Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry, the first of six children of Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson. His father was a tanner; Grant grew up in Georgetown, Ohio, disliked working in the family tannery and was known as a boy for his horsemanship.⁠[1][2]

In 1839, after another candidate dropped out, his father used his connections to the politician Thomas L. Hamer to enroll him at the United States Military Academy at West Point. A congressional paperwork error listed him as “Ulysses Simpson Grant,” and he used the name Ulysses S. Grant from then on.⁠[3][2]

He graduated 21st in a class of 39 and was assigned to the infantry rather than the cavalry, joining the Fourth Infantry at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, MissouriMissouriMissouri is a state of the United States bounded on the east by the Mississippi River; its capital is Jefferson City, its largest city is Kansas City, and its second-largest is St. Louis. It was admitted to the Union on August 10, 1821, as the 24th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,154,913.Open the full entry.⁠[2]

Julia Dent was the sister of Grant’s West Point roommate Frederick Dent. In May 1844 Grant proposed to her with his West Point class ring; because he then went off to the Mexican–American War, the wedding was delayed by four years.⁠[2][4]

From 1846 to 1848 Grant served in the Mexican–American War, taking part in every major battle except Buena Vista, and was twice cited for bravery. As regimental quartermaster of his infantry regiment he was responsible for transportation and logistics for nearly 1,000 men. He admired General Zachary TaylorZachary TaylorZachary Taylor (1784–1850) was an American army general and politician who rose to fame through his victories in the Mexican-American War. He became the 12th president of the United States in March 1849 and died in office in July 1850, after about sixteen months.Open the full entry.⁠[2][3]

In 1848 Grant returned to White Haven, the Dent family estate in St. Louis County, and married Julia Dent there. He was later stationed in Detroit, New York, the Oregon Territory and CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry.⁠[5][2]

In 1854, after about two and a half years away from his family, Grant resigned his commission as a captain and rejoined his family at White Haven. The Miller Center’s essay notes that the reason for his sudden resignation remains unclear.⁠[6][2]

Grant first worked as a farm hand at White Haven. In 1855 he began building a log cabin called Hardscrabble on his own 80-acre farm, and the family lived there from October 1856 to January 1857; after Julia’s mother, Ellen, died in January 1857, they moved back to White Haven. That year his father-in-law, Frederick Dent, moved to the city and Grant took over daily operations of the farm, but drought, illness, a weak economy and frost hurt it, and in late 1857 the two agreed to sell most of the farm equipment.⁠[6]

From 1854 to 1859 the Dent and Grant families lived at White Haven with an enslaved workforce; about 30 enslaved people lived and worked there alongside Grant.⁠[5][7]

Grant had acquired an enslaved man, William Jones, from Frederick Dent; in 1859, at the St. Louis Courthouse, he freed Jones rather than selling him for profit. The same year he formed Boggs and Grant, a real-estate business in St. Louis City, with Julia’s cousin Harry Boggs; Grant repeatedly failed to collect rents owed, and the partners dissolved the business later that year.⁠[6]

Grant accepted a clerk’s position his father offered at Grant and Perkins, the family leather goods store, and in May 1860 he moved with Julia and their children to Galena, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is a state of the United States that borders Lake Michigan and the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa; its capital is Springfield and its largest city is Chicago. It was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1818, as the 21st state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 12,812,508.Open the full entry, where they stayed until he rejoined the Army at the start of the Civil War.⁠[4]

After the Civil War began, Grant rejoined the Army in April 1861. The governor of Illinois assigned him to turn the Twenty-First Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment into a disciplined unit, which he did through drill and strict discipline. By September 1861 he had been promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. That year he led about 3,000 troops at Belmont, Missouri, in a battle that ended in a draw.⁠[3][8][9][2]

In February 1862 Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state in the southeast-central United States, with its capital at Nashville. It was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 6,910,840 residents.Open the full entry and accepted the surrender of an entire Confederate force at Donelson, earning the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant; he was then promoted to major general.⁠[2]

In April 1862 Grant was surprised by a Confederate attack at Shiloh; he held his ground and counterattacked the next day. The battle was a strategic Union victory, but its heavy losses drew criticism of Grant.⁠[2]

