should go if he received no orders to the contrary. For this, and under the pretence that he had not forwarded to his superiors in command certain reports showing the strength and positions of his forces, he was deprived of his command, and ordered to remain at Fort Henry. He was not restored to command until 13 March, when his services were again required in view of the enemy's having concentrated a large army near Corinth, Miss., and he transferred his headquarters to Savannah, on Tennessee river, on the 17th. He found the forces under his command, numbering about 38,000 men, encamped on both sides of the river, and at once transferred them all to the west side and concentrated them in the vicinity of Pittsburg Landing. He there selected a favorable position, and put his army in line, with the right resting at Shiloh Church, nearly three miles from the river. He was directed not to attack the enemy, but to await the arrival of Gen. Buell's army of 40,000 men, which was marching southward through Tennessee to join Grant. On 6 April the Confederate army, numbering nearly 50,000 men, commanded by Gen. Albert S. Johnston, made a vigorous attack at daylight, drove the National troops back in some confusion, and continued to press the advantage gained during the entire day. Gen. Johnston was killed about one o'clock, and the command of the Confederates devolved upon Gen. Beauregard; 5,000 of Grant's troops did not arrive on the field during the day, so that his command was outnumbered, and it required all his efforts to hold his position on the river until evening. Late in the afternoon the head of Buell's column crossed the river, but not in time to participate actively in the fighting, as the enemy's attacks had ceased. Grant sought shelter that night in a hut; but the surgeons had made an amputating hospital of it, and he found the sight so painful that he went out into the rain-storm and slept under a tree. He had given orders for an advance all along the lines the next morning. Buell's troops had now joined him, and the attack was pushed with such vigor that the enemy were steadily driven back, and retreated nineteen miles to Corinth. On this day Grant's sword-scabbard was broken by a bullet. His loss in the battle was 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, 2,885 missing; total, 13,047. The enemy acknowledged a loss of 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 957 missing; total, 10,699; but there are evidences that it was much greater. The National officers estimated the Confederate dead alone at 4,000. On the 11th Gen. Halleck arrived at headquarters, and took command in person. The forces consisted now of the right and left wings, centre, and reserve, commanded respectively by Gens. Thomas, Pope, Buell, and McClernand, numbering in all nearly 120,000 men. The enemy was behind strong fortifications, and numbered over 50,000. Grant was named second in command of all the troops, but was especially intrusted with the right wing and reserve. On April 30 an advance was begun against Corinth, but the enemy evacuated the place and retreated, without fighting, on 30 May. On 21 June, Grant moved his headquarters to Memphis. Gen. Halleck was appointed general-in-chief of all the armies, 11 July. Grant returned to Corinth on 15 July, and on the 17th Halleck set out for Washington, leaving Grant in command of the Army of the Tennessee; and on 25 Oct. he was assigned to the command of the Department of the Tennessee, including Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, northern Mississippi, and portions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of Tennessee river. He ordered a movement against the enemy at Iuka to capture Price's force at that place, and a battle was fought on 19 and 20 Sept. The plan promised success, but the faults committed by the officer commanding one wing of the troops engaged permitted the enemy to escape. The National loss was 736, that of the Confederates 1,438. Grant strengthened the position around Corinth, and remained there about eight weeks. When the enemy afterward attacked it, 3 and 4 Oct., they met with a severe repulse. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was in immediate command of the National troops. On the 15th they were struck while in retreat, and badly beaten in the battle of the Hatchie. The entire National loss was 2,359. From the best attainable sources of information, the Confederates lost nearly twice that number.
After the battle of Corinth, Grant proposed to Halleck, in the latter part of October, a movement looking to the capture of Vicksburg. On 3 Nov. he left Jackson, Tenn., and made a movement with 30,000 men against Grand Junction, and on the 4th he had seized this place and La Grange. The force opposing him was about equal to his own. On the 13th his cavalry occupied Holly Springs; on 1 Dec. he advanced against the enemy's works on the Tallahatchie, which were hastily evacuated, and on the 5th reached Oxford. On the 8th he ordered Sherman to move down the Mississippi from Memphis to attack Vicksburg, Grant's column to co-operate with him by land. On 20 Dec. the enemy captured Holly Springs, which had been made a secondary base of supplies, and seized a large amount of stores. Col. Murphy, who surrendered the post without having taken any proper measures of defence, was dismissed from the service. The difficulties of protecting the long line of communication necessary for furnishing supplies, as well as other considerations, induced Grant to abandon the land expedition, and take command in person of the movement down the Mississippi. Sherman had reached Milliken's Bend, on the west side of the river, twenty miles above Vicksburg, on the ​24th, with about 32,000 men. He crossed the river, ascended the Yazoo to a point below Haines's Bluff, landed his forces, and made an assault upon the enemy's strongly fortified position at that place on the 29th, but was repelled with a loss of 175 killed, 930 wounded, and 743 missing. The enemy reported 63 killed, 134 wounded, and 10 missing. Grant's headquarters were established at Memphis on 10 Jan., and preparations were made for a concentrated movement against Vicksburg. On the 29th he arrived at Young's Point, opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, above Vicksburg, and took command in person of the operations against that city, his force numbering 50,000 men. Admiral Porter's co-operating fleet was composed of gun-boats of all classes, carrying 280 guns and 800 men. Three plans suggested themselves for reaching the high ground behind Vicksburg, the only position from which it could be besieged: First, to march the army down the west bank of the river, cross over below Vicksburg, and co-operate with Gen. Banks, who was in command of an expedition ascending the river from New Orleans, with a view to capturing Port Hudson and opening up a line for supplies from below. The high water and the condition of the country made this plan impracticable at that time. Second, to construct a canal across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, through which the fleet of gun-boats and transports could pass, and which could be held open as a line of communication for supplies. This plan was favored at Washington, and was put into execution at once; but the high water broke the levees, drowned out the camps, and flooded the country, and after two months of laborious effort Grant reported it impracticable. Third, to turn the Mississippi from its course by opening a new channel via Lake Providence and through various bayous to Red river. A force was set to work to develop this plan; but the way was tortuous and choked with timber, and by March it was found impossible to open a practicable channel. In the mean time an expedition was sent to the east side of the river to open a route via Yazoo pass, the Tallahatchie, the Yalabusha, and the Yazoo rivers; but insurmountable difficulties were encountered, and this attempt also had to be abandoned. Grant, having thoroughly tested all the safer plans, now determined to try a bolder and more hazardous one, which he had long had in contemplation, but which the high water had precluded. This was to run the batteries with the gun-boats and transports loaded with supplies, to march his troops down the west side of the river from Milliken's Bend to the vicinity of New Carthage, and there ferry them across to the east bank. The movement of the troops was begun on March 29. They were marched to New Carthage and Hard Times. On the night of 16 April the fleet ran the batteries under a severe fire. On April 29 the gun-boats attacked the works at Grand Gulf, but made little impression, and that night ran the batteries to a point below. On 30 April the advance of the army was ferried across to Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf and 30 miles south of Vicksburg, and marched out in the direction of Port Gibson. Everything was made subordinate to the celerity of the movement. The men had no supplies except such as they carried on their persons. Grant himself crossed the river with no personal baggage, and without even a horse; but obtained one raggedly equipped horse on the east side. The advance encountered the enemy, under Gen. Bowen, numbering between 7,000 and 8,000, on 1 May, near Port Gibson, routed him, and drove him in full retreat till nightfall. Grant's loss was 131 killed and 719 wounded. The Confederates reported their loss at 448 killed and wounded, and 384 missing; but it was somewhat larger, as Grant captured 650 prisoners. At Port Gibson he learned of the success of Grierson, whom he had despatched from La Grange, 17 April, and who had moved southward with 1,000 cavalry, torn up many miles of railroad, destroyed large amounts of supplies, and arrived, with but slight loss, at Baton Rouge, La., 2 May. On 3 May, Grant entered Grand Gulf, which had been evacuated. He was now opposed by two armies — one commanded by Gen. John C. Pemberton at Vicksburg, numbering about 52,000 men; the other by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Jackson, 50 miles east of Vicksburg, who was being rapidly re-enforced. Gen. Sherman had been ordered to make a demonstration against Haines's Bluff, to compel the enemy to detach troops for its defence and withhold them from Grant's front; and this feint was successfully executed, 30 April and 1 May, when Sherman received orders to retire and join the main army. Grant determined to move with celerity, place his force between the two armies of the enemy, and defeat them in detail before they could unite against him. He cut loose from his base, and ordered that the three days rations issued to the men should be made to last five days. Sherman's command reached Grand Gulf on the 6th. On the 12th Grant's advance, near Raymond, encountered the enemy approaching from Jackson, and defeated and drove him from the field with a loss of 100 killed, 305 wounded, 415 prisoners, and 2 guns. Grant's loss was 66 killed, 339 wounded, and 37 missing. He pushed on to Jackson, and captured it on the 14th, with a loss of 42 killed, and 251 wounded and missing. The enemy lost 845 in killed, wounded, and missing, and 17 guns. Grant now moved rapidly toward Vicksburg, and attacked Pemberton in a strong position at Champion Hill. After a hotly contested battle, the enemy was completely routed, with a loss of between 3,000 and 4,000 killed and wounded, 3,000 prisoners, and 30 guns; Grant's loss being 140 killed, 1,844 wounded, and 187 missing. The enemy made a stand at Big Black river bridge on the 17th, holding a strongly intrenched position; but by a vigorous assault the place was carried, and the enemy was driven across the river in great confusion, with the loss of many killed, 1,751 prisoners, and 18 guns. Grant's loss was but 39 killed, 237 wounded, and 3 missing. On the 18th the National army closed up against the outworks of Vicksburg, driving the enemy inside his fortifications. Sherman took possession of Haines's Bluff, a base for supplies was established at Chickasaw Landing, and on the 21st the army was once more supplied with full rations. On 19 and 22 May assaults were made upon the enemy's lines, but only a few outworks were carried, and on the 23d the siege was regularly begun. By 30 June there were 220 guns in position, all light field-pieces except six 32-pounders and a battery of heavy guns supplied by the navy. Grant now had 71,000 men to conduct the siege and defend his position against Johnston's army threatening him in the rear. The operations were pressed day and night; there was mining and countermining; and the lines were pushed closer and closer, until the garrison abandoned all hope. On 3 July Pemberton asked for an armistice, and proposed the appointment of commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation. Grant replied that there could be no terms but unconditional surrender; and this was made on the 4th of July. He permitted the officers and ​men to be paroled, the officers to retain their private baggage and side-arms, and each mounted officer one horse. Grant showed every consideration to the vanquished, supplied them with full rations, and, when they marched out, issued an order saying, “Instruct the commands to be orderly and quiet as these prisoners pass, and to make no offensive remarks.” The surrender included 31,600 prisoners, 172 cannon, 60,000 muskets, and a large amount of ammunition. Grant's total loss in the Vicksburg campaign was 8,873; that of the enemy nearly 60,000. Port Hudson now surrendered to Banks, and the Mississippi was opened from its source to its mouth. Grant was made a major-general in the regular army; and congress, when it assembled, passed a resolution ordering a gold medal to be presented to him (see illustration), and returning thanks to him and his army.
