Ulysses S. Grant Biography

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 " July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869"1877) following his successful role as a general in the second half of the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military; the war, and secession, ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox. As president he led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery. Upset over uncontrolled violence in the South and wanting to protect African American citizenship, Grant effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. Grant was the first president to establish Civil Service reform, creating a two-year federally funded Civil Service Commission in 1871. In foreign policy, Grant revealed an "unexpected capacity for deliberation and consultation" that promoted the national interest. His reputation was marred by his repeated defense of corrupt appointees, and by America's first industrial age economic depression (called the "Panic of 1873") that dominated his second term. Although his Republican Party split in 1872 with reformers denouncing him, Grant was easily reelected. By 1875 the conservative white Southern opposition regained control of every state in the South and as he left the White House in March 1877 his policies were being undone.

A career soldier, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican"American War. When the Civil War began in 1861, Grant trained Union volunteer regiments in Illinois. In 1862, as a general he fought a series of battles and was promoted to major general after forcing the surrender of a large Confederate army and gaining control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee. He then led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. In July 1863, after a long, complex campaign, Grant defeated five uncoordinated Confederate armies (capturing one of them) and seized Vicksburg. This famous victory gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River, dividing the Confederacy, and opening the way for more Union triumphs. After another win at the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made him lieutenant general and commander of all of the Union armies. As commanding general of the army, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles in 1864 known as the Overland Campaign that ended with the bottling up of Lee at Petersburg, outside the Confederate capital. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Thomas. Finally breaking through Lee's trenches, the Union Army captured Richmond in April 1865. Lee surrendered his depleted forces to Grant at Appomattox as the Confederacy collapsed. Although pro-Confederate historians attacked Grant as a ruthless butcher who won by brute force, most historians have hailed his military genius.

Grant's two terms as president stabilized the nation after the American Civil War and during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed. He enforced civil rights laws and fought Ku Klux Klan violence. Grant won passage of the Fifteenth Amendment; giving constitutional protection for African-American voting rights. He used the army to build the Republican Party in the South, based on black voters, Northern newcomers ("Carpetbaggers") and native white supporters ("Scalawags"). As a result, African Americans were represented in the U.S. Congress for the first time in American history in 1870. Reformers praised Grant's Indian peace policy, which broke the deadlock on Indian appropriations in Congress, created the Board of Indian Commissioners to make reform recommendations, enlisted Quaker Protestants who controlled mid western Indian agencies, and curbed Congressional patronage. Grant remained determined to keep Indians from being exterminated by white settler encroachment or by the U.S. military. Grant's reputation as president by 1875 was at an all-time high for his previous veto of the Inflation Bill, the passage of the Resumption of Specie Act, and Secretary Bristow's successful raids that shut down the Whiskey Ring. However, after the Democrats gained control of the House in 1875, Grant had to respond to a series of Congressional investigations into bribery charges of his Secretary of War William W. Belknap and his Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson.

Grant's foreign policy, led by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, implemented International Arbitration, settled the Alabama Claims with Britain and avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair. His attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic failed. Grant's response to the Panic of 1873 gave necessary, although limited, financial relief to New York banking houses, but was ineffective in stopping the severe five-year industrial depression that followed. More than any other president, Grant had to respond to Congressional investigations into financial corruption charges of all federal departments. After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that included many enthusiastic royal receptions. In 1880, he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. His memoirs were a critical and popular success. Historians until recently have given Grant's presidency the worst rankings; however, his reputation has significantly improved because of greater appreciation for his foreign policy and civil rights achievements, particularly: avoiding war with Britain and Spain, the Fifteenth Amendment, prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, enforcement of voting rights, and his Indian Peace Policy. Northern Republican capitalists who desired reconciliation without concern for civil rights, joined together with Southern Democrats who forgot the American Civil War was caused by slavery, emphasized Grant's presidential scandals, rather than his role in breaking up the Gold Ring and prosecution of the Whiskey Ring.

Early life and family

See Early life and career of Ulysses S. Grant for more information Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822 to Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and businessman, and Hannah (Simpson) Grant. In the fall of 1823, the family moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. Raised in a Methodist family devoid of religious pretentiousness, Grant prayed privately and was not an official member of the church. Unlike his younger siblings, Grant was neither disciplined, baptized, nor forced to attend church by his parents. One of his biographers suggests that Grant inherited a degree of introversion from his reserved, even "uncommonly detached" mother (she never took occasion to visit the White House during her son's presidency). Grant assumed the duties expected of him as a young man at home, which primarily included maintaining the firewood supply; he thereby developed a noteworthy ability to work with, and control, horses in his charge, and used this in providing transportation as a vocation in his youth.

When Grant was 17, Congressman Thomas L. Hamer nominated him for a position at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York. Hamer mistakenly wrote down the name as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio." At West Point, he adopted this name with a middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues at the academy, since the initials "U.S." also stood for "Uncle Sam". The "S", according to Grant, did not stand for anything, though Hamer had used it to abbreviate his mother's maiden name. The influence of Grant's family brought about the appointment to West Point, while Grant himself later recalled "a military life had no charms for me". Grant, stood 5 feet 1 inches and weighed 117 lbs, when he entered West Point. Grant later said that he was lax in his studies, but he achieved above average grades in mathematics and geology. Although Grant had a quiet nature, but he established a few intimate friends at West Point, including Frederick Tracy Dent and Rufus Ingalls. He joined a fraternity group known as the Twelve in One, and was highly esteemed by his classmates. While not excelling scholastically, Grant studied under Romantic artist Robert Walter Weir and produced nine surviving artworks. He also established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high-jump record that stood almost 25 years. He graduated in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. Grant later recalled that his departure from West Point was of the happiest of his times, and that he had intended to resign his commission after serving the minimum term of obligated duty. Despite his excellent horsemanship, he was not assigned to the cavalry, as assignments were determined by class rank, not aptitude. Grant was instead assigned as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment in the 4th Infantry Regiment, with the rank of brevet second lieutenant.

Military career, 1843"1854

Grant's first assignment after graduation took him to the Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri in September 1843. It was the nation's largest military bastion in the West, commanded by Colonel Stephen W. Kearny. Grant was happy with his new commander, but still looked forward to the end of his military service and a possible teaching career. Grant spent some of his time in Missouri visiting the family of his West Point classmate, Frederick Dent, and getting to know Dent's sister, Julia; the two became secretly engaged in 1844.

Rising tensions with Mexico saw Grant's unit shifted to Louisiana that year as a part of the Army of Observation under Major General Zachary Taylor. When the Mexican"American War broke out in 1846, the Army entered Mexico. Not content with his responsibilities as a quartermaster, Grant made his way to the front lines to engage in the battle, and participated as a de facto cavalryman at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. The army continued its advance into Mexico. At Monterrey, Grant demonstrated his equestrian ability, carrying a dispatch through sniper-lined streets on horseback while mounted in one stirrup. President James K. Polk, wary of Taylor's growing popularity, divided his army, sending some troops (including Grant's unit) to form a new army under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott. Scott's army landed at Veracruz and advanced toward Mexico City. The army met the Mexican forces at battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec outside Mexico City. At the latter battle, Grant dragged a howitzer into a church steeple to bombard nearby Mexican troops. Scott's army was soon into the city, and the Mexicans agreed to peace not long after.

In his memoirs, indicating he had learned extensively by closely observing the decisions and actions of his commanding officers, particularly admiring Taylor's methods, and in retrospect identified himself with Taylor's style. At the time he felt that the war was a wrongful one and believed that territorial gains were designed to spread slavery throughout the nation; writing in 1883, Grant said "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day, regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation." He also opined that the later Civil War was inflicted on the nation as punishment for its aggression in Mexico.

