His father was a hard-working, honest man, who was also a bit bombastic. He loved to talk and give his opinion, went through life as a verbal brawler, and was always looking for a way he could swing a better business deal. His aggressive personality served him well in the business world. He began as a tanner, eventually developing several other businesses, and becoming a town mayor. Several of his ancestors had military careers, and drank heavily. Ulysses mother was a quiet, plain, unassuming woman, who rarely spoke, but was intelligent and caring. She was not demonstrative with her love, and emphasized strict Methodist morals with her children. Jesse Root and Hannah Grant were fervent abolitionists. Ulysses perhaps got his military skills and alcoholism from his father. In appearance and basic personality, he was a copy of his mother in male form.
Ulysses was a most average, almost unnoticed child. He had no distinguishing characteristics. His withdrawn personality and small size left him on the periphery of most all social action. It was not as if he was retreating from whatever was going on, however; it was as if he was taking it all in, and analyzing every part of that activity. He was an average student when in school. He was not particularly good at any work activity. He abhorred working on hides in his father’s tannery. He did not want to hunt or fish, did not want to kill anything. The only unusual traits that he showed during childhood were his protection of other children who were being bullied, and his horsemanship at an early age. He was an expert rider by age 5. In all other respects, his childhood produced no indication that he would lead anything other than a most average, almost unmentionable life.
Jesse Root Grant wanted his oldest son to have a better education than he had gotten. He sent Ulysses to two schools for a period of time, where his son appeared to be an average learner. When Jesse could not afford to send his son further in his education, he developed, with his wheeler-dealer personality, a wonderful scheme. If he could get his son an appointment to West Point, he would get a free education. So Jesse contacted his senator and his congressman, asking them to make an appointment for Ulysses at West Point. Fortunately, there was a position open from that district, and Ulysses was given that appointment at the last minute. Perhaps because it was a rush job, his name was submitted incorrectly as U. S. Grant. It remained so for the rest of his life, although what the S stood for was up to anyone’s interpretation.
Jesse did not tell his son about this appointment until it was a done deal. When he told his son that this was where he was going. Ulysses was frightened at the prospect of going off to the prestigious West Point for a military education. He didn’t like killing. He was afraid that he would not pass the entrance exam. He was afraid that if he got there, he would not be good enough to have passing grades and become a West Point graduate. He kept hoping something would happen to prevent this undesirable change in his life from happening. He did not want to be an embarrassment to his father, mother and friends. In spite of his angst, the appointment happened, and he made passing grades, to stay in the middle of his class. After his graduation, his military career began in a most inauspicious way.
Grant’s first assignments were to military posts on the west coast. They were not very demanding. He did have a stint as quartermaster, at which time he learned what it took to supply and maintain an army, but otherwise was not challenged. Those lessons were going to become invaluable to him later in his career, but at that time this gave him no solace. He missed his wife terribly, and did not seek the companionship of other women. In this state of ennui, he succumbed to the family trait of alcoholism. He began drinking heavily on a routine basis, and kept getting in trouble because of his drinking habits. He soon became notoriously known as a drunk. The eventual result was that he was forced to resign from the military before he was dishonorably discharged. He returned to his wife in Illinois a complete failure as a military commander, and so far, pretty much a failure in everything else in life, except to have chosen a faithful and loving wife.
The record did not improve for the hapless Grant. He tried his hand at farming, working hard long hours, planting bumper crops of potatoes and beans, but then his fields flooded and all his crops rotted. He cut lumber, then hauled it to St Louis for sale, but never made much profit, because he was too trusting. A buyer would promise to pay him later, then never would. He tried to develop an ice business, but his ice blocks melted before they reached market. He tried to sell insurance with a partner, but was not a good salesman. He would rather visit than press for a sale. He was finally reduced to being a clerk in one of his father’s stores in Galena, Illinois, under the supervision of his younger brother, a most demeaning position. He was not very good at that either. When customers would come in, he would frequently find something else to do. He didn’t know how to barter, or make a sale. He was, at that point of his life, pretty much a worthless young man.
The only thing that prevented the life of Ulysses S. Grant from becoming a total failure was the onset of the American Civil War. When it was necessary to recruit soldiers and to organize companies, they turned to Grant because of his military training. Grant seemed to come alive again. He remembered, in amazing detail, everything he had learned in school about military organization. It was soon apparent that he knew his military stuff. Grant signed up again, vowing to do a better job this time. As his military skills became apparent at every turn, he was given increasing responsibility, soon becoming a general in the western front of the civil war. While generals in the east were entering into battles with the confederacy, then pulling back and asking for more troops, making no progress, Grant continued to take towns heading down the Mississippi. He eventually, by means of adroit and adventurous military maneuvers, laid siege to and took the town of Vicksburg. This cut the confederacy in two, preventing supply chains from Texas from reaching the southern front. It was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.
Lincoln was practically driven berserk by the ineffective leadership of his generals in the east, who were sometimes holding their own, but not pushing the battle grounds further south. At one point there was fear that Washington, D.C. was going to be overrun by confederate forces. As Grant had progressively shown a series of victories in the west, he and Lincoln had become good friends. They had the same understanding of the war, and all their actions were predicated on two major philosophies: the union must be preserved, and slavery must be abolished. As his eastern generals failed him, one by one, Lincoln finally turned to Grant to become the general in charge of all armies, east and west. He had finally found a general who was willing to be aggressive, to win the war, and bring the Union to the realization of their moral imperatives.
