Saw #Grant trending, as Leonardo DiCaprio is adapting his autobiography. I'm curious what form it'll take and what the scope of the story is. Let's do some history.
To understand why Grant is so beloved despite not many accomplishments under his belt you have to discuss context

Despite popular belief, the North did not fight the war to end slavery. They wanted it regulated, increase taxes on slave-made goods, etc. Lincoln himself didn't turn full abolitionist until the war was already at its peak. This was the prevailing belief in the north

Even abolitionists (like Grant's father) were pro-segregation for instance. Grant himself was ambivalent towards slavery. He wrote that he was not even anti-slavery, but didn't like participating in it himself. He was one of the first to see the writing on the wall.

He did own a slave for a time but as the war began he freed that slave and had the foresight to see the only way to end the war and prevent another one was the complete abolishment of slavery. It took Lincoln a year and some change to catch up with that sentiment.

Grant more or less MADE the war about slavery. It might be easy to ascribe some sort of benevolent progressive mindset to him, but it was 100% pragmatic. Slavery was a broken system. It had caused the world to stagnate.