Question: What Civil War general later became president of the United States? Answer: Ulysses S. Grant. His father made him go to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. When the Civil War began, he turned out to be such a good officer that President Lincoln appointed him commander of all Union troops. Grant was so popular in the North he was elected president in 1868. As a child, he swung from the tails of his father's horses. His best grades at West Point were in art and horsemanship. He wrote a famous book about the Civil War. Read these and other History Maker Bios about War Heroes: Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, George S. Patton Jr., Colin Powell.