Ulysses s. Grant

(1822-1885)

Grant was born to farmer folk and was fortunate to be appointed to West Point where he graduated 21^st in a class of 39, although the lad with the non-intellectual bent was deemed the best horseman. He fought in the Mexican War but resigned his commission soon after. Already drinking heavily, he seemed destined for obscurity when the Civil War erupted. Reenlisting, he rose rapidly to the rank of Brigadier General. He showed himself to be a capable leader, his understanding of the immediate exigencies of single maneuvers blending well with his grasp of the overall picture. Grant had energy, daring and iron determination, although compassion was often lacking: his strategy of attrition sacrificed 72,000 of his own men in two months but it got him to Richmond. Ultimately it got him Lee’s surrender.

In 1868 the Republicans chose as their presidential nominee the popular national hero, whose contact with politics was almost non-existent. Grant was not fitted for the awesome office of the President in which he served two terms. A single-mindedness permitted on the field of battle was inappropriate in the White House, and subtleties of national importance escaped him. The country nee4ded a man of vision to help prevent southerners from sliding into the divisive doldrums of white supremacy, and the northerners from entering the technological age like a bunch of Barbary pirates. Grant, the embodiment of government by neglect, was not the man. Scandal among his most intimate associates tarnished his great career. He spent his last years trying to make money, characteristically lost in t\a friend’s fraudulent venture. He wrote his Personal Memoirs, one of the best military biographies, to pay his debts. Finishing in four days before he died of cancer of the throat, it earned his wife half a million dollars.

U.S. Grant was like his country in many ways: trusting, excessive and commanding. His trust would lead him to put his faith in scoundrels; his excessiveness would lead to intemperate drinking on the one hand and on the other to a single-mindedness of purpose which would stand his country in good stead during the Civil War; his sense of command would lead him inexorably to the White House.

William Tecumseh Sherman

(1820-1891)

Born in Ohio, Sherman was originally named after the Shawnee chief and “William” was added by the religious couple who reared him after his father died. He graduated from West Point and fought in the Mexican War, but left the army in 1853 to work as a banker, lawyer and superintendent of a military school in Louisiana. When the Civil War broke out, Sherman rejected a commission in the Confederate Army and in May 1861 accepted and appointment as a colonel of infantry in the Federal Army. He was defeated in the First Bull Run campaign of July 1861, but held Kentucky for the Union side. Then as commander of the Department of the Cumberland, he quarreled with superiors and practically removed from command. He considered suicide, but regained his balance and became commander of the 5^th division, Army of Tennessee, in March 1862. Although commended for his bold actions, Sherman was defeated at Shiloh in April.

Then, in July 1862, Sherman had command of the District of Memphis and collaborated with Grant to take Vicksburg. His amphibious assault led to that city’s capitulation in July 1863, and Sherman finally had a conclusive victory. Promoted to brigadier general, he succeeded grant as commander of the Department of the Tennessee and later as commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi. Sherman took Atlanta in September 1864 and turned the tide for Lincoln’s reelection. In November he took his best soldiers to cut a swath 40 miles wide and 300 miles long through the South. By December 21 he had reached Savannah, burning through the supply lines of the Confederacy. He then headed north on another march through the Carolinas. After Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Sherman negotiated a surrender with General Joseph Johnston, but by adding terms of political nature to the merely military capitulation, he came under attack from the Republican administration. He eventually succeeded grant as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army in 1869, retiring from active duty in 1883. Sherman was not the ravaging firebrand that his controversial marches made him seem to be. He was a determined general who recognized the need to conduct total war, even against the civilian economy, in his dedication to total victory.

Sherman succeeded where other Union generals had failed because he was willing to take risks to win victories.