He soon recommended a movement against Mobile, but it was not approved. He went to New Orleans, 30 Aug., to confer with Banks, and while there was severely injured by a fall from his horse, while engaged in a trial of speed with the senior editor of this work. For nearly three months he was unable to walk unaided, but on 16 Sept. set out for Vicksburg, being carried on board the steamboat. He received orders from Washington on the 27th to send all available forces to the vicinity of Chattanooga, to co-operate with Rosecrans. While personally superintending the carrying out of this order, he received instructions, 10 Oct., to report at Cairo. He arrived there on the 16th, and was directed to proceed to Louisville. At Indianapolis he was met by Mr. Stanton, secretary of war, who accompanied him to Louisville and delivered an order to him placing him in command of the military division of the Mississippi, which was to embrace the departments and armies of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio. He at once went to Chattanooga, arriving on the 23d, and took command there in person. On 29 Oct. the battle of Wauhatchie was fought, and a much-needed line of communication for supplies was opened to the troops in and around Chattanooga, besieged by Bragg's army, which held a strongly fortified position. Thomas commanded the Army of the Cumberland, which held Chattanooga; Sherman, who had succeeded Grant in command of the Army of the Tennessee, was ordered to bring all his available troops to join Thomas; and Burnside, who was in Knoxville, in command of the Army of the Ohio, besieged by Longstreet's corps, was ordered to hold his position at all hazards till Bragg should be crushed and a force could be sent to the relief of Knoxville. Grant, having concentrated his troops near Chattanooga, made an assault upon the enemy's lines on the 23d, which resulted in carrying important positions. The attack was continued on the 24th and 25th, when the enemy's entire line was captured, and his army completely routed and driven out of Tennessee. Grant's forces consisted of 60,000 men; those of the Confederates, 45,000. The enemy's losses were reported at 361 killed and 2,180 wounded, but were undoubtedly greater. There were captured 6,442 men, 40 pieces of artillery, and 7,000 stands of small-arms. Grant's losses were 757 killed, 4,529 wounded, and 330 missing. On the 28th a force was despatched to Knoxville, the command of the expedition being given to Sherman. On the 29th Longstreet assaulted Knoxville before the arrival of the troops sent for its relief, but was repelled by Burnside, and retreated. Grant visited Knoxville the last week in December, and went from there to Nashville, where he established his headquarters, 13 Jan., 1864. He now ordered Sherman to march a force from Vicksburg into the interior to destroy the enemy's communications and supplies. It moved on 3 Feb., went as far as Meridian, reaching there 14 Feb., and, after destroying railroads and great quantities of supplies, returned to Vicksburg. The grade of lieutenant-general was revived by act of congress in February, and Grant was nominated for that office on 1 March, and confirmed by the senate on the 2d. He left Nashville on the 4th, in obedience to an order calling him to Washington, arrived there on the 8th, and received his commission from the president on the 9th. He was assigned to the command of all the armies on the 12th (Sherman being given the command of the military division of the Mississippi on the 18th), and established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac at Culpepper, Va., on the 26th.
Grant now determined to concentrate all the National forces into several distinct armies, which should move simultaneously against the opposing Confederate armies, operate vigorously and continuously, and prevent them from detaching forces to strengthen threatened points, or for the purpose of making raids. He announced that the Confederate armies would be the only objective points in the coming campaigns. Sherman was to move toward Atlanta against Johnston. Banks's army, after it could be withdrawn from the Red river expedition, was to operate against Mobile. Sigel was to move down the valley of Virginia against Breckenridge to destroy communications and supplies, and prevent raids from that quarter. Butler was to ascend the James river and threaten Richmond. The Army of the Potomac, re-enforced by Burnside's troops and commanded by Meade, was to cover Washington, and assume the offensive against the Army of northern Virginia, commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee. Orders were issued for a general movement of all the armies in the field on 4 May. During the night of the 4th and 5th Grant crossed the Rapidan and encountered Lee in the Wilderness, where a desperate battle was fought on the 5th, 6th, and 7th. Grant's loss was 2,261 killed, 8,785 wounded, and 2,902 missing. Lee's losses have never been reported; but, as he was generally the attacking party, he probably lost more. He fell back on the 7th, and on that day and the next took up a strong defensive position at Spottsylvania. Grant moved forward on the night of the 7th. As he rode through the troops, the men greeted him as their new commander with an extraordinary demonstration in recognition of the victory, shouting, cheering, and kindling bonfires by the road-side as he passed. The 8th and 9th were spent by both armies in skirmishing and manœuvring for position. Sheridan's cavalry was despatched on the 9th to make a raid in rear of the enemy and threaten Richmond. On the 10th there was heavy fighting, with no decisive results, and on the llth skirmishing ​and reconnoitring. On the morning of this day Grant sent a letter to Washington containing the famous sentence, “I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.” On the 12th a heavy assault was made on Lee's line, near the centre, in which he lost nearly 4,000 prisoners and 30 guns. Violent storms now caused a cessation in the fighting for several days. On the 19th, Ewell's corps, of Lee's army, moved around Grant's right flank and attacked, but was repelled after hard fighting. Grant's losses from the 8th to 21st of May, around Spottsylvania, were 2,271 killed, 9,360 wounded, and 1,970 missing. The estimate of the enemy's loss in killed and wounded was nearly as great as that of the National army, besides about 4,000 prisoners and 30 cannon captured. In the meantime Butler had occupied Bermuda Hundred, below Richmond. Sherman had reached Dalton, Ga., and was steadily driving Johnston's army toward Atlanta. But Sigel had been forced to retreat before Breckenridge. On the 21st, Grant moved by the left flank to North Anna river, where he again encountered Lee, and after several engagements moved again by the left from that position on the 27th toward Cold Harbor. Grant's losses between the 20th and 26th were 186 killed, 792 wounded, and 165 missing. Lee's losses during this period have never been fully ascertained. After much fighting by detached portions of the two armies, Grant made a general assault upon Lee's heavily intrenched position at Cold Harbor on 3 June, but did not succeed in carrying it, being repelled with a loss of about 7,000 in killed, wounded, and missing, while Lee's loss was probably not more than 2,500. The campaign had now lasted thirty days. Grant had received during this time about 40,000 re-enforcements, and had lost 39,259 men — 6,586 killed, 26,047 wounded, and 6,626 missing. Lee had received about 30,000 re-enforcements. There are no official figures as to his exact losses, but they have been estimated at about equal to his re-enforcements. Sherman had now reached Kenesaw, within thirty miles of Atlanta; and on the 7th news arrived that Hunter, who had succeeded Sigel, had gained a victory and had seized Staunton, on the Virginia Central railroad. Grant made preparations for transferring the Army of the Potomac to the south side of James river, to operate against Petersburg and Richmond from a more advantageous position. The army was withdrawn from the enemy's front on the night of 12 June, and the crossing of the river began on the 13th, and occupied three days. A force had also been sent around by water, by York and James rivers to City Point, to move against Petersburg. On the 15th the advanced troops attacked the works in front of that place; but, night coming on, the successes gained were not followed up by the commanders, and the next morning the position had been re-enforced and strengthened. An assault was made on the afternoon of the 16th, which was followed up on the 17th and 18th, and the result was the capture of important outworks, and the possession of a line closer to Petersburg. Lee's army had arrived, and