“Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.” (BrainyQuote)

This quote sums up perfectly what life would be like for General’s Grant and Sherman throughout their time as acquaintances before the Civil War, to their time developing a friendship during the Civil War, and their time as President (Grant) and Commander of all U.S. forces (Sherman). Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman would form a deep respect for each other that would win major victories in both the Western and Eastern Theater during the Civil War. With their combined effort, the Union forces would be triumphant in their defeat of the Confederacy. This paper serves to explore the friendship between Generals Grant and Sherman and discover why they were so successful in defeating the Confederacy during the years of the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant Ohio to Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant. (Chernow) Some sources say the name “Ulysses” was picked out of a hat, but whatever the case may be, the elder Grants decided on Hiram Ulysses Grant (Hiram being a biblical name, was later dropped by Ulysses due to his unfortunate initials (H.U.G.) and the teasing he would endure from school boys. (Chernow)
The ‘S’ in Ulysses S. Grant would come to him as a clerical error when he enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point. (Chernow) It should be mentioned that the ‘S’ quite possibly stood for Grant’s mothers surname-Simpson, although there is no exact record of this being the case. Not a great student, although not a total flop, Grant excelled in certain areas. Mathematics was one of them. He is quoted as saying, “I had no occasion for any aids in mathematics, the subject was so easy to me as to come almost by intuition.” (Chernow) Extremely skilled at horsemanship, Grant loved to show his skills while at West Point. It is c...