The New International Encyclopædia/Grant, (Hiram) Ulysses Simpson
GRANT, (Hiram) Ulysses Simpson (1822-85). A celebrated American general, and the eighteenth President of the United States. He was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and was the eldest child of Jesse R. Grant, a tanner and farmer, and Hannah Simpson Grant. On his father's side he was remotely of Scottish ancestry, being a descendant of Matthew Grant, one of the settlers of Windsor, Conn., in 1635, and a man of much importance in the infant colony, which he served for many years as surveyor and town clerk. Ulysses's great-grandfather, Noah Grant, held a military commission in the French and Indian War, and his grandfather, also named Noah, fought in the Revolution, afterwards emigrating to Pennsylvania, and from thence to Deerfield, Ohio. His maternal grandfather, John Simpson, had likewise emigrated to Ohio from Pennsylvania.
Jesse Grant, who had worked as a tanner for the father of the afterwards noted Abolitionist, John Brown, started in business for himself at Ravenna, but removed to Point Pleasant, and in 1823 to Georgetown, about 40 miles from Cincinnati, where Ulysses was brought up, working on his father's farm in summer and attending school in winter. Jesse Grant, desirous that his son should have a better education than he himself had had, procured for him in 1839 an appointment to West Point, where Ulysses in 1843 graduated twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine, and was then commissioned brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Mo. In May, 1844, his regiment was ordered to Louisiana, and in September, 1845, to Texas, to join the army of General Taylor. In the Mexican War, Grant took part in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and was present at the capture of Monterey; was then made quartermaster of his regiment in 1847; participated in the battles of General Scott's campaign, and for his bravery at Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847, was made first lieutenant, and for his conduct at Chapultepec, September 13th, was brevetted captain. In the summer of 1848 his regiment returned, to be stationed first at Detroit and then at Sackett's Harbor. In the same year he was married to a Miss Julia T. Dent, of Saint Louis, sister of one of his classmates at West Point, who survived him many years, dying in 1902. In 1852 he accompanied his regiment to California and Oregon, and on August 5, 1853, was commissioned full captain; but on July 31, 1854, resigned and removed to the neighborhood of Saint Louis, Mo., where he cultivated a farm and engaged in the real-estate business. His lack of knowledge of business methods, however, and his carelessness in money matters involved him heavily in debt, and caused him in 1859 to give up and move to Galena, Ill., where he was employed in his father's store at $800 a year. Here he was living when the Civil War broke out in 1861. He immediately recruited and drilled a company of Galena volunteers, and accompanied them to Springfield, where he was employed in the Adjutant-General's department as a mustering officer. He offered his services to the national Government, but, receiving no reply, accepted on June 17th the colonelcy of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served with his regiment under General Pope in Missouri until August 7th, when he was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers. In this capacity he served in Missouri; was later placed in charge at Cairo, Ill., and early rendered important service by the seizure, on September 6, 1861, of Paducah, Ky., at the mouth of the Tennessee, and on the 25th of Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland, two important strategic points. His next move, a month later, was to check the advance of a large force under General Jeff Thompson, this being successfully accomplished by two battles, one at Fredericktown, Mo., the other at Belmont. The District of Cairo was now enlarged, and General Grant was placed in command. In February, 1862, he moved from Paducah with 15,000 men, aided by Commodore A. H. Foote (q.v.), with a fleet of gunboats, for the purpose of capturing Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland. The former surrendered February 6th, its reduction, however, being the work of the gunboats; the latter was taken on the 16th, only after a severe battle in which the land forces were engaged. (See Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.) Buckner, who was in command of the fort after the withdrawal of his superior officers, proposed the appointment of commissioners to settle the terms of capitulation, to which General Grant replied: “No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” The capture of this fort was the first important and brilliant victory of the Federal arms, and it made a great impression upon the country. General Grant was at once made a major-general of volunteers, his commission being dated as of the day of the battle; and by a play upon his initials he became widely known as ‘Unconditional Surrender Grant.’ The battle of Shiloh (q.v.), or Pittsburg Landing. was next fought. The Federal troops at that point were attacked April 6th by a large Confederate force under Gen. A. S. Johnston (q.v.), and suffered heavy loss. General Grant arrived on the field at the critical moment and reformed the broken lines, and heavy reënforcements under General Buell having arrived, the battle was renewed on the 7th and the Confederates, now under the command of General Beauregard (Johnston having been killed), were driven back to Corinth. In this battle General Grant was slightly wounded. He was second in command in the movement against Corinth, which was occupied by the Federal troops on May 30th. When, in July, General Halleck was called to Washington to take command of the armies of the United States, General Grant was assigned to the command of the Department of the Tennessee, with headquarters at Corinth. In September he fought the Confederate General Price at Iuka and defeated him. He then removed his headquarters to Jackson, leaving Rosecrans with 20,000 men to hold Corinth, which he did successfully. In October General Grant's department was enlarged by a portion of Mississippi, including Vicksburg, the forces under his command being designated as the Thirteenth Army Corps. After several efforts by different plans to capture Vicksburg, he was finally enabled, as a result of his brilliant movements, to invest the city, May 18, 1863, and on July 4th General Pemberton surrendered with about 30,000 men. General Grant was now appointed a major-general in the Regular Army, and in October was placed in command of the Military Division of the Tennessee, comprising the departments commanded by Sherman, Thomas, Burnside, and Hooker. General Grant was next called upon to conduct the operations against the Confederate General Bragg at Chattanooga. On November 24th the Federals stormed Lookout Mountain, and on the 25th they carried the heights of Missionary Ridge. General Halleck, in his annual report to the War Department, said that, in view of the strength of Bragg's position and the difficulty of storming his intrenchments, “the battle of Chattanooga must be considered the most remarkable in history. Not only,” he continued, “did the officers and men exhibit great skill and daring in their operations on the field, but the highest praise is due to the commanding general for his admirable dispositions for dislodging the enemy from a position apparently impregnable.” Congress at its next session passed a vote of thanks to General Grant and his army, and ordered a gold medal to be struck in his honor. The grade of lieutenant-general was revived. General Grant was nominated by President Lincoln for the position, and the nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate. On March 17, 1864, he issued his first order as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. His headquarters thereafter were with the Army of the Potomac. The battles of the next campaign, which had for their object the capture of Richmond, in front of which the main army of the Confederates was concentrated for a last and desperate resistance, were among the bloodiest of the whole war.
ULYSSES S. GRANT
The first movements of General Grant, though
unsuccessful as to his main design, resulted in
crippling the enemy and so preparing the way
for final victory: but they were attended with
terrible loss of life. The great
battle of the Wilderness (q.v.) was fought against General Lee on
May 5th-May 6th, and was followed by the bloody
engagements at Spottsylvania Court-House. On
June 3d Lee repulsed a tremendous assault of the
Union forces at Cold Harbor. General Grant,
having failed in his flanking movements, saw at
last that his only hope of seizing Richmond
depended upon his first taking Petersburg, and to
this object he now addressed himself with his
usual pertinacity. Lee attempted to create a
diversion by sending Early on a raid across the
Potomac. Sherman soon after forced Hood to
evacuate Atlanta, and then started on his famous
‘march to the sea.’ Sheridan's victory at Five
Forks, March 31-April 1, 1865, destroyed the last
hope of a successful defense of Richmond. On
April 2d Petersburg was abandoned, and on the
3d the Federal forces entered the Southern capital,
the Confederates fleeing as they advanced.
Grant pursued the fleeing army, overtook and
surrounded it, and forced it to surrender at
Appomattox Court-House, on April 9th. Lee was
captured, and the Confederacy overthrown.
The assassination of Lincoln and the accession of Andrew Johnson quickly followed, and then came the excitement of the period of Reconstruction, in which General Grant, for whom Congress had created the rank of General of the Army, bore a loyal and honorable part. During the administration of Johnson he was drawn into the struggle between the President and Congress. On the removal of Stanton, Secretary of War, by President Johnson, Grant was asked to fill the office ad interim, and held it from August, 1867, to January, 1868. Having become prominent in national politics, he was soon recognized as an available candidate for the Presidency, his military services making it evident that whatever party nominated him would receive a large independent support. He was approached by members of both parties, but his views were more nearly in accord with those of the Republicans. In May, 1868, a convention of soldiers and sailors at Chicago indorsed his contemplated candidacy, and on May 20th the Republican Convention on the first ballot nominated him for the Presidency unanimously, naming for the Vice-Presidency Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. Although the Democratic candidate, Governor Horatio Seymour, carried his own State of New York, he secured only seven other States, with a total of only 80 electoral votes against 214 electoral votes cast for Grant. The new administration was marked by a studied independence of Congressional politicians and by a disregard of various political traditions of the National Govermnent. The apparent influence of a military coterie, coupled with the President's marked reticence as to his views and plans, and his want of tact in dealing with civilians, produced an unfortunate lack of cordiality in his relations with Congress and gave rise to a few incidents of discord. During the campaign he had been conspicuously reticent and inactive, and it was impossible to learn in advance his intentions with regard to matters of public moment. However, he had the confidence of the people at large, and this was increased by the negotiation of the important Treaty of Washington (q.v.) and by the steps which were thus taken for the