Today Is the 200th Birthday of American Hero US Grant

“The great distinguishing qualities of General Grant were truth, courage, modesty, generosity and loyalty. He was loyal to every work and every cause in which he was engaged—to his friends, his family, his country and to his God, and it was these characteristics which bound to him with hooks of steel all those who served with him.” —Major General Grenville M. Dodge

Ulysses S. Grant—general, president, patriot, hero. As one of the biggest victims of the romanticized and mendacious Confederate myth, Grant has far too often been criticized or dismissed or downplayed when he should have been celebrated. Today is the 200th birthday of U.S. Grant, and I want to share a few facts that highlight why Grant is one of the greatest men in American history.

1) Grant is arguably the greatest civil rights president in American history, besides Lincoln. Grant made the passage of the 15th Amendment, which gave full citizenship rights to Americans of every race (as the Constitution originally intended), a central goal of his presidential administration. “I repeat that the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life,” President Grant wrote Congress about the 15th Amendment. He later called racism a “senseless” prejudice.

Grant also repeatedly and firmly dealt with racist Democrat violence against black Americans and their white allies, even when members of his own Republican cabinet were losing interest in the issue. Grant further stands out for his remarkably amicable relationship with American Indian tribes (unfortunately, many of his subordinates did not agree with his efforts and ended up ruining several of them). He tried to safeguard the rights of native tribes against the less humane and more greedy American settlers, though not always with success, and he was such a true friend to the tribes that one chief, during a meeting with Grant, expressed the hope that Grant would win reelection.

“Let Us Have Peace,” drawing by C.S. Reinhart (1870), courtesy of National Park Service

2) Grant was an excellent and even brilliant general. Due to the romanticized Confederate myth, and due to the fact that Grant did in fact have some losses (but who hasn’t? Even the phenomenal General George Washington saw quite a few losses for various reasons), Grant after his death has not received the credit he should. He impressed many of those who knew him best, and who knew his strategies and actions during the Civil War best, including Abraham Lincoln and a spy who was sent from the War Department during the Civil War. Charles Dana was sent to dig up dirt on Grant and ended up becoming one of Grant’s greatest admirers after watching Grant in action both on and off the battlefield. The fact that Grant was given a military rank only previously conferred on George Washington speaks volumes.

3) Popularity is most certainly not necessarily a testament to greatness, as there are many people who are popular during their lifetimes and are very wicked or petty people, while there are many great men who never get the accolades they deserve. Sometimes popularity is even a mark against one’s integrity and greatness. On the other hand, it really does say something about Grant that, when he went on his world tour post-presidency, rulers and important figures in nations from Germany to China to England all wanted Grant’s advice and company. “We all know how vast your influence must be, not only upon your people at home but upon all nations who know what you have done, and who know that whatever question you considered would be considered with patience and wisdom and a desire for justice and peace,” a Chinese prince told Grant. Flattery? Probably a little. But the Chinese prince would not have been asking for Grant’s intervention with Japan on China’s behalf had he not truly believed Grant had the influence described. An American president had never been treated so (worldwide) before and, I venture to say, has never been treated so since.

Happy 200th Birthday to American hero and history maker US Grant!

(The book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by HW Brands was a source for this article.)

This article was originally written and posted last year. I mistakenly said last year was Grant’s 200th birthday, when I meant it was 200 years from his birthday.