Union Army Commanders: Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Recognized as the reason for the Northern victory, Ulysses S. Grant commanded the Union Army during the bloodiest war in the history of America, and went on to become 18th President of the United States. On April 27, 1822 a legend was born. Although he had a religious family, Grant preferred to pray alone. His parents, Jesse and Hannah Grant, were extremely strict with all of his six other siblings except for him. Jesse Grant worked as a tanner under horrible circumstances where he produced leather from animal skin. Besides working with remains of dead animals, Jesse Grant made a good living from being a tanner. Ulysses would often work in the tannery with his father but he loathed the place and vowed to never visit once he was an adult. When Ulysses attended school, he was given the nickname “useless” because other students misinterpreted his calmness for lack of intelligence. Nevertheless, Grant had the gift of equitation. Therefore, Grant was given the responsibility of taming and handling horses as well as other farm animals which he was soon was well-known for. His father saw how motivated he was to be more than just a tanner. Grant’s family could not afford to pay for college expenses. Consequently, Grant was enlisted in the United States Military Academy, which would pay for his education in exchange for military service, by his father. The congressman that registered Grant for the appointment at West Point wrote his name using his mother’s family name, Simpson (millercenter.org). After a failed attempt to correct the error, he started signing his name as Ulysses S. Grant.

Besides his phenomenal math and drawing skills, Grant had little previous education which gave others the impression that he was unint...

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...can-Americans, and used the army to build the Republican Party in the South, based on black voters, Northern newcomers” and he also “Developed an Indian peace policy, which sought to reform western Indian agencies and Americanize the Indians, negotiated reparations from the British for their part in undermining the Union blockade of Confederate ports, attempted to annex Spanish colonies to the south like Santo Domingo and Cuba”

After two terms of presidency, Grant developed throat cancer. He had economic issues which continued to progress. Century Magazine contacted him and asked him to write articles about his “Civil War Experience”. He spent his last days writing. He found that he relished the idea of writing about his experiences, therefore, he organized his memoirs into a book which was completed before his last days. The book financially benefitted his family.