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Analysis: Why Ulysses S. Grant Won The Civil War

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During the first half of the Civil War, the South had the upper hand and the Confederate army was taking most of the victories. The leadership of General Lee was a force to be reckoned with and the South had the advantage of knowing the geography and having the ability to quickly obtain fresh reinforcements and supplies, since most of the battles were fought locally. Northern generals had failed to stop the Southern advances and things were looking bleak for the Union. Fortunately, General Ulysses S. Grant was granted the authority to make the major military decisions, and as a result of his relentless pursuit of the Confederate army, the Union won the Civil War. It was a cool, clear morning on April 9, 1865, the day General Robert E. …show more content…

As the war raged on, and the North began to panic over the outcome, Grant became even more composed, grim, and confident that the battle tactics in place would bring about a victory for the Union. (Schlesinger, 82). Grant said; "I may be mistaken, but I feel our success over Lee's army is already insured." (Perret, 328). There is also evidence of General Ulysses S. Grant's fearless and confident attitude. This confidence affected his decision making in the midst of his doubters who included many politicians, newspaper reporters, and even his classmates who had once nicknamed him "Useless" while attending school. (Schlesinger, 21). There was a great amount of pressure and expectation placed upon Grant and he did not back down in the face of opposition or set-backs. During the crucial Wilderness Campaign when asked if he had any message to send to Lincoln, he replied with; "Well, if you see the President, tell him from me that whatever happens, there will be no turning back." (Perret, 314). Grant was aware of the burden he carried for the Union and knew that once he put so many lives on the line, the only choice was to continue until he had utterly defeated the …show more content…

The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, further crushed General Lee’s efforts for a southern victory. Grant chose the perfect time to launch his Wilderness campaign in the spring of 1864. (Schlesinger, 80). It was one of the most brutal periods in military history. During the campaign over 50,000 men between both armies died. (History.com) This campaign enabled General Grant to achieve the upper hand even though he was criticized for being known as the "Butcher” due to his bloody and bold military

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These civil war battles were a major victory for General Ulysses Grant from the Union and a disaster for the Confederate forces in the South. General Grant seized Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee as a way to invade the South directly. Both forts were important for the South because of Tennessee and Cumberland rivers ways as supply line. Factors that played an important role in the Unions victory were Grant’s character traits and the weather. General Grant’s leadership and critical traits of initiative, aggressiveness, constantly seeking creativity, inventive, and resourcefulness were key to the Unions victory.

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Grant was a very prominent figure of the time period and led the Union to victory and helped heal the fractured United States afterward. General Grant began his military career at West Point when he was just sixteen. He was top of his class and when he graduated, he began his four years of service and went into combat in the Mexican-American War. He was promoted to captain as a result of his bravery during the war. After this, his four-year commitment to the army was up, he left and did not expect to come back.

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He was afraid to risk failure so he never would risk doing anything. On the other hand, the Confederates leaders had General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He was considered a big risk taker. McClellan was not too worried about Lee or his army thinking that Lee was weak and too cautious but Lee was anything but that. General Lee gathered as many men as was available and attacked General McClellan on June 26, 1862 repeatedly for seven days.

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The importance of this war and need to reestablish the Union caused Grant to take new strategies when waging war. In this war Grant used tactics such as year long warfare, high tempo warfare and siege warfare to destroy the confederates. By doing this he not only secured many major Union victories, but also changed how wars would be fought for years to come. And furthermore, through these new strategies of war we can can see how Grant not only affected the outcome of the war and war itself, but also the people within the war both confederate and federal. Prior to this war, wars had only been waged seasonally so that men could operate their farms or not have to deal with the intense winters.

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Grant finished the job as he knew it was a very strong battle and was not afraid to risk the lives of thousands of soldiers so as not to fail in this battle.

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This demonstrates how willing he was to change his ways in the country. Ulysses S. Grant was brave in multiple ways during the American Civil War. Grant had the reputation for saving the American Union Army from defeat (“Britannica”). This affected him because people wanted him as president because he saved the Union Army from losing a battle. Kuhl 2

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The rising numbers of death in the South tremendously weakened their army, which allowed for a Northern succession. William C. Davis asserts, “Industrially the South couldn’t keep up in output and in manpower. By the end of the war, the South had, more or less, plenty of weaponry still, but it just didn’t have enough men to use the guns”. Having such a small army, the South was not able to sustain a decent amount of soldiers for the war. Henceforth, the Northern advantage of having more soldiers had a large impact on the Southern loss in the Civil

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General McClellan made the South flee causing the Union to win another battle. In Mississippi General Grant led another battle to victory with the surrender of the Confederacy. General Sherman led the Union army in Savannah and destroyed the cities and broke the spirit of the Confederacy. This was another victory. The final battle of the Civil War was led by President Lincoln.

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