Lee & Grant - Worthy Adversaries Documentary

the man known to history as robert edward lee was born on the 19th of january 1807 in stratford hall virginia his father was henry lee iii who was born into a privileged family and was also a famous american revolutionary war hero henry lee grew up in one of the foremost families in virginia as his mother lucy grimes was once courted by george washington while his father henry lee ii bred horses when henry iii turned 14 he attended princeton with other founding fathers like aaron burr and james madison standing out amongst his peers it was during this time that henry lee became wrapped up in revolutionary sentiment and joined the continental army he climbed through the ranks and earned the nickname light horse harry following the cavalry charge he led at the battle of paulus hook new jersey which drew the attention of george washington following the war he served as the governor of virginia robert e lee's mother was ann hill carter who was born into a prestigious and wealthy plantation family anne's father charles carter was a fifth generation plantation owner of the shirley plantation ann carter married henry lee the third during his governorship on the 18th of june 1793 in the governor's mansion parlor room following his retirement from the governorship anne moved in with henry lee at the family's holdings together the couple had a total of six children but only five survived into adulthood with robert e lee being the fifth child born when robert e lee was only one the family fell on hard times as the main source of income the stratford plantation was taken via entail and given to henry's son from his first marriage henry lee iv the lost revenue was just one financial disaster that fell upon the family as henry lee had terrible luck in land speculation and ended up in debtors jail twice while protecting one of his friends who opposed the war of 1812 henry lee was injured severely and left the family to recover robert e lee would not see his father again as he died on the 25th of march 1818 on cumberland island georgia was trying to reunite with his family ultimately robert's father became known simply as the man who wrote washington a bad check lee spent his time with his widowed mother in a modest home though this was only possible due to the carters leaving a small legacy to sustain her the family lived at the ravensworth plantation which was owned by one of anne's relatives william henry fitzhugh ravensworth plantation would serve as the backdrop for lee's depressing childhood as the house was on the outskirts of alexandria in the swampy mosquito infested and unhealthy part of town the house's interior was never painted while the leaves resided there and they did not live alone as they frequently shared with borders lee did not live a privileged childhood but he had fond memories of his pet lobster and hummingbird which began his love of animals yet they sadly both passed on the same day lee spent his summers swimming in the potomac and playing in the local springs he attended a plantation school in fukuiri county before attending the alexandria academy at the age of 14. he received an excellent education whilst attending the alexandria academy learning literature algebra as well as the classics lee's family was well connected to the virginia aristocracy this led to fitzhugh pending a letter to united states secretary of war john c calhoun imploring that he allow lee a spot at the united states military academy west point fitzhugh had lee deliver the letter personally to calhoun which resulted in lee being enrolled at west point in 1825 for all of lee's life he had lived in the world of slavery and now that he would be attending west point he would be entering a world where slavery was all but extinct but despite the lee's financial situation they maintained four slaves left and by her father lee was accustomed to being surrounded by slaves but as he went further north the number of enslaved blacks lessened and whilst they were still not equal many held freedoms lee was not accustomed to west point at the time focused heavily on engineering thanks to its superintendent private major sylvanas thayer before thayer had arrived at west point it was marred with drunkenness disorder and riots but he transformed the academy into a prestigious institution he introduced the famed cadet uniform with grey coats starched white trousers and plumed black leather hats with polished brass scales for the chin straps when lee arrived in june of 1825 there were roughly 200 cadets who would be given an exam intended to weed out those who were idiots and misfits following that the cadets who made it through the examination were paired with three other cadets who shared a tent together the tentmates had to purchase a joint toilet a looking glass a wash stand and a basin pitcher tin pail broom and a scrubbing brush the quality of the food was often described as poor yet lee never complained about it wealthier cadets who snuck out of west point would visit gridley's tavern to eat drink and smoke most who went out would be given a demerit but lee never received any demerits accomplishing a feat few others achieved the curriculum consisted heavily of mathematics and french as mathematics was crucial for military officers of the era whilst france was the only ally to the united states and most military textbooks were in french the marquis de la fayette often visited west point to inspect the cadets and these visits inspired lee as lafayette and his father henry had fought together in the american revolution bringing 18th century heroes into evolving 19th century military tactics lee's daily regime at west point started at 5 30 a.m with the ravalli following a full day of mathematics and french classes along with hours of independent studies the cadets finished their day with full dress drills parade and inspections the cadets day would officially end at 10 pm and whilst all cadets maintained a busy schedule lee made many friends during his time at west point one such friend was troublemaking third year cadet jefferson davis who was caught going off grounds to the local tavern to get drunk he was only allowed to remain due to his previous good standing when lee's first year at west point finished he was third in his class and achieved a rating of 285 and a quarter out of 300 total points available he was placed on a list with the other distinguished cadets and lee's status among the good and the great was odd for a man new to the academy his reputation would earn him the nickname marble man for his emotionless expressions whether he won or lost during lee's second year drawing was included in the curriculum as officers were expected to be able to draw a usable map lee was made a senior cadet and tutored many of his fellow cadets in mathematics he was enamored by the campaigns of napoleon bonaparte and read multiple books about his campaigns many of these books were new to the united states showing the impressive collection west point had also lee's ability to read french with relative ease allowed him access to these texts as they would not have been translated into english many of napoleon's tactics would be used by lee on the battlefield as like napoleon he refused to fight on the defensive and preferred to use rapid attacks and bold flanking maneuvers following lee's second year he maintained second place standing in his class and applied for leave to visit his mother who now lived with lee's oldest brother charles carter lee in georgetown his mother's health had greatly deteriorated since lee went away to west point and when he came home he took control of her care lee returned in 1827 for his third year at west point and added physics and chemistry to his course list lee was introduced to battalion tactics and artillery use on the battlefield he enhanced his knowledge by reading machiavelli hamilton russo and john paul jones his wide command of different subjects outside of the military or engineering made him a special officer though he remained in second place in his class when lee started his final year he was given the position of adjutant of the corps which is the highest position a cadet can hold he would take his final exam on the 1st of june 1828 finishing second once again only to charles mason upon graduating lee was given his choice of commission as a lieutenant in the engineer corps a prize worthy of a top student at west point though his achievements while at west point would bring joy to leave for a time another family hardship would hit him hard lee had just arrived home when it became clear his mother would not recover and in a couple of weeks of his return home anne passed away following his mother's death lee spent much of his time in arlington virginia especially with mary anna randolph curtis the two met during lee's first furlough and he made a good first impression whilst attending house parties in his gray cadet attire ironically they were seen as a mismatched pairing as lee was never late and was overly organized while mary was almost always late and scatterbrained despite this the two took their time with supervised visits and hoped eventually for a future together with the blessing of mary's parents on the 11th of august 1829 lee received orders from washington to report to major samuel babcock of the corps of engineers in coxsper island georgia unfortunately for lee coxburg island was a depressing hostile location with heat humidity fever and mosquitoes which made summer work unbearable but it was also near where his father was buried the corps of engineers had been attempting to build a fort to protect the mouth of the savannah river but was struggling to succeed lee immediately got to work even getting involved in the labour himself although most of his work would be destroyed by storm after the labour season ended major babcock would not return to cogsper as he was replaced with lieutenant jkf mansfield mansfield lacked confidence to complete the project and in turn would be replaced with captain delafield lee and delafield immediately began outlining new plans for the fort with lee acting as the draftsman savannah would teach lee a valuable lesson with regards to the sedated decision-making of the corps of engineers and how projects lacked sufficient funds and were located in the worst places possible he felt that if a situation was hopeless to change you should remove yourself from the situation and so lee used his connections in washington to get him reassigned to old point virginia at fort monroe transferring to fort monroe would bring him closer to mary and his smart decision-making would set him apart from others on his way to fort monroe lee stopped in arlington to see mary and whilst there he finally convinced her father to let them marry mary took lee to the dining room to eat and lee asked mary if she would marry him the couple would marry on the 30th of june 1831 and mary decided to share lee's quarters at fort monroe she did so and they lived there completely on their own without any support from her father the two were quite unique as mary had a tendency to boss lee around the house something unusual in the era nonetheless the two maintained a strong bond and it was during this time that the lees acquired a place in arlington a location which enabled him to put down roots something he never had during his childhood the arlington house as it would be later called was heavily inspired by lee's relatives house mount vernon or george washington's plantation the couple moved into lee's quarters at fort monroe in august of 1831 but his ability to work would be affected by problems with the authority of the garrison between the fort and school leader brevit colonel eustis and the engineer leader captain andrew tulcott disputes rose frequently between the two men mainly because the laborers for the engineering corps were disruptive to military procedures which vexed private colonel eustis despite the conflict between the army and the engineers lee excelled and took on vast amounts of responsibility despite his inferior rank to many other officers lee worked hard to complete fort monroe which would become known as the gibraltar of chesapeake bay and it was during this time at fort monroe that america's only effective slave revolt occurred in southampton county virginia which became known as the nat turner rebellion nat turner was an educated slave who preached to other slaves about the evils of slavery and how one day god would release them from their chains allowing them to enact their revenge against their owners an eclipse gave turner the sign he was looking for and he started his rebellion on the 21st of august 1831. as a result of the rebellion fort monroe received three companies of artillery to deter any further rebellions this event would shock the south as the myth of happy slaves was ultimately laid to rest it also resulted in stricter laws regarding the freedom of slaves robert e lee was always consistent regarding