again confronted the Army of the Potomac. Grant's headquarters had been established at City Point. On 22 and 23 June he made a movement from the left toward the Weldon railroad, and heavy fighting took place, with but little result, except to render Lee's use of that line of communication more precarious. Sheridan had set out on a raid from Pamunkey river, 7 June, and, after defeating the enemy's cavalry, in the battle of Trevilian Station, destroying portions of the Virginia railroad, and inflicting other damage, he returned to White House, on York river, on the 20th. From there he crossed the James and rejoined the Army of the Potomac. A cavalry force under Gen. James H. Wilson had also been sent to the south and west of Petersburg, which destroyed railroad property, and for a time seriously interrupted the enemy's communications via the Danville and South-side railroads. Hunter, in the valley of Virginia, had destroyed the stores captured at Staunton and Lexington, and moved to Lynchburg. This place was re-enforced, and, after sharp fighting, Hunter fell back, pursued by a heavy force, to Kanawha river. Early's army drove the National troops out of Martinsburg, crossed the upper Potomac, and moved upon Hagerstown and Frederick. There was great consternation in Washington, and Grant was harassed by many anxieties. On 11 July, Early advanced against the fortifications on the north side of Washington; but Grant had sent the 6th corps there, which arrived opportunely, and the enemy did not attack. Sherman had outflanked Johnston at Kenesaw, crossed the Chattahoochee on 17 July, driven the enemy into his works around Atlanta, and destroyed a portion of the railroad in his rear. In Burnside's front, before Petersburg, a large mine had been constructed beneath the enemy's works. Many of Lee's troops had been decoyed to the north side of the James by feints made upon the lines there. The mine was fired at daylight on the morning of 30 July. A defective fuse caused a delay in the explosion, and when it occurred the assault ordered was badly executed by the officers in charge of it. Confusion arose, the place was re-enforced, and the National troops had to be withdrawn, after sustaining a heavy loss. Grant, in his anxiety to correct the errors of his subordinates, dismounted and made his way to the extreme front, giving directions in person, and exposing himself to a most destructive fire. He went to Monocacy 5 Aug., had Sheridan meet him there on the 6th, and placed him in command of all the forces concentrated in Maryland, with directions to operate against Early's command. On 14 Aug., Hancock's corps was sent to the north side of the James, and made a demonstration against the enemy at Deep Bottom, to develop his strength and prevent him from detaching troops to send against Sheridan. This resulted in the capture of six pieces of artillery and a few prisoners. On 18 Aug., Warren's corps moved out and, after heavy fighting, seized and held a position on the Weldon railroad. Fighting continued on the 19th, with Warren's troops re-enforced by part of the 9th corps. Lee attempted to recover the Weldon road by an assault on the 21st, but was repelled. On the 23d, Ream's Station was occupied by the National troops, and the enemy attacked them in this place in force. Two assaults were successfully met, but the place was finally captured, and the National troops were compelled to fall back. Sherman's series of brilliant battles and manœuvres around Atlanta had forced the enemy to evacuate that place, and his troops entered the city on 2 Sept. Sheridan attacked Early's army on 19 Sept., and in the battle of Winchester completely routed him. He pursued the enemy to Fisher's Hill, and on the 22d gained another signal victory. Grant now made several movements against Richmond and Petersburg, intended to keep Lee from detaching troops, to extend the National lines, and to take advantage of any weak spot in the enemy's front, with a view to penetrate it. On 29 Sept., Butler's forces were ordered to ​make an advance upon the works at Deep Bottom. Fort Harrison, the strongest work north of the James, was captured, with 15 guns and several hundred prisoners. On the 30th the enemy made three attempts to retake it by assault, but was each time repelled with heavy loss. On the same day Meade moved out and carried two redoubts and a line of rifle-pits at Peebles's farm, two miles west of the Weldon railroad. On 1 Oct., Meade's left was attacked; but it successfully repelled the assault, and he advanced his line on the 2d. Butler lost, in the engagements of the 29th and 30th, 394 killed, 1,554 wounded, and 324 missing. Meade lost, from 30 Sept. to 2 Oct., 151 killed, 510 wounded, and 1,348 missing. On 19 Oct., Sheridan's army was attacked by Early at Cedar Creek. Sheridan, who was on his return from Washington, rode twenty miles from Winchester, turned a defeat into a decisive victory, captured 24 guns, 1,600 prisoners, and 300 wagons, and left the enemy a complete wreck. On 27 Oct., Butler was ordered to make a demonstration against the enemy's line in his front, and had some fighting. At the same time, Meade moved out to Hatcher's run; but the enemy was found strongly intrenched, the ground very difficult, and no assault was attempted. In the afternoon a heavy attack was made by the enemy, but was successfully resisted. That night the National forces were withdrawn to their former positions. Meade's loss was 143 killed, 653 wounded, and 488 missing. The enemy's casualties were greater, as he lost in prisoners alone about 1,300 men. Butler lost on this day 700 in killed and wounded, and 400 prisoners.
Sherman destroyed the railroad in his rear, cut loose from his base, and set out from Atlanta, 16 Nov., on his march to Savannah. Gen. John D. Hood, who had superseded Johnston, instead of following Sherman, turned northward and moved his army against Thomas, who had been placed in command of the troops left for the defence of Tennessee. Thomas concentrated his forces in the vicinity of Nashville. Schofield was at Franklin, twenty-five miles from Nashville, with about 26,000 men. Hood attacked him on 30 Nov., but after a hotly contested battle was repelled with heavy loss. Thomas, with his entire army, attacked Hood, and in the battle of Nashville, 15 and 16 Dec., completely defeated the enemy, capturing 53 guns and 4,462 prisoners, and drove him south of Tennessee river. Sherman reached the sea-coast near Savannah on 14 Dec., after destroying about 200 miles of railroad and $100,000,000 worth of property. He invested Savannah, and forced the enemy to evacuate it on the night of 20 Dec. Grant had sent Butler in charge of an expedition against Fort Fisher, at the mouth of Cape Fear river, to act in conjunction with the naval fleet under Admiral Porter. He sailed from Fort Monroe, 14 Dec., landed his troops 25 Dec., and advanced against the fort, which had been vigorously shelled by the navy; but, while the assaulting party had every prospect of entering the work, they received an order to fall back and re-embark. The expedition reached Fort Monroe, on its return, 27 Dec. Butler was relieved, and Gen. E. O. C. Ord was assigned to the command of the army of the James. Grant fitted out another expedition against Fort Fisher, under Gen. Alfred H. Terry, which sailed from Fort Monroe on 6 Jan., 1865. On the 13th the navy directed a heavy fire against the fort. Terry landed his troops, intrenched against a force of the enemy threatening him from the direction of Wilmington, and on the 15th made a vigorous assault, capturing the fort with its garrison and 169 heavy guns, and a large quantity of ammunition. It was at first thought best to transfer Sherman's army by sea to Virginia, but this plan was abandoned, and on 27 Dec. he was ordered to move north by land. His army numbered 60,000 men, and was accompanied by 68 guns and 2,500 wagons. On 7 Jan., Schofield was directed to bring his army, then at Clifton, Tenn., to the sea-coast. It reached Washington and Alexandria, 31 Jan., and on 9 Feb. arrived at the mouth of Cape Fear river, with instructions to operate against Wilmington and penetrate the interior. He entered Wilmington on 22 Feb., it having been evacuated by the enemy, and took 51 heavy guns, 15 light guns, and 800 prisoners. His own loss in these operations was about 200 in killed and wounded. He moved thence to Goldsboro, where it was intended he should form a junction with Sherman. On 2 March, Lee addressed a letter to Grant, suggesting a personal meeting with a view to arranging subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a convention; but Grant replied that he had no authority to accede to the proposition; that he had a right to act only on subjects of a purely military character.
