This film paints a revealing portrait of one of America's most paradoxical leaders, from his first days on the Ohio frontier to the darkest days of the Civil War.

Few public figures have ever held such a firm grip on the American popular imagination as Ulysses S. Grant. The greatest hero of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant was a brilliant military strategist who rose from obscurity to a rank held previously only by George Washington, then became a leader for whom thousands of Northern soldiers were willing to fight and die, and for whom thousands did. His hard-nosed fighting style won him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant and the admiration of the Northern public. However, the strength of the Confederate resistance forced Grant into a hard war that destroyed the South and led to his being labeled a butcher. As the author of the great Union victory at Vicksburg, which etched his name in military history, he irrevocably altered the course of the war. Perhaps most memorably, he was the general who took Lee's surrender at Appomattox and the author of its generous terms. This AMERICAN EXPERIENCE paints a revealing portrait of one of America's most paradoxical leaders, from his first days on the Ohio frontier to the darkest days of the Civil War.