Ulysses S. Grant

Grant presenting a peace treaty

In Famous Battles of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American soldier and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. Before his presidency, Grant led the Union Army as Commanding General of the United States Army in winning the American Civil War. As president, Grant worked with the Radical Republicans in the Reconstruction of the Union while having to deal with corruption in his administration.

Raised in Ohio, young Grant possessed an exceptional ability with horses, which served him well through his military career. He was admitted to West Point and graduated from the U.S. military academy in 1843. Grant served with distinction in the Mexican–American War. In 1848, he married Julia Dent, and together they had four children. Grant abruptly resigned his army commission in 1854 and returned to his family, but lived in poverty for seven years. During the Civil War, he joined the Union Army in 1861, and led the Vicksburg campaign, which gained control of the Mississippi River in 1863. After Grant's victory at Chattanooga, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to Lieutenant General. For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. A week later, Lincoln was assassinated, and was succeeded by President Andrew Johnson, who promoted Grant to General of the Army in 1866. Later Grant openly broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies; Grant used the reconstruction acts, which had been passed over Johnson's veto, to enforce civil rights for African freedmen.

A war hero but a reluctant politician, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and was elected president in 1868. As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy, created the Department of Justice, and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan. He appointed African-Americans and Jewish-Americans to prominent federal offices. In 1871, he created the first Civil Service Commission. The Liberal Republicans and Democrats united behind Grant's opponent in the presidential election of 1872, but Grant was handily re-elected. Grant's Native American policy had both successes and failures. In foreign affairs, the Grant administration peacefully resolved the *Alabama* claims against Great Britain, but the Senate rejected Grant's prized Caribbean Dominican Republic annexation. Corruption in the executive branch became notorious: several of Grant's cabinet members and other appointees were fired or had to resign. The Panic of 1873 plunged the nation into a severe economic depression, that allowed the Democrats win the House majority. In the intensely disputed Presidential election of 1876, Grant facilitated the approval by Congress of a peaceful compromise.

In his retirement, Grant was the first president to circumnavigate the world on his tour meeting with many foreign leaders. In 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term. In the final year of his life, facing severe financial reversals and dying of throat cancer, he wrote his memoirs, which proved to be a major critical and financial success. At the time of his death, he was memorialized as a symbol of national unity.

Historians have recognized Grant's military genius, and his modern strategies of warfare are featured in military history textbooks. Historical assessments of Grant's legacy have improved over time. Grant was ranked 38th in 1994 and 1996, but ranked 21st in 2018. Historians have emphasized Grant's presidential accomplishments including the Alabama Claims settlement, protection of Blacks and Indians, and the first Civil Service Commission.

## In the video

### Siege of Petersburg

In the final days of the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant now was the Commanding General of Union forces and had General Robert E. Lee on the run. Occurring from June 9, 1864 to May 25, 1865, the siege of Petersburg is not one of the most famous battles of the Civil War, but it led directly to Appomattox Courthouse and the surrender of Lee. For a year Union forces under Grant and Meade had by fighting around Richmond and Petersburg Virginia wearing the Army of Northern Virginia to it's last legs. As shown in the video, Confederate forces in Petersburg are eventually ousted by Union troops as represented by the Confederate defenders at the playground are killed. Wounded and tired confederates attempted to flee the city but were surrounded by Grant making their situation bleak. Lee makes several attempts to push out of the encirclement but the attempts fail as his men are too wounded and under-equipped as shown by those pushed over by the T-Posing defense of Union soldiers.

### Appomattox Courthouse

Appomattox Courthouse was the last line of defense for Lee as he and his few remaining soldiers attempt to defend against a Union attack. Lee is shown desperately trying to rally his men by taking the belief if they push through they can link up with another stronger Confederate force led by General Joseph E. Johnston. In the video his men seem to think they cannot hold on and as Lee attempts to explain his plan to his men they are both shot dead. Lee then attempts to continue fighting himself but his gun and his sword are shot out of his hands encouraging him to surrender. Lee then meets Grant who is quite pleased to see him. During the Mexican War Lee had been a hero in the American Army with the lower ranking Grant being inspired by him. Lee had even once meet Grant and his regiment which Grant brought up during the peace talks yet Lee did not quite remember. Grant then gives Lee a peace treaty to sign with very generous terms taking none of the confederates prisoner, allowing officers to keep their sidearms and their horses for the upcoming planting season, and he even provided rations for Lee's starving army. Lee gladly signs bringing an end to the most revered Army of Northern Virginia, and not much longer an end to the war that separated the nation.