Grant, Ulysses S.

(1822-85) American soldier and Republican president of the USA (1866-77). A Union major-general in the American Civil War, victorious at Vicksburg and Chattanooga (1863), he commanded the Union armies (1864-65) and received the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox (1865). His presidency was beset by scandals, and though he was honest himself, his cabinet colleagues were sometimes corrupt.