In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see." Brutal attacks and political murders throughout the South prompted Grant to invoke the new Enforcement Act, ordering in troops and suspending the writ of habeas corpus. When fire swept through Chicago during 1871, Grant immediately telegraphed to General Philip H. Sheridan to "Render all the aid you can." When Illinois' governor charged federal interference, Grant replied: "The only thing thought of was how to benefit a people struck by a calamity greater than had ever befallen a community, of the same number, before in this country." Grant's July Fourth proclamation announced British ratification of the Treaty of Washington. Elsewhere, the civil war in Cuba furnished a constant irritant. An exasperated Grant warned that each new atrocity strengthened American public opinion against Spain. Telling a friend "It will be a happy day for me when I am out of political life," Grant nevertheless cast a keen eye over the political landscape, looking toward the 1872 election. In another letter, never sent, he surveyed opposition within his own party, deftly characterized Horace Greeley as "a genius without common sense," and saved his worst for Senator Charles Sumner, a man he called "unreasonable, cowardly, slanderous, unblushing false." Despite his lack of zeal for presidential duties—he confessed: "I believe I am lazy and dont get credit for it"—Grant was not about to yield power to such scorned enemies.
With the surrender at Appomattox, Grant demonstrated his capacity for making peace as well as for waging war. In the frantic aftermath of Lincoln's death, Grant maintained his customary levelheadedness despite clamor for vengeance.
The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 2
Notified of his nomination for a second term in June 1872, Ulysses S. Grant accepted, promising "the same zeal and devotion to the good of the whole people for the future of my official life, as shown in the past.
This volume carries Ulysses S. Grant through a brief period of welcome calm to the storms of the White House. Seemingly resigned to becoming president, Grant detached himself from military...
Inaugurated for a second term on March 4, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant gave an address that was both inspiring and curiously bitter.
This is my ground, and I am sitting on it.” In May, Sioux leaders traveled to the capital, where Grant renewed efforts to persuade them to relocate to Indian Territory, “south of where you now live, where the climate is very much better ...
Ulysses S. Grant as symbol became as important in peace as he had been in war. The nation rewarded Grant with the rank of full general, the first U.S. officer to hold the rank since George Washington.
" Grant had not sought the office, and halfway through his first term he chafed under its many burdens. Grant's cherished project to annex Santo Domingo, begun early in his administration, entered a crucial period.
This volume provides a panoramic view of the Civil War unavailable elsewhere. Grant continued the siege of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, but as summer ended, his armies had dramatic success elsewhere.
During the winter of 1864–65, the end of the Civil War neared as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant maintained pressure against the dying Confederacy.