General Ulysses S. Grant, USA

General Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1843, was commissioned a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant, fought with distinction in the Mexican War, resigned from the Army in 1854 after eleven years of service, and returned at the outbreak of the Civil War. The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, his first major victories in that war, earned him promotion to Major General of Volunteers, and later victories at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga led President Lincoln to champion him as an aggressive officer. After assuming command of all the Union armies in March 1864, he began the Overland Campaign against the Confederates and kept the Southern armies on the defensive, captured Richmond and Petersburg, and pursued Lee's army to Appomattox, helping bring the Civil War to an end. Grant summarized his theory of war as finding the enemy, striking as soon and as hard and as often as possible, and keeping moving on. After the war he commanded the Army until his inauguration as President of the United States on March 4, 1869. During two terms as president, he promoted fiscal conservatism, negotiated a settlement of difficulties with England, and enforced Reconstruction legislation. After a celebrated tour around the world, he wrote his Personal Memoirs shortly before dying of throat cancer on July 23, 1885, and the two-volume work is considered one of the greatest autobiographies in the English language.

Arlington, Virginia · United States