On August 22, 1848, after a four-year engagement, Grant and Julia were married. They would have four children: Frederick Dent Grant; Ulysses S. "Buck" Grant, Jr.; Ellen Wrenshall "Nellie" Grant; and Jesse Root Grant. Grant was assigned to several different posts over the ensuing six years. His first post-war assignments took him and Julia to Detroit and Sackets Harbor, New York, the location that made them the happiest. In the spring of 1852, he traveled in to Washington, D.C. in a failed attempt to prevail upon the Congress to rescind an order that he, in his capacity as quartermaster, reimburse the military $1000 in losses incurred on his watch, for which he bore no personal guilt. He was sent west to Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory in 1852, initially landing in San Francisco during the height of the California Gold Rush. Julia could not accompany him as she was eight months pregnant with their second child. The journey proved to be an ordeal due to transportation disruptions and an outbreak of cholera within the entourage while traveling overland through Panama. Grant made use of his organizational skills, arranging makeshift transportation and hospital facilities to take care of the sick. There were 150 fatalities including Grant's long-time friend John H. Gore. After Grant arrived in San Francisco he traveled to Fort Vancouver, continuing his service as quartermaster.

To supplement a military salary inadequate to support his family, Grant, assuming his work as quartermaster so equipped him, attempted but failed at several business ventures. The business failures in the West confirmed Jesse Grant's belief that his son had no head for business, creating frustration for both father and son. In one case, Grant had even naively allowed himself to be swindled by a partner. These failures, along with the separation from his family, made for quite an unhappy soldier, husband and son. Rumors began to circulate that Grant was drinking in excess.

In the summer of 1853, Grant was promoted to captain, one of only fifty on active duty, and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, on the northwest California coast. Without explanation, he shortly thereafter resigned from the army on July 31, 1854. The commanding officer at Fort Humboldt, brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan, a strict disciplinarian, had reports that Grant was intoxicated off duty while seated at the pay officer's table. Buchanan had previously warned Grant several times to stop his drinking. In lieu of a court-martial, Buchanan gave Grant an ultimatum to sign a drafted resignation letter. Grant resigned; the War Department stated on his record, "Nothing stands against his good name." Rumors, however, persisted in the regular army of Grant's intemperance. According to biographer McFeely, historians overwhelmingly agree that his intemperance at the time was a fact, though there are no eyewitness reports extant. Two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant said, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign." Grant's father, again believing his son's only potential for success to be in the military, tried to get the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis to rescind the resignation, to no avail.

Civilian life

At age 32, with no civilian vocation, Grant struggled through seven financially lean years. His father, Jesse, initially offered Grant a position in the Galena, Illinois branch of the tannery business, on condition that Julia and the children, for economic reasons, stay with her parents in Missouri, or the Grants in Kentucky. Ulysses and Julia were adamantly opposed to another separation, and declined the offer. In 1854, Grant farmed on his brother-in-law's property near St. Louis, using slaves owned by Julia's father, but it did not succeed. Two years later, Grant and family moved to a section of his father-in-law's farm; to give his family a home, built a house he called "Hardscrabble". Julia hated the rustic house, which she described as an "unattractive cabin". During this time, Grant also acquired a slave from Julia's father, a thirty-five-year-old man named William Jones. Having met with no success farming, the Grants left the farm when their fourth and final child was born in 1858. Grant freed his slave in 1859 instead of selling him, at a time when slaves commanded a high price and Grant needed money badly. For the next year, the family took a small house in St. Louis where he worked, again without success, with Julia's cousin Harry Boggs, as a bill collector. In 1860 Jesse offered him the job in his tannery in Galena, Illinois, without condition, which Ulysses accepted. The leather shop, "Grant & Perkins", sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. He moved his family to a house in Galena that year.

Although unopposed to slavery at the time, Grant kept his political opinions private and never endorsed any candidate running for public office before the Civil War. His father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in Missouri, a factor that helped derail Grant's bid to become county engineer in 1859, while his own father was an outspoken Republican in Galena. In the 1856 election, Grants cast his first presidential vote for the Democratic candidate James Buchanan, saying he was really voting against Fremont, the Republican candidate. In 1860, he favored the Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas over Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln over the alternate Democratic candidate, John C. Breckinridge. Lacking the residency requirements in Illinois at the time, he could not vote. By August 1863, during the Civil War, after the fall of Vicksburg, Grant's political sympathies fully coincided with the Radical Republicans' aggressive prosecution of the war and for the abolition of slavery.

Civil War

See Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War for more information On April 13, 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate troops attacked Union Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina forcing its surrender. Two days later, Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. A mass meeting was called in Galena to encourage recruitment. Recognized as the sole military professional in the area, Grant was asked to lead the meeting and ensuing effort. He proceeded to help recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Illinois Governor Richard Yates offer Grant a position recruiting and training volunteer units, which he accepted, but Grant wanted a field command in the regular Army. He made multiple efforts with contacts (including Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan) to acquire such a position with no success. Meanwhile, Grant continued serving at the training camps and made a positive impression on the volunteer Union recruits. With the aid of his advocate in Washington, Elihu B. Washburne, Grant was promoted to Colonel by Governor Richard Yates on June 14, 1861, and put in charge of the unruly 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Transferred to northern Missouri, Grant was promoted by President Lincoln to Brigadier General, supported by Congressman Washburn, backdated to May 17, 1861. By the end of August 1861, Grant was given charge of the southern Illinois, District of Cairo, by Maj. Gen John C. Fremont, an outside Lincoln appointment, who viewed Grant as "a man of dogged persistence, and iron will." Grant's own demeanor had changed immediately at the outset of the war; with renewed energies and confidence. He later recalled with apparent satisfaction that after that first recruitment meeting in Galena, 'I never went into our leather store again..." During this time Grant quickly perceived that the war would be fought for the most part by volunteers, and not professional soldiers.

Forts Henry and Donelson

Grant's troops first saw action in late 1861, starting out from his base at Cairo, Illinois, the strategic point where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River and near the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. The Confederate army was stationed in Columbus, Kentucky under Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk. Grant was given an open order by Union Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont to make "demonstrations", not including attack, against the Confederate Army at Belmont. After Lincoln relieved Frémont from command, Grant attacked Fort Belmont taking 3,114 Union troops by boat on November 7, 1861. He initially took the fort, but his army was later pushed back to Cairo by the reinforced Confederates under Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow. A tactical defeat, the battle instilled much needed confidence in Grant and his volunteers. Following Belmont, Grant asked Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck for permission to move against Fort Henry on the Tennessee River; Halleck agreed on condition that the attack be conducted with oversight by Union Navy Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. Grant's troops, in close cooperation with Foote's naval forces successfully captured Fort Henry on February 6, 1862 and nearby Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River on February 16. Fort Henry, undermanned by Confederates and nearly submerged from flood waters, was taken over with few losses. However, at Fort Donelson, Grant and Foote encountered stiffer resistance from the Confederate forces under Pillow. Grant's initial 15,000 troops were joined by 10,000 reinforcements, against 12,000 Confederate troops at Fort Donelson. Foote's initial approach by Union naval ships were repulsed by Donelson's guns. The Confederates, who were surrounded by Grant's Union Army attempted a break out pushing the Union Army's right flank into disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road. Grant rallied his troops, resumed the offensive, retook the Union right and attacked Pillow's left. Pillow ordered Confederate troops back into the fort, relinquished command to Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner who surrendered to Grant the next day. Grant's terms were repeated across the North: "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Grant became a celebrity in the North, now nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. With these victories, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

Shiloh

Grant's advance at Forts Henry and Donelson caused significant concern in the Confederate government. His army, known as the Army of the Tennessee, had increased to 48,894 men and was encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River. Grant met with his commander Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman, who advised he was prepared to attack the Confederate stronghold of equal numbers at Corinth, Mississippi. The Confederates had the same thing in mind, and moved first at dawn on April 6, 1862, with a full attack on the Union Army at the Battle of Shiloh. The objective was to annihilate the western Union offensive in one massive assault. Over 44,000 Confederate troops, led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, vigorously attacked the five divisions of Grant's army bivouacked nine miles south at Pittsburg Landing. Aware of the impending Confederate attack, Union troops sounded the alarm and readied for battle, however, no defensive entrenchment works had been made. The Confederates struck hard and repulsed the Union Army towards the Tennessee River. At the end of the day, the Union Army was vulnerable, and threatened with destruction by Beauregard, had his troops not been too exhausted to continue the fight. Not only did they avoid panic, but Grant and Sherman actually rallied their troops for a vicious counterattack the next morning. With reinforcement troops from Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace's missing division, Grant succeeded in driving the Confederates back to the road from Corinth; though he stopped short of capturing Beauregard's army, he was able to stabilize the Army of the Tennessee.

