Ulysses S. Grant

Grant moved around holding different jobs until finally he got a job with his brother Orvil Grant. Grant's brother owned a tanner, a place Grant hated, so he did little work and lived in a small room furnished by his brother. Grant held the job until the Civil War broke out. .
             When the Civil War broke out Grant did not join the army; he helped his town regiment any way he could by doing odd jobs for it. Finally Grant was given a commission of the 21st Illinois. Under his command he turned his men into a real fighting unit instead of a bunch of "hellions" as they were know. Grant received recognition when he took Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and 15,000 prisoners. Grant became known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. Grant took Nashville and Vicksburg and then took leadership of the Army of the Northern Potomac. Grant moved onto Richmond and took the Confederate capital chasing Lee away until he finally caught Lee at Appomattox.
             After the war, Grant was left in charge of the U.S. Army and was directly under the command of Andrew Johnson. The two men would grow to not like each other after some controversy. Andrew Johnson was in trouble with the Republican controlled congress (who disliked him because he was a democrat) and when Johnson fired his secretary of war he gave the job to Grant. Grant sided with the Republicans and resigned the post. Johnson claimed Grant failed to keep his promise to support him and it is not known whether or not Grant actually such a promise. Grant had great popularity as a war hero and at the Republican National Convention in 1868 Grant was unanimously nominated for president. His running mate was House Speaker Schuyler Colfax. Grant did very little campaigning and easily beat his opponent Horatio Seymour. Grant received 214 electoral votes to Seymour's 80. Grant took office in March 1869 and was a weak president and acted more as a military commander. Grant gave orders and assumed his subordinates would carry them out and seemed to have no real grasp of his limits or powers as president.