On December 17, 1862, during the Vicksburg campaign, Grant issued an order expelling all Jews from his military district; because of a clerical error it is known as General Order No. 11. It was revoked in January 1863 on Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865). Born to a frontier farming family in Kentucky, he had less than a year of formal schooling, taught himself law, and served in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the presidency as the Republican candidate in 1860. During the Civil War he preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865, and died the next day.Open the full entry’s orders. During the 1868 campaign Grant expressed regret and apologized to the Jewish community.⁠[3][10]

Grant crossed the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg, MississippiMississippiMississippi is a state of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico; Jackson is both its capital and its largest city. It was admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817, as the 20th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 2,961,279.Open the full entry, and besieged the city; after a siege of about two months, Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton surrendered with about 27,000 men on July 4, 1863. By November 1863 Chattanooga, Knoxville and eastern Tennessee were in Union hands, and at Chattanooga Grant defeated a larger Confederate force.⁠[2][9][8]

In March 1864 Abraham Lincoln made Grant a lieutenant general. Grant took the field with George Meade’s Army of the Potomac; the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor brought heavy Union casualties, and Democratic newspapers called him “The Butcher.” Meanwhile William T. Sherman advanced to Atlanta and then to the sea, and Philip Sheridan campaigned in the Shenandoah Valley.⁠[2][9]

Grant besieged Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry at Petersburg, south of Richmond, Virginia, and forced its surrender: on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.⁠[8][2][3]

In 1866 Congress made Grant General of the Armies, which led to speculation that he would run for president.⁠[11][2]

In 1867 President Andrew JohnsonAndrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson (1808–1875) was an American politician who served as governor of Tennessee and as a U.S. senator, and who succeeded the assassinated Abraham Lincoln in April 1865 as the 17th president of the United States, serving until 1869.Open the full entry removed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and named Grant to replace him; after Congress overrode Johnson’s decision under the Tenure of Office Act of 1867, Grant resigned the post.⁠[12]

In 1868 the Republican Party unanimously nominated Grant for president, with Schuyler Colfax as his running mate; Grant ended his acceptance speech with “Let us have peace.”⁠[10][8]

In the election Grant and Colfax won 214 electoral votes and 3,013,650 popular votes (52.7 percent); the Democratic ticket of Horatio Seymour and Francis Blair, Jr. won 80 electoral votes and 2,708,744 popular votes (47.3 percent), out of 294 electoral votes in total.⁠[13]

Seymour’s 80 electoral votes include those of Georgia; excluding Georgia, he received 71 and the total was 285.⁠[14]

Grant entered the White House on March 4, 1869, at age 46, the youngest president elected up to that time. On March 18, 1869, he signed his first law, pledging to redeem wartime greenbacks in gold.⁠[15]

Grant refused to use cabinet posts as rewards for Republican leaders and chose people he trusted; Hamilton Fish became secretary of state on March 17, 1869. The Miller Center’s essay judges that his appointments were mixed, turnover was high, and his loyalty to past associates kept some ineffective or corrupt officials in place.⁠[16][15]

Grant strongly supported transcontinental railroads, and the line from Sacramento, California, to Omaha, NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state of the United States bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the east, Kansas to the south, and Colorado to the southwest, with its panhandle bordering Wyoming to the west; its capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha. It was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867, as the 37th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,961,504.Open the full entry, was completed in 1869, during his first year in office.⁠[8]

In his first inaugural address Grant promised to rethink the treatment of Native Americans; his Peace Policy aimed to assimilate Indians through reservations and farming. He created a Board of Indian Commissioners and appointed the Seneca Ely S. Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1869–1871), the first nonwhite official in a major federal post. The board recommended replacing politically appointed agents with missionaries, especially Quakers, and Army personnel.⁠[16][10]

The Appropriation Acts of 1870 and 1871 ended the U.S. government’s recognition of the sovereignty of Native nations. The Miller Center’s essay judges that settler expansion continued, reservation conditions remained poor and the policy is remembered more for its intent than its results; the National Park Service exhibit states that, although meant to reduce military conflict with Native Americans, the policy contributed to cultural genocide.⁠[10][16]

Grant favored hard, gold-backed money. In 1869 the speculators Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, using Grant’s brother-in-law as an intermediary; on Friday, September 24, the Treasury under George Boutwell sold $4 million in gold, the price collapsed and many suffered heavy losses. The Miller Center’s essay judges that Grant played no part in the scheme but that the episode damaged his administration’s reputation.⁠[16]