The battle was the costliest of the Civil War at the time, with aggregate Union and Confederate casualties of 23,746, and minimal strategic advantage gained by either side. Nevertheless, Grant received high praise from many corners. He later remarked that the carnage at Shiloh had made it clear to him that the Confederacy would only be defeated by complete annihilation of its army. Lincoln was also alarmed at the level of casualties, and asked Halleck about Grant's potential responsibility for them; Grant was criticized for his decision to keep the Union Army bivouacked rather than entrenched. Halleck transferred command of the Army of the Tennessee to Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas and demoted Grant to the hollow position of second-in-command of all the armies of the west. As a result, Grant was again on the verge of resigning until Sherman paid a visit to his camp. Sherman, whose experiences in the military had been very similar to Grant's, succeeded in convincing Grant to remain in the army. During Halleck's sluggish advance on Corinth"?covering 19 miles in 30 days"?the entire Confederate force there escaped; the 120,000-man Union Army was then broken up. Charles A. Dana, an investigative agent for Secretary of War Edwin Stanton at the time, interviewed Grant; Dana related to Lincoln and Stanton that Grant appeared "self-possessed and eager to make war." Lincoln reinstated Grant to his command of the Army of the Tennessee.

Vicksburg

Lincoln was determined to take the strategic Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River and authorized Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand to raise an army in his home state of Illinois for the purpose. Grant was very frustrated at the lack of direction he was receiving to move forward from his station in Memphis, and more aggravated to learn of this apparent effort to brush him aside. According to biographer William S. McFeely, this discontent may have been responsible for Grant's ill-considered issuance of General Orders No. 11 on December 17, 1862. This order expelled Jews, as a class, from Grant's military district, in reaction to illicit activities of overly aggressive cotton traders in the Union camps, who Grant believed were interfering with military operations. Lincoln demanded the order be revoked, and Grant rescinded it twenty-one days after issuance. Without admitting fault, Grant believed he had only complied with the instructions sent from Washington. According to another Grant biographer, Jean E. Smith, it was "one of the most blatant examples of state-sponsored anti-Semitism in American history." Grant had believed that gold, along with cotton, was being smuggled through enemy lines and that Jews could pass freely into enemy camps. Grant later expressed regret for this order in 1868; his attitude concerning Jews was otherwise undeclared.

In December 1862, with Halleck's approval, Grant moved to take Vicksburg by an overland route, aided by Charles Hamilton and James McPherson, in combination with a water expedition on the Mississippi led by Maj. Gen. Sherman. Grant had thus pre-empted his rival McClernand's move. Confederate cavalry raiders Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn stalled Grant's advance by disrupting his communications, while the Confederate army led by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton concentrated and repulsed Sherman's direct approach at Chickasaw Bayou. McClernand afterwards attempted to salvage Sherman's effort to no avail, so at the end of the first day neither Grant nor McClernand had succeeded.

During the second attempt to capture Vicksburg, Grant made a series of unsuccessful and criticized movements along bayou and canal water routes. Finally, in April 1863, Grant marched Union troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed east over at Bruinsburg using Rear Adm. David Porter's ships. Grant previously had ordered two diversion battles that confused Pemberton and allowed Grant's army to cross the Mississippi. After a series of battles, including the capture of a railroad junction near Jackson, Grant went on to defeat Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. Grant then assaulted the Vicksburg fortress twice, and suffered serious losses. This battle and one other at Cold Harbor were prominent in his memory as the distinctly regrettable ones of the war. After the failed assault, Grant settled in for a siege lasting seven weeks. As the siege began, Grant lapsed into a two-day drinking episode. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant on July 4, 1863. During the campaign, Grant assumed responsibility for refugee-contraband slaves who were displaced by the war and vulnerable to Confederate marauders; Lincoln had authorized their recruitment into the Union Army. Grant put the refugees under the protection of Brig. Gen. John Eaton who authorized them to work on abandoned Confederate plantations harvesting cotton and cutting wood to fuel Union steamers. The effort was the precursor to the Freedman's Bureau during later Reconstruction.

The Vicksburg Campaign was Grant's greatest achievement to date. The fall of Vicksburg, combined with the Union naval capture of New Orleans in 1862, gave the Union control over the entire Mississippi and split the Confederacy in two. Grant demonstrated that an indirect assault coupled with diversionary tactics was highly effective strategy in defeating an entrenched army. Although the success at Vicksburg was a great morale boost for the Union war effort, Grant received much criticism for his decisions and his reported drunkenness. Lincoln again sent Dana to keep a watchful eye on Grant's alleged intemperance; Dana eventually became Grant's devoted ally, and made light of the drinking. The personal rivalry between McClernand and Grant continued over Vicksburg, but ended when Grant removed McClernand from command after he issued, and arranged the publication of, a military order in contravention of Grant.

Chattanooga and promotion

Lincoln put Grant in command of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi in October 1863, giving Grant charge of the entire western war front for the Union, except for Louisiana. After the Battle of Chickamauga, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg forced Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland to retreat into Chattanooga, a central railway hub, surrounded the city and kept the Union army from escaping. Only Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas and the XIV corps kept the Army of the Cumberland from complete defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga. When informed of the ominous situation at Chattanooga, Grant relieved Rosecrans from duty and placed Thomas in charge of the besieged Army of the Cumberland. To stop the siege and go on the attack, Grant, injured from a recent horse fall in New Orleans, personally rode out to Chattanooga and took charge of the Union Army's desperate situation. Lincoln sent Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and two divisions of the Army of the Potomac to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, however, the Confederates kept the two armies from meeting. Grant's first action was to open up a supply line to the Army of the Cumberland trapped in Chattanooga. Through an ingenious plan by Maj. Gen. William F. Smith, a "Cracker Line" was formed with Hooker's Army of the Potomac located at Lookout Mountain and supplied the Army of the Cumberland with food and military weapons.

On November 23, 1863, the situation at Chattanooga grew urgent. Grant organized three armies to attack Bragg on Missionary Ridge and Confederate troops on Lookout Mountain. The next day, Sherman and four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee assaulted Bragg's right flank. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland overtook Confederate picket trenches at the base of Missionary Ridge. Hooker's forces took Lookout Mountain and captured 1,064 prisoners. On November 25, Sherman continued his attack on Bragg's right flank on the northern section of Missionary Ridge. In response to Sherman's assault Bragg withdrew Confederate troops on the main ridge to reinforce the Confederate right flank. Seeing that Bragg was reinforcing his right flank, Grant ordered Thomas to make a general assault on Missionary Ridge. After a brief delay, the Army of the Cumberland, led by Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan and Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood, stormed over and captured the first Confederate entrenchments. Without further orders, the Army of the Cumberland continued up hill and captured the Confederate's secondary entrenchments on top of Missionary Ridge; forcing the defeated Confederates into disorganized retreat. Though Bragg's army had not been captured, the decisive battle opened Georgia and the heartland of the Confederacy to Union invasion. Grant's fame increased throughout the country, and he was promoted to Lieutenant General, a position that had previously been given to George Washington and given to Winfield Scott as a brevet promotion.

