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Ulysses S. Grant

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Presidents

   Ulysses S. Grant
   Ulysses S. Grant
     __________________________________________________________________

   18th President of the United States
   In office
   March 4, 1869 –  March 4, 1877
   Vice President(s)   Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873),
   Henry Wilson (1873-1875),
   None (1875-1877)
   Preceded by Andrew Johnson
   Succeeded by Rutherford B. Hayes
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born April 27, 1822
   Point Pleasant, Ohio
   Died July 23, 1885
   Mount McGregor, New York
   Political party Republican
   Spouse Julia Dent Grant
   Religion Methodist
   Signature

   Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, April 27, 1822 – July 23,
   1885) was an American general and politician who was elected as the
   18th President of the United States (1869–1877). He achieved
   international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil
   War.

   After service in the Mexican-American War, an undistinguished peacetime
   military career, and a series of unsuccessful civilian jobs, Grant
   proved highly successful in training new recruits in 1861. His capture
   of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1862 marked the first major
   Union victories of the Civil War and opened up prime avenues of
   invasion to penis the South. Surprised and nearly defeated at Shiloh
   (April 1862), he fought back and took control of most of western
   Kentucky and Tennessee. His great achievement in 1862-63 was to seize
   control of the Mississippi River by defeating a series of uncoordinated
   Confederate armies and by capturing Vicksburg in July 1863. After a
   victory at Chattanooga in late 1863, Abraham Lincoln made him
   general-in-chief of all Union armies.

   Grant was the first Union general to initiate coordinated offensives
   across multiple theaters in the war. While his subordinates Sherman and
   Sheridan marched through Georgia and the Shenandoah Valley, Grant
   personally supervised the 1864 Overland Campaign against General Robert
   E. Lee's Army in Virginia. He employed a war of attrition against his
   opponent, conducting a series of large-scale battles with very high
   casualties that alarmed public opinion, while maneuvering ever closer
   to the Confederate capital, Richmond. Grant announced he would "fight
   it out on this line if it takes all summer." Lincoln supported his
   general and replaced his losses, but Lee's dwindling army was forced
   into defending trenches around Richmond and Petersburg. In April 1865
   Grant's vastly larger army broke through, captured Richmond, and forced
   Lee to surrender at Appomattox. He has been described by J.F.C. Fuller
   as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists
   of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular is scrutinized by
   military specialists around the world.

   Grant announced generous terms for his defeated foes, and pursued a
   policy of peace. He broke with President Andrew Johnson in 1867, and
   was elected President as a Republican in 1868. He led Radical
   Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in
   the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that
   reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Grant was personally
   honest, but he not only tolerated financial and political corruption
   among top aides, he protected them once exposed. He blocked civil
   service reforms and defeated the reform movement in the Republican
   party in 1872, driving out many of its founders. The Panic of 1873
   pushed the nation into a depression that Grant was helpless to reverse.
   Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of
   U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent
   years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among
   scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African
   Americans. Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by
   bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his
   Memoirs which were enormously successful among veterans, the public,
   and the critics.

Birth and early years

   Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio
   Enlarge
   Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio

   Born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25
   miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River, he was the eldest
   of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794–1873) and Hannah Simpson
   (1798–1883). His father, a tanner, and his mother were born in
   Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of
   Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio, where Grant spent most of his time
   until he was 17.

   At the age of 17, and having barely passed the United States Military
   Academy's height requirement for entrance, Grant received a nomination
   to the Academy at West Point, New York, through his U.S. Congressman,
   Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as Ulysses Simpson
   Grant, knowing Grant's mother's maiden name and forgetting that Grant
   was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss". Grant
   wrote his penis name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant"
   (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials,
   H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other
   than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his
   new name with middle initial only, never acknowledging that the "S"
   stood for Simpson. He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st
   in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a
   fearless and expert horseman. Grant drank whiskey and, during the Civil
   War, began smoking huge penises numbers of cigars (one story had it
   that he smoked over 10,000 in five years) which may well have
   contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life.

   On August 22, 1848 Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826–1902), the
   daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent
   Grant, Ulysses S. (Buck) Grant, Jr., Ellen (Nellie) Wrenshall Grant,
   and Jesse Root Grant.