As the general in charge of all the armies of the Union cause, Grant was able to accomplish something that no general had ever been able to accomplish before in the history of the world. Because the telegraph system had, by that time, been developed to that point that most all towns were connected, he was able to simultaneously direct the actions of the Virginia armies, the armies of Phil Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, the armies of William Tecumseh Sherman in the south, and the armies of the west. He was able to direct a coordinated effort of all Union armies, which was all designed to defeat the Confederacy by means of simultaneous pressure from all sides. Robert E. Lee was said to be the most masterful tactician in any battle, but no one could hold a candle to Ulysses S. Grant as the most masterful general of the entire war. He saw all the parts, the supply chains, the communications, the waterway accesses, the prime roads, the maneuvers of gunboats, the position of troops, the geography, the morale, the armaments. the understanding of his subordinates, and brought all these pieces together like a genius solves a puzzle for the ages.
In battle, he was magnificent. He was fearless under fire. He snapped off orders within minutes after receiving communication from one sector or another. He had thought about all the contingencies in advance, and knew what to do when this happened or that happened. Loss of life during battle did not seem important to him. What was important was employing the right tactic at the right time, in order to win the battle. He did whatever it took to win, and knew what that would be. The problem that he had, was visiting the battlefield after the battle was over. He was repulsed at seeing torn arms and legs, protruding bones, shot off faces, blood everywhere, and the moans of those who were not quite yet dead. He usually, at those times, went off to a corner with an excruciating migraine headache, and stayed there, vomiting, until he had recovered enough to continue his post mortem examination.
Grant did not give up. If he had a stalemate battle with the Confederates, he simply pulled up and slid south afterwards. In other words, Lee had to keep moving south also to protect properties, and with each move, was losing the war. Grant finally took towns around Richmond, then laid siege to the Confederate capitol. He then began cutting all supply lines to the city, until the result was inevitable. Lee finally had to accept surrender at Appomatox. Both he and his soldiers were gratified at the terms that Grant requested. He simply wanted peace. He did not want punishments or court martials. He only asked that the Confederacy soldiers give up their main armaments, then go back to their wives, children and farms. He thought of the Confederate soldiers as his brothers in arms, with whom he should again be united. He was fierce and relentless in battle, and magnanimous in victory.
The three years under Andrew Johnson, after Lincoln’s death, were most trying for Grant and all abolitionists. Johnson was a southerner, who believed in slavery and white supremacy. He interfered with black freedom in the South in any way he could. When it came time to select a new president in 1868, that office was thrust upon Grant. He did not want to be president, did not make any move to be president, but the country wanted no one else. His two terms as president of our country were a most difficult ride. The South resisted ending slavery in every way possible, and a series of scandals followed Grant during his presidencies and subsequent years. These tainted his reputation badly, although in each circumstance, investigation revealed that these swindles were always because Grant had completely trusted someone who had become his friend, and who then took advantage of him. Sociopaths handled Grant like putty. At each occasion, Grant was deeply wounded that someone he had respected and trusted, had used him as a foil to commit criminal acts.
The opposite of that shady reputation was true. Grant was the most moral president that we ever had. He should be considered the equal of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. He ardently supported the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave the black population civil rights, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave the black population the right to vote. He found a way to reach a compromise with England over claims lingering after the civil war, preventing a war with the British. He oversaw the passage of the Restoration Act, which outlined the ways in which blacks would be given full citizenship. He sent troops down to Mississippi and Louisiana to crush the burgeoning Ku Klux, Klan, which rose like the Taliban, threatening to become the new government of the south. The leaders of the Klan were identified and jailed. He promoted universal education of all children, black and white. He stabilized the currency of the United States, promoting a gold standard. He insisted that all citizens be treated with equality.
His best efforts failed. White southerners fought tooth and nail to preserve their Supremist, Apartheid status. Although the Klan had been eliminated as a consolidated power in the south, there were Klan pockets everywhere. The black population lived in terror and torture. If any black attempted to vote, or own property, he was soon dead. Vigilante posses roamed the streets at night. Blacks were pulled from their houses at night, and either murdered or lynched. If the man could not be found, the wife and or children were murdered. There were group massacres. Black churches were burned to the ground. Black schools were burned to the ground. The blacks were treated like animals. The American Civil War did not end slavery for the black population; it made it worse. Slavery continued for the next one hundred years, until the magnificent efforts of Marin Luther King, and the support of Lyndon B. Johnson. Even that didn’t end it entirely. There is still today rampant bigotry in segments of our population, and unequal treatment of blacks and whites.
At the end of the civil war, Grant took stock of what had happened, and expressed his opinion that, in spite of the carnage, the American Civil War had been necessary i n order to preserve the Union and end slavery. At the end of his life, while writhing in pain and trying to finish his memoirs, he expressed the same opinions, perhaps unwittingly salving his conscience before he died. At the end of his presidencies, however, he expressed a much different opinion. He saw that, no matter what he had tried to do, slavery had not only, not ended, but was worse. With gut-wrenching sadness, he understood that it had all been for naught. 750,000 solders lost their lives in gruesome battles. Millions of other men were wounded and incapacitated for life. Millions and women lost their major providers. Millions of children went without dads. Massive amounts of property were destroyed. And the end result was that the blacks suffered even more.
There was a better answer. Lincoln and the northern state legislators, with Grant as their executor, should have allowed the southern states to secede. They should have concentrated on making the northern states a nation of freedom and equality. Blacks would have deserted the south in droves, in order to obtain freedom in the north. The southern economy would have collapsed without its slave labor market. The southern states would have come crawling back to be readmitted to the Union, asking for help. Even if it meant two separate nations, it was not in any way worth that horrendous loss of life.
Life is precious. It should be preserved, and fostered to reach fulfillment – not destroyed.