​All was now in readiness for the spring campaign, which Grant intended should be the last. President Lincoln, between whom and Grant had sprung up a strong personal attachment, visited him at City Point on 22 March, and Sherman came there on the 27th. They, with Grant and Admiral Porter, held an informal conference, and on the 28th Sherman set out again to join his army. At daylight, on 25 March, Lee had made a determined assault on Grant's right, capturing Fort Steadman, breaking through the National lines, and gaining possession of several batteries. In a few hours he was driven back, and all the captured positions were regained. Lee took this step to endeavor to force the withdrawal of troops in front of his left, and enable him to leave his intrenchments and retreat toward Danville. Its failure prevented the attempt. The country roads being considered sufficiently dry, Grant had issued orders for a general advance on the 29th, and these were carried out at the appointed time. Sheridan, with his cavalry, was sent in advance to Dinwiddie Court-House. The 5th corps had some fighting on the 29th, and in moving forward on the 31st was attacked and driven back a mile. Supported by a part of the 2d corps, it made a counter-attack, drove the enemy back into his breastworks, and secured an advanced position. Sheridan had pushed on to Five Forks, but his command encountered a strong force of infantry and cavalry, and after heavy fighting all day he fell back to Dinwiddie Court-House, where he repelled the repeated assaults made upon him, and held the place. The 5th corps was that night ordered to report to Sheridan. The enemy, on the morning of 1 April, fell back toward Five Forks, closely followed by the cavalry, which pressed him closely. In the afternoon he had taken up a strongly intrenched position at Five Forks, on Lee's extreme right. The 5th corps having joined Sheridan, he made a combined attack, with infantry and cavalry, and by nightfall had gained a brilliant victory, capturing the Confederate works, 6 guns, and nearly 6,000 prisoners. His cavalry pursued the broken and flying enemy for six miles beyond the field of battle. That night, after getting the full details of Sheridan's success, Grant determined to make a vigorous assault the next day, with all his troops, upon the lines around Petersburg. It began at daylight, 2 April; the works were carried, and in a few hours Grant was closing in upon the inner defences of the city. Two of the forts, Gregg and Whitworth, were secured in the afternoon. The former was captured by assault, the latter was evacuated; 12,000 prisoners and over fifty guns were already in Grant's hands. Richmond and Petersburg were evacuated that night, and the National forces entered and took possession on the morning of the 3d. Grant, anticipating this, had begun a movement westward during the night, to head off Lee from Danville, and a vigorous pursuit by the whole army was ordered. It became evident that Lee was moving toward Amelia Court-House, and a force was urged forward to Jetersville, on the Danville railroad, to get between him and Danville. Part of Sheridan's cavalry and the head of the 5th corps reached there on the afternoon of the 4th and intrenched. The Army of the Potomac arrived by forced marches on the 5th, while the Army of the James, under Ord, pushed on toward Burkesville. An attack was ordered upon Lee on the morning of the 6th, but he had left Amelia Court-House during the night, and was pushing on toward Farmville by the Deatonsville road. He was closely pursued, and on the afternoon of the 6th, Sheridan, with his cavalry and the 6th corps, attacked him at Sailor's Creek, capturing 7 general officers, about 7,000 men, and 14 guns. The 2d corps had kept up a running fight with the enemy all day, and had captured 4 guns, 17,000 prisoners, 13 flags, and 300 wagons. Lee was continuing his retreat through Farmville, and Grant urged troops to that place by forced marches on the 7th. The 2d corps and a portion of the cavalry had been repelled in their attacks on Lee, north of the Appomattox, and the 6th corps crossed from Farmville on the evening of the 7th to re-enforce them. That night Grant sent a note from Farmville to Lee, calling his attention to the hopelessness of further resistance, and asking the surrender of his army. He received a reply from Lee on the morning of the 8th, saying he was not entirely of Grant's opinion as to the hopelessness of further resistance, but asking what terms would be offered. Grant, who was still at Farmville, immediately replied, saying that, as peace was his great desire, he would insist on but one condition — that the men and officers surrendered should be disqualified from taking up arms again until properly exchanged. On the 8th Lee's troops were in full retreat on the north side of the Appomattox. The 2d and 6th corps followed in hot pursuit on that side, while Sheridan, Ord, and the 5th corps were pushed forward with all speed on the south side to head off Lee from Lynchburg. Near midnight on the night of the 8th Grant received another note from Lee, saying he had not intended to propose the surrender of his army, but desired to know whether Grant's proposals would lead to peace, and suggested a meeting at 10 A. M. the next morning. Grant replied that such a meeting could lead to no good, as he had no authority to treat on the subject of peace, but suggested that the south's laying down their arms would hasten the event and save thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of property. Early on the morning of 9 April, Lee's advance arrived at Appomattox Court-House; but, by extraordinary forced marches, Sheridan, Ord, and Griffin reached that place at the same time. Lee attacked the cavalry; but, when he found infantry in his front, he sent in a flag of truce, and forwarded a note to Grant, asking an interview in accordance with the offer contained in Grant's letter of the day before. Grant received it on the road while riding toward Appomattox Court-House, and sent a reply saying he would move forward and meet Lee at any place he might select. They met in the McLean house, in Appomattox (see accompanying illustration), on the afternoon of the 9th, and the terms of surrender were drawn up by Grant and accepted by Lee. The conference lasted about three hours. The men and officers were paroled and allowed to ​return to their homes; all public property was to be turned over, but the officers were allowed to keep their side-arms, and both officers and men to retain their private horses and baggage. These terms were so magnanimous, and the treatment of Lee and his officers so considerate, that the effect was to induce other Confederates to seek the same terms and bring the rebellion to a speedy close. In riding to his camp after the surrender, Grant heard the firing of salutes. He sent at once to suppress them, and said: “The war is over; the rebels are again our countrymen, and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field.” The number paroled was 28,356. In addition to these, 19,132 had been captured during the campaign since March 29. The killed were estimated at 5,000. After 9 April, over 20,000 stragglers and deserters besides came in and surrendered. The National losses during this period were 2,000 killed, 6,500 wounded, and 2,500 missing. Grant's losses, including those of Butler's army, during the year beginning with the battle of the Wilderness, were 12,663 killed, 49,559 wounded, and 20,498 missing; total, 82,700. No accurate reports of the Confederate losses can be obtained; but Grant's captures in battle during this year were 66,512.
On 10 April, Grant went to Washington to hasten the disbanding of the armies, stop purchases of supplies, and save expense to the government. He did not stop to visit Richmond. President Lincoln was assassinated on the 14th, and Grant would probably have shared the same fate but for his having left Washington that day. On 18 April, Sherman received the surrender of Johnston's army, but on terms that the government did not approve, and Grant was sent to North Carolina to conduct further negotiations. On the 26th Johnston surrendered to Sherman on terms similar to those given to Lee, and 31,243 men were paroled. Grant remained at Raleigh and avoided being present at the interview, leaving to Sherman the full credit of the capture. Canby's force appeared before Mobile on 27 March, the principal defensive works were captured on 9 April, and Mobile was evacuated on the llth, when 200 guns and 4,000 prisoners were captured, but about 9,000 of the garrison escaped. Wilson's cavalry command captured Selma, Ala., on 2 April, and Tuscaloosa on the 4th, occupied Montgomery on the 14th, and took West Point and Columbus, Ga., on the 16th. Macon surrendered on the 21st. Kirby Smith surrendered his command, west of the Mississippi, on the 26th. There was then not an armed enemy left in the country, and the rebellion was ended. Grant established his headquarters in Washington. He was greeted with ovations wherever he went, honors were heaped upon him in every part of the land, and he was universally hailed as the country's deliverer. In June, July, and August, 1865, he made a tour through the northern States and Canada. In November he was welcomed in New York by a demonstration that exceeded all previous efforts. It consisted of a banquet and reception, and the manifestations of the people in their greetings knew no bounds. Immediately after the war, Grant sent Gen. Sheridan with an army corps to the Rio Grande river to observe the movements of the French, who were then in Mexico supporting the Imperial government there in violation of the Monroe doctrine. This demonstration was the chief cause of the withdrawal of the French. Maximilian, being left without assistance from a European power, was soon driven from his throne, and the republic of Mexico was re-established.
The U. S. court in Virginia had found indictments against Gen. Lee and other officers prominent in the rebellion, and much anxiety was manifested by them on this account. Two months after the war, Lee applied by letter to be permitted to enjoy privileges extended to those included in a proclamation of amnesty, which had been issued by the president. Grant put an indorsement on the letter, which began as follows: “Respectfully forwarded through the secretary of war to the president, with the earnest recommendation that the application of Gen. Robert E. Lee for amnesty and pardon be granted him.” But President Johnson was at that time embittered against all participants in the rebellion, and seemed determined to have Lee and others punished for the crime of treason. Lee afterward made a strong plea by letter to Grant for protection. Grant put a long and emphatic endorsement upon this letter, in which he used the following language: “In my opinion, the officers and men paroled at Appomattox Court-House and since, upon the same terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for treason so long as they preserve the terms of their parole. . . . The action of Judge Underwood in Norfolk has already had an injurious effect, and I would ask that he be ordered to quash all indictments found against paroled prisoners of war, and to desist from further prosecution of them.” Grant insisted that he had the power to accord the terms he granted at Appomattox, and that the president was bound to respect the agreements there entered into unless they should be abrogated by the prisoners violating their paroles. He went so far as to declare that he would resign his commission if so gross a breach of good faith should be perpetrated by the executive. The result was the abandonment of the prosecutions. This was the first of a series of contests between Grant and President Johnson, which finally resulted in their entire estrangement. In December, Grant made a tour of inspection through the south. His report upon affairs in that section of the country was submitted to congress by the president, and became the basis of important reconstruction laws. In May, 1866, he wrote a letter to the secretary of war, which was submitted to congress, and became the basis for the reorganization of the army, and also for the distribution of troops through the south during the process of reconstruction. The Fenians were now giving the government much trouble, and in consequence of their acts the relations between the United States and Great Britain were becoming strained. They had organized a raid into Canada to take place during the summer; but Grant visited Buffalo in June, took effective measures to stop them, and prevented all further unlawful acts on their part. Congress had passed an act creating the grade of general, a higher rank than had before existed in the army, to be conferred on Grant as a reward for his illustrious services in the field, and on 25 July, 1866, he received his commission.