early settlement of the Alabama Claims (q.v.). The President made foreign relations an important feature of his first administration by his persistent efforts in favor of the annexation of Santo Domingo, the treaty for which, however, was rejected by the Senate, largely through the opposition of Charles Sumner, whose attitude in this matter led to his exclusion, by the friends of the Administration, from his influential post as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. A policy of friendly supervision of the South American States was also followed, and much interest was manifested in the war of independence which was being waged in Cuba, and the danger of intervention seemed imminent, especially for a brief period during the excitement caused by the seizure of the Virginius. The political condition of the South continued to present serious problems, although most of the actual work of reorganization had been accomplished; the vindictiveness of the extreme Republicans was abating; and the President was inclined to lessen the direct control of Southern administration at the hands of the National Government, and to look forward to the moral regeneration of the newly organized political bodies through their own initiative unaffected by external influences. (See Reconstruction.) The scandals attaching to the Crédit Mobilier (q.v.) were looked upon by the President's opponents as sources of weakness; but neither these nor other seeming irregularities had any material effect in the campaign of 1872, when Grant was reëlected with the unprecedented number of 286 electoral votes, and with a popular vote exceeding by more than 700,000 that given to his chief opponent, Horace Greeley (q.v.). The collapse, as it seemed, of the movement of the new Liberal-Republican Party (q.v.) left the President in full authority, with very little opposition, and with very few problems of really national importance to be settled. Financial affairs, the control of the Indians, and minor matters of ordinary significance occupied the greater portion of his second term, which was marked also by various irregularities, such as the scandal of the ‘Whisky Ring’ (q.v.), in which high Federal officials were concerned, but in which the President himself was in no way implicated, save in so far as he obstinately stood by friends whose guilt was beyond doubt. In 1874 he rendered a great service to his country by his veto of the bill passed by Congress for the inflation of the paper currency, and he was also responsible in a large measure for the passage of the Resumption Act in the following year.
At the close of his second term, in 1877, he made the tour of the whole civilized world, visiting especially the great countries of Europe and Asia, and receiving, as a soldier and civilian and the first citizen of the United States, all the honor which rulers and people could bestow. As the unofficial representative of his country, his bearing was such as to win universal admiration and respect. On his return home in the spring of 1880 a large and influential portion of the Republican Party sought to make him a candidate for the Presidency once more; but the movement was defeated, not because the people did not still admire and trust him, but on account of the formidable opposition to the bestowal of the office upon any man, however eminent or able, for more than two terms.
After his long journey General Grant made his home in New York. He became a partner in a financial firm which came to grief and involved him in pecuniary ruin. The story is a sad one, which will not here be recorded. The only blame that attached to him was that he bestowed too much confidence upon those who misused it. Universal sympathy was accorded to him. With the energy of a young man he took up his pen and wrote out the recollections of his military life, “for the money it gave me,” he says, “for at that moment I was living upon borrowed money.” Every token of respect was shown to him in the city of his residence, and Congress, by a special enactment in 1884. placed him on the retired list of the army, as General, with full pay — a position he had resigned to become President.
In the summer of 1884 General Grant entered upon a long period of suffering from a cancerous affection of the throat, and he died at Mount MacGregor, near Saratoga, N. Y., July 23, 1885. Until a few days before his death he was diligently engaged in writing his memoirs, in order, by their sale, to make provision for his family. His body found its final resting-plaee in a magnificent tomb In Riverside Park, New York City, overlooking the Hudson River.
Memoirs of General Grant's career are numerous. Soon after the Civil War General Adam Badeau, his aide near the close of the war, wrote his Military History, in three octavo volumes (New York, 1867-81). In his later years General Grant was induced to contribute to the Century Magazine many articles which attracted widespread attention, and were afterwards published in the work entitled: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (New York, 4 vols., 1887), and in his Personal Memoirs (New York, 2 vols., 1885). The dedication of the volumes last named, “To the American Soldier and Sailor,” is dated New York, May 23, 1885, and the preface at Mount MacGregor, July 1, 1885. There is a short and excellent biography by Col. W. C. Church (New York, 1897); another by Gen. James Grant Wilson (New York, 1868; revised ed. 1886); a study of the ancestry of General Grant by E. C. Marshall (1869), and a story of his tour around the world by John Russell Young. Less noteworthy are Coppée's Grant and His Campaigns (1866), and Headley's Grant and Sherman (1860). Among the eulogies of General Grant, that by Henry Ward Beecher, in Boston, October 22, 1885, deserves special mention. For a further account of his administrations as President, see the article United States.