his view on slavery and its effects on society he was never an enthusiastic supporter and in a letter to mary he stated that quote slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil in any country it is useless to expansiate on its disadvantages i think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race and while my feelings are strongly enlisted on behalf of the latter my sympathies are more strong for the former although lee expressed disapproval of the institution of slavery he still held the common view in the latter half of his letter that quote the blacks are immeasurably better off here than in africa morally socially and physically the painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their instruction as a race and i hope will prepare and lead them to better things how long their subjugation may be necessary is known and ordered by a wise and merciful providence lee held a young moderate southern gentleman's view on slavery while he agreed that slavery was immoral he believed that the problem of slavery would be handled by god in his time and it was not the responsibility of politicians or slave owners to answer the question while lee's approach was more of inaction towards the institution despite his objection to it others would take a different approach henry clay john randolph and richard bland founded the american colonization society to sponsor the creation of liberia to send free blacks back to africa in order to satisfy slave owners they were to be compensated for the loss of their slaves ultimately the liberia plan failed in its initial goal and as tensions rose it was written off as a slaveholder scheme the politics at fort monroe continued and despite lee's low rank he always seemed to have more influence than senior officers such as colonel eustis this is believed to be because general gratio the chief of the corps of engineers had more political sway in washington dc over the chief of artillery lee would lead the project to extend and reinforce a 15-acre artificial island which would eventually become fort wool this new fort would be used to support and defend fort monroe with crossfire at enemy vessels though the work was steady he gained no joy from it and began to doubt his choice to join the military the new soldiers who arrived at fort monroe brought new social life primarily in the form of drinking although lee would abstain for the most part and never understood the obsession with getting drunk unlike many of his fellow young officers he was never seen as being stuffy and was considered to be great company to be around he kept his distance from his peers and was a reserved man mary would visit lee at fort monroe in june of 1832 and it would be during this time that the couple would announce the impending arrival of their first child the lee's first child would be george washington custis lee who was named after his grandfather george washington's adopted son mary would spend much of her time raising him at arlington between 1832 and 1834 lee would essentially take charge of the engineers at fort monroe from his friend and superior captain tulcot who was frequently absent yet his time would be short at fort monroe as in 1834 lee would be transferred to washington dc to the war department lee found the office work at the war department to be monotonous with the chances of being promoted relatively slim while the pay was even worse but he would enjoy the birth of his first daughter mary custis lee in 1835 during this time general gratio hardly visited the project sites leaving lee in charge of overseeing their progress he was bound by endless red tape and would only be saved from the paperwork when he was dispatched to assist his old friend captain tulkart in the midwest territories in 1835. in the state of ohio and the territory of michigan fighting broke out over a small section of land known as the toledo strip the toledo strip spanned 500 square miles and included the important port of toledo this conflict would eventually result in the toledo war which was little more than a brief skirmish as the only injury was a michigan deputy who was stabbed by a boy with a pen knife during the dispute captain tolkat and lieutenant lee surveyed the area to better determine the boundaries of ohio and michigan and ultimately michigan lost the toledo strip to ohio but in return it received the upper peninsula which would be the cause of the rivalry between ohio and michigan following his surveying of the ohio and michigan border lee was dispatched in 1837 to st louis to solve a major problem the mississippi river was cutting a new channel that threatened the port that brought trey to saint louis and lee was the only suitable candidate to tackle the assignment the porters in louis was an important transportation site as many americans who traveled west to california and oregon would meet there and should leave fail westward expansion might come to a complete halt lee had two objectives save the port and waterfront and remove as many trees as possible from a 200-mile stretch of the mississippi river along the missouri iowa border the technology of navigational engineering was still in its infancy during lee's time in st louis and lee needed to find a way to curb the river's natural will to change direction the cause of engineers had dumped tons of boxed sand around bloody island in order to push the current towards saint louis and away from the new channel but the boxes were smashed which only worsened the situation by increasing the bar after the wooden boxes failed they tried using teams of oxen to dredge up the sand yet that attempt too would ultimately fail the river was not impossible to tame as lee had learned many lessons and knew that he must create barriers that were strong enough to channel the current that would also create resistance to destroy the dykes lee reflected back to his days at west point specifically a french textbook on hydrodynamics and used that as his inspiration for the project the original idea was to use the undergrowth to snag debris that floated down the mississippi river the lees had their third child on the 31st of may 1837 this time a boy william fitzhugh lee despite being overjoyed at the newest addition to the family the pay lee was receiving in the army was slowly lessening his ability to take care of his family properly but lee's work in st louis did not go unnoticed and in july of 1838 he was promoted to the rank of captain in the summer of 1839 on the 18th of june the lees welcomed their fourth child and carter lee to the family however his work in st louis would be stopped by angry illinois citizens who opened fire on his workers with cannons out of fear that the progress lee was making would cut them out of the increasingly lucrative trading along the mississippi river the illinois citizens had hoped to prevent the growth of st louis in order to force trade through their city and an injunction was issued by the second illinois circuit halting all work on bloody island lee had worked hard to improve the conditions along the mississippi but by the summer of 1840 he returned to saint louis to finalize the affairs of the army by selling the equipment it had purchased for the work lee was then reassigned to new york city to oversee the reconstruction of forts hamilton and lafayette along with the battery positions on staten island the restoration of these fortifications was vitally important as the only major threat to american authority was great britain as they were the only nation who had the means to bring the fight to american shores yet before his arrival in new york the lees had their fifth child eleanor agnes lee on the 27th of february 1841 his duties in new york were deemed significant enough to encourage his family to move with him yet mary and his children would not join him right away mary's unwillingness to move to new york at first was criticized by many as she would have been expected to go wherever lee went yet in her defense she had five children between 1832 and 1841 and suffered from arthritis and general poor health mary would join lee in new york in the spring of 1843 but would leave shortly after when she found out she was pregnant with their sixth child robert e lee jr on the 27th of october 1843 but lee was still in new york focusing on the forts although lee was a skilled engineer he had very few other accomplishments which would bring him the attention he deserved however he did have one highlight on his resume lee was named as a member of the board of examiners at west point in 1844 he would spend two weeks at west point overseeing and judging the final exams of the cadets along with major general winfield scott the commanding officer of the u.s army who formed a positive opinion of lee during the time they spent together scott was a large towering figure of the day also a hero from the war of 1812 with the nickname old fuss and feathers lee was never the type of person to use flattery to advance himself like many other officers although this would never have worked on general winfield scott as he was known to soak up flattery like a sponge so lee used his intelligence instead to impress him the impression lee made on general winfield scott gave him some advantages as from 1844 to 1846 he acted as a congressional liaison for the chief of engineering while simultaneously working in new york he was also appointed to be a member of the board of engineers for the atlantic coast defense and during this time in early 1846 mary gave birth to the lee's final child mildred child who was affectionately called millie by lee the action which lee was seeking would eventually happen when events out west began to heat up mexico and the united states were trying to establish hegemony over the west as the territory was increasing in population density the origin of the disputes go back to 1810 when moses austin was granted land in texas by the mexican government the mexican government hoped the american settlers would provide a buffer between the raids of the comanche tribe and the mexican citizens instead the americans overwhelmed the mexican government who did not have the administrative or military ability to keep them in line the ineffectiveness of the mexican government to corral the american citizens would result in the overthrow of the government by general antonio lopez de santa anna who was nicknamed the napoleon of the west he would both threaten to take military action on the american settlers and offer to sell them more land general santa anna made good on his threats and attacked the texan held mission called the alamo from the 23rd of february to the 5th of march in 1836 the 100 men garrison held off the 1 500 strong mexican army but the alamo fell on the 6th of march the women and children of the mission were allowed to leave but the men were slaughtered at the site leading to the famous battle cry remember the alamo which stirred the american public into a frenzy following the massacre at the alamo the texans routed the mexicans at the battle of san jacinto which forced mexico to recognize texan independence ten years later texas would be annexed by the united states in 1845 mexico was outraged at the annexation of texas while the northern states were irate at the addition of another slave state into the union mexico broke off its diplomatic relations yet president james polk wished to maintain diplomatic relations in order to purchase california and new mexico mexico continued to experience political instability as the mexican presidency changed four times the ministry of war six times and the finance ministry 16 times despite this instability if there was anything that could unite the mexican people it was the hatred for losing texas to the americans the border between the united states and mexico was disputed as mexico believed the border was along the nueces river while the united states believed the border lay along the rio grande as a result president polk sent brigadier general zachary taylor to occupy the land but they were attacked by a mexican cavalry unit killing 16 americans the thornton affair as it became known gave the american government the cause to attack mexico as polk argued to congress that american blood has been shed upon american soil in response general taylor moved swiftly against the mexican army defeating them twice at palo alto and then at risaka de la palma the americans outclassed the mexican army with its advanced weapons which included the speedily deployed horse artillery and the colt revolver the outbreak of the mexican war gave lee the opportunity he was looking for to better his rank in the military and on the 19th of august 1846 he would be dispatched to san antonio de bexar texas to report to brigadier general john e wool general wool and captain lee were stopped along the rio grande when a mexican officer appeared with a flag of truce reporting that general taylor had defeated a mexican army at the battle of monterey apparently general taylor had