How Did Grant Won The Civil War

On the North’s side of the Civil war, there were many Generals who helped defeat the Confederate States, but Ulysses S. Grant may have been the most important general. Without his knowledge and skill, the North most likely wouldn’t have won the war.
Before Grant was a general in the Civil War, he worked on his family’s farm as a teen. At age 17, he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduates from West Point in 1843, at age 21. Here is where he learned his skills and knowledge of military and strategy. Grant fought in the Mexican War as Quartermaster from 1846-1848. After the Mexican war he tries to become a business man but he wasn’t cut out for it. Grant was meant to lead in the military (Granthomepage.com).
Grant had a simple strategy of war: “Find out where your enemy is, get at him as soon as you can, strike at him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.” As a Union General, he took a risky move trying to take Tennessee. Using Ironclad gunboats, his forces captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the nearby Cumberland River. Because of this, Union gunboats could float down to the heart of the South. A week later, Grant’s troops marched into Nashville (Garcia, 2003, p. 493).
Johnston, Confederate commander on the Western front, ordered a retreat to Corinth, Mississippi. Grant’s troops follow Johnston. Grant, waited for more troops on Pittsburg Landing. Johnston attacked before Grant could get reinforcements. The Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee turned into the fiercest battle so far in the Civil War. Both sides sent their troops into thick battle. At night, fresh Union troops arrived and Grant led an attack that forced Southern troops to retreat. The Union may have won this battle but they won at a high cost. Union casualties at Shiloh numbered over 13,000, about one-fourth of those who had fought. The Confederates lost about 11,000 out of 41,000 soldiers (Garcia, 2003, p.