OSHER 371 - Ulysses S. Grant and the American Way of War

Ulysses S. Grant was the unlikeliest of military heroes. A mediocre student at West Point, he was stationed on the West Coast after the Mexican War, where he drifted into loneliness and alcoholism and was eventually forced to resign. With the coming of war in 1861, Grant resumed his career, becoming General-in-Chief of the Union Army in 1864. During this time, Grant implemented what was the uniquely American way of waging war.