Ulysses S. Grant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the president of the United States. For others with the same name, see Ulysses S. Grant (disambiguation).
"General Grant" redirects here. For other uses, see General Grant (disambiguation).
 |
This article is part of a series on Ulysses S. Grant |
|---|---|
A career soldier, Grant graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican–American War. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the Union army. In 1862, Grant was promoted to major general and took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee. He then led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. In July 1863, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and commander of all of the Union armies. As commander, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles in 1864, which ended with Grant trapping Lee at Petersburg, Virginia. During the siege, Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by generals William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Henry Thomas in other theaters. Finally breaking through Lee's trenches, the Union Army captured Richmond in April 1865. Lee surrendered his depleted forces to Grant at Appomattox as the Confederacy collapsed. Most historians have hailed Grant's military genius, despite losses of men.[1]
After the Civil War, Grant served two terms as president and worked to stabilize the nation during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed. He enforced civil rights laws and fought Ku Klux Klan violence. Grant encouraged passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, giving protection for African-American voting rights. He used the army to build the Republican Party in the South, based on black voters, Northern newcomers ("Carpetbaggers"), and native Southern white supporters ("Scalawags"). As a result, African-Americans were represented in the Congress for the first time in American history in 1870. Although there were some gains in political and civil rights by African Americans in the early 1870s, by the time Grant left office in 1877, Democrats in the South had regained control of state governments, while most blacks lost their political power for nearly a century. Although Grant's Indian peace policy reduced Indian violence and created the Board of Indian Commissioners, conflict continued that culminated in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. In the long run, even his supporters agreed that his policies were unsuccessful. Grant's reputation fell as the economy plunged into the United States' first industrial depression, called the Panic of 1873. In his second term, Grant had to respond to a series of Congressional investigations into financial corruption in the government, including bribery charges against two cabinet members.
Grant's foreign policy, led by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, settled the Alabama Claims with Britain and avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic failed. Grant's response to the Panic of 1873 gave some financial relief to New York banking houses, but was ineffective in stopping the five-year industrial depression that followed. After leaving office, Grant embarked on a two-year world tour that included many enthusiastic receptions. In 1880, he made an unsuccessful bid for a third presidential term. However, his memoirs, written as he was dying, were a critical and popular success, and his death prompted an outpouring of national mourning. Historians have, until recently, ranked Grant as nearly the worst president; Grant's reputation was marred by his defense of corrupt appointees and by his conservative deflationary policy during the Panic of 1873. [2] While still below average, his reputation among scholars has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights.[3]
Contents
Early life and family
Main article: Early life and career of Ulysses S. Grant
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, on April 27, 1822, to Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and businessman, and Hannah (Simpson) Grant.[4] Jesse Grant was a Whig with abolitionist sentiments.[5] In the fall of 1823, the family moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. Raised in a Methodist family devoid of religious pretension, Grant prayed privately and was not an official member of the church.[6] Unlike his younger siblings, Grant was neither disciplined, baptized, nor forced to attend church by his parents.[7]
One of his biographers suggests that Grant inherited a degree of
introversion from his reserved, even "uncommonly detached" mother. (She
never took occasion to visit the White House during her son's
presidency.) Grant developed an unusual ability to work with, and
control, horses in his charge, and became known as a capable horseman.[8]When Grant was 17, Congressman Thomas L. Hamer nominated him for a position at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York. Hamer mistakenly wrote down the name as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio." At West Point, he adopted this name with a middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues at the academy, since the initials "U.S." also stood for "Uncle Sam". The "S", according to Grant, did not stand for anything, though Hamer had used it to abbreviate his mother's maiden name.[9] Grant's appointment to West Point was facilitated by his family's influence, while Grant himself later recalled "a military life had no charms for me".[10] Grant stood 5 feet 1 inch (1.55 m) and weighed 117 pounds (53 kg) when he entered West Point.[11] Grant later said that he was lax in his studies, but he achieved above average grades in mathematics and geology.[12] Although Grant had a quiet nature, he established a few intimate friends at West Point, including Frederick Tracy Dent and Rufus Ingalls.[13] While not excelling scholastically, Grant studied under Romantic artist Robert Walter Weir and produced nine surviving artworks. He also established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high-jump record that stood for almost 25 years. He graduated in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. Grant was glad to leave West Point and planned to resign his commission after serving the minimum term of obligated duty.[14] Despite his excellent horsemanship, he was not assigned to the cavalry, as assignments were determined by class rank, not aptitude. Grant was instead assigned as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment in the 4th Infantry Regiment, with the rank of brevet second lieutenant.[15]
Military career, 1843–1854
Rising tensions with Mexico saw Grant's unit shifted to Louisiana that year as a part of the Army of Observation under Major General Zachary Taylor.[18] When the Mexican–American War broke out in 1846, the Army entered Mexico. Not content with his responsibilities as a quartermaster, Grant made his way to the front lines to engage in the battle, and participated as a de facto cavalryman at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma.[19] The army continued its advance into Mexico. At Monterrey, Grant demonstrated his equestrian ability, carrying a dispatch through sniper-lined streets on horseback while mounted in one stirrup.[20] President James K. Polk, wary of Taylor's growing popularity, divided his army, sending some troops (including Grant's unit) to form a new army under Major General Winfield Scott.[21] Scott's army landed at Veracruz and advanced toward Mexico City. The army met the Mexican forces at the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec outside Mexico City. At Chapultepec, Grant dragged a howitzer into a church steeple to bombard nearby Mexican troops.[22] Scott's army entered the city, and the Mexicans agreed to peace not long after.
In his memoirs, Grant later wrote that he had learned about military leadership by observing the decisions and actions of his commanding officers, and in retrospect he identified himself with Taylor's style. At the time, he felt that the war was a wrongful one and believed that territorial gains were designed to spread slavery throughout the nation; writing in 1883, Grant said "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day, regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation." He also opined that the later Civil War was inflicted on the nation as punishment for its aggression in Mexico.[23]
On August 22, 1848, Grant and Julia were married after a four-year engagement.[24] In all, they had four children: Frederick, Ulysses Jr. ("Buck"), Ellen ("Nellie"), and Jesse.[25] Grant was assigned to several different posts over the ensuing six years. His first post-war assignments took him and Julia to Detroit and Sackets Harbor, New York, the location that made them the happiest.[26] In the spring of 1852, he traveled in to Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to prevail upon the Congress to rescind an order that he, in his capacity as quartermaster, reimburse the military $1000 in losses incurred on his watch, for which he bore no personal guilt.[27] He was sent west to Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory in 1852, initially landing in San Francisco during the height of the California Gold Rush. Julia could not accompany him as she was eight months pregnant with their second child.[28] The journey proved to be an ordeal due to transportation disruptions and an outbreak of cholera within the entourage while traveling overland through Panama. Grant made use of his organizational skills, arranging makeshift transportation and hospital facilities to take care of the sick; even so there were 150 fatalities.[29] After Grant arrived in San Francisco, he traveled to Fort Vancouver, continuing his service as quartermaster.
