Ulysses S. Grant: Victor of the American Civil War
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We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
No, I'm never gonna give you up
No, I'm never gonna let you down
No, I'll never run around and hurt you
Never, ever desert you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
No, I'm never gonna give you up
No, I'm never gonna let you down
No, I'll never run around and hurt you
I'll never, ever desert you
*ARE GETTING RICKROLLED*
Hope you do a video about General George Thomas he was the greatest general of the war but was so humble he doesn't get the recognition he deserves for saving the Union.
grant = racist
@@professorprestomeungyobrock Grant was given one slave from his father in law! He treated the man like an equal and worked with him in what ever needed to be do. When Grant needed money his father in law told him to sell the slave instead Grant gave the man his freedom. Every time southern commander surrendered to Grants forces all slave had to be freed! No exceptions! As president he declared war on the KKK but RINOS of his time and Demorats wanted him to stop! The KKK returned in the very early 20th century with northern and southern Democrats!
@@henryschmitt7577 Ulyss grant really wasn't much better then robert lee. They were both highly racist and ultimately together they killed african people by turning them against eachother.
Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman friendship cannot be overestimated "Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other"
There's a great book out there I believe called "Grant & Sherman, The Friendship That Won The Civil War". It's a shame political differences cooled the friendship during Grant's presidency but Sherman was there at his funeral honoring his great friend.
@Otto That's a great quote!
@Walter King And when can we expect a 2nd failed rebellion??
The dream team homies
Great men
This man’s ending was perhaps the saddest and most heroic. He took care of his family till the end
A true hero. He and Sherman the Great were the hammers of the south.
A real man
You talkin' bout Grant? He took care of the Union first and won the goddam war.
Later, at peace and near death, he took care of his future widow. He was quite a guy.
Word
One of the noblest things a man could do.
"I can't spare this man, he fights."
What an awesome quote.
Someone had to. None of the other Union generals other than Sherman seemed to be very interested in actually fighting.
There is doubt he said it, at least there is not first acount record
@@benn454 Sherman only explode under Grant; he himself said so; everythin he did was under Grant comnand
@@benn454 cause they didn’t wanna lose and get sacked . McCllelan wouldn’t do anything without more troops, so he did nothing .
That quote about Grant is pure Lincoln, even if it is fabricated.
Early in the war, Grant and Lincoln were the only shining lights for the Union Cause.
Grant selling his gold watch to buy his kids Christmas presents, that is the love of a true father.
Meanwhile lots of fathers today won’t even spare a pack of smokes for Christmas cards for their kids.
@@MrShitthead A lot of fathers back then were also deadbeats. Obviously you don't hear about them because they aren't exceptional men. You have added nothing to this comment.
Adviser: "He is a drinker Sir."
Lincoln "Well what does he like to drink?"
Adviser: "Whiskey Sir."
Lincoln: "Well get him some more!"
Dude uncool
Not far from a real quote. Lincoln once said, "Find out what brand of whiskey Grant drinks. I want to send a barrel of it to my other generals."
@@matthewlentz2894 It's a reference to Oversimplified.
That's not this Grant, that's Unconditional Surrender Grant. Easy mistake to make
I certainly won’t be taking this comment for GRANTed.
“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins”
Ulysses S. Grant
This is ridiculous when you think about it.
@@Kabodanki mate what ridiculous about it
@@ethanramos4441 I mean it is kinda like a strategy you'd see from Orcs in a fantasy game, "If we keep charging then we can't lose"
Well it was before creeping barrages
Having been in the military, this makes perfect sense from a strategic standpoint. People who don't understand it clearly have never been in the military. Looking at histories of warfare especially, you will see many examples of battles where hesitancy on one or the other side won or lost a battle when the outcome could very easily have been different had they pressed on. In many cases, the opposing force is often just as shaken as you are.
Grant is, in my mind our greatest general. Never defeated, he won in the East, the West, the South, walloped Lee twice. He saved our country. Nothing more to be said except, perhaps, that he freed his family's slaves BEFORE the Civil War.
There’s a reason Queen Victoria, Bismarck and royals in Japan all met and hosted this man
Everywhere in England from Brighton, Liverpool, London Southampton, they cheered for him in large crowds
Plus Grant was a better potus than most give him credit for, but it was not amazing
I think Dwight Eisenhower takes the cake, but Grant does share it with him.
He chose not to lose but it turned out that he was smart to do so. People don’t realize that war isn’t won by killing. It’s won by choking the enemy out.
Always loved Grant! As a kid in the 80’s I began reading about Lee because of the Dukes of Hazard lol, and while I absolutely love Gen. Lee as a human being, when I read about Grant, my mind was blown! In the 5th grade we had to dress like an American historical figure and I dressed as Grant. If I had to do it right now? I’d pick Grant again!
@@didncozosksma4466 not an equal comparison as Eisenhower was an administrator, never leading troops let alone the entire army.
I read about Grant freeing the slave many years ago and I still admire that greatly. At the time he was a nobody, and no one cared if he supported slavery or not. Plus slaves were valuable and Grant needed money. But he knew it was wrong, and he did the right thing.
Also there's a great story about Grant meeting Bismarck. He was in Berlin in a hotel and walked over to the Chancellor's residence, walked up to a guard, and said he was calling on Bismarck. No entourage, not even a carriage.
The slaves Grant had were gifted to him as a wedding gift from his wife's family...so technically he did not "own" them cause he never paid for them
@@jakeheller0608 I think this was a different instance. I read a biography that said Grant traded a piece of property he owned to another man - and part of the other man's property was a slave. I have no direct knowledge but this was the Jean Edward Smith biography.
I meant to follow up - I found out you were right about this, and I was misinformed.
It Matters not. Grant had just failed at farming at his S. Louis County, Missouri farm that he called Hardscrabble. He was dirt poor and needed money. Yet, rather than selling the slave for the $1000 that he sorely needed, in 1859 he set him free. G-d looked down from above and decreed that This was the Man who would end the evil practice called Slavery.
