re: On this day in 1866, Ulysses S. Grant became the first 4-star general in U.S. Army history

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He married into a slave-owning family and owned a slave himself (a slave which he set free rather than selling for a small fortune). He also worked alongside the slaves in the fields of his father-in-law's plantation.

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You left out one minor detail. The only slave transaction he took part in was freeing the slave his FIL gifted to him. Also his father was a devout abolitionist. He never approved of the marriage and had very little to do with Grant going way back to the courtship until he died.

For you baws who want to learn more about him, I highly recommend Chernow's biography. It's a long read but isn't dense like a lot of other contemporary presidential biographies.