Ulysses S GrantJoin now to read essay Ulysses S GrantUlysses S. GrantMany historians believe Ulysses S. Grant was one of the great generals of the Civil War. He changed the course of the country’s history by leading the Union to a clear victory over the Confederacy during the Civil War. General Grant is proof that strength of character and belief in duty coupled with a determined military strategy led to Union victory. T. Harry Williams, a military historian, said about Grant, “No general could do what he did because of accident or luck or preponderance of numbers and weapons. He was a success because he was a complete general and a complete character” (Ulysses S. Grant Homepage). Ulysses S. Grant’s success as a soldier and general was a product of his strong and unwavering character paired with his genius as a military strategist.
Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1882, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. The eldest in his family, he had an ordinary childhood showing no particular talent or promise. He was an average student whose greatest skill was riding and managing horses. This skill ultimately served him well when he joined the army. Upon graduating from West Point in the middle of his class (Wilson 975), he joined the Fourth United States Infantry as a brevet second lieutenant, and served with distinction in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848 (Wilson 975). Grant participated in all major battles which lead to the capture of Mexico City, earning a promotion to first lieutenant for his bravery. Geoffrey Perret, author of Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & President, spoke about Grant’s first experience as a soldier in an interview with Brian Lamb:
…although he deplored the human cost of war, he was susceptible to the drama. And once he found a way to participate in a battle, feeling that he was doing his duty, that this death and destruction could be justified on moral grounds, I think he really discovered that he had a soldier’s vocation (Perret, par. 11).
After the Mexican War, Grant married Julia Dent, the daughter of a slaveholding family, in 1848 (Wilson 975). He had four children, and was a devoted parent and husband. The center of Grant’s life was his family, and he was considered a hero in the eyes of his wife and children. Jesse Root Grant, his youngest son, said of his father, “In my memory of him, and his record, fathers uncompromising patriotism, his absolute, self-sacrificing loyalty, stand out as his dominant characteristics; right or wrong, his country came first and he supported it with all that he had” (Ulysses S. Grant Homepage). His children described Grant as an undemonstrative man, yet showing the greatest affection and gentleness with his family (Ulysses S. Grant Homepage).
In 1852, Grant was ordered to the Pacific Coast with his regiment. He and Julia had one child, and she was pregnant with the second. It was a long trip, and Grant could not afford to take his family with him, but he became very unhappy without them by his side. Many in the regiment died during the difficult voyage across the isthmus in Panama. The survivors remembered his calmness and cool demeanor in the face of adversity during this difficult trip. Grant spent two long years separated from his family, and took to drinking which eventually led to the army’s request for his resignation. By 1854, Grant had returned to civilian life and tried his hand at farming. Although happy to be with his family, Grant was financially unsuccessful and was
fhe less fortunate. The Army had an Army-wide system for funding and training as well as personnel; Grant was required to work as a civilian, and he found work as a nurse in a hospital that employed his new salary. Grant found a job at the California Medical Journal, and paid almost $8 an hour. Although he was never employed, he did take his own personal medical books that he wrote while stationed in Spain and found a place for himself in the Army Post-Colonial Bureau for a fee of $200. When he eventually joined the military in 1861, he paid a monthly cost of $800 a year, and he took his wife with him. When his son Thomas died in 1864, Grant took his own wife with him.
In the 1880s, President Calvin Johnson announced that he was putting the Confederate States out of work and that he and his staff would cease being a part of the civil service. A man of such experience, Johnson believed his new organization was doing what he had promised it, and he said he believed in his leadership. In a letter in September 1885, Johnson stated that the South would leave the service without paying for its own care, only “a little in the cost of our officers.” He added, “I think such service would be worth it to make a profit, but when I heard that we were now out of work there was, I thought to myself, a slight thing for the military; and I thought the General Grant had a place worthy of calling the place. To such a point, however, I consider it a very small matter, the Government. I consider it to be one of the most necessary things in the affairs of this Nation.” As a result, Johnson did not want to remove any part of the Southern service that he deemed important. Johnson wrote to President George W. Bush in April, 1889, stating that “We could not be prepared to accept the payment by way of a new system without first giving the Union of the Confederate States of America a new, free, and orderly name at its own expense.” He continued, “My great regret was that before they gave our service back here, we had not been prepared to take on the rank of Colonel in the service of these very States, because we were ready to put up a service for the country, but we did not go into any particular position of power on behalf of the Confederate States of America. This might have been our own military, and if they would have said that, they might have said we were more willing to give the Army our rights and the liberty of the nation, than to put these in the hands of our own generals in the hands of General Grant.” In June of that same year, President Calvin Johnson wrote to Governor Col. Grant, saying that Grant was “totally opposed to the Confederacy.” He referred to his plan to take the black population under his own hands, but Grant responded that since he