accepted an eight-week armistice in return for its surrender this armistice as lee and others speculated only served as a barrier to allow santa anna to recruit and train new soldiers to fight against the americans and on the night of the 18th of november news reached camp that the armistice had been cancelled by president polk to the relief of lee and the other soldiers lee and the army advanced deep into enemy territory towards paris to support general worth in saltillo and arrived two days before christmas lee led a scouting mission to determine the position of the mexican army and was quite determined in his pursuit his tenacity impressed general wool who made lee his acting inspector general lee would learn that being persistent whilst carrying out reconnaissance paid off and also to not take exaggerated reports seriously general wool was ordered to join up with general taylor in bueno vista to support him against santa ana where santa anna was routed by force of 5 000 americans against his 14 000 mexican force lee left to join general scott on the 17th of january 1847 and upon his arrival was accepted into scott's general staff and inner circle lee was quartered on the flagship uss massachusetts sharing his room with former west point classmate joseph e johnston in total 12 000 men would be under general scott's command for the invasion of veracruz do you remember how you loved cereal as a kid would you like to live those days again you can now with magic spoon it's a tasty nutritious cereal in delicious flavors like blueberry cinnamon maple waffle and even cookies and cream magic spoon is not only delicious but also good for you and there's a flavor for everyone it comes in 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of march where lee first saw the imposing island fortress of san juan de ulua which guarded the city lee boarded the patrita along with general scott to survey the beaches but the ship strayed too close to the fort leading to an opening salvo from the fortress this was the first time in lee's 22-year-long military career that he had been under fire on the 9th of march 2595 soldiers went ashore with no resistance from the mexican army and during the night of the 22nd of march the american mortars opened fire by the 27th of march veracruz had fallen to the americans lee's first taste of battle would leave him disheartened as he would write to mary that it was awful my heart bled for the inhabitants the soldiers i did not care so much for but it was terrible to think of the women and children lee never had a love for glory for his own sake and his first battle left him melancholy general scott then looked to mexico city which was 280 miles away but his supply lines would be stretched thin the united states army had no intelligence concerning where santa anna's army was located let alone their size santa anna had returned to mexico city following his defeat to bueno vista and raised a new force of twelve thousand general scott left veracruz with six thousand troops and found santa anna at sarah gordo where he held an imposing defensive position following a reconnaissance mission lee informed general scott there was a potential pathway they could cut to the extreme left flank of santa ana's line without them knowing scott agreed and gave lee the opportunity to guide a division to the mexican army and commence the battle on the 18th of april in preparation for the assault the soldiers started scaling the hill on the 17th of april but they made too much noise and alerted the mexican army who started advancing down the hill they counter-charged up the hill pushing the mexican army back before finally establishing a hold on the summit of la atella ultimately the mexicans were defeated at the battle of cerro gordo and the americans only suffered minor casualties in comparison to the mexican army lee's actions at the battle of cerro gordo earned him a promotion to brevit major and praise from all of his superiors lee would leave with scott along with lieutenants pgt beauregard and george b mcclellan towards mexico city following a small engagement at molina del rey the army was now in position to assault chapultepec an important fortress as it overlooked mexico city which would allow for continuous assaults as a senior engineer lee argued against a direct assault on the fortress but lee was overruled and led pillows division to the west flank of chapultepec the first assault was pushed back but the second assault was successful with lee climbing the slope accompanied by lieutenants james longstreet and george pickett lee was injured during the assault but was able to help general pillow away from the battle following the fall of chapultepec nearly all mexican resistance collapsed but mexico city wouldn't be fully pacified until two days later due to santa anna releasing armed criminals from the local prison it was a solemn piece as many americans believed they had bullied mexico throughout the war lee would be promoted to brevard colonel for his actions at chapultepec and eventually returned home on the 29th of june 1848. it took roughly 32 years from the time he started as a cadet at west point for lee to rise to brevit colonel and in comparison to other officers at the time he advanced only slightly faster than the average officer while lee would not receive a proper promotion he was elevated to serve as the superintendent of west point in 1852 a major accomplishment and a compliment to his teaching abilities although lee was not thrilled at the prospect as he unusually complained to his friend pgt beauregard that there was an impossibility of either giving or receiving satisfaction from overseeing west point nonetheless he worked hard bettering the cavalry school by lobbying for new stables and a practice ring it is also possible that lee designed the new facilities himself as they were very similar to the stables at lee's home in arlington under lee's guidance west point produced the finest cavalry officers of the era he cared about the well-being of the cadets but he could not cuddle them or else they would prove to be poor officers west point cadets were notorious for their high jinks along with their readiness and undisciplined behavior as a result lee would turn towards corporal punishment demerits and the worst of cases the expulsion of the cadet from the academy to maintain discipline those who did not possess the skills needed to become an officer were allowed to resign despite lee's doubling down on disciplinary measures the problems plaguing west point was still not fixed during his two and a half year tenure lee received his first true promotion in march of 1855 when secretary of war jefferson davis offered lee a lieutenant colonel post in the second cavalry this promotion would come at the cost of lee's position in the corps of engineers and also meant he had to leave his family behind whilst lee had longed for the opportunity to leave the corps of engineers his time in texas would be unpleasant a series of personal tragedies befell him as both his mother-in-law and his sister mildred died a little over a year later his father-in-law george custis died in october of 1857. he was the only father figure in his life and now he was gone not only did he lose family members but he lost his favorite mare who ran off with a wild horse after his father-in-law's death lee returned to arlington to settle the affairs of custer's estate which were in disarray due to years of neglect custis left his 196 slaves to their own devices towards the end of his life only expecting them to cultivate their own personal gardens to grow their food the change in ownership brought uncertainty as they had no control over their destiny lee would invest a large sum of money into the estates to upgrade the living quarters for the slaves partially quote to do what is right and best for the people but also because he needed their labor to make a profit to settle the debts custis had left as a result lee unintentionally caused disquiet amongst the slaves when he began hiring out slaves to other plantations without communicating how long they would be gone the slave community at arlington had been together since their time at mount vernon as they had been allowed to stay together unlike other slaves whose families had been broken up custis will did free his slaves as he was a member of the american colonization society however lee made use of a provision which allowed him to retain them until the debt had been paid as a result the slaves began to test lee's resolve to keep them on the plantation sometimes in open rebellion they asserted they were legally as free as lee was yet they had almost no legal grounds to declare their freedom some of those who attempted to test lee were wesley norris his sister mary and their cousin george parks who ran away from the plantation in late spring of 1859 they were eventually captured and brought back to arlington accounts of their punishment spread in excruciating detail in the abolitionist papers which would sometimes greatly exaggerate the accounts to generate attention this does not mean the punishment such as whipping which norris received were not true as lee and other witnesses do corroborate the general accounts of the event but they disagree with the exact details norris claimed that lee personally whipped him and the other slaves as punishment yet a man of lee's standing in southern society would never have doled out punishment himself it would have been a blotch on lee's social standing if he personally dealt the punishment which may have been the reason behind the accusation on the 17th of october 1859 j.e.b stewart otherwise known as jeb stewart road to arlington requestingly attend the war department immediately lee immediately left with stuart entering into a meeting with president james buchanan along with several cabinet members john brown an abolitionist and 18 other men had just taken a federal arsenal at harpers ferry killing a few civilians and taking hostages lee and stuart were both sent via a special train to take control of the situation from the local militia who corralled brown's forces in the engine house of the arsenal when brown refused to surrender the marines sent with lee stormed the engine house leaving one marine and two of brown's freedom fighters dead lee would dismiss brown's attempted revolution as the attempt of a fanatic or a madman that could only end in failure lee along with many other future major players such as thomas jackson edmund ruffin and john wilkes booth would watch brown's execution unknown to lee brown's raid at harpers ferry virginia had lit the fuse for the events of the next five years following the events in harper's ferry lee was asked to return to texas in february of 1860. many southerners were relieved of their posts due to the increased talks of secession by southern state representatives lee was appalled at the idea of deconstructing the country and saw it as anarchy yet lee like many others would choose to side with whatever path their state would take americans had a sense of responsibility to family and state over the nation as a whole which played a significant role in the coming conflict he swore to never take arms against the united states but if virginia left the union he would give his life to defend her ultimately the choice would be left to a statewide convention but its decision would not be made soon on the 13th of march 1861 lee attended a reception for military officers at the white house where he met with abraham lincoln for the first and only time president lincoln knew of lee's uncertain allegiance and hoped to maintain lee within the union he offered him the position of colonel in the first regiment of cavalry a position lee could not afford to turn down yet peace would become unattainable in early april when lincoln decided to resupply fort sumter which was being blockaded by rebel forces under the direction of pgt beauregard general beauregard gave the order to fire on fort sumter on the 12th of april 1861 and edmund ruffins is credited with firing the first shots of the war fort sumter would fall on the 14th of april 1861 and lee underwent intense questioning from general scott requesting he either side of the union or resign his commission lee resigned his commission on the 20th of april 1861 and boarded a train to richmond to assess the situation he never intended nor expected a commission in the confederacy but upon his arrival in richmond he learned he was to be offered commander in chief of all confederate forces as many have said lee's decision was an inevitable one he had to make and his fate would be tied to virginia virginia officially seceded on the 23rd of may 1861 and as the decision was made general scott ordered union troops across the potomac occupying parts of virginia including lee's home in arlington arlington would eventually be seized by the government for further military uses and following the first battle of bull run would serve as a cemetery