Fun fact: Grant met Julia shortly after his time in West Point as he was a roomate and friend of her brother Fred. At one point her pet canary died, so Ulysses made a little yellow coffin and summoned other eight fellow officers for an avian funeral. And they say romance is dead.
PD: here's hoping for an Abraham Lincoln biographic soon!
Damn lmao thanks for that
I met who now?
That was so sweet of him!
Thanks for the info!
That's a cool story, though being almost two centuries ago, it doesn't prove romance isn't dead.
That is cool. Thanks for the info.
"I stood behind Grant, when he was drunk, and he stood behind me, when I was crazy..." -General William Tecumseh Sherman
Union generals were all pieces of ****, and all who defend them. A union held together by military force is despotism.
Sherman wanted to quit after battle of 1st Bull Run
@@kingali3145 stfu or we'll burn down the south again. Burnin Sherman did nothing wrong
@@kingali3145 Sherman kicked your ****** all over, get over it. Start some sh**, it will happen again, but reconstruction will finish this time. No voting rights for confederate states for 50 years.
@@gomahklawm4446, on a similar note, when Atlanta was granted a team for MLS. The Columbus Crew sent them a congratulations message, the background behind the lettering was “Sherman’s March to the sea”. It was highlighting his burning of Atlanta, with him looking on from a hill.
Honestly the main reason Grant was so brilliant as a general was that he took General Lee's greatest strengths and pretty much nullified it. What made Lee won all those early battles was his ability to maneuver around the union forces and take the initiative away from them. Grants aggressive strategy forced Lee in place between him and Richmond, not letting him have any room to maneuver. And while Lee did win tactical victories at those battles, his army was shrinking, morale was dropping and his supply line was being burned by Sherman, and doing anything to intervene would have left Richmond vulnerable. A lot of people don't give Grant enough credit for that.
It’s simple strategy just takes a man willing to employ it
Sometimes Grant receives too much credit, simply because he was in top command.
Though, it was Sherman who, with Halleck, had planned Grant's successful operation to capture Forts Henry and Donelson to open Tennessee.
Sherman who held at Shiloh Church, and even temporarily pushed the rebels back until retreating in good order.
It was Sherman's costly feint at Chickasaw Bayou which had allowed Grant to cross the Mississippi unopposed, and Sherman, a master logistician, who had successfully organised Grant's supply base at Grand Gulf for the Vicksburg Campaign.
Grant wanted Sherman to engage and either capture or annihilate Johnston's army at Atlanta as he personally campaigned with Meade's army against Lee in Virginia. It was Sherman's idea to do something no American General on the offensive had ever done, which was to march AWAY from the enemy's army, penetrate deep into his civilisation and present the face of war directly to the population which was cheering and supporting it.
In Virginia, Grant's two campaigns against Lee had cost both sides over 150,000 casualties in a little over a year, concluding with the surrender of what remained of Lee's army, some 28,000 men.
While Sherman's two campaigns of Hard War through Georgia and South Carolina (and to a lesser extent North Carolina) had cost both sides around 6,000 casualties in five months, concluding with not only the surrender of Johnston's army, but of around 90,000 rebels all together and the end of open hostilities in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.
After taking Savannah, Grant ordered Sherman to take a ship or train to move his army north to merge with Meade's army to deliver the death blow to Lee. But Sherman refused and instead adamantly insisted on staying in the city long enough to provide food to the local population, and that afterward he march his army north on foot, bringing war into South Carolina along the way.
The greatest logistical feature of the war is considered to be Grant's crossing of the James River, and while this certainly was a remarkable accomplishment, in South Carolina Sherman had marched his army, with not just infantry but also artillery and supply wagons, on corduroy roads through the Salkehatchie Swamp in the middle of winter, something which the most experienced rebel engineers had predicted, due to his feints toward Augusta and Charleston, yet believed to be impossible. When he succeeded, Hampton was completely surprised and forced to flee, giving the capital city to Sherman's legions without a fight.
Grant was a great General, though Sherman had not only captured 17,000 more rebels than Grant did throughout the war, but he had gone on to, as commanding General of the regular U.S. Army, swiftly conquer the Comanche empire, the most powerful Indian empire on the continent since the Mexica, as well as the powerful Sioux nations.
Well let's not forget the influx of Irish that were conscripted straight into the Union army. Yes that was a thing then, there was a point when NYC was in revolt against the war, in a "what does it have to do with us" attitude. It was a horrible time that I am glad I didn't have to live through. Stupid and wasteful and set the nation back at least 60 years, slavery should have ended with the founding of the nation. That is where we are though
@@briansheehan5256 I don’t have to read all of this to say a lot of things other Union Generals did was because Grant ordered them to do so the March into Georgia included
@@noble6339 Grant did not order the March to the Sea. Grant ordered Sherman to destroy Johnston's army at Atlanta, and Sherman added to this plan by suggesting afterward to march deep into the enemy's country and destroy infrastructure while demoralising the civilians through Hard War.
Just as Grant, upon Sherman reaching Savannah, ordered him to immediately transport his army by rail or ship to merge with Meade's to overwhelm Lee in Petersburg, but Sherman instead chose to occupy Savannah and distribute food to the population, earning the respect of the locals and the State Governor and therefore preventing rebellion from reigniting in Georgia once he left, to execute HIS plan to march his army north on foot through the Carolinas.
In the 1870s, it was Sherman who led the Army to conquer the Comanche empire and the Great Sioux confederation, with Grant's reluctant approval after initially disagreeing.
Grant has always been one of my favorite historical figures. A humble, honorable man who wouldn't let failure keep him down.
Hes also the sexiest president.
@@movietimeateds69 @Bonnwolff I agree with both of you
And most of his life was udder failure...lol
@@jakeheller0608 I’d say completely crushing the Dixiecrats is a huge success in my book
It is truly sad that many people only looked at him as a drunk. That happens a lot. People only look at the negative. I admire the man because he was not a racist. Many people back then were. If they weren't many were too afraid to step up and take a stand.
