Talk:Ulysses S. Grant/Archive 4

Another GAN?
I think another GA nomination may prove successful, due to the collaboration of every user that has edited this article since its last GA nomination. Thoughts? The Utahraptor Talk to me/Contributions 21:19, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

USG Civil War section as its own Wikipedia article
Before nominating USG for good article, is there any agreement on having the USG Civil War section as its own Wikipedia article? Cmguy777 (talk) 16:04, 26 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes. That section is way too long.  --Coemgenus 16:38, 26 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Definitely. The Utahraptor Talk to me/Contributions 21:01, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Here is a start on the summary. Feel free to edit or improve the segment. References need to be added. Cmguy777 (talk) 04:58, 27 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I have gotten the Civil War segment to 7 sections. I have been able to keep each segment no more then two paragraphs. Cmguy777 (talk) 15:20, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Fenian Canadian invasion
I added another source to the Fenian Canadian invasion. More information and/or source material could be useful for the segment. Are there any objections to keeping the section in the USG article? Cmguy777 (talk) 19:57, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I revised the section to focus upon Grant, and added a reliable source.Rjensen (talk) 20:01, 29 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks Rjensen. Looks good!  I believe the Fenian incident is worth mentioning in the article. Cmguy777 (talk) 20:03, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Postage stamps
The postage stamp section is a good addition to the article, however, I believe that showing three stamps, rather, then four is the best amount to show in the article. The photo in the Presidency section just not fit in the article at that place. I suggest placing that first 1890 stamp in the Memorial Stamp section and replace the 1898 stamp. Cmguy777 (talk) 02:09, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Image removed from article:

USG and the Civil War
I finished the rough draft of the Civil War section summary. Comments are needed to improve the text and historical context. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:41, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

New article
Does everyone concur that a new article on USG and the Civil War should be written? The Civil War summary in the talk page can replace the USG article's Civil War segment. The Civil War segment that is currently in the main USG article can be used in the new article. Suggestions and comments? Cmguy777 (talk) 00:16, 10 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, that makes sense. Do you have any other citations for that section?  Smith or McFeely would be useful, or even Hesseltine.  --Coemgenus 19:50, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
 * It should definitely be done before we try another GAN. The large Civil War section is one of the reasons why this article's most recent GAN failed. The Utahraptor Talk/Contribs 17:24, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

OK. I plan to put in further sources then make the change. The Dictionary on Civil War was a good source for the summary to start the framework of the new summary. Cmguy777 (talk) 23:24, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Comments USG Civil War summary

 * Funny, I was just reading the article and thinking the same thing. Good job so far on the summary. I would also suggest that the summary should also include just a few sentences about the Lincoln assassination, rather than a whole new section on the subject. The way the article stands, the Lincoln assassination section is poorly done and clearly a weak point in the article, with repetition (the "I can't spare this man; he fights" quote), questionable if not biased language, and little relevant information about Grant in regard to the actual assassination (Grant was invited to attend the play at Ford's theater and was in fact an actual target of the original assassination plot; he was also deeply affected by Lincoln's death). Harry Yelreh (talk) 05:45, 29 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I made changes to the Lincoln assassination section. I added informaton on Grant's alleged attack attempt on the train, how he was furious after returning to Washington, and how he cried at the funeral. Cmguy777 (talk) 02:37, 31 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I believe the Lincoln assassination should have its own section because it was not actually part of the Civil War, but rather a ruthless plot by John W. Booth, however, it did affect Grant personally. Cmguy777 (talk) 15:11, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your edits Harry Yelreh on the Lincoln assassination and Grant. The section looks good. Cmguy777 (talk) 15:22, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Since the Civil War was not completely over, should the Lincoln assassination be in the Civil War section? Cmguy777 (talk) 15:22, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I made changes to the summary segment on the USG Civil War section. Cmguy777 (talk) 05:10, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Civil War section
This is the Civil War section to be used in the new article: Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War. Cmguy777 (talk) 03:39, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

USG Civil War summary rewrite
I finished the rough draft of the Civil War section summary. Comments are needed to improve the text and historical context. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:41, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I believe that the USG Civil War section's segments should not go over two paragraphs. This will help maintain the size of the article. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:54, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Initial commissions
On April 13, 1861, Union Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, was attacked by Confederate forces and surrendered. Two days later, on April 15, President Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. He accepted a position offered by Illinois Gov. Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers. Grant, who wanted a field command, was efficient and energetic in the training camps and made a positive impression on the volunteer Union recruits. Grant with the aid of his advocate in Washington D.C., Elihu B. Washburne, was promoted to Colonel by Governor Richard Yates in June 14, 1861 and put in charge of the unruly Twenty-first Illinois volunteer regiment. By the end of August 1861, Grant was given charge of the District of Cairo by Maj. Gen John C. Fremont, an outside Lincoln appointment, who viewed Grant as "a man of dogged persistance, and iron will." Grant's own demeanor changed; having renewed energies he began to confidently walk without slouching.


 * Removed: However, those who had known Grant in the regular army viewed him as an unreliabe soldier and a drunkard.

suggest drop "However, those who had known Grant in the regular army viewed him as an unreliabe soldier and a drunkard" only the handful who knew him in California thought that Rjensen (talk) 04:06, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Battles of Beltmont, Henry, and Donelson
Grant’s first battles during the Civil War centered on Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River runs into the Mississippi River. The Confederate Army was stationed in Columbus, Kentucky under General Leonidas Polk. Grant, who was headquartered at Cairo, was given an open order by Union General John C. Frémont to make demonstrations against the Confederate Army at Beltmont. Taking 3,114 Union troops by boat Grant attacked Fort Belmont on November 7, 1861; having initially taken the fort his army was repulsed back to Cairo by Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow. Although considered a defeat, the battle gave confidence to Grant and the Union Army. Following Beltmont, Grant moved Union forces down the Mississippi River in order to capture Confederate water fortresses. Grant's troops, in collaboration with the Union Navy under Andrew H. Foote, successfully captured Fort Henry on February 6, 1862 and Fort Donelson on February 16. Fort Henry, undermanned by Confederates and nearly submerged from flood waters, was taken over with minimal losses; however at Fort Donelson the Union Army and Navy experienced stiff resistance from the Confederate forces under General Pillow. Grant's intial 15,000 troop strength was increased by 10,000 reinforcements. Grant’s first attack on Fort Donelson was countered by Pillow's forces pushing the Union Army into disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road. However, Grant was able to rally the troops; resume the offensive and the Confederates forces surrendered. Grant’s surrender terms were popular throughout the nation, “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender.” With these victories President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

Shiloh
The Union advances on the Mississippi River under Maj. Gen. Grant and Adm. Foote caused significant concern in the Confederate government. The Union army, known as the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant had increased to 48,894 men and were encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River. On April 6, 1862 a determined full force attack from the Confederate Army took place at the Battle of Shiloh; the objective was to destroy the entire Western Union offensive once for all. Over 44,699 confederate troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, vigorously attacked five divisions of Grant’s army bivouacked nine miles south at Pittsburgh Landing. Aware of the impending Confederate attack Union troops sounded the alarm and readied for battle, however, no defensive entrenchment works had been made. The Confederates struck hard and repulsed the Union Army towards the Tennessee River. Grant and Maj. General William T. Sherman were able to rally the troops and make a stand. After receiving reinforcement troops from Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace's missing division, Grant was able stabilize the Army of the Tennessee. Confederate General Johnson was killed in the battle on the first day of fighting. On April 7, Grant launched a costly counter offensive and pursuit that forced the Confederate Army, now under P.G.T. Beauregard, to retreat to Corinth.