for the union dead under the direction of quartermaster general montgomery meigs he ordered the dead be buried to encircle the entire house at arlington lee was dismayed about being prohibited from leading the first engagement at bull run yet was given the chance to push the union from cheats mountain but ultimately failed he was then given a chance to redeem himself in the spring of 1862 as he took charge following the battle of seven pines where joe johnston was wounded by the summer general mcclellan launched the peninsula offensive in the hope to move on richmond the confederate capital as a result lee ordered ambrose p hill to strike at the union flank on the 26th of june the next week will be known as the seven days battles it was a tactical victory for the confederates as mcclellan was forced to retreat lincoln was appalled at mcclellan's weakness and quickly replaced him with general john pope in august lee learned that pope would receive reinforcements from mcclellan doubling the union's forces lee called for stonewall jackson to join the army of northern virginia to attack pope at bull run lee's main force was led by general james longstreet who drove pope's right flank across the bulrun river pope's failure at the second battle of bull run led him to be replaced again by mcclellan with the union pushed out of the south lee invaded maryland sending jackson to harpers ferry while longstreet headed further north lee decided to reconvene his force of 40 000 to attack mcclellan despite mcclellan's force doubling lees lee broke up his army in order to attack a large garrison of union troops in harpers ferry leaving him open to attacks mcclellan intercepted a copy of lee's battle strategy and quickly moved to attack him pushing his forces back from south mountain this small battle gave lee time to select the battlefield of his choice in the town of sharpsburg along the antietam river lee made a tactical blunder by choosing sharpsburg or as it's better known antietam antietam is a cul-de-sac saddled with the potomac on two sides and the antietam river on the third leaving only one exit for lee to retreat to virginia however hooker seemed to be incompetent to lead the army and he made several mistakes such as leaving porter's core in the reserves and nearly his entire cavalry stacked on the left near a bridge on the 17th of september 1862 the union attacked lee's left from the hagerstown pike and his center at antita with a third attack planned for the right flank william french's division from summer's cause were ordered to attack the confederate position of d h hills division stationed at the bloody lane as the day went on and the division holding the bloody lane was weakening they fled from the position in a moment of confusion hooker did not take advantage of the situation though and their assault ground to a halt hooker earlier in the day told ambrose burnside to attack but he was slow to act burnside charged roarback bridge multiple times until they finally broke tombs division lee's right wing almost collapsed until ap hills division which was force-marched from harper's ferry saved the day as ap hill pushed burnside's cause back to antietam creek lee and jackson questioned the chances of a successful counter-attack against hooker's right flank ultimately a wide flanking maneuver was not possible as hooker was well positioned near the potomac in order for a counter-attack to succeed jackson would have to march his core through a corridor less than a mile wide with meat positioned just above the north woods jackson attempted to silence mead's guns with stewart's light smoothbore guns but were annihilated within 15 minutes ultimately jackson concluded that a counter attack would not be made on the union's right flank ordering his men and guns back to their original position antietam would be the single bloodiest day in american history with a combined loss of 22 700. while lee left the field to mcclellan the loss on the union side outweighed the territory gained when mcclellan failed to pursue he was fired again from his post the pyrrhic victory at antietam influenced lincoln to announce the emancipation proclamation on the 22nd of september freeing all slaves in the south and although this had little authority it did increase the flight of slaves to the north who would fill the ranks of the union army by the middle of november burnside took the army of the potomac across the rappahannock river towards fredericksburg virginia tactically burnside blundered by not rushing to richmond as lee was out of position floods caused by rainstorms prevented burnside from taking advantage of the situation allowing lee time to reposition himself burnside's engineers braved confederate sniper fire from lee's army while building a pontoon bridge to assault their position as a result burnside ordered artillery strikes on the town to suppress the snipers but ultimately failed to stop them and only gave away his true intentions jackson's forces were called up from his positions at skinner's neck and port royal brigadier general william barksdale was tasked with delaying burnside's advance however he had other plans in mind as burnside tried to cross barksdale's men heavily contested the landing making it the first opposed river crossing in american history his small division refused to abandon fredericksburg and fought in the narrow alleys and homes also making it the first time urban combat was used in the civil war barksdale would eventually be forced out by the growing presence of union forces in the city and on the 11th of december a few more brigades entered into the city of fredericksburg who sacked the city of its valuables despite the orders of the union officers to cease burnside spent all of the 12th december moving his army across the rappahannock river to position his attack his plan was to take sumner grand division and slam into long street's left flank while franklin would attack jackson's core right flank in a pincer maneuver in the meantime lee had positioned himself along the ridge line and the fredericksburg railway cut which ap hills division occupied burnside's strategy was suicidal due to the limitations of the ground suitable to attack as regiment after regiment pushed towards mary's height despite lee's comfortable position behind the stone walls the battle was a slaughter for the union troops as their dead number doubled the amount lee lost burnside wished to continue the attack but his generals encouraged him to withdraw his poor performance and his use of the troops at his disposal led him to be replaced by general joseph hooker in may of 1863 lee would get the chance to test hooker on the battlefield at chancellorsville virginia hooker was ambitious as he split his forces into three columns with his far left column advancing along the southern rappahannock and the other two advancing through the wilderness towards chancellorsville he planned to double envelope lee by attacking his front and rear simultaneously hooker also sent his entire cavalry to raid towards richmond which left him entirely blind to lee's movement lee split his forces into two sending jubal early with ten thousand troops to fredericksburg to deter general sedgwick from attacking while lee took fifty thousand troops to face hooker lee's decision to split his forces caught hooker off guard and as a result he recalled his two core from their strategically advantageous position back to chancellorsville these two core had already advanced on the enemy's position and were infuriated at having to withdraw through the wilderness again losing their tactical advantage jackson followed cautiously and met with lee at night to discuss the situation lee was vastly outnumbered against hooker especially since he had sent longstreet's core to confront attacks south of richmond and forage for supplies yet despite this the army of northern virginia took an aggressive stance instead of taking a defensive position jackson undertook a risky 16 mile march around the flank of general howard's 11 corps jackson deployed four brigades in the evening on the 2nd of may at 5 pm and issued a simple order you may go forward as jackson unleashed his men to pounce on the union flank scores of wild animals ran from the woods as though they were fleeing a fire jackson rolled up the union 11 core flank catching them completely by surprise and driving them from the field many pockets of resistance formed and eventually the maneuver slowed down this daring flank attack caused hooker to form a defensive horseshoe around chancellorsville following his successful flanking jackson went with a few fellow officers at night to scout the new union position upon running across a union picket they returned back to their lines where they were mistaken for union cavalry and fired upon jackson was fatally wounded and would die eight days later of pneumonia lee was in distress over the news and famously said in regard to jackson's wound that quote he has lost his left arm but i have lost my right then after stonewall's retirement from the field ap hill with whom jackson had a personal feud was himself wounded in the fighting resulting in jeb stewart assuming command of the corps however he had never commanded inventory before and so he resolved to wait until he could receive instructions lee and stuart attacked simultaneously against hooker who had been knocked unconscious before the battle had begun when a cannonball struck the house hooker was staying in by 10 am on the third of may the union army retreated across the rappahannock leaving chancellorsville to lee yet at the same time lee learned that general early had been pushed from his position in fredericksburg by general sedgwick upon him learning of jackson's flanking of hooker this attack would go no further as cedric retreated from his position following the failed attack to route early and lee would turn his attentions to the north following his victory at chancellorsville lee's plan was to take the war to the north as much of his time campaigning had been spent in virginia the death of jackson left a considerable hole in lee's leadership and as a result he broke his two core into three retaining long street and promoting ap hill and richard ewell to core commanders this new structure would be awkward as long street held the experience while ewell was indecisive and hill almost too aggressive lee took his army of 75 000 into pennsylvania where they would eventually land at the town of gettysburg hooker followed lee but would ultimately be replaced by george meade who placed himself between lee's army and washington dc jeb stewart uncharacteristically left lee's army to raid further north and harris the army of the potomac to try and atone for his humiliation at brandy station but instead left lee blind and guessing as to the whereabouts of the union army on the 1st of july 1863 union cavalry general john buford held the ground on mcpherson's ridge when elements of henry heth's division appeared and started to push them off the ridge just as buffered was about to be forced off the ridge reynolds first corps showed up to support him and reynolds was cut down while ordering troops into the gap the confederates attacks were uncoordinated at first but ultimately broke the union army by early afternoon who retreated in chaos jamming up the streets lee gave his most unclear order to his newest corps commander yuel as he was instructed to take cemetery ridge if practicable yule being indecisive did not believe he would be able to take cemetery ridge with his men and decided to rest them for the remainder of the day the union was now organizing on culps hill cemetery hill and cemetery ridge all of which would be important to win the battle at night longstreet implored lee to rethink his strategy head south and position themselves between mead and washington dc and wait for the union to attack them on their own terms lee was determined to break the union army forgetting everything he had learned while at west point and more specifically his lessons he learned by reading from napoleon on the 2nd of july lee focused the attacks on the wing of the union army which had formed a fishhook to allow for fast deployment of troops where they were needed the eager and arrogant corps commander daniel sickles disobeyed orders and broke from the union line occupying the sherpy's peach orchard forcing need to desperately fill in the gaps long street sent hood's four division to attack sickle's position while hill threatened the center and yule was tasked with taking cemetery hill long street's attack was successful as sickles was overrun from his position fierce fighting continued around little round top which was protected by the 20th main because if little round top fell the whole union army could have been rolled from its flank meanwhile on the right flank yule started his attack in the evening and easily overwhelmed portions of cemetery ridge yet union reinforcements were able to push them back on the third day