Ulysses S Grant Facts - 18th President of USA

The eighteenth president of the United States of America Ulysses S Grant facts. He was born to the son of a tanner in Ohio.

Ulysses Grant Life

Ulysses S Grant Facts - His father, Jesse, was rather gruff and combative; however, Ulysses was sensitive and shy. His mother, Hannah Simpson Grant, apparently gave Ulysses little affection and she never visited him while in the White House. Since Ulysses was rather good at handling horses, he mainly took care of them. Ulysses went to West Point, where he was an average student.

Later during his Army career, he had a drinking problem, which caused him to resign in 1854. He tried a variety of jobs, including real estate, farming, and selling firewood, but he remained in poverty. In fact, to buy presents for his family he had to pawn his watch.

Ulysses Grant Marriage

Ulysses married Julia Boggs Dent, the daughter of Missouri slave owners on August 22, 1848. They had four children.

Ulysses Grant Career

When the Civil War began, Grant was working in his father's leather store in Galena, Illinois. The governor appointed him to the position of colonel of a volunteer regiment. This time Grant was successful, and in September of 1861, he had the rank of brigadier general of the volunteers.

After the Confederates surrendered at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, President Lincoln appointed Grant to major general of volunteers. In April at Shiloh, one of the bloodiest battles in the west occurred, and people demanded Grant's removal, but Lincoln defended him and stated that he cannot spare this fighting man. Grant then fought and won Vicksburg, cutting the Confederacy in two.

He also broke Chattanooga's Confederate hold. In March of 1864, Lincoln appointed him to the position of General-in-Chief, and he became the first four-star general in U.S. history. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy surrendered.

Ulysses Grant President

Grant became the 18th President in 1869 and served two terms. In September of 1884, Grant was diagnosed with throat cancer, so he began working on his Memoirs in an attempt to provide for his family after his death. He finished his Memoirs on July 19, 1885, and died only a few days after, on July 23, 1885. His book sold over 300,000 copies, earning $500,000.

Read Ulysses S Grant Facts

NICKNAME
Unconditional Surrender Grant

BIRTH
Ulysses Simpson Grant was born on April 27, 1822
at Point Pleasant, Ohio

MOTHER
Hannah Simpson Grant

FATHER
Jesse Root Grant

SISTERS
Clara Rachel, Virginia Paine, and Mary Frances

BROTHERS
Samuel Simpson and Orvil Lynch

MARRIAGE
Julia Boggs Dent on August 22, 1848, in St. Louis

CHILDREN
Frederick Dent, Ulysses Simpson, Ellen Wrenshall
and Jesse Root

EDUCATION
Local schools and U.S. Military Academy

RELIGION
Methodist

PRE-PRESIDENCY PROFESSION
Farmer, real-estate agent, leather store clerk and soldier,

MILITARY SERVICE
Second Lieutenant, fourth US infantry 1843
Resigned as captain in 1854
Civil War: Re-enlisted August 1861 in The US Army
Became Lieutenant General in chief of all Union armies on March 12,1864
Promoted to General in 1866

POLITICAL LIFE

Interim Secretary of State Under President Johnson
US President two terms

POLITICAL PARTY
Republican

INAUGURATION
March 4, 1873, at the age of 46
Ulysses Simpson Grant - First and Second Term Inaugural Address

Ulysses Grant Administration

PRESIDENCY
Ulysses Simpson Grant served two terms
(March, 1869-March 4, 1877)

VICE PRESIDENT
First Term: Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873)
Second Term: Henry Wilson (1873-1875)

FIRST LADY
Julia Dent Grant (1869-1877)

SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS
William Strong (1870)
Joseph P. Bradley (1870)
Ward Hunt (1873)
Chief Justice: Morrison R. Waite (1874)

STATES ADMITTED TO THE UNION
Colorado (1874)

Amendments Enacted
15th Amendment

Ulysses Grant Cabinet
SECRETARY OF STATE
Elihu B. Washburn (1869, March 5-16)
Hamilton Fish (1869-1877)

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
George S. Boutwell (1869-1873)
William A. Richardson (1873-1874)
Benjamin H. Bristow (1874-1876)
Lot M. Morrill (1876-1877)

SECRETARY OF WAR
John A. Rawlins (1869, March-September), Died in office
William T. Sherman (1869, September-October)
William W. Belknap (1869-1876)
Alphonso Taft (1876, March-May)
James D. Cameron (1876-1877)

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Ebenezer R. Hoar (1869-1870)
Amos. T. Akerman (1870-1871)
George H. Williams (1872-1875)
Edwards Pierre Pont (1875-1876)
Alphonso Taft (1876-1877)

POSTMASTER GENERAL
John A. J. Creswell (1869-1874)
James W. Marshall (1874, July-August)
Marshall Jewell (1874-1876)
James N. Tyner (1876-1877)

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Adolph E. Borie (1869, March-June)
George M. Robeson (1869-1877)

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
Jacob D. Cox (1869-1870)
Columbus Delano (1870-1875)
Zachariah Chandler (1875-1877)

POST PRESIDENCY LIFE

Traveling and Writing

DEATH
July 23, 1885, Mount Mcgregor, N.Y. at the age of 63

BURIAL PLACE
Grant's Tomb, New York, N.Y.

LANDMARKS
Point Pleasant, Ohio (birthplace)
Georgetown, Ohio (boyhood home)
General Grant National Memorial, New York, N.Y. (grave)