Disappointed with Maj. Gen. George Meade's failure to pursue Lee after the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies in March 1864. Grant gave the Department of the Mississippi to Sherman, and went east to Washington, D.C., to make and implement a strategy with Lincoln. After settling Julia into a house in Georgetown, Grant established his headquarters fifty miles away, near Meade's Army of the Potomac in Culpeper, Virginia. The Union strategy, of a comprehensive effort to bring about a speedy victory for the Union, designed by Lincoln and Grant, consisted of coordinated Union offensives, attacking the rebel armies at the same time to keep the Confederates from shifting reinforcements within southern interior lines. Maj. Gen. Sherman would attack Atlanta and Georgia, while Maj. Gen. Meade would lead the Army of the Potomac, with Grant in camp, to attack Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was to attack and advance towards Richmond from the south, going up the James River. Depending on Lee's actions, Grant would join forces with Butler's armies and be fed supplies from the James River. Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel was to capture the railroad line at Lynchburg, move east, and attack from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lee's objectives were to prolong the war and discourage the Northern will to fight, keep Grant from crossing south of the James River, and protect Richmond from Union attack. Grant was riding a tide of popularity, and there were discussions in some corners that a Union victory early in the year could open the possibility of his candidacy for the presidency. Grant was aware of it, but had ruled out any self-interest in discussions with Lincoln, and assigned no weight to it; in any case, the possibility would soon vanish with delays on the battlefield.

Overland Campaign and victory

Sigel's and Butler's efforts sputtered and Grant was left alone to fight Lee in a series of bloody battles of attrition known as the Overland Campaign. After taking the month of April 1864 to assemble and ready the Union Army of the Potomac, Grant crossed the Rapidan River on May 4 and attacked Lee in the Wilderness, a hard-fought battle with many casualties, lasting three days. Rather than retreat as his Union predecessors had done, Grant flanked Lee's army to the southeast and attempted to wedge the Union Army between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania. Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first and a costly and lengthy battle began that lasted thirteen days. During the battle, Grant attempted to break through Lee's line of defense at the Mule Shoe, which resulted in one of the bloodiest assaults during the Civil War, known as The Battle of the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's line of defense after repeated attempts, Grant flanked Lee to the southeast east again at North Anna, a battle that lasted three days. This time the Confederate Army had a superior defensive advantage on Grant; however, due to sickness, Lee was unable to lead the battle. Grant then maneuvered the Union Army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that was linked to Richmond, but Lee's men were able to entrench against the Union assault. During the third day of the thirteen-day battle, Grant led a costly assault on Lee's trenches. As news spread in the North, heavy criticism fell on Grant, who was called "the Butcher", having taken 52,788 casualties in thirty days since crossing the Rapidan. Lee suffered 32,907 Confederate casualties, and was less able to replace them. When the two armies had fought to a stalemate, the two generals took three days to reach a truce, so that the dead and dying could be removed from the battlefield. The costly June 3 assault at Cold Harbor was the second of two battles in the war which Grant later distinctly regretted. Unknown to Lee, Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor and stealthily moved his Army south of the James River, freed Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and attacked Petersburg, Richmond's central railroad hub.

After Grant and the Army of the Potomac had successfully crossed the James River undetected by Lee and rescued Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, Grant advanced the Union army southward to capture Petersburg. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, in charge of Petersburg, was able to defend the city and Lee's veteran reinforcements arrived. Grant forced Lee into a long nine-month siege of Petersburg and the Union war effort stalled. Northern resentment grew as the war dragged on, but an indirect benefit of the Petersburg siege was found in preventing Lee from reinforcing armies to oppose Sherman and Sheridan. During the siege, Sherman was able to take Atlanta, a victory that advanced President Lincoln's reelection. Maj. Gen. Sheridan was given command of the Union Army of the Shenandoah and directed to "follow the enemy to their death". Sheridan defeated Confederate General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, saving Washington from capture. Lee had sent Early up the Shenandoah Valley to attack the federal capital and draw troops away from the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan's cavalry, after Early was defeated, pursuant to Grant's orders, destroyed vital Confederate supply farms in the Shenandoah Valley. When Sheridan reported suffering attacks by irregular Confederate cavalry under John S. Mosby, Grant recommended rounding up their families for imprisonment as hostages at Ft. McHenry.

Grant attempted to blow up part of Lee's Petersburg trenches from an underground tunnel; however, the explosion created a crater from which Confederates could easily pick off Union troops below. The 3500 Union casualties outnumbered the Confederates' by three-to-one; Grant admitted the tactic had been a "stupendous failure". On August 9, 1864, Grant, who had just arrived at his headquarters in City Point, narrowly escaped certain death when Confederate spies blew up an ammunition barge moored below the city's bluffs. As the war slowly progressed, Grant continued to extend Lee's entrenchment defenses southwest of Petersburg, in an effort to capture vital railroad links. By August 21, the Union had captured the Weldon Railroad. As Grant continued to push the Union advance westward towards the South Side Railroad, Lee's entrenchment lines became overstretched and undermanned. After the Federal army rebuilt the City Point Railroad, Grant was able to use mortars to attack Lee's entrenchments.

Once Sherman reached the East Coast and Thomas dispatched Hood in Tennessee, Union victory appeared certain, and Lincoln resolved to attempt a negotiated end to the war with the Confederates. He enlisted Francis Preston Blair to carry a message to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis and Lincoln each appointed commissioners, but the conference soon stalled. Grant contacted Lincoln, who agreed to personally meet with the commissioners at Fort Monroe. The peace conference was ultimately fruitless, but Grant had shown his willingness and ability to assume a diplomatic role beyond his normal military posture.

In March 1865, while Lincoln met at City Point with Grant, Sherman, and Porter, Union forces finally took Petersburg and captured Richmond in April. Lee's troops began deserting in large numbers; disease and lack of supplies also weakened Lee's forces. Lee attempted to link up with the remnants of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's defeated army; however, Union cavalry forces led by Sheridan were able to stop the two armies from converging. Lee and his army surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant gave generous terms; Confederate troops surrendered their weapons and were allowed to return to their homes, with their mounts, on the condition that they would not take up arms against the United States. Within a few weeks the Civil War was over.

Lincoln's assassination and aftermath

On April 14, only five days after Grant's victory at Appomattox, Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the next morning. The assassination was part of a conspiracy that targeted a number of government leaders. Grant attended a cabinet meeting that day, and Lincoln had invited Grant and his wife to the theater, but they declined, as they had plans to travel to Philadelphia. Grant is thought by many to have been a target in the plot; an unknown assailant allegedly failed in an attempt to break into Grant's railroad car. Stanton, through Dana, notified Grant of the President's death and summoned him to Washington. For security purposes a scapegoat engine preceded Grant's train on the return trip. The following day Grant hastily ordered arrests of paroled Confederate officers. Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, however, was able to narrow the existing threats in Washington through the use of accurate army intelligence and persuaded Grant to reverse his arrest orders. Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept openly. He said of Lincoln, "He was incontestably the greatest man I have ever known." Regarding the new President, Andrew Johnson, Grant commented to Julia that he dreaded the change in administrations; he judged Johnson's attitude toward white southerners as one that would "make them unwilling citizens", and initially thought that with Johnson, "Reconstruction has been set back no telling how far."

Later in April, Sherman, without consulting Washington, concluded an agreement with Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to effect the latter's surrender, believing it to be consistent with Lincoln's recent statements to him at City Point. Stanton and Grant quickly surmised the terms were much too lenient. Stanton even declared so publicly with scorn for Sherman; Grant, concerned that his lead commander's mistake not be mishandled, requested a cabinet meeting to discuss the problem, and offered to personally deliver the message of repudiation to Sherman. Grant handled the matter adroitly and made the most of their friendship, conveying the message to Sherman and ultimately getting his consent to renegotiate the agreement in accordance with the terms at Appomattox.

Peacetime general

Celebrations and honors

In May 1865, the Union League of Philadelphia purchased the Grants a house in that city, but Grant's work was in Washington. He attempted to commute for a time and return on the weekends, but he and Julia moved to Washington that October. They secured a place in Georgetown Heights, while Grant instructed his Washburne that, politically, his legal residence remained in Galena, Illinois. That year, Grant appeared at Cooper Union in New York; the New York Times described the reception for the war hero: "...the enhanced and bewildered multitude trembled with extraordinary delight." Further travels that summer, with repeated enthusiastic receptions, took the Grants to Albany and back to Galena and throughout Illinois and Ohio. On July 25, 1866, Congress promoted Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States.

