I'm proud to recognize President Grant's many accomplishments with this resolution as we plan a bicentennial celebration honoring his service 200 years after his birth in Point Pleasant, Ohio," Brown said in a press release in September introducing the legislation.While other Union generals dithered, Grant took aggressive action against the rebellious states of the Confederacy.Īccording to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, African Americans looked on Grant with favor: “Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was Grant who actually freed the slaves.” "Grant's exemplary leadership on the battlefield could only be overshadowed by his commitment to a more just nation for all Americans during the Reconstruction Era. If Grant is promoted, he will have beat the nation's first military leader and president by nearly 40 years. It took Washington 195 years to be promoted posthumously to the rank of General of the Armies his promotion was formalized on March 13, 1978, and backdated to July 4, 1976, to commemorate the Bicentennial. It will be up to Biden to determine whether to grant Grant a new rank. The House passed the defense policy bill Thursday, and the Senate is expected to approve the measure in the coming weeks. Anne Marshall's assessment of this delayed promotion as not only recognizing his generalship but also his leadership in trying to secure civil rights for the freed people during Reconstruction." "I am hoping that passes," Waugh said in an email to. Grant: American Hero, American Myth," is considered one of the top retrospectives of Grant's life. UCLA Professor Emeritus Joan Waugh is among the historians who has delved into Grant's personality and legacy. Grant traditionally has ranked as one of the worst American presidents, but his reputation has improved in the past several decades in part due to a reexamination by biographers that cast new light on his military leadership style and victories, accomplishments as a leader and his abilities to settle disputes.
#Ulysses s.grant accomplishment series#
While his administration had its share of scandals, and he made a series of poor choices in domestic and foreign policy, Grant also was known for instituting laws that provided rights for Black Americans, as well as policies that sought to destroy groups including the Ku Klux Klan.Īfter two terms, plagued by dissent and opposition, Grant elected not to run for a third term, although he later would try again. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, Grant remained in the Army, eventually entering politics and ascending to the presidency in 1869. The rest is history: the first major Union victory in Cape Girardeau, Missouri wins at Shiloh, Chattanooga and Vicksburg but also disastrous losses at Cold Harbor and Petersburg, Virginia.Īfter accepting Confederate Robert E.
He served as a military aide to the governor of Illinois and established 10 regiments in the Illinois militia, earning a promotion to colonel and a command. Promoted to captain in 1853, Grant was assigned to California, where, away from his family, he began to drink - reportedly favoring Old Crow bourbon - and was reprimanded on several occasions, leading to his eventual resignation.Īfter the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861, however, Grant requested to be recommissioned. He first saw combat in 1846 against Mexico near what is now Brownsville, Texas, and excelled throughout the Mexican-American War as a quartermaster and in combat. "His leadership held our nation together at a perilous time in history."Īn Ohio native, Grant, whose ancestors fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, received a nomination to West Point in 1839 and graduated in 1843 as a second lieutenant, assigned to the infantry. Grant was an incredible leader who proved himself to be one of the most influential military commanders America has ever seen," Wagner said in an April press release marking Grant's birthday this year. The lawmakers wrote Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in April asking that he review Grant's military record and report to Congress his thoughts on the merits of a posthumous promotion.
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