The battle was the costliest in the Civil War up until this time having 23,746 combined Union and Confederate casualties. The carnage at Shiloh demonstrated to both Confederates and Unionists that the Civil War was both very serious and extremely costly. Shiloh was the first battle in the American Civil War with tremendous casualties and Grant received much criticism for keeping the Union Army bivouacked rather then entrenched. As a result, Grant's superior Maj. Gen Henry Halleck demoted him to second in command of a newly formed 120,000 manned Union Army. Grant was ready to resign from command when Maj. Gen. Sherman talked him into remaining in Halleck's army. After Halleck slowly moved on Corinth unopposed, the 120,000 manned army was broken up and Grant returned to his previous command over the Army of the Tennessee. After being restored to command, Grant was responsible for the refugee slave contraband whom President Lincoln had authorized to be recruited into the Union Army. Grant put the refugees under the protection of Chaplain John Eaton who authorized them to work on abandoned Confederate plantations. Eventually these refugees were paid to cut wood to fuel Union Steamers and would be the beginnings of the Freedman's Bureau during Reconstruction.

Vicksburg
Resolved for more victories, President Lincoln, the Union Army and Navy, were determined to take the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, located on the Mississippi River. In December 1862, with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, Grant first campaigned to take Vicksburg by an overland route following a railroad in combination with a water expedition on the Mississippi led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Confederate cavalry raiders Bedford Forest and Earl Van Dorn stalled Grant's advance by breaking communications, while the Confederate army led by John C. Pemberton concentrated and repulsed Sherman's direct approach at Chickasaw Bayou. During the second phase to capture Vicksburg, Grant attempted a series of unsuccessful and highly critisized system of bayou and canal water routes. Finally, in April 1863, Grant marched Union troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed east over at Bruinsburg using Adm. David Porter's naval ships. Grant previously had implemented two diversion battles that confused Pemeberton and allowed the Union Army to cross the Mississippi River. After a series of battles and having taken a railroad junction near Jackson, Grant went on to defeat Confederate General John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. After Champion Hill, Grant made a two costly direct assaults on the Vickburg fortess and finally setted for a seven week seige. Pemberton, who was in charge of the fortress, surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863.

The Vicksburg Campaign was Grant’s greatest achievement up to this time, having opened the south to Chattanooga and gave the Union army access to the vital grainery supply in Georgia. Grant demonstrated that an indirect assault coupled with diversionary tactics was highly effective strategy in defeating an entrenched Confederate Army. Although the success at Vicksburg was a great morale boost for the Union war effort, Grant received much criticism. In December 1862, Grant had angered Jews and non Jews with General Orders No. 11 that banished Jewish families from his military zones. Grant carelessly gave the order in an effort to stop the illegal southern cotton trade. Lincoln, however, rescinded the order and allowed Grant to remain in command. During the campaign Grant had many times been accused of being drunk by military rivals and newspapers. President Lincoln sent Charles Dana to keep a watchful eye on Grant's alleged controversial drunken behavior. In addition, a personal rivalry between Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand and Grant had developed over who took credit for capturing Vicksburg. McClernand was removed from command after he published a contradictory military order to the press and the rivalry ended.

Chattanooga
After Vicksburg, President Lincoln put Grant in charge of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi in October, 1863. Grant was in charge of the entire Union war front in the West except for Louisiana. After the Battle of Chattanooga, Confederate General Braxton Bragg had forced Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland to retreat into Chattanooga, a central railway hub, surrounded the city and kept the Union army from escaping. Only Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas and the XIV corps kept the Army of the Cumberland from complete defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga. When informed of the ominous situation at Chattanooga, Grant relieved Maj. Gen. Rosecrans from duty and placed Maj. Gen. Thomas in charge of and reorganize the besieged Army of the Cumberland. To stop the siege and go on the attack Grant, although injured from a previous horse fall in New Orleans, personally rode out to Chattanooga and took charge of the Union Army's desperate situation. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and two divisions of the Army of the Potomac were sent by President Lincoln to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, however, the Confederates kept the two Armies from meeting. Grant's first action was to open up a supply line to the Army of the Cumberland trapped in Chattanooga. Through an ingenious plan by Maj. Gen. William F. Smith a "Cracker Line" was formed with Hooker's Army of the Potomac located at Lookout Mountain and supplied the Army of the Cumberland with food and military weapons.

The situation at Chattanooga was urgent and Grant ordered Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee to get into position to attack Bragg's right flank. A week later three Union armies, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Potomac were ready to make the final assault on Bragg's entrenched armies on Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain. On November 24, 1863 Maj. Gen. Hooker captured Lookout Mountain in order to draw Bragg's troops away from Mission Ridge. On November 25, Grant began his assault on Missionary Ridge. Maj. Gen. Sherman made an attempt to attack Bragg's right flank, however, topographical difficulties and stiff Confederate resistance prevented a successful assault. The Army of the Cumberland, took matters into their own hands, stormed over Mission Ridge, and forced Bragg to retreat in a disorganized route. Grant, initially upset, had only ordered the Army of the Cumberland to take the rifle pits at the base of the ridge. The victory at Chattanooga increased Grant's fame throughout the country. Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General, a position that had previously been given to George Washington and given to Winfield Scott as a brevet promotion. Grant was given charge of the entire Union Army. Grant gave the Department of the Mississippi to Maj. Gen. Sherman, and went east to Washington D.C. to make and implement an overall strategy in partnership with President Lincoln to finally win the Civil War. Grant was the only General consistently winning victories for the Union.

Overland Campaign
In Washington D.C., President Lincoln met with Grant and discussed an overall military strategy to end the Civil War. The strategy consisted of combined military Union offensives attacking the Confederacy's armies, railroads, and economic infrastructures. The overall strategy was to keep the Confederate armies from mobilizing reinforcements within southern interior lines. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman would attack Atlanta and Georgia, while the Army of the Potomac, led by Maj. Gen. George Meade with Grant in camp, would attack Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was to attack and advance towards Richmond going up the James River. Depending on Lee's actions, Grant would join forces with Butler's armies and be fed supplies from the James River. Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel was to capture the railroad line at Lynchburg, move east, and attack from the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, the efforts of both Sigel and Butler failed and Grant was left alone to fight Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles of attrition known as the Overland Campaign that finally ended in a stalemate seige at Petersburg. Lee's objectives were to keep Grant from crossing south of the James River and protect Richmond.

After taking the month of April, 1864 to assemble and ready the Union Army of the Potomac, Grant crossed the Rapidian River on May 4 and attacked Robert E. Lee's in the Wilderness; a hard fought battle with many casualties lasting three days. Rather then retreat as his Union predecessors had done, Grant flanked Lee's Army of Virginia to the southeast and attempted to wedge the Union Army between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania. Lee's army got to Spotslyvania first and a costly and lengthy battle began that lasted 13 days. During the battle Grant attempted to break through Lee's line of defense at the Mule Shoe, that resulted in one of the most violent assaults during the Civil War known as The Battle of the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's line of defense after repeated attempts, Grant flanked Lee to the southeast east again at North Anna, a battle that lasted three days. This time the Confederate Army had a superior defensive advantage on Grant, however, due to sickness Lee was unable to lead the battle. Grant then maneuvered the Union Army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that was linked to Richmond, however, Lee was able to make strong trenches to defend a Union assault. During the third day of the 13 day Cold Harbor battle, Grant led a costly fatal assault on Lee's trenches, and as news spread in the North, heavy criticism fell on Grant who was called "the Butcher", having lost 60,000 casualties in 30 days since crossing the Rapidian. Unknown to Robert E. Lee, Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor and stealthily moved his Army south of the James River, freed Maj. Gen. Bulter from the Burmuda Hundred, and attacked Petersburg, Richmond's central railroad hub.

Petersburg and Appomattox
Petersburg was a strategic town that was a vital railroad supply line to Richmond. After Grant had rescued Maj. Gen. Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, he moved the Army of the Potomac southward to capture Petersburg, however, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was able to defend the city until Lee's veteran reinforcements arrived. Grant forced Lee into a long nine month siege of Petersburg and the Union War effort stalled. During the Petersburg siege, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was able to take Atlanta, a victory that allowed President Lincoln to be reelected. Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan had also defeated Conferate General Early in the Shannadoah Valley; saving Washington D.C. from capture. Lee had sent Early up the Shannandoah Valley to attack Washington D.C. and draw troops away from Grant's Army of the Potomac. Sheridan's calvary, after Early was defeated, destroyed vital Confederate supply farms in the Shannandoah Valley. Grant was able to blow up part of Lee's trenches from an underground tunnel, however, the Union troops were disorganized and unable to break through Lee's entrenchments and capture Petersburg.

