GRANT BICENTENNIAL 1822-2022
200 Years of Ulysses S. Grant
Celebrating the general who saved America in the Civil War and the president who labored mightily against great odds for a lasting peace.
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victory in battle. leniency to a fallen foe. fairness for black americans.
“The war is over. The rebels are our countrymen again,” said General Ulysses S. Grant after offering Robert E. Lee generous terms of surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. Grant expected defeated Confederates to accept the verdict of the war that slavery was dead. But when unrepentant rebels fought back against Black freedom, Grant stood up to preserve the fruits of his victory: one united country with fairness for all regardless of race.
Just as General Grant defeated rebel armies during the Civil War, so President Grant crushed the KKK during Reconstruction.
The Surrender of Lee
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What Contemporaries Said about Grant
I can’t spare this man — he fights.
Abraham Lincoln
16th President of the United StatesA man too broad for prejudice, too humane to despise the humblest, too great to be small at any point. In him the Negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior.
Frederick Douglass
AbolitionistI doubt his superior can be found in all history.
Robert E. Lee
Commander, Army of Northern VirginiaNotwithstanding the fact that he talks so well, it is plain he has more brains than tongue. He is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met. He does not seem to be aware of his powers.
Alexander Stephens
Confederate Vice PresidentReviews of the Best Books on Grant & His Times
A revival of interest in Ulysses S. Grant and the era of Reconstruction has produced many excellent new titles to augment the classics on Grant and his time that remain worth reading.
Quotes by Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.
Let us not be concerned with what General Lee is going to do to us. Let us be concerned with what we are going to do to General Lee.
Ulysses S. Grant
I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.
Ulysses S. Grant
Whatever may have been my political opinions before, I have but one sentiment now: that is, we have a government, and laws, and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter.
Ulysses S. Grant
Grant Places
Historic sites in Grant’s life, Civil War battlefields and of course, Grant’s Tomb.
Grant News
Grant Presidential Library Gets New Leader
Anne Marshall succeeds leading Grant scholar John F. Marszalek as executive director of both the Grant Library and the U.S. Grant Association.
Grant Bicentennial Events Announced by Grant Birthplace
In southern Ohio, events to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant start in February and continue through the end of April, 2022.
Read More Grant Bicentennial Events Announced by Grant Birthplace
World’s First National Park, Created by Grant, Celebrates 150 Years
In an era of westward expansion with public land moving quickly into private hands, Grant had the foresight to preserve Yellowstone.
Read More World’s First National Park, Created by Grant, Celebrates 150 Years