of the battle lee believed that the union center was weak which in theory should have been correct but he was wrong as mead had reinforced his core guessing lee would initiate his attack in the center lee had been effectively beaten already at gettysburg and yet made the questionable decision to attack mead's center in march of 1863 lee suffered a medical episode the exact diagnosis was unknown but it was cardiac related this medical event potentially caused lee to make the controversial decision to charge mead's center using pickets division now known as pickett's charge pickett's division would have to march over one mile of open ground to reach the union line exposed to both union artillery and then rifles at short range lee started with a grand artillery barrage to soften the union center which failed to respond to the attacks believing the barrage had worked when in fact the confederate artillery had overshot the union line pickett's charge proceeded as planned only when the confederates came out of the woods and were at the point of no return did the union artillery open fire those confederates who made it to the union line were either killed or captured completely shattering pickett's division lee's defeat to gettysburg broke the army of northern virginia and they retreated back to virginia having lost more than a third of his army in the three-day battle in which half alone were killed in pickett's charge lee would not engage with the union army again until the 4th of may 1864 in the battle of the wilderness where he faced off against general ulysses s grant longstreet would be wounded by his own troops and be out of action for six months while lee and grant bloodied each other in consistent counter-attacks against one another lee personally led from the front until his men forced him to the rear by guiding his horse away from the battle lee would pull back to spotsylvania and prepare for grant's first assault on the 7th of may leading to an early 2-week long battle as grant tried to navigate around lee grant would lead a doomed assault on cold harbor in june despite having the numerical advantage against lee he would follow up this failure with the nine month long siege of petersburg from june of 1864 to april of 1865 when he finally took the city forcing lee to retreat lee was no longer able to protect richmond which fell on the 3rd of april 1865. grant pursued lee with the help of general sheridan and divisional leader george custer cutting off retreats and attacking supply wagons relentlessly the hounding by the union forces became too much for the beleaguered army of northern virginia and on the 9th of april 1865 lee surrendered to general grant at appomattox courthouse the terms were much more generous than lee had imagined as the side arms of officers private horses and baggage were protected from seizure and each officer and man were allowed to return home on parole so long as they observed their parole terms lee spent the next few days overseeing the disarming and disbanding of the army until the 12th of april when he left for richmond the civil war would officially end on the 13th of may 1865. after the civil war lee lived a relatively quiet life accepting a president's position at washington college lee would be harassed by the northern press throughout his time at washington college for quote bringing up rebels despite lee trying to remove himself from the resentment many southerners felt from losing the war even scolding jefferson davis and jubal early for their aggressive outbursts after the war lee did lose his citizenship and right to vote as a result of his part in the civil war but these would be ultimately restored under president johnson's second amnesty for confederate veterans on the 25th of december 1868. on the 28th of september 1870 lee was following his normal work day before attending a church meeting and then coming home for supper mrs lee poured him a cup of tea and as he spoke to say grace nothing came out of his mouth lee had had a stroke and after two weeks robert e lee passed away on the 12th of october 1870 at 10 a.m robert e lee holds a unique place in american history he has been described as quote a caesar without his ambition of frederick without his tyranny a napoleon without his selfishness and a washington without his reward while lee's view on race is abhorrent in today's light we must judge him by the era he lived in and the question remains would lee be received better today if he had stayed in the union cavalry lee is often romanticized in the aftermath of his death as part of the lost cause narrative the belief that the south fought for a righteous cause lee himself would have vehemently disagreed that the south cause was just as he opposed the construction of statues of confederate icons following the war believing it would prevent the healing of the nation lee was a man filled with the potential for greatness yet his fault at the critical moment was choosing to side with what he felt was right for himself as many did in the civil war robert e lee historian elizabeth breyer is brilliant in her analysis of lee and asserts that quote we want him to be great because he has elements of greatness in him but he falls short because greatness must rest on two pillars for lee to be considered great he must quote create something that not only benefits the world each day but endures and embodies a far-sightedness that reaches beyond the complacency of one's narrow experience lee even admits the immorality of slavery but does not act against the institution he knows is morally wrong and while after the war he called for unity he resisted change that would ultimately better the world what do you think of robert e lee was he wrong to fight for the confederacy and in doing so support states built on slavery or was he an honorable man who defended his home of virginia to the last and remains arguably america's greatest military commander of all time please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching the man known to history as ulysses s grant was born as hiram ulysses grant on the 27th of april 1822 in point pleasant a small rural community in the south west of the relatively young state of ohio his father was jesse root grant a farmer tanner and leather merchant who hailed originally from pennsylvania and who could trace his ancestry in america back to the first establishment of the massachusetts bay colony in 1630. jesse had moved westwards along with so many americans in the early 19th century in search of new opportunities as the united states expanded from the east coast of north america ulysses mother was hannah grant originally hannah simpson her ancestry lay amongst the presbyterian scots who had moved from scotland to ulster in the north of ireland during the 17th century and then emigrated again in great numbers from ireland to north america in the course of the 18th century she had married jesse grant in 1821 and ulysses was their first child she was a deeply religious woman and ulysses is believed to have taken after his mother more than his father although he might well have acquired his anti-slavery stance from jesse who was a proclaimed abolitionist meaning that he wished for slavery to be brought to an end throughout the united states ulysses would grow up in a large household as he had five siblings simpson clara orville jenny and mary the family was well enough off that ulysses was provided with a substantial education at numerous private schools this included a stint at the rankin academy in 1838 this was run by john rankin a noted abolitionist and educator who was prominent in running the underground railroad at the time this was a system of safe houses and transport networks which abolitionists in america used to help escape slaves in the southern states of america to flee from slavery grant was growing up at a time when the united states was expanding swiftly having largely been confined to a series of states along the eastern seaboard of north america in the 18th century american eyes were turning west from 1800 onwards with expansion towards the great lakes in the north and westwards towards the mississippi river and the border with spain's colonial possessions in texas new mexico and california beyond this territorial expansion the social fabric of the country was shifting dramatically under british rule slavery had been practiced throughout the colonies though it was engaged in to a much greater extent in the southern colonies of virginia the carolinas and georgia with their sprawling cotton and tobacco plantations change was on the way though as by 1800 a number of northern states including new york pennsylvania and massachusetts inspired by the abolitionist movement had banned slavery by the time of grant's birth others such as new jersey had become free states while the period of his youth and adolescence saw the states directly to the west such as illinois and michigan followed their more liberal neighbours to the east but the southern states remained unswerthing in the defense of the institution of slavery and so the stage was already being set during grant's youth for a titanic struggle between the northern and southern states ultimately ulysses would find himself foisted into the conflicts of american society in the mid 19th century owing to a decision made by his father in 1839 at this time when ulysses was still just 17 his father requested an acquaintance to nominate his son to the united states military academy at west point in the state of new york then as now the leading military academy in the united states the application was successful though owing to an error in his registration hiram ulysses grant was recorded as cadet ulysses s grant on entry this new name stuck grant was initially skeptical about life at west point but he eventually grew into it acquiring a reputation while there for his equestrian skills though more broadly he was only an average pupil when he graduated in june 1843 he did so ranked 21st of 39 cadets in his class having finished at west point he was quickly appointed to the fourth inventory division and sentencing lewis in the state of missouri as a brevit second lieutenant grant seems to have been relatively uncommitted to a military career at this point and considered this a temporary posting from which he might retire in a year or two yet it was a highly significant period in other ways while at west point grant had befriended frederick tracy dent a fellow cadet who was slightly older than ulysses dent originally hailed from whitehaven near saint louis and grant became a regular visitor at the dent household following his arrival in missouri he had soon struck up a relationship with den's sister julia and in 1844 they were engaged the union though would not be formalized into a marriage for another four years as war on the southern border interrupted their plans in this regard the war which erupted in 1846 was the direct result of the contentious position of texas between the united states and mexico traditionally part of spain's colonial possessions in central america texas had become part of mexico when the country acquired independence from its mother country spain in the early 1820s however texas's position within the broader mexican state was always contentious and in 1836 it broke away into a new republic of texas thereafter it gravitated towards the us and when he was elected as president late in 1844 a major plank of james polk's policy platform was expansion of the united states into texas this was duly accomplished in 1845 with the formal annexation of the republic of texas however mexico was unwilling to accept this new dispensation in particular a boundary dispute arose over where the new border between the u.s and mexico should lie polk's administration favoring the rio grande and the mexican government arguing that the frontier should be located along the more northerly nueces river these issues spilled over into war in 1846 grant's role in the war was limited as a junior officer but also formative in its own way as he fought at the battle of palo alto the first major clash of the war near brownsville in texas on the 8th of may 1846 it was also the first time grant had seen active combat he subsequently served as a regimental quartermaster further west towards california and then in mexico itself in 1847 he earned a commendation for his role in the battle of molino del rey fought near mexico city in september 1847 and so while he did not have any major command during the u.s mexican war it is increasingly viewed as an important period in his career as a military commander it was between 1846 and 1848 that grant gained his first experience of warfare and it was to be the only war he fought in prior to the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 and as such it must be considered his most active training period for the later conflict ultimately the u.s mexican war ended in a total u.s victory having secured the border regions in the opening