Ulysses S.Grant 的生平

Ulysses S.Grant 的生平

Ulysses S.Grant
Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson,Gen.Ulysses S.Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans.He was,as the symbol of Union victory during the Civil War,their logical candidate for President in 1868.
When he was elected,the American people hoped for an end to turmoil.Grant provided neither vigor nor reform.Looking to Congress for direction,he seemed bewildered.One visitor to the White House noted "a puzzled pathos,as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms."
Born in 1822,Grant was the son of an Ohio tanner.He went to West Point rather against his will and graduated in the middle of his class.In the Mexican War he fought under Gen.Zachary Taylor.
At the outbreak of the Civil War,Grant was working in his father's leather store in Galena,Illinois.He was appointed by the Governor to command an unruly volunteer regiment.Grant whipped it into shape and by September 1861 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers.
He sought to win control of the Mississippi Valley.In February 1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson.When the Confederate commander asked for terms,Grant replied,"No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." The Confederates surrendered,and President Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.