To supplement a military salary inadequate to support his family, Grant, assuming his work as quartermaster so equipped him, attempted but failed at several business ventures.[30] The business failures in the West confirmed Jesse Grant's belief that his son had no head for business, creating frustration for both father and son. In one case, Grant had even naively allowed himself to be swindled by a partner.[31] Grant grew unhappy at his financial troubles and the separation from his family, and rumors began to circulate that Grant was drinking to excess.[31]
In the summer of 1853, Grant was promoted to captain, one of only fifty on active duty, and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, on the northwest California coast. Without explanation, he shortly thereafter resigned from the army on July 31, 1854. The commanding officer at Fort Humboldt, brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan, a strict disciplinarian, received reports that Grant was intoxicated off duty while seated at the pay officer's table. In lieu of a court-martial, Buchanan gave Grant an ultimatum to sign a drafted resignation letter. Grant resigned; the War Department stated on his record, "Nothing stands against his good name."[32] Rumors, however, persisted in the regular army of Grant's intemperance.[a] Years later, Grant said, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign."[34] Grant's father, again believing his son's only potential for success to be in the military, tried to get the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, to rescind the resignation, to no avail.[35]
Civilian life
Civil War
Main article: Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War
On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter
in Charleston, South Carolina, forcing its surrender. Two days later,
Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. A mass meeting was called
in Galena to encourage recruitment. Recognized as the sole military
professional in the area, Grant was asked to lead the meeting and
ensuing effort. He proceeded to help recruit a company of volunteers and
accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Illinois Governor Richard Yates
offered Grant a position recruiting and training volunteer units, which
he accepted, but Grant wanted a field command in the regular Army. He
made multiple efforts with contacts (including Major General George B. McClellan)
to acquire such a position with no success. Meanwhile, Grant continued
serving at the training camps and made a positive impression on the
volunteer Union recruits. With the aid of his advocate in Washington,
Illinois congressman Elihu B. Washburne, Grant was promoted to Colonel by Governor Yates on June 14, 1861, and put in charge of the unruly 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Transferred to northern Missouri, Grant was promoted by President
Lincoln to Brigadier General, supported again by Washburne, backdated to
May 17, 1861.[45] By the end of August 1861, Major General John C. Frémont assigned Grant to the District of Cairo in southern Illinois. Grant's demeanor had changed at the outset of the war, renewing his energy and confidence.[46]
He later recalled with apparent satisfaction that after that first
recruitment meeting in Galena, 'I never went into our leather store
again ..."[47]
During this time, Grant quickly perceived that the war would be fought
for the most part by volunteers and not professional soldiers.[48]Forts Henry and Donelson
Shiloh
Grant's advance at Forts Henry and Donelson was the most significant advance into the Confederacy the North had yet seen. His army, known as the Army of the Tennessee, had increased to 48,894 men and was encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River. Grant met with Brigadier General William T. Sherman, and they prepared to attack the Confederate stronghold of equal numbers at Corinth, Mississippi.[55] The Confederates prepared for the same attack, and moved first at dawn on April 6, 1862, with a full attack on the Union Army at the Battle of Shiloh. The objective was to annihilate the western Union offensive in one massive assault. Over 44,000 Confederate troops, led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, attacked the five divisions of Grant's army bivouacked nine miles south at Pittsburg Landing. Aware of the impending Confederate attack, Union troops sounded the alarm and readied for battle. The Confederates struck hard and pushed the Union Army back towards the Tennessee River. At the end of the day, the Union Army was vulnerable and might have been destroyed, had Beauregard's troops not been too exhausted to continue the fight.[56] Avoiding panic, Grant and Sherman rallied their troops for a counterattack the next morning. With reinforcement troops from Major General Don Carlos Buell and Major General Lew Wallace's missing division, Grant succeeded in driving the Confederates back to the road from Corinth. Although he stopped short of capturing Beauregard's army, Grant was able to stabilize the Army of the Tennessee.[57]The battle was the costliest of the war to date, with aggregate Union and Confederate casualties of 23,746, and minimal strategic advantage gained by either side. Nevertheless, Grant received high praise from many corners. He later remarked that the carnage at Shiloh had made it clear to him that the Confederacy would only be defeated by complete annihilation of its armies. Grant was criticized for his decision to keep the Union Army bivouacked rather than entrenched.[58] Halleck transferred command of the Army of the Tennessee to Brigadier General George H. Thomas and promoted Grant to the hollow position of second-in-command of the western armies, removing him from an active field command. As a result, Grant was again on the verge of resigning, until Sherman paid a visit to his camp.[59] Sherman, whose experiences in the military had been similar to Grant's, convinced Grant to remain in the army. During Halleck's sluggish advance on Corinth—covering 19 miles in 30 days—the entire Confederate force there escaped; the 120,000-man Union Army was then broken up. Charles A. Dana, an investigative agent for Secretary of War Edwin Stanton at the time, interviewed Grant and related to Lincoln and Stanton that Grant appeared "self-possessed and eager to make war." Lincoln reinstated Grant to his command of the Army of the Tennessee.[60] Shiloh also marked the beginning of Grant's friendship with Sherman; the two would go on to develop a similar philosophy of total war against the Confederate armies and population.[61]
Vicksburg
Further information: Western Theater of the American Civil War
In December 1862, with Halleck's approval, Grant moved to take Vicksburg by an overland route, aided by Charles Hamilton and James McPherson, in combination with a water expedition on the Mississippi led by Major General Sherman. Grant had thus pre-empted his rival McClernand's move. Confederate cavalry raiders Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Major General Earl Van Dorn stalled Grant's advance by disrupting his communications, while the Confederate army led by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton concentrated and repulsed Sherman's direct approach at Chickasaw Bayou. McClernand afterwards attempted to salvage Sherman's effort to no avail, so at the end of the first day neither Grant nor McClernand had succeeded.[65]
During the second attempt to capture Vicksburg, Grant made a series of unsuccessful movements along bayou and canal water routes. Finally, in April 1863, Grant marched Union troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed east over at Bruinsburg using Rear Admiral David Porter's ships. Grant previously had ordered two diversion battles that confused Pemberton and allowed Grant's army to cross the Mississippi. After a series of battles, including the capture of a railroad junction near Jackson, Grant went on to defeat Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. Grant then assaulted the Vicksburg fortress twice and suffered serious losses. After the failed assault, Grant settled in for a siege lasting seven weeks. As the siege began, Grant lapsed into a two-day drinking episode.[66] Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant on July 4, 1863.[67] During the campaign, Grant assumed responsibility for refugee-contraband slaves who were displaced by the war and were vulnerable to Confederate marauders; Lincoln had authorized their recruitment into the Union Army. Grant put the refugees under the protection of Brigadier General John Eaton, who authorized them to work on abandoned Confederate plantations to support the war effort.
The fall of Vicksburg gave the Union control over the entire Mississippi and split the Confederacy in two. Grant demonstrated that an indirect assault, coupled with diversionary tactics, was a highly effective strategy in defeating an entrenched army. Although the success at Vicksburg was a great morale boost for the Union war effort, Grant received much criticism for his decisions and his reported drunkenness. Lincoln again sent Dana to keep a watchful eye on Grant's alleged intemperance; Dana eventually became Grant's devoted ally, and made light of the drinking.[68] The personal rivalry between McClernand and Grant continued over Vicksburg, but ended when Grant removed McClernand from command after he issued, and arranged the publication of, a military order in contravention of Grant.