Not mentioned, but Grant was also a staunch supporter of peace with the native tribes of the U.S, which put him in stark opposition with William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan, who vehemently hated natives and spent the majority of Grant’s terms engaging in the Indian Wars, while Grant stood powerless to stop them. They advocated the extinction of the buffalo and saved George Custer from obscurity to massacre at Washita Creek and his eventual failure at Little Bighorn, which gave Sherman and Sheridan the excuse to fully commit the U.S Armies efforts to bringing the tribes to heel. A terrible stain on Grant’s legacy unfortunately.
Damb another reason for me to love this guy
Being a “Staunch supporter of peace” is a stain on his presidency?? Oof
It was. Grant always struck me as a kind and caring man who ended up trusting the wrong people. He was a good man, but in the end, all his hard work was wasted by those who dragged him down...
I think my Mother's Potawatomi ancestors would be thankful for Grant's support, even though so many officer veterans of the Civil War didn't think well of the native tribes.
@@HarvestMoonHowl I think they would have too.
I don't have any Native American blood in me, but I have a really high respect for them.
I feel Grant did what he had to do to end the war as fast as possible.
“I’ll have another General!” The Union. “And I’ll have another drink!” Grant!
I agree 100%.
@@jeremystewert4303 I mean as long as he got drunk off duty who cares. Lol
Which is what any General in his position ought to do.
Agreed that war had lasted for to long and Grant did what Union Generals before him failed to do continue to attack Confederate froces
He absolutely loved horses, not just admired them but truly thought them superior than most humans. Wish we had more people like him.
He was the best horsemen at West Point and could break in a horse without hitting them. A true horse whisperer.
He preferred animals to people if I recall. He also hated the sight of blood
I feel that Grant's kindness and caring nature were both his assets and his downfall because many of the people he had called friends turned out to be corrupt officials who took advantage of his kind heart, and dragged him down into the mud with them.
I think he was a victim of his own decency.
@@stevencooke6451 I think so, too.
@@stevencooke6451 yeah when your in politics you cant really be as kind of a person
Worst President since Millard Fillmore.
I find that Grant is the most compelling personality to emerge during the Civil War.
Burnin Sherman
@@Unsc.Helljumper0 Love him, my fav(during the civil war).
@@Unsc.Helljumper0 William 'You get the chains you get flames' Sherman
@@Unsc.Helljumper0 burnin Sherman was so cool they decided to name a tank after him.
I agree. It bothers me that somehow we put Forrest, Lee, and Jackson at the same level of Grant. I mean we still have Ft. Bragg? What is that about?
Another few interesting details about Lee’s surrender to Grant. It took place in a home of a family who lived near Bull Run but moved to avoid the war after the battle only to ironically have the war end in their home.
Lee wore his best uniform and carried a sword while Grant had muddy boots and a Private’s jacket. They spoke casually before the terms of surrender were given. In exchange of the complete surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee’s men were allowed to keep they sidearms, horses (plowing season was coming up), and they can all go home. Grant also wanted his men to be respectful to Lee’s army rather than rub their victory in their faces since they were their countrymen again.
That's really interesting! Thanks for sharing.
Goes to show who was the real warrior and who was nothing but a pompous prick
Grant showed up dishevelled because he thought it more impolite to keep Lee waiting.
Joses Tirtabudi - he always dressed in a privates coat. He was a humble man. He didnt need to be a peacock to show how bad ass he was
Thank you for that interesting piece of information!
As young black man in 2021 America I solute u Grant it’s so rare in any age especially in his time to have such a upstanding and Righteous man in war and especially politics my hats off
Me, too son.
when he was president his administration was very corrupt. HE WASN'T but the people around him were. the north would not have won the war without him. it would have been a stalemate. the south wasn't strong enough to win the war. they had a lot less people and most of the manufacturing was in the north.
I just finished reading Ron Chernow’s awesome book on Grant. It’s about time he gets his dues after being maligned by “lost causers” in “history “ books. He was a man who never lost a battle , came up with a winning strategy to win a war no one else could, and had a lower casualty rate than most (Lee was the highest ).
He also appointed blacks to positions of power and made sure to pass and enforce the 14th and 15th amendments making black people citizens with voting rights (he also appointed the first Native American to a cabinet position, Ely Parker, but they say Biden did it first 🙄). He created the justice system to crush the KKK since no southern would arrest or convict.
Frederick Douglass eulogized Grant as “a man too broad for prejudice, too humane to despise the humblest, too great to be small at any point. In him the Negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior.” Douglass didn't even praise Lincoln like that.
Big fan of Grant but The Indian thing wasn’t too true in the end
Plus Lee losing more casualties via percent doesn’t mean he was the worst general it’s easier to lose a higher percent of your army when hits smaller
@@archivesoffantasy5560That last part is so patently false, and it ignores the key point that Grant was attacking, Lee was defending. Lee was the butcher of the Civil War, not Grant
To be honest Gen z are airheaded the only thing they know is Biden trump and nazi😂
And then there was Ferdinand Ward...😮
@@archivesoffantasy5560Good points!
Another cool story about Grant is that he was once pulled over for speeding in his carriage. The officer was going to let him off after he realized who he was, but he insisted on being ticketed.
That's a true public servant.
It was a $20 speed ticket given to Grant.
An honest man who tried his best his whole life, but was continuously taken advantage of by those around him... that's really sad man, grant thanks for trying and what you have accomplished will not be forgotten.
Ulysses S. Grant was truly a good man.
Mediocre like Meade.
as an African American, the son of slaves from North Carolina, Ulysses is the only president to date that truly fought for every American. He prioritized justice. His influence is missed in this country
Out of all the states I've been too the Carolinas has the most racial tension y is that?
