Ulysses S. Grant born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; [ a ] April 27, β July 23, was the 18th president of the United States , serving from to He served with distinction in the MexicanβAmerican War , but resigned from the army in and returned to civilian life impoverished.
In , shortly after the Civil War began, Grant joined the Union Army and rose to prominence after securing victories in the western theater. In , he led the Vicksburg campaign that gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River and dealt a major strategic blow to the Confederacy.
President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and command of all Union armies after his victory at Chattanooga. For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high-casualty Overland Campaign which ended with the capture of Lee's army at Appomattox , where he formally surrendered to Grant.
Later, Grant broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies. A war hero, drawn in by his sense of duty, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and then elected president in As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy, supported congressional Reconstruction and the Fifteenth Amendment , and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan.
Under Grant, the Union was completely restored. An effective civil rights executive, Grant signed a bill to create the United States Department of Justice and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans during Reconstruction. In , he created the first Civil Service Commission , advancing the civil service more than any prior president.