Finally in April 1865, Grant was able to break through Lee's entrenchments and capture Richmond. Knowing that Maj. Gen. Sherman's army, who had cost vast economic distruction in the south, would eventually link up with Grant's Army, Confederates troops in Lee's trenches deserted to the Army of the Potomac. Lee retreated from Petersburg and attempted to link up with the remnants of Confederdate General Joe Johnson's defeated army in order to continue the war, however, Union cavalry led by Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan, a close friend of Grant, was able to stop the two armies from converging. Lee and the Army of Virginia reluctantly surrendered to Grant at Appotamox Court House on April 9, 1865. Grant gave generous terms; Confederate troops surrendered their weapons and were allowed to return to their homes on the condition they would not take up arms against the United States. Within a few weeks the Civil War was over. Grant was later appointed General of the Army of the United States on July 25, 1866, a rank equivalent to a 5 star general. Grant was the most popular man in the country, as a result, he would become the Republican’s presidential candidate in 1868.

Image size
Who has been forcing many of the image sizes so small? Unusually small. 150px?? I've seen larger illustrations in dictionaries, which wikipedia is clearly not. There is plenty of room on the page in most cases for all images to be set to the default size of 220. People looking at images should at least be able to appreciate the image as its presented with the text with out having to pop open a window to look at it. As it is that choice is taken from them. As for the people with small screens, the images must appear dysfunctional, forcing the reader to break from the text to get an appreciable view. There is no call for such undersizing. Besides wiki MOS allows up to 500px for images that need or deserve it, without compromising those with small screens. Gwillhickers (talk) 03:24, 24 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I am all for larger photos, however, the photos get in the way of the writing, especially on smaller sections. I lowered the size because the large photos were creating a spacing issue between the paragraphs.  This looks akward.  Cmguy777 (talk) 00:17, 28 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I suggest making a separate section or sections on Grant's death mask and funeral train with possibly adding a photo gallery. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:42, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

S = Simpson?
The beginning of the article, "Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885)....." states his name as simply "Ulysses S. Grant". And yet, the articles for his son and both namesake grandsons (Ulysses S. Grant III AND IV), are stated as Ulysses Simpson Grant ___ (Jr., III, IV, etc.). So why does this article just have his middle name as only "S"? The majority of sources I've seen (books, websites, etc.) have stated his full name (with or without concern for his birth name, Hiram Ulysses Grant) to be "Ulysses Simpson Grant". If anybody has an answer, than please let me know.....

Thesomeone987 (talk) 20:07, 26 December 2010 (UTC)Thesomeone987


 * You bring up a valid issue on his name. Grant's birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant.  Grant's appointment name at West Point was Ulysses S. Grant.  For all we know the S. stood for Simpson.  However, Grant himself, said the S. stood for nothing.  Grant wanted to be called Ulysses Hiram Grant; however, he was unable to change his name at West Point.  Here is the link: Officers & Enlisted Men Cmguy777 (talk) 00:13, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Civil War section2
The Civil War section is still too long. I think we should reduce it to just four or five (maybe even six) paragraphs so the ToC isn't so long. What does everybody else think? The Utahraptor Talk/Contribs 17:28, 19 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I think the length is OK. The Civil War is what made him famous, and there's a lot to tell.  Coemgenus 18:21, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
 * One of the reasons why this article's GAN failed is because of the long table of contents, and the Civil War section takes up a lot of the ToC. If this article is going to pass a GAN, the Civil War section must be at least slightly reduced. The Utahraptor Talk/Contribs 18:24, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I must confer with User:Coemgenus simply because the Civil War and Grant are hand-in-glove topics on many accounts. Grant's political involvements (Presidency) after the Civil War occurred as a direct result of that war. The two areas that should get the most coverage is his role as general and his role as a US President. As for the table of contents, I certainly hope that the 'physical' length of TOC doesn't weigh in as something that compares to the body of the text, its structure and the image's bearing on the article's quality status. TOC length, I hope, is a superficial consideration at best. Of course there is a practical limit to everything and in the event that the TOC reaches such proportions some of the sub-section and sub-sub-section headings could be removed and instead spelled out in bold type above the given sub-section text. As long as there is relevant information forth coming, no article/TOC is ever too long. Gwillhickers (talk) 00:47, 21 December 2010 (UTC)


 * The Civil War section is at the best size as possibly can be, in my opinion. Having just one paragraph on Shiloh or the Overland campaign will not let the reader get any glimse of the Civil War.  Each section from Shiloh onward was given two paragraphs.  One can't ignore Grant's controversies in this article during the Civil War.  The Civil War and Grant are one in the same.  I am for concensus, but I recommend the sections from Shiloh to Petersburg and Appomatox be two paragraphs.  However, if one can fine tune the narration without removing context, then that is good. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:23, 28 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I made changes to title segment's style in Civil War section. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:35, 28 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I think Gwillhickers is right. The TOC is pretty long, but it does cover a lot of material.   I think the bigger problem comes from the post-presidency area, which could be condensed into fewer headings.  The Lincoln assassination section should probably be under "After the war" too.  Coemgenus 12:20, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I put the Lincoln assassination in the Petersburg and Appomatox segment since the Civil War was technically not over while Lincoln remained President. It is very difficult to reduce the ToC, and leave out information. Battle aftermath is important. If battle information is only given, then the controversy is left out, such as the General Orders #11, Grant's drunkeness, and his demotion by Halleck. I am not against reducing the size of the Civil War section; only if it can be done without deleting vital information to the article. I mentioned this before. I have removed the "Secretary of War and" from the title segment. Unless someone can edit without removing controversies, I am against removing more from the Civil War section. Also, it is important to keep the section on the Grant taking charge of Refugee slaves. This fits in with the main cause of the War; slavery. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:23, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Geography error
Cairo IL is where the Ohio River runs into the Mississippi. In the first sentence after the "Beltmont, Henry, and Donelson" heading it says "Grant’s first battles during the Civil War centered on Cairo, Illinois; where the Mississippi River runs into the Missouri River." Would somebody please change "Mississippi" to "Ohio" and "Missouri" to "Mississippi". Schmidtmt (talk) 03:34, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Beltmont, Henry, and Donelson
Grant’s first battles during the Civil War centered on Cairo, Illinois; where the Mississippi River runs into the Missouri River.

Please change "Missouri River" in this sentence to "Ohio River" because the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River north of St Louis, whereas it is the Ohio River that the Mississippi River flows into south of Cairo, Illinois. Any reliable geographic source will show this, such as this one from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6261

68.185.179.15 (talk) 01:12, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Already done It looks like User:Mild Bill Hiccup took care of this yesterday. Qwyrxian (talk) 05:57, 14 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Good edit! Cmguy777 (talk) 20:40, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Galenahistory, 25 January 2011
"The home of Ulysses S. Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois." should be changed to "The post-Civil War home of Ulysses S. Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois." The home was given to the Grants by prominent Republicans of Galena after the war. Source: http://www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/grant_home.htm Grant had a pre-Civil War home on High Street in Galena, so I feel the current caption is misleading that this was his only home in Galena. Source: http://www.granthome.com/grant_home.htm

Galenahistory (talk) 17:31, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Done. WCCasey (talk) 23:49, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Initial commissions
On April 15, 1861, after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down secession. Galena was enthusiastic in support of the war and recognized in Grant the one local with broad military experience. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers in Galena and accompanied it to Springfield, the state capital, where untrained units were assembling in great confusion. Sponsored by his influential Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, Grant was named by the governor Richard Yates to train volunteers; he proved efficient and energetic in the training camps but desired a field command. Yates appointed him as a colonel in the Illinois militia and gave him command of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry on June 17. He went to Mexico, Missouri, guarding the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad from Confederate attack. On July 31, 1861, President Lincoln appointed him as a brigadier general in the federal Volunteers. On September 1, he was selected by Western Department Commander Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont to command the District of Southeast Missouri. He soon established his headquarters at Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi. His command was soon reconfigured and renamed the District of Cairo.

Battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, and Fort Donelson
Grant’s first Civil War battles occurred while he was in command of the District of Cairo. The Confederate Army, stationed in Columbus under General Leonidas Polk, had violated Kentucky's military neutrality. Immediately, Grant took the initiative and seized Paducah, Kentucky on September 5, 1861. He was ordered by commanding Union Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont just to make demonstrations against the Confederate Army, rather than attack Polk directly. Grant obeyed the order until President Lincoln discharged Frémont from active duty on November 2, 1861. Going on the offensive, Grant took 3,000 Union troops by boat and attacked the Confederate Army commanded by General Gideon J. Pillow positioned at Camp Johnson in Belmont, Missouri on November 7, 1861. Having initially pushed back the Confederate forces from Camp Johnson, Grant's undisciplined volunteers wildly celebrated rather than continuing the fight. Pillow, who was given reinforcements by Polk from Columbus, forced the Union troops to make a hasty retreat. Although the battle was considered inconclusive and futile, Grant and his troops gained the confidence needed to continue on the offensive. More importantly, President Lincoln took notice of Grant's willingness to fight. Grant won approval from Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck to attack Confederate Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Embarked on Admiral Andrew H. Foote's naval flotilla, the expedition steamed south on February 3, 1862 with two divisions of 15,000 men. During the winter, the river had risen and swamped some of the defenses of Fort Henry. On February 6, 1862, Adm. Foote's Union fleet consisting of ironclads and wooden ships bombarded Fort Henry as Grant's troops began the landward investment. Before Grant could attack the fortress surrendered, while two Union naval officers entered the fort on a rowboat to accept the surrender. Although approximately 3,000 Confederates escaped east before the surrender, the fall of Fort Henry opened up the Union war effort in Tennessee and Alabama. After the fall of Fort Henry, Grant moved his army overland 12 miles east to capture Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Foote's naval fleet arrived on February 14 and immediately started a series of bombardments; however, Fort Donelson's water batteries effectively repulsed the naval fleet. Stealthily, on February 15, Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd ordered General Pillow to strike at Grant's Union forces encamped around the fort, in order to establish an escape route to Nashville, Tennessee. Pillow's attack pushed McClernand's corps into a disorganized retreat eastward on the Nashville road. However, the Confederate advance stalled and Grant was able to rally the Union troops to keep the southerners from escaping. The Confederates forces, under General Simon Bolivar Bruckner, finally surrendered Fort Donelson on February 16. Grant’s surrender demand to Buckner was popular throughout the nation, “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender.” The general was known from then on as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

The surrender of Fort Donelson was a tremendous victory for the Union war effort. 12,000 Confederate soldiers had been captured in addition to the bountiful weapon supplies at the fort. However, Grant now experienced serious difficulties with his superior in St. Louis, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. Some writers believe that Halleck was personally or professionally jealous of Grant. In any event, Halleck made various criticisms about Grant to Washington, even suggesting that Grant's performance was impaired by drinking. With Washington's support, Halleck told Grant to remain at Fort Henry and give command of a new expedition up the Tennessee River to Charles F. Smith, newly nominated as a major general. Grant asked three times to be relieved from duty under Halleck. However, Halleck soon restored Grant to field command, perhaps in part because Lincoln intervened to inquire into Halleck's dissatisfaction with Grant. Grant soon rejoined his forces, eventually known as the Army of the Tennessee, at Savannah. After the fall of Donelson, Grant became popularly known for smoking cigars, as many as 18–20 a day.

Shiloh
In early March 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck ordered Grant's Army of the Tennessee to move southward up the Tennessee River to attack Confederate railroads. Halleck then ordered Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of Ohio to concentrate with Grant before implementing a planned attack on Confederate troops concentrated in Corinth, Mississippi. Buell, whose veteran army was only 90 miles east in Columbia, was hesitant in sending reinforcements, claiming "swollen rivers" were hindering progress. Union commanders Grant and then Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman, the informal commander at Pittsburg Landing, mistakenly assumed Confederate troops would not attack the Union Army so there were no entrenchments. On April 6, 1862, the Confederates launched a preemptive full force attack on Grant's troops in the Battle of Shiloh; the objective was to destroy Grant's forces before being reinforced by Buell's army. Over 44,000 Confederate Army of Mississippi troops, led by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, vigorously attacked five divisions of Grant’s army bivouacked nine miles north from Savannah, Tennessee, at Pittsburg Landing. Union Col. Everett Peabody, upon his infantry discovering the oncoming Confederate assault, was able to adequately warn the Union Army to form battle lines. Nonetheless, the Confederates were initially able to drive back the Union Army.

The Union soldiers left, however, under Brig. Gens. Benjamin Prentiss, W.H.L. Wallace, and James M. Tuttle, bravely withstood determined Confederate assaults in a road pocket known as the "Hornet's Nest" for seven hours before being forced to yield ground towards the Tennessee River. This gave the Union army much needed time to be able to stabilize their line formations and gather reinforcements. Prentiss, himself, was taken prisoner and forced to surrender his division to the Confederates, while Wallace was mortally wounded. Grant, nursing a previous horse fall injury, arrived from Savannah where both he and Sherman rallied the troops and staved off defeat. Although Grant's forces were battered, the Army of the Tennessee held strong compact positions with 50 artillery guns while two federal gunboats fired at the Confederates. After receiving reinforcements from Buell and his own army, Grant had a total of 45,000 troops and launched a counter offensive on April 7. Confederate General Johnston was killed in the battle on the first day of fighting, and the Confederate Army, now under Beauregard, was outnumbered and forced to retreat to Corinth, Mississippi. The 23,746 casualties at Shiloh shocked both the Union and Confederacy, whose combined totals exceeded casualties from all of the United States' previous wars. The Battle of Shiloh led to much criticism of Grant for leaving his army unprepared defensively; he was also falsely accused of being drunk. According to one account, President Lincoln rejected suggestions to dismiss Grant, saying, "I can't spare this man; he fights." After Shiloh, General Halleck took the field personally and gathered a 120,000-man army at Pittsburg Landing, including Grant's Army of the Tennessee, Buell's Army of the Ohio, and John Pope's Army of the Mississippi. Halleck assigned Grant the role of second-in-command, with others in direct command of his divisions. Grant was upset over the situation and might have left his command, but his friend and fellow officer, William T. Sherman, persuaded him to stay in Halleck's Army. After capturing Corinth, Mississippi, the 120,000-man army was disbanded; Halleck was promoted to General in Chief of the Union Army and transferred east to Washington D.C. Grant resumed immediate command of the Army of the Tennessee and, a year later, captured the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg.

Refugee slave contraband
On July 2, 1862, President Lincoln had authorized African American contraband or "fugitive slaves" seeking refuge in the Union Army to be recruited. During the fall of 1862, Grant made efforts to take care of "wagon loads" of black slave refugees in Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. On November 13, 1862, Grant placed Chaplain John Eaton of the 27th Ohio Infantry in charge of the refugees. Eaton organized camps and put the refugees to work to bring in the fall corn and cotton crops on deserted plantations. Eaton proved to be a judicious and fair leader of the Union contraband, protecting them from Confederate marauders. The refugees were not paid directly at this time; however, money was allocated and spent on them reasonably for their benefit. Eventually, these African Americans were recruited into the Union Army and paid directly to cut wood to fuel the Union steamers. With the resulting income the Union contraband were able to feed and clothe their families. This would be the beginnings of what would be known as the Freedmens Bureau during Reconstruction. Similar efforts to incorporate African Americans into the Union war effort were made on the Atlantic coast. Many northern political conservatives in Illinois, however, were against and blocked the influx of African Americans into their state. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederate states. Thereafter, the Union recruited both former slaves and other blacks to fight against the Confederacy in new regiments of the Union Army known as the United States Colored Troops.