In the autumn of 1866, President Johnson having changed his policy toward the south, finding that Grant refused to support him in his intentions to assume powers that Grant believed were vested only in congress, ordered him out of the country, with directions to proceed on a special mission to Mexico. Grant refused, saying that this was not a military service but a diplomatic mission, and that he claimed the right possessed by every citizen to decline a civil appointment. An effort was afterward made to send him west, to prevent his presence in Washington, but it was soon abandoned. The 39th congress, fearing the result of this action ​on the part of the president, attached a clause to the army appropriation bill, passed on 4 March, 1867, providing that “all orders and instructions relating to military operations shall be issued through the general of the army,” and added that he should “not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at the headquarters in Washington, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the senate.” The president signed the bill, with a protest against this clause, and soon obtained an opinion from his attorney-general that it was unconstitutional. The president then undertook to send this opinion to the district commanders, but, finding the secretary of war in opposition, he issued it through the adjutant-general's office. Gen. Sheridan, then at New Orleans, in command of the fifth military district, inquired what to do, and Grant replied that a “legal opinion was not entitled to the force of an order,” and “to enforce his own construction of the law until otherwise ordered.” This brought on a crisis. The president claimed that under the constitution he could direct the district commanders to issue such orders as he dictated, and was met by an act of congress, passed in July, making the orders of the district commanders “subject to the disapproval of the general of the army.” Thus Grant was given chief control of affairs relating to the reconstruction of the southern states. The president still retained the power of removal, and on the adjournment of congress he removed Sheridan and placed Gen. Hancock in command of the fifth military district. Some of Hancock's orders were revoked by Grant, which caused not a little bitterness of feeling between these officers, and provoked opposition from the Democratic party. Subsequently, when a bill was before congress to muster Gen. Hancock out of the service for his acts in Louisiana, Grant opposed it, and it was defeated. Soon afterward he recommended Hancock for a major-generalship in the regular army, to which he was appointed.
The “tenure-of-office” act forbade the president from removing a cabinet officer without the consent of the senate; but President Johnson suspended Sec. Stanton, and appointed Grant secretary of war ad interim on 12 Aug., 1867. Grant protested against this action, but retained the office until 14 Jan., 1868, when the senate refused to confirm the suspension of Stanton. Grant immediately notified the president, who, finding that the general of the army would not retain the place in opposition to the will of congress, and that Sec. Stanton had re-entered upon his office, ordered Grant verbally to disregard Stanton's orders. Grant declined to do so unless he received instructions in writing. This led to an acrimonious correspondence. The president claimed that Grant had promised to sustain him. This Grant emphatically denied, and in a long letter reviewing his action said: “The course you would have it understood I agreed to pursue was in violation of law, and was without orders from you, while the course I did pursue, and which I never doubted you understood, was in accordance with law. . . . And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I regard this whole matter, from the beginning to the end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for which you hesitate to assume the responsibility in orders.” On 21 Feb. the president appointed Lorenzo Thomas adjutant-general of the army, secretary of war, and ordered him to take possession of the office. On 24 Feb. articles of impeachment were passed by the house of representatives. Throughout these years of contest between the executive and congress, Grant's position became very delicate and embarrassing. He was compelled to execute the laws of congress at the risk of appearing insubordinate to his official chief, but his course was commended by the people, his popularity increased, and when the Republican convention met in Chicago, 20 May, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the presidency on the first ballot. In his letter of acceptance, dated nine days after, he made use of the famous phrase, “Let us have peace.” The Democratic party nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York. When the election occurred, Grant carried twenty-six states with a popular vote of 3,015,071, while Seymour carried eight states with a popular vote of 2,709,613. It was claimed that the state of New York was really carried by Grant, but fraudulently counted for Seymour. Out of the 294 electoral votes cast for president, Grant received 214 and Seymour 80 — Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia not voting.
Grant possessed in a striking degree the essential characteristics of a successful soldier. His self-reliance was one of his most pronounced traits, and enabled him at critical moments to decide promptly the most important questions without useless delay in seeking advice from others, and to assume the gravest responsibilities without asking any one to share them. He had a fertility of resource and a faculty of adapting the means at hand to the accomplishment of his purposes, which contributed no small share to his success. His moral and physical courage were equal to every emergency in which he was placed. His unassuming manner, purity of character, and absolute loyalty to his superiors and to the work in which he was engaged, inspired loyalty in others and gained him the devotion of the humblest of his subordinates. He was singularly calm and patient under all circumstances, was never unduly elated by victory or depressed by defeat, never became excited, and never uttered an oath or imprecation. His habits of life were simple, and he was possessed of a physical constitution that enabled him to endure every form of fatigue and privation incident to military service in the field. He had an intuitive knowledge of topography, and never became confused as to locality in directing the movements of large bodies of men. He exhibited a rapidity of thought and action on the field that enabled him to move troops in the presence of an enemy with a promptness that has rarely been equalled. He had no hobby as to the use of any particular arm of the service. He naturally placed his main reliance on his infantry, but made a more vigorous use of cavalry than any of the generals of his day, and was judicious in apportioning the amount of his artillery to the character of the country in which he was operating. While his achievements in actual battle eclipse by their brilliance the strategy and grand tactics employed in his campaigns, yet the extraordinary combinations effected and the skill and boldness exhibited in moving large armies into position entitle him, perhaps, to as much credit as the qualities he displayed in the face of the enemy. On 4 March, 1869, Grant was inaugurated the eighteenth president of the United States.
Gen. Grant had never taken an active part in politics, and had voted for a presidential candidate but once. In 1856, although his early associations had been with the Whigs, he cast his vote for James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate; but this was on personal rather than political grounds, as he believed that the Republican candidate did not possess the requisite qualifications ​for the office. So much doubt existed as to his political proclivities that prominent Democrats had made overtures to him to accept a nomination from their party only a few months before the nominating conventions were held. But he was at heart in thorough accord with the principles of the Republican party. He believed in a national banking system, a tariff that would fairly protect American industries, in the fostering of such internal improvements as would unite our two seaboards and give the eastern and western sections of the country mutual support and protection, in the dignifying of labor, and in laws that would secure equal justice to all citizens of the republic, regardless of race, color, or previous condition.
As early as August, 1863, he had written a letter to Elihu B. Washburne, member of congress, in which he said: “It became patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the north and south could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious as I am to see peace established, I would not, therefore, be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled.” In his inaugural address he declared that the government bonds should be paid in gold, advocated a speedy return to specie payments, and made many important recommendations in reference to public affairs. Regarding the good faith of the nation he said: “To protect the national honor, every dollar of government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. . . . Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay.” Congress acted promptly upon his recommendation, and on 18 March, 1869, an act was passed entitled “An act to strengthen the public credit.” Its language gave a pledge to the world that the debts of the country would be paid in coin unless there were in the obligations express stipulations to the contrary. Both in his inaugural address and in his first annual message to congress he took strong ground in favor of an effort to “civilize and Christianize” the Indians, and fit them ultimately for citizenship. His early experience among these people, while serving on the frontier, had eminently fitted him for inaugurating practical methods for improving their condition. He appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs the chief of the Six Nations, Gen. Ely S. Parker, a highly educated Indian, who had served on his staff, and selected as members of the board of Indian commissioners gentlemen named by the various religious denominations throughout the country. Although such men were not always practical in their views, and many obstacles had to be overcome in working out this difficult problem, great good resulted in the end; public attention was attracted to the amelioration of the condition of our savage tribes; they came to be treated more like wards of the nation, were gathered upon government reservations, where they could be more economically provided for, the number of Indian wars was reduced, and large amounts were saved to the government.
The 15th amendment to the constitution, adopted 26 Feb., 1869, guaranteed the right of suffrage without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was ratified by the requisite three fourths of the states, and declared in force, 30 March, 1870. The adoption of this amendment had been recommended by President Grant, and had had his active support throughout, and it is largely due to his efforts that it is now a part of the constitution. He proclaimed its adoption by the somewhat unusual course of sending a special message to congress, in which he said: “I regard it as a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of the government to the present day.” He also urged in this message that congress should encourage popular education, in order that the negro might become better fitted for the exercise of the privileges conferred upon him by this amendment.
In the summer of 1869 a representative from Santo Domingo informed the president that the government and people of that republic favored annexation to the United States. The president sent several officers of the government to investigate the condition of affairs there, and became so clearly impressed with the advantages that would result from the acquisition of that country that he negotiated a treaty of annexation, and submitted it to the senate at the next meeting of congress. In May, 1870, he urged favorable action on the part of that body in a message in which he set forth the reasons that had governed him, and again called attention to it in his second annual message. He claimed, among other things, that its admission into the Union as a territory would open up a large trade between the two lands, furnish desirable harbors for naval stations, and a place of refuge for negroes in the south who found themselves persecuted in their old homes; would favor the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, would be in harmony with the Monroe doctrine, and would redound to the great benefit of both countries and to civilization, and that there was danger, if we failed to receive it, that it would be taken by some European power, and add another to the list of islands off our coast controlled by European powers, and likely to give us trouble in case we became engaged in war. The measure was debated for a long time, but the senate did not act favorably upon it. In 1871 a commission of distinguished citizens was sent to investigate and report upon all matters relating to Santo Domingo and the proposed treaty. They visited that country, and made an exhaustive report, which was highly favorable to the plan of annexation; but the treaty was constitutionally rejected, having failed to receive the necessary two-third vote, and was never brought up again. The president declared that he had no policy to enforce against the will of the people. He referred to the subject in his last annual message to congress, and reviewed the grounds of his action, not in order to renew the project, but, as he expressed it, “to vindicate my previous action in regard to it.” Many outrages had been committed in the south against the freedmen, and congress spent much time in considering measures for the suppression of these crimes. On 31 May, 1870, a bill was passed, called the Enforcement act, which empowered the president to protect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and punish the perpetrators of the outrages. Several supplements to this were subsequently enacted, and a most onerous and exacting duty was imposed upon the executive in enforcing their provisions.
