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Ulysses S. Grant was the most wildly popular public figure of his day (in the North, at least.) He wrote his autobiography, "Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant" while he was dying of throat cancer. Knowing that he was not long for this world, Grant wrote feverishly on his front porch and ended up with a work of his personal memories of the Civil War of great historical importance. (His Connecticut publisher was Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], whose marketing saved Grant's family from bankruptcy.)

Grant's family was American, and according to him, " [had] been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral." He was born on April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Ohio. His father was a hide tanner, and he lived a relatively quiet childhood. He was a handy horseman, which served him well when he became a soldier.

The path to Grant's military career began with his appointment to West Point, where his mediocre grades were not good enough to get the plum assignments like Robert E. Lee, five years his senior, who was the only cadet that has ever gone through West Point without a single demerit.

Grant served as a quartermaster an army supply officer during the Mexican war and saw action at Palo Alto with General Zachary Taylor. He later joined General Scott's expeditionary force at Vera Cruz and was with the Army as they advanced from Puebla to the Valley of Mexico, and was in Mexico City during the peace negotiations that ended the war.

After the war, as a first lieutenant, Grant was posted to Humboldt, California. Missing his wife and children, and at a post where there was absolutely nothing to do, Grant decided to try earning some money on the side with some ill-advised business ventures. One was an investment in a scheme to ship ice from Alaska to San Francisco by ship. He lost his investment when the ice melted. Another was a crazy agricultural venture that also failed when the bottom dropped out of the market.

In California, Grant took to the bottle out of loneliness and frustration. Found drunk on duty by his superior officer, Grant was forced to resign his commission and return to Illinois in disgrace where he served as a clerk in his father's general store until being called up again during the Civil War. The governor of Illinois commissioned Grant as a brigadier general, and Grant soon distinguished himself as an officer who could whip green troops into shape to face the ever growing Confederate rebellion.

Grant was one of the few Union Generals who was successful

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