Chattanooga and promotion
On November 23, 1863, Grant organized three armies to attack Bragg's troops on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. The next day, Sherman and four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee assaulted Bragg's right flank. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland overtook Confederate picket trenches at the base of Missionary Ridge. Hooker's forces took Lookout Mountain and captured 1,064 prisoners. On November 25, Sherman continued his attack on Bragg's right flank on the northern section of Missionary Ridge. In response to Sherman's assault, Bragg withdrew Confederate troops on the main ridge to reinforce the Confederate right flank. Seeing that Bragg was reinforcing his right flank, Grant ordered Thomas to make a general assault on Missionary Ridge. After a brief delay, the Army of the Cumberland, led by Major General Philip Sheridan and Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood, captured the first Confederate entrenchments. Without further orders, the Army of the Cumberland continued uphill and captured the Confederate's secondary entrenchments on top of Missionary Ridge, forcing the defeated Confederates into disorganized retreat. Although Bragg's army had not been captured, the decisive battle opened Georgia and the heartland of the Confederacy to Union invasion. Grant's fame increased, and he was promoted to Lieutenant General, a rank previously only held by George Washington and Winfield Scott.[70]
Overland Campaign and victory
Sigel's and Butler's efforts sputtered, and Grant was left alone to fight Lee in a series of bloody battles of attrition known as the Overland Campaign. After taking the month of April 1864 to assemble and ready the Army of the Potomac, Grant crossed the Rapidan River on May 4 and attacked Lee in the Wilderness, a hard-fought three-day battle with many casualties. Rather than retreat as his predecessors had done, Grant flanked Lee's army to the southeast and attempted to wedge the Union Army between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania.[76] Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first, and a costly battle began that lasted thirteen days. During the battle, Grant attempted to break through Lee's line of defense at the Mule Shoe, which resulted in one of the bloodiest assaults during the Civil War, known as The Battle of the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's line of defense after repeated attempts, Grant flanked Lee to the southeast east again at North Anna, a battle that lasted three days.[77] This time the Confederate Army had a superior defensive advantage on Grant. Grant then maneuvered the Union Army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that was linked to Richmond, but Lee's men were able to entrench against the Union assault. During the third day of the thirteen-day battle, Grant led a costly assault on Lee's trenches. As news spread in the North, heavy criticism fell on Grant, who was called "the Butcher", having taken 52,788 casualties in thirty days since crossing the Rapidan.} Lee suffered 32,907 Confederate casualties, and was less able to replace them.[78] When the two armies had fought to a stalemate, the generals took three days to reach a truce, so that the dead and dying could be removed from the battlefield. The costly June 3 assault at Cold Harbor was the second of two battles in the war which Grant later distinctly regretted. Unknown to Lee, Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor and moved his army south of the James River, freed Major General Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and attacked Petersburg, Richmond's central railroad hub.[74]
|
Grant attempted to blow up part of Lee's Petersburg trenches from an underground tunnel, but the explosion created a crater from which Confederates could easily pick off Union troops below. The 3500 Union casualties outnumbered the Confederates' by three-to-one; Grant admitted the tactic had been a "stupendous failure."[80] On August 9, 1864, Grant, who had just arrived at his headquarters in City Point, narrowly escaped death when Confederate spies blew up an ammunition barge moored below the city's bluffs.[81] As the war slowly progressed, Grant continued to extend Lee's entrenchment defenses southwest of Petersburg, in an effort to capture vital railroad links. By August 21, the Union had captured the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. As Grant continued to push the Union advance westward towards the South Side Railroad, Lee's entrenchment lines became overstretched and undermanned. After the Federal army rebuilt the City Point Railroad, Grant was able to use mortars to attack Lee's entrenchments.
Once Sherman reached the East Coast and Thomas dispatched Hood in Tennessee, Union victory appeared certain, and Lincoln resolved to attempt a negotiated end to the war with the Confederates. He enlisted Francis Preston Blair to carry a message to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis and Lincoln each appointed commissioners, but the conference soon stalled. Grant contacted Lincoln, who agreed to personally meet with the commissioners at Fort Monroe. The peace conference was ultimately fruitless, but Grant had shown his willingness and ability to assume a diplomatic role beyond his normal military posture.[82]
In March 1865, while Lincoln met at City Point with Grant, Sherman, and Porter, Union forces finally took Petersburg and captured Richmond in April. Lee's troops began deserting in large numbers; disease and lack of supplies also weakened Lee's forces. Lee attempted to link up with the remnants of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's defeated army, but Union cavalry forces led by Sheridan were able to stop the two armies from converging. Lee and his army surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant gave generous terms; Confederate troops surrendered their weapons and were allowed to return to their homes with their mounts, on the condition that they would not take up arms against the United States. Within a few weeks, the Civil War was over.[83]
Lincoln's assassination
Main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, five days after Grant's victory at Appomattox, Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the next morning. The assassination was part of a conspiracy that targeted a number of government leaders.[84]
Grant attended a cabinet meeting that day, and Lincoln had invited
Grant and his wife to the theater, but they declined as they had plans
to travel to Philadelphia. Many, including Grant himself, thought that
Grant had been a target in the plot.[85]
Secretary of War Stanton, through Charles Dana, notified Grant of the
President's death and summoned him to Washington. The following day,
Grant hastily ordered the arrest of paroled Confederate officers. Major
General Edward Ord, however, was able to narrow the existing threats in Washington through the use of army intelligence and persuaded Grant to reverse his arrest orders.[86]
Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept
openly. He said of Lincoln, "He was incontestably the greatest man I
have ever known."[87] Regarding the new President, Andrew Johnson,
Grant commented to Julia that he dreaded the change in administrations;
he judged Johnson's attitude toward white southerners as one that would
"make them unwilling citizens", and initially thought that with