The reconstruction of the states recently in rebellion now progressed rapidly under the 14th amendment, which guaranteed equal civil rights to all citizens, and in July, 1870, all the states had ratified this amendment and been readmitted to the Union. The votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were not received by congress in the presidential election of 1872; but this was on ​account of fraud and illegal practices at the polls. In the president's annual message to congress, December, 1869, he recommended the passage of an act authorizing the funding of the public debt at a lower rate of interest. This was followed by the passing of an act, approved 14 July, 1870, which authorized the secretary of the treasury to issue bonds to the amount of $200,000,000, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent., $300,000,000 at the rate of 4½ per cent., and $1,000,000,000 at the rate of 4 per cent. Under this act, and subsequent amendments thereto, the national debt has been refunded from time to time, until the average rate of actual interest does not exceed 3½ per cent.
In 1870 President Grant sent special messages to congress urging upon that body the necessity of building up our merchant marine, and the adopting of methods for increasing our foreign commerce, and regarding our relations with Spain, which had become strained in consequence of the action of Spanish officials in Cuba. In August of this year, soon after the beginning of the war between France and Germany, he issued a proclamation of neutrality as to both of those nations, and defined the duties of Americans toward the belligerents. He directed the U. S. minister to France, Elihu B. Washburne, to remain at his post in Paris, and extend the protection of the American flag to peoples of all nationalities who were without the protection of their own flag — an act that saved much suffering and loss to individuals.
In his annual message in 1870, the president took strong ground in favor of civil service reform, saying: “I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appointments,” and “The present system does not secure the best men, and not even fit men, for public place.” This subject gave rise to a spirited controversy in congress, many declaring the principle to be wholly un-American, and calculated to build up a favored class, who would be in great measure independent of their executive chiefs, etc. But on 3 March, 1871, an act was passed authorizing the president to appoint a civil service commission, and to prescribe rules and regulations governing the appointments of civil officers. He appointed seven gentlemen on this commission, selecting those who had been most prominent in advocating the measure, and transmitted their report to congress, with a special message urging favorable action. The plan recommended, which provided for competitive examinations, was approved, and was put into operation 1 Jan., 1872. An appropriation was procured for the expenses of the commission and the carrying out of the plan, but congress gave little countenance to the measure. Up to 1874 the president continued to urge that body to give legislative sanction to the rules and methods proposed, and declared that it was impossible to maintain the system without the “positive support of congress.” He finally notified congress that if it adjourned without action he would regard it as a disapproval of the system, and would abandon it; but he continued it until its expenses were no longer provided for. The agitation of the question had been productive of much good. The seeds thus sown had taken deep root in the minds of the people, and bore good fruit in after years. In March, 1871, the disorders in the southern states, growing out of conflicts between the whites and the blacks, had assumed such proportions that the president sent a special message to congress requesting “such legislation as shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property, and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States.” On 20 April congress passed an act that authorized the president to suspend, under certain defined circumstances, the writ of habeas corpus in any district, and to use the army and navy in suppressing insurrections. He issued a proclamation, 4 May, ordering all unlawful armed bands to disperse, and, after expressing his reluctance to use the extraordinary power conferred upon him, said he would “not hesitate to exhaust the power thus vested in the executive, whenever and wherever it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws.” As this did not produce the desired effect, he issued a proclamation of warning, 12 Oct., and on the 17th suspended the writ of habeas corpus in parts of North and South Carolina. He followed this by vigorous prosecutions, which resulted in sending a number of prominent offenders to prison, and the outrages soon ceased. The most important measure of foreign policy during President Grant's administration was the treaty with Great Britain of 8 May, 1871, known as the treaty of Washington. Early in his administration the president had begun negotiations looking to the settlement of the claims made by the United States against Great Britain, arising from the depredations upon American vessels and commerce by Confederate cruisers that had been fitted out or obtained supplies in British ports, and the questions growing out of the Canadian fishery disputes and the location of our northern boundary-line at its junction with the Pacific ocean, which left the jurisdiction of the island of San Juan in controversy. Neither of the two last-mentioned questions had been settled by the treaty of peace of 1783, or any subsequent treaties. The fishery question was referred to arbitration by three commissioners, one to be chosen by the United States, one by Great Britain, and the third by the other two, provided they should make a choice within a stated time, otherwise the selection to be made by the Emperor of Austria. The two commissioners having failed to agree, the third was named by the Austrian emperor. The award was unsatisfactory to the United States, the decision of the commission was severely criticised, and the dispute has from time to time been reopened to the detriment of both countries. The San Juan question was referred to the emperor of Germany as arbitrator, with sole power. His award fully sustained the claim of the United States. A high joint commission had assembled at Washington, composed of American and English statesmen, which formulated the treaty of Washington, and by its terms the claims against Great Britain growing out of the operations of the Confederate cruisers, commonly known as the “Alabama claims,” were referred to a court of arbitration, which held its session at Geneva, Switzerland. In September, 1872, it awarded the United States the sum of ​$15,500,000, which was subsequently paid by the British government. War had at one time seemed imminent, on account of the bitterness felt against Great Britain in consequence of her unfriendly acts during our civil war; but the president was a man who had seen so much of the evils of war that he became a confirmed believer in pacific measures as long as there was hope through such means. In his inaugural address he said: “In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other.... I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.” The adoption of the treaty was a signal triumph for those who advocated the settlement of international disputes by peaceful methods. The adoption of the rules contained in the treaty for the government of neutral nations was of far more importance than the money award. These rules were to govern the action of the two contracting parties, and they agreed to bring them to the notice of other nations, and invite them to follow the precedent thus established. The rules stipulated that a neutral shall not permit a belligerent to fit out, arm, or equip in its ports any vessel that it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to cruise or carry on war against a nation with which it is at peace, and that neither of the contracting parties shall permit a belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as a base of operations against the other. The two nations also agreed to use due diligence to prevent any infraction of these rules.
On 22 May, 1872, the amnesty bill was passed by congress, restoring their civil rights to all but about 350 persons in the south who had held conspicuous positions under the Confederate government. President Grant's first administration had been vigorous and progressive. Important reforms had been inaugurated, and measures of vital moment to the nation, both at home and abroad, had been carried to a successful conclusion in the face of opposition from some of the most prominent men of his own political party. Not a few Republicans became estranged, feeling that they were being ignored by the executive, and formed themselves into an organization under the name of “Liberal Republicans.” This opposition resulted in the holding of a convention in Cincinnati, and the nomination of Horace Greeley as its candidate for the presidency, which nomination was afterward adopted by the Democratic party. The Republican convention met in Philadelphia, 5 June, 1872, renominated President Grant, and adopted a platform approving the principles advocated by him in his previous administration. When the election took place, he carried 31 states, with a popular vote of 3,597,070, the largest that had ever been given for any president, while Greeley carried 6 states with a popular vote of 2,834,079. Grant received 286 electoral votes against 66 that would have been cast for Mr. Greeley if he had lived. The 14 votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were not counted, because of fraud and illegality in the election. The canvass had been one of the most aggressive and exciting in the history of the country, and abounded in personal attacks upon the candidates. Gen. Grant, in his inaugural address on 4 March, 1873, said, in alluding to the personal abuse that had been aimed at him: “To-day I feel that I can disregard it, in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication.” His second term was a continuation of the policy that had characterized the first. His foreign policy was steadfast, dignified, and just, always exhibiting a conscientious regard for the rights of foreign nations, and at the same time maintaining the rights of our own. He instructed the ministers to China and Japan to deal with those powers as “we would wish a strong nation to deal with us if we were weak.” During the insurrection in the island of Cuba, which had lasted for several years, a number of American citizens had been arrested by the Spanish authorities, under the pretence that they had been furnishing aid to the insurgents, and American vessels plying in Cuban waters had at times been subjected to much inconvenience. Then matters culminated in the seizure by Spain, without justification, of an American vessel named the “Virginius.” The excitement created in the United States by this outrage was intense, and many statesmen were clamorous for war. But the president believed that pacific measures would accomplish a better result, and, by acting with promptness and firmness, he soon wrung from Spain ample apology and full reparation.
Political troubles were still rife in certain states of the south. The result of the election in Louisiana in 1872 was in dispute, and armed violence was threatened in that state. Early in 1873 the president called the attention of congress to the inadequacy of the laws applying to such cases, saying that he had recognized the officers installed by the decision of the returning-board as representing the de facto government, and added: “I am extremely anxious to avoid any appearance of undue interference in state affairs, and if congress differs from me as to what ought to be done, I respectfully urge its immediate decision to that effect.” Congress, however, took no action, and left with the executive the sole responsibility of dealing with this delicate question. The next year the trouble was renewed, and the fierce contest that was waged
between the Republicans under Kellogg and the Democrats under McEnery, their respective candidates for the governorship, resulted in armed hostilities. Kellogg, the de facto governor, called upon the Federal authority for protection, and Gen. Emory was sent to New Orleans with U. S. troops, and the outbreak was for a time suppressed. But difficulties arose again, and the president sent Gen. Sheridan to Louisiana to report upon the situation of affairs, and, if necessary, to take command of the troops and adopt vigorous measures to preserve the peace. Gen. Sheridan became convinced that his duty was to sustain the government organized by Kellogg, and, on the demand of the governor, he ejected some of McEnery's adherents from the state capitol. The president submitted the whole history of the case to congress, asking for legislation defining his duties in the emergency. Getting no legislation on the subject, he continued his recognition of the government of which ​Kellogg was the head, until the election of a new governor; but there was afterward no serious trouble in Louisiana. Difficulties of the same nature arose in Arkansas and Texas, which were almost as perplexing to the executive; but these attracted less attention before the public. Difficulties of a somewhat similar kind were encountered also in Mississippi, but the president in this case avoided interference on the part of the general government.