months of the conflict general winfield scott advanced into mexico itself in the spring of 1847 eventually occupying mexico city a campaign which grant was involved in the resulting treaty of guadalupe hidalgo agreed in february 1848 saw mexico acknowledge u.s control over texas while the rio grande was established as the border between the two nations consequently while the us did not take the opportunity provided by its complete military victory to acquire further land from mexico the peace essentially consolidated its position in texas and established the modern border between the two countries in the aftermath of the u.s mexican war grant returned to saint louis and married julia dent theirs was a close relationship though initially it caused a rupture between grant and his parents who were discontented with the dents being slave owners despite their family squabbling which continued with varying degrees of intensity for decades to come there is little doubting ulysses and julia's affection for one another she had a caste in her left eye and squinted as a result of it a characteristic which years later when ulysses became president she considered having surgery to correct he vetoed the idea stating that he loved her just as she was evidently it was julia's liveliness and other character traits which made ulysses devoted to her eventually they would have four children three boys frederick ulysses jr and jessie and a girl named ellen but ulysses and julia's early family life was repeatedly interrupted by grant's military postings in the years following the u.s mexican war he was moved around several times to different military commands in detroit and new york state but it was finally to california that he was dispatched in the early 1850s gold had been discovered out on the west coast and as settlement increased there around the middle of the century a heightened military presence was needed julia was heavily pregnant at the time and grant was forced to leave her in the east while he headed west the next few years were a bleak period grant was moved around repeatedly across california and the oregon territory in an effort to better support his young family back home he entered into several business ventures on the side each of which failed then he started drinking more heavily the beginnings of a long acquaintance he would have with the bottle and eventually it was repeated acts of drunkenness and the clashes these caused with his commanding officers which led him to resign from the military on the 31st of september 1854 thus at 32 years of age and with no idea of what he might do henceforth grant headed back east to st louis to be reunited with his wife and family life outside the military though did not bring any relief from his hardships as back in saint louis things went from bad to worse having accepted a farm allotment from julia's father he nevertheless continued to struggle financially in part owing to an economic recession in the us in 1857 a venture into real estate proved abortive and in the late 1850s grant was reduced to selling firewood on a saint louis street corner to make some extra cash and even pawned a gold watch a prize possession at one point years later f scott fitzgerald would state that there are no second acts in american life he should perhaps have considered the highly successful second act of ulysses s grant before making this assertion in the early 1860s grant's life was to take a striking turn brought about almost entirely by the crisis which enveloped america in the aftermath of the election of abraham lincoln as the 16th president of the united states in the presidential election of november 1860. tensions had been brewing for decades between the three states in the north of the united states and the slave owning states of the south now in 1860 lincoln though willing to compromise with the slave owning states was built into a bogeyman by the southern states one who would seek to end slavery altogether in america as a result upon his election the state of south carolina seceded from the union in december 1860 it was soon joined by mississippi florida alabama georgia louisiana and texas in that decision and these seven breakaway southern states formed themselves into a confederacy outright armed hostilities between the northern union and the southern confederacy commenced in april 1861 when confederate forces attacked a union-held garrison at fort sumter in south carolina following which several more southern states seceded and joined the confederacy the capital of which was eventually established at richmond in virginia the american civil war had begun upon the outbreak of hostilities in the spring of 1861 grant rejoined the army after a near seven year absence in the initial stages of the conflict he was involved in efforts to recruit and train forces in missouri and illinois but it was not long before he had been given a command in southern illinois based on his previous military experience he would spend the first year of the war operating in the border region between southern illinois and kentucky and further south towards tennessee playing a delicate balancing act in areas where military heavy-handedness was frowned upon in the hopes that these communities straddling the north and the south could be won over to the union course at the beginning of 1862 frustrated by his lack of major commands grant sought and received permission from general henry halleck to undertake an offensive campaign campaigning south with 25 000 men he won one of the first major victories of the war for the union when he besieged and captured fort donelson on the river cumberland in tennessee about 15 000 confederate troops in total were captured in the engagement moreover granted proved his daring and activist approach when the commander of fort donelson had inquired as to what terms of surrender might be offered grant had replied that the only terms he was prepared to offer were unconditional surrender as he intended to move presently against the fort as a result of his actions at fort donelson grant was now promoted to the rank of major general two months later he was the major union commander at the battle of shiloh in tennessee on the 6th of april 1862 where over 100 000 union and confederate troops fought grant was theoretically victorious and repelled the confederate incursion into the region but it was a pyrrhic victory which resulted in over 10 000 union troops being either killed or wounded grant's reputation which had soared following the seizure of fort donelson was now damaged this was probably not aided by reports of his drinking while we can probably dismiss legendary tales about grant keeping a barrel of whiskey outside his tent while on campaign during the civil war this seems to be much truth to allegations that he was a heavy binge drinker on occasion although one who often abstained for considerable periods of time the most likely scenario suggests that grant was prone to bouts of heavy drinking but rarely drank heavily when he knew some important tasks lay ahead of him despite these setbacks before the end of 1862 grant had convinced his superiors to allow him to proceed towards mississippi where he planned to seize vicksburg one of the confederates major strongholds on the mississippi river this he duly succeeded in accomplishing six months later when it finally surrendered on the 4th of july 1863 grant's actions here were particularly notable as the vicksburg campaign ensured union control of the mississippi river effectively cutting the confederacy in two between those states further to the west and the core of the southern states to the east of the mississippi while grant was making a major name for himself in tennessee and mississippi the war was proceeding with mixed results for both sides while 1861 had seen the outbreak of the war and the consolidation of the confederacy in 1862 it settled into a particularly intense campaign in the eastern states around virginia maryland and delaware where the union and confederacy were in the peculiar position of having their respective capitals less than 100 miles away from each other but it was in 1863 that the war really turned it was this year that lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation making the abolition of slavery in the confederate states a stated war goal for the union henceforth it was clear that victory for the union in the war would mean an end to the institution of slavery throughout the united states having won a significant victory repelling the union forces at chancellorsville in virginia the leading confederate general robert e lee undertook a campaign into the north through pennsylvania in the early summer of 1863. this culminated in the three-day long battle of gettysburg in pennsylvania between the 1st and 3rd of july the bloodiest engagement of the entire civil war gettysburg saw lee's army of northern virginia heavily defeated with nearly 25 000 of his 75 000 man army either killed or wounded it was a turning point in the entire conflict which combined with grant's seizure of vicksburg to the west a day later on the 4th of july put the union on the offensive it has also gone down in history as much for lincoln's address to mark the battle the following november in which he spoke of the great civil war being fought to ensure that freedom shall not perish from the earth meanwhile in recognition of his prowess in the field and accomplishments in the seizure of vicksburg and other strategic sites grant was appointed as lieutenant general in march 1864 and placed in overall command of the union army he was now in charge of the effort to finally defeat the confederacy and bring the war to an end grant's strategy was relatively simple in 1864. he intended to use the union's numerical superiority to essentially confine property lee's forces protecting richmond within the state of virginia while several of his subcommanders would conduct campaigns further to the south and south west for instance seizing georgia this strategy was broadly successful elsewhere although despite the tightening of the noose on richmond grant failed to take the confederate capital in 1864 even after a near two-week long bloody engagement at cold harbor some 10 miles from the city ended in a stalemate grant's forces now settled in june 1864 into what would become a nine-month siege of the town of petersburg not far from richmond as it wore on though the siege of petersburg became symptomatic of the confederate cause in general the breakaway affiliation was now largely confined to isolated centers of control out further west in alabama and texas and a strip of land running along the east coast around virginia and parts of the carolinas and georgia by the autumn of 1864 the city of atlanta in georgia had been captured and the union army had advanced as far as the atlantic coast in parts of the south as the winter set in lee's troops in virginia began to desert in large numbers owing to starvation and the general hopelessness of the confederate cause and by the spring of 1865 lee's position was hopeless the american civil war eventually came to an end on the 9th of april 1865. a week earlier lee had abandoned the line which he had been trying to hold around petersburg richmond was now open to a union advance as a result on the 9th of april lee agreed to meet with grant in the courthouse in the village of appomattox in virginia to negotiate the surrender of the confederacy here the two generals reminisced about their experiences in the war with mexico nearly 20 years earlier before getting round to the business of ending the civil war grant for his part was authorized to negotiate that there would be few reprisals of any kind for those who laid down their weapons as a result when word spread west to the confederate forces in those states the surrender was quickly agreed to and the last fighting occurred in texas at the end of may yet the man who had been at the center of these events would never live to see the ultimate cessation of hostilities on the 14th of april just five days after lee had surrendered to grant at appomattox abraham lincoln was assassinated by john wilkes booth a stage actor and confederate sympathizer in ford's theater in washington dc grant himself had nearly been present with lincoln having turned down an offer to attend the performance with the president indeed allegations flew in the days that followed that grant was also a target of booth and his co-conspirators they were unsuccessful if he was grant lived and andrew johnson lincoln's vice president was sworn in as the great man's successor the end of the war witnessed the inception of the policy of reconstruction on the surface this was aimed primarily at bringing slavery to an end in the confederate states and ending the remnants of secession in the south but such was the manner in which slavery was ingrained into every aspect of the economy and society of the southern states that reconstruction would also necessarily require a