Grant was the most popular man in the country. When Johnson argued with Congress over Reconstruction, he took his case to the people with his "swing around the circle." Johnson sought to capitalize on Grant's popularity by having the general travel with him. Grant, wishing to appear loyal, agreed to accompany Johnson; however he confided in his wife that he thought Johnson's speeches were a "national disgrace". Grant continued his efforts to appear loyal while not alienating Republican legislators essential to his future. At the same time, Johnson also suspected Grant to be a potential candidate in the 1868 presidential election, and decided to replace Secretary of War Stanton with Grant or Sherman. Grant discussed the matter with Sherman and convinced him to avoid the politically troubled president.

Congressional reconstruction

See Reconstruction Era of the United States for more information After the speaking tour, Johnson sent Grant on a fact-finding mission to the South, after which he filed a report recommending continuation of a reformed Freedman's Bureau, that Johnson opposed, but against the use of black troops in garrisons that he believed were encouraging an alternative to farm labor. Grant did not believe the people of the devastated South were ready for self-rule and required further U.S. military occupation. Grant stated that both whites and blacks in the South required the protection of the U.S. federal government. Grant also warned of threats by disaffected poor people, black and white, and recommended that local decision making be entrusted only to "thinking men of the South" (i.e., men of property.) In this respect, Grant's initial Reconstruction policy aligned with Johnson's policy of pardoning established southern leaders and restoring them to their positions of power. He joined Johnson in arguing that Congress should allow congressional representatives from the South to be seated.

In 1866, an intraparty fight arose in Maryland that threatened to devolve into a riot. John Lee Chapman, the Radical mayor of Baltimore, had been elected in 1862 in an election in which the police commissioners had allegedly turned Conservative voters away from the polls. Four years later, Maryland's governor, Thomas Swann, a Johnson supporter, threatened to remove the commissioners and about his own, which Radicals believed would result in their own disenfranchisement. Grant was reluctant to send federal troops into a loyal state; instead he traveled to the city himself as a private citizen and arranged a settlement that would allow both groups' poll watchers to ensure fair elections.

The Baltimore tumult was just the prelude for the conflict between Radicals and Conservatives over the Reconstruction of the South. Rejecting Johnson's vision for quick reconciliation with former Confederates, Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, divided the southern states into five military districts run by the army to ensure that freedmen's constitutional and congressional rights were protected. Transitional state governments in each district were to be led by military governors general. Grant, who was to select the general to govern each district, preferred Congress's plan for enforcement of Reconstruction. Grant was optimistic Reconstruction Acts would help pacify the South. He carried out his duty under the Acts and instructed the generals to do likewise, further alienating Johnson; when Sheridan removed public officials in Louisiana who impeded Reconstruction, Johnson was especially displeased and sought Sheridan's removal. Grant stayed the middle course, and recommended a rebuke but not a dismissal. Throughout the Reconstruction period, more than 1,500 African Americans were elected to political office, while Grant and the military protected their rights by overturning the first black codes in 1867.

Mexico and Canada

Grant, as commanding general, immediately had to contend with Maximilian of Mexico and the French army which had taken over Mexico under the authority of Napoleon III. Most Americans felt this to be a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Johnson told Grant to put military pressure on the French to leave Mexico by sending 50,000 troops to the Texas border under Sheridan. Grant told Sheridan to do whatever it took to get Maximilian to abdicate and the French Army to leave Mexico. Sheridan sent Benito Juárez, the ousted leader of Mexico, 60,000 US rifles to aid in an effort to defeat Maximilian. By 1866, the French Army completely withdrew from Mexico; Maximilian was executed by Juárez in 1867. In a cabinet meeting, Johnson suggested Grant be assigned to the Mexican frontier as a way of removing him from the political mainstream. Grant immediately recognized the nature of this proposal, and refused. As a compromise Grant sent Sherman (now promoted to Lieutenant General) in his place.

After the Civil War, thousands of Irish veterans joined the Fenian Brotherhood with the intention of invading and holding Canada hostage in exchange for Irish independence. In June 1866, Johnson sent Grant to Buffalo, New York, to assess the situation. He ordered the Canadian border closed to prevent Fenian soldiers from crossing over at Fort Erie and that more weapons be confiscated. In June 1866, the United States Army arrested 700 Fenian troops at Buffalo and the Fenians gave up on their attempt to invade Canada.

Johnson's impeachment

Johnson had for some time wished to replace Stanton, who sympathized with Congressional Reconstruction, as Secretary of War and asked Grant to take the post in an effort to keep Grant under his control as a potential political rival. Grant's reply was a recommendation against the move, in light of the Tenure of Office Act which required Senate approval of any removal of a cabinet appointment. Johnson forced the issue by making it an interim appointment during a Senate recess. Grant relented and agreed to accept the post temporarily, lest he be rendered irrelevant politically. Later when the Senate reinstated Stanton, Johnson requested Grant refuse to surrender the office to Stanton and let the courts resolve the matter. Instead, Grant stepped aside and incurred Johnson's wrath during a cabinet meeting immediately afterwards for allegedly breaking a promise not to do so. Grant disputed that he had ever made such a promise. Johnson's true frustration was with Grant's taking the Radicals' side. On January 14, 1868, newspapers friendly to Johnson published a series of articles in an attempt to discredit Grant over returning the War Department to Stanton, stating Grant had been deceptive in the matter. Grant defended himself in a written response to the President, which became public; Grant thereby increased his national popularity and emerged from the controversy unscathed. He also took no role apart from subsequent impeachment proceedings against Johnson; none of the principals in the matter benefited from it.

1868 presidential campaign

See United States presidential election, 1868 for more information Grant's abandonment of Johnson in the Stanton matter increased his popularity with the Radical Republicans. John Weiss Forney, editor of the Washington Daily Chronicle, took up the effort for Grant's nomination, with Grant's approval. Grant was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate on the first ballot at the 1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago. He faced no significant opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became his campaign slogan. For vice president, the delegates nominated House Speaker Schuyler Colfax. As was common practice at the time, Grant remained at home in Galena during the campaign, and left most of the active campaigning and speaking on his behalf to his campaign manager William E. Chandler and others. Grant's General Orders No. 11 and antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign. In a letter, published after the election, Grant sought to unequivocally distance himself from General Orders No. 11. Grant repudiated his order, saying "I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit."

The Democrats nominated former New York Governor Horatio Seymour. The Democrats' campaign focused mainly on ending Reconstruction and returning control of the South to the white planter class, which alienated many War Democrats in the North. In the general election of that year, Grant won by 300,000 votes out of 5,716,082 votes cast. Grant received an electoral college landslide, getting 214 votes to Seymour's 80. When he assumed the presidency, Grant had never before held elected office and, at the age of forty-six, was the youngest person elected president to date. Grant was the first president elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former slaves. Implementation of these new rights was slow to come; in the 1868 election, the black vote counted in only sixteen of the thirty-seven states.

Presidency 1869"1877

Breaking a long tradition, Johnson declined to ride in Grant's carriage or attend Grant's inauguration at the Capitol, remaining at the White House to sign last-minute bills into law. Grant took an unorthodox approach to his cabinet choices, declining to consult with the Senate and keeping his choices secret until he submitted them for confirmation. Grant first appointed his old friend, Elihu B. Washburne to the State Department. Washburne served twelve days in office then, in an apparently agreed-upon arrangement, resigned due to "sickness", and was appointed Minister to France. Grant then appointed Hamilton Fish, a conservative New York statesman, Secretary of State. His relationship with Fish grew out of a strong friendship between the two men's wives. Grant selected several non-politicians to his cabinet including Adolph E. Borie and A.T. Stewart, with limited success. Borie served briefly as Secretary of Navy, replaced by George M. Robeson, while Stewart was lawfully prevented from becoming Secretary of Treasury by a 1789 statute and by Senator Charles Sumner's and Senator Roscoe Conkling's opposition to amend the law. In place of Stewart, Grant appointed George S. Boutwell, known for his integrity, as Secretary of Treasury. Grant's other cabinet appointments, Jacob D. Cox (Interior), John A.J. Creswell (Postmaster General), and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (Attorney General), were well-received and uncontroversial.