In April, 1874, congress passed what was known as the “Inflation bill,” which increased the paper currency of the country, and was contrary to the financial principles that the president had always entertained and advocated in his state papers. Many of his warmest political supporters had approved the measure, and unusual efforts were made to convince him that it was wise financially and expedient politically. The president gave much thought and study to the question, and at one time wrote out the draft of a message in which he set forth all the arguments that could be made in its favor, in order that he might fully weigh them; but, on reading it over, he became convinced that the reasons advanced were not satisfactory, and that the measure would in the end be injurious to the true business interests of the country, and delay the resumption of specie payment. He therefore returned the bill to congress, with his veto, 22 April. The arguments contained in his message were unanswerable, the bill was not passed over his veto, and his course was sustained by the whole country. Perhaps no act of his administration was more highly approved by the people at large, and the result amply proved the wisdom of the firmness he exhibited at this crisis. About two months after this, in a conversation at the executive mansion with Senator Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and Senator John P. Jones, of Nevada, the president entered at length upon his views concerning the duty of the government to take steps looking to the return to specie payment. His earnestness on this subject, and the advantages of the methods proposed, so impressed the senators that they asked him to commit his views to writing. He complied with this request by writing a letter addressed to Senator Jones, dated 4 June, 1874, in which he began by saying: “I believe it a high and plain duty to return to a specie basis at the earliest practical day, not only in compliance with legislative and party pledges, but as a step indispensable to national lasting prosperity.” Then followed his views at length. This letter was made public, and attracted much attention, and in January, 1875, the “Resumption act” was passed, which, to a large extent, embodied the views that had been suggested by the president. There were doubts in the minds of many as to the ability of the government to carry it into effect; but it proved entirely successful, and the country was finally relieved from the stigma of circulating an irredeemable paper currency.
During 1875 the president had reason to suspect that frauds were being practised by government officials in certain states in collecting the revenue derived from the manufacture of whiskey. He at once took active measures for their detection, and the vigorous pursuit and punishment of the offenders. He issued a stringent order for their prosecution, closing with the famous words, “Let no guilty man escape.” Many indictments soon followed, the ringleaders were sent to the penitentiary, and an honest collection of the revenue was secured. Some of the revenue officials were men of much political influence, and had powerful friends. The year for nominating a president was at hand, and the excitement ran high. Friends of the convicted, political enemies and rivals for the succession in his own party, resorted to the most desperate means to break the president's power and diminish his popularity. The grossest misrepresentations were practised, first in trying to bring into question the honesty of his purpose in the prosecution of offenders, and afterward in endeavoring to rob him of the credit of his labors after they had purified the revenue-service. But these efforts signally failed.
In September, 1875, Gen Grant, while attending an army reunion in Iowa, offered three resolutions on the subject of education, and made a speech in which he used this language: “Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion; encourage free schools; resolve that not one dollar appropriated to them shall go to the support of any sectarian school; resolve that neither state nor nation shall support any institution save those where every child may get a common-school education, unmixed with any atheistic, pagan, or sectarian teaching; leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, and keep church and state forever separate.” This was published broadcast, and was received with marked favor by the press and people.
In 1876 Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, was nominated for the presidency by the Democrats, and Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, by the Republicans. When the election was held in November, the result was in dispute, and a bitter contest was likely to follow in determining which was the legally elected candidate. After an exciting debate in congress, a bill was passed providing for an electoral commission, to whose decision the question was to be referred. It decided in favor of Gen. Hayes, and he was inaugurated on 4 March, 1877. During all this time the political passions of the people were raised to fever-heat, serious threats of violence were made, and the business interests of the country were greatly disturbed. President Grant took no active part in the determination of the question, but devoted himself to measures to preserve the peace. There were many changes in the cabinet during Grant's two administrations. The following is a list of its members, giving the order in which they served: Secretaries of state, Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois; Hamilton Fish, of New York. Secretaries of the treasury, Alexander T. Stewart, of New York (appointed, but not confirmed, on account of the discovery of an old law rendering him ineligible because of his being engaged in the business of an importing merchant); George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts; William M. Richardson, of Massachusetts; Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky; Lot M. Morrill, of Maine. Secretaries of war, Gen. John M. Schofield, U. S. army; John A. Rawlins, of Illinois; William W. Belknap, of Iowa; Alonzo Taft, of Ohio; J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania. Secretaries of the navy, Adolph E. Borie, of Pennsylvania; George M. Robeson, of New Jersey. Postmasters-General, John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland; Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut; James A. Tyner, of Indiana. Attorneys-General, Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts; Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia; George H. Williams, of Oregon; Edwards Pierrepont, of New York; Alonzo Taft, of Ohio. Secretaries of the interior, Gen. Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio; Columbus Delano, of Ohio; Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan. (See articles on each of these cabinet ​officers) During President Grant's administrations the taxes had been reduced over $300,000,000, the national debt over $450,000,000, the interest on the debt from $160,000,000 to $100,000,000; the balance of trade had changed from $130,000,000 against this country to $130,000,000 in its favor; the reconstruction of the southern states had been completed; the first trans-continental railroad had been finished; all threatening foreign complications had been satisfactorily settled; and all exciting national questions seemed to have been determined and removed from the arena of political contests. Gen. Grant, while president, exhibited the same executive ability as in the army, insisting upon a proper division of labor among the different branches of the government, leaving the head of each department great freedom of action, and holding him to a strict accountability for the conduct of the affairs of his office. He decided with great promptness all questions referred to him, and suggested many measures for improving the government service, but left the carrying out of details to the proper chiefs. While positive in his views, and tenacious of his opinions when they had been formed after due reflection, he listened patiently to suggestions and arguments, and had no pride of opinion as to changing his mind, if convincing reasons were presented to him. He was generally a patient listener while others presented their views, and seldom gave his opinions until they were thoroughly matured; then he talked freely and with great force and effect. He was one of the most accessible of all the presidents. He reserved no hours that he could call his own, but was ready to see all classes of people at all times, whether they were high in position or from the ranks of the plain people. His patience was one of the most characteristic traits of his character, and his treatment of those who came in contact with him was frank and cordial to the highest degree. His devotion to his friends was proverbial, and his loyalty to others commanded loyalty from them, and accounted, in great measure, for the warmth and devotion of his followers. Wherever he placed trust he reposed rare confidence, until it was shaken by actual proofs of betrayal. This characteristic of his nature led him at times to be imposed upon by those who were not worthy of the faith he placed in them; but persons that once lost his confidence never regained it.
After retiring from the presidency, 4 March, 1877, Gen. Grant decided to visit the countries of the Old World, and on May 17 he sailed from Philadelphia for Liverpool on the steamer “Indiana,” accompanied by his wife and one son. His departure was the occasion for a memorable demonstration on the Delaware. Distinguished men from all parts of the country had assembled to bid him good-by, and accompanied him down the river. A fleet of naval and commercial vessels and river boats, decorated with brilliant banners, convoyed his steamer, crowds lined the shores, greeting him with cheers, bells rang, whistles sounded from mills and factories, and innumerable flags saluted as he passed. On his arrival in Liverpool, 28 May, he received the first of a series of ovations in foreign lands scarcely less cordial and demonstrative than those which had been accorded him in his own country. The river Mersey was covered with vessels displaying the flags of all nations, and all vied with each other in their demonstrations of welcome. He visited the places of greatest interest in Great Britain, and was accorded the freedom of her chief cities, which means the granting of citizenship. He received a greater number of such honors than had ever been bestowed even upon the most illustrious Englishman. In London he was received by the queen and the Prince of Wales, and afterward visited her majesty at Windsor Castle. While he was entertained in a princely manner by royalty, the most enthusiastic greetings came from the masses of the people, who everywhere turned out to welcome him. His replies to the numerous addresses of welcome were marked by exceeding good taste and were read with much favor by his own countrymen. Upon leaving England he visited the continent, and the greetings there from crowned heads and common people were repetitions of the receptions he had met ever since he landed in Europe. The United States man-of-war “Vandalia” had been put at his disposal, and on board that vessel he made a cruise in the Mediterranean, visiting Italy, Egypt, and the Holy Land. He sailed from Marseilles for India, 23 Jan., 1879, arrived at Bombay, 12 Feb., and from there visited Calcutta and many other places of interest. His journey through the country called forth a series of demonstrations which resembled the greetings to an emperor passing through his own realms. He sailed in the latter part of March for Burmah, and afterward visited the Malacca peninsula, Siam, Cochin China, and Hong-Kong, arriving at the latter place on 30 April. He made a tour into the interior of China, and was everywhere received with honors greater than had ever been bestowed upon a foreigner. At Pekin, Prince Kung requested him to act as sole arbitrator in the settlement of the dispute between that country and Japan concerning the Loo Choo islands. His plans prevented him from entering upon the duties of arbitrator, but he studied the questions involved and gave his advice on the subject, and the matters in dispute were afterward settled without war. On 21 June he reached Nagasaki, where he was received by the imperial officials and became the guest of the mikado. The attention shown him while in Japan exceeded in some of its features that which he had received in any of the other countries included in his tour. The entertainments prepared in his honor were memorable in ​the history of that empire. He sailed from Yokohama, 3 Sept., and reached San Francisco on the 20th. He had not visited the Pacific coast since he had served there as a lieutenant of infantry. Preparations had been made for a reception that should surpass any ever accorded to a public man in that part of the country, and the demonstration in the harbor of San Francisco on his arrival formed a pageant equal to anything of the kind seen in modern times. On his journey east he was tendered banquets and public receptions, and greeted with every manifestation of welcome in the different cities at which he stopped. Early in 1880 he travelled through some of the southern states and visited Cuba and Mexico. In the latter country he was hailed as its staunchest and most pronounced friend in the days of its struggle against foreign usurpation, and the people testified their gratitude by extending to him every possible act of personal and official courtesy. On his return he took his family to his old home in Galena, Ill. A popular movement had begun looking to his renomination that year for the presidency, and overtures were made to him to draw him into an active canvass for the purpose of accomplishing this result; but he declined to take any part in the movement, and preferred that the nomination should either come to him unsolicited or not at all. When the Republican convention met in Chicago in June, 1880, his name was presented, and for thirty-six ballots he received a vote that only varied between 302 and 313. Many of his warmest admirers were influenced against his nomination by a traditional sentiment against a third presidential term, and after a long and exciting session the delegates to the convention compromised by nominating Gen. James A. Garfield. Gen. Grant devoted himself loyally during this political canvass to the success of the party that had so often honored him, and contributed largely by his efforts to the election of the candidate.
