On the onset of the American Civil War in April 1861, Ulysses S. Grant was working as a clerk in his father's leather goods store in Galena, Illinois.

After a series of decisive yet costly battles and victories at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general by Lincoln in 1864 and given charge of all the Union armies.

[2] Although Grant maintained high casualties during the Overland Campaign in 1864, his aggressive fighting strategy was in compliance with the U.S. government's strategic war aims[2] and was in any case abetted by profligate Confederate generals who were willing to match his losses.

[4] Grant is considered a modern, natural, and skillful general, leading from a central command center, using common sense, and delivering coordinated attacks on the enemy's armies.

Going on the offensive, Grant took 3,000 Union troops by boat and attacked the Confederate Army commanded by General Gideon J. Pillow positioned at Camp Johnson in Belmont, Missouri, on November 7, 1861.

With Washington's support, Halleck told Grant to remain at Fort Henry and give command of the next expedition up the Tennessee River to Charles F. Smith, newly nominated as a major general.

Wallace, and James M. Tuttle, bravely withstood determined Confederate assaults in a road pocket known as the "Hornet's Nest" for seven hours before being forced to yield ground towards the Tennessee River.

Adm. David D. Porter's navy ships had previously made a run past Vicksburg's batteries on April 16, 1863, enabling Union troops to be transported to the east side of the river.

Confederate general John C. Pemberton was defeated by Grant's forces at the battles of Champion Hill and of Black River Bridge and retreated to the Vicksburg fortress.

During the initial campaign in December 1862, Grant became upset and angry over speculators and traders who inundated his department and violated rules about trading cotton in a militarized zone.

"[28] The order, ostensibly in response to illegal cotton smuggling done without Treasury approval, has been described by one modern historian as "the most blatant official episode of anti-Semitism in nineteenth-century American history.

When Grant arrived at Chattanooga at the Union camp, he was informed of their plight and implemented a system known as the "Cracker Line," devised by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith.

Although the valiant frontal assault was successful, Grant was initially upset because he did not give direct orders for the men to take Missionary Ridge; however, he was satisfied with their results.

The victory at Missionary Ridge eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta campaign of 1864.

[30][31] After the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga, President Lincoln promoted Grant to a special regular army rank, General-in-chief (Lieutenant General), authorized by Congress on March 2, 1864.

President Lincoln and Grant met together in Washington and devised "total war" plans that struck at the heart of the Confederacy, including military, railroad, and economic infrastructures.

Rifles refused to fire due to the troops gunpowder getting wet from rainy weather and they were forced into a bloody hand-to-hand struggle similar to battles fought in ancient times.

"[36] Finding he could not break Lee's line of defense at Spotsylvania, Grant turned southward and moved to the North Anna River a dozen miles closer to Richmond.

Rather than take the bait, Lee anticipated a second right flank movement by Grant and retreated to the North Anna River in response to the Union V and VI corps, withdrawing from Spotsylvania.

[37][38] Among northern antiwar elements after the stalemate at Cold Harbor, Grant was castigated as the "Butcher" for having sustained high casualties without a decisive victory over Robert E. Lee.

The Copperheads, an anti-war movement of northern Democrats, advocated legal recognition of the Confederacy, immediate peace talks, and encouraged draft dodging and desertion.

However, Smith inexplicably stopped fighting and waited until the following day, June 16, to attack the city, allowing Beauregard to concentrate reinforcements in secondary field works.

Early, with 15,000 seasoned troops, marched north "down" the Shenandoah Valley, defeated Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Monocacy, and following the Battle of Fort Stevens, he reached the outskirts of Washington, causing great alarm.

At Petersburg, Grant blew up a section of Lee's trenches with gunpowder planted inside a huge mine tunnel dug by Pennsylvanian coal miners.

Sheridan and Sherman followed Lincoln and Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructure of the Shenandoah Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Grant continued to apply months of relentless military pressure at Petersburg on the Army of Northern Virginia until Lee was forced to evacuate Richmond in April 1865.

There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which was needed to reunite the warring sides.

Elected President twice in 1868 and 1872 Grant's terms in office were filled with federal corruption scandals and sectional violence over the constitutional citizenship rights of African Americans.

Grant, as President, supported the efforts of Congress to protect the Civil Rights of African Americans and was able for a few years to legally and militarily defeat the Ku Klux Klan.

[44] After Grant retired from the Presidency, he went on an unprecedented World tour visiting Europe, the Mid East, and Asia, returning by ship to San Francisco in June, 1879.