When the Civil War began, Grant eventually received the command of the 21st Illinois Infantry and he saw his first action at the Battle of Belmont (Missouri) in November 7, 1861.
At Appomattox, when he met Lee for the first time since the Mexican War, he tried to break the awkwardness by asking the Confederate general how things were going on the home front and wished he hadn't because Lee had lost his home at Arlington, Virginia, which had been taken by the federal government and turned into a cemetery.
A few days later, he had been invited by the Lincolns to attend that play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., but his wife absolutely refused to go as she hated Mary Todd Lincoln. Their excuse was that they were going elsewhere. They were on a train and got to Burlington when they heard that Lincoln had been shot.
After the war, He was, however, still in the Army and when people wanted him to run for president he had to make the decision of whether to give up his rank of General of the Army with its $40,000 a year salary or the president's salary of $25,000.
What Did He Do. --Old Secesh
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