@@JordanNixon-vg3jd probably because reconstruction was abandoned to appease the south
@@JordanNixon-vg3jdbecause he thinks the war was over race
@@mattk8810it was over slavery which was based on race, per notorious libs: the United States military academy at West Point
@@mattk8810it wasn't just over states rights that's for sure you tool.
Thank you for letting me know that Grant knew Mark Twain. Thats an amazing fact I would never know from watching any average Civil War documentary.
Twain helped Grant finish his autobiography as he was dying of throat cancer.
There are a lot of historian that claim MT finish Grant memories
@@alejandroyepez Which is obvious nonsense, given that the writing of the book becomes noticeably terser towards the end and not anything like Twain. Plus, Twain himself denied it.
@@ineptwizzard agree, If MT has write it, the stile would had been clear to ser
Twain and Grant met each other in the town of Virginia City NV.
Grant knew what he had and, more importantly, what his enemy didn't.
He had it simple
Exactly. Grant was a brilliant logistical general, but a poor tactical general.
I doubt Grant knew what his enemy "had" or did not have back in those old days of almost NO recon. Grant went with his gut:: You attack the other guy as soon as possible, and keep at him, keeping the bastards off- balance. Many later generals learned from this war credo.
@@mitchellhawkes22 he knew exactly what his enemy had. They did have spies and recon and it doesn't take a genius to know the north had more men, industry and technology
@@mitchellhawkes22 he knew the south had less replaceable soldiers than the north so he could do on the offensive and replace those soldiers but the south couldn’t
U.S. Grant was not only a Civil War hero but one of the more forward thinking Presidents this country has had - especially in regard to Civil Rights. Were it not for reactionaries undermining him (and his own relative inexperience in politics), this country could have been decades - maybe even a century - ahead of its time.
Worst President since Millard Fillmore..
a lot of the people in his administration were crooks.
"[Grant] habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it." -- Letter from Colonel Theodore Lyman to his wife, 1864
10 years or so ago, I went on a ACW bender and the general (!) popular narrative was still that of Grant the Butcher and Robert Lee the brilliant romantic tragic figure. Yet, the more I learned about the men, the more I realized how Grant was superior to Lee in all but chivalrous charisma. A superior strategist, a superior tacticial, great commander, rarely made the same mistake twice, and understood that the best course of action for ending the war quickly had a human cost, but the cost of inactivity would've been even higher. That he managed such a relative low casualty rate of 15% while Lee is the league leader with 20% (and reckless, strategically dubious agressivity) is commendable. There was no way to get out of that war without massive human cost; Grant made it quick and as relatively painless as could be done.
To see his reputation rise, partly as a result of Lee's freefall, is a welcome sight.
It is a disgrace that the war's greatest general was not appreciated for such a long time.
Sherman and Grant both recognized that wars must be won quickly, and directly as possible or they are a waste of lives, resources and time. They would have balked at the Vietnam War and War in Afghanistan
Just have to say lee is a better tactician but overall grant is better
Send Lee to win a battle. Send Grant to win a campaign.
Cold Harbor? Murder
Its a shame Reconstruction wasn't allowed to do what it was supposed to do. We would've been in a completely different country.
Imagine if Lincoln had not been killed....
If only Wilkes Booth didn’t think he could avenge his countrymen by shooting them in the foot.
On another note, since Emperor Meiji is referenced here, I’d like to see an episode covering him. It was under him that the Shogunate was forever dissolved and Japan ended their isolationist policies.
Indeed, they shouldn't have had a say in the politics of the nation for 20 years, and only then if they swore an oath.
Yes, its a shame we arent living in the most prosperous and advanced country in human history............ said no one.
@@MisterMonsterMan You're talking about average national wealth. Hidden in that average are many rural parts of the South with grinding poverty and large Black populations. These are areas where Reconstruction gave way to decades of brutal violence and legal segregation.
“He doesn’t worry and bother me. He isn’t shrieking for reinforcements all the time….And if Grant only does thing down there-I don’t care much how, so long as he does it right-why, Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war!”- Abraham Lincoln
Grants autobiography is a truly remarkable piece of literature. It was promoted by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, who was a friend of Grant's.
President Grant would be rolling in his grave if he could see us now.
Veterans went door to door to sell copies for their general. In an age when most people only owned a bible, it was a huge success.
It is a great book.
A self serving, last ditch effort to pay the bills....
His autobiography is a great read, very compelling. Finish it in two days.
1:40 - Chapter 1 - Early life
3:05 - Chapter 2 - A morally unjust war
5:05 - Chapter 3 - The inter war years
6:55 - Mid roll ads
8:40 - Chapter 4 - General grant
13:40 - Chapter 5 - Vicksburg & chattanooga
16:50 - Chapter 6 - Grant vs lee
20:55 - Chapter 7 - President grant
26:30 - Chapter 8 - Final years
28:00 - Chapter 9 - A forgotten reputation
Hero!
His memoirs are a must read. A candid and down to earth man, with respect for all, including his enemies.
I'm glad daddy Grant is on the $50 note. I get to see him every day.
Ghost.written by Samuel Clemens
I am glad Grant getting the credit he deserves. He had been one of my favorite Civil War figures that I truly admire
History Revisionism.
If there is one event that explains his strategy and success in the Civil War, it's this anecdote from early in the war that he wrote in his memoir:
"As we approached the brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. *It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable* ."
Wow, thanks for that :-)
Speaking of General Sherman, we need a video about Burnin' Sherman.
Yes indeed
My favorite, he should have never allowed reconstruction to be stopped. He saw the southern monsters for what they are and still are.
@@sp3_outdoors oh you mean the rapes that hardly ever happened and the arson that was specifically focused on military targets?
There were very few rapes (unfortunately when you have that many people around such things are bound to happen here and there, but it was NOT widespread) and Sherman punished it when he could.
And pretty much all the burning was of targets of military value.
@@sp3_outdoors I mean, if the filthy Dixies weren't filthy Dixies, trying to justify the ownership of human beings, Sherman would never have needed to burn down their stuff.