On February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, barring denial of the vote on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. Grant had urged its ratification in his first inaugural address and called it “a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind.”⁠[10][16]

Beginning in 1870 Congress passed the Enforcement Acts to protect voting rights. Grant appointed the civil rights advocate Amos T. Akerman as attorney general (from July 8, 1870) and established the Department of Justice, which presided over the conviction of more than 1,000 Ku Klux Klan members between 1870 and 1876.⁠[16][10][15]

In April 1871 Grant signed the Ku Klux Klan Act to counter terrorism in the South, and in October 1871 he imposed martial law in nine South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina (officially the State of South Carolina) is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Ocean bordering Georgia and North Carolina; its capital is Columbia and its most populous city is Charleston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788, the eighth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,118,425.Open the full entry counties and sent in federal troops. He did not always intervene, and in disputes over rival state authorities in LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state in the southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico, bordered by Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas; its capital is Baton Rouge and its largest city is New Orleans. It entered the Union on April 30, 1812, as the 18th state, and had a population of 4,657,757 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, ArkansasArkansasArkansas is a U.S. state bounded on the east by the Mississippi River; its capital and largest city is Little Rock. Arkansas was admitted to the Union on June 15, 1836, as the 25th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 3,011,524.Open the full entry, Georgia and Mississippi he often declined to decide. After the Panic of 1873, Northern interest in the South waned further, and Democrats regained control of many Southern state governments. The Miller Center’s essay notes that critics see his Reconstruction policy as either overreaching or insufficient.⁠[16]

On March 1, 1872, Grant signed the act creating Yellowstone, the first national park.⁠[11][10]

Grant was the first president to recommend a professional civil service. He appointed the first Civil Service Commission, which proposed competitive examinations and rules for hiring and promotion; Grant put them into effect in 1872, but Congress refused to pass permanent legislation.⁠[16]

In 1872 Grant was renominated by the Republicans, while the Liberal Republicans and the Democrats backed Horace Greeley. The Crédit Mobilier scandal came to light during the campaign: railroad companies had overcharged the government on contracts, and company directors had bribed officials with shares in 1867 to block an investigation; a later congressional investigation was completed in 1873. Grant dropped Vice President Schuyler Colfax from the ticket partly because of his ties to the affair.⁠[15][16]

Grant won by nearly 800,000 popular votes, taking 56 percent of the popular vote and 286 of 366 electoral votes.⁠[15][10]

Grant’s second term began on March 4, 1873. That year a European depression spread to the United States; the Panic of 1873 began with the failure of Wall Street firms and spread to bank failures, bankruptcies, widespread unemployment and lost farms.⁠[15][8][16]

In 1874 Grant vetoed the inflation bill, which would have added greenbacks to circulation, after first planning to sign it. In 1875 he signed the Specie Resumption Act, returning the currency to gold and gradually withdrawing greenbacks. The Miller Center’s essay judges that these actions set the United States on a hard-currency course for the rest of the nineteenth century.⁠[16][15]

In 1875 Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow exposed the Whiskey Ring, in which Midwestern distillers, with the help of federal agents, defrauded the government of excise taxes. Grant encouraged prosecution, but the case implicated his personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, who was tried in 1876; Grant gave a deposition in his defense, and Babcock was found not guilty but left his post.⁠[16]

The same year Grant announced that he would not seek a third term.⁠[10][8]

Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigned and was impeached on bribery charges, escaping conviction because he was no longer in office; Alphonso Taft became secretary of war on March 11, 1876.⁠[15]

In the 1876 presidential election both the Republican Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was an American lawyer, soldier and politician who served as a U.S. representative and governor of Ohio and was the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881.Open the full entry and the Democrat Samuel J. Tilden claimed victory. When the electoral votes reached Washington, D.C., in December 1876, the results in Louisiana, South Carolina and FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry were disputed, and a commission created by Congress ruled for Hayes. The Miller Center’s essay judges that Grant’s calm presence reassured the country during a volatile period and helped ensure an orderly transfer of power. Grant’s second term ended on March 3, 1877.⁠[15][17]

