During the winter of 1864-65, the end of the Civil War neared as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant maintained pressure against the dying Confederacy. Major General William T. Sherman ripped through Georgia and presented Savannah to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift. Grant continued the long siege at Petersburg, pinning down General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. He held Lee in place while his armies demolished the Confederacy elsewhere. Grant knew that the Confederacy could not long survive. He must have seen it in the faces of the Confederate peace...
During the winter of 1864-65, the end of the Civil War neared as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant maintained pressure against the dying Confederacy...
On March29, Grant opened the Ap-pomattox campaign, informing Sheridan that "I now feel like ending the matter." Despite pleas to cancel the offensive because of adverse weather, Grant pressed ahead. Sheridan won the battle of Five Forks on April 1, and the next day Grant overran Lee's lines at Petersburg, forcing the evacuation of Richmond. Grant's mastery was never more appar-ent than during his last battle. "I shall press the pursuit to the end," he wrote to Sherman, and by April 19 Lee had to choose between capitulation or annihila-tion. With the surrender at...
On March29, Grant opened the Ap-pomattox campaign, informing Sheridan that "I now feel like ending the matter." Despite pleas to cance...
This volume provides material that will allow a fresh evaluation of Grant's activities following Appomattox.
In April Grant commanded an army of more than 1,000,000 men maintained at enormous cost. Disbanding this army took priority. By mid-July, more than two-thirds of the volunteers had been mustered out.
Grant as peacemaker exerted his power to protect his former adversaries. He opposed prosecuting Southern military leaders, including Robert E. Lee and others who had been indicted for treason. The South had to accept defeat, but Grant was no believer in a Carthaginian...
This volume provides material that will allow a fresh evaluation of Grant's activities following Appomattox.
Ulysses S. Grant as symbol became as important in peace as he had been in war. The nation rewarded Grant with the rank of full general, the first U.S. officer to hold the rank since George Washington.
Disliking politics, Grant sought to avoid the growing controversy over Reconstruction policy. Although he faced growing pressure to take a stand, he maintained public silence, firmly believing it wrong for an army officer "to take part in elections."
Grant also worked hard to reorganize the army to meet postwar needs. Increased friction between settlers and Indians, Fenian...
Ulysses S. Grant as symbol became as important in peace as he had been in war. The nation rewarded Grant with the rank of full general, the first U...
Although Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered as Civil War commander and as president, documents included here demonstrate his importance in the intervening years. Grant interpreted Reconstruction as the means to preserve battlefield victories. He avoided taking a public stand in the bitter dispute between President Andrew Johnson and Congress because he believed that military men served the country, not partisan interests. Nevertheless, he recognized that presidential Reconstruction had failed and privately supported passage of the First Reconstruction Act.
Grant's public silence on...
Although Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered as Civil War commander and as president, documents included here demonstrate his importance in the int...
In spite of his public silence, Grant was caught in the dispute between Congress and President Andrew Johnson. His position became intolerable after Johnson publicly accused Grant of dishonesty.
The same sense of duty that sent Grant to war in 1861 gave him no alternative to accepting the Republican nomination. "I could back down without, as it seems to me, leaving the contest for power for the next four years between mere trading politicians, the elevation of whom, no matter which party won, would lose to us, largely, the results of the costly war which we have gone through." From...
In spite of his public silence, Grant was caught in the dispute between Congress and President Andrew Johnson. His position became intolerable afte...
This volume carries Ulysses S. Grant through a brief period of welcome calm to the storms of the White House. Seemingly resigned to becoming president, Grant detached himself from military routine in Washington, D.C., during the summer of 1868 to tour the Great Plains. He then settled in Galena to escape the clamor of the presidential campaign. Grant reveled in his respite from official duties, writing to his father, "I have enjoyed my summers vacation very much and look forward with dread to my return to Washington." Grant's residence in Galena shielded him from public scrutiny. "Whilst I...
This volume carries Ulysses S. Grant through a brief period of welcome calm to the storms of the White House. Seemingly resigned to becoming presid...
Volume 20 is the first in this acclaimed series to cover the months when Ulysses S. Grant held no military commission. As president, however, Grant's significance grew rather than diminished. His leadership and decisions touched directly or indirectly most people in the United States and many more around the globe.
Grant spoke sincerely when he said that "I have done all I could to advance the best interests of the citizens of our country, without regard to color, and I shall endeavor to do in the future what I have done in the past." He urged adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment and...
Volume 20 is the first in this acclaimed series to cover the months when Ulysses S. Grant held no military commission. As president, however, Grant...
In the spring of 1871, Ulysses S. Grant wrote to an old friend that as president he was "the most persecuted individual on the Western Continent." Grant had not sought the office, and halfway through his first term he chafed under its many burdens.
Grant's cherished project to annex Santo Domingo, begun early in his administration, entered a crucial period. Grant agreed to a tactical compromise: Rather than vote the controversial treaty down, Congress sent a commission to investigate the island. Grant's message submitting the report, hammered out over labored drafts, bore a defensive...
In the spring of 1871, Ulysses S. Grant wrote to an old friend that as president he was "the most persecuted individual on the Western Continent." ...
In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see." Brutal attacks and political murders throughout the South prompted Grant to invoke the new Enforcement Act, ordering in troops and suspending the writ of habeas corpus.
When fire swept through Chicago during 1871, Grant immediately telegraphed to General Philip H. Sheridan to "Render all the aid you can." When Illinois' governor charged federal interference, Grant replied: "The only thing...
In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as al...
