Volta
Person1822 – 1885

Ulysses S. Grant

Also called: General Grant

Union general who took Vicksburg, became general-in-chief in 1864 and received Lee’s surrender; 18th US president (1869–1877)

A West Point graduate who served in the Mexican War, he left the army and failed at several ventures. Rejoining when war came, he took Fort Donelson in 1862, earning the name “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, and led in the West at Shiloh and at Vicksburg in 1863. Made general-in-chief in 1864, he pressed Lee relentlessly and received his surrender at Appomattox in 1865. As president for two terms from 1869 he pushed Reconstruction and the protection of Black Americans, but his administration was marred by corruption scandals. The memoirs he wrote at the end of his life are counted a literary achievement.

Show on the map

Where they went

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

4 related events

  1. 1
    1862Battle of Shilohcommander

    Confederates surprised Grant’s army camped at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, but reinforced the next day, the Union drove them back; the two days cost more than 23,000 casualties.

  2. 2
    1863Fall of Vicksburgcommander

    Grant’s army besieged the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg for 47 days and forced its surrender; the Union gained control of the Mississippi, cutting the Confederacy in two.

  3. 3
    1864Fall of Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Searelated figure

    Sherman’s Union army took Atlanta, the South’s rail hub, then marched across Georgia to Savannah on the Atlantic, destroying railways, farms and supplies along the way.

  4. 4
    1865Surrender at Appomattoxcommander

    Driven from Richmond, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War.

People who appear alongside

  • William T. Sherman1820 – 1891

    Union general who took Atlanta in 1864 and marched across Georgia to the sea, destroying the South’s means of making war

  • Robert E. Lee1807 – 1870

    Confederate general who led the Army of Northern Virginia to many victories, lost at Gettysburg and surrendered at Appomattox in 1865

  • Jefferson Davis1808 – 1889

    Mississippi politician, former US secretary of war and senator, and the only president of the Confederacy (1861–1865)

Themes this person appears in

  • The American Civil War1850 – 1865

    From the Compromise of 1850 to Lincoln’s assassination — a nation divided over slavery fought four years of civil war, preserving the Union and ending slavery