Ulysses
Simpson Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, on 27 April
1822; was educated at local schools and attended the United
States Military Academy, 1839-1843. He was baptized
as Hiram Ulysses Grant, but the Congressman appointing Grant
to the Military Academy in 1839 stated his name as Ulysses
Simpson (Simpson being his mother's maiden name), and thus
his name was changed. At his graduation from West
Point, he ranked 21st in a class of 39. He ranked 16th in
Engineering, 25th in Artillery and 28th in Infantry Tactics.
He
received a brevet to 2nd Lieutenant, 4th Infantry, there
being no opening in any of the Army's cavalry regiments
for the finest horseman at West Point. He received a promotion
to 2nd Lieutenant, 4th Infantry, on September 30, 1845.
Serving in the Military
occupation of Texas, 1845-1846, Grant joined General Taylor's
army poised to invade Mexico from the Rio Grande base of
operations. Grant was engaged in the Battle of Palo Alto,
May 8, 1846 and Battle of Resaca-de-la-Palma, May 9, 1846.
As a Regimental Quartermaster in Charge of the Train, Grant
took an active part in the Storming of Monterey, September
21-23, 1846. He was transferred to General Scott's Army
and participated in the Siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29,
1847; the Battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17-18, 1847; Capture
of San Antonio, August 20, 1847; Battle of Churubusco, August
20, 1847; and Battle of Molino del Rey, September 8, 1947,
for which he received a brevet to 1st Lieutenant for gallant
and meritorious conduct. He was engaged in the Storming
of Chapultepec, September 13, 1847 and the Assault and Capture
of Mexico City, September 13-14, 1847. He received a brevet
to Captain, September 13, 1847, for gallant conduct at the
Storming of Chapultepec.
After the Mexican War,
Grant served as Quartermaster, 4th Infantry, from April
1, 1847 to July 23, 1848; in garrison at Sackett's Harbor,
NY, 1848-1849, as Quartermaster, 4th Infantry, September
11, 1849 to September 30, 1853. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant,
4th Infantry, September 16, 1847. After frontier duty at
Benicia, CA and at Columbia Barracks, OR he was promoted
to Captain, 4th Infantry, August 5, 1853. While serving
in the Northwest, Grant resigned his commission on July
31, 1854.
As the outbreak of
Civil War loomed on the horizon, Grant raised and drilled
a company of volunteers and was then employed by Governor
Yates in the Adjutant-General's Department and made mustering
officer. Soon after he was appointed Colonel, 21st IL Volunteers,
and on August 7, 1861 was commissioned Brigadier-General,
U. S. Volunteers, with rank from May 17, assigned to the
command of the District of Southwestern Missouri, headquartered
in Cairo, IL.
Learning of the Confederacy's
intent to seize Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee,
he at once occupied the city which aided in keeping Kentucky
loyal to the Union. Next, having survived an ill-advised
attack on Belmont, MO, Grant prepared to attack the center
of the Confederate line protecting Nashville. The
resulting surrenders of Forts Henry and Donelson in February,
1862, yielded 14,623 prisoners, a large amount of materiel
and vast stretches of Confederate-held territory. For Grant,
it brought the acclaim of the nation, the sobriquet of "Unconditional
Surrender Grant", and a commission as Major-General,
U. S. Volunteers, February 16, 1862.
Placed in command of
the District of West Tennessee, grant led the Federal forces
at the Battle of Shiloh and efforts to take of Vicksburg.
The Confederate garrison at Vicksburg surrendered on July
4, 1863. Grant was widely acclaimed and rewarded with the
appointment as Major-General, U. S. Army. The rank
of Lieutenant-General was revived and bestowed upon Grant,
along with it command of all the Armies, as General-in-Chief,
March 2, 1864. Lincoln met the 41 year old Grant for
the first time at a White House reception on March 8, 1864.
Grant went to Cincinnati
to confer with General Sherman, whom he had named his replacement
in command of the western army. When he returned to
the East, General Meade would lead the fight against Lee,
but Grant would be there with him to map the way.
Making his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Grant
directed the battles at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse,
the North Anna, and Cold Harbor in May and June, 1864, suffering
staggering losses. Following the failure to take Petersburg,
the siege lasted until the following spring. Sheridan's
victory at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, and the penetration
of the main Confederate line the following morning, drove
Lee west in the hope of uniting with Johnston. However,
Lee was stopped at Appomattox and surrendered on April 9,
1865. Johnston surrendered to Sherman in North Carolina
on April 26. The War was over.
Grant held command
of the Armies of the United States, August 12, 1866 to March
4, 1869. Following the Civil War, Congress revived the rank
of full General, not used since the days of George Washington,
and, on July 25, 1866, conferred it upon the General-in-Chief,
Ulysses Simpson Grant. He served as interim Secretary of
War, August 12, 1867 to January 14, 1868. Grant became
the Republican candidate for President in 1868, and was
elected by a large margin.
Grant had a difficult
Presidency marked by an economic depression in 1873. Following
his retirement from the Presidency in 1876, Grant traveled
abroad for two years and in 1880 was a leading contender
for the Presidency again but a coalition of Grant's opponents
agreed upon James A. Garfield. Grant's last years
were marked by misfortune and agonizing illness. He lived
in New York in a home and on a trust fund provided by his
admirers for a time, but the income failed and he entered
a business in which his name could be exploited. The insolvency
of the brokerage firm of Grant & Ward threw Grant into
bankruptcy and his swords and souvenirs were lost as security
on a loan he had been unable to repay. In 1884 Grant
learned he had throat cancer. He died on July 23, 1885.
His remains lie in a mausoleum in New York City.
