Ulysses S. Grant

When Grant arrived at West Point he found his appointment was in the name of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant’s parents named him Hiram Ulysses Grant. Grant never bothered to change the clerical error and was known as Ulysses S. Grant. Later, Grant was called "Unconditional Surrender Grant" after Confederate Simon Boliver Buckner surrendered Fort Donelson to him. Grant was also often called Sam Grant. While a cadet at West Point, Ulysses S. Grant was known as an exceptional horseman. Grant did not stand out as having exceptional talents in anything else while at West Point.

• Ulysses S. Grant wanted a commission in the cavalry when he finished at West Point. Instead, Grant wound up in the infantry because the cavalry had no vacancies. Grant was a horseman, and this assignment to the infantry must have been a disappointment for him.

• Ulysses S. Grant served with generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott during the Mexican War.

• After the Mexican War, Ulysses S. Grant was stationed in California. He was without his wife and children, and very bored. Grant took to excessive drinking. He resigned his commission in 1854 and his resignation was accepted by the United States Secretary of War. The Secretary of War accepting Grant’s resignation from the United States Army was Jefferson Davis. Davis was the future president of the Confederate States of America.

• Grant’s favorite horse during the Civil War was Cincinnati. An admirer gave Cincinnati to Grant after the battle of Chattanooga. Cincinnati was seldom ridden by anyone other than Grant. One notable exception being President Abraham Lincoln, when Lincoln last visited City Point, Virginia. Other horses Grant had in the Civil War were; Jack, Fox, and Kangaroo. Kangaroo was left on the Shiloh battlefield by the Confederates. This horse was described as ugly and raw-boned. Grant however, having an eye for horses, knew that Kangaroo was a thoroughbred. After becoming a Yankee horse, Kangaroo got rest and care and he became a fine horse.

• Ely Samuel Parker was a Seneca Indian, a son of a famous Seneca chief, and also a Union officer. He first studied law but was refused admission to the bar because he was not a citizen. Parker graduated from Rensselaer as an engineer. In 1857, Ely Parker was working in Galena, Illinois where he became a friend of a store clerk named Sam Grant. Sam Grant, was Ulysses S. Grant and during the Civil War Ely Parker became General Ulysses S. Grant’s military secretary. Ely Parker’s penmanship was exceptional. When Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Ely Parker transcribed the official copies of the surrender documents.

• Ulysses S. Grant never swore. His explanation for this:
  "Well, somehow or another, I never learned to swear, when a boy I seemed to have an aversion to it, and when I became a man I saw the folly of it. I have always noticed, too, that swearing helps to rouse a man’s anger; and when a man flies into a passion his adversary who keeps cool always gets the better of him. In fact, I could never see the use of swearing. I think it is the case with many people who swear excessively that it is mere habit, and that they do not mean to be profane; but, to say the least, it is a great waste of time."

• On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln’s day was spent visiting with callers and attending a Cabinet meeting, which included General Grant. Lincoln explained to General Grant that he was having a recurring dream about a ship "moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore." Now that the Civil War was over, topics of discussion during the Cabinet meeting included the problems of reconstruction, and the treatment of Confederate leaders. That evening, the Lincolns went to Ford’s Theater to see the play "Our American Cousin." While enjoying the play at Ford’s Theater Lincoln was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth.

After the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant became an author, Secretary of War under President Johnson, and in 1868 became President of the United States. Grant served two terms as president. Ulysses S. Grant finished his two-volume autobiography, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, only days before he died of throat cancer in 1885. Grant’s memoirs were published by Mark Twain’s firm and 300,000 copies were sold. These sales earned $450,000 for Grant’s widow, Julia. Grant’s autobiography is thought to be one of the best autobiographies written in the English language.

Barnes&Noble: Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher

Abraham Lincoln – Five dollar bill picture.

Abraham Lincoln was now fifty-six years old. At six feet and four inches tall, Lincoln often wore clothes that did not fit just right, he was described as being gawky or awkward. Lincoln had a tenor, falsetto-like voice, and he’d had only one year of formal education. Nothing about Abraham Lincoln would lead people to think this man was a powerful speaker. Note: You may read about Andrew Johnson’s drunken behavior during Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural in this post.