Johnson, "Reconstruction has been set back no telling how far."[88]Later in April, Sherman, without consulting Washington, concluded an agreement with Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston to effect the latter's surrender, believing it to be consistent with Lincoln's recent statements to him at City Point. Stanton and Grant quickly surmised the terms were much too lenient. Stanton even declared so publicly with scorn for Sherman; Grant, concerned that his lead commander's mistake not be mishandled, requested a cabinet meeting to discuss the problem, and offered to personally deliver the message of repudiation to Sherman. Grant handled the matter adroitly and made the most of their friendship, conveying the message to Sherman and ultimately getting his consent to renegotiate the agreement in accordance with the terms at Appomattox.[88]
Peacetime general
Main article: Ulysses S. Grant as peacetime general, 1865–1869
Celebrations and honors
Grant was the most popular man in the country. When President Johnson argued with Congress over Reconstruction, he took his case to the people with his "swing around the circle." Johnson sought to capitalize on Grant's popularity by having the general travel with him.[93] Grant, wishing to appear loyal, agreed to accompany Johnson; however he confided in his wife that he thought Johnson's speeches were a "national disgrace". Grant continued his efforts to appear loyal while not alienating Republican legislators essential to his future. At the same time, Johnson also suspected Grant to be a potential candidate in the 1868 presidential election, and decided to replace Secretary of War Stanton with Grant or Sherman. Grant discussed the matter with Sherman and convinced him to avoid the politically troubled president.[94]
Congressional reconstruction
Main article: Reconstruction Era of the United States
After the speaking tour, Johnson sent Grant on a fact-finding mission
to the South. Afterwards, Grant filed a report recommending
continuation of a reformed Freedmen's Bureau,
which Johnson opposed, but advising against the use of black troops in
garrisons that he believed were encouraging an alternative to farm
labor.[95]
Grant did not believe the people of the devastated South were ready for
self-rule, and thought they required further U.S. military occupation.[96] Grant stated that both whites and blacks in the South required the protection of the U.S. federal government.[96]
Grant also warned of threats by disaffected poor people, black and
white, and recommended that local decision-making be entrusted only to
"thinking men of the South" (i.e., men of property).[97]
In this respect, Grant's initial Reconstruction policy aligned with
Johnson's policy of pardoning established southern leaders and restoring
them to their positions of power.[98] He joined Johnson in arguing that Congress should allow representatives from the South to be seated.[99]In 1866, an intraparty fight arose in Maryland that threatened to devolve into a riot. John Lee Chapman, the Radical mayor of Baltimore, had been elected in 1862 in an election in which conservative voters claimed the police commissioners had turned them away from the polls.[100] Four years later, Maryland's governor, Thomas Swann, a Johnson supporter, threatened to remove the commissioners and appoint his own, which Radicals believed would result in their own disenfranchisement. Grant was reluctant to send federal troops into a loyal state; instead he traveled to the city himself as a private citizen and arranged a settlement that would allow both groups' poll watchers to ensure fair elections.[100]
The Baltimore tumult was just the prelude to the conflict between Radicals and Conservatives over the Reconstruction of the South. Rejecting Johnson's vision for quick reconciliation with former Confederates, Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts which divided the southern states into five military districts run by the army to ensure that freedmen's constitutional and congressional rights were protected. Transitional state governments in each district were to be led by military governors general. Grant, who was to select the general to govern each district, preferred Congress's plan for enforcement of Reconstruction.[101] Grant was optimistic Reconstruction Acts would help pacify the South.[102] He carried out his duty under the Acts and instructed the generals to do likewise, further alienating Johnson; when Sheridan removed public officials in Louisiana who impeded Reconstruction, Johnson was especially displeased and sought Sheridan's removal.[103] Grant stayed the middle course and recommended a rebuke, but not a dismissal.[104] Throughout the Reconstruction period, more than 1,500 African Americans were elected to political office, while Grant and the military protected their rights by overturning the first black codes in 1867.[105]
Mexico and Canada
Grant, as commanding general, immediately had to contend with Maximilian of Mexico and the French army that had taken over Mexico with the help of Napoleon III. Most Americans felt this to be a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Johnson told Grant to put military pressure on the French to leave Mexico by sending 50,000 troops to the Texas border under Sheridan. Grant told Sheridan to do whatever he could, within the bounds of neutrality, to force Maximilian's abdicatation and convince the French Army to leave Mexico. Sheridan sent 60,000 rifles to Benito Juárez, the ousted leader of Mexico.[106] In a cabinet meeting, Johnson suggested Grant be assigned to the Mexican frontier as a way of removing him from the political mainstream. Grant immediately recognized the nature of this proposal and refused. As a compromise, Grant sent Sherman (now promoted to Lieutenant General) in his place.[107] By 1866, the French Army completely withdrew from Mexico; Maximilian was executed by Juárez in 1867.[108]After the Civil War, thousands of Irish veterans joined the Fenian Brotherhood with the intention of invading and holding Canada hostage in exchange for Irish independence. In June 1866, Johnson sent Grant to Buffalo, New York, to assess the situation. He ordered the Canadian border closed to prevent Fenian soldiers from crossing over at Fort Erie and that more weapons be confiscated. In June 1866, the United States Army arrested 700 Fenian troops at Buffalo, and the Fenians gave up on their attempt to invade Canada.[109]
Johnson's impeachment
Later, when the Senate reinstated Stanton, Johnson requested that Grant refuse to surrender the office to Stanton and let the courts resolve the matter. Instead, Grant stepped aside and incurred Johnson's wrath during a cabinet meeting immediately afterwards for allegedly breaking a promise not to do so. Grant disputed that he had ever made such a promise.[111] Johnson's true frustration was with Grant's taking the Radicals' side. On January 14, 1868, newspapers friendly to Johnson published a series of articles in an attempt to discredit Grant over returning the War Department to Stanton, stating Grant had been deceptive in the matter.[111] Grant defended himself in a written response to the President, which became public; Grant thereby increased his national popularity and emerged from the controversy unscathed.[111] He also took no role in the subsequent impeachment proceedings against Johnson which, in part, centered on Johnson's removal of Stanton. In contrast, none of the principals in the impeachment matter benefited from it.[112]
1868 presidential campaign
Main article: United States presidential election, 1868
Grant entered the 1868 campaign season with increased popularity
among the Radical Republicans following his abandonment of Johnson.
Grant was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate on the first
ballot at the 1868 Republican National Convention
in Chicago, he faced no significant opposition. In his letter of
acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which
became his campaign slogan.[113] For vice president, the delegates nominated House Speaker Schuyler Colfax. Grant's General Orders No. 11 and antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign.
