A controversial general becomes a bad president!


November 3rd is traditionally the day in the USA when the citizens elect their new President!

And so, on November 3, 1869, the former Civil War General Ulysses Simpson Grant (actually: Hiram Ulysses Grant) is elected 18th President of the (just re-)United States of America...:



The next picture shows his inauguration on the Capitol in front of the Congress building in January 1870...:



As a young captain, Grant had fought in the US-Mexican War...



...but had to leave the army in 1854 because of his severe alcoholism - otherwise he would have been court-martialled!

During the Civil War, when experienced officers were urgently needed, Grant was recalled and quickly rose to the rank of general.

The capture of Fortress Vicksburg by his troops on July 4, 1863 (the national holiday!), which split Confederate territory in two (because the Union Army now ruled the Mississippi!) earned him the nymbus of the victorious type and the stubborn fighter!



So he finally became supreme commander of all Union troops...:



However, his officers and soldiers had a completely different name for him: they only called him "the butcher" because all his military actions were characterized by one thing above all: horrendous losses!

During the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant ordered a frontal attack against the Confederate Army defending from trench systems...:



This completely hopeless attack, which both own and enemy soldiers described as "blatant murder", was the first "modern battle" and provided a foretaste of the warfare of the First World War.

Grant only broke off the battle after his commanding generals had mutinied and refused to launch renewed waves of attacks.

40,000 Union soldiers paid for Grant's "tenacity" with their lives in a single day!







Generals and politicians had repeatedly urged Union President Lincoln to replace Grant - although his alcoholism was repeatedly discussed.
But Lincoln always had Grant's back: "I can't do without this general. He fights.”

So now Grant is President himself (the next picture shows him in the "White House")...



...and his tenure will go down as the most scandalous in US history (perhaps only surpassed by that of President Donald Trump).

In Grant's administration one corruption scandal followed the next - and even if there was nothing to prove himself, the corruption reached into his closest surroundings!

His vice president, the interior minister, the war minister, the navy minister, the finance minister and the justice minister had to resign because of proven bribery and other crooked deals (illegal stock and gold speculation).

At the same time, President Grant did nothing to prevent the formation of the notorious and overpowering "trusts", huge corporate complexes that dominated far more than just one industry (and politics) and were ruled like kingdoms by powerful tycoons like John Pierrepont Morgan or Nelson D. Rockefeller - and whose financial strength and power far exceeded that of some European countries.

By the end of his first term, Grant had lost all credit in his own party, the Republicans. In order to at least remain active and to avoid the public humiliation of not being nominated for a second term of office, he voluntarily decided not to run again and withdrew into private life.

Grant, who smoked at least 20 large cigars a day, died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885 in Wilton, New York.

He and his wife Julia...



...are buried in the "Grant's Tomb" in New York City, the largest mausoleum in North America...:

Ron Chernow wrote an excellent biography “Grant” ..of course there are probably hundreds….as addendum- he spent his last years writing his autobiography..thur the ravages of his throat cancer..finished..died…

Probably the best general of the Civil War. Martin’s depiction of him at Cold Harbor is not quite accurate. It’s unbalanced and biased against Grant. Very easy to criticise a defeat and apportion blame. I think the Confederates had something to do with the 7000 Union casualties too. Perhaps Martin should read more widely on the man, and the war to gain a better understanding of him.

Grant’s Vicksburg campaign in 1863 was a masterpiece of the operational art. After three years of stalemate in the East, once appointed General in Chief, and commencing the Overland Campaign, he bought the war to an end in 11 months. His manoeuvring around Lee’s flank forced Lee to react and lose the initiative. Yes the campaign was bloody but he made Lee’s army the objective and destroyed it. How many more men would have died had the war dragged on for another few years?

Easy bro..Martin is the reporter not the historian..l concur with much of what you say but it’s not Martin being biased..personal attacks arent warranted here

No personal attack intended Grasshopper. Martin is the historian - he is posting his version of history. I am simply commenting on that version. Surely that’s allowed. Choosing Cold Harbor as a demonstration of his generalship is unbalanced and biased.
Regards
Chris

This is still a touchy subject among ACW history buffs here in the US. He had orders to win the war and he did. Brutality was normal, it was war. Sad that he did go on to be a horribly corrupt President but doesn't hold a candle to today's standards.

Steve

I knew that what I wrote about Grant would create controversy.

Therefore, I have abstained from ANY judgment about his actions as a commander.

1.
I deliberately referred to him as a "controversial" commander (not a "good" or "bad" one!), which is undoubtedly true.

2.
As a young officer, he was faced with a choice of being court-martialed or resigning from the army because of frequent instances of drunkenness on duty.

3.
He was nicknamed "Butcher" by his own officers and soldiers because of the exorbitantly high casualties of his campaigns.

4.
There were at least a dozen interventions with Lincoln to remove him because of this (and because of his extreme alcoholism), including two by the Secretary of War himself.

5.
At Cold Harbor his own divisional commanders refused further orders from him to attack.


These are all assessments of Grant by his contemporaries (not mine!), but they weigh very heavily because they were expressed by important figures on his own side (not the Confederacy!).

6.
Vicksburg and the meaning of this victory for the further war I wrote about.

I haven't even mentioned that he also ordered the greatest war crime of the Civil War, Sherman's "March to the Sea."
(This march was pure terror against civillians - as Sherman wrote himself.)

And that Grant was a lousy president, with a cabinet of deeply corrupt ministers, no one would seriously dispute.

Basically, I'm happy about absolutely every comment on my "Today in history" articles!

After all, our hobby is "painted history" and I created this series two and a half years ago to focus a little more on this historical side of the hobby.


Cheers

Keep at it Martin…I enjoy these and look for them daily…there must be a ton of work involved…don’t be deterred…at least people are reading and thinking..

john