As Lincoln began his Second Inaugural Address, the horrible weather eased. The wind stopped, and the sun broke through the clouds to illuminate Lincoln at the podium. No one knew yet exactly when the The Civil War would end, but it was now nearing an end. President Lincoln began to look ahead, and included in his Second Inaugural Address are these memorable words:

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

In the gathered crowd listening to Lincoln was Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a former slave, abolitionist, speaker, and newspaper editor. When Lincoln gave his First Inaugural Address, Douglass thought Lincoln was much too soft toward the South. Douglass twice met with Lincoln, once in 1863 and again in 1864. Douglass’ opinion of Lincoln ran hot or cold depending upon the current situation of the Civil War, and Lincoln’s leadership. After Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address, he sought Frederick Douglass out at a following reception. Lincoln wanted to know what Douglass thought of the speech. Douglass said to Lincoln; "Mr. Lincoln, that was a sacred effort."

Barnes&Noble: Tried by War, by James M. McPherson

A photograph of that day shows a twenty-six-year-old actor in the crowd listening to Lincoln as he gives his Second Inaugural Address. The young actor’s name is John Wilkes Booth, and he hates Abraham Lincoln. Only forty-one days later, Abraham Lincoln would belong to the ages … assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is one of his best speeches. Today, it is engraved on the north wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Fellow-Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war–seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Early the next morning on April 15, 1865 Booth and David Herold, an accomplice in the assassination, had made their escape into Maryland where they called on Dr. Samuel Mudd to treat Booth’s broken leg. Mudd was an acquaintance of the well-known and popular actor Booth. Booth and Herold then stayed briefly at the Mudd house before continuing on in their escape to Virginia. John Wilkes Booth was eventually shot dead by pursuing Union soldiers in a Virginia barn.

Barnes&Noble: Union vs. Dr. Mudd

In 1865, a jury of Army officers convicted Mudd and seven others in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. David Herold was one of the four hanged (along with Mary E. Surratt, Lewis T. Powell, and George A. Atzerodt) on July 7, 1865 for conspiracy in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Dr. Samuel Mudd was found guilty of conspiracy but was spared the hangman’s noose by one jury vote. Dr. Samuel Mudd was sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson. Fort Jefferson, with sweltering conditions of heat and humidity, was a harsh place to be imprisoned, it being approximately 70 miles west of Key West, Florida in the Dry Tortugas. President Andrew Johnson pardoned Mudd in February, 1869 and on March 8, 1869 Dr. Samuel Mudd was freed from the prison. During Dr. Mudd’s time at Fort Jefferson he helped stop the spread of a yellow fever epidemic that had ravaged through the prison.

There has been continuing controversy about whether or not Dr. Samuel Mudd was involved in the assassination conspiracy, or was only a country doctor helping a man with a broken leg. Doctor Mudd’s guilt or innocence, in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln is still debated.

In 1992 an administrative board of the Army made the recommendation that Mudd’s conviction be expunged because Mudd was a civilian. However, following Army secretaries and a federal judge, turned down this recommendation. A court decision in November, 2002 dismissed an attempt to have expunged the 1860s military commission conviction of Dr. Samuel Mudd. Thomas Mudd is the grandson of Samuel Mudd, and he plans to seek a review of the 2002 court decision by the full appeals court. If this fails, Thomas Mudd intends to ask the United States Supreme Court to intervene.

Barnes&Noble: American Experience: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (DVD)

Dr. Samuel Mudd was absolved by President James Earl "Jimmy" Carter in 1979 of involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. It is a curiosity that the former television anchorman Roger Mudd, is related to Dr. Samuel Mudd.

As President Abraham Lincoln is enjoying a play at Ford’s Theatre the evening of April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth sneaks up behind the president and shoots him in the head. Lincoln dies early the next morning. After Booth escapes from Ford’s Theatre, Federal cavalry and troops throughout Maryland and Virginia pursue the fugitive assassin.

