Ulysses S. Grant Influence

Did you know that the S in Ulysses S. Grant's name does not have any meaning at all? When Ohio Congressman Thomas Hamer was writing his nomination for West Point he accidentally put Ulysses S. Grant instead of Ulysses Grant. Despite his best efforts to correct this mistake, it stuck with him and he decided to accept it as his own. It was after this event that people at West Point started calling him U.S. Grant. The initials U.S. stood for Uncle Sam. This was just one of the many interesting facts about Grant that I bet you did not know about him. Ulysses S. Grant was an important figure in America's history and development. This paper will include a recollection of Grants early years, alcohol's influence on him throughout his life, his leadership

During his time at West Point, the school’s mess hall had a fine that they had to pay with one bottle of wine when a person was late to the hall. Ulysses was seeing his future wife, Julia Dent, at the time and he was frequently late to the mess hall because of it. Eventually he argued about the fine with Robert Buchanan who was his commanding officer. This argument sparked a feud that continued throughout their lives. After he went to West Point, he served in the army for a few years and was sent to Sackets Harbor, New York. It was here that he began to drink heavily to pass the time because his post was so boring. It seemed that during most of his military career, Grant experienced the most temptation to drink while he was away from his family and away from the battlefield. He became worried because of his drinking and joined an anti-drinking group called the Sons of Temperance. This group helped him with his drinking problems and he became an active participant in the group. He was then moved to Detroit, Michigan which took him away from the Sons of Temperance so he began drinking again. While he was posted at Fort Humboldt, California he his commander was Robert Buchanan who was still angry about their argument at West Point. Buchanan spent a lot of time spreading rumours of Grant’s drinking to try and destroy Grant’s career. Eventually, because of the malicious rumors Grant resigned from the army and tried to work several different jobs. In the end his job did not work out so when the Civil War broke out he rejoined the Union Army. Grant’s alcoholism was an attribute that actually made him a better leader. Because of Grant trying to discipline himself with his drinking he was able to discipline other people better which helped him get a regiment of soldiers into fighting shape in the beginning of the Civil War. Because of this he was promoted