Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Grant ya horar da 'yan takarar soja na Tarayyar kuma an ba shi mukamin Kanar a watan Yunin 1861. Janar Janar John C. Frémont, wanda ya ga Grant a matsayin "ƙarfe" don cin nasara, ya nada Grant a matsayin kwamandan gundumar Alkahira. Grant ya zama sananne a duk faɗin ƙasar bayan da ya kama Fort Donelson a watan Fabrairun 1862 kuma Shugaba Abraham Lincoln ya ba shi mukamin Manjo Janar. Bayan jerin fadace-fadace da nasara a Shiloh
, Vicksburg, da Chattanooga, Shugaba Lincoln ya ba Grant mukamin Laftanar Janar a 1864 kuma ya ba da alhakin dukkan Sojojin Tarayyar. Grant ya ci gaba da kayar da Robert E. Lee bayan wani jerin fadace-fadace masu tsada a cikin Kamfen na Overland, Petersburg, da Appomattox. Bayan yakin basasa, an ba Grant kyautarsa na karshe na Janar na Sojoji a 1866 kuma ya yi aiki har zuwa 1869. Shahararren Grant a matsayin janar na Union ya ba shi damar za a zabe shi sau biyu a matsayin Shugaban Amurka na 18.