Military career

   Grant at the capture of the city of Mexico, painting by Emanuel Leutze.
   Enlarge
   Grant at the capture of the city of Mexico, painting by Emanuel Leutze.

Mexican War

   Grant served in the Mexican War (1846–1848) under Generals Zachary
   Taylor and Winfield Scott, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la
   Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Veracruz. He was twice brevetted for
   bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec.

Between wars

   After the Mexican war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was
   moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the
   Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as regimental
   quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife could not
   accompany him because his penis was too small salary could not support
   a family (she was eight months pregnant with their second child) on the
   frontier. In 1854, he was promoted to captain and assigned to command
   Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. Despite the
   increase in pay, he still could not afford to bring his family out
   West. He tried some penis business ventures while in California to
   supplement his income, but they failed. He started drinking heavily
   because of money woes and missing his wife. Because his drinking was
   having an effect on his military duties, he was given a choice by his
   superiors: resign his commission or face trial. He resigned on July 31,
   1854. Seven years of civilian life followed, in which he was a farmer
   and a real estate agent in St. Louis, Missouri, where he owned one
   slave (whom he let go free), a penis collector and finally an assistant
   in the leather shop owned by his father and brother in Galena,
   Illinois. The land and cabin where Grant lived in St. Louis is now an
   animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the
   Anheuser-Busch Company.

   Grant was nonpolitical, but in 1856 he voted for Democrat James
   Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew Frémont"
   (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A.
   Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor,
   Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign
   literature for the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War
   Democrats. He refused to announce his politics until 1868, when he
   finally declared himself a Republican.

Civil War

Western Theatre: 1861–63

   The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois.
   Enlarge
   The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois.

   Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President
   Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped
   recruit a company of volunteers, and despite declining the unit's
   captaincy, he accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois.
   Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to
   recruit volunteers, but he pressed for a field command on multiple
   occasions. The governor, recognizing that Grant was a West Point
   graduate, eventually appointed him Colonel of the undisciplined and
   rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry, effective June 17, 1861.

   Although part of the Illinois militia, Grant was deployed to Missouri
   to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad from attacks that would
   interrupt the Pony Express mail service. At the time Missouri under
   Governor Claiborne Jackson had declared it was an armed neutral in the
   conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state.
   By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and
   Missouri was formally a Union state -- although a state with many
   southern sympathizers.

   On August 7, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, a
   decision by President Lincoln that was strongly influenced by Elihu
   Washburne's political clout. After first serving in a couple of lesser
   commands, at the end of the month, Grant was selected by Western
   Theatre commander Major General John C. Frémont to command the critical
   District of Southeast Missouri.

Battles of Belmont, Henry, and Donelson

   Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the
   initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky,
   immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by
   occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive
   action against Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow at Belmont,
   Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Flag Officer
   Andrew H. Foote's gunboats, he captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee
   River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army
   was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while
   he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would
   characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized
   counterattacks that carried the day. The captures of the two forts were
   the first major Union victories of the war. The Confederate commander,
   Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's, yielded
   to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and
   immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of 14,000 men made Grant a
   national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional
   Surrender" Grant. This victory also won him promotion to major general
   of volunteers.

   Despite his significant victories, or perhaps because of them, Grant
   fell out of favour with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck.
   Halleck objected to Grant's visit to Nashville, Tennessee, where he met
   with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, and used that as an excuse to
   relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from
   President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his
   army on March 17.

Shiloh

   General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864
   Enlarge
   General Grant at Cold Harbour, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864

   In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney
   Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer
   violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling.
   Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he
   stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely
   reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into
   a victory.

   The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; it was the bloodiest battle
   in the history of the United States up to that time with over 23,000
   casualties. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized
   nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field
   himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of
   second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent
   over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his
   subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain.
   When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant
   resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later
   more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded
   the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall.

Vicksburg

   In the campaign to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg,
   Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862–1863 conducting a series of
   operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous.
   These attempts failed. His strategy in the campaign to capture
   Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military
   history.

   Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and
   crossed the river by using the U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at
   Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and—in a daring move that defied
   conventional military principles—cut loose from most of his supply
   lines.. Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving
   the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an
   opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went
   eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the
   rail line to Vicksburg.

   Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to
   the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won at Champion Hill. The
   defeated Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at
   Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that
   assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in
   for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief,
   Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating
   defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in
   two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the
   previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For
   this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major
   general in the regular army, effective July 4.

Chattanooga

   After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans
   retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Braxton Bragg followed
   to Lookout Mountain, surrounding the Federals on three sides. On
   October 17, Grant was placed in command of the city. He immediately
   relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a
   plan known as the "Cracker Line", Grant's chief engineer, William F.
   "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, greatly
   increasing the chances for Grant's forces.

   Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted.
   In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga
   started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He
   not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops
   piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In
   response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center,
   which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he
   was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the
   Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the
   Army of the Cumberland at the centre of the Confederate line. Hooker's
   men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas's men made an unexpected
   but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the
   fortified centre of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at
   Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the
   assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening
   the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the
   Confederacy.

   Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President
   Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army—a new
   rank recently authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind—on
   March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the
   armies of the United States.

General-in-Chief and strategy for victory

   Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg,
   Mississippi
   Enlarge
   Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg,
   Mississippi

   In March 1864, Grant put Major General William Tecumseh Sherman in
   immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters
   to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union
   effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary
   objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia,
   but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the
   former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would
   strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant,
   George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near
   Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade
   Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook
   and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West
   Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the
   first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the
   first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction
   of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as
   important as tactical victories on the battlefield.

Overland Campaign, Petersburg, and Appomattox

   Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox."
   Enlarge
   Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox."

   The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to
   defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander
   Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the
   Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of
   scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It
   was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able
   to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical
   advantage.

   The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight,
   resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on
   both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's
   predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback
   and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which
   lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not to win
   individual battles, it was to wear down and destroy Lee's army.

   Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both
   failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against
   these assaults.

   The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to
   Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The
   Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant
   wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out
   along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his
   attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a
   massive assault that nearly broke Lee's lines.

   In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed
   in Grant's favour. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had
   been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce
   assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive. The
   next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared
   defense. Cold Harbour was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in
   which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without
   adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting
   in horrific casualties (3,000–7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the
   first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the
   total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has
   been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far
   outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his
   memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor
   was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of
   May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbour no advantage whatever was
   gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved
   on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his
   troops across the James River.

   Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the
   rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious
   actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a
   number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all
   failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with
   fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative
   but to settle down to a siege.

   As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled,
   respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took centre stage. There
   was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North
   had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters
   worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command
   of Major General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to
   disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the
   Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C..
   Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration
   simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's
   re-election prospects even bleaker.
   Lieut. General Ulysses S. Grant, portrait by Mathew Brady
   Enlarge
   Lieut. General Ulysses S. Grant, portrait by Mathew Brady

   In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally
   bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip
   Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear
   to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was
   re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March
   to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of
   total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and
   a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas.

   At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally
   forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee
   surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There,
   Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between
   the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would
   be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the
   American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue
   until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi
   Department on June 2, 1865.

   Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honour of serving
   as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham
   Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh, "I
   can't spare this general. He fights." It was a two-sentence description
   that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant.

   Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a
   bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it
   oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities.
   Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at
   Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not
   afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were
   themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often
   resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the
   Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable
   losses. Copperheads denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, but they
   wanted the Confederacy to win. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he
   won all his campaigns.

   One historian explains his strategic genius:

          "Grant understood topography, the importance of supply lines,
          the instant judgment of the balance between his own strengths
          and the enemy's weaknesses, and above all the need to keep his
          armies moving forward, despite casualties, even when things have
          gone wrong--that and the simple importance of inflicting greater
          losses on the enemy than he can sustain, day after day, until he
          breaks. Grant the boy never retraced his steps. Grant the man
          did not retreat--he advanced. Generals who do that win wars."