Ulysses S. Grant is arguably the greatest general the USA has ever produced. His Vicksburg campaign is straight up the finest militart campaign ever conducted by an American general till this day, and most of his victories was conducted to an exceptional high standard.
While his political life was set by scandals, he was very much so on the right side of history, with only the Indian wars making a mark against him, and even there he was "less bad" than many other administrations. I hope that he soon will outshine Lee, and all the other Southern generals, in the American psychic, because he is far more interesting and impressive to study, and fits more with the American ideals than Lee ever did.
You are right. He’s arguably the best US general. He’s also one of the top ten world generals of all time in the world. Despite what people say. Yes he was a better general then president but he was not a bad president in fact he was a great. He would’ve been better if his staff wasn’t corrupt which wasn’t grants fault. He tried to have a clean staff. He protected Africans and destroyed the kkk. He reformed the south but once his second term ended the racist in the south took advantage and didn’t take until the 60s to get rid of segregation . In my eyes grant is our Alexander the Great. It was rare to find a good general and good president. He’s our first and our last mix of good president and good military general
@@user-oh6eg4ny3h I can't say if he is in the top ten of generals in the world. Mind you, there are some really impressive generals though time.
But he might be in the running.
@@MrBandholm I didn’t rank him that high. If you look it up he’s in the top ten. Napoleon and Alexander are top 3
@@user-oh6eg4ny3h A list by whom?
@@MrBandholm look up top ten generals it’s a CZcams video
The Hardscrabble farm in St. Louis still exists today. It's now known as Grant's Farm and is owned by the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch. It's open to the public for free and is an animal reserve, as well as the home of the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Grant's home in Galena, Illinois can also be toured. Lot of interesting stuff to check out in Galena, was once a major boomtown in the 19th century.
@@therevolvingmonk He was chilling on his porch in Galena smoking a cigar when he got the news he was President. Newspapers joked that while Grant smoked cigars his opponent took the stump. What an absolute legend.
Interesting information there. I do like the Bud horses.
I've been there. As a child on a field trip. I still remember it.
The problem Grant had with alcohol wasn't so much that he drank a lot(several generals, allegedly including Sherman, drank far more heavily), but that he was a lightweight. It didn't take a whole lot to make him drunk. And this wasn't exactly helped by his favorite drink being Bourbon.
There's actually no hard evidence he drank after leaving the army the first time and being reunited with his family. The reputation and even further allegations did haunt him afterwards though.
Another factor in the question of Grant's drinking that people often overlook is that the Temperance movement was picking up steam around the same time, so it wasn't uncommon for some people to judge *anyone* pretty harshly for drinking *any* amount of alcohol (or at least hard liquor).
After what he seen and fought in and out of presidency the morals he had to bite watching the natives get killed after fighting his better half of life to save others. i would more then happily sit there and pour that man drinks till he thinks he had enough and needs to get ready for tomorrow.
Alcoholism was definitely seen as a moral failing back then. Nowadays we realize that it's an actual disease....
Oddly enough, where I live, when I was a kid, Grant was upheld as a "hero" of sorts. The history books covered similar information about him, but also different pertinent facts about his time as general and president as well. The man really did affect the course of American history in a lot more ways than a simple video can cover.
If its not a personal question, where did u grow up?
@@Cellaghney Western Oklahoma. Civil War era, this place was nothin but "Indian Territory" for the tribes. Most of my history teachers, taught history bc they loved it and it was their favorite subject to teach. They were always very engaging when it came to their specific area of interest within history.
@@Cellaghney the other side of that is, those same teachers would not teach the civil war as a "states rights" issue, despite that being what was in the text books. They taught us that it was over slavery, and that the "states rights" actually became popular during and after reconstruction. Its those teachers i have to thank for my love of history, the good bad and ugly of it.
@@zeratulthedark2985 always great to hear about great and inspirational history teachers who tell the truth, thanks for that mate and cheers for sharing 👍😁
@@zeratulthedark2985 It was about states right,states rights to own people as chattel.
Grant, a true hero. A man to inspire and also aspire.
Also, Grant was a gifted artist! Many of his works are at West Point for all to see!
Lincoln saved the Union, but it fell to Grant to preserve it.
Like Theodore, Ulysses is one of the interesting presidents I like to read about
Ron chernow has a good book on grant
I want to read about the life of the sexiest president we've ever had.
You should visit where I live sometime...Galena Illinois...it's like traveling back in time!!!
Galena might be a historical trip back in time, but Anheuser Busch turned Grant's Hardscrabble farm outside of S. Louis into a Circus whose main selling point was free beer at the end of the tour.
Teddy was a better President😮!
In my opinion Grant is one of the greatest military minds of all time his victory at Shiloh is amazing he turned a battle that should have been a disaster but he turned it into a decisive victory
Grant is my favorite president and historical figure to learn about, and I think he is arguably one of the most underrated and underappreciated presidents in history
Worst President since Millard Fillmore. Carter? Hahahaha
I have a cast resin, bronze finish bust of Ulysses S. Grant on one of my shelves. He was a very difficult man to work with, but no matter what job he had, he focused on what needed to get done and made sure that it was. And he never compromised his own principles in the process.
tbh grant had ptsd, and i think it was severe from the civil war and everything else he was involved in. he still accomplished amazing things and i am thankful for his service.
Yes. He reportedly wept openly at the wilderness after seeing the carnage throughout and especially in the aftermath, as well as others and who can blame him?
Depending on which region of the US you grew up in, your education on the civil war will be very different than the other.
Thats cuz the south created the lost cause narrative.
I'm from the south, and the "Lost Cause" can kiss my ass.* Sadly, while the rest of my family doesn't espouse it completely, they certainly are reluctant to admit that the Confederacy started the war to maintain and expand slavery, with some of them trying to make excuses.
* Admittedly, it did take me a while to wake up to the facts, though I always expressed relief that the Union won the war. I guess I just didn't want to believe that the South's motivation was really that simple.
