Born:
April 27, 1822
After military victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February, 1862, Grant was appointed major general of volunteers by President Lincoln.
After an unsuccessful and bloody battle at Shiloh in April, 1862, Grant won Vicksburg, a key city on Mississippi, cutting the Confederacy in two and breaking the Confederate hold on Chattanooga.
Appointed General-in-Chief in March, 1864, by Lincoln, he directed Sherman to drive through the South while he pinned down General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
When Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Grant provided magnanimous terms of surrender preventing treason trials. He went as far as saying that if Gen. Robert E. Lee was tried he would resign.
As symbol of Union victory in the Civil War, Grant was the logical candidate for President in 1868 and, when elected, he brought part of his Army staff to the Whitehouse, leading Government much as he had the Army.
Died:
July 23, 1885
Place of Birth:
Point Pleasant, Ohio
Military University:
West Point
Wars Fought:
-Mexican War
-Civil War
Civil War:
Ulysses S. Grant was working in his father's leather store in Galena, Illinois when the Civil War started. He was appointed by the Governor to command an unruly volunteer regiment which Grant whipped into shape. By September, 1861, he had become brigadier general of volunteers.
