Leadership Lessons from an Under Appreciated Historical Figure: U.S. Grant
By Mitch Stephenson
The Stepping Stone, September 2024
In college, I double majored in math and history. I leveraged the math degree to land a job in an actuarial program. That began my path towards becoming an actuary.
After completing my actuarial exams I rediscovered a passion for United States history. During my daily commute for years, I listened to countless audio books about the Civil War. When I had free time, I read about it. The more Civil War history I consumed, the more I came to appreciate the life, legacy, and leadership qualities of (in my humble opinion) an unappreciated American: U.S. Grant.
In the many hours of books I listened to and read, I learned about Grant’s relationship with his chief subordinate, William Tecumseh Sherman. I discovered how he communicated with President Abraham Lincoln. I studied his interactions and battles with his chief military rival, Robert E. Lee. I came to understand that Grant demonstrated key leadership qualities I have often found myself wanting to emulate. Below are five that made him successful.
He Took Risks and He Got Results
Grant’s predecessors struggled with taking risks. They were cautious. They missed opportunities.
General George McClellan overestimated the size of confederate forces. He failed to capitalize on strategic advantages. At Yorktown, the confederate army fooled McClellan into thinking there were significantly more soldiers than there were. McClellan’s hesitancy to engage with the army prompted Lincoln to write: “My Dear McClellan, if you don't want to use the army I should like to borrow it for a while.”
After having a strategic advantage at Chancellorsville, General Joe Hooker pulled his troops back. This led to a rout of the Union Army. Hooker later said, “I just lost confidence in Joe Hooker.”
After winning at Gettysburg, General George Meade failed to pursue Lee. He let the confederate army escape across the Potomac River. This enraged Abraham Lincoln. In an unsent letter, he expressed his disappointment that Meade had not attempted to capture Lee’s army. In Lincoln’s opinion, this could have ended the war.
In contrast, Grant engaged with the enemy. He won the first significant Union victories of the war by capturing Forts Henry and Donelson. He floated barges past confederate forts in the dark of night. This led to the surrender of the army at Vicksburg. After a difficult day at the battle of the Wilderness, Grant turned his army south towards Richmond—instead of north back to Washington—soliciting cheers from his soldiers.
As a result of his willingness to take risks, act, and fight despite setbacks, Grant secured the surrender of three separate confederate armies, including Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. That effectively ending the Civil War.
He Remained Humble Despite His Success
After his successes, Lincoln called on Grant to lead all Union army forces. Grant was the only American to hold the rank of Lieutenant General since George Washington. Grant traveled to Washington to meet with the president. The hotel clerk did not recognize him, and disdainfully informed Grant there was only one remaining room, in the attic. Grant agreed to take it without argument. He wrote “US Grant & son, Galena, Illinois” in the ledger. Upon seeing this, the clerk immediately found them a better room.
Grant’s experiences before, and during, the Civil War kept him humble. Before the war, he held a series of odd jobs. One was selling firewood in the streets of St. Louis. At the outbreak of the war, he worked in his father’s leather store, even though he hated the smell. After a costly victory at Shiloh, Grant lost command of his army. He considered resigning. His friend, William Tecumseh Sherman, persuaded Grant to stay with the army. Grant was eventually restored to command. Though he went on to achieve future success, these humbling experiences informed his actions and attitude towards others.
A descriptor for Grant one often sees is “magnanimous.” The Cambridge dictionary defines magnanimous as, “very kind and generous toward an enemy or someone you have defeated.” Grant’s humility was a contributing factor to his magnanimous behavior towards surrendering confederate armies. This helped set the post-war tone of reconciliation. It contributed to his presidential platform, written above his tomb in New York: “Let us have peace.”
He Worked Well With Others.
Of Grant’s partnership with Navy officer David Porter, Naval History Magazine states:
“After meeting for the first time in early December 1862, Major General Ulysses S. Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter quickly formed a partnership that eventually led to the greatest Union victory of the war, the capture of Vicksburg. For Army and Navy commanders to work together smoothly and effectively was no easy feat in an era when there was no doctrine for combined operations … Grant and Porter’s partnership was largely built on mutual trust and respect.”
This was true even while both men’s superiors had a “less than harmonious” relationship.
His partnership with General William Tecumseh Sherman demonstrates the strength of the relationship. “We were as brothers," Sherman said. The importance of the relationship in driving the eventual outcome spawned a book by Charles Bracelen Flood called Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War.
