Ulysses Grant was one of the best Generals to ever fight for the US. He was a brave, fearless leader who helped America win the Civil was against the rebels. America would not be the way it is today without help from General Grant.

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27,1822 in Point- Pleasant, Ohio. He was born to Jesse Root Grant, a successful businessman and Hannah Simpson Grant, the housewife of the family. Grant had an uneventful childhood; he was a shy student and strongly disliked the idea of business, he did however like to be out with his horses. By the age of 17 Grant had been enrolled in West Point military academy. A mix up with the college gave Grant is more know name, Ulysses S. Grant. While at West Point he managed to pass as an average student, twenty-first out of his thirty-nine classmates. He was given many demerits for artier and tardiness. U.S. (Ulysses S.) left the academy and was stationed in St. Louis Missouri. There he met his future wife Julia Dent; the two were married on August 22, 1848. Ulysses was deployed in 1846 during the Mexican-American war. He served under military General Zachary Taylor and later under General Winfield Scott. From these men he learned different tactics and leadership strategies on war. He was even given his first command to lead men into combat, after this Grant was given an award of bravery under fire.

By 1852 Grant was moved again, to Fort Vancouver in Oregon, he had, also had his first 2 children by then, the second of whom he had not seen yet. Grant was miserable in Oregon, all there was to do was watch the Indians and make sure they did nothing. Here U.S. also got depression, he seemed to sit alone for long periods of time and be sad all day. However in 1854 Grant was transferred to Fort Humboldt on the Northern California coast. Here is where Grant gained his reputation for alcohol, he started to become so bored and lonely that he would just drink to pass time. Then one day Grant came into work drunk and was unable too do his job so the base made him resign. He was still allowed to stay in the military but he had to leave Fort Humboldt. Once he left the base he was finally allowed to see his family in St. Louis.

By 1860 Ulysses was 37 and he had been close to bankrupt, he had 4 children and his depression had kicked in. Grant didn’t know what to do, the only thing they had was their house, which Grant had build with his hands. Once his father had seen this he gave his son a job as a clerk for a leather store. So now his family knew where their next meal was coming from. This gave Grant confidence, and as the Civil War was approaching, confidence was needed. Especially for an Army General. Grant knew which side of the war he would be on from the start. Grant hated slavery so he supported the Union (North). He didn’t have any doubt in his mind that he would eventually end up back into the army, he knew that tensions were rising and war was on the horizon. So one day Grant left his leather store to follow a few army troops and he never came back. He had rejoined the army, and by June of 1861 Ulysses S. Grant was leading the Twenty-First Illinois Regiment into Missouri.

For Grant war was a pretty simple thing: find an enemy and get rid of them. This strategy started to work for him at first. Grants main goal was to help lead troops into the land that was near the main rivers (Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers). Grants first goal was to win over Paducah, Kentucky. This was the land that would give him access to the Tennessee River. Shortly after winning over Paducah, Ulysses had jam packed a couple of Navy ships and sailed down the Mississippi river to Belmont, Missouri. On November 7, 1862 all 3,000 of his men jumped ashore and attacked Belmont and won in a quick two-hour battle. The most impressive part was that most of Grants men hadn’t fought in a war before this battle. But soon after the troops inexperience led to some bad mistakes. Once the invasion of Belmont ended, the young troops had set the supplies from the confederates on fire as mockery. But what they didn’t know was that there were Confederate reinforcements right across the river ready to attack. So Grants troops had to load the ships and head back up the river.

Once Grant had completely retreated, he started on his next plan, Fort Henry. Grant had led 17,000 troops down to Tennessee and completely dominated the Battle of Fort Henry. Grant had only had on of his troops die. Nights later, Grant and Naval Officer Foote had attacked Fort Donaldson without the permission of main leaders. The battle had started of bad because almost all of the ships that Foote had brought along had been shot down, and for most of the battle the Confederates had an advantage. But later federal reinforcements had come in to save the day and surround Fort Donaldson. After this battle Grant had been given the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, he had been promoted to Major General and he was given control of the Tennessee army.

