- Ulysses Simpson Grant (birth name: Hiram Ulysses Grant) is much better known as the General who won the American Civil War than as a President. Most people who remember the latter probably do so because he’s on the fifty dollar bill. Which doesn’t make much sense, since neither Hamilton nor Franklin were presidents, and they are prominently on the currency as well. His nickname, earned during the Civil War was “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.