Ulysses Grant in Civil War
How did a quiet man reshape a nation after war?
4.5 (27)
43 mins
Discover how Ulysses S. Grant rose from obscurity to lead Union armies and guide a wounded nation through Reconstruction. Explore his quiet strength, loyalty, strategic brilliance, and moral courage as he fought for civil rights, protected freedmen, and worked to secure the war’s hard-won gains.
Ep 1:
From Firewood to the White House
Before he was a president or general, Ulysses Grant was a failed businessman selling firewood on street corners—how did this unlikely man become one of America's three greatest leaders?
Ep 2:
Brothers in Arms, Master of War
Grant's meteoric rise from clerk to commanding general reveals a quiet genius for strategy and an unbreakable bond with Sherman that would carry him into the White House itself.
Ep 3:
Grant's War on the Klan
As Klan terror swept the South, President Grant built the Justice Department and waged relentless war to protect Black citizens' newly won rights—a fight history nearly forgot.
Ep 4:
Victories and Limits of Power
Beyond scandal and controversy, Grant pursued economic reform, civil service change, and a complicated peace with Native American tribes, revealing triumphs shadowed by tragic limits.
Ep 5:
The General's Last Great Battle
In his final years, dying and broke, Grant penned a legendary memoir that would cement his legacy—forcing history to reconsider the misunderstood man behind the myth.
Discussions (13)
Knox
Level 4 · 7 mo agoCalling a drunk butcher a genius is embarrassing. He didn't outsmart anyone. He just burned through soldiers until the South ran out of men to shoot back.
Yani
Level 9 · 9 mo agoThe firewood story is legit. He was selling wood in St. Louis in 1859 just to feed his family. Going from street vendor to President in eight years has to be the wildest turnaround in history.
Wallace
Level 3 · 8 mo agoKeegan is wrong to call him a genius. Grant won by pure attrition and superior supply lines. He threw bodies at the problem until Lee ran out of bullets. That is not strategy. It is math.