Especially with the Sequel headed to theaters soon!
@Ladey Babey Reconstruction and industrialization dealt with both problems, but they were too busy whining about the fact that they couldn't own slaves anymore to appreciate that. And frankly, it was also that little fact that made the war unwinnable, among other things: they grew so much cotton that they neglected to grow enough food.
@Ladey Babey it was a rich man's war, but most of the rich men didn't want to fight. Sadly, the poor supported them and their "right" to own slaves. It was at least one of, if not the worst time in the history of the US.
His father-in-law gave him a slave. When Grant had enough money, rather than feed his poor family and make it like a bandit, he set that slave free.
There’s a name for that, folks: integrity. Ulysses Grant had it in spades.
After the barn was built by slave labor haha😮!
"Unconditional Surrender Grant" wonder why that name didn't stick, it's so catchy
I always thought the nickname was overly clunky. 🤔
I prefer, “You can’t win against Grant!”
It wasn't an unconditional surrender because only 1 TREACHEROUS southern general was executed...
All the leaders were pardoned...so thats BS
Too many syllables.
I wouldn’t say that Grant was the only hero of the Civil War, there’s also Sherman. Sherman was a close friend of Grant who scored two massive victories for the Union, taking Atlanta which secured Lincoln’s reelection and taking Savannah, sealing the fate of the confederacy.
Lee has Stonewall while Grant has a Tank.
@@wyvrusgriffion3948 which goes to show that when given the opportunity, Grant and Sherman are a devastating combo
Agreed, but even Sherman in his memoir gave credit to Grant for allowing Sherman to do what he did. Sherman described the difference between Grant and Lee as something to the effect of Lee stoutly defending the front porch while Grant had already sacked the kitchen and bedroom. There were several great generals on both sides that fought great battles...but Grant was the only one that fought a war.
@@ScottKent God, I love the way Sherman phrases things.
Indeed, we need one on Sherman. A man who really put the nail in the coffin of the trash south.
I grew up in Wisconsin and learned about the Civil War before my parents moved to Georgia where I was retaught the civil war in 7th grade. The bias could not have been anymore obvious and they depicted Sherman's march to the sea very differently than I had previously learned. Slavery was barely mentioned, making it as a war of Northern Aggression more than anything else and taking pride in their ability to survive by foraging 'goober peas' aka peanuts.
Thankfully the lies are fading.
Wisconsin you say? Never forget t-pain rhymed Wisconsin with mansion.
@@movietimeateds69 i had forgotten so thank you for the reminder
Revisionist history at its worst. I gather if you learned about WWII in Japan you'd get a similar experience of "Wait, that's not what happened."
Well when the country is founded on states making their own rules and the other half disagrees the winner gets their way. O look. They are doing it again. Surprise.
Although I was born and raised in the south, and I still live in Chattanooga Tennessee to this day… My parents named me after Ulysses S Grant. Grant being my first name
Good to see a video about my famous relative. :) my cousin traced our roots to him on my grandma's side. Not sure if he was my several greats back uncle or grandpa. Nothing but respect for him ❤❤❤ he was a great man :)
I live in the town he once called home!! Love it here! So do the tourist!!!
I live at Shiloh, it’s so cool to see the land where he commanded. Such an amazing historical figure.
I loved hearing about Ulysses S Grant from a very young age. I love him still.
He was an anti-semite, how could you say such a thing?
Because I loved history even and became interested in history texts.
I don’t think I would have liked him...I was in the military and guys like him weren’t liked...I don’t think he would have been a great general of our modern times...
Unlike Ulysses S Grant I have reverence for Douglass Macarthur
@Robert Sears true
His story about him freeing a slave while he lived in abject poverty is so heart moving! Bear in mind, this was at a time where slavery was encouraged and he could have made a fortune from selling him
Adjusted for inflation the average price of a working male slave at the time was around $30k in modern doallrs.
After of course the barn was built...😮
The young, ignorant Southern me hated Grant! The Southern adult me, more educated/wiser me... loves Grant!
blame the us school system for that, and the fact we kept the deadweight of the south attached to us and dont just completely crack down on it but let the same familys of slave owners stay in power. A part of me truly wishes we just broke off from the south there eaten us from the inside now. We won just a battle im my opinion the war is still being fought
Thank you Simon, and your team of researchers for highlighting an important general of the Civil War. He was a great man in his own right, and without him, things would have been quite different.
A really excellent analysis of Grant's extraordinary military and political career. Great use of period photos and pictures. Terrific video.
When Grant was promoted to Brigadier General early in the Civil War, his father, likely mindful of his son's dubious career up to that point, told him, "You're a general now, Ulyss, it's a good job! Don't lose it!"
I grew up in the North (Chicago). We were always taught in school that he was just as important as Washington and Lincoln. Like you said, Simon, his downgrading must’ve been a southern thing.
It's called the Lost Cause Myth. The premise was to demonize the North and put the South in best of light possible.
Common things lost causers will say is "Robert E. Lee was an abolitionist" or call the civil war the "War Of Northern Aggression", they'll say the confederates had better generals or the north only won because of massive resources. Grants reputation was dragged through the mud, calling him a butcher.
I grew up in the south, seen a lot of this, believed in it for a while, realized it was stupid and educated myself on the matter.
It was started by a group of privileged planter class women, who called themselves "The daughters of the confederacy", not only did they dedicate themselves to rewriting history, they urged many ex confederate officials to do the same thing.
There’s a great book called ‘Grant’s Final Victory’ that covers in detail the last year of his life and the immense amount of effort he put into writing his memoirs. It was a slow, painful way to die but he hung on in the hopes that his work would see his family provided for when he was gone. If I remember correctly he finished writing only a few weeks before he died
I just started re-reading his memoirs.
Grant reminds me of Carter. Not a great president, but a great guy. It’s a shame it’s normally the opposite
@@kansashoneybadger7899 Totally Agreed!
