Abraham Lincoln
Ad
related to: ulysses s. grant factsChoose From a Wide Range Of Biographies & Memoirs, Available At Amazon. Order Today! Get Deals and Low Prices On biography of ulysses s grant At Amazon
Search results
- Ulysses wasn’t his real first name. Hiram Ulysses Grant was stuck with the name Ulysses S. Grant due to a mistake by a benefactor on his application form to West Point.
- Grant was an average student at West Point. Grant wasn’t great at academics and avoided church services, but he was a skilled horseman. His future battlefield foe, Robert E. Lee, was one of West Point’s greatest students and later its commandant.
- Grant and Lee served in the army during the Mexican War. Lee was the chief of staff for General Winfield Scott, while Grant served as a regimental quartermaster under General Zachary Taylor.
- Grant and Lee met twice at the end of the Civil War. After their famous meeting at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, Grant rode out to the Confederate Army the next day, accompanied by a few men, to seek out Lee.
- Overview
- Early life
- The Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant achieved two major Union victories early in the war. He later became commander of all Union forces after seizing Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant ordered Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to take Atlanta in the South while he personally marched on the Confederate army in Virginia. Grant’s strategy defeated the Confederacy by 1865.
How was Ulysses S. Grant involved in the Civil War?
Learn more about what Grant accomplished during the Civil War.
What was Ulysses S. Grant’s relationship with the Lakota Indians?
Pres. Ulysses S. Grant observed the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, which maintained peace with the Lakota Indians on the Great Sioux Reservation. However, he violated the treaty after gold was discovered in the Black Hills. With Grant’s approval the army seized the land and expelled the Lakota by 1877. Learn more.
What was Ulysses S. Grant’s policy regarding Reconstruction?
Grant was the son of Jesse Root Grant, a tanner, and Hannah Simpson, and he grew up in Georgetown, Ohio. Detesting the work around the family tannery, Ulysses instead performed his share of chores on farmland owned by his father and developed considerable skill in handling horses. In 1839 Jesse secured for Ulysses an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and pressured him to attend. Although he had no interest in military life, Ulysses accepted the appointment, realizing that the alternative was no further education. Grant decided to reverse his given names and enroll at the academy as Ulysses Hiram (probably to avoid having the acronym HUG embroidered on his clothing); however, his congressional appointment was erroneously made in the name Ulysses S. Grant, the name he eventually accepted, maintaining that the middle initial stood for nothing. He came to be known as U.S. Grant—Uncle Sam Grant—and his classmates called him Sam. Standing only a little over five feet tall when he entered the academy, he grew more than six inches in the next four years. Most observers thought his slouching gait and sloppiness in dress did not conform with usual soldierly bearing.
Grant ranked 21st in a class of 39 when he graduated from West Point in 1843, but he had distinguished himself in horsemanship and showed such considerable ability in mathematics that he imagined himself as a teacher of the subject at the academy. Bored by the military curriculum, he took great interest in the required art courses and spent much leisure time reading classic novels. Upon graduation Grant was assigned as a brevet second lieutenant to the 4th U.S. Infantry, stationed near St. Louis, Missouri, where he fell in love with Julia Boggs Dent, the sister of his roommate at West Point. They became secretly engaged before Grant left to serve in the Mexican-American War (1846–48) and married upon his return.
In the Mexican-American War Grant showed gallantry in campaigns under Gen. Zachary Taylor. He was then transferred to Gen. Winfield Scott’s army, where he first served as regimental quartermaster and commissary. Although his service in these posts gave him an invaluable knowledge of army supply, it did nothing to satiate his hunger for action. Grant subsequently distinguished himself in battle in September 1847, earning brevet commissions as first lieutenant and captain, though his permanent rank was first lieutenant. Despite his heroism, Grant wrote years later: “I do not think there was ever a more wicked war….I thought so at the time…only I had not moral courage enough to resign.”
Britannica Quiz
All-American History Quiz
On July 5, 1852, when the 4th Infantry sailed from New York for the Pacific coast, Grant left his growing family (two sons had been born) behind. Assigned to Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory (later Washington state), he attempted to supplement his army pay with ultimately unsuccessful business ventures and was unable to reunite his family. A promotion to captain in August 1853 brought an assignment to Fort Humboldt, California, a dreary post with an unpleasant commanding officer. On April 11, 1854, Grant resigned from the army. Whether this decision was influenced in any way by Grant’s fondness for alcohol, which he reportedly drank often during his lonely years on the Pacific coast, remains open to conjecture.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Grant helped recruit, equip, and drill troops in Galena, then accompanied them to the state capital, Springfield, where Gov. Richard Yates made him an aide and assigned him to the state adjutant general’s office. Yates appointed him colonel of an unruly regiment (later named the 21st Illinois Volunteers) in June 1861. Before he had even engaged the enemy, Grant was appointed brigadier general through the influence of Elihu B. Washburne, a U.S. congressman from Galena. On learning this news and recalling his son’s previous failures, his father said, “Be careful, Ulyss, you are a general now—it’s a good job, don’t lose it!” To the contrary, Grant soon gained command of the District of Southeast Missouri, headquartered at Cairo, Illinois.
In January 1862, dissatisfied with the use of his force for defensive and diversionary purposes, Grant received permission from Gen. Henry Wager Halleck to begin an offensive campaign. On February 16 he won the first major Union victory of the war, when Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River in Tennessee, surrendered with about 15,000 troops. When the garrison’s commander, Gen. Simon B. Buckner, requested his Union counterpart’s terms for surrender, Grant replied, “No terms except unconditional surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” For many, from that point on Grant’s initials would stand for “unconditional surrender.”
Oct 29, 2009 · Ulysses Grant (1822-1885) commanded the victorious Union army during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and served as the 18th U.S. president from 1869 to 1877.
May 12, 2021 · Ulysses S. Grant was entrusted with the command of all U.S. armies in 1864 and relentlessly pursued the enemy during the Civil War. In 1869, at age 46, Grant became the youngest president in U.S ...
- editor@biography.com
- Staff Editorial Team And Contributors
- Aditya Chakravarty
- His name was picked out of a hat. The name “Ulysses” was the victor drawn from ballots in a hat. Apparently Grants father, Jesse, wanted to honour his father-in-law who had suggested the name “Hiram”, and so he was named “Hiram Ulysses Grant”.
- He was especially gifted with horses. In his Memoirs he mentions that by the time he was eleven, he was doing all the work on his father’s farm that required horses.
- Grant was an accomplished artist. During his time at West Point, he studied under the Professor of Drawing, Robert Weir. Many of his paintings and sketches still survive, and demonstrate his ability.
- He hadn’t wanted to be a soldier. Whilst some biographers claim Grant chose to attend West Point, his Memoirs indicate that he had no desire for a military career, and was surprised when his father informed him that his application was successful.
Apr 20, 2022 · 1. Ulysses S. Grant's real name is Hiram Ulysses Grant. If you called him Ulysses S. Grant during his youth, he wouldn’t know who you were talking about. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in ...
Ulysses S. Grant, American general, Union army commander during the late years of the American Civil War, and 18th president of the United States. It was under his command that the Civil War was brought to an end with a Union victory. He was later elected president in the first election after the Civil War.
People also ask
What are some interesting facts about Ulysses Grant?
How old was Ulysses Grant when he became president?
How did Ulysses Grant get his name?
Who was Hiram Ulysses Grant?