massive program of social and economic reform if the southern states were to evolve to become more like their more liberal union neighbours to the north reconstruction would dominate u.s politics during the immediate aftermath of the war and primarily throughout grant's presidency from 1869 to 1877. even prior to his tenure in the white house grant was involved in reconstruction politics in the months after the conclusion of the civil war he was sent on a tour of the southern states at the behest of president johnson this was important for two reasons grant was received favorably during his travels throughout the former confederate states somewhat surprisingly given his position as the union's foremost general this indicated that he could be a unifying figure during the reconstruction period secondly grant submitted a report to johnson upon completion of his tour in which he recommended a lenient approach towards the former confederate states he had just visited in order to help end the bitterness of the civil war his drift towards politics did not end there in 1866 he was appointed a general of the federal army now that the union titles of recent years were dispensed with and then in 1867 when johnson removed edwin m stanton from his position as secretary of war grant was offered the position grant accepted the office on an interim basis in august 1867 however a constitutional problem now arose surrounding the tenure of office act this dictated that a sitting cabinet secretary could only be removed by the executive with the consent of the senate as such johnson needed stanton's removal to be sanctioned by the upper house of congress when the senate refused to approve stanton's dismissal in december 1867 grant resigned in january provoking a split with johnson in the process who had believed that grant would refuse to relinquish his position as secretary of war this resulted in the decision over stanton being sent to the courts for adjudication johnson's desired outcome the major outcome of the split from johnson and grant's brief flirtation with the office of secretary of war was that he was now viewed as a potential presidential candidate within the republican party at the republican national convention in chicago in mid-may 1868 grant won the party's support he would run against the democrat horatio seymour a former governor of the state of new york the civil war hero ran in the months that followed on a campaign slogan of let us have peace ultimately the election race was much closer than many observers had expected overall grant won by just 300 000 votes in the popular vote although the electoral college result was much more comprehensive grant securing 214 votes compared to just 80 for seymour as a result on the 4th of march 1869 ulysses s grant was sworn into office as the 18th president of the united states he would serve for eight years winning a second term in 1872 with a much more comprehensive victory over a divided opposition during the eight years in which he served as president of the united states grant would have to grapple with a large number of very grave challenges none was more pressing than the issue of reconstruction and the reunifying of the country after the trauma of a four-year civil war two weeks after entering office he signed laws guaranteeing african americans equal rights then in the months that followed his administration pressured those former confederate states which had not ratified the 15th amendment into doing so this would guarantee black americans the right to vote in elections the trade-off for the southern states in accepting this would be readmittance to the union once it had been ratified by each state legislature as a result of this carrot and stick approach by 1871 the recalcitrant states including georgia virginia mississippi and texas had complied and were readmitted to the union but in other respects reconstruction underground proved more difficult armed bans of traditional southern conservatives sprung up across the former confederate states in the late 1860s and early 1870s the ku klux klan was just the most prominent of these and others such as the redshirts and white league collectively termed redeemers strove to use violence and intimidation to reclaim control of the southern states of the democratic party and force through a white supremacist agenda in response grant's administration created the u.s justice department and charged it with cracking down on white redeemer movements in the south in tandem the federal army was dispatched to key sites in order to maintain law and order and defend reconstruction the result it is generally acknowledged is the grant's administration crushed the power of the ku klux klan for a generation in the south by arresting hundreds of senior members and prosecuting many of its most powerful benefactors who financed the clan nevertheless despite these efforts it was clear by the mid-1870s that reconstruction was largely failing and redeemed democrats were seeking to create a society in the south which in the absence of slavery would still disenfranchise and savagely oppress the large african-american population across the former confederate states reconstruction was intimately tied to the finances of the country during the war the union government had resorted to issuing banknotes that were not backed up by the gold or silver standard in the 19th century all western governments only issued money that was backed by a certain amount of gold and silver bullion reserves the emergency caused by the civil war had seen lincoln's administration resorting to simply printing banknotes resulting in considerable inflation to correct the situation grant passed the public credit act within three weeks of entering office this essentially promised those who held bank notes issued during the civil war that they would be repaid in coin backed by the gold and silver standard the idea here was to curb inflation and also introduce much greater confidence into the financial system that the civil war banknotes termed greenback notes were as good as real money and would not become worthless now that the war was receding in the collective memory the overall effect of this was a continuation of the economic recovery which had already started under johnson's administration between 1865 and 1869 yet it was not all smooth sailing on the financial front across the eight years of grant's administration in 1873 an economic crisis developed following the collapse of the new york brokerage firm jay cook and company which was heavily involved in the railway building boom of the time as the west and east coasts were connected via extensive train lines this was compounded by frailties in the global economic system with germany having demonetized silva in the aftermath of the unification of the country in 1871 triggering a series of financial failures in european capitals such as vienna the resulting downturn led to an economic depression which would linger for the remainder of grant's second term creating financial hardship for many american citizens the economic crisis was known at the time as the great depression but this term was abandoned 70 years later when a much deeper economic crisis led to the period after the wall street crash of 1929 becoming known as the great depression accordingly the economic crash and depression of 1873 to 1877 is today termed the panic of 1873. on the foreign stage grant's policies were calm and pacifist despite his military background he was no warmonger and deliberately tried to avoid conflict however he was also thoroughly inexperienced as a diplomat and left his foreign policy largely in the hands of the secretary of state hamilton fish a number of issues confronted the us in the late 1860s firstly the matter of reparations and an apology from the british government for its supplying of naval support to the confederacy during the civil war remained unresolved several years of negotiations eventually resulted in the treaty of washington in 1871 whereby britain acknowledged its role in building ships for the confederacy and agreed to pay over 15 million dollars in reparations thereafter u.s british relations improved steadily and the two countries have been allies ever since jester's pressing was the us's policy in the caribbean where a war the ten years war had broken out between cuban rebels and spain in 1868 despite occurring on its front door the u.s maintained a policy of fairly strict neutrality in this the first of three independence wars waged on the island of cuba in the second half of the 19th century more interventionist was the approach of the grant administration to the island of hispaniola then as now this was divided into two countries haiti and the dominican republic or santo domingo grant was of the view that by acquiring control over santo domingo the us could gain a strategic interest in the caribbean and also in the lucrative sugar trade of the region in 1869 negotiations were opened with the government there to purchase the country with u.s business interests acting as intermediaries but after 18 months of wrangling over this the scheme came to nothing largely owing to the opposition from within congress the affair tarnished grant's reputation to some extent and is an indication of the creeping imperialist aspirations of the us in advance of the most aggressive period of american empire in the 1890s grant's approach towards the native american people was enlightened by 19th century standards he was a relatively benign assimilationist believing that the native american people should be treated fairly and enjoined to embrace the benefits of a western education economy culture and government this might seem like a heavy-handed form of cultural intolerance by today's standards but for a country which counted several presidencies in the 1830s 1840s and 1850s whose policies towards the native american people had boarded on genocidal grant's approach was comparatively progressive as a result several peace treaties were negotiated with the apache and sioux ends of the plains and midwest during his first term in office and conflict between the native american people and the federal government was at an historic low however grant's native american policy could ultimately not escape the historical circumstances in which it was conceived try as he might to forge a new pathway decades of conflict oppression and broken promises had created a thick air of animosity towards the us government amongst the plains indians this was compounded in 1874 when gold was discovered in the black hills of dakota territory as prospectors streamed into the region the sioux indians there led by red cloud crazy horse and sitting bull prepared for conflict the great sioux war of 1876 and 1877 was a bitter end to grant's presidency though famed for the victory sitting bulls lakota sioux indians won over general george a custer at the battle of little bighorn in late june 1876 the war ultimately ended in victory for the federal government the administration of rutherford b hayes who had succeeded grant by the time the war ended imposed a harsh peace settlement whereby the lands of the sioux were annexed and the plains indians of the region were forced into indian reservations a depressing end to grant's enlightened indian policy in many other ways grant was ahead of his time for instance in 1875 he proposed a constitutional amendment to fundamentally weaken the ability of religious groups and churches to dominate the educational curriculum in a given state or region essentially here he was calling for greater separation of church and state in a manner which was only beginning to be countenanced in the more liberal european countries equally he was progressive in his advocacy for america's jews appointing dozens of jewish americans to federal office perhaps most unusual was his appointment of eli s parker a seneca indian as his commissioner for indian affairs yet grant's presidency was not without scandal either during the 1872 election campaign the press revealed that a number of prominent members of the republican party had been involved in siphoning profits from the union pacific railroad company through a shady corporate entity called credit mobilier grant who it must be said was scrupulously honest throughout his military and political career was not implicated directly but the fallout nevertheless damaged the republicans and by implication his presidency worse followed in 1875 with the so-called whiskey ring scandal this had involved prominent federal officials and whiskey distillers defrauding the government out of tax revenues facilitated by a widespread system of bribery again grant was not involved but his private secretary orville e babcock was as was the secretary of war william belnap resignations followed but grant again was damaged in the final two years of his presidency by the actions of others the final act of grant's presidency became one of the most controversial moments in the constitutional and