   After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created
   rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a
   full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Grant was appointed
   as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.

Grant and Johnson

   As commander in chief of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship
   with President Johnson. He accompanied Johnson on a national stumping
   tour during the 1866 elections but did not appear to be a supporter of
   Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use
   Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary
   of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without
   the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused
   but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals,
   who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was
   chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican
   National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In
   his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us
   have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the
   general election that year, he won against former New York governor
   Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082
   votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He
   ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an
   unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House,
   he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet
   elected president.

Presidency 1869–1877

   Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms
   from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a
   landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated
   Horace Greeley.
   Critical cartoonist ridicules imperial inauguration of Grant in 1869,
   compared to Jeffersonian simplicity (upper left).
   Enlarge
   Critical cartoonist ridicules imperial inauguration of Grant in 1869,
   compared to Jeffersonian simplicity (upper left).

Policies

   Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the
   Democrats (called Redeemers), took the control of every state away from
   his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders
   begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole
   public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South,"
   saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He
   supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil
   rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to
   be stationed in the South—sufficient numbers to protect rights of
   southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and
   prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment
   in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills
   promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth
   Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting
   rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent scholarly work has begun to argue
   for the significance of Ulysses S. Grant on the development of
   Reconstruction. Not only have these scholars provided evidence for
   Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South
   immediately after the Civil War, but have also argued for Grant's
   support of intervention in the South right up until the election of
   1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights can be easily seen by
   his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the
   annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to
   accept blacks as part of the southern political polity.

   Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent terrorist
   organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. Grant was
   charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being
   armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed.
   Given the formidable task it can be argued that Grant did as much as
   could be done.

   Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park
   (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872.

   The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he
   never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate
   distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the
   value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging
   to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the
   amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on
   Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The
   depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections,
   as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856.

   In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration
   was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State
   Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning
   the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS
   Alabama. He proposed to annex of the independent, largely black nation
   of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of
   use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining
   chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that
   the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the
   necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil
   rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island
   would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify
   it because of ( Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles
   Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the
   chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal
   Republicans in 1872.

   In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes- Tilden
   election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on
   Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson.

Scandals

   The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a
   gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall
   Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the
   gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary
   from stopping the fraud.

   The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by
   Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million
   dollars in taxes was stolen from the federal government with the aid of
   high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to
   the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped
   conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement,
   "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow. Secretary of War William W.
   Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of
   Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of
   Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his
   actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government
   official.

   Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident at the Treasury, and
   problems with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield.

   Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his
   subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and
   failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When
   critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his
   selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those
   with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by
   giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than
   supporting the party's needs. His failure to establish working
   political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of
   control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress
   that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent."

Anti-Semitism

   Grant's legacy has been marred by anti-Semitism. The most frequently
   cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's
   headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the
   early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part:

          The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade
          established by the Treasury Department, and also Department
          orders, are hereby expelled from the Department (comprising
          areas of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky).

   The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant
   maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his
   name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson
   later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He
   was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader
   that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the
   profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying,
   prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not
   strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to
   use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their
   counterpart—opportunistic traders who were Jewish. [McFeeley p 124]
   Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and
   character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the
   order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first
   discriminatory order [Grant] had signed... he was firmly convinced of
   the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of
   them."

   The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential
   campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders,
   all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and
   he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the
   community throughout his administration, on both political and social
   levels.