Grant sought to distance himself from the order, saying "I have no
prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by
his own merit."[114] As was common practice at the time, Grant remained at his home in Galena during the campaign,[b] and left most of the active campaigning and speaking on his behalf to his campaign manager William E. Chandler and others.[116]The Democrats nominated former New York Governor Horatio Seymour. The Democrats' campaign focused mainly on ending Reconstruction and returning control of the South to the white planter class, which alienated many War Democrats in the North.[117] The Democrats attacked Reconstruction and the Republican Party's support of African American rights, while Grant was called captain of the "Black Marines".[118] In the general election of that year, Grant won by 300,000 votes out of 5,716,082 votes cast. Grant received an electoral college landslide, getting 214 votes to Seymour's 80. When he assumed the presidency, Grant had never before held elected office and, at the age of forty-six, was the youngest person elected president to date. Grant was the first president elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former slaves. Implementation of these new rights was slow to come; in the 1868 election, the black vote counted in only sixteen of the thirty-seven states, nearly all in the South.[119]
Presidency 1869–1877
Main article: Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
Brady 1869
Grant selected several non-politicians to his cabinet, including Adolph E. Borie and A.T. Stewart, with limited success. Borie served briefly as Secretary of Navy, replaced by George M. Robeson, while Stewart was lawfully prevented from becoming Secretary of Treasury by a 1789 statute and by Senator Charles Sumner's and Senator Roscoe Conkling's opposition to amend the law. In place of Stewart, Grant appointed George S. Boutwell, known for his integrity, as Secretary of Treasury. Grant's other cabinet appointments—Jacob D. Cox (Interior), John Creswell (Postmaster General), and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (Attorney General)—were well-received and uncontroversial.[125] To break from Washington, in 1869, Grant's family, at the invitation of wealthy backers, vacationed for the first time in what became known as the "summer capital" and "the resort of presidents", Long Branch, New Jersey, where Grant returned often throughout his life.[126]
Later Reconstruction and civil rights
That same year, Grant signed the Amnesty Act, which restored political rights to former Confederates. Growing scandals in Washington, some involving members of Grant's administration, took more of the public's attention than the plight of freedmen. After the collapse of the Klan in 1872, conservative whites formed armed groups such as the Red Shirts in South Carolina and the White League. Unlike the Ku Klux Klan, they were not secret. They used violence and intimidation against African Americans in order to take control from state governments away from Republicans.[130] Grant replaced Akerman with George Henry Williams, who was later embroiled in his own scandal. The Panic of 1873 and the ensuing depression contributed to public fatigue, and the North grew less concerned with reconstructing the South.[131] Grant began to favor a more limited use of troops, lest they create the impression that he was acting as a military dictator; he was also concerned that increased military pressure in the South might cause white supremacists in the North to bolt from the Republican Party.} By 1875, Democratic "Redeemer" politicians retook control of all but three Southern states. As violence against black Southerners escalated once more, Edwards Pierrepont (Grant's fourth attorney general) told Governor Adelbert Ames of Mississippi that the people were "tired of the autumnal outbreaks in the South," and declined to intervene.[132] Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which expanded federal law enforcement by prohibiting discrimination on account of race in public accommodations, public transportation, and jury service. The law was rarely enforced, however, and it did not stop the rise of white supremacist forces in the South.[133] In the election of 1876, the remaining three Republican governments in the South fell to Redeemers, and the ensuing Compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction.
Indian policy
Under Major Generals Oliver Otis Howard and George Crook, Grant's policy had greater success in the Southwest. Howard, the former head of the Freedmen's Bureau, negotiated peace with the Apache in 1872, convincing their leader, Cochise, to move the tribe to a new reservation, and ending a war started the year before. In Oregon, relations were less peaceful, however, as war with the Modocs erupted in April 1873. The Modocs refused to move to a reservation and killed the local army commander, Major General Edward Canby. Although Grant was upset over Canby's death, he ordered restraint, disregarding Sherman's advice to seek revenge or exterminate the tribe. Four Modoc warriors were captured, tried for Canby's murder, sentenced to death, and hanged in October 1873. The remainder of the tribe was sent to Indian Territory.[140]
During the Great Sioux War, Grant came into conflict with Colonel George Armstrong Custer after Custer testified in 1876 about corruption in the War Department under Secretary William W. Belknap. Grant had Custer arrested for breach of military protocol and barred him from leading an upcoming campaign against the Sioux. Grant finally relented and let Custer fight under Brigadier General Alfred Terry.[141] Custer was killed at the subsequent Battle of the Little Big Horn, the most famous defeat for the army in the Indian wars. Two months later, Grant castigated Custer in the press, saying "I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary – wholly unnecessary."[142] As the nation was shocked by the death of Custer, the Peace Policy yielded to militarism; Congress appropriated funds for 2,500 more troops, two more forts were constructed, and the army took over the Indian agencies, while Indians were barred from purchasing rifles and ammunition.[143]
Foreign affairs
Further information: Hamilton Fish
Grant and Fish were more successful in their satisfaction of the Alabama claims, a dispute between Great Britain and the United States. The dispute stemmed from the damage done to American shipping during the Civil War by five ships built for the Confederacy in British shipyards including, most famously, CSS Alabama.[151] American claims included that Britain had violated neutrality by recognition of Confederate belligerency.[152] When the war ended, the United States demanded retribution, which the British refused to pay. Negotiations continued fitfully, a sticking point being the claims of "indirect damages" as opposed to the discussion to the harm directly caused by the five ships.[153] Again, Sumner was opposed, believing that the United States should seek a $2 billion reward payable in gold or, alternatively, by the cession of Canada.[154] Fish convinced Grant that peaceful relations with Britain were more important than acquisition of more territory, and the two nations agreed to negotiate along those lines.[155] Grant's message to Congress averted recognition of Cuban belligerency against Spain and allowed Secretary Fish to conclude negotiations with Britain.[152] A commission in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, rather than fault.[c] The Senate approved the Treaty of Washington, which also settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50–12 vote in 1871.[156]
Grant's attention was drawn to the Caribbean again in 1873, when a merchant ship, Virginius, carrying war materials and men to aid the Cuban insurrection, was taken captive by a Spanish warship. Virginius was registered in the United States, but was secretly owned by Cuban insurgents. The passengers and crew, including eight United States citizens, were trying to illegally travel to Cuba to help overthrow the government. Spanish authorities executed the prisoners, and many Americans called for war with Spain. Fish, with Grant's support, worked to reach a peaceful resolution. Spain's President, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, expressed regret for the tragedy and agreed to determine reparations through arbitration; Spain surrendered the Virginius and paid a cash indemnity of $80,000 to the families of the executed Americans.[157] The administration's diplomacy was also at work in the Pacific as, in December 1874, Grant held a state dinner at the White House for the King of Hawaii, David Kalakaua, who was seeking the importation of Hawaiian sugar duty-free to the United States.[158] Grant and Fish were able to produce a successful free trade treaty in 1875 with the Kingdom of Hawaii, incorporating the Pacific islands' sugar industry into the United States' economic sphere.[158]
Gold standard and the Gold Ring
