U.S. History Ordeal by Fire

U.S. History

Ordeal by Fire - Ulysses S. Grant

In the last year of the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant became the general in chief, but he did not sit behind a desk in Washington. Instead, he traveled with the Army of the Potomac as a kind of field commander, while the Army's commander, Halleck, stayed in Washington as chief of staff. Grant was an excellent general who shared many of the same ideas as Lincoln, and so he was a good choice for this position. He felt the Union armies did not work together cohesively as a unit, which allowed the Confederacy to shift troops from one area to another easily. He created a plan that would allow Union armies to advance all at once in unison, and Lincoln had been asking for that for years.

Grant's generalship was not always successful. Many of his lesser generals did not follow orders and led unsuccessful campaigns, and Grant lost thousands of men in his campaigns, earning him the name "the butcher." However, Grant was a leader able to rally his men, and most importantly, he would not retreat as former generals had done. The Battle of the Wilderness proved this to the Southern troops, who fully expected Grant and his men to retreat after horrific fighting, but instead, the Union Army marched south, and he earned the soldiers' respect, which was crucial at a time when other generals had failed to earn this from the fighting men.

Grant was nothing if not obstinate and determined. While many of his direct assaults failed, he continued to push, push, push the Confederates, specifically Lee's army, never letting up. He simply would not retreat, and while he lost thousands of men, the South lost thousands too, and they could not afford it as the Union Army could. He won the battles he won with persistence, and simply would not give up. While many of Grant's generals were not competent, he trusted those that were, such as Sherman, and this trust helped the Union win the war. Sherman's march to the sea helped conquer the South, and Grant pretty much gave him free reign through Georgia as his success mounted.

Ultimately, Grant may be remembered as one of America's best generals. He is still the only general in history to capture three separate armies, and he presided over Lee's surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. He was also a fair man who treated the Confederates well during their surrender. He was simply determined not to allow the South to be victorious. He sometimes misjudged his generals, and perhaps left some in power longer than they should have been, but ultimately he led the Army to victory, and was responsible for the final battles that laid waste to the Confederacy and led to the end of the war.

He was also a technical general, who understood the need for supplies as much as the need for victory on the battlefield. He knew the South's army was undersupplied and desperate for provisions, and so, when a general was victorious, he ordered them to burn any supplies of value to create more hardships for the Confederates. It seems cruel, but it helped bring the South to its knees and ultimately end the war. Grant was not solely responsible for the end of the war, but his leadership helped make the end possible. He was a fine general whose command earned respect from the fighting men, and that transferred to their attitude on the battlefield. Men who respect their commander will fight harder and longer because they feel his decisions are sound and his reasoning is just.