Vicksburg
Resolved to take control of the Mississippi River from the Confederacy, President Lincoln and the Union Army and Navy were determined to take the Confederate stronghold Vicksburg in 1862. Lincoln authorized Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, a war Democrat politician, to recruit troops, the XIII corps, and organize an expedition against Vicksburg. A personal rivalry developed between Grant and McClernand on who would get credit for taking Vicksburg. The Vicksburg campaign started in December 1862 and lasted six months before the Union Army finally took the fortress. The campaign combined many important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives, and was divided into two stages. The prize of capturing Vicksburg would ensure either McClernand or Grant's success and would divide the Confederacy into two eastern and western parts. At the opening of the campaign, Grant attempted to capture Vicksburg overland from the Northeast; however, Confederate Generals Nathan B. Forrest and Earl Van Dorn thwarted the Union Army advance by raiding Union supply lines. A related direct assault riverine expedition then failed when Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was repulsed by the Confederate forces at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

In January 1863, McClernand and Sherman's combined XIII and XV corps, the Army of the Mississippi, successfully defeated the Confederates at Arkansas Post. Grant made five attempts to capture Vicksburg by water routes; however, all had failed. With the Union impatient for a victory, in March 1863, the second stage to capture Vicksburg began. Starting in March 1863, Grant launched the final stage to capture Vicksburg, marching his troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed over at Bruinsburg. Adm. David D. Porter’s navy ships had previously run the guns at Vicksburg on April 16, 1863, enabling Union troops to be transported to the east side of the Mississippi. The crossing was successful due to Grant's elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions that fooled the Confederates on what the Union Army was going to do. After crossing the Mississippi River, Grant maneuvered his army inland, and after a series of battles, the state capital, Jackson, Mississippi, was captured. Confederate general John C. Pemberton was defeated by Grant’s forces at the battles of Champion Hill and of Black River Bridge and retreated to the Vicksburg fortress. After two unsuccessful and costly assaults on Vicksburg, Grant settled in for a 40-day siege. Pemberton, unable to combine forces with the army of Joseph E. Johnson, which was hovering in central Mississippi, finally surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. The aftermath of Vicksburg was a turning point for the Union war effort. The surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat of Confederate general Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg were stinging defeats for the Confederacy, now split in two by the Union's domination of the Mississippi River. President Lincoln promoted Grant to the permanent rank of Major General in the Regular Army. Vicksburg marked the second surrender of a Confederate army (the other being Buckner's surrender to Grant the year before). During the Vicksburg siege, Grant dismissed McClernand for publishing to the press a congratulatory order that seemed to claim it was McClernand's corps that was winning the campaign. McClernand appealed the dismissal to his personal friend, President Lincoln, but to no avail. Grant had ended the rivalry on his own terms. The Union army had captured considerable Confederate artillery, small arms, and ammunition. Total casualties, killed or wounded, for the final operation against Vicksburg that started on March 29, 1863 were 10,142 for the Union and 9,091 for the Confederacy.

Although the victory at Vicksburg was a tremendous advance in the Union War effort, Grant's reputation did not escape criticism. During the initial campaign in December 1862, Grant became upset and angry over speculators and traders who inundated his department and violated rules about trading cotton in a militarized zone. As a result, Grant issued his notorious General Order No. 11 on December 17, expelling all Jews whom he believed were engaged in trade in his department, including their families. When protests erupted from Jews and non-Jews alike, President Lincoln rescinded the order on January 4, 1863; however, the episode tarnished Grant's reputation. In addition, Grant was accused by Maj. Gen. Charles S. Hamilton and William J. Kountz for being a "drunkard" and "gloriously drunk" in February and March, 1863. Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand was alleged to have promoted and secretly spread this rumor in the Union Army. Both McClernand and Hamilton were seeking promotion in the army at the time of these allegations. Cincinnati Commercial editor Murat Halstead railed that, "Our whole Army of the Mississippi is being wasted by a foolish, drunken, stupid Grant". Lincoln sent Charles A. Dana to keep a watchful eye. To save Grant from dismissal, assistant Adjutant General John A. Rawlins, Grant's friend, got him to take a pledge not to touch alcohol.

Chattanooga
When Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was defeated at the Chickamauga in September 1863, the Confederates, led by Braxton Bragg, besieged the Union Army of the Cumberland in Chattanooga. In response, President Lincoln put Grant in charge of the new Military Division of the Mississippi to break the siege at Chattanooga, making Grant the commander of all Western Armies. Grant, who immediately relieved Rosecrans from duty, personally went to Chattanooga to take control of the situation, taking 20,000 troops commanded by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman from the Army of the Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker was ordered to Chattanooga, taking 15,000 troops from the Army of the Potomac. Rations were running severely low for the Cumberland army and supply relief was necessary for a Union counter offensive. When Grant arrived at Chattanooga at the Union camp, he was informed of their plight and implemented a system known as the "Cracker Line,” devised by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith. After Union army seized Brown’s Ferry, Hooker's troops and supplies were sent into the city, helping to feed the starving men and animals and to prepare for an assault on the Confederate forces surrounding the city. [[Image:Battle of Missionary Ridge McCormick Harvesting.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Union troops swarm [[Battle of Missionary Ridge|Missionary Ridge]] and defeat Bragg's army.

Battle of Mission [i.e., Missionary] Ridge, Nov. 25th, 1863, Cosack & Co. lithograph from McCormick Harvesting Co., c1886.]] On November 23, Grant launched his offensive on Missionary Ridge, combining the forces of the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of the Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Thomas took a minor high ground known as Orchard Knob while Maj. Gen. Sherman took strategic positions for an attack on Bragg’s right flank on Missionary Ridge. On November 24, with his elements of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Hooker captured Lookout Mountain and positioned his troops to attack Bragg's left flank at Rossville. On November 25, Grant ordered Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland to make a diversionary attack only to take the “rifle pits” on Missionary Ridge. However, after the soldiers took the rifle pits, they proceeded on their own initiative without orders to make a successful frontal assault on Missionary Ridge. Bragg’s army, routed and defeated, was in complete disarray from the frontal assault and forced to retreat to South Chickamauga Creek. Although the valiant frontal assault was successful, Grant was initially upset because he did not give direct orders for the men to take Missionary Ridge; however, he was satisfied with their results. The victory at Missionary Ridge eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864. Casualties after the battle were 5,824 for the Union and 6,667 for Confederate armies, respectively.

Lieutenant General promotion
After the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga, President Lincoln promoted Grant to a special regular army rank, Lieutenant General, authorized by Congress on March 2, 1864. This rank had previously been awarded two other times, a full rank to George Washington and a Brevet rank to Winfield Scott. President Lincoln was reluctant to award the promotion, until informed that Grant was not seeking to be a candidate in the Presidential Election of 1864. With the new rank, Grant moved his headquarters to the east and installed Maj. Gen. Sherman as Commander of the Western Armies. President Lincoln and Grant met together in Washington and devised "total war" plans that struck at the heart of the Confederacy, including military, railroad, and economic infrastructures. No longer refugees, African Americans were now incorporated into the Union Army as trained soldiers, taking away the Confederacy's labor force. The two primary objectives in the plans were to defeat Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia and Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee. They would attack the Confederacy from multiple directions: the Union Army of the Potomac, led by George G. Meade, would attack Lee's Army of Northern Virginia; Benjamin Butler would attack south of Richmond from the James River;  Sherman would attack Johnson's army in Georgia; and George Crook and William W. Averell would destroy railroad supply lines in West Virginia. Nathaniel P. Banks was to capture Mobile, Alabama. Franz Sigel was to guard the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and advance in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant would command all the Union army forces while in the field with Meade and the Army of the Potomac.

