Origins
Ulysses Simpson Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Jesse Root Grant, a tanner, and Hannah Simpson Grant. The family relocated to Georgetown, Ohio, where young Grant developed an exceptional aptitude for working with horses while showing little interest in his father’s leather business. In 1839, his father secured him an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where a clerical error changed his name to Ulysses S. Grant—a designation he retained throughout his life. Grant graduated in 1843, ranking twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine, and served with distinction during the Mexican-American War under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, experiences that proved formative for his later military career.
Following the Mexican War, Grant married Julia Dent in 1848 and served at various frontier posts before resigning his commission in 1854 amid rumors of excessive drinking. The subsequent years brought repeated business failures in farming, real estate, and eventually work in his father’s leather goods store in Galena, Illinois. The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 transformed Grant’s fortunes. His capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 made him a national figure, and subsequent victories at Vicksburg and Chattanooga demonstrated his strategic capabilities. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him commanding general of all Union armies in March 1864, and Grant accepted Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. His immense wartime popularity made him the inevitable Republican presidential nominee in 1868, and he defeated Democrat Horatio Seymour decisively.
Presidency
Grant’s domestic agenda centered on Reconstruction policy and the protection of freedpeople’s rights in the former Confederacy. He vigorously enforced the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, deploying federal troops to suppress the Ku Klux Klan through the Enforcement Acts of 1870-1871. His administration achieved notable success in dismantling Klan terrorism, particularly following the prosecution of Klan members in South Carolina. Grant also pursued civil service reform, establishing the first Civil Service Commission in 1871, though congressional opposition limited its effectiveness. His presidency witnessed significant economic challenges, including the Panic of 1873, which triggered a severe depression lasting throughout his second term. The administration faced numerous scandals involving subordinates, including the Whiskey Ring and the Credit Mobilier affair, though Grant himself was never personally implicated in corruption.
In foreign affairs, Grant’s administration pursued peaceful resolution of international disputes and continental expansion. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish skillfully negotiated the Treaty of Washington in 1871, which resolved the Alabama Claims with Great Britain through international arbitration—a landmark achievement in diplomatic history. Grant unsuccessfully sought annexation of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), a proposal defeated by Senate opposition led by Charles Sumner. The administration maintained neutrality during the Cuban Ten Years’ War despite domestic pressure to intervene, and Fish successfully navigated the Virginius Affair of 1873 without armed conflict with Spain.
Historical Significance
Grant left office in 1877 with Reconstruction increasingly weakened by northern fatigue and Democratic resurgence in the South. The contested election of 1876 and subsequent Compromise of 1877 effectively ended federal enforcement of civil rights protections, undoing much of his administration’s work. The economic depression persisted, and his successor Rutherford B. Hayes inherited a nation deeply divided over monetary policy and sectional reconciliation. Grant embarked on a celebrated world tour following his presidency and later faced financial ruin through a fraudulent business partnership, dying of throat cancer on July 23, 1885, just days after completing his acclaimed memoirs.
Historical assessment of Grant has undergone substantial revision. Early twentieth-century historians, influenced by Lost Cause narratives, dismissed his presidency as corrupt and misguided. Since the civil rights era, scholars have increasingly recognized his genuine commitment to racial equality and his administration’s diplomatic achievements. Contemporary historians generally rank Grant as an average to above-average president, acknowledging both the scandals that plagued his administration and his sincere efforts to protect African American citizenship rights during an era of violent resistance to Reconstruction.
Key Developments
- April 27, 1822: Born in Point Pleasant, Ohio
- August 22, 1848: Married Julia Dent in St. Louis, Missouri
- February 1862: Captured Forts Henry and Donelson, earning nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant
- July 4, 1863: Accepted Confederate surrender of Vicksburg, securing Union control of the Mississippi River
- April 9, 1865: Received Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War
- November 3, 1868: Elected eighteenth President of the United States
- March 4, 1869: Inaugurated as president
- May 1871: Enforcement Act (Ku Klux Klan Act) signed into law
- May 8, 1871: Treaty of Washington signed with Great Britain
- September 1873: Panic of 1873 triggered nationwide economic depression
- November 1876: Second term concluded amid contested Hayes-Tilden election
- July 23, 1885: Died at Mount McGregor, New York