Presidential Biographies | Grant Administrations - Introduction

Introduction

The son of an Ohio tanner who was working as a clerk at his father's store when the American Civil War (1861–65) began, Ulysses S. Grant rose from humble beginnings to become a general and a president. His successes during the American Civil War made him one of the most popular men in the United States by the war's end, popularity that carried over to his two terms as president. Moody but not glum in personality, modest but confident, loyal to those loyal to him even to a fault, and determined to finish every job he started, Grant personified nineteenth-century values of strong character and hard work.