Ulysses S. Grant

Born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His father runs a tannery. Ulysses hates the smell of blood so much he can never eat rare meat for the rest of his life. He's quiet, short, and good with horses.

Graduates from West Point ranked 21st out of 39 cadets. He excels in horsemanship and mathematics, nothing else. His name is entered as "U.S. Grant" by mistake. He keeps it.

Resigns from the Army at 32. He's stationed on the Pacific coast, separated from his wife and children. Rumors of heavy drinking follow him. He tries farming, fails. Tries selling real estate, fails. By 1860 he's clerking in his father's leather shop in Galena, Illinois.

Captures Fort Donelson in Tennessee, demanding unconditional surrender. It's the Union's first major victory. The initials U.S. suddenly stand for "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. Lincoln notices.

Accepts the surrender of Vicksburg after a 47-day siege. The Confederacy is split in two. The Mississippi River belongs to the Union. Lincoln writes: "Grant is my man, and I am his the rest of the war."

Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House. Grant arrives in a mud-spattered uniform. Lee wears his finest dress coat with a jeweled sword. Grant's terms are generous. Confederate soldiers can keep their horses for spring planting. Officers keep their sidearms.

Elected president at 46, the youngest to that point. He wins Black voters' support by enforcing the Reconstruction amendments and breaking the Ku Klux Klan with federal troops. During his two terms, 15 African Americans serve in Congress for the first time.

Dies of throat cancer at a cottage in Mount McGregor, New York. He's 63. He spent his final year writing his Personal Memoirs while terminally ill, racing the cancer. Mark Twain published them. The book earned his widow $450,000 and is still considered one of the finest military autobiographies written in English.