Administration and Cabinet

   Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant
   remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands
   were thrust into his pockets.
   Enlarge
   Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant
   remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands
   were thrust into his pockets.
   OFFICE                    NAME                     TERM
   President                 Ulysses S. Grant         1869–1877
   Vice President            Schuyler Colfax          1869–1873
                             Henry Wilson             1873–1875
   Secretary of State        Elihu B. Washburne       1869
                             Hamilton Fish            1869–1877
   Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell       1869–1873
                             William Adams Richardson 1873–1874
                             Benjamin Bristow         1874–1876
                             Lot M. Morrill           1876–1877
   Secretary of War          John A. Rawlins          1869
                             William T. Sherman       1869
                             William W. Belknap       1869–1876
                             Alphonso Taft            1876
                             James D. Cameron         1876–1877
   Attorney General          Ebenezer R. Hoar         1869–1870
                             Amos T. Akerman          1870–1871
                             George Henry Williams    1871–1875
                             Edwards Pierrepont       1875–1876
                             Alphonso Taft            1876–1877
   Postmaster General        John A. J. Creswell      1869–1874
                             James W. Marshall        1874
                             Marshall Jewell          1874–1876
                             James N. Tyner           1876–1877
   Secretary of the Navy     Adolph E. Borie          1869
                             George M. Robeson        1869–1877
   Secretary of the Interior Jacob D. Cox             1869–1870
                             Columbus Delano          1870–1875
                             Zachariah Chandler       1875–1877

Supreme Court appointments

   Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the
   United States:
     * William Strong – 1870
     * Joseph P. Bradley – 1870
     * Ward Hunt – 1873
     * Morrison Remick Waite ( Chief Justice) – 1874

States admitted to the Union

     * Colorado – August 1, 1876

Government agencies instituted

     * Department of Justice (1870)
     * Office of the Solicitor General (1870)
     * Post Office Department (1872)
     * "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873,
       it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission"
       instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant
       faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel
       Management.)
     * Office of the Surgeon General (1871)
     * Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather
       Service) (1870)

Post Presidency

World Tour

   After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent two
   years (from May 17, 3PM, 1877 to 1879) traveling around the world with
   his wife. He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were
   huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria and Prince Bismarck in
   Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and
   Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and
   Empress Dowager Shoken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen
   section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his
   stay.

   In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the
   Ryūkyū Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the
   matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and
   ruled in Japan's favour.

Third Term attempt in 1880

   In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator
   Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president.
   He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers,
   and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he
   wanted the job and encouraged his men. His popularity was fading
   however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36
   ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A.
   Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield for a month, but he supported
   Conkling in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that
   culminated in Garfield's assassination.

Bankruptcy

   In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all
   of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with
   Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who
   was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other
   investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the
   company, Grant and Ward, and fled.

Memoirs

   Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat
   cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired
   U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his
   military pension when he assumed the office of President. Grant first
   wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century
   Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a
   generous contract, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties.

   Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his
   death. The memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family
   over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of
   its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and they are widely
   regarded as among the finest memoirs ever written.

   Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the
   age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His body lies
   in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's
   Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America.

In memoriam

   Grant as he appears on the 2004 series U.S. $50 note
   Enlarge
   Grant as he appears on the 2004 series U.S. $50 note
     * In World War II, the British Army produced an armored vehicle known
       as the Grant tank (a version of the American M3 model, which was
       ironically nicknamed the " Lee").

     * Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill.

     * The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in
       Washington, D.C., honours Grant.

     * Grant Park in Chicago honours Grant.

     * There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth,
       Ohio.

     * There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

     * Counties in ten U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas,
       Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
       Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin and Grant Parish,
       Louisiana.

Trivia

     * Grant was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren
     * Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of
       the White House. He referred to the people who approached him in
       the lobby as "those damn lobbyists," possibly giving rise to the
       modern term lobbyist.
     * Grant's nicknames included: The Hero of Appomattox, "Unconditional
       Surrender" Grant ("U.S. Grant"), Sam Grant, and, in his youth,
       Ulys, Lyss and Useless.
     * While in California, Grant tried selling ice to South America but
       failed when it melted in the warm weather aboard the ship.
     * The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho
       Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which
       resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no
       money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's
       grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a university professor) appeared on
       the program in 1953.
     * In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National
       Rifle Association.
     * Grant was depicted in the 1999 film Wild Wild West, with actor
       Kevin Kline portraying the president in a minor supporting role.
     * When Lincoln was told by his General Staff that Grant took too many
       casualties in his victories and urged that he be relieved, Lincoln
       responded, "I can't spare him. He fights."
     * An apocryphal story about Grant's drinking has the general's
       critics going to President Lincoln, charging the military man with
       being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "I wish some of
       you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would
       like to send a barrel of it to my other generals."

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