Creativity Magazine

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

By Mrstrongest @mrstrongarm

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden TalentPresident Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden TalentPresident Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden TalentUlysses S. Grant led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War. He later served as the 18th president of the United States (1869-77).President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

I’ve learned some interesting things about him.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies in December, 2022. It’s the highest military rank in the U.S. Army.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant is one of only three men to achieve it. The other two are John J. Pershing and George Washington.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
Many military historians consider Grant the most capable and accomplished general in American history.
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

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President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Grant’s father arranged for him to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point when he was 17 years old.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

A clerical error had listed him as Ulysses S. Grant. He thought the error might jeopardize his chances of being accepted at the school, so he adopted the new name.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

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President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant had been invited to join President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, the night Lincoln was assassinated. He declined because he and his wife had made plans to visit their children.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant described Lincoln’s death as the “darkest day of my life,” and bitterly regretted not being there, thinking he might have been able to prevent the assassination.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

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President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Grant is an unsung civil rights hero. In his review of Ron Chernow’s biography of Grant, Thomas Ricks writes that

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

“Grant possibly did concretely more for black equality than anyone before or since, though that history is unrecognized even in today’s black community.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

“He broke the power of the Ku Klux Klan through legislation, military force and prosecution… Grant established the U.S. Justice Department in 1870 to prosecute the KKK and support the civil rights (and voting rights) of African-Americans.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

“So many Klansmen were prosecuted and jailed that the Klan was broken as a force in the south and did not rise again until the 1920s.”

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

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President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

After leaving the presidency, Grant became a partner in a financial firm. Another partner embezzled investors’ money. The firm went bankrupt and Grant lost everything.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

That same year, he learned he had throat cancer. To earn money, he began writing magazine articles about his Civil War experiences. An editor suggested he write his memoirs.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

He signed a contract with none other than Mark Twain who had established a publishing company. Grant died a few days after finishing the book. His Personal Memoirs was a bestseller.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

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President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

I was astounded to learn that back in his cadet days, Grant was a talented artist. He took drawing classes at West Point because “it was important for officers to be able to sketch accurate maps, and, during wartime, show enemy deployments and fortifications.”

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent

Eight of the watercolor paintings he created at West Point survive, including the two shown below. You can see all eight paintings here.

President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent
President Ulysses S. Grant: Five Facts & A Hidden Talent


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