Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant 1822–1885

Born Point Pleasant, Ohio

Artist Samuel Bell Waugh painted this portrait of Ulysses S. Grant just days after he became the nation’s eighteenth president. Waugh’s depiction of Grant in uniform, instead of civilian clothes, was indicative of how most Americans thought of their new president. Whereas Northerners hailed him as a victor and hero, Southerners saw Grant as the Yankee soldier who was most responsible for the Confederate defeat.