In 1865, as commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War. As an American hero, Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877), working to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery. Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans. One visitor to the White House noted “a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms.”. After retiring from the Presidency, Grant became a partner in a financial firm, which went bankrupt. After retiring from the Presidency, Grant became a partner in a financial firm, which went bankrupt.