General+Ulysses+S.+Grant

Back = Franklin County Main Page = Home Page General Ulysses S. Grant Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He was the first of six children to a highly devout christian family. His father was a leather maker or at that time a tanner. Grant did not like his father’s work and vowed to never work as a tanner in his life. In grade school, Grant was quiet and kept to himself, which made the other children believe he was stupid. This is how he got his childhood nickname of “useless”. Grant did not excell in the classroom to his father’s dismay, but he was an exceptionally well gifted horseman. He would take care of the families horses and was also paid to break in horses for the county. After Grant left grade school early to help in the family bussiness, his father applied him to the Military Academy of West Point. Grant was excepted and then nominated, but secretly did not want to go at all. While at West Point, Grant still began to struggle in the classroom but blossomed into a fine horsemen. He wanted to become a calvary man but was sentenced to the 42nd infantry instead. Grant finished 21 out of 39 students in his graduating class at West Point. After Graduation, Grant began to move all across the midwest from Lousiana to Texas to prepare for the Mexican American War. After 1848, he married his West Point roomate’s sister Julia Dent. After he married Dent, he went to the Western Coast and left his family in Ohio. He then retired from the military and began to work as a tanner like his father. When the Civil War broke out, he was hired by the state to train and lead its men. Grant was then appointed Brigadear General in 1860 when the War broke out nationally. Grant was blamed for the massive casualties lost at the Battle of Shiloh, in which he held the position coveted by the Confederate forces. He was also a key leader in the Vicksburg campaign in Mississippi. Grant led the surge on Jackson Hill and Champion Hill, two key locations of the Confederates that gave the Union army control of the Mississippi River. After all of his success on the battlefeild, Lincoln named Grant Leutenant General and commander of all Union forces. The casualties that Grant’s men received made him known as “ the butcher”. He commanded the Union forces to victory and forced the Confederate surrender in 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse.In 1866 Grant was named General of the armies, by President Andrew Taylor, a postion only prevoiusly held by George Washington. He was elected President in 1869 and served two terms in office.