Ulysses S. Grant Recalls His Promotion to General in Chief of the Union Armies

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant

In the winter of 1863, Representative Elihu Washburne of Illinois introduced a bill to revive the rank of Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army. Although Winfield Scott held the rank of Brevet Lieutenant General, George Washington was the only one in history who had been a full Lieutenant General. The Union Army had many Major Generals, and seniority at that rank determined who outranked who. The point of the bill was to make a general in chief who was clearly in command by virtue of rank, and the man Washburne (who happened to be a friend to Grant, a constituent in Washburne’s congressional district) and others, like President Abraham Lincoln, had in mind was Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had achieved much success in the Western Theatre, with victories at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, among others, while the war in the East had been an overall stalemate. With Grant in charge of all the armies, the hope was that he could break the stalemate in the East.

The bill reviving the rank passed Congress on February 26th, and Lincoln nominated Grant for Lieutenant General on the 1st of March. The Senate approved the nomination the next day, and on March 3rd, Grant was ordered to Washington to receive his promotion. He arrived there on March 8th.

Although Grant was well known by this time, he had an unassuming appearance and was not easily recognized from among the many generals that passed through Washington. The clerk checking him in at the Willard Hotel didn’t know he was until he saw Grant’s signature on the hotel register. His anonymity came to an end after that when word spread that he had arrived in town. Lincoln was holding one of his weekly receptions at the White House on the evening of the eighth, and there was a crowd there anticipating a possible appearance by the general.

Grant did appear, to the applause and approval of the crowd. At one point Grant was convinced to stand on a sofa so that the crowd could get a better look at the 5’8” general. This occasion marked the first time Grant and Lincoln had ever met. The reception was a social function and Grant would be awarded the commission officially at the White House the next day.

In his memoirs, Grant recalled the White House ceremony when he received his promotion:

I was ordered to Washington on the 3rd to receive my commission, and started the day following that. The commission was handed to me on the 9th. It was delivered to me at the Executive Mansion by President Lincoln in the presence of his Cabinet, my eldest son, those of my staff who were with me and a few other visitors.

The President in presenting my commission read from a paper—stating, however, as a preliminary, and prior to the delivery of it, that he had drawn up on paper, knowing my disinclination to speak in public, and handed me a copy in advance so that I might prepare a few lines of reply. The President said:

“General Grant, the nation’s appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, and now presented, with this commission constituting you lieutenant-general in the Army of the United States. With this high honor, devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence.”

To this I replied: “Mr. President, I accept the commission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men.”

Grant Receiving his Commission as Lieutenant General.

Grant wasted no time in assuming his new command. The next day, he visited the Army of the Potomac’s winter camp at Brandy Station, Virginia, and followed that with a trip west to name Major General William T. Sherman as his successor at his old command. Though Grant had hoped to lead the armies with his headquarters in the West and not in Washington, he would end up campaigning in the field with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia and directing the armies from there.

Army of the Potomac Headquarters at Brandy Station, 1864

Sources:

Grant by Ron Chernow

Grant: A Biography by William S. McFeely

Grant Takes Command by Bruce Catton

Personal Memoirs of U.S Grant by Ulysses S. Grant


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