Overland Campaign
On May 4, 1864, Grant began a series of battles with Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia known as the Overland Campaign. The first battle between Lee and Grant took place after the Army of the Potomac crossed Rapidan River into an area of secondary growth trees and shrubs known as the Wilderness. Lee was able to use this protective undergrowth to counter Grant's superior troop strength. Union Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's XVI corps were able to inflict heavy casualties and drive back the Confederate General A.P. Hill's corps two miles; however, Lee was able to drive back the Union advance with Confederate General James Longstreet's reserves. The difficult, bloody, and costly battles lasted two days, May 5 and 6, resulting in an advantage to neither side. Unlike Union generals who retreated after similar battles with Lee, Grant ignored any setbacks and continued to flank Lee's right moving southward. The tremendous casualties for the Battle of the Wilderness were 17,666 for the Union and 11,125 for the Confederate armies, respectively.

Once Grant broke away from the Army of Northern Virginia at the Wilderness on May 8, he was forced into yet an even more desperate 14-day battle at Spotsylvania. Anticipating Grant's right flank move southward, Lee was able to position his army at Spotsylvania Court House before Grant and his army could arrive. The battle started on May 10. Although Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was located in an exposed rough arc known as the "Mule Shoe", his army resisted multiple assaults from Grant's Army of the Potomac for the first six days of the battle. The fiercest fighting in the battle took place on a point known as "Bloody angle". Both Confederates and Union soldiers were slaughtered and men were piled on top of each other in their attempt to control the point. By May 21, the fighting had finally stopped; Grant had lost 18,000 men with 3,000 having been killed in the prolonged battle. Many talented Confederate officers were killed in the battle with Lee's Army significantly damaged having a total of 10–13,000 casualties. The popular Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick of the VI corps was killed in the battle by a sharpshooter and replaced by Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright. During the fighting at Spotsylvania, Grant made the statement, "I will fight it on this line if it takes all summer." Finding he could not break Lee's line of defense at Spotsylvania, Grant turned southward and moved to the North Ana River a dozen miles closer to Richmond. An attempt was made by Grant to get Lee to fight out in the open by sending an individual II Corps on the west bank of the Mattatopi River. Rather than take the bait, Lee anticipated a second right flank movement by Grant and retreated to the North Anna River in response to the Union V and VI corps, withdrawing from Spotsylvania. During this time, many Confederate generals, including Lee, were incapacitated due to illness or injury. Lee, stricken with dysentery, was unable to take advantage of an opportunity to seize parts of the Army of the Potomac. After a series of inconclusive minor battles at North Anna on May 23 and 24, the Army of the Potomac withdrew 20 miles southeast to important crossroads at Cold Harbor. From June 1 to 3, Grant and Lee fought each other at Cold Harbor with the heaviest Union casualties on the final day. Grant's ordered assault on June 3 was disastrous and lopsided with 6,000 Union casualties to Lee's 1,500. After twelve days of fighting at Cold Harbor, total casualties were 12,000 for the Union and 2,500 for the Confederacy. On June 11, 1864, Grant's Army of the Potomac broke away completely from Robert E. Lee, and on June 12 secretly crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge and attacked the railroad junction at Petersburg. For a brief time, Robert E. Lee had no idea where the Army of the Potomac was.

Northern resentment
To many in the North after the utter Union defeat at Cold Harbor, Grant was castigated as the "Butcher" for having sustained high casualties without a substantial advantage over Robert E. Lee. Grant, himself, who regretted the assault on June 3 at Cold Harbor, was determined to keep casualties minimal thereafter. Without a Union military victory, President Abraham Lincoln's presidential Campaign of 1864 against former general and Democratic contender George McClellan was in serious doubt. Maj. Gen. Sherman was bogged down chasing Confederate general Joseph E. Johnson into a conclusive battle. Benjamin Butler, who was supposed to attack Confederate railroads south of Richmond, was trapped in the Bermuda Hundred. Sigel had failed to secure the Shenandoah Valley from Confederate invasion and was relieved from duty. The entire Union war effort seemed to be stalling and the Northern public was growing increasingly impatient. The Copperheads, a northern democrat anti-war movement, advocated legal recognition of the Confederacy, immediate peace talks, and encouraged Union soldiers to desert the army. The Northern war effort was at its weakest point when Grant made a bold gamble to march deeper into Virginia at the risk of leaving the Washington capitol exposed to Confederate attack.

Petersburg and Appomattox
Petersburg was the supply center for Northern Virginia with five railroads meeting at one junction. Its capture meant the immediate downfall of Richmond. To protect Richmond and fight Grant at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor battles, Lee was forced to leave Petersburg with minimal troop protection. After crossing the James River, the Army of the Potomac, without any resistance, marched towards Petersburg. After crossing the James, Grant rescued Butler from the Bermuda Hundred and sent the XVIII corps led by Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith to capture the weakly protected Petersburg, which was guarded by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. Grant established his new headquarters at City Point for the rest of the Civil War. The Union forces quickly attacked and overtook Petersburg's outlying trenches on June 15. However, Smith inexplicably stopped fighting and waited until the following day, June 16, to attack the city, allowing Beauregard to concentrate reinforcements in secondary field works. The second Union attack on Petersburg started on June 16 and lasted until June 18, when Lee's veterans finally arrived to keep the Union army from taking the important railroad junction. Unable to break Lee's Petersburg defenses, Grant had to settle for a siege.

Realizing that Washington was left unprotected due to Grant's siege of Petersburg, Lee detached a corps under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force the Union army to send forces to pursue him. If Early could capture Washington, the Civil War would not have ended, but the Confederates would have embarrassed the Union and deeply wounded northern morale. Early, with 15,000 seasoned troops, marched north "down" the Shenandoah Valley, defeated Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Monocacy, and following the Battle of Fort Stevens, he reached the outskirts of Washington, causing great alarm. At Lincoln's urging, Grant dispatched the veteran Union VI Corps and parts of the XIX Corps, led by Major General Horatio Wright, to the capital. With the Union XXII Corps manning Washington's fortifications, Early was unable to take the city. The Confederate Army's mere presence close to the capital was still an embarrassment. At Petersburg, Grant blew up a section of Lee's trenches with gunpowder planted inside a huge mine tunnel dug by Pennsylvanian coal miners. The explosion dug a huge crater and opened a big gap in the Confederate line. The Union assault that followed, however, was slow and chaotic, with troops milling around inside the Crater. This allowed Lee to repulse the breakthrough. Despite the setback with the Crater incident and a Congressional investigation that followed, Grant was able to lock in Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg. Grant's Union siege at Petersburg allowed the Union war effort on other fronts to finally bear fruit. Sherman took Atlanta on September 2, 1864 and began his March to the Sea in November. With victories at Atlanta and Mobile Bay, Lincoln was re-elected President and the war effort continued. On October 19, after three battles, Phil Sheridan and the Army of the Shenandoah defeated Early's army. Sheridan and Sherman followed Lincoln and Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Shenendoah Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. On December 16, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas beat Confederate general John B. Hood at Nashville. Grant continued for months to stretch the Petersburg siege line westward to capture vital railroad lines that supplied Richmond, stretching Lee's defensive works thin.

In March 1865, Grant invited Lincoln to visit his headquarters at City Point, Virginia. By coincidence, Sherman (then campaigning in North Carolina) happened to visit City Point at the same time. This allowed for the war's only three-way meeting of Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, which was memorialized in G.P.A. Healy's famous painting The Peacemakers. Grant continued to apply months of relentless military pressure at Petersburg on the Army of Northern Virginia until Lee was forced to evacuate Richmond in April 1865. After a nine-day retreat, during which Grant expertly maneuvered his armies to block all paths of retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Considered his greatest triumph, this was the third time a Confederate Army surrendered to Grant. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which was needed to reunite the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was over, though minor actions continued until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865.

