Civic Calendar: Remembering General Ulysses S. Grant's birth

The Forty-Ninth State Fellows of the UAA Honors College call the attention of the University community to the anniversary of the birth of General Ulysses S. Grant, (April 27, 1822), 18th U.S. President. A West Point graduate and close student of military tactics, Grant is credited with winning the American Civil War for the Union.

After his victory at Vicksburg on the Mississippi River in 1863, Lincoln appointed Grant head of the Union armies. His successful campaign against Richmond, Virginia, led Confederate General Robert E. Lee to surrender. Elected president in 1868, Grant did much to nurture reconstructions of the South. But his presidency was plagued by corruption due to his poor administration and he left office in disgrace, reconstruction in a shambles. He did much to resurrect his reputation with the publication of his memoirs, completed just five days before his death on July 18, 1885.