@@kansashoneybadger7899 I can't believe that a guy who destroyed the South and fought for ex slaves as a President isn't thought of in the same way as Lincoln, the guy is an absolute LEGEND
@@kansashoneybadger7899 The Democratic and Republican parties switched in the 1960s
All the good guys before then were Republican but Lincoln and Grant would be disgusted with the Republican party of today
@@pr-tj5by I doubt that
@Jafferson Llaban You lost the war, get over it
Part of the reason Grant was broke in the final years was not just bad investments, but he also used his money to try to repay people who had been scammed by his friends who had used his name to swindle people.
One of Grant's remote postings was quartermaster at Fort Humboldt in what is now the city of Eureka in northern California. He didn't like the remoteness and isolation.
Eureka’s damn well in the middle of nowhere so I can see why he’d feel isolated. Even today it’s a tiny spec on the map! 😅
@@TheVirtualObserver yes it is! It’s about a five hour drive from the Bay Area. It didn’t help Grant that he reportedly didn’t want to hang out with anyone from the fort, so I imagine a lot of his isolation was self imposed.
I visit Fort Humboldt regularly, beautiful view of the bay.
Grant is one of the few good people we in the US have had that was President. Probably not a great president. But a genuinely good person
His presidency was a bit of an unfortunate failure as it led onto the Guilded Age and corruption, but he should be hailed as a national hero regardless for his efforts in the Civil War.
“He died almost penny less.” Whiskey ain’t free!
Like Jimmy Carter.
A better president than given credit for. Lingering bad vibes from racist historians from the first half of the 20th century.
Yeah he was a nice person...
His military practice of always putting pressure on the other army caused a lot of casualties, but ended the war sooner and I believe saved lives. If he fought like the other Generals in the North the war would of gone on much longer and the casualties would of been much greater. Kind of how General Patton in WW2 was known as old blood and guts for his constant attacking and lost of life, but in the end his casualties were less then General Bradley's who was known as a man who cared for his men. Sometimes brute strength wins the day with less damage.
In the Western Theather al up to Chattanoga % of Cassualities of Grants Armys where lowest thant those of Lee.
When he move east and took comand along the Potomac Army; is % rise; the real reason was Fortifications vs Old Napoleonic regiment táctics
Grant "causing a lot of casualties on his own army" is a myth made up by the Lost Causers. Nothing he ever did ever resembles "throwing men at the enemy" look at Vicksburg, Shiloh, Chattanooga, etc. does not resemble anything of the myth. Even in the Overland Campaign Grant constantly tried to shift right and flank Lee and make Lee attack him. Of course Lee wasn't stupid and kept using his interior lines to march faster than Grant and had the home field advantage. Even then in the end Lee suffered similar killed/captured/missing numbers to Grant's. Grant out-maneuvered Lee at the James River and by that point the gig was up. Had some Union Corp commanders been slightly more competent (looking at you Butler) the war would've over by 1864. Not mention Grant was a great organizer and engineered the Confederate's defeat of the war (Sherman to the sea, Sheridan in the Shenandoah, etc)
Patton got that nickname from his speeches. His casualties were actually surprisingly low for how aggressive he was. Then again, the war was won by staying on the offensive to avoid a repeat of WWI.
@@foxymetroid us Army doctrine in WW2 put little enfasis in man power, hence their offensive where mostly massive in logistics and fire power
@@alejandroyepez In WWII, victory went to whoever could do that better than anyone else. Germany beat France, chased Britain off of the mainland, and drove the Soviets back to Moscow by using their firepower as efficiently as possible. They were then driven back to Berlin when the Allies returned the favor.
Badass. Just with the name Ulysses you know his life’s story is heroic.
Also, he’s like Robin William’s military man on that last pic
The difference between Grant and Lee was Grant learned from his mistakes and Lee always repeated them. Grant was the best horsemen at West Point till George S. Patton arrived.
"We fought the wrong enemy" - George S. Patton
"If what we are doing [to the Germans] is"'Liberty, then give me death". I can't see how Americans can sink so low. It is Semitic, and I am sure of it." - George S. Patton
"There is a very apparent Semitic influence in the press. They are trying to do two things: first, implement communism, and second, see that all businessmen of German ancestry and non-Jewish antecedents are thrown out of their jobs. They have utterly lost the Anglo-Saxon conception of justice and feel that a man can be kicked out because somebody else says he is a Nazi. " - George S. Patton
"Berlin gave me the blues. We have destroyed what could have been a good race, and we are about to replace them with Mongolian savages. And all Europe will be Communist. It's said that for the first week after they took it [Berlin], all women who ran were shot and those who did not were raped. I could have taken it [instead of the Soviets] had I been allowed." - George S. Patton
@@truth5705 You can't make 1 comment that's not about "jews"(jewish people) can you??
@@gomahklawm4446 I had the honor of training with the Israeli military on many occasions in my Marine Corps career. The Jewish people in my opinion are a noble group and if a people tried to exterminate you you would fight like a lion than be led to the slaughter as a lamb I would fight like the do today to survive . That’s today’s American 🇺🇸 the Demonrats and there RINO friends want us weak and bow down to them. Well this is one old dog of War will fight like a lion than be a lamb led to the slaughter house.
@@gomahklawm4446 all jews are semites but not all semites are jews you know.
Thank you. General Grant is someone I've always looked up to as an example of a flawed yet exemplary leader and human and I'm happy to see anything that sheds some positive light on his life and legacy
As an American, it's nice to hear about one of our presidents who was overall a very good guy. Not the best president, but a good man.
The greatest general of the Civil War. Three armies surrendered during the Civil War, all three of them surrendered their swords to Ulysses S Grant and one of those losing generals was Robert E Lee.
Grant was a great general. You can look at his predecessors and see how they failed while they also had overwhelming force.
It always struck me as odd that the south tried to portray Grant as a drunkard, as if getting your ass kicked by a drunk is somehow LESS embarrassing.