Good article nomination proposal
Is the USG article ready for GA nomination?
 * I don't think so. We haven't completed everything from the last GAN yet, and when we do, I think it'd be best to get a peer review before going for another GAN. I've been busy the past few weeks, but I'll see what I can get done this week, and we'll go from there. The Utahraptor Talk/Contribs 20:02, 21 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks for input, Utahraptor. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:36, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

To help the TOC
It's a small thing, but simply take out sections 7.1.1-7.1.4, 7.2.1-7.2.3 and 8.1-8.3. Seeing as how each is basically just a simple paragraph with bold headers anyways this would help reduce a bit of the TOC size that was mentioned. IMO the intro and 17 seperate TOC bits may seem a bit much and scare away some searchers, but I also think it's incredibly well done otherwise :) Just a thought.  tyvm Pudge MclameO (talk) 11:14, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

Mirrored photo
I mirrored a photo of Ulysses S. Grant. Using this photo would correspond to Wikipedia'a policy of the portrait to look at the text. Cmguy777 (talk) 05:32, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Here is the photo:


 * MOS:IMAGES says you shouldn't alter an image just to meet that preference. --Coemgenus 13:16, 10 March 2011 (UTC)


 * This is what Wikipedia says:


 * "It is often preferable to place images of faces so that the face or eyes look toward the text. Multiple images in the same article can be staggered right-and-left (for example: Timpani). However, images should not be reversed simply to resolve a conflict between these guidelines; doing so misinforms the reader for the sake of our layout preferences. An image should be reversed or substantially altered only if this clearly assists the reader (for example, cropping a work of art to focus on a detail discussed in the text). Any such alteration must be noted in the caption.


 * Does the reversed image of Grant signifigantly aid the reader? The defintion is open to subjectivity.  The rule is in contradiction with itself stating "often preferable to place images of faces so that the face or eyes look toward the text" and then stating "should not be reversed". I put this here for discussion.  If other editors do not want the reverse image, that is fine. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:36, 10 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Personally, I do not object and it's fine work. I thought that I would throw this into the hat...I just uploaded two high quality, complementary photos from LOC at Commons in which he is facing his right. ⋙–Berean–Hunter—►  ((⊕)) 21:39, 10 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Placing photos so they face the text is a preference, nothing more. It certainly isn't a policy. Altering historical images just to satisfy a minor preference seems inappropriate. There is no harm whatsoever in having images facing away from the text.   Will Beback    talk    22:08, 10 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Good photos Berean Hunter. The current photo has gotten recognition and really is a high quality photo.  Just from an artistic standpoint, does reversing the current photo take away the quality? Cmguy777 (talk) 01:09, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The photographer for these is Theodore Lilenthal...looks like he's wearing the same suit (dandruff in your photo?). Yours is higher quality. I wouldn't make a habit of reversing the images but it shouldn't hurt in this case. I tried to remember a shortcut this morning when I first read this thread (WP:Eyes In?) I remember there was one but couldn't find it if it still exists. Per Will Beback & Coemgenus, you may want to stick with the original. ⋙–Berean–Hunter—►  ((⊕)) 01:59, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

The reverse image slightly changes the original photo artistically. This was just discussion. Cmguy777 (talk) 02:37, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Gville612, 30 March 2011
There is an entry missing from the Cinema and media portrayals->Television series and documentary section:

The Day Lincoln Was Shot, aired on TNT, 1998, portrayed by John Ashton.

Gville612 (talk) 01:29, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done — Bility (talk) 02:42, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

In the see also section, you should add the Ulysses S. Grant Association/Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Collection at Mississippi State University. There is a lot of information on Grant here. The link is http://library.msstate.edu/USGrant/

Brooks Simpson Blog

 * Biographer Brooks Simpson's Blog

Link was spammed...fails ELNO points #1, #4, #11 (without discussion), & #13 (site is not about Grant but general Civil War). It does not fit the criteria for external linking. We should discuss. <b style="color:#00C">⋙–Ber</b><b style="color:#66f">ean–Hun</b><b style="color:#00C">ter—►</b> (<b style="color:#00C">(⊕)</b>) 13:56, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I knew about the site for a while and was glad some one linked it. When it got removed I put it back and I did NOT spam it.  It fits the Wikipedia criteria. This is a serious blog edited by a leading Grant scholar Brooks D. Simpson -- he has an endowed professorship of history at Arizona State and has won many prizes for his books on Grant and the Civil-War Reconstruction era.  Anyone can see from browsing that it is serious and useful. It deals with Grant's era--the Civil War and Reconstruction and Grant is often featured in the discussions. Rjensen (talk) 14:26, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I didn't say you spammed it. It easily fails ELNO #13 which states "Sites that are only indirectly related to the article's subject: the link should be directly related to the subject of the article." I don't see how his Mother's Day posts or his posts on "the digital landscape" are related to Grant. Further, it is a site whose main crux is the Civil War in general and not a blog about Grant specifically. What does Jack Edwards & hockey have to do with Grant? He's also blogging critiques on other writers as well as discussing modern-day racism issues and commenting on other blogs. Most of the blogs are not about Grant, period. ELNO point #1 should identify that this article will never advance beyond its current assessment of B with the addition of such links.


 * I left the link in the article about him but it doesn't need to go anywhere else on the Wiki. His "Experiments in Blogging" are promotional which fail ELNO #4. <b style="color:#00C">⋙–Ber</b><b style="color:#66f">ean–Hun</b><b style="color:#00C">ter—►</b>  (<b style="color:#00C">(⊕)</b>) 14:54, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * the site is perfectly matched to the article--it deals with the Civil War & Reconstruction with a focus on Grant, who was one of the two or three dominant figures of both eras. What could be a better match? Issues raised in the Wiki article certainly include memory of the war and racism. The bottom line is that it will help readers understand U.S. Grant. (the digital landscape includes Wikipedia articles--I suspect Wikipedia is one of the top sources of info on this era) Rjensen (talk) 15:44, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * You didn't address the points that I raised. Also, if it were perfectly matched then every post would deal with Grant. Grant's racism has nothing to do with Simpson's discussion of modern racism issues. The site really doesn't assist the reader with understanding Grant. Further, we shouldn't be promoting sites in an article like this where authors critique one another (they are, after all competitors) and it degrades NPOV.


 * Out of 10 posts in the month of May, only one mentions Grant and one other mentions the Battle of the Wilderness (without mentioning Grant). None of the other posts have anything to do with Grant. The story repeats itself for April, 2 out of 10 posts mention Grant. Out of 10 posts in March, none mention Grant. None of the posts in February mention Grant and the same applies for the month of January...none. Going to the four posts about Grant in all of 2011, none educate our reader. There is nothing unique about this site that makes it worthwhile for our readers....unless you think that this is worthwhile for our readers:


 * "Every spring the attention of the Simpson family turns to the Stanley Cup playoffs, which to our mind remains the best postseason in professional sports. Two nights ago, the Vancouver Canucks faced off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago, with Vancouver hold on to a 3-2 series lead after taking the first three games and dropping the next two...."