After some major battle wins, the popularity went to Grants head. He started to become overconfident and get himself into some bad situations. He decided to attack General Johnston, and create the Battle of Shiloh. Shortly after camping out near the battlefield, the rebels attacked Grant and his troops. He hadn’t realized that there was a possibility of his troops being attacked rather than his attacking. So the Union troops were forced to retreat back to the river. Many union troops didn’t make it back to the river. After hours and hours of retreating, the Confederates attack slowed down, allowing the North to gain some land. And before the South knew it, the Union was forcing them back even further than the original battlefield. After the 2nd day Johnston’s/ Beauregard’s army had to surrender, giving U.S. the victory. Despite Major General Grant’s confidence, he was still praised by President Lincoln for his steadiness and his ability to keep under control during the battle.

After a couple years off, Grant was told to attack Vicksburg. The Unions first attack had failed but Grant had a different strategy than others. His plan was to attack from the South rather than attack from the North, it would take longer to get there but Grant thought it was worth it. Grant had all his plans prepared but lacked the most important supply, troops. Grant was told to give his Tennessee army to another commander and at that point, those troops had lost the first attack on Vicksburg. So Grant had to wait till the spring of 1863 to start his journey. U.S. led his troops down the west side of the Mississippi river and met up with Admiral David Dixon Porter of the Navy. His plan was to surround the city with gunboats and control the city by night. After circling around Vicksburg and winning some minor battles like the city of Jackson, Grant decided to attack Vicksburg from the East side. After two failed attempts of reaching the city, the townspeople and solders need food. There was a letter at the foot of Pemberton’s door (South’s leader for Vicksburg) that read, “ If you don’t feed us, surrender us.” Pemberton listened to their advice and surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, ultimately giving Grant the victory. With this battle win it allowed the north to gain complete control of the Mississippi River and split the South’s land into two pieces.

After the battle of Vicksburg, things seemed to be going well for the North, days before the end of the battle of Vicksburg; the North had also fought off the attacks of the southerners in Gettysburg. Things were also going especially well for Mr. Grant as well, he had been named the head of all western armies (Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, etc.). Grant had become so well known that even Southern troops would salute him as he passed and fire no bullets. This actually happened on Grants way to Chattanooga, some men who were told to watch and see if anyone came into the city, and when the saw Grant, they just saluted him. But once he got into the battle area of Chattanooga, Grant and his four troops attacked the town. Three days later on November 26, 1863 General Bragg’s troops were forced to retreat and the trapped Northerners were saved. After the victory of Chattanooga, and setting up posts in Nashville, Grant had received an urgent note from the president to meet him in Washington. Grant made his way up to the nations capital taking his son with him. Their Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General, the highest rank in the army. In just five years this lonely, depressed, bankrupt man who was a clerk for a leather store, had become the highest rank of any Army General since George Washington.

By 1864 the North had had clear advantages over the South. The North had more men, more supplies, and were winning in key cities like Atlanta and Mobile. Both Grant and Lincoln knew it was time to go after Robert E. Lee and his army. They both believed that the fall of Lee would mean the fall of the Confederates, so Grant and the army of Pontiac marched down to Virginia to face General Lee. After several days of battle and many deaths for both armies, Grant had decided to call off his attack. After a couple days of rest, Grant and his army went across the James River and met the army of Robert E. Lee again. After 3 more days of battle, Lee was forced to surrender. Many of the Northerners were upset with Grant though, calling him a butcher and criticizing him for the battle of Petersburg. All of this “hate” seemed to stop after Sheridan had claimed Atlanta. After this, victories came piling in for the North, and on April 9, 1865, after Lee gave his finial try, the rebels had surrendered, the official end of the American Civil War.

Very shortly after the war, Grant and his wife were invited to go with Abraham Lincoln and his wife to see a play at the ford theater. Grant had declined it, and thankfully he had. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln that night of April 14, 1865. After the Civil War, Grant was still relatively young at age 43. So Grant decided to go into politics and became the 18th president of the United States. After being president, Grant had suffered from throat cancer. Ulysses S. Grant had died on July 23, 1885 at the age of 63, leaving behind many memoirs of his great stories. He will be forever known as one of Americas most fearless Generals of all time.