How long was grant president

He missed Dent and his two sons — the second of whom he had not yet seen at this time — and thusly became involved in several failed business ventures in an attempt to get his family to the coast, closer to him.

He began to drink, and a reputation was forged that dogged him all through his military career. In the summer of , Grant was promoted to captain and transferred to Fort Humboldt on the Northern California coast, where he had a run-in with the fort's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert C.

On July 31, , Grant resigned from the Army amid allegations of heavy drinking and warnings of disciplinary action. In , Grant moved his family back to Missouri, but the return to civilian life led him to a low point. He tried to farm land that had been given to him by his father-in-law, but this venture proved to be unsuccessful after a few years.

Grant then failed to find success with a real estate venture and was denied employment as an engineer and clerk in St. To support his family, he was reduced to selling firewood on a St. Louis street. Finally, in , he humbled himself and went to work in his father's tannery business as a clerk, supervised by his two younger brothers.

This act of rebellion sparked Grant's patriotism, and he volunteered his military services. Again he was initially rejected for appointments, but with the aid of an Illinois congressman, he was appointed to command an unruly 21st Illinois volunteer regiment. Applying lessons that he'd learned from his commanders during the Mexican-American War, Grant saw that the regiment was combat-ready by September When Kentucky's fragile neutrality fell apart in the fall of , Grant and his volunteers took the small town of Paducah, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Tennessee River.

In February , in a joint operation with the U. Navy, Grant's ground forces applied pressure on Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, taking them both — these battles are credited as the earliest significant Union victories of the American Civil War. After the assault on Fort Donelson, Grant earned the moniker "Unconditional Surrender Grant" and was promoted to major general of volunteers. In April , Grant moved his army cautiously into enemy territory in Tennessee, in what would later become known as the Battle of Shiloh or the Battle of Pittsburg Landing , one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

Confederate commanders Albert Sidney Johnston and P. Beauregard led a surprise attack against Grant's forces, with fierce fighting occurring at an area known as the "Hornets' Nest" during the first wave of assault. Confederate General Johnston was mortally wounded, and his second-in-command, General Beauregard, decided against a night assault on Grant's forces. Reinforcement finally arrived, and Grant was able to defeat the Confederates during the second day of battle.

The Battle of Shiloh proved to be a watershed for the American military and a near disaster for Grant. Though he was supported by President Abraham Lincoln, Grant faced heavy criticism from members of Congress and the military brass for the high casualties, and for a time, he was demoted.

A war department investigation led to his reinstatement. Union war strategy called for taking control of the Mississippi River and cutting the Confederacy in half. In December , Grant moved overland to take Vicksburg — a key fortress city of the Confederacy — but his attack was stalled by Confederate cavalry raider Nathan Bedford Forest, as well as due to getting bogged down in the bayous north of Vicksburg.

Grant and his wife had been invited to accompany the president that night but declined in order to visit family. By the summer of , tensions were running high between Johnson and the Radical Republicans in Congress, who favored a more aggressive approach to Reconstruction in the South.

The president removed a vocal critic of his policies, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton , from the Cabinet and replaced him with Grant. In January , Grant resigned the war post, thereby breaking with Johnson, who was later impeached but acquitted by a single vote in May That same month, the Republicans nominated Grant as their presidential candidate, selecting Schuyler Colfax , a U.

In the general election, Grant won by an electoral margin of and received more than 52 percent of the popular vote. At age 46, he became the youngest president-elect in U.

Grant: Known for Scandals, Overlooked for Achievements. Ulysses Grant entered the White House in the middle of the Reconstruction era, a tumultuous period in which the 11 Southern states that seceded before or at the start of the Civil War were brought back into the Union. As president, Grant tried to foster a peaceful reconciliation between the North and South. He supported pardons for former Confederate leaders while also attempting to protect the civil rights of freed slaves.

In , the 15th Amendment , which gave black men the right to vote, was ratified. Grant signed legislation aimed at limiting the activities of white terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan that used violence to intimidate blacks and prevent them from voting. At various times, the president stationed federal troops throughout the South to maintain law and order. He also tried, with limited success, to improve conditions for Native Americans.

The treaty resulted in improved relations between the United Kingdom and the United States. The group nominated New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley as their presidential candidate. The Democrats also nominated Greeley, hoping the combined support would defeat Grant. Instead, the president and his running mate Henry Wilson , a U.

He also continued to grapple with issues related to Reconstruction. Grant did not seek a third term, and Republican Rutherford Hayes , the governor of Ohio, won the presidency in During his first term, a group of speculators led by James Fisk and Jay Gould attempted to influence the government and manipulate the gold market. The failed plot resulted in a financial panic on September 24, , known as Black Friday. Even though Grant was not directly involved in the scheme, his reputation suffered because he had become personally associated with Fisk and Gould prior to the scandal.

Another major scandal was the Whiskey Ring, which was exposed in and involved a network of distillers, distributors and public officials who conspired to defraud the federal government of millions in liquor tax revenue. Through these difficult times, he relied on his wife, Julia Dent Grant. The two were a devoted couple and adoring parents to their four children. When the American Civil War began in , experienced officers like Grant were in short supply. The Illinois governor assigned him to make a disciplined fighting unit out of the rebellious Twenty-First Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Lieutenant Colonel Grant drilled the men, instituted badly needed discipline, and soon earned the respect of the volunteers. The Army noted his efforts and promoted him to brigadier general. Grant garnered attention as he led his troops to fight and win battles in the Western Theater.

In the last year of the war, he was both praised and criticized for his willingness to fight and sustain a high number of casualties. At that point, General Grant was the most revered man in the Union.

Lincoln's tragic assassination at the end of the Civil War was followed by the ineffective leadership of President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee. Johnson urged a moderate approach to Reconstruction that would not punish the South or protect the rights of the newly freed slaves beyond emancipation. Radical Republicans wanted to ensure the civil and political rights of African Americans.

In the election of , postwar social and economic policies were the major campaign issues. The Republicans backed Grant, who concluded his acceptance speech with "Let us have peace. Coming into office, President Grant alienated party stalwarts by rejecting party politics. When he appointed his cabinet, he did not turn to Republican leaders for their advice.

Instead, he chose people he thought he could trust and to whom he could delegate responsibility. This strategy led to some good cabinet appointments but also to a number of dubious ones. Grant was also loyal out of all proportion to anyone who had helped him or worked with him. As a result, he was sometimes unwilling to remove ineffective people, and some areas of his administration suffered from incompetence and corruption. Unfortunately, the experiment in good government would last only two years.

Many legislators resented having to give up one of their most lucrative perks, so in Congress failed to fund the commission, ending its work. Grant left the presidency in March Urged on by his wife, among others, he considered a third term, which would have been unprecedented—but still legal.

Garfield , who went on to win the presidency. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.

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