Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S . Grant

Ulysses S . Grant , an army General and the 18th president of the United States of America is considered one of the greatest war strategists and generals in American history . His rise to fame was brought about by his successful exploits and exceptional military leadership serving as a Union General in the Civil War . Most notable of which are the decisive wins in the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and the siege of Petersburg which eventually led to the Confederacy 's surrender . But while his contemporaries hold him to the

highest regard as a military leader , the same could not be said about his presidency . Political leadership proved to be unsuitable for him , and while his dignity was said to be unquestionable , his presidency is severely criticized and condemned due to rampant corruption and perceived inadequacy

Grant was baptized Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant , Ohio on April 27 , 1822 , the eldest in a brood of six . He came from a family which Grant (2002 ) proudly asserts as all-American : My family is American and has been for generations , in all its branches , direct and collateral (p . 12 . His parents were Jesse Root Grant , a tannery and farmland owner , and Hannah Simpson Grant , a frontier woman (McFeely 1981 . Grant 's family relocated to Georgetown in 1823 , where he started his formal education - this place was to be his home until his seventeenth year , before he goes off to West Point . He attended the school of Richardson and Rand in Maysville , Kentucky , then the Presbyterian Academy , a private school in Ripley , Ohio (Grant , 2002

Grant (2002 ) found his childhood uneventful (p . 17 ) and professed no inclination towards his studies . He did show exceptional equestrian skills and was noted for his diligence . With his skills , he was put in charge of doing any work that required proficiency with horses - tilling land , hauling wood , plowing and furrowing the land , etc . His lack of business skills (an issue which would later on figure significantly in his life ) was evinced in one situation when the eight year-old Grant was given some money by his father to buy a colt , with the instruction of bargaining with the owner . Grant said to him : Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt , but if you won 't take that , I am to offer twenty-two and a half , and if you won 't take that , to give you twenty-five (Grant , 2002 ,

. 20 . Needless to say , the owner got the colt full price

At age seventeen , he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point , and a registration mistake made by the appointing congressman omitted Hiram from his name and added Simpson , his mother 's maiden name . Grant , however , did not correct the mistake , and he has been known by that name ever since . Grant was an average student graduating 21st in a class of 39 (McFeely , 1981 . He did not care to have a career in the military (he wanted instead to teach...