On June 3, 1864, the Union and Confederate armies met on a battlefield in Cold Harbor, Virginia. The Confederates were well entrenched and ready to mount a defensive position. Union soldiers on the other side of the lines were preparing for an attack that would prove disastrous. They knew what the outcome would be. In just 20 minutes of fighting, 7,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded. As the Yankees prepared to go into action, many began sewing tags with their names onto their clothing so that their bodies could be identified after their deaths. A dead Union soldier was found with a small diary in his pocket. The last entry, dated June 3, 1864, simply read: "I have been killed." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Many men like him knew they would die that day, yet they went ahead anyway and met their fate. Many people, military and civilian, have questioned the intelligence of the attack, and rightly so. But the decision was made and the men carried it out. They carried it forward because it was given by General Ulysses S. Grant, the man who was the first to continually win battles against Robert E. Lee, and the man who ultimately won the war for the United States. They did so because Grant was perhaps the most respected general to ever serve in the U.S. Army up to that point. They did it because Grant was a leader. Grant wasn't always the leader who won the war and became president. He was first a business failure, a quiet young soldier with little social life, a general whose colleagues criticized him and accused him of drunkenness, and later a president plagued by scandals and rumors. Ulysses S. Grant was born to Jesse and Hannah Grant. on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, then still a frontier town on the Ohio River. Ulysses was the eldest of six children, two sons, Simpson and Orvil, and three daughters, Clara, Virginia and Mary. His name was Hiram Ulysses, but almost all of his family called him Ulysses, mainly because his father had originally preferred that name. Jesse was an outspoken man highly respected as a tanner, a profession in which he eventually became very prosperous. He was an abolitionist and Whig who was almost alone in a part of Ohio populated by Southern tobacco farmers. He wrote many vain letters to the editor, most of which were more right than wrong in their statements. Jesse was eccentric, excessively well dressed, and very proud of Odysseus. Hannah, however, kept to herself. She was a strict Methodist whose only unbaptized son was Ulysses. Hannah wasn't exactly lax in her maternal duties, but she showed a notable degree of indifference toward their safety and accomplishments. He never hugged his children and rarely showed affection. The Grant family soon moved to Georgetown, Ohio, where Ulysses received a local education before attending boarding schools in Maysville, Kentucky and Ripley, Ohio. He despised working for his father in the tannery, although it wouldn't be a problem for long, because he received an appointment at West Point in 1839. It was then that he became known as Ulysses S. Grant. Fearing ridicule from his future classmates, he changed the initials on his luggage from "HUG" to "UHG." The man who signed his papers, however, thought his initial was S, and so after repeated attempts to try to fix his new name, Grant resigned himself. This resignation was a characteristic he often displayed. Rather unlike his braggart father, Grant was quiet and tough withwhich the upperclassmen treated the new cadets was less attractive to Ulysses than to anyone else. He didn't particularly excel in any subject, although he did well in mathematics without studying much. He ultimately graduated twenty-first out of thirty-nine. It was at West Point, however, that Grant met Fred Dent, brother of Julia.Dent, Grant's future wife. Julia was the daughter of a slaveholder from southern Missouri. Grant was stationed as a patent second lieutenant near St. Louis in 1843 and was often able to visit Julia. Shortly before the outbreak of war with Mexico, Grant proposed to Julia and they were officially engaged. Although Grant got along well with Julia's family, he was often engaged, or rather was involved by his father, in the debate over slavery. Although Grant disliked slavery, he would eventually own slaves through Julia, and so his willingness to debate was likely based solely on an effort to please his father-in-law. Before these debates, however, came the war with Mexico. Grant never exactly stated his position on U.S. involvement with Mexico and Texas during the war, but he later made it known that he disagreed with the way the issue had been handled. In 1846 war was declared and Grant left with the 4th Infantry as company commander and later regimental quartermaster, a duty considered very important to the large army in Mexico. Odysseus was available for most of the major battles. At the Battle of Chapultepec, Grant and several other men obtained good positioning for a cannon, and their fire from the post provided a great advantage to the U.S. forces, who ultimately won the battle and the war. Grant was recognized for his work and awarded a captain's license. It also received generally favorable comments in battle reports. After the war, the army remained in Mexico to sort things out. Grant missed Julia greatly, and most of his letters to her express this. He also wrote to her about his feelings during the battle. ''Even though the balls whizzed thick and fast around me, I felt no sensation of fear...they are less horrified when they are among each other than when they are waiting''. After the horrors of the battles had subsided, Grant went to see a bullfight, but left before it finished, disgusted by the cruelty to animals. This war did more than just open up young troops to new things. Men like Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Grant himself were practically trained for war for the first time. They formed friendships, especially Grant with Dent and Longstreet, and set the stage for their military careers. The army returned in 1848, and Grant and Julia were married in August. His new assignment was in Detroit, where Julia gave birth to a son, Fred, in 1850. Grant had a lot of free time and generally socialized in military circles. He drank and "...invariably stood on the sidelines, never danced, rarely spoke" at social gatherings. Grant's regiment was moved to California in 1852. Julia was expecting another child and could not go. Grant wanted his family more than ever. “I am almost crazy sometimes to see Fred,” he wrote to Julia. It was then that he began drinking to ward off his loneliness. He resigned his commission and returned home in July, settling with Julia and her two children on a sixty-acre farm given to them by Julia's father in Missouri. The family grew with a daughter, Ellen, and another son. Grant built a house, called it Hardscrabble, and began to fail miserably as a farmer. He gave up farming after two years which saw him pawn his gold watch and free oneof his new slaves, when he could have sold him and gotten out of trouble. Grant then became a partner in a rent collection and estate agency with Julia's cousin, Harry Boggs. But he wasn't determined enough to become a collector, so he tried and failed to get a job as a county engineer. He later lost a job at the St. Louis Custom House when the owner died and eventually returned to his family's leather business in Galena, Illinois. He was working there as a clerk when the war that would change his life began. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Grant reenlisted. He didn't show much enthusiasm, but simply felt that he could be useful with his previous training. He did this primarily by helping organize regiments of Ohio and Illinois volunteers, quickly whipping them into shape. He was promoted to brigadier general in August, in charge of the 21st Illinois Regiment, protecting the borders around Kentucky and Ohio. He quickly gained control of Paducah, Kentucky, to counter Confederate movements. This and his nature of sticking with things once he got started made him very popular among his troops. Grant spent much of his early Civil War career in what is known as the Western Theater. He eventually became commander of the Army of Tennessee, having been second in command behind General Halleck. Halleck never liked Grant, and after Grant virtually ignored the order to stay and attacked Fort Donelson, his disdain for him grew stronger. It was during this attack that Grant told the Confederate commander that he would accept "no terms but an unconditional surrender." The enthralled civilian public now began to say that the United States in its name must have supported the Unconditional Surrender. They had found a hero. Cutting through the heart of Tennessee, Grant and his forces finally arrived near a small church in Tennessee known as Shiloh. It was here that one of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought. Grant and his forces nearly lost the battle several times, and the fighting was conducted primarily by inexperienced soldiers and leaders. Ultimately, the Union forces were victorious after two days of fighting and over 25,000 overall casualties. After Shiloh, many people called for Grant's removal from power. Leaders like Halleck had continually criticized Grant for his drinking habits. It is not yet known whether Grant was an alcoholic, but he certainly enjoyed drinking. For his part, Commander in Chief Abraham Lincoln responded to criticism of Grant's drinking by saying that he wished to know what brand of whiskey Grant drank, so he could send it to all his generals. Part of what would silence these critics, at least for a time, was Grant's masterful capture of the Mississippi River, culminating in the taking of Vicksburg in July 1863. Vicksburg was the key to taking the Mississippi, and the Mississippi was the key to dividing the Confederacy. For two months he laid siege to the city, finally deciding to cross the river below the city and attack from behind. Grant was constantly along the lines during the slow march, dirty and alert, but he urged his troops to close ranks and continue. After winning five tough battles along the way, Grant finally surrounded the city of Vicksburg. After attempting an assault, the Army of Tennessee prepared for a siege. It bombed the city every day from April to July. Finally, exhausted, the Confederates surrendered at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Grant was once again a hero, and the people who had criticized him for his drinking, his positive attitude, his negligence, and any other problems they couldfind now they praised him. above all others. Despite his detractors, Grant was appointed lieutenant general and commander of all Union forces. The Army of the Potomac consisted of 500,000 men, and Grant soon led them south in what he hoped would be a final push toward the capital of Richmond. The first major battle took place in a dense Virginia forest known as the Wilderness. The battle was chaotic and was made worse by the need to fight the usually unbeatable Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee finally struck Grant's side, halting the battle for a time. After the first day of battle, Grant cried in his tent; the next day a march began. No other general before him had marched far, and Grant now did so after a defeat, instilling confidence in his men and in a public that had seen slower generals fumble for too long. The army moved towards Spotsylvania, where there was never any shooting. stopped for two days. These types of battles continued for a month, with Grant repeatedly attempting to outflank the Confederate flank, trying to reach Richmond. It was during this series of flanking maneuvers that the Battle of Cold Harbor occurred. FreddoHarbour was Grants' only regret. Lee was entrenched and now there was a stalemate. Grant was accused of using his men as if they were not human. He was nicknamed "The Bloody Butcher" for his frontal tactics. Eventually, Grant and his troops crossed the Potomac on pontoons and made their way to Petersburg, Virginia, south of Richmond. The attack was slow and allowed the Confederates to reinforce their trenches. A 10-month siege began. On March 25, the rebels mounted a small attack that was soon met by a counterattack that eventually pushed the Confederates out of Petersburg. As with the other battles of the campaign, there was a great cost to Grant's forces, but he was now closer than ever to Richmond. The Confederate government was displaced and Richmond was evacuated; the fleeing people burned the city behind them. Grant's army moved and the Confederate capital now belonged to him, while Lee and his army retreated to a small town at the crossroads called Appomattox Court House. Grant quickly followed, with a force nearly 5 times greater than Lee's. Grant cabled Lee in April, asking him to surrender. The rebel army was surrounded and almost out of supplies, and Lee agreed to meet Grant and sign a treaty of surrender on April 9, 1865. They met in the evening at a local house, called the MacLean House. Lee arrived dressed as elegantly as possible for a great general, and Grant arrived dirty with mud and wearing a private's jacket. Grant offered extremely generous terms; he allowed those with horses to keep them and arranged to give Lee rations to feed his starving troops. As Lee walked away, Grant silenced his cheering troops, saying that they should not gloat and that the rebels were now their countrymen. Thus ended what many consider the high point of Grant's life. He had failed at everything up until the outbreak of the war, and now he had achieved the final and greatest victory of the entire war. What followed, his presidency, is considered perhaps the worst presidency in the history of the United States. Grant was easily elected among the Republicans in 1868. His eight years in office would prove disastrous for his reputation; he appointed cabinet members almost recklessly, and these members made his administration a disaster. Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr. had plotted "to inflate the price of gold and monopolize the market, and their plots ended on September 24, 1869..." or Black Friday. Grant ordered the sale of one.