Booming post-war industrial markets and the expansion of the American West fueled wild speculation and corruption throughout the United States, only to come to an abrupt crash with the Panic of 1873. National wounds brought on by the massive socioeconomic upheaval of the Civil War continued to mend. Although there were scandals in his first term, Grant remained popular enough to be re-elected a second term in 1872. Notable accomplishments as president include the Specie Payment Resumption Act in 1875 and two federally funded scientific discovery projects; the Polaris Expedition, America's first large-scale attempt to reach the North Pole, and the Hayden Geological Survey into the Yellowstone, that led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. In 1875, Grant supported the Blaine Amendment, having stated the church and state should remain "forever separate."

Grant's personal reputation suffered from the continued scandals caused by many corrupt appointees and personal associates and for the ruined economy caused by the Panic of 1873. A faction of the Republican party, the Liberal Republicans, bolted in 1872, publicly denounced the political patronage system known as Grantism and demanded amnesty for Confederate soldiers. Grant had multiple opportunities to strengthen the Supreme Court with nominations; biographer, William S. McFeely, considered his appointments not to have benefited the Court. When Chief Justice Chase died, Grant chose not to make an appointment until Congress reconvened, since he did not want to appoint an interim Chief Justice, only to be rejected by Congress. When Congress reconvened, Grant chose Senator Roscoe Conkling, sure to be appointed by the Senate, however, Conkling abruptly declined. This upset Grant who believed Conkling ought to have accepted out of duty for the nation. After muddling through two failed nominations, the Senate finally confirmed Grant's third choice, Morrison Remick Waite. By 1876, during Grant's second term in office, as more scandals were exposed by Congress, his personal reputation was damaged, and Republicans decided not to renominate Grant for a consecutive third term.

Later Reconstruction

Reconstruction of the South continued as Grant took office in 1869. He lobbied Congress to pass the Fifteenth Amendment, guaranteeing that no state could prevent someone from voting based on his race, and believed that its passage would secure the freedmen's rights. To enforce the new amendment, Grant relied on the army and the newly created Justice Department. In 1870, Grant signed a bill proposed by Thomas Jenckes of Rhode Island to establish the Department of Justice, to see that federal laws were enforced in the South when state courts and prosecutors were reluctant to do so. Where the attorney general had once been only a legal adviser to the president, he now led a cabinet department dedicated to enforcing federal law, including a solicitor general assist him. Under Grant's first attorney general, Ebenezer R. Hoar, the administratation was not especially aggressive in prosecuting white Southerners who terrorized their black neighbors, but Hoar's successor, Amos T. Akerman, was more zealous. Alarmed by this rise in terror by the Ku Klux Klan and other groups, Congress investigated. With Grant's encouragement, they passed the Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871. The Acts made it a federal offense to deprive any person of his civil rights and allowed the president to use the army to enforce the laws. In May 1871, Grant ordered federal troops to assist marshals in arresting Klansmen. That October, on Akerman's recommendation, Grant suspended habeas corpus in part of South Carolina and sent federal troops to enforce the law there. The Klan's power began to decline that year, and by 1872, the elections in the South saw African Americans voting in record numbers.

That same year, Grant signed the Amnesty Act, which restored political rights to former Confederates. Growing scandals in Washington, some involving members of Grant's administration, took more of the public's attention than the plight of the freedmen. After the collapse of the Klan in 1872, conservative southern militia groups (including the Red Shirts and White League) arose, using violence and intimidation against African Americans in order to take control from the Republican state government. Grant replaced Akerman with George Henry Williams, who was soon embroiled in his own scandal.. By 1873, the economic panic and ensuing depression contributed to public fatigue and the North grew less concerned with reconstructing the South. Grant began to favor more limited use of troops, lest they create the impression that he was acting as a military dictator; he was also concerned that increased military pressure in the South might cause white supremacists in the North to bolt from the Republican Party. By 1875, Democratic "Redeemer" politicians retook control of all but three Southern states. As violence against black Southerners escalated once more, Edwards Pierrepont (Grant's fourth attorney general) told Governor Adelbert Ames of Mississippi that the people were "tired of the autumnal outbreaks in the South," and declined to intervene. Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but that Act did not enlarge the government's powers and did not stop the rise of white supremacist forces in the South. In the election of 1876, the remaining three Republican governments in the South fell to Redeemers and the ensuing Compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction.

Indian policy

Grant's attempts to provide justice to Native Americans marked a radical reversal of what had long been the government's policy of Indian removal. He appointed Ely S. Parker, a Seneca Indian and member of Grant's wartime staff, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "My efforts in the future will be directed," Grant told Congress, "by a humane course, to bring the aborigines of the country under the benign influences of education and civilization ... Wars of extermination... are demoralizing and wicked." Grant's "Peace Policy" (also called the "Quaker Policy") aimed to replace entrepreneurs serving as Indian agents with missionaries. He also wished to see an end to the treaty system and progress toward dissolving the tribes and granting citizenship to Indians as individuals. Before that could happen, Grant wished the tribes to be protected on reservations and educated in European-style farming and culture. While unpopular today, the Peace Policy was considered liberal-minded in its day, and would see its fulfillment years later in the Dawes Act of 1887. The Policy showed some limited success in reducing conflict with fewer battles between Indians and whites, but the increased slaughter of the buffalo, encouraged by Grant's subordinates, caused renewed conflict with the Plains Indians in a few years.

Foreign affairs

Even before Grant became president, an annexationist faction in American politics desired control over the Caribbean islands. William H. Seward, Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson, having bought Alaska from the Russians and attempted to buy the Danish West Indies from the Danes, began negotiations to purchase the Dominican Republic. These negotiations continued under Grant, led by Orville E. Babcock, a confidant who had served on Grant's staff during the Civil War. Grant was initially skeptical, but the urging of the Admiral Porter, who wanted a naval base at Samaná Bay, and Joseph W. Fabens, a New England businessman employed by the Dominican government, Grant examined the matter and became convinced of its wisdom. Grant sent Babcock to consult with Buenaventura Báez, the pro-annexation Dominican president, to see if the proposal was practical; Babcock returned with a draft treaty of annexation in December 1869. Grant beleived in peaceful expansion of the nation's borders, and thought the majority-black island would allow new economic opportunities for freedmen. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish dismissed the idea, seeing the island as politically unstable and troublesome. In the Senate, Charles Sumner opposed annexation because it would reduce the number of autonomous nations run by Africans in the western hemisphere. Other senators objected for the opposite reason"?they did not wish to add more blacks to the American population. Grant personally lobbied Senators to pass the treaty, going so far as to visit Sumner at his home. Fish added to the effort out of loyalty to the administration, but to no avail; the Senate refused to pass the treaty. Sumner's role in leading the opposition led to unending political enmity between him and Grant

Grant and Fish were more successful in their satisfaction of the Alabama claims, a dispute between Great Britain and the United States. The dispute stemmed from the damage done to American shipping during the Civil War by five ships build for the Confederacy in British shipyards including, most famously, CSS Alabama. When the war ended, the United States demanded retribution, which the British refused to pay. Negotiations continued fitfully, a sticking point being the claims of "indirect damages" as opposed to the discussion to the harm directly caused by the five ships. Again, Sumner was opposed, believing that the United States should seek a $2 billion reward payable in gold or, alternatively, by the cession of Canada. Fish convinced Grant that peaceful relations were Britain were more important than acquisition of more territory, and the two nations agreed to negotiate along those lines. A commission met in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, rather than fault. The Senate approved the Treaty of Washington, which also settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50"12 vote in 1871.

Panic of 1873 and currency debates

The Panic of 1873 was a world-wide depression that started when the stock market in Vienna crashed in June 1873. Unsettled markets soon spread to Berlin, and throughout Europe. Three months later, the Panic spread to the United States when three major banks stopped making payments, the New York Warehouse & Security Company on September 8, Kenyon, Cox, & Co. on September 13, and the largest bank, Jay Cooke & Company, on September 18. On September 20, the New York Stock Exchange shut down for ten days. All of these events created a depression that lasted five years in the United States, ruined thousands of businesses, depressed daily wages by 25% from 1873 to 1876, and brought the unemployment rate up to 14%. Some 89 out of 364 American railroads went bankrupt. At the height of the depression in 1874, as unrest increased among Western farmers who lost their property on defaulted bank loans, the Democrats gained a majority in the House.