These actions had a large impact on the nation's small gold market, and gold speculators tried to make a profit by anticipating how much gold Boutwell would sell in a given week.[162] Abel Corbin, Grant's brother-in-law, sought to use his connection with the president to gain inside information for himself and his associates, Jay Gould, a Wall Street trader and railroad magnate, and his partner Jim Fisk. This group of collaborators was later called the "Gold Ring."[163] Corbin convinced Grant to appoint Daniel Butterfield as assistant Treasurer, and Gould soon made Butterfield his informant.[164] Meanwhile, Gould and Fisk began to quietly stockpile gold. Gould convinced Corbin that a high gold price would make the nation prosperous, and Corbin passed this theory on to Grant. The conspirators believed they had convinced the president, and they continued to stockpile gold, hoping to sell into a rising market. After consulting with New York businessman Alexander Turney Stewart in early September, Grant stopped the sale of Treasury gold, believing a higher gold price would help Western farmers.[165] By mid September, however, Grant started to become suspicious of Corbin, particularly when Corbin tried to drive a wedge between Grant and Boutwell. The gold price continued to rise as the conspirators bought ever more. The rising price began to affect the wider economy, and Grant, seeing that the increase was unnatural, told Boutwell to sell gold, thereby reducing its price.[166] Boutwell did so the next day, on September 22, 1869, later known as Black Friday. The sale of gold from the Treasury defeated Gould's corner on the market as the gold price plummeted, relieving the growing economic tension.[167] Gould and Fisk managed to escape without much harm to themselves.[168] A New York bank collapsed, and trading dried up for months; a general recession did not follow, however, and the economy resumed its post-war recovery.[169]
In February 1873, Grant signed into law the Coinage Act of 1873, that effectively ended the legal basis for bimetallism (that is the use of both silver and gold as money), and established the gold standard in practice.[170] The gold dollar became the standard dollar while the standard silver dollar was discontinued. Angry critics who wanted more money in circulation so as to raise prices later denounced the move as the "Crime of 1873" claiming it caused deflation and helped bankers while hurting farmers.[171]
Reelection
Main article: United States presidential election, 1872
Many of such men bolted in 1872, calling themselves the Liberal Republicans. Led by Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts and Senator Carl Schurz of Missouri, they publicly denounced the political patronage system that Sumner called "Grantism" and demanded amnesty for Confederate soldiers. The Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greeley, another Republican who had come to dislike Grant and his policies.[177] The rest of the Republican Party nominated Grant for reelection, with Henry Wilson of Massachusetts replacing scandal-ridden Colfax as vice-presidential nominee.[178] The Democrats, seeking to benefit from anti-Grant sentiment, quickly nominated Greeley as well.[179] The fusion effort was unsuccessful, and Grant was easily reelected. The Liberal Republicans were unable to deliver many votes, and Greeley was only successful in areas the Democrats would have carried without him.[180] A strong economy, debt reduction, lowered tariffs, repeal of the income tax, and the implementation of Civil Service helped Grant defeat the Liberal Republicans. [173] Grant won 56% of the poplar vote and an Electoral College landslide of 286 to 66.[181][d]
Panic of 1873, the Long Depression, and currency debates
After the Panic, Congress debated an inflationary policy to stimulate the economy and passed what became known as the Inflation Bill on April 14, 1874. Many farmers and workingmen favored the bill, which would add $64 million in greenbacks to circulation, but some Eastern bankers opposed it because it would weaken the dollar.[188] Grant unexpectedly vetoed the bill on the grounds that it would destroy the credit of the nation.[189] Grant's veto placed him securely in the conservative faction of the Republican party, and was the beginning of the party's commitment to a strong gold-backed dollar.[189] Grant later pressured Congress for a bill to further strengthen dollar by gradually reducing the number of greenbacks in circulation. After losing the House to the Democrats in the 1874 elections, the lame-duck Republican Congress did so. On January 14, 1875, Grant signed the Specie Payment Resumption Act into law.[189] The Resumption Act required gradual reduction of the maximum value of greenbacks allowed to circulate and declared that the resumption of specie payment would begin in 1879. At the same time, Grant replaced Richardson, who was involved in the a political scandal, with Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky, who supported Grant's anti-inflationary hard money policy.[189]
Gilded Age corruption and reform
Further information: Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration scandals and Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration reforms
During Grant's second term in office, corruption in the Treasury Department was made public in the Sanborn incident, in which John D. Sanborn (a friend of Congressman Benjamin Butler, the erstwhile Civil War general) was hired as an independent tax collector on a percentage basis, also known as a moiety.[195] Treasury officials were then instructed not to press for payment, so that accounts would become delinquent and Sanborn would get paid more when he "discovered" them.[195] Grant quietly appointed Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson to the United States Court of Claims, and appointed reformer Benjamin Bristow in 1874 as his replacement.[196] To prevent future unscrupulous actions, Grant signed the Anti-Moiety Act into law in 1874, abolishing the troublesome payment system.[197]
On becoming Treasury Secretary, the energetic Bristow immediately made a series of needed reforms.[198] Finding that millions of dollars in revenue were missing, Bristow discovered what became known as the Whiskey Ring—tax officials taking bribes in exchange for not taxing distillers. [196] Having obtained Grant's initial endorsement, "Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided", Bristow moved quickly in 1875 to raid and shut down corrupt distilleries, collapsing the Ring.[199] Bristow obtained 238 indictments, leading to 110 convictions, while millions of tax dollars were restored to the Treasury. [199] Grant became defensive, however, after Bristow discovered that Babcock was involved in the Whiskey Ring, believing Babcock to be the innocent victim of a witch hunt.[200] Grant denied immunity to minor Whiskey Ring conspirators in the Midwest.[199] In 1876, Babcock was found not guilty at a trial in which Grant testified through a deposition on his behalf.[199] After the trial, under public pressure, Grant dismissed Babcock from the White House.[200][e] Several convicted Whiskey Ring members were later pardoned by Grant.[199]
The scandals increased as Congress began several investigations into corruption in the administration, the most notable of which regarded profiteering at western trading posts. The scheme involved Secretary of War William Belknap granting concessions for trading posts on western army bases in exchange for a cut of the profits.[202] The accusations led to Belknap's resignation. Even after he resigned from office, the House of Representatives impeached Belknap;[203] he was only saved from conviction in the Senate because many Senators believed their jurisdiction ended when Belknap left office.[203] Congress also investigated and reprimanded Navy Secretary George M. Robeson in 1876 for taking bribes from naval contractors, but he was never formally impeached.[204]
The Civil Service reform initiative had limited success, as Grant's cabinet implemented a merit system that increased qualified candidates and relied less on Congressional patronage.[205] Grant's Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano, however, exempted the Interior Department from competitive examinations, while Congress refused to enact permanent Civil Service reform. Delano was forced to resign, having allowed a spoils system of land and patent frauds and ignored Interior department officials' award of surveying contracts to his son, who was paid without doing any of the contracted work.[206] Grant appointed Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano and cleaned up corruption in the Interior Department.[192][207] Grant appointed reformers Edwards Pierrepont and Marshall Jewell as Attorney General and Postmaster General, respectively, who supported Bristow's investigations. [208] In 1875, Pierrepont cleaned up corruption among the U.S. Marshals and U.S. Attorneys in the South.[209] Grant suggested other reforms as well, including a proposal that states should provide free public schooling to all children, although he also endorsed the Blaine Amendment, which would have forbidden government aid to schools that have any religious affiliation.[210]
Judicial appointments
Main article: List of federal judges appointed by Ulysses S. Grant
Grant appointed four Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first two vacancies occurred in 1869 with the retirement of Robert C. Grier and Congress's restoration of a ninth seat on the Court.[f][212] Grant appointed former Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Attorney General Ebenezer R. Hoar.[211]
Neither man would take his seat: Stanton was confirmed, but died before
he took office; Hoar was widely disliked in the Senate, which defeated
his nomination 24–33.[211] Following a cabinet discussion, Grant submitted two more names to the Senate: William Strong and Joseph P. Bradley. Strong was a former justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