Early the morning of April 26, John Wilkes Booth is nearing his fate. Booth and David Herold (an accomplice in the assassination) are hiding in a tobacco barn owned by Richard H. Garrett near Bowling Green, Virginia. Federal troops commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Everton Conger surround the tobacco barn and Conger orders the suspects to come out and surrender. David Herold gives up and is quickly taken into custody.

Barnes&Noble: Manhunt

For a few hours, John Wilkes Booth stages a standoff while he rants from within the barn. To force Booth out of Garrett’s tobacco barn, Conger orders his troops to set the barn on fire. As the barn burns, Sergeant Boston Corbett sees an opportunity and shoots Booth in the neck. The paralyzed and mortally injured assassin is drug from the burning barn to the porch of the Garrett house. Around seven in the morning, John Wilkes Booth dies on the Garrett porch.

"Useless! Useless!"

As he lay dying, Booth looked at his hands and spoke those last words.

President Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 in the morning.

Upon Abraham Lincoln’s death, it was reported Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said; "Now he belongs to the ages." Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was a tragedy. The nation was in mourning.

Barnes&Noble: They Have Killed Papa Dead

Some in the defeated South were joyous over the news of Lincoln’s death…it had been a long, hard, bitter, and bloody war.

Others in the South realized they had lost a friend on their path to reconstruction and healing after the war. Lincoln’s death was not good news for the people of the South. Some leaders coming to power after Lincoln’s death would not have Lincoln’s conciliatory ideas for the South.

Almost immediately after his assassination, discussion begins for a memorial of some type for President Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in 1922. The Lincoln memorial has 36 columns to signify the number of states that were in the Union during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Carved into the marble of the south wall of the memorial is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

The Lincoln Memorial faces toward Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s former home of Arlington House, located across the Potomac River.

On April 14, President Abraham Lincoln spent his day visiting with callers and attending a Cabinet meeting. Among those at the Cabinet meeting was General Ulysses Grant, Lincoln explained to Grant that he was having a recurring dream about a ship "moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore." Now that the Civil War was over, topics of discussion at the meeting included the problems of reconstruction, and the treatment of former Confederate leaders.

That evening, the Lincolns were planning a visit to Ford’s Theatre to see the play Our American Cousin. Lincoln asked General Grant to be his guest that night, but Grant declined the president’s invitation. Instead, Lincoln and his wife Mary would attend the performance of Our American Cousin accompanied by two other guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Miss Clara Harris.

Previously, President Lincoln had found some brief refuge from the Civil War when he attended a play at Ford’s Theatre on November 9, 1863. Lincoln then saw a play named The Marble Heart, cast in this play was a young and well-regarded actor named John Wilkes Booth. Booth would not be acting in Our American Cousin on the evening of April 14, but he too, planned to be at Ford’s Theatre during the play’s performance.

That evening, the Lincolns, Major Henry Rathbone, and Miss Clara Harris, were all enjoying the play. Two of the play’s characters exchange the following lines during the third act:

Mrs. Montchessington: I am aware, Mr. Trenchard, that you are not used to the manners of good society.

Asa Trenchard: Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal – you sockdologizing old mantrap!

After the above lines in the performance of the play, the audience would always burst out loudly in laughter. John Wilkes Booth knew that in this scene of the play, the audience’s loud laughter would happen as if on cue. At this moment, Booth used a .44 caliber derringer to shoot President Lincoln in the back of his head at nearly point blank range. Booth slashed Major Rathbone with a knife, and then leapt onto the stage as he shouted; "Sic semper tyrannis" ("Thus always to tyrants"). Booth broke his leg as he landed on the stage, but he escaped out of Ford’s Theatre to a back alley, and a waiting horse. All this occurred at about 10:15 P.M. It was Good Friday.

Barnes&Noble: Tried by War

President Lincoln was unconscious, but still alive. He was moved across the street from Ford’s Theatre to the Peterson house. Taken into a back bedroom, the six-foot-four inches tall Lincoln was placed diagonally upon a bed that was too short for him. President Lincoln’s head wound was very severe. There was nothing much that could be done for the president now, except to watch and wait.