What kind of person was ulysses s grant

Grant first began compiling his memoirs in the mids, after he wrote a series of popular articles about his Civil War experiences. He was on the verge of signing a book deal with a magazine when novelist Mark Twain swooped in and offered a much more lucrative contract with his newly formed publishing firm Charles L. Grant took Twain up on his offer, and later finished the book just a few days before succumbing to cancer in July The Personal Memoirs of U. Grant hit stores later the year, and was immediately hailed by Twain and others as a literary masterpiece.

It was also a massive bestseller. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Lee lost soldiers in battles but had no way to replace them as Grant could. Grant was relentless in his attacks on Lee, but at a great cost. Eventually Grant backed Lee into a corner having to defend Richmond and Petersburg.

Lee was unable to break out. Grant slowly starved him into surrendering as he closed off supply and rail lines. After the victory, the media and the people praised Grant as a hero, eventually electing him president for two terms. But the press and the people were fickle. It is no different today. Grant was a man of contradictions: successful as a general but a failure as a civilian. Both Grant and Lincoln studied history. Talk to us. Please share your story tips by emailing editor courierherald.

Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Please keep letters to words or less. In Seattle and most suburban cities, the overwhelming message was that the… Continue reading. Climate change, washing sidewalks, even Mickey Mouse — the list goes on. He set a high jump record at West Point that lasted for more than twenty-five years.

Grant and Slavery. Louis, whose family held slaves. Grant himself owned a slave named William Jones, acquired from his father-in-law. At a time when he could have desperately used the money from the sale of Jones, Grant signed a document that gave him his freedom. Grant's Military Career. He always excelled in this area. It was said of him that he never read a lesson over more than twice and did not actually "study" it.

In spite of this he graduated 21st out of 39 cadets. He had to have been quite intelligent to pull this off. He got through an engineering program by reading each lesson in a minimal amount of time. Grant was twice breveted for bravery and gallantry for services at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. The rise from clerk to General of the Armies, to President of the United States in seven years, was an unprecedented feat of accomplishment.

A few years earlier he was selling wood on a street corner in St. His letter was not found until after the war was over. His nerves of steel were a wonder to all around him.

He could write dispatches while shells burst around him and never flinch. He felt that they "divided a responsibility that would at times prevent a unity of action. No one knew of his decision until it was put into effect. His style was clear and concise and no one ever had to be told twice what his wishes were. His oldest son Fred was with his father often.

During the Battle of Black River Bridge, thirteen year old Fred was wounded when a musket ball struck him in the left thigh. Reinforcement finally arrived, and Grant was able to defeat the Confederates during the second day of battle.

The Battle of Shiloh proved to be a watershed for the American military and a near disaster for Grant. Though he was supported by President Abraham Lincoln, Grant faced heavy criticism from members of Congress and the military brass for the high casualties, and for a time, he was demoted.

A war department investigation led to his reinstatement. Union war strategy called for taking control of the Mississippi River and cutting the Confederacy in half. In December , Grant moved overland to take Vicksburg — a key fortress city of the Confederacy — but his attack was stalled by Confederate cavalry raider Nathan Bedford Forest, as well as due to getting bogged down in the bayous north of Vicksburg.

In his second attempt, Grant cut some, but not all, of his supply lines, moved his men down the western bank of the Mississippi River and crossed south of Vicksburg. Failing to take the city after several assaults, he settled into a long siege, and Vicksburg finally surrendered on July 4, Though Vicksburg marked both Grant's greatest achievement thus far and a moral boost for the Union, rumors of Grant's heavy drinking followed him through the rest of the Western Campaign.

Grant suffered from intense migraine headaches due to stress, which nearly disabled him and only helped to spread rumors of his drinking, as many chalked up his migraines to frequent hangovers. However, his closest associates said that he was sober and polite and that he displayed deep concentration, even in the midst of a battle. In October , Grant took command at Chattanooga, Tennessee. The following month, from November 22 to November 25, Union forces routed Confederate troops in Tennessee at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, known collectively as the Battle of Chattanooga.

The victories forced the Confederates to retreat into Georgia, ending the siege of the vital railroad junction of Chattanooga — and ultimately paving the way for Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta campaign and march to Savannah, Georgia, in Grant saw the military objectives of the Civil War differently than most of his predecessors, who believed that capturing territory was most important to winning the war.

Grant adamantly believed that taking down the Confederate armies was most important to the war effort, and to that end, set out to track down and destroy General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. From March until April , Grant doggedly hunted for Lee in the forests of Virginia, all the while inflicting unsustainable casualties on Lee's army.

On April 9, , Lee surrendered his army, marking the end of the Civil War. The two generals met at a farm near the village of Appomattox Court House, and a peace agreement was signed. In a magnanimous gesture, Grant allowed Lee's men to keep their horses and return to their homes, taking none of them as prisoners of war. During post-war reorganization, Grant was promoted to full general and oversaw the military portion of Reconstruction. He was then put in an awkward position during President Andrew Johnson's fight with the Radical Republicans and Johnson's impeachment.

Subsequently, in , Grant was elected the 18th president of the United States. When he entered the White House the following year, Grant was not only politically inexperienced, he was — at the age of 46 — the youngest president theretofore. Though scrupulously honest, Grant became known for appointing people who were not of good character. While he had some success during his time in office, including pushing through ratification of the 15th Amendment and establishing the National Parks Service, his administration's scandals rocked both of his presidential terms, and he didn't get the opportunity to serve a third.