who retired to take up a private practice in Philadelphia. Bradley, a
New Jersey lawyer, also had a successful private practice. Both men were
railroad lawyers, and their appointment led to accusations that Grant
intended them to overturn the case of Hepburn v. Griswold,
which had been decided the same day they were nominated. That case,
which was unpopular with business interests, held that the federal debt
incurred before 1862 must be paid in gold, not greenbanks.[213] Nonetheless, both Strong and Bradley were confirmed and the following year Hepburn was indeed reversed.[213]After Grant's reelection, another Supreme Court seat opened up with the retirement of Justice Samuel Nelson.[214] Grant nominated Ward Hunt, a New York state judge, to replace him. Hunt was confirmed in 1873 and, like Nelson, upheld Reconstruction legislation. He served on the court until 1882.[214] In May 1873, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase died suddenly. After several months, Grant offered the seat to Conkling.[215] Conkling declined, as did Senator Timothy Howe of Wisconsin.[215] Grant unsuccessfully tried to enlist Hamilton Fish for the job and considered nominating Caleb Cushing, as well, before submitting the name of his attorney general, George Henry Williams.[214] The Senate had a dim view of Williams's performance at the Justice Department and refused to act on the nomination. Grant stuck to his choice, but after no action Williams asked that his name be withdrawn in January 1874.[214] Fish suggested nominating Hoar again, but Grant instead chose Cushing. Cushing was an eminent lawyer and respected in his field, but the emergence of his wartime correspondence with Jefferson Davis doomed his nomination.[214] Grant finally turned to Morrison Waite, a respectable (if little-known) Ohio lawyer who had worked on the Alabama claims arbitration.[216] The Senate unanimously approved the nomination two days later, on January 21, 1874. Waite was an uncontroversial nominee, but in his time on the Court he authored two of the decisions (United States v. Reese and United States v. Cruikshank) that did the most to undermine Reconstruction-era laws for the protection of black Americans.[215]
Election of 1876
By 1876, the collected scandals of the last eight years and the Democratic gains in the House led many in the Republican party to repudiate Grant.[217] Bristow was among the leading candidates to replace him, suggesting that a large faction desired an end to "Grantism" and feared that Grant would run for a third term.[218] Ultimately, Grant did not run, but neither was Bristow the nominee, as the convention settled on Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a reformer. The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden of New York, and the election that year was undecided for several months because of voting irregularities in three Southern states.[219] Grant told Congress to settle the matter through legislation, without blaming either party.[220] Grant mobilized troops in Louisiana and South Carolina, who kept the peace.[221] Grant assured both sides that he would not use the army to force a result, except to curb violence, and agreed to the formation of an Electoral Commission to decide the matter.[222] The result was the Compromise of 1877: Hayes was elected, but the last troops were withdrawn from Southern capitals.[223] The Republicans had won, but Reconstruction was over.Post-presidency
Main article: Post-presidential life of Ulysses S. Grant
World tour
After leaving the White House, Grant and his family stayed with friends in New York, Ohio, and Philadelphia for two months, before setting out on a tour of the world.[224] The trip, which would last two years, began in Liverpool in May 1877, where enormous crowds greeted the ex-president and his entourage.[225] Travelling to London, the Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and Grant gave several speeches in the city.[226] They next traveled to Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, before returning to England. The Grants spent a few months with their daughter Nellie, who had married an Englishman and moved to that country several years before. Returning to the continent, Grant and his wife journeyed on to France and Italy, spending Christmas 1877 aboard USS Vandalia, a warship docked in Palermo.[227] After a winter sojourn in the Holy Land, they visited Greece before returning to Italy and a meeting with Pope Leo XIII.[228] Travelling to Spain and then to Germany again, Grant met with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and the two men discussed military matters.[229]After another visit to England and then to Ireland, the Grants left Europe by ship, sailing through the Suez Canal to India. They visited Bombay, Lucknow, Varanasi, and Delhi, being welcomed in each city by the colonial officials.[230] After India, they toured Burma, Siam (where Grant met King Chulalongkorn,) Singapore, and Vietnam.[231] Traveling on to Hong Kong, Grant began to change his mind on the nature of colonization, believing that the British rule was not "purely selfish" but also good for the colonial subjects.[230] Leaving Hong Kong, the Grants entered China proper, seeing the cities of Canton, Shanghai, and Peking. He declined to request an interview with the Guangxu Emperor, a child of seven, but did speak with the head of government, Prince Gong, and Li Hongzhang, a leading general.[232] They discussed China's dispute with Japan over the Ryukyu Islands, and Grant agreed to help bring the two sides to agreement.[233] After crossing over to Japan and meeting the Emperor Meiji, Grant convinced China to acquiesce in Japanese annexation of the islands, and the two nations avoided war.[234]
By then the Grants had been gone two years, and were homesick. They crossed the Pacific and landed in San Francisco in September 1879, greeted by cheering crowds.[235] After a visit to Yellowstone National Park, they returned at last to Philadelphia on December 16, 1879.[236] The voyage around the world had captured popular imagination, and Republicans—especially those of the new Stalwart faction, who had been excluded from the Hayes administration—saw Grant in a new light.[237] With Hayes having forsworn a second term when he was elected, the nomination for 1880 was wide open, and many thought that Grant was the man for the job.[237]
Third term attempt
Main article: 1880 Republican National Convention
The Stalwarts, led by Grant's old political ally, Roscoe Conkling,
saw the ex-president's renewed popularity as a way for their faction to
regain power. Opponents denounced his violation of the two-term rule
that had been the norm since George Washington. Grant said nothing
publicly, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men.[238] Elihu B. Washburne
urged him to run; Grant demurred, saying he would be happy for the
Republicans to win with another candidate, though he preferred James G. Blaine to John Sherman.[239] Even so, Conkling and John A. Logan began to organize delegates in Grant's favor. When the convention
convened in Chicago in June, there were more delegates pledged to Grant
than to any other candidate, but he was still short of a majority.[239]Conkling placed Grant's name in nomination with an elegant speech, his most famous line being: "When asked which state he hails from, our sole reply shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple tree."[239] With 370 votes needed for nomination, the first ballot had Grant at 304, Blaine at 284, Sherman at 93, and the rest scattered to minor candidates.[240] Subsequent ballots followed, with roughly the same result; neither Grant nor Blaine could win. After thirty-six ballots, Blaine's delegates deserted him and combined with those of other candidates to nominate a compromise candidate: Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio.[241] Grant received 306 votes on the final ballot, but was unable to achieve a majority. The nomination was made unanimous in a procedural motion.[242]
Grant gave speeches for Garfield, but declined to criticize the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock, a general who had served under Grant in the Army of the Potomac.[243] Garfield was elected by a narrow popular margin, but a solid Electoral College vote—214 to 155. After the election, Grant gave Garfield his public support, and pushed him to include Stalwarts in his administration.[244]
Business ventures