The causes of the panic in the United States included over-expansion in the railroad industry after the Civil War, losses in the Chicago and Boston fires of 1871 and 1872, respectively, and insatiable speculation by Wall Street financiers. All of this growth was done on borrowed money by many banks in the United States, having over-speculated in the railroad industry. Grant, who knew little about finance, traveled to New York to consult leading businessmen and bankers for advice on how to curb the panic. Secretary of Treasury William A. Richardson responded by liquidating a series of outstanding bonds. The banks, in turn, issued short-term clearing house certificates to be used as cash. These combined federal and New York banking moves resulted in putting $50,000,000 of needed cash into the national economy, without causing a decline of the dollar. Although these actions curbed the Panic on Wall Street, a five-year industrial depression took place throughout the nation. Grant, a fiscal conservative, received Washington D.C. pressure from politicians, including members of his own cabinet, to adopt an inflationary policy to relieve the depression.

After the Panic, Congress debated an inflationary policy to stimulate the economy and passed the Legal Tender Act (known as the "Inflation Bill") on April 14, 1874 to increase the nation's tight money supply. Many farmers and working men favored the bill, but Eastern bankers opposed it because of their reliance on bonds and foreign investors. On April 22, 1874, Grant unexpectedly vetoed the bill on the grounds that it would destroy the credit of the nation. Grant's veto was a pivotal event in American history: for the first time, the Republican Party stood for "economic conservatism, fiscal restraint, and a sound dollar." Grant pressured Congress for an anti-inflationary resumption bill to obtain a stronger currency. On January 14, 1875 Grant signed into law the Resumption Act passed by Congress that required the resumption of specie payment on January 1, 1879. The Resumption Act created more banks in the West, to help farmers, that were in turn allowed to issue more banking notes. Grant also replaced Secretary Richardson, involved in the Sanborn contracts, with the energetic reformer Benjamin H. Bristow, who supported Grant's anti-inflationary hard currency policy.

Virginius incident

See Virginius Affair for more information On October 31, 1873, a merchant ship, Virginius, carrying war materials and men to aid the Cuban insurrection, was taken captive by a Spanish warship. Virginius was flying the United States flag and had an American registry; the US did not at first realize it was secretly owned by Cuban insurgents. 53 of the passengers and crew, eight being United States citizens, were trying to illegally get into Cuba to help overthrow the government. They were executed, and many Americans called for war with Spain. Secretary Fish, with President Grant's support, handled the crisis coolly to reach a diplomatic solution rather than war. Grant kept the Virginius incident at the top of his weekly cabinet meetings agenda and kept his policy of non recognition of Cuban belligerency. Fish discovered there was question over whether Virginius had the right to bear the United States flag. Spain's President expressed profound regret for the tragedy and was willing to make reparations through arbitration. Fish negotiated reparations and Spain surrendered the Virginius and paid a cash indemnity of $80,000 to the families of the executed Americans.

Scandals

See Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration scandals for more information

Grant faced financial corruption charges or scandals in all federal departments during his two terms in office. Some historians have emphasized Grant's responsibility for the corruption, while others have considered this exaggeration, and stress Grant's establishment of Civil Service reform and abolition of the moiety system. Although personally honest with his own money matters, Grant had difficulty in spotting corrupt individuals. President Grant by personal nature was extremely loyal and protective of associates whom he befriended and viewed as victims of injustice. Grant's military training was to shield associates from attack at the expense of his own Presidential reputation, unless evidence of personal misconduct was overwhelming. Reformers who desired integrity in the federal government became hostile to the Administration and caused a party split in 1872. In November 1876, Grant pardoned both William O. Avery and William McKee, who were convicted in connection with the Whiskey Ring tax evasion frauds in St. Louis; having served six months of their two-year sentences.

There were eleven scandals directly associated with Grant's two terms. The main scandals included Black Friday in 1869, the Whiskey Ring in 1875, and his Secretary of War William Belknap's resignation, House impeachment, and Senate trial in 1876 over accepting illicit payments from the Fort Sill tradership. The primary instigator and contributor to many of these scandals was Grant's personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, who indirectly controlled many cabinet departments and was able to delay investigations by reformers. Babcock had direct access to Grant at the White House and had tremendous influence over who could see the President. Grant's political opponents used the phrase Grantism, coined by Senator Charles Sumner during the Presidential election of 1872, to describe the many corruption charges during the Grant Administration. The Crédit Mobilier scandal was exposed by Congress, during the Grant Administration in 1872; the involvement of Vice President Schuyler Colfax was an embarrassment to the Administration, but the wrongdoing in that instance is not generally imputed to Grant's Presidency. Grant's Attorney General George H. Williams prosecuted the Crédit Mobilier company, although unsuccessfully, representing the share holders who lost money. Robert C. Schenck, U.S. Ambassador to Britain, was involved with the Emma Silver Mine scandal, however, this embarrassment was not directly associated with President Grant or the State Department.

Grant appointed reformer Benjamin Bristow to the Secretary of Treasury in 1874, who uncovered and shut down the notorious Whiskey Ring. In order to help Bristow's investigation and clean house, Grant appointed reformer Edwards Pierrepont as Attorney General. Initially Grant fully endorsed Bristow's investigation, stating, "Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided," however, after Bristow discovered that the President's personal secretary Babcock was involved in the ring, Grant became defensive and eventually defended Babcock in an unprecedented 1876 deposition, which biographer McFeely contends was a lie; the deposition was read in St. Louis during the Whiskey Ring graft trials. Biographer Smith, however, maintains that evidence against Babcock was circumstantial. The result of Grant's deposition, as well as testimony from Sherman, brought Babcock an acquittal. No President before or since Grant has ever given a deposition for a criminal defendant in a federal trial. This and the other scandals ruined any chances for Grant getting a third term nomination.

Concurrent Scandals and Corruption	Description	Date
Black Friday	Speculators corner the gold market and ruin the economy for several months.	1869
New York custom house ring	Three investigations, two congressional and one Treasury, looked into alleged corruption ring set up at the New York Custom House under two of Grant's appointments, collectors Moses H. Grinnell and Thomas Murphy.	1872
Star Route Postal Ring	Corrupt system of postal contractors, clerks, and brokers to obtain lucrative Star Route postal contracts.	1872
Salary Grab	Congressmen receive a retroactive $5,000 bonus for previous term served.	1872
Sanborn Contract	John Sanborn collected taxes at exorbitant fees and split the profits among associates.	1874
Delano Affair	Secretary of Interior, Columbus Delano, allowed rampant fraud in the Patent Office and Indian Bureau.	1875
Pratt & Boyd	Attorney General George H. Williams's wife allegedly received a bribe not to prosecute the Pratt & Boyd company.	1875
Whiskey Ring	Corrupt government officials and whiskey makers steal millions of dollars in national tax evasion scam.	1875
Trading Post Ring	Secretary of War William Belknap took illicit payments from trading contractor at Fort Sill, impeached by the House, and acquitted by the Senate.	1876
Cattelism	Secretary of Navy George Robeson allegedly received kick backs from Cattell & Company in exchange for lucrative Naval contracts.	1876
Safe Burglary Conspiracy	Private Secretary Orville Babcock indicted over framing a private citizen for uncovering corrupt Washington contractors.	1876

Judicial appointments

See List of federal judges appointed by Ulysses S. Grant for more information Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• Edwin M. Stanton " 1869 (died before taking seat)
• William Strong " 1870
• Joseph P. Bradley " 1870
• Ward Hunt " 1873
• Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) " 1874

Post-presidency

World tour

After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. The crowds were enormous. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and with Chancellor Bismarck in Germany, met Pope Leo XIII at the Vatican then ventured east to Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam (Thailand), Burma, and China.

