Person Page - 1368

     Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant)[1] (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) served as the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As general-in-chief of the Union Army during the American Civil War, he led the North to victory against the Confederate States in the Civil War.

Following his graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1843, Grant served as a lieutenant in the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848.[1][2] After he had resigned from the army in 1854, he struggled to make a living and worked as a real estate agent, laborer and county engineer.[1][3][4] In 1861, he joined the Northern effort in the Civil War.[5] Rapidly earning a reputation as one of the North's most aggressive generals Grant rose quickly through the ranks. He was appointed lieutenant general by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.[6] He implemented a strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's military and its economy.[7] In 1865, after mounting a successful war of attrition against the Confederacy, he accepted the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.[1]

Enormously popular after the Union's victory, Grant was elected to the presidency in 1868. Reelected in 1872, he became the first president to serve two full terms since Andrew Jackson did so 40 years earlier.[8] As president, Grant led Reconstruction by signing and enforcing civil rights laws. He helped rebuild the Republican Party in the South, an effort which resulted in the election of African Americans to Congress and state governments for the first time.¹