Grant's world tour, although successful, was costly. When he returned to America, Grant had depleted most of his savings and needed to earn money and find a new home.[245] George William Childs and Anthony Joseph Drexel, wealthy friends of Grant, bought him a home on Manhattan's Upper East Side.[246] To provide an income, Grant, Jay Gould, and former Mexican Finance Secretary Matías Romero chartered the Mexican Southern Railroad, which planned to build a railroad from Oaxaca to Mexico City.[246] At the same time, Grant used his influence to convince Chester A. Arthur, who had succeeded Garfield as president in 1881, to negotiate a free trade treaty with Mexico. Arthur and the Mexican government agreed, but the United States Senate rejected the treaty in 1883.[246] The railroad was similarly unsuccessful, falling into bankruptcy the following year.[246]At the same time, Grant's son Ulysses Jr. ("Buck") had opened a Wall Street brokerage house with Ferdinand Ward. Ward was regarded as a rising star, and the firm, Grant & Ward, was initially successful.[247] In 1883, Grant joined the firm and invested $100,000 of his own money.[248] The firm's success attracted more investors, who bought securities through them, and then used the securities as collateral to borrow money to buy more securities. Grant & Ward then pledged that collateral to borrow more money to trade in securities on the firm's own account. The practice—called hypothecation—was legal and accepted; what was illegal was rehypothecation, the practice of pledging the same securities as collateral for multiple loans.[247] Ward, with the collusion of the bank involved, did this for many of the firm's assets. If the trades resulted in profit, then there would be no problem; if they went bad, however, multiple loans would come due, all backed up by the same collateral. Historians acknowledge that Grant was likely unaware of Ward's tactics, but it is unclear how much Buck Grant knew. In May 1884, enough investments went bad to convince Ward that the firm would soon be bankrupted. He told Grant of the impending failure, but suggested that it was a temporary shortfall.[249] Grant approached businessman William Henry Vanderbilt, who gave Grant a personal loan of $150,000.[250] Grant invested the money in the firm, but it was not enough to save the firm from failure. Essentially penniless, but compelled by a sense of personal honor, Grant repaid Vanderbilt with his Civil War mementos. Although the market value did not cover the loan, Vanderbilt insisted it was paid in full. The matter left Grant financially destitute.[249]
Memoirs and death
Grant took up the project and asked his former staff officer, Adam Badeau, to review his work. Grant's son Fred assisted with references and proofreading. Century offered Grant a book contract with a 10% royalty, but Grant's friend, Mark Twain, made his own offer to Grant for his memoirs, proposing a 75% royalty. Grant ultimately decided on Twain's publishing company, Charles L. Webster and Co.[255] Grant worked diligently on the memoir at his home in New York City, and then from a cottage on the slopes of Mount McGregor, finishing shortly before he died on July 23, 1885.[256] The book, entitled Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, was a success. In the end, Julia Grant received about $450,000, suggesting a royalty of about 30%.[255] The memoir has been highly regarded by the general public, military historians, and literary critics.[257] Grant was a shrewd and effective writer, portraying himself in the persona of the honorable Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty and straightforwardness. He candidly depicts his battles against both the Confederates and internal Army foes.[258] Twain called the Memoirs a "literary masterpiece." In reviewing the favorable literary critique of Grant's book, including the analyses of Matthew Arnold and Edmund Wilson, author Mark Perry calls the Memoirs "the most significant work" of American non-fiction.[259]
Grant died on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63.[260] Sheridan, by now Commanding General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all military posts, and President Grover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. After private services, Grant's body was placed on a funeral train and traveled via West Point to New York City, where a quarter of a million people viewed it in the two days prior to the funeral.[261] Tens of thousands of men, many of them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic or other veterans' organizations, marched with Grant's casket as it was drawn by two dozen horses to Riverside Park.[261] His pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and Sheridan, Confederate generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, Admiral David Dixon Porter, and John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army.[261] His body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb, and finally in a sarcophagus in a circular atrium at the General Grant National Memorial ("Grant's Tomb"), the largest mausoleum in North America. Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million.[261] Ceremonies were held in other major cities around the country, and those who eulogized Grant in the press likened him to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.[262]
Legacy
Historical reputation
Few presidents' reputations have changed as dramatically as Grant's.[263] Millions of people turned out for his funeral procession in 1885 and attended the 1897 dedication of his tomb demonstrating that at his death, Grant was popularly seen as "a symbol of the American national identity and memory."[264] At the same time, however, commentators and scholars portrayed his as the most corrupt administration in American history.[265] Northerners who desired national reconciliation regarding the Union and Confederate military combat on equal moral terms.[266] In the 1930s, biographer William B. Hesseltine noted that Grant's reputation deteriorated because his enemies were better writers than his friends.[267] In 1931, Paxon and Bach in the Dictionary of American Biography praised Grant's military vision and his execution of that vision in defeating the Confederacy, but of his political career, the authors were less complimentary. Speaking specifically of the scandals, they wrote that "personal scandal has not touched Grant in any plausible form, but it struck so close to him and so frequently as to necessitate the vindication of his honor by admitting his bad taste in the choice of associates."[268] William S. McFeely won the Pulitzer Prize for his negative 1981 biography that concluded, "He did not rise above limited talents or inspire others to do so in ways that make his administration a credit to American politics."[269] John Y. Simon in 1982 responded to McFeely's negativism: "Grant's failure as President ... lies in the failure of the Indian peace policy and the collapse of Reconstruction ... But if Grant tried and failed, who could have succeeded?"[270] Simon stated that had Grant been assessed only for his first term in office he would be considered one of the United States ablest presidents, "remembered for his staunch enforcement of the rights of freedmen combined with conciliation of former Confederates, for reform in Indian policy and civil service, for successful negotiation of the Alabama Claims, and for delivery of peace and prosperity."[271] However, Simon admits that Grant's second term in office was weakened by the Liberal defections, the Panic of 1873, increase of scandals, and the North's retreat from Reconstruction.Since 1990, historians have since taken a more favorable view, appreciating his protection of African Americans during Reconstruction and his peace policy towards American Indians, even though those policies failed.[264] Bruce Catton began the reassessment of Grant's military career in the 1960s, shifting the theme from Grant as victor by brute force to that of a successful and skillful commander.[272] The restoration of Grant's reputation continued with Jean Edward Smith's 2001 biography, Grant. Smith argued that the same qualities that made Grant a success as a general carried over to his political life to make him, if not a successful president, than certainly an admirable one.[273] Smith wrote that "the common thread is strength of character—an indomitable will that never flagged in the face of adversity ... Sometimes he blundered badly; often he oversimplified; yet he saw his goals clearly and moved toward them relentlessly."[274] H.W. Brands continued Grant's rehabilitation in his 2012 book, The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace. In addition to praising Grant's skill as a general, Brands's book, as Eric Foner wrote in a review, gives "a sympathetic account of Grant's forceful and temporarily successful effort as president to crush the Ku Klux Klan, which had inaugurated a reign of terror against the former slaves."[263] Brands writes favorably of Grant's military and political careers, alike, saying:
As commanding general in the Civil War, he had defeated secession and destroyed slavery, secession's cause. As President during Reconstruction he had guided the South back into the Union. By the end of his public life the Union was more secure than at any previous time in the history of the nation. And no one had done more to produce the result than he.[275]
Memorials and Presidential library
See also: Ulysses S. Grant cultural depictions
Grant has a number of memorials in his honor, including the General Grant National Memorial in New York and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington. There are smaller memorials in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Grant Park is named in his honor, as are a number of counties in western and midwestern states. From 1890 to 1940, a portion of what is now Kings Canyon National Park was called General Grant National Park, named for the General Grant sequoia. He has appeared on the front of the United States fifty-dollar bill since 1913, and also appears on several stamps.In May 2012, on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, Mississippi State University was selected as the permanent location for Ulysses S. Grant's Presidential Library.[276] Historian John Simon edited Grant's letters into a 32-volume scholarly edition published by Southern Illinois University Press.[277]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered