...The Ulysses Roller Coaster By Chris Webber (4034141) American Public University System July 10, 2015 HIST101: American History to 1877 Professor Gerlach What do George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and Andrew Jackson all have in common? They were all war proven generals that later became president. Another name that can go on this list is General Ulysses Simpson Grant. Grant is considered one of the most important men for the Union during the Civil War and he rode that fame into the White House. His roller coaster life had many lows that would have crushed the average man, which made is highs even grander. This is story of Ulysses S. Grant, his early life, early military career, Mexican War, Civil War and finally his presidency. Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27th 1822 to the name of Hiram Ulysses Grant1. His father, Jesse Grant, was a tanner and mildly successful business man. Ulysses did not have the same knack for business or tanning as his father. As a matter of fact, he did not really have a knack for much of anything, other than horses. His small stature, poor family and lack of good business knowledge quickly made him the laughing stock of his community. He was known to have tried to haggle a deal to buy a colt. Instead of offering low, he offered his low price, middle price and high price all in the same offer. Needless to say the horses’ owner sold the colt for the highest price2. This lack of common business sense and the fact that Ulysses did not want...
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...Born on April 27, 1822 as Hiram Ulysses Grant, this once a timid, shy boy soon became one of the bravest and most influential of all the U.S. leaders. The Civil War began when the Union North and the Confederate South had different ideas of how to run the country. Grant’s fiercely patriotic attitude and leadership skills proved to be vital for the Union’s victory in the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio with the birth name of Hiram Ulysses Grant (Ulysses S. Grant Biography). Grant’s family owned a tannery to process animal skin into high quality leather. Grant loathed the work and swore that he would acquire a much better job when he was to become an adult. Unlike his father, Grant was shy, timid, and often bullied. He was regularly called “Useless Grant” by bullies. Grant describes his childhood as “mostly uneventful” (Ulysses S. Grant Biography). At the age of 17, Grant’s father sent him off to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Upon his arrival, an error showed that he was listed as “Ulysses S. Grant,” instead of Hiram Ulysses Grant. In fear of being rejected by the school, Grant changed his...
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...Rookard The Fifteenth Amendment and President Ulysses S. Grant The fifteenth amendment of the united states was made to create equal opportunity for voters in America without being discriminated against. I believe one of the good things Grant is known for was creating the first park – Yellowstone National Park – bringing together federal lands in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. I think the 15th amendment was a good idea because it overturned the preexisting statute prohibiting African-American citizens of the United States from suffrage so any previous station of servitude or slavery undertaken by any individual was immaterial with regard to the right to vote. The third reason I think that both the 15th amendment and Grant are good is because he successfully carried out his plan to integrate blacks, guarantee their rights, and support equality may be this: during Grant’s eight years in office, the South went from being half Republican to nearly entirely Democratic. The reason I support the 15th Amendment is because it was difficult to pass due to racism and prejudice in the south and Grant’s presidency, which he thought that having the votes of African Americans was more important for the future of the republican party, especially if it was able to be passed and he ran for a second election he’d win for sure, because he supported equal rights among voters although the abolishment of slavery started not long before its’ ratification. (The civil war and its aftermath: Civil Rights...
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...The book “Ulysses S. Grant” is strictly a biography written by Steven O’Brien and published by Chelsea House Publishing in 1991. The author writes about Grant's life from his early age to his death. Steven O’Brien includes a detailed analysis of every event that impacted and changed Grant’s life, describing it in an organized and cohesive manner. Grant was not always a man of success and the author does a fair job of showing Grant’s achievements as well as failures because no man is perfect after all. The book presents old information in an interesting fashion, it is great for people that want to learn facts about the life of the 18th President of the United States and develop their own idea about who Ulysses S. Grant was. The author, Steven...
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...While these dates may define the period of war action, in fact the Civil War was the result of a long, history of complex issues of such things as Constitutional interpretation, economics, and the ethics of slavery. Below are brief sketches of only a few of the memorable names from that era of U.S. history. Also online at the Smithsonian is a collection of Civil War photographs by Mathew Brady. Henry Clay (1777-1852) George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894) Oil on canvas, circa 1845, NPG.65.44 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of Andew W. Mellon, 1942 Henry Clay was one of the most influential congressmen of the early 1800s, with a political career that spanned nearly fifty years. Born in the midst of the American Revolution, he devoted his professional energy to the preservation of the union of the states in the stormy years preceding the Civil War. To that end, he crafted several key compromises between the North and the South, for which he became known as "The Great Pacificator." But even his legendary statesmanship could not keep war from erupting nine years after his death. Differing interpretations of the Constitution were at the heart of the Civil War. Clay and other supporters of the Union insisted that states were subject to federal authority, while others, most notably South Carolina's John C. Calhoun, argued that states had the power to overrule federal legislation. ...
