General Ulysses S. Grant, retired, will be present at the Heritage Hall Auditorium on Thursday, 28 February, at 7:00 P.M. to talk about his life and his experiences during the Civil War. The event is free and open to the public.
Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, at Point Pleasant, Ohio, the future general’s name was changed due to clerical error during his first days at the United States Military Academy at West Point. To his friends at the Academy he came to be known simply as “Sam.” He graduated 21s t in his class of 39 cadets, having shown proficiency only in mathematics and horsemanship.
At the outbreak of the Civil War Grant, then a civilian, tried and failed to return to the regular army, but managed to obtain a commission as colonel of the 21s t Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In the summer of 18 61 he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, and in September of that year took command of the military district headquartered at Cairo, Illinois.
In early 18 62 Grant came into the public eye when he led the National forces to victory at Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and gained the nickname of “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. Caught by surprise at the battle of Shiloh two months later, Grant’s forces suffered devastating casualties but nonetheless held the field and pushed the Rebel army into retreat. President Lincoln, under pressure to remove Grant, said simply, “I can’t spare this man. He fights.”
After the successful campaign to capture Vicksburg in 1863, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of lieutenant general and named him general in chief of the Armies of the United States. Grant made his headquarters with George Meade’s Army of the Potomac, determined to either crush Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, or at least to keep it from moving to support the other armies of the Confederacy.
After a costly and bitter advance, and a series of bloody but indecisive battles, Grant finally managed to outmaneuver General Lee at Petersburg, south of Richmond, and to hold Lee’s army in place until the spring of 1865, when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.
Doug Ebert will be portraying General Grant, and will attempt to carry his listeners back in time to see the events of the war through the eyes of Ulysses Grant.
Heritage Hall, the Marion County Historical Society headquarters, is located at 169 East Church Street. Doors open at 6:30 P.M., and the visit begins promptly at 7:00 P.M. and plenty of parking is available behind the building. Parking lot access is off South State Street just south of Church Street. This program is the first in a series of programs with a focus on the Civil War.
For more information, contact the Marion County Historical Society at (740) 387-4255 or online at www.marionhistory.com.
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