The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

Petaluma, California – as a generality – was settled by Northern unionists, while Santa Rosa was settled by Southern sympathizers. The resultant animosity between the two communities was considerable. The nearby towns often came close to battling each other during, and even after, the Civil War, and Grant’s post-war election in 1868 brought out the worst of vindictiveness from both.

Ulysses S. Grant, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Mexican/American war, had been President Lincoln’s first choice as Major General of the Armies over Generals Winfield Scott and George McClellen. Grant was instructed to “wrap-up” the bitter Civil War by being tougher than anyone else, and fortunately by then, those efforts were to be supported by the availability of … wait for it … gold!

Grant was often heard to say, “I do not know what we should do, were it not for gold from California.”

An expert equestrian, Grant believed in first destroying the armies themselves, rather than primarily taking territory, and his tough tactics decimated the rebels. When rumors of Grant’s sometime battleground drunkenness reached Lincoln, the President famously replied, “If that’s true, I’ll have what he’s drinking.”

Grant went-on to hard-fought victories at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Richmond, and he met with rebel General Robert E. Lee for the famous “unconditional surrender” at Appomattox. Interestingly, General Grant added a condition of his own to that document … that the Rebel soldiers would not be tried for treason and that they be allowed to keep their horses ... and go home.

Grant had realized the incredible efforts it would take for the South to reconstruct itself, once the war was over, and he believed an early helping hand from the North might be important.

Upon President Lincoln’s assassination, Vice-President Andrew Johnson took over the helm and the electorate quickly became disappointed in Johnson’s solicitous stance over Southern post-war reconstruction. Johnson believed in maintaining “white” leadership in the South, and that civil rights were secondary to the prospect of the Southern states returning to the Union.

Because of this, Johnson faced an impeachment trial in 1869 and Republicans then looked to Grant, who believed in keeping promises made in the war. But it was a very close National vote. The California tally was just 50% for Grant, and 49% for Seymour.

To give you an idea of the emotional state in Sonoma County in 1868, Republican Sam Cassiday, editor of the Petaluma Journal and Argus, referred to Democrats as, “The most filthy, slate-smashing, snarling, snapping and peevish of copperheads.” He was strongly in support of Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax for President and Vice-President and he often referred to them as, “The invincible soldier and the eloquent statesman.” But looming questions remained.

What to do with the South now?

How to come to terms with the freed slaves?

How to approach civil rights?

The Republican platform of Grant/Colfax included “equal suffrage” (equal for all men, that is, as white women hadn't yet gotten “the vote” either) and the 15th Amendment that gave Black men the vote in 1870 was U.S. Grant’s idea.

Also, they were trying to correct Johnson’s “treacherously-resisted attempts at reconstruction.” At the Republican convention in Chicago, the California delegation (including Petaluma), voted solidly for Grant and Colfax, who was then Speaker of the House.

In other Sonoma County news of the times, Stickney’s Paris Exposition Circus had set up its tent in Petaluma, and it featured, according to one report, “Grant’s Military Band, four Asiatic camels and mounted knights in armor.” It was notable that performer “La Petite Rosa,” referred to as “The double sommersaultist and premier leaper,” would be doing her “thing” along with a “full company of posturers” (“Posturers”?). Local schools were let-out for the event, as they would also be for the 2nd Annual Sonoma County Fair in Petaluma, later that month.

Santa Rosa was incorporated that year (10 years after Petaluma), and the wealthy Mary Ellen “Mammy Pleasant, the mother of human rights in California,“ lived there then. Thousands of grapevines were being planted here that year, and just when our first steam-powered tractors appeared to aid in crop yield, the U.S. Senate passed a bill allowing unrestricted immigration from China. This, unfortunately, resulted in decades of anti-Asian discrimination on the West Coast.

Ulysses S. Grant was only 46-years-old when he was elected President and he and his wife Julia brought their four children into the White House. Serving from 1869 to ’77, the amazingly successful and experienced military general was very inexperienced in politics.

His main goal was to preserve the Union, but he also was fiscally conservative and trimmed-out over a third of government workers, balancing the budget and lowering the National debt.

Significantly, he also decimated the Ku Klux Klan thru the KKK Act of 1871 and the use of Federal troops. The immense task of Civil War Reconstruction was mostly over by the time Grant left the office, but unfortunately those important accomplishments were not what was to be most remembered of the Grant Presidency.

President Grant made major mistakes in appointing friendly cronies to his cabinet and to other important government posts, and those errors came back to haunt him. Even though Grant himself was never tainted, few American president have had so many scandals and so much corruption directly associated with their presidency.

American historians have ranked him in the bottom eight of U.S. Presidents, opining, “He was an honest man, but surrounded by scoundrels.”

Ulysses S. Grant personally suffered very tough economic times after leaving the White House. Desperate for funds, he asked his friend Mark Twain to write his biography. In 1885, however, the cigar-smoking Grant died of throat cancer, before he could realize the success of Twain’s two-volume work.

But, fortunately, sales of that popular book supported Julia Grant and their children for the rest of their lives.

(Skip Sommer is an honorary lifetime member of the Petaluma Historical Museum and Heritage Homes. Petaluma’s Past runs every other week. You can reach Skip Sommer at skipsommer@hotmail.com)