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...to the Union. Nor were all the people within the 11 Confederate states committed to the Confederate cause. Slaves were also a potential fifth column. Throughout the war there was a steady flow of blacks fleeing to Union armies. The North converted first their labor and eventually their military manpower into a Union asset. The Confederacy did have important advantages though. Southerners were defending their own land and homes, which may have encouraged them to fight that much harder than Northerners, who were fighting more for the preservation of the Union. In 1861 most Southerners were confident that, man for man, they were better soldiers than Northerners. The South placed more emphasis on martial virtues than the North. In 1860 most of the military colleges in the USA were in slave states. The elite of the nation’s generals had all been Southerners. Most military experts thought that farmers, who knew how to ride and shoot, made better soldiers than industrial workers. This proved to be wrong with the emergence of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant, at the beginning of his military career, wasn't what would be an outstanding leader that he would be recognized as at the end of his military career. He served very well in the Mexican War but after that was assigned to an insignificant post and turned to drinking and was forced to resign his commission. He worked...
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...American Civil War The American Civil War is a very misunderstood war. It is known for the war that ended slavery. What most people don’t know is the war was not originally fought for the abolition of slavery. The South, or the Confederate, wanted to exercise their rights as states and split from the north. Well Abraham Lincoln thought that would be the downfall of the United States. The Civil War was fought to between the Union and the Confederacy on the issue of splitting up the United States. The country was divided between two philosophies, either they thought the country could only survive and prosper as a whole, or they believed the south had the right to split from the union. The country was divided between two different philosophies. The North believed if the South seceded from the North the country would crumble. While the South believed they had the right as states to separate themselves from the Union. (Malvasi) Abraham Lincoln was the head of the Unions thinking. He had a great sense of political knowledge. He realized if the south did secede the Union wouldn’t stand a chance against attack because half of the country essentially would have been gone. Lincoln originally had no plans of abolishing slavery all his focus was on keeping the country together in one strong unit. (Malvasi) The South on the other hand felt they had been mistreated by the Union and were being taken advantage of. Soon the idea of secession came around ...
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...Grant vs Pemberton Essay The seemingly average general conquered the well known general in what seemed to be an underdog victory.The Commonlit article, “The Siege of Vicksburg: A Tale of Two Generals,” by Mike Kubic, describes why the battle between opposing generals John Pemberton and Ulysses S. Grant may not have been an underdog victory. The article describes each general’s past, uprising, and the battle between them. Grant and Pemberton both attended West Point Military Academy and during their time there, they both nearly flunked out because of their drinking problems. Pemberton however, easily rose ranks in the military while Grant struggled to be noticed by military officers. Grant and Pemberton had very similar early military carriers...
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...George McClellan was born on December 3rd, 1826 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from West Point in 1846 and served in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848 and then worked on various engineering projects for the army. He resigned from the army in 1857 to become an Illinois Central Railroad official. At the beginning of the Civil War, he became a major general commanding Ohio volunteers and then an army major general. When the Union army was defeated in the First Battle of Bull Run in the summer of 1861, he was given command of the Army of the Potomac. That November he became general in chief of the entire Union army. In the spring of 1862, McClellan advanced against Richmond from the east in the Peninsular Campaign. After McClellan...
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...greatest collection about leaders separated in time and history space, and analyzing technical aspect of warfare of particular historical time related to Alexander the Great, Arthur Wellesley, U.S. Grant, and Adolph Hitler. The mask of command is a work based on facts, real events, real people, character description, styles, and places separated into four chapters and conclusion. The first chapter, “Alexander the Great and Heroic Leadership”, describe the life, personality and its achievements. Alexander, son of Philip II of Macedon would become known worldwide as founder of Hellenistic world and the most famous general of antiquity what no other could be before or since. The second chapter, “Wellington: the Anti-Hero” examine Wellington’s military career in Britain during the period of his exile in India to its peak of career the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Moreover, John Keegan talk over Wellington’s numerous rewards and later achievements as Prime Minister of Britain. The third chapter, “Grant and Unheroic Leadership” is focused on military growth of Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant starting with the period of being solder to obtaining the position of commander of the Armies of the United States. Grant take place to become a fundamental supporter to the government’s military cabinet and was entitled as the eighteenth president of the United States. The fourth chapter, “False Heroic: Hitler as Supreme Commander”, is focused on Adolph Hitler, the Third Reich, and its tendency...
