Ulysses Simpson Grant - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages He implemented strategies that mobilised the union army successfully concluding the Civil War in 1865.
However the two terms of his presidency were comparatively less successful and almost all his attempts directed towards reconstruction and establishing social and economic stability in the states failed. The attempts to harmonise the society ultimately failed leading to an increasing divide in between the whites and blacks.
During the earlier phase of the civil war Grant worked in the state of Illinois where he mustered in volunteers in the Galena regiment and later took it to the state capital, Springfield. s In the capital he continued mustering more individuals in the army and hence raising many regiments. Taking note of this acts of grant, and impressed with his performance, he was appointment as a colonel of the Illinois volunteer regiment. He inculcated military discipline in the newly recruited soldiers of the regiment. Grant, successfully as a leader, led these regiments against pro-Confederate guerrillas in Missouri and achieved initial success. Taking note of his exceptional performance, and on account of the leadership skills that he displayed, he was raised as brigadier general.
Grant was successful in winning some of the earlier victories for the Union forces with the capture of Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River and Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. The unconditional surrender of confederate Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner, along with his 14,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender". With this victory, he gained the promotion to major general of volunteers. However, with the spiritless and inefficient display at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee in April 1862, Grant earned the anger of the men in north. Later in 1862, Lincoln promoted Grant as the commander of all Union forces in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Besides leading his own Army of the Tennessee, Grant now had at its command, the Army of the Ohio.

Grant worked out strategies for attack on Vicksburg in Mississippi, in the autumn of 1862. That was one of the Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. Having failed in several attempts during the winter, Grant devised a new strategy of attack. In April 1863, marching his army towards south along the west side of the river, he took position on a point well below the heavily defended city. There, with the aid of the Union river fleet, he crossed the river and began a swift march eastward. On May 12, 1862 he captured Jackson, Mississippi, the capital of the state, directly east of Vicksburg. Then he turned west toward Vicksburg.

Later, in the mid of May at Champion's Hill and Big Black River, Grant defeated General John C. Pemberton, commander of the Confederate forces defending Vicksburg, and drove him to prepared positions within the city. Grant's assault on the main Confederate works at Vicksburg failed, however, and he resorted to a siege or isolation of the city from supplies or reinforcements to compel it to surrender. The siege lasted six weeks. On July 4, 1863, bottled up on land and prevented by Union forces from escaping across the river, Pemberton surrendered his 30,000 men to Grant. With effective war strategies and able administration, he was able to convert this was in to victory, one of his ...Download file to see next pagesRead More