Grant managed his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln well. When Lincoln brought Grant in to break a siege of the Union army at Chattanooga, the task was difficult enough. Worried about a siege of another Union army led by Ambrose Burnside at Knoxville, the President continually prompted Grant, “Remember Burnside.” Instead of showing frustration or lamenting the difficulty, Grant communicated openly and continually about his status and acknowledgment of the objectives. He broke the siege at Chattanooga. He freed Burnside’s forces at Knoxville. Grant’s ability to manage the relationship led Lincoln to appoint him to overall command of the Union armies.
He Focused On What He Could Control
Of Grant, Sherman said, “I'm a damned sight smarter than Grant; I know more about organization, supply and administration and about everything else than he does; but I'll tell you where he beats me and where he beats the world. He don't care a damn for what the enemy does out of his sight but it scares me like hell.”[1]
When he came east to take command of the army, Grant reprimanded his subordinates. He said to them, “Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”[2]
Worrying about what he could control, and not worrying about what he could not, was a key leadership characteristic of Grant’s.
He Didn’t Give Up
In his memoirs, Grant wrote “One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go anywhere or do anything, not to turn back, or stop until the thing intended was accomplished.”[3]
There were several times during the Civil War when Grant’s resiliency was a contributing factor towards Union victory. After a significant setback on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, Sherman found Grant standing under a tree. “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?” Sherman said. “Yes,” Grant agreed. “Lick ‘em tomorrow, though.”
According to the National Parks Services, Grant’s victory at Vicksburg was “one of the most successful military victories in history.” His army suffered under 5,000 casualties while securing the surrender of an army of ~30,000 confederate soldiers. Grant achieved this because he tried and tried again to find a way to capture the city. Grant deployed at least seven failed strategies to capture the city. Eventually, he floated his army on barges past confederate forts. This led to ultimate victory.
Before the battle of the Wilderness, Grant wrote to Lincoln, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” Grant’s decision to turn south towards Richmond after the battle, and not north towards Washington, differentiates him from his predecessors. If he had done so, historians may have considered the battle a confederate victory. Nonetheless, he proceeded and trapped Lee’s army at Petersburg.
When faced with removing Grant entirely from the army after the Battle of Shiloh, as documented on Whitehouse.gov, Lincoln fended off demands, saying, “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”
In Summary
In Washington DC, there is a straight line from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington monument to a statue of U.S. Grant on horseback to the U.S. Capital. After Lincoln’s assassination, according to the Washington post, Grant was the most popular person in the country. He was a two-term President who oversaw the restoration of the Union. When he traveled internationally after his presidency, according to PBS, “Huge crowds turned out to welcome Grant, who was honored not as a former president, but as the military hero who saved America from falling apart.” According to the National Park Service, Grant’s memoirs, which remain in print today, are “one of the finest written memoirs of a U.S. general or president … Many have considered the Memoirs to be one of the greatest pieces of nonfiction in American literary history.”
Grant’s reputation suffered over the years. Words like “butcher” and “drunk” are often associated with his military legacy. His presidency was full of corruption and corrupt men, although historians do not question Grant’s integrity. According to Joan Waugh who published on the Miller Center, “The Grant administration was also routinely labeled one of the most corrupt in U.S. history. Despite the scandals that arose during his tenure, Grant was never personally involved with any of them, and his honesty and personal integrity were never questioned.”
More recently, Grant’s reputation and significance has become appreciated again. The title of Edward Bonekemper III’s book title, U.S. Grant: A Victor Not a Butcher, provides evidence of this.
Grant’s historical legacy and reputation are complicated. His impact on American history is unquestionable. He was the victorious commander of the Union forces in the Civil War. He was a two-term President. Post presidency, he was an overseas ambassador of the United States. He authored memoirs that influenced the post presidency memoirs of modern presidents including Clinton and Bush.
Grant lived 140 years ago. His leadership qualities propelled him from a leather store clerk to commander of all Union forces in four years. Seven years after his clerkship, he was president of the United States. It’s these qualities that are often underappreciated in Grant, and which deserve strong consideration by aspiring leaders as those they should seek to emulate.
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Mitchell Stephenson, FSA, MAAA, is head of model governance at Fannie Mae. He can be reached at mbstep684@gmail.com or via LinkedIn.
Endnotes
[1] James Harrison Wilson, Under the Old Flag: Recollections of Military Operations in the War for the Union, the Spanish War, the Boxer Rebellion, etc. (New York and London: D. Appleton and Company, 1912).
[2] Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant. New York: The Century Company, 1897).
[3] Ulysses Grant, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885).