From May 1877 to September 1879 Grant and Julia toured 19 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. They were received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, met Benjamin Disraeli and Otto von Bismarck, and shook hands with the emperor of Japan. After returning in 1879 they settled in New York City to be closer to their children.⁠[7][15][17][4]

In 1880 a faction of the Republican Party sought a third term for Grant; he received more than 300 votes on each of 36 ballots, but the nomination went to James A. GarfieldJames A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield (1831–1881) was an American educator, soldier and politician who rose to major general in the Civil War, served for many years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the 20th president of the United States in 1881, dying in office after being shot.Open the full entry.⁠[15][17]

Grant had invested most of his assets in Grant & Ward, an investment firm in which his son was a partner; in 1884 the firm collapsed after being swindled by partner Ferdinand Ward, leaving the family impoverished and thousands of dollars in debt.⁠[15][18][17]

In 1884 Grant began writing Civil War reminiscences for Century Magazine and then decided to write his memoirs. In late 1884 he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Mark TwainMark TwainMark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American humorist, journalist, lecturer and novelist. He is known for his travel narratives and for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, novels set in the Mississippi River world of his boyhood.Open the full entry advised him to decline Century Magazine’s offer and proposed better terms through his own publishing company, and Grant signed with him. The illness eventually took his voice and made dictation impossible, and he wrote in pencil on his porch, wrapped in blankets.⁠[15][9][17]

In June 1885 Grant moved for health reasons to a cottage owned by Joseph W. Drexel at Mount McGregor, New York, just north of Saratoga Springs, and finished his memoirs around July 19. He died of throat cancer there on July 23, 1885, at age 63.⁠[18][11]

Grant was buried in New York City on August 8, 1885. About 1.5 million people viewed the funeral procession, which stretched about seven miles as it carried his coffin to a temporary vault in Riverside Park; cities and towns across the country held commemorations.⁠[11][17][15]

In 1897, on the 75th anniversary of his birth, Grant’s remains were moved to a tomb on Riverside Drive. Designed by the architect John Duncan in granite and marble, it was funded by about 90,000 donors from around the world who gave more than $600,000, then the largest public fundraising effort. More than one million people attended the parade and dedication ceremony on April 27, 1897, and the dignitaries included President William McKinleyWilliam McKinleyWilliam McKinley (1843–1901) was an American Republican politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as Governor of Ohio before becoming the 25th President of the United States (1897–1901), leading the country through the Spanish-American War; he was assassinated in 1901.Open the full entry.⁠[11][15]

Julia Dent Grant was later interred beside him. The tomb’s inscription reads “Let us have peace.”⁠[15]

Grant’s marriage to Julia Dent Grant (1826–1902) lasted 37 years. They had four children: Frederick, Ulysses Jr. (“Buck”), Ellen (“Nellie”) and Jesse.⁠[4][2]

The Treaty of Washington provided for an international tribunal to settle American claims against Great Britain over the Confederate raider AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a U.S. state in the Southeast on the Gulf of Mexico, with its capital at Montgomery. It was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, as the 22nd state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 5,024,279 residents.Open the full entry, while the Senate narrowly rejected a treaty to annex the Dominican Republic. The Miller Center’s essay judges that Grant ran a successful foreign policy that improved Anglo-American relations.⁠[15][8]

Grant’s Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant broke sales records; besides paying off his debts, it made the Grant family wealthy.⁠[18]

The General Grant National Memorial, administered by the National Park Service, holds the tombs of Grant and Julia Dent Grant and is described as the largest mausoleum in North America.⁠[19][11]

The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri, preserves the house, grounds and collections of White Haven; Grant later bought the estate from his father-in-law and made changes to it during his presidency.⁠[5]

The Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, on the campus of Mississippi State University, was appointed by the U.S. Senate as the lead organization for the Ulysses S. Grant bicentennial celebration.⁠[20]

The Miller Center’s essay observes that Grant is often dismissed as a weak president but that recent scholarly rankings of his presidency have risen significantly; it judges that he was never personally implicated in or enriched by the scandals, but that his failure to distance himself from guilty associates damaged his reputation.⁠[8][16]

General Grant National Memorial: Official website: https://home.nps.gov/gegr/index.htm (opens in a new window).⁠[19]

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site: Official website: https://www.nps.gov/ulsg/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]