And I believe that Grant didn't get command of the Grand Army of the Potomac (eastern sector) until about a year after Vicksburg. IIRC, after Vicksburg, Grant joined up with Sherman in the Union campaigns eastward through the Confederacy.
Indeed, he won several earlier battles major and minor. He made a name for himself while his jealous boss tried to open a trap door under him.
He dodged a bullet...literally...at Shiloh. (So did Sherman and how different our world would look if Grant and Sherman were both killed at Shiloh.) Sherman let Grant know at least as early as Fort Henry that he wanted to be on Grant's team. At Shiloh they formed a partnership that moved forward to save the nation.
At Vicksburg Grant swallowed one of the three Confederate armies he devoured in that war.
He went on to win major victories in Tennessee before he was finally promoted to his rightful spot.
Take Grant away and the North would have been routed at Shiloh and would not have taken Vicksburg to this day. The Union had extremely capable generals as Sherman matured to become. None but Grant had the temperament to tie it all together. Sherman at his most competent could never have survived personality clashes in DC without Grant providing the needed cushion.
Lincoln "discovered" Grant, for real, probably at Shiloh. Even then a very jealous Halleck tried to cashier him. Then an extremely clear eyed Lincoln promoted Halleck to get him out of the way.
Grant was one of those right men God places on Earth in the right place at the right time with the right platform so the Good Guys (The United States) has an outside chance to survive for later important work. If God is listening, we need someone like him today.
Grant first got Lincoln's attention with his Paducah Proclamation.
Even then a very jealous Halleck tried to cashier him.
Yes, and without Lincoln's favor, Grant probably would have quit after Shiloh. Lincoln's quote about Grant was, "I can't spare this man, he fights."
Grant finished in the middle of his West Point class, and was a Quarter Master during his first stint in the army. When the Civil War broke out he was a clerk in father's store, and was turned down for multiple commissions. When he finally got one he was given a very difficult group of men to command.
He dodged a bullet...literally...at Shiloh.
He came within inches of having his head blown off a couple of times at Belmont.
Anyway. I'm a big fan of Grant since reading his memoirs some years ago which I recommend. While being very talented in many areas, he had close to zero ambition. He went from being a nobody to the most famous man in the world within the span of a few years.