It's the South... I think that's self explanatory
Well my school taught that grant was a great General but I live in Ohio and we were with him from the beginning. The fact he a native son doesn't hurt.
Grant is quickly becoming one of my favorite Americans in history. This man is a hero!!
This is an excellent addendum to what I've recently reviewed about U. S. Civil War history. Along with this timely and always educational Biographics episode, I've also greatly enjoyed American Battlefield Trust videos in which they have recorded immersive same-day anniversary segments while on the actual battlefield sites. Any future project collaborations with them would be amazing. Again, thank you for your outstanding content.
Thank you Simon for standing up for the historical truth about a truly remarkable man. 👍🏻
Though up North, Sherman is our most beloved and respected General.
God we love General Sherman.
And his namesake tank helped us win the war against more white supremacists almost a century later! :’)
Interesting, since he was much more racist than Grant
@@chaosXP3RT Grant is beloved too, but us Yankees are kind of upset that he didn't turn the entire Vicksburg army into POWs.
Grant didn’t attend Ford’s theatre because his wife hated Mrs. Lincoln.
Lol pretty sure everyone hated Mary Todd. She was batshit crazy after all.
Her own son had her committed to a looney bin.
@@darthcheney7447 She watched her husband and three of her sons die. She was pretty much done after all that.
My favorite riposte..."Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" Gets 'em every time!
Grant's wife was the most ditzy yokel type and Mary Lincoln couldn't stand her. Which may factor into Lincoln and Grant's close bromance.
Grant is my great great great grandfather! Great granny Grant is still alive today.
Is your family still wealthy?
He's a decended relative of mine too from the Highland clearances, he's also the spitting image of my dad.
HOLLY CRAP! TELL ME YOU HAVE OLD AIRLOOMS OR BOOKS PLEASE!
Interesting. Supposedly I am related to his niece Betsy Lang. My family also bears a resemblance to him.
Would you do something for me?
If you have a picture of him, can you please salute him on my behalf and thank him for the respect and kindness he showed Natives, blacks, and others? I could do it as well, but I feel that the message would get through to him faster through a family member.
Been waiting for this one a while! You should Do Davey Crocket next
I can’t get enough of these videos. It’s truly admiral how much effort Simon puts toward telling the story of people who shaped a country he doesn’t even live in
He’s a relative of mine. You did a wonderful job of covering his life. It was nice to see how you presented him as a good man rather than the drunk history books tend to present him as.
Hes my 5th cousin 6x removed:)
@Garrison Nichols good to see the trolls are still out in force to try to stomp out any source of light. Yes he was a man with human flaws. Can’t argue that. But it was good to see him presented as such. Not simply a drunk that stumbled through life. If you view everyone so one dimensionally you’re going to miss out a lot on what history has to teach you.
@@mariefire1824 really? Hes my 4th cousin 9th removed!!!!!!! we are like brothers!
Lucky
Fun fact: Japan's Admiral Yamamoto (The guy behind Pearl Harbor) idolized Ulysses S. Grant.
Its a shame Grants administration was plagued by so many corrupt people. People he trusted, too much so. The man was a simple country boy that liked nothing more than to ride a fast horse, he was the right man for the job in finishing the civil war and he had good intentions. With a few more good people around him he could have done a lot right for America.
Its disturbing that I was taught the Lost Cause lie in school; all the way up til I graduated in 2007. You shouldn't be able to legally call it a history class if you're going to spread complete and total falsehood. Even as a kid, I thought it was seriously messed up that my "history" textbooks always tried to paint the Confederacy, an institution built to defend slavery, as sympathetic. Kinda surprised, nowadays, that they didn't try to pull the same thing with a certain toothbrush mustache-wearing German back in the 30s and 40s. May as well, if you're going to go on about the "honour" and "righteousness" of literal slave-holding traitors.
so the 'dunning school' puts the burn to the notion that "history is written by the victors".
But the south did nothing wrong
In this case the history was written by the UDC! United Daughters of the Confederacy! Which is why everything from primary school history books to statues to your drunk uncle thinks the Lost Cause version of the civil war is true !! ( funnny and sad )
Slavery and Treason are wrong, Son!
No, Woodrow Wilson as a historian (before dabbling in politics) was a follower of that school. You certainly can't say Wilson isn't a victor.
@@OldHeathen1963
nothing i said supports slavery and treason. my point is that supporters of the confederacy authored a history of the conflict which became widely accepted. this disproves the notion that history is written by the victors of a conflict.
He was one of the greatest Americans ranking with George Washington ,and Abraham Lincoln. If it was not for him we might be living in a different America. After this last election mess we are in a different America. Never the less , this has nothing to do with Grants time. He is without doubt a great American hero222
I find Ulysses S Grant a fascinating man!
I can't watch enough about Grant. He truly was amazing man.
Grant and Sherman are perfect examples for renamed army installations. Fort Benning, GA is the closest to Atlanta, so that should be honored with the name of Fort Sherman.
There were no heroes who fought for the south! Ulysses S. Grant was a good man, my hero! He was not perfect but he was the right man for the job of general and president. May he Rest In Peace.
Definitely the sexiest president.
No heroes who fought for the south? That's a moronic statement lmao
@@TheFrogInYourClosetWatchingYou I feel good knowing all those who fought for the south are burning in hell.
@@Mulambdaline1 how does it feel knowing you are gonna join them for eternity?
@@TheFrogInYourClosetWatchingYou so you agree, all confederates are burning in hell! Glad to know you finally see the light
Best commander of the civil war for mine. Lee maybe the best battlefield General but in terms of conducting and orchestrating an entire campaign to comprehensively defeat your opponent, Grant was the best. His Overland and Vicksburg campaigns are militarily, works of art.
I've never seen that photo of Grant you showed at 21:04. I can't believe that it's never come up in any documentary I've seen before now. Thanks so much! You should do one of these about Sherman, he's an amazing source of great quotes!