On March 10, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a brief document formally promoting Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank of Lieutenant General of the United States Army, instructing the future President to lead all Union troops against the confederate army. .
The rank of lieutenant general had not been officially used since 1798; At that time, President John Adams assigned the post to former President George Washington, in anticipation of a possible French invasion of the United States. One of Grant’s predecessors during the Civil War, Winfield Scott, had briefly gained the rank, but the appointment was only temporary – in fact, use of the rank was suspended after George Washington’s death in 1799.
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In 1862, Lincoln asked Congress to restore the rank of lieutenant general in order to distinguish between the general in charge of all Union forces and other generals of equal rank who served under him in the field. Congress also wanted to restore the rank of lieutenant general, but only if Lincoln awarded the rank to Grant. Lincoln had other ideas.
Lincoln preferred to promote General Henry Halleck, then in command, to lead the Union army, which had been plagued by a series of ineffective leaders and terrible losses in combat. He was reluctant to promote Grant and risked increasing the general’s popularity; At the time, Washington was abuzz with rumors that many northern senators were considering nominating Grant instead of Lincoln at the 1864 Republican National Convention. After Grant publicly rejected the idea of running for President Lincoln submitted to Congress’ choice and agreed to give Grant the restored rank. As a lieutenant general of the United States Army, Grant was responsible only to Lincoln. Highly respected by troops and civilians, Grant won Lincoln’s trust and forced the South to surrender in 1865.
Although Grant enjoyed a distinguished career in the military, he later wrote that he never consciously chose the life of a soldier. As a student at West Point, he never expected to graduate, let alone lead the entire U.S. military in a desperate but ultimately successful struggle to preserve the Union.
In 1869 Grant became the 18th President of the United States.
