“The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance… [I] regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility for further [loss] of blood, by asking you surrender [of] the Army of Northern Virginia.” is what General Ulysses S. Grant as the highest ranking officer of the Union Army, wrote to the opposing the highest ranking officer of the opposing Confederate army, General Robert E. Lee on April 7, 1865. (Alter, 2002) In 1861, the Southern states of the United States of America had seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America, and President Lincoln deciding it was worth it to bring them back, declared war, sparking the American Civil War. (Gaines, 2009) Grant joined the army and was quickly promoted to general-in-chief, and despite a few setbacks, managed to force the Confederates to surrender after forcing their forces from the Rapidan River to the James River in a manner one soldier describe simply as "unspoken, unspeakable history." in 1865. (Civil War Trust, 2013) Four years later, Grant was voted as the United States president at forty six years old – the youngest president at that time. (Simon, 2013) Grant tried to help ease racial tensions during his term, but his presidency is most remembered as one filled with scandal. (PBS, 2013) From a humble background, to a soldier, and after some time, to a gifted and experienced general, eventually becoming a president, Grant fought his entire life as hard as he could for what he believed in, through both hardship and peace, helping America in many ways.
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, growing up in Georgetown, Ohio to Jesse Root Grant, and Hannah Simpson. (Gaines, 2009) He also had ...
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Works Cited
Simon, John Y. "Command over Union armies."Ulysses S. Grant. 2013. .
Alter, Judy. Ulysses S. Grant. Berkeley Heights: MyReportLinks.com Books, 2002. Print.
Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant. New York: Times Books, 2004. Print.
Gaines, Ann Graham . Ulysses S. Grant : Our Eighteenth President. Mankato : Child's World, 2009. Print.
"Ulysses S. Grant ." PBS.org. Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 9 Apr 2013. .
"Ulysses S. Grant." Civil War Trust. Civil War Trust. Web. 9 Apr 2013. .
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Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, showed weaknesses within his leadership which may have contributed to the confederacy’s loss and the unions win . Davis failed in three vital ways. These ways were: his relations with other confederate authorities and with the people, as well as in his fundamental concept of his job as president and in his organization and specific handling of his role as commander in chief . Davis failed in maintaining communication with leaders and with his people, often unable to admit when he is wrong which led to lack organization in his role . In addition, Davis was a conservative leader, not a revolutionary one which meant that his strength was often in protocol and convention rather than in innovation . Studying each of these aspects that represented a weakness in Jefferson Davis’s leadership, Lincoln in comparison provided more admirable and outstanding qualities within his leadership which in many ways affected the outcome of the war
President Abraham Lincoln demanded a decisive victory. He was tired of his military leadership’s inability to decisively engage and defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Allowing the war to drag on was to the Confederacies advantage. Lincoln was so frustrated that he relieved General George B. McClellan for failing to defeat Lee at Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside, who proved to be very conservative in battle against General Lee. Knowing that General Lee was a student of Napoleonic warfare, Burnside feared that Lee always had a large Corps in reserve waiting to flank should he be decisively engaged from the front.
...ew the war he was fighting was not an epic Napoleonic battle but a war of attrition. He proceeded with his plan to slowly shrink Confederate territory and destroy Lee's army to the point that the South could no longer mount a viable defense. Eventually Grant succeeded and Lee's men were all that remained of the Confederate army. Grant surrounded them in trenches at Richmond until Lee was forced to surrender.
At the beginning of the Civil War, leaders in the North and South were tasked with selecting the best men possible to lead their troops. Both sides needed to find men of outstanding character in order to succeed in their war efforts. Robert E. Lee showed himself as exactly such a man. President Abraham Lincoln agreed and sought out Lee, an accomplished U.S. military veteran with 32 years of service, to lead the Union troops. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, knew Lee lived in Virginia, a state that had succeeded from the Union. Davis wanted Lee to command the Confederate Army. Ultimately, Robert E. Lee, a man of great character who valued relationships as the crucial element in leadership, honored those around him and displayed
Grant has an illustrious past. People talked about his being a drunkard but Catton says “He was simply a man infinitely more complex then most people could realize.” Grant, even though he was a West Point graduate, never wanted to be a soldier or to have a life in the military. He wanted to be a teacher. What Grant did bring to the Army of the Potomac was his ability to relate to the soldiers and made them his army. He completely retrained and re-organized the armies, and re-enlisted troops that were going to go home. They all realized that under Grant the Army of the Potomac changed which meant now that the entire war would change.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, it was followed by an era known as Reconstruction that lasted until 1877, with the goal to rebuild the nation. Lincoln was the president at the beginning of this era, until his assassination caused his vice president, Andrew Johnson to take his place in 1865. Johnson was faced with numerous issues such as the reunification of the union and the unknown status of the ex-slaves, while compromising between the principles of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. After the Election of 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, a former war hero with no political experience, became the nation’s new president, but was involved in numerous acts of corruption. Reconstruction successfully reintegrated the southern states into the Union through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction Plans, but was mostly a failure due to the continued discriminatory policies against African Americans, such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and sharecropping, as well as the widespread corruption of the elite in the North and the Panic of 1873,
When President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) took office, he did not garner much respect from the American citizens as a military leader. Lincoln exercised actions that took his West Point generals into more aggressive territory. Even though he didn’t have the military education or experience as his counterpart Confederate President Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), he continued his abilities as a fearless leader by becoming a student of...
