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FOR THE RECORD: PRESIDENTS IN UNIFORM, PART III

© John S. Cooper

Andrew Johnson’s military career was, like the rest of his career, political. He had attracted national attention as the only southern member of Congress to refuse to leave his senate seat when his state seceded from the Union. On March 4, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of Tennessee, most of which had been recaptured. With this appointment came the commission as a brigadier general of volunteers.

Johnson’s role as military governor was purely political. His orders were to re-establish federal authority in the state and maintain the peace and security of the state pending the restoration of civil government. Johnson possessed full executive, legislative and judicial powers, and used these powers to rid the state of Confederate influences. He removed all Confederate sympathizers from government offices and arrested clergymen who promoted Confederate interests from the pulpit. He also closed down anti-Union newspapers. At Johnson’s intercession, Lincoln exempted Tennessee from the Emancipation Proclamation. Governor Johnson refused to evacuate the capital at Nashville, even when it was threatened with capture during a Confederate siege. Johnson once declared, “I am no military man, but any one who talks of surrender I will shoot.” He restored civil government to the state on March 4, 1865, the same day he took the oath as Vice President of the United States.

Like Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant became President solely because of his military exploits. Graduating from West Point in 1843, Grant served in the Mexican War with distinction, earning a promotion and two brevet promotions for bravery. After the war, Grant was posted without his wife and children to a remote post in California. His rumored drinking led to his resignation to avoid a court-martial.

At the start of the Civil War, Grant volunteered and became the colonel of the 21st Illinois infantry. He then rose through the chain of command, commanding victorious campaigns against key Confederate points. He took Forts Henry and Donelson, and was promoted to a larger command. After winning the Battle of Shiloh, he then took command of the forces operating against Vicksburg. After a long, difficult campaign, he took Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River. He then took command of all forces in the West, and won decisive victories at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. After that he took command of all Union forces, and traveled with the Army of the Potomac, operating against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. After a year of hard, brutal fighting, Grant finally forced Lee to surrender, ending the war. In July 1866, Grant was promoted to general (then called general of the army), the first person since Washington to hold the rank. His popularity as the victor led to his election as President.

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