In August, 1881, Gen. Grant bought a house in New York, where he afterward spent his winters, while his summers were passed at his cottage at Long Branch. On Christmas eve, 1883, he slipped and fell upon the icy sidewalk in front of his house, and received an injury to his hip, which proved so severe that he never afterward walked without the aid of a crutch. Finding himself unable with his income to support his family properly, he had become a partner in a banking-house in which one of his sons and others were interested, bearing the name of Grant and Ward, and invested all his available capital in the business. He took no part in the management, and the affairs of the firm were left almost entirely in the hands of the junior partner. In May, 1884, the firm without warning suspended. It was found that two of the partners had been practising a series of unblushing frauds, and had robbed the general and his family of all they possessed, and left them hopelessly bankrupt. Until this time he had refused all solicitations to write the history of his military career for publication, intending to leave it to the official records and the historians of the war. Almost his only contribution to literature was an article entitled “An Undeserved Stigma,” in the “North American Review” for December, 1882, which he wrote as an act of justice to Gen. Fitz-John Porter, whose case he had personally investigated. But now he was approached by the conductors of the “Century” magazine with an invitation to write a series of articles on his principal campaigns, which he accepted, for the purpose of earning money, of which he was then greatly in need, and he accordingly produced four articles for that periodical. Finding this a congenial occupation, and receiving handsome offers from several publishers, he set himself to the task of preparing two volumes of personal memoirs, in which he told the story of his life down to the close of the war, and proved himself a natural and charming writer, and a valuable contributor to history. The contract for the publication of the book was made on 27 Feb., 1885, and the work appeared about a year afterward. The sales were enormous, having reached up to this time 312,000 sets. The amount that Mrs. Grant has already (June, 1887) received as her share of the profits is $394,459.53, paid in two checks, of $200,000 and $150,000, and several smaller amounts, the largest sum ever received by an author or his representatives from the sale of any single work. It is expected by the publishers that the amount of half a million dollars will be ultimately paid to the general's family. In the summer of 1884 Gen. Grant complained of a soreness in the throat and roof of the mouth. In August he consulted a physician, and a short time afterward the disease was pronounced to be cancer at the root of the tongue. The sympathies of the entire nation were now aroused, messages of hope and compassion poured in from every quarter, and on 4 March, 1885, congress passed a bill creating him a general on the retired list, thus restoring him to his former rank in the army. He knew that his disease would soon prove fatal. He now bent all his energies to the completing of his “Memoirs,” in order that the money realized from the sale might provide for his family. He summoned all his will power to this task, and nothing in his career was more heroic than the literary labor he now performed. Hovering between life and death, suffering ​almost constant agony, and speechless from disease, he struggled through his daily task, and laid down his pen only four days before his death. At this time the last portrait was made of the great soldier, which appears on page 713.
On 16 June, 1885, he was removed to the Joseph W. Drexel cottage on Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, N. Y., where he passed the remaining five weeks of his life. (See illustration on page 721.) The cottage was offered by its owner as a gift to the U.S. government. As it was not accepted, Mr. Drexel keeps the cottage and its contents in the condition they were in at the time of the general's death, and will continue to do so. On Thursday, 23 July, at eight o clock in the morning, Grant passed away, surrounded by his family. The remains were taken to New York, escorted by a detachment of U.S. troops and a body of the Grand army of the republic composed of veterans of the war. A public funeral was held in New York on Saturday, 8 Aug., which was the most magnificent spectacle of the kind ever witnessed in this country. The body was deposited in a temporary tomb in Riverside park, overlooking the Hudson river, where it is proposed to erect an imposing monument, for which about $125,000 have already (June, 1887) been subscribed. In Chicago a bronze equestrian statue of the general, executed by Rebisso, will soon be erected near the centre of Lincoln park, overlooking Lake Michigan. The illustration on page 723 is a representation of the statue, and on the following page is a view of the eastern façade of the structure, designed by Whitehouse, which is surmounted by the statue. The large collection of swords, gold-headed canes, medals, rare coins, and other articles that had been presented to Gen. Grant passed into the possession of William H. Vanderbilt as security in a financial transaction shortly before the general's death. After that event Mr. Vanderbilt returned the articles to Mrs. Grant, by whom they were given to the United States government, and the entire collection is now in the National museum at Washington. Among the many portraits of the great soldier, perhaps the best are those painted by Healy for the Union league club about 1865, and another executed in Paris in 1877, now in the possession of the family, those painted in 1882 by Le Clear for the White House at Washington and the Calumet club of Chicago, and one executed by Ulke for the U. S. war department where is also to be seen a fine marble bust executed in 1872-'3, by Hiram Powers. See “Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865,” by Adam Badeau (3 vols., New York, 1867-81); “Life and Public Services of Gen. U.S. Grant,” by James Grant Wilson (1868); revised and enlarged edition (1886); “The Ancestry of General Grant and their Contemporaries,” by Edward C. Marshall (1869); “Around the World with General Grant,” by John Russell Young (1880); and “Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant,” written by himself (2 vols., 1885-'6); also various biographies and numerous addresses, among them one by Henry Ward Beecher, delivered in Boston, 22 Oct., 1885. —
His wife, Julia Dent, b. in St. Louis, Mo., 26 Jan., 1826, is the daughter of Frederick and Ellen Wrenshall Dent. Her father was the son of Capt. George Dent, who led the forlorn hope at Fort Montgomery, when it was stormed by Mad Anthony Wayne. On her mother's side she was descended from John Wrenshall, who came from England to this country to escape religious intolerance, and settled in Philadelphia, Pa. At the age of ten years she was sent to Miss Moreau's boarding-school, where she remained for eight years. Soon after her return home she met Lieut. Grant, then of the 4th infantry, stationed at Jefferson barracks at St. Louis, and in the spring of 1844 became engaged to him. Their marriage, deferred by the war with Mexico, took place on 22 Aug., 1848. The first four years of her married life were spent at Detroit, Mich., and at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., where Capt. Grant was stationed. In 1852 Mrs. Grant returned to her father's home in St. Louis, her health not being sufficiently strong to accompany her husband to California, whither his command had been ordered. Two years later he resigned from the army and joined his family in St. Louis. During the civil war Mrs. Grant passed much of the time with Gen. Grant, or near the scene of action, he sending for her whenever opportunity permitted. She was with him at City Point in the winter of 1864-'5, and accompanied him to Washington when he returned with his victorious army. She saw her husband twice inaugurated president of the United States, and was his companion in his journey around the world. She herself has said: “Having learned a lesson from her predecessor, Penelope, she accompanied her Ulysses in his wanderings around the world.” After Gen. Grant's death a bill was passed by congress giving his widow a pension of $5,000 a year. She is the fourth to whom such a pension has been granted, the others being Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Polk, and Mrs. Garfield. Four children were born to her — three sons, Frederick Dent, Ulysses, Jr., and Jesse, and one daughter, Nellie, who, in 1874, married Algernon Sartoris, and went with him to live in England. Mrs. Grant resides in New York city, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. — Their eldest son, Frederick Dent, b. in St. Louis, Mo., 30 May, 1850, accompanied his father during the civil war, and was in five battles before he was thirteen years of age. In 1867 he entered the U. S. military academy, where he was graduated in 1871 and assigned to the 4th cavalry. During the summer of 1871 he was employed on the Union Pacific and Colorado Central railroads as an engineer. Late in 1871 he visited Europe with Gen. Sherman, and in 1872 was detailed to command the escort to the party that was making the preliminary survey for the Southern Pacific railroad. In 1873 he was assigned to the staff of Gen. Sherman as lieutenant-colonel, in which capacity he served eight years, accompanying nearly every expedition against the Indians. He was with his father in 1879 in the oriental part of the journey round the world, and in 1881 resigned his commission. During his father's illness, Col. Grant remained constantly with him and assisted somewhat in the preparation of the “Personal Memoirs.” Since Gen. Grant's death his son has had the care of his mother and her estate, residing with her.