Great military leaders should have a connection with the public and their soldiers. General Lee emerged overnight as the Confederate hero after the Seven Days’ Battles. His soldiers developed an almost divine belief in him because this battle was the first major victory since the First Battle of Bull Run and halted a succession of military attacks. The confederate soldiers also revered him due to his personal attributes, his dedication to protect his homeland, and because he held out so long against the Union with 11 times the industrial strength and three times the population of the South. Being a public hero also helped Jefferson Davis greatly as Davis was too overbearing, not in touch with the public, and not an exemplary leader like Abraham Lincoln. Doing so, Lee is connecting the people to their president, boosting morale, and hence productivity. The public, however, does not view General Ulysses S. Grant in such a positive light. The Union residents see Grant as a man who is overcome by his addiction of drinking and smoking, earning the disdain of General McClellan who was “annoyed and offended” by Grant...
The Gilded age spanned from the 1870s to about 1900. Six presidents were elected during that time period. Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. Ulysses S. Grant was the first of the presidents elected during the Gilded Age, he was elected in 1869 and his presidency spanned to 1877. On September 24, 1869 the “Black Friday” panic happens in New York City when two gold entrepreneurs and Grant’s brother-in-law try to take control of the gold market. Grant finally orders a large sale of god ruining their plans to take over the market, but it effected the market greatly, stocks crashed, brokerages went bankrupt, and prices for agricultural good dropped severely. He received a lot of criticism for that and many people were strongly affected by this.
His family connection to the Civil War gave him a sense of pride. Modern Americans should remember and memorialize the Civil War by knowing that the event determined what kind of nation the United States would be. The Civil War is the most significant conflict in American history; it had a revolutionary, social, and political impact that continues to be felt today. We were taught the civil war was primarily fought because of slavery but in truth “there were many causes of the civil war, including differences between northern and southern states on the idea of slavery, as well as trade, tariffs, and states rights.”
When the war began, Ulysses S Grant was thirty-nine years old and knew he had to fight due to his distaste for slavery and opposition towards succession.(PBS) He began drilling a company in Galena and soon was recommended for a promotion by an Illinois congressman known as Elhu B. Washburne. Because of this, Lincoln promoted Grant to Brigadier. At this, he appointed John A. Rawlins, a young lawyer, to his staff. Rawlins soon became a close friend to the upcoming Ulysses S. Grant. Later at the permission of his commanding general, General Henry W. Helleck, he marched upon Fort Henry. Most Confederates retreated at Grant’s approach, and with the aid of a Union Gunboat, he was able to successfully secure the fort with ease. After this success, Ulysses S. Grant took it upon himself to lay siege to Fort Donelson. The Confederate commander of the fort, asked for terms of surrender, and received the reply, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” Upon this, the Confeder...
Kunhardt, Philip B. Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography. New York: Alfred S. Knope, 1992. 116+. Print.
If Civil Wars could be represented by a single person, the personification of the struggle in the United States between the North and the South would be a frightful individual to behold. Unfortunately, for Jefferson Davis, his life and temperament came close to embodying the gruesome inward fight of the American Civil War (or at least the Southern part). As men go, he was labeled an enigma. He was both a contradiction and a confirmation of himself, unpredictable yet foreseeable. His insecurities were major weaknesses. Without the special skills of a “people person”, he was thrust into a position of leadership over unorganized and untrained men. Despite these things, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, attempted to overcome all of it. In this way, he exemplified the Civil War and the further internal strains of the American South.
The power of the federal government can also be seen during Lincoln’s presidency at the time of the Civil War. He swayed the entire purpose of the war to something far off from what had been the initial purpose. From fighting for the preservation of the Union, Northerners readily began to accept that the abolition of slavery was the cause of the war for them, not the Union. Lincoln and his power made this happen.
Abraham Lincoln (12 Feb. 1809-15 Apr. 1865) the 16th president (civilwar.org) of the United States of America was one of the main public persons that influence the civil war in many aspects. Even though the civil war may have been the last resource the nation had, it could be argue that Lincoln’s governments try its best to find a different solution. The civil war was a conflict that destroyed the nation; it perhaps could have been avoided if the second party had work for a solution. But it is true that maybe both parts could have looked out for the benefits of the people as a whole instead of their personal benefits. Lincoln principal positive effect on the civil war was actually before and during the war when Lincoln’s government had many attempts to prevent the confrontation, and when this one began he took the right decisions to win the war. One of the biggest effects on the civil war was the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which gave the slaves their liberty. Many would agree is that Abraham’s Lincoln effect on the civil war was positive but Lincoln made many mistakes or misjudgments during the war as well. Perhaps the biggest mistake Lincoln did was underestimating the South what caused many unnecessary deaths. He also did had misjudgments that cause many causalities. Since the beginning of time humanity has fought for what they thought was right. In April 12 of 1861(civilwar.org) The US would begin a fight for civic and moral rights, a civil war that perhaps was the last option for a country to reunite its values. Abraham Lincoln was the president of the time and the person the influence the most the course the war took. I strongly believe that Lincoln’s decisions influence or had more positive effects on the country. Being the president at times like the civil war is without doubt it is one of the toughest jobs, and one way or another there is going to be correct and incorrect decisions but I can agree president Lincoln did what he thought it was the best at that moment.