electoral history of the united states though grant acquitted himself well throughout the course of it with grant having served two terms the republican party had selected rutherford b hayes to contest the 1876 presidential election against the democratic candidate samuel tilden the election was held on the 7th of november 1876 the result when it came was highly contentious in the mid 1870s there were 369 electoral college votes when the votes were counted it was clear that tilden had won 184 votes one short of the 185 needed to be elected president hayes had certainly won 165 votes but 20 votes were the subject of considerable dispute these were the electoral college votes for the states of florida louisiana south carolina and oregon in the case of oregon the vote was contested as one of the electors for the state was found to be illegitimate as he was an appointed official there while in the other three states the vote was close enough that both parties claimed victory the dispute dragged on into 1877 as it did grant as the sitting president came center stage he instructed congress to resolve the matter through legislative action and according to the electoral rules he also refrained from mobilizing the army in the event of continuing disagreement and on the 29th of january 1877 he formed an electoral commission to decide on the matter this eventually resulted in what was to become known as the compromise of 1877. under its terms rutherford b hayes was elected as the 19th president of the united states a decision which was certainly fair as the surviving evidence indicates that hayes had actually won the four states in contention though by less than a thousand votes in the cases of both florida and south carolina as such hayes would enter the white house with the smallest winning margin in the u.s electoral history winning the electoral college vote by 185 votes to tilden's 184 votes but his victory came at a cost in return for their acceptance of the result the democrats demanded that federal troops which had been stationed across the former confederacy states in the south since the end of the civil war should be removed from states such as florida louisiana and south carolina in the aftermath of their departure the democrats tightened their grip on the southern states essentially rejecting reconstruction and opting for a harsh imposition of jim crow laws which disenfranchised the free african-american community in the south of the united states part of grant's legacy has been tied up in his role in the compromise of 1877 and the manner in which it allowed for the oppression of the african american communities of the southern states for decades to come yet grant can hardly be held accountable for this the southern states always seemed likely to set out on the path which they did in 1877 and grant can hardly have prevented this in his final days in office conversely at the time he was widely praised for the manner in which he averted a constitutional crisis and renewed violence across the united states through his handling of the election crisis once the compromise was reached and hayes eventually took up office in early march 1877 grant was once again a private citizen he was still just 54 years of age a markedly young age for a man who had served an eight-year term and who had already lived such an eventful life up to that point given this his later years might seem like something of an anti-climax but they were not without their own considerable points of interest first up was a world tour which he and julia undertook over a two and a half year period between the early summer of 1877 and the autumn of 1879 europe was first on the itinerary with the grants travelling to england to meet with queen victoria before a long sojourn through continental europe in which audiences were had with pope leo xiii and the chancellor of the newly established german empire otto von bismarck others whom they met with included napoleon iii of france and the celebrated german composer richard wagner further travel was then undertaken to the holy land and egypt before returning to europe and then heading onwards to asia in 1879 the last leg of the world tour was the most interesting in many respects while visiting meiji japan grant became involved in efforts to establish a lasting peace between japan and qing china during the course of which he got caught up in a conspiracy which aimed to assassinate both the emperor meiji and grant himself the grants finally returned to the u.s arriving in san francisco in september 1879 during their long circumnavigation of the globe grant had received petitions from members of the republican party asking him to run again for the presidential office in the 19th century and for much of the 20th century until the passage of the 22nd amendment to the u.s constitution by congress in 1947 there was no legal barrier to serving more than two terms in office however tradition dictated that no one typically should serve more than two terms in line with a precedent which george washington had established now however many believed that tradition should be ignored to bring grant back for a third term grant was not indisposed to the scheme and so encouraged his supporters to put forward his name at the republican national convention which met at chicago in early june 1880. what followed was a chaotic convention three main candidates grant james blaine and john sherman were the candidates grant secured the most votes in the initial voting but not enough to reach the 370 votes required for any candidate to be officially selected by the party after dozens of subsequent votes the ampas was finally broken when blaine's supporters conceived of a scheme to nominate a compromise candidate in the shape of james garfield like grant a former union general who had fought in the civil war realizing he was beaten grant eventually threw his backing behind garfield the republicans finally had a candidate one who won the subsequent presidential election but he did not last long in office as garfield was assassinated in september 1881 just months after his inauguration becoming the second of four u.s presidents to have been killed in office his vice president chester a arthur succeeded garfield and served until 1885. in the aftermath of his world tour and his failed presidential bid grant returned to the world of business this was a time when u.s presidents did not receive a pension after leaving office and grant had never been an affluent man nor had he ever been an astute businessman and his post-presidential ventures proved no exception to this rule incredibly the grants had actually lost money on their world tour where grant could have capitalized on his renown to profit from it and a venture into the railway sector in the early 1880s also proved unfruitful then in 1883 grant became involved in a wall street business venture which his son buck had undertaken with ferdinand ward a financier and a conman in new york city ward was soon engaging in highly fraudulent activity involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in what was effectively a pyramid scheme as a silent partner grant was almost certainly oblivious to what was happening but buck grant was quite possibly privy towards actions in any event grant himself testified against ward in court in 1885 shortly before his own death and when the full details emerged it actually elicited public sympathy for grant who had been swindled considerably by ward while all of this was unfolding in new york the former president was working away at what became the only truly profitable business venture of his entire life a renowned storyteller grant decided in the early 1880s to write his memoirs his financial situation was inestimably aided by an offer by mark twain to publish the memoirs and guarantee grant 70 of the royalties an enormous percentage which was a clear act of charity on twain's part eventually finished in the early summer of 1885 the memoirs have been well regarded ever since with grant depicting himself fairly and accurately by most standards they became a best seller and julia grant was able to live a comfortable later life from the proceeds of royalties which nearly reached a half a million dollars in sales a huge sum for the late 19th century yet grant would never live to see his memoirs published in the summer of 1884 he had developed a throat problem which was subsequently diagnosed in october as throat cancer it advanced rapidly and grant would ultimately die from it on the 23rd of july 1885 just days after finishing his memoirs and at the relatively young age of 63. over one and a half million people attended grant's funeral in a long 11 kilometer procession through new york city on the 8th of august 1885. in sharp contrast to later impressions of his presidency grant was eulogized at the time as being comparable to george washington he was buried in riverside park but his body was later re-entombed at the purpose-built general grant national memorial in the morningside heights neighborhood of upper manhattan where it remains the largest burial tomb dedicated to an individual in the entirety of north america during the 20th century ulysses s grant suffered from a poor reputation as one of the worst presidents of the united states a belief repeatedly reaffirmed in polls and surveys views on him have changed to some extent in the last 20 years but even so this slightly more positive view of the 18th president has only seen him jump up the rankings to be considered about the 25th best or so of the 46 u.s presidents yet what the foregoing has sought to highlight is that this historical impression is largely unfair to be sure grant had his flaws but both as a military commander and as u.s president after the american civil war he accomplished much during a very tumultuous and difficult period in the history of the united states grant's military record speaks for itself to a large extent early on he gained some attention for his service during the u.s mexican war but thereafter owing to a number of personal motives he drifted away from military service the outbreak of the american civil war though in 1861 brought him back into the field in the early years of that conflict he distinguished himself well enough to become one of the union's senior commanders and no one was as prominent as him in the final reduction of the confederacy in 1864 and 1865. many scholars have pointed to the overwhelmingly superior resources which grant had at his disposal against robert e lee in these closing stages of the war and suggests that he could not really lose given these advantages but several other union generals had previously been given the same resources as grant had in the last year or so of the war and yet they had failed to defeat the confederates conversely grant did and there is no doubting his significance to the annals of the american civil war his post-war record as president is less well-regarded than it might be as the 18th president of the united states he guided the country through the arduous early period of reconstruction and economic stabilization in the aftermath of the war he was successful enough that he was easily re-elected for a second term in the election of 1872 moreover grant succeeded in reducing the power of groups such as the ku klux klan in the aftermath of the war to a significant degree certainly the clan rose to become a very troubling aspect of american life again in future decades but this was not grant's fault furthermore while his policies towards the native americans of the plains ultimately ended in war in the mid-1870s grant's approach towards the indians was relatively progressive for its time and the sioux war was as much the product of decades of western expansionism as it was anything grant did during his term in office finally his role in resolving the crisis which ensued from the presidential election of 1876 needs to be considered and appreciated thus we are left with a man who has been largely unfairly denigrated by subsequent generations grant was something of a contrarian and certainly a heavy drinker throughout his life but ultimately he navigated many of the difficulties and challenges he encountered as well as he could there are a great many of america's presidents who are generally more favorably regarded than grant who if they had been placed in his shoes between 1869 and 1877 might not have kept the shiv of state on such an even keel in the aftermath of the only civil war the country has ever experienced that is to his credit what do you think of ulysses s grant should he be primarily remembered for his role as a general in the american civil war or is his legacy as president of the united states one which has been unfairly dismissed and forgotten please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching you

Channel: The People Profiles

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Length: 116min 50sec (7010 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 24 2021