 * I think we need to be more discriminatory with where we choose to link. <b style="color:#00C">⋙–Ber</b><b style="color:#66f">ean–Hun</b><b style="color:#00C">ter—►</b>  (<b style="color:#00C">(⊕)</b>) 16:44, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * good heavens Berean Hunter has an odd criteria--a blog that features Grant more than any other on the internet is to be blocked because ---well his first five reasons were all wrong (they were based on a gross misreading of WP:ELNO) Fact is every posting is edited by a leading authority on Grant, and people interested in topics like the Battle of the Wilderness, or photos of dead civil war soldiers, od the command structure of the Union army, or who freed the slaves, are the natural constituency for this page.  The main posts deal with Grant, his army, and the war he led (and the Reconstruction he led as well). The Simpson blog is a valuable adjunct--not a rival that should be destroyed.Rjensen (talk) 17:35, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I haven't misunderstood ELNO at all. You were reverted by another editor citing WP:EL here. Per BRD, you have not established a consensus to add the blog. Only about 4 posts out of 50 this year have anything to do with Grant and they're quite short. If you still feel that I have erred in my interpretation of linking policies & guidelines, you can ask for more opinions by posting at the external links noticeboard and linking back to this discussion. More opinions may be helpful at this point. <b style="color:#00C">⋙–Ber</b><b style="color:#66f">ean–Hun</b><b style="color:#00C">ter—►</b>  (<b style="color:#00C">(⊕)</b>) 18:07, 11 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I have to agree with Berean on this one. Jensen: you're a real historian, I believe, just just an amateur like the rest of us.  Would you write a encyclopedia or journal article that even mentioned a blog, even one by an illustrious author?  It seems out of place, not just because it isn't a Grant-centered blog, but because it's not really a work of scholarship.  I'd link the blog on Simpson's own page, but not here. --Coemgenus 18:13, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
 * scholars agree that Wikipedia is not a scholarly source (and Wiki's OR rules make that clear). It's a terrific and heavily used popular source for students, amateurs and history lovers, and the blog is appropriate because it opens up new ideas and perspectives on the Civil War for our readers. Rjensen (talk) 19:07, 11 May 2011 (UTC)


 * The only point which you appear to be making is that Brooks is a leading authority, and for no other reason, his blog is topical (whether or not, as indicated above, it happens to be focused on Grant) TEDickey (talk) 23:02, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

I agree Brooks is a good source on Grant! American Heritage is also a good source on Grant, having various authors writing articles or opinions on Grant. Over 600 stories. Cmguy777 (talk) 01:09, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

General Orders # 11
This issue has already been discussed in the article. There is no need for a seperate section. I recommend moving this section to the Ulysses S. Grant the American Civil War article. Cmguy777 (talk) 04:08, 18 May 2011 (UTC)


 * This issue is important and needs to be expanded in the USG and the ACW article. Antisemitism was common in the 1860's, especially with National pride over the Civil War.  The Ulysses S. Grant article needs to mention this.  Biographer Smith makes no excuses for Grant and the order.  Grant could not control the illegal cotton trade and he specifically took his anger out on the Jewish traders and as a class of people.  Again, this needs to be in the USG and the ACW article and rewritten and incorporated into this article rather then a separate section. Cmguy777 (talk) 05:37, 18 May 2011 (UTC)


 * How much weight does Grant's antisemitism need for the main USG article? Grant's drunkness gets a few sentences while antisemitism gets a whole section.  Having a seperate paragraph on the issue would be good, in my opinion. Cmguy777 (talk) 05:51, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Well, the way the article was written before was essentially a whitewash. Grant's order was, I believe, the only time Jews were ever ethnically cleansed on US soil, and it was fully Grant's idea to do it. That's important to note. IronDuke 12:28, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Oh, and Cmguy, you wrote Antisemitism was common in the 1860's, especially with National pride over the Civil War. What do you mean by that, especially the last part? IronDuke 12:36, 18 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I was sourcing Smith, who stated that "nativism" ran deep in Grant. Smith said xenophobia and anti-Semitism were common in the United States during the 1860's.  Nativism may be different then national pride.  The trade of cotton may have been funding the Confederate war effort with Union military weapons. I am not a Grant apoligist on this matter.  He gave the anti-Semitic order knowing that the specific order against the Jewish people would be controversial.  I am not underscoring the order and needs to be addressed in the article.  I am for putting anti-Semitism in the title and adding a paragraph.  The issue has been addressed in the Presidential election segment.  Grant's issued the order on December 17, 1862 and rescinded the order on January 6, 1863. The order was in effect for 21 days.  According to Smith, Grant had received contradictory instructions on cotton trading.  In the order Grant stated that the Jewish people "as a class" had violated Dept. of Treasury regulations.  Grant bears full responsibility for the order, however, I can't say that the idea was completely his own.  Are you, IronDuke, for keeping this issue as a seperate segment, rather then a paragraph and anti-Semitism written in the title? Cmguy777 (talk) 14:56, 18 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Is there any objection to adding context to the General Order # 11? Mentioning Grant's nativism would be appropriate. Is there undue weight on anti-semitism in the article since the order lasted 21 days?  No one was killed.  There were no internment camps.  Grant was not punished by Congress, however, he was censored by the Democrats.  Charles Sumner, a leading civil rights activist, "tabled" a movement to punish Grant for the order.  Cmguy777 (talk) 20:31, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

General Orders # 11 section
Put in talk page for any discussion and reference purposes. Cmguy777 (talk) 05:43, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

General Orders #11 and Antisemitism section has been added to Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War article. Cmguy777 (talk) 16:35, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

General Order No. 11 and antisemitism

Allegations of antisemitism -- "a blot on Grant's reputation" -- arose in the wake of the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part:

"The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also Department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department (comprising areas of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky)."

The New York Times denounced the order as "humiliating" and a "revival of the spirit of the medieval ages." Its editorial column called for the "utter reprobation" of Grant's order. After protest from Jewish leaders, the order was rescinded by President Lincoln on January 3, 1863. Though Grant initially maintained that a staff officer issued it in his name, it was suggested by Gen. James H. Wilson that Grant may have issued the order in order to strike indirectly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" (for example his father Jesse Grant who was in business with Jewish traders), and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart — opportunistic traders who were Jewish. Bertram Korn suggests the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." During the campaign of 1868, Grant admitted the order was his, but maintained, "It would never have been issued if it had not been telegraphed the moment it were penned, and without reflection."

The order, ostensibly in response to illegal Southern cotton smuggling, has been described by one modern historian as "the most blatant official episode of anti-Semitism in nineteenth-century American history."

Antisemitism became an issue during the 1868 presidential campaign. Though Jewish opinion was mixed, Grant's determination to "woo" Jewish voters ultimately resulted in his capturing the majority of that vote, though "Grant did lose some Jewish votes as a result of" the order. Grant appointed more Jewish persons to public office than any president before him. Although Grant's order was anti-Jewish, Grant had many Jewish friends. To one such friend Joseph Seligman, Grant offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury. Seligman, who had helped finance the Union war effort by obtaining European capital, declined the offer.

Proposed paragraph
This is a suggested paragraph to replace the current text on General Orders #11 and anti-semitism. This pargraph is less bulky and narrows the focus on Grant himself.

On December 17, 1862 Grant issued General Orders #11; an order that would forever stain Grant's reputation as a soldier and was, according to Grant biographer, Jean E. Smith, "one of the most blatant examples of state-sponsored anti-Semitism in American history." The order had expelled Jewish persons, as a class, from Grant's military district, in a response to root out an illicit southern cotton trade in the western war department. The New York Times stated that the order was a humiliating "momentary revival of the spirit of the medieval age." Having been informed by Cesar J. Kaskel, who had been expelled from Paducah, Kentucky, President Abraham Lincoln demanded the order to be immediately revocted. The order was finally revocted on January 6, 1863, having lasted 21 days. Without admitting fault, Grant believed he had only complied by the instructions sent from Washington. Cmguy777 (talk) 21:12, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Revocted ?
I see that the above paragraph has been inserted in the WP article. It contains, in two places, the word "revocted", which should be corrected to "revoked". Unfortunately, I can't edit the article myself because it is "protected". What is even more dismaying is that googling "revocted" produced over 500 hits! Apparently this misspelling, and perhaps mispronunciation, is becoming very popular.


 * I suppose the word was spelled phonetically. The spelling "ked" sounds like "ct". Good edit! Examples: baked; staked; raked.  However the long ō or ā sound can only be followed by one consonant. Cmguy777 (talk) 15:39, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Also, in the same paragraph, "complied by the instructions" should be corrected to "complied with the instructions".74.109.236.194 (talk) 16:02, 24 May 2011 (UTC)