The man that succeeded Johnson as president was another Ulster-American, Ulysses S Grant. Grant's connection with Ulster was through his mother, Hannah Simpson, who was descended from the Simpson family of Dergenagh, near dungannon. Grant's great-grandfather, John Simpson, had left Ulster for America in 11760. Ulysses Grant was born on 27 April 1822 in the little settlement of Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio.

Like that other great Ulster-American, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant was already a figure of national repute by the time he entered the White House. A career soldier, Grant made his mark in the American Civil War, rising eventually to become Lieutenant-General in supreme command of the Union Army. It was Grant who planned and executed the final and successful campaign against the Confederacy, receiving the surrender from General Robert E Lee at Appomatox in Virginia in April 1865.

Grant served for a short period as Andrew Johnson's Secretary of War, in 1867, before running for president and winning in the election of November 1868. He served two terms as president, which unfortunately had its downs as well as its ups, with a number of his cabinet colleagues having to resign because of corrupt practices. None of these scandals however touched upon the president.