In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress Sh?ken at the Imperial Palace. Today in Shiba Park in Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He worked with Japanese and Chinese officials to arrange a compromise, by which Japan would get most of the Ryukyus, and China would get the southernmost island groups, and Taiwan, thus settling the dispute over Taiwan at the same time. In the end, after Grant's departure, and much negotiation, China refused to sign the agreement.

Third term attempt

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 businessmen, 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, who won by a narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Conkling's resignation from office. Historians consider the world tour was in part a strategic attempt to rejuvenate Grant's image and set the stage for a political comeback; they conclude that, despite efforts to prolong the tour, Grant was unable to procure transportation and was forced to return too early, six months before the Republican convention, and thus lost the momentum the trip provided.

Grant & Ward and destitution

The trip around the world, although successful, was costly. When Grant returned to America, he had depleted most of his savings from the long trip and needed to earn money. He became a principal in the establishment of the new Mexican Southern Railroad Co., which failed. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and at the suggestion of his bright and successful son Buck, placed almost all of his financial assets into Grant & Ward, the investment banking partnership which his son had established with Ferdinand Ward. In 1884, Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant), bankrupted the company, and fled. Depleted of money, but compelled by a sense of personal honor, Grant repaid a personal loan of $150,000 from William H. Vanderbilt with his Civil War mementos. Although the market value did not completely cover the loan, Vanderbilt insisted the loan was paid in full. The matter left Grant financially destitute.

Memoirs

Grant learned in 1884 that he was suffering from throat cancer. He had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the Presidency, but Congress subsequently restored Grant to the rank of General of the Army with full retirement pay.

At the suggestion of Robert Johnson, Grant wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine at $500 each. The articles were well received by critics, and Johnson suggested Grant write a book of memoirs, as Sherman and others had successfully done. Grant took up the project and asked an old friend and fellow writer, Adam Badeau, to review and critique his work. Century offered Grant a book contract, including a 10% royalty. When Grant shared this information with his friend Mark Twain, Twain suggested that Grant counter with a request for double the royalty; at the same time, he made his own offer to Grant for his memoirs, talking of a 75% royalty. Grant ultimately decided on Twain's company, Charles L. Webster and Co., as his publisher. His son Fred assisted primarily with references and proofing. Grant finished his memoir just a few days before his death.

Twain created a unique marketing system designed to reach millions of veterans with a patriotic appeal just as the nation began mourning the war hero's death. Ten thousand agents canvassed the North, following a script Twain had devised; many were themselves veterans who dressed in their old uniforms. They sold 350,000 two-volume sets at prices from $3.50 to $12 (depending on the binding). Each copy contained what looked like a handwritten note from Grant himself. In the end, Grant's widow Julia received about $450,000, suggesting a royalty of about 30%.

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant has been highly regarded by the general public, military historians and literary critics. Grant was a shrewd, intelligent, and effective writer. He portrayed himself in the persona of the honorable Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty and straightforwardness. He candidly depicts his battles against both the external Confederates and internal Army foes.

Death and burial

Grant died of throat cancer at the age of 63 in a cottage on the slopes of Mount McGregor. His last words were, "I hope that nobody will be distressed on my account." Sheridan, by now Commanding General of the United States army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all military posts, and a six-month mourning among West Point cadets. President Grover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. Private services were held in Mount McGregor on August 4. After lying in state in the New York State Capitol at Albany, Grant's body was placed on a funeral train and traveled via West Point to New York City, where a quarter of a million people viewed in the two days prior to the funeral. His funeral was held August 8, in New York, and was supervised by Hancock, now head of the Military Division of the Atlantic. It featured a procession of 60,000 men, many of them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic or other veterans' organizations. Grant's casket was placed on a catafalque pulled by two dozen horses between New York City Hall and Riverside Park. His pallbearers included Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Buckner, and Johnston, as well as GAR head John A. Logan and admiral David Dixon Porter. Attendance at the New York funeral purportedly topped 1.5 million. In the days before and after the funeral, ceremonies were held in other major cities around the country. Those who eulogized Grant in the press likened him to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, then the nation's two greatest heroes. His body was interred in New York City's Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb and later in General Grant National Memorial ("Grant's Tomb"), the largest mausoleum in North America. His wife was also interred in Grant's Tomb following her death in 1902. Grant is also honored by the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the base of Capitol Hill in Washington.

Legacy

Historical reputation

Ulysses S. Grant, during the latter 19th Century, was popularly viewed as "a symbol of the American national identity and memory." Millions of people viewed his New York City funeral procession in 1885 and attended Grant's Tomb 1897 Manhattan dedication. However, at the turn of the 20th Century, ex-Confederates and the Dunning School began to minimize Grant's accomplishments as commanding general and President. Northerners who desired national reconciliation distorted Grant's reputation, regarding the Northern and Confederate causes on equal moral terms. Grant himself desired peace, however, he believed the Union victory was morally superior and meant the Southerners had to abide by the Northern victor's terms. From the 1920s through the 1980s Grant was viewed as a brutal warrior general and an inept President. Although Grant's legacy as a military leader and President will always be entwined with the American Civil War and Reconstruction, revisionist historians have since begun to look at Grant from a new approach, appreciating his genius as general, his protection of African Americans during Reconstruction as commanding general and President, and his peace policy towards American Indians.

Historian Eric Foner stated that Grant was a "decent guy who tried his best" and that he had an exceptional combination of "character and policy". Foner stated that Grant's presidency did have corruption and that Grant himself too readily trusted his associates. Grant's reputation suffered as northern Republicans, with slavery dead, moved beyond the anti-slavery roots of the party and embraced a more future-oriented, pro-business view of politics. Brands states that since Grant's presidency stood against both parties' revisions of history, he was attacked for scandals and failed actions while the positive aspects of his presidency were overlooked.

In terms of assessing President Grant from an "emancipationist" historical view, Grant's policies secured the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and enforced the rights of African Americans to vote. Grant's reputation has improved due to his use of federal troops and the Justice Department under his Enforcement Acts to prosecute and shut down the Ku Klux Klan from 1871 to 1873; the result, according to historian James McPherson, was that Grant's victory in 1872 was one of the fairest Presidential elections in American history.

Although Grant was criticized by neo-abolitionists in the 1960s for allowing the end of Reconstruction, other historians argue Grant did the best he could and that according to Brooks Simpson "his limitations were also the limitations of his countrymen." Grant's policy for a peaceful assimilation and citizenship for Indians rather than their extermination has also improved his Presidential reputation. Grant's reputation as a soldier during the American Civil War has been criticized for removal of Jews as a class from his military department in an effort to stop the illegal cotton trade, and for his high casualties. Historian James McPherson, however, stated that Grant as a general pioneered U.S. military capability to use "overwhelming power to attack the enemy's infrastructure"; an effective U.S. military strategy used in World War II. Sociologist and attorney Nathan Newman stated that Grant's legacy was hampered by the 1875 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Cruikshank that severely restricted federal intervention in protecting African Americans from individual acts of terror. Newman concluded that Grant "was the true founder and implementor of the modern American nation of equal rights."

Memorials

Grant has a number of memorials in his honor, including the General Grant National Memorial in New York and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington. There are smaller memorials in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Grant Park is named in his honor, as are a number of counties in western and midwestern states. From 1890 to 1940, a portion of what is now Kings Canyon National Park was called General Grant National Park, named for the General Grant sequoia. He has appeared on the front of the United States fifty-dollar bill since 1913, and also appears on several stamps. In early 2010, the Ohio Historical Society proposed Grant as a finalist in a statewide vote for inclusion in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol, but Grant was defeated by Thomas Edison in a statewide vote.

Presidential Library

In May 2012, on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, Mississippi State University was selected as the permanent location for Ulysses S. Grant's Presidential Library. President Grant's artifacts are to remain permanently at the Mitchell Memorial Library on the MSU campus. These include Grant's letters and photographs while he was President from 1869 to 1877. The MSU library cataloged and cross-referenced 15,000 linear feet of material. Grant's letters have been divided into 31 volumes while a 32nd volume is due to be released.

See also

• Grant Schoolhouse
• History of the United States (1865"1918)
• List of American Civil War generals