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... He believed the Civil War was necessary and supported slavery. After a failed mission of capturing several political figures and trading them for captured prisoners, Booth created and executed a plan of his own. On April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. On May 10, 1838 John Wilkes Booth was born to European immigrants, Junius Booth and Mary Ann Holmes. (Civil War Trust) Booth’s father was an actor and spent many days and nights on the road, away from his family. John’s childhood was molded by his father’s absence. Though very popular and athletic, John was sent away to several different military schools, but never allowed to stay long. Due to his poor attendance and mischievous...
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...Page 1 Ulysses S. Grant (2002) Program Transcript Part One Narrator: October 23, 1863. Chattanooga, Tennessee. After a grueling four-day journey, General Ulysses S. Grant arrived at Union headquarters. He had injured his leg and had to be helped off his horse. Once again, he was dogged by rumors that he'd been drinking. He listened silently as his officers described a bleak situation. The Union Army was surrounded. Men and horses faced starvation. A Confederate victory seemed inevitable. Grant thanked his men, and began to write his orders. Max Byrd, Novelist: You see a lot of Grant in just that act of writing. The concentration and the determination. He never looked up. He never hesitated. He never seemed to search for a word. Geoffrey Perr et, Biographer: By the time he'd finished, he was surrounded by pieces of, of paper that he'd covered with his, his very even hand writing. In effect, he had fought the battle already in his o wn mind. Narrator: Before the war, Grant had been a nobody, a failure as a farmer and a businessman. As Commanding General, he was called an incompetent, a butcher. But he would win every campaign he ever fought. His plain, Midwestern w ays would captivate the American people. David W. Blight, Historian: There was something about that element of the American dream of that rags to riches story. He had experienced humiliation and he had understood failure. And I suspect a lot of Americans could see themselves in him. Donald Miller, Historian: Grant...
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...Two of these events were the showing of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C., with the President in attendance, and secondly, the assassination of four government officials. The officials whose deaths had been planned were President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. The only successful assassination was of President Lincoln (“The Assassination of the President”). It occurred at Ford’s Theatre at 10:22 P.M. on April 14, 1865, President Lincoln died the next morning at 7:22 (Holzer). John Wilkes Booth knew the line of Our American Cousin and planned his shot accordingly. His cue to shoot President Lincoln “sock dologizing old man-trap.” After Booth shot the President he leapt from the box where the president was, but in the process snapped the fibula in his left leg in half (O’Reilly 209). When Mr. Booth jumped from the box he yelled, “Sic semper tyrannis” (thus always to tyrants), the motto of Virginia (Holzer). In the midst of confusion John Wilkes Booth...
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...The battle of the North and South continues. General Robert E Lee retreated from General Ulysses S Grant after the battle of Gettysburg which was the turning point in the war resulting in the surrender. Additional battles lead to ultimate meeting finalizing the Loss of the war. When Grant and Lee met at the Appomattox courthouse, they gave each other as much respect as possible. When they met Lee said “It would be useless and therefore cruel to provoke the further effusion of blood”. Grant let the soldiers keep their small weapons and horses. Grant also gave the soldiers provisions, so they could eat and have them respect him. One of the most important things that Grant did for the soldiers, is that he let Lee and the soldiers go...
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...science and mathematics. Military Career At the start of the Civil War, Joshua Chamberlain wanted to enlist in the army so he can do his duty of helping to keep the Union together. Since the war was a was over the subject of slavery, Chamberlain felt it was his duty to fight against the people that wanted slavery to live on. Chamberlain wrote to Israel Washburn, the governor of Maine at the time, who was organizing troops for the Union army, to enlist. He said in his letter “I have always been interested in military matters and what I do not know in that line I know how to learn” (Hilstrom 4). Bowdoin college administrators did not want Chamberlain, their most proficient teachers, to be lost in war. So, the administrators denied Chamberlain’s request for leave of absence, but offered him a promotion and an academic leave of absence as an incentive for him to stay. Joshua accepted the leave, but secretly used it to enlist in the Union Army. Upon his enlistment into the army, Chamberlain was offered a commanding position of the Twentieth Maine, a volunteer regiment that was part of the Army of the Potomac. Since Joshua did not have any military experience whatsoever, he requested the position of lieutenant colonel, which was the second highest rank in the Twentieth Maine instead of the highest rank that he was offered. He realized that he wouldn’t have been as able to handle command of an entire regiment as well as someone else of more military experience. Chamberlain...
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