Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) American general and 18th president of the United States (1869-1877) won fame for his capture of Vicksburg (1863) and defeat of Robert E. Lee (1865), thereby winning the American Civil War.

Early career

Grant was born April 27, 1822, in a two-room cabin at Point Pleasant, Ohio. His father, Jesse Root Grant, was descended from undistinguished Puritan forebears who had immigrated to Massachusetts in the early 17th century. His mother, Hannah Simpson Grant, was a typical hard-working and pious frontier woman. The elder Grant was a tanner who by hard work and native shrewdness managed to acquire a modest competence. Lacking much education himself, he was determined that his sons should have the best the community offered. From the time he was 6 until he was nearly 17, young Grant regularly attended school, first in Georgetown, Ohio, to which the family had moved soon after he was born, and later at nearby academies. WHile working on the family, he developed a fondness for horses almost amounting to a passion and a liking for outdoor life that in after years stood him in good stead.

Bibliography

Biography

• Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (2004), 208pp ISBN 0-8050-6949-6 excerpt and text search
• Garland, Hamlin. Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, (1898), 524pp full text online
• Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (2004) 161 pp
• Longacre, Edward G. Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier And the Man (2006) excerpt and text search
• McFeely, William S. Grant: A Biography, (1981), ISBN 0-393-01372-3, Pulitzer prize, but negative twoard Grant. excerpt and text search
• Mosier, John., "Grant", (2006), 224pp; ISBN 1-4039-7136-6. excerpt and text search
• Simpson, Brooks D. Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, (2000), ISBN 0-395-65994-9. first volume of major scholarly biography excerpt and text search
• Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, (2001), ISBN 0-684-84927-5. excerpt and text search

Military

• Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882. full text online
• Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, (2004), ISBN 0-8078-2893-9.
• Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2.
• Carter, Samuel III, The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862-1863 (1980)
• Catton, Bruce, Grant Moves South, 1960, ISBN 0-316-13207-1; Grant Takes Command, 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1; U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition (1954)
• Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel, The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (1989)
• Conger, A. L. The Rise of U.S. Grant (1931) online edition
• Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986).
• Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship,
• Gallagher, Gary W. ed. The Wilderness Campaign (1997) excerpt and text search
• Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.
• Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8.
• McWhiney, Grady, Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (1995)
• McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977).
• McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984).
• Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994).
• Martin, David G. The Vicksburg Campaign: April 1862-July 1863 (1994) excerpt and text search
• Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (1988) excerpt and text search
• Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955.
• Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989).
• Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5–6, 1864, (1994) ISBN 0-8071-1873-7. excerpt and text search
• Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7–12, 1864, (1997), ISBN 0-8071-2136-3. excerpt and text search
• Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13–25, 1864, (2000), ISBN 0-8071-2535-0. excerpt and text search
• Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 – June 3, 1864, (2002), ISBN 0-8071-2803-1. [ excerpt and text search]
• Simpson, Brooks D, "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant," in Gary Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds., The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, (2000)
• Trudeau, Noah. Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864 (2002) excerpt and text search
• Williams, Kenneth P. Lincoln Finds a General: A Military Study of the Civil War (5 vol 1959)
• Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962.

Politics

• Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (2001) ISBN 1-931313-85-7 online edition
• Mantell, Martin E. Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction (1973) online edition
• Nevins, Allan. Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936) online edition, covers the diplomatic and some political history of his administration
• Rhodes, James Ford., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7 (1920) vol 6
• Scaturro, Frank J. President Grant Reconsidered (1998). excerpt and text search
• Simpson, Brooks D. Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991). excerpt and text search
• Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents (1998)
• Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: a Reconsideration." White House Studies (2005) online

Primary sources

• Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs (1885) online edition
• Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) (The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-94045058-5
• Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (1962) pp 131-73, on the Memoirs
• Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887-88; essays by leading generals of both sides; online edition
• Porter, Horace, Campaigning with Grant (1897, reprinted 2000)
• Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875.
• Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- ) multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878.