Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-360) and index.

Introduction: Ulysses Grant in living history -- Prologue: A dark night in Philadelphia -- Part one: Seasoned by struggle -- Part two: The making of a general -- Part three: The political journey -- Part four: A grand bargain -- Part five: The final battle.

Grant's daring and resolve as a general gained the attention of President Lincoln, then desperate for bold leadership. Appointed as Lieutenant General of the Union Army in March 1864, Grant's forces had seized Richmond and forced Robert E. Lee to surrender within a year. After Lincoln's assassination, Grant answered the call-- advancing an agenda of Reconstruction and aggressively countering the Ku Klux Klan. In Grant's final weeks in the White House, the contested presidential election of 1876 produced no clear victory for either Republican Rutherford B. Hayes or Democrat Samuel Tilden. Southern states vowed to revolt if Tilden was not declared the victor. Baier shows how Grant's compromise saved the nation, but tragically condemned the South to another century of civil-rights oppression. -- adapted from jacket.