[BroJoeK]

The November 1861 Battle of Belmont, Missouri, is listed as "inconclusive", and Grant himself did not consider it a defeat since it accomplished his purposes:

"The Confederates viewed Belmont as a Southern victory, since Grant had staged an attack and been driven off.
Polk's superior, General Albert Sidney Johnston, remarked that
'The 7th of November will fill a bright gap in our military annals, and be remembered with gratitude by the sons and daughters of the South.'

On the evening of November 7th and the morning of November 8th, Grant recalled the units he had ordered forward in Missouri and Kentucky.
One Union soldier commented,

'Well, Grant got whipped at Belmont, and that scared him so that he countermanded all our orders and took all the troops back to their old stations by forced marches.'[15]

However, Grant viewed the battle very differently.
In his memoirs he states,

'The two objects which the battle of Belmont was fought were fully accomplished.
The enemy gave up all idea of detaching troops from Columbus.
His losses were very heavy for that period of the war.' [16]"

I guess, maybe, "Grant never lost a battle" is not exactly the same as saying, "Grant won every battle".

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The November 1861 Battle of Belmont, Missouri, is listed as "inconclusive", and Grant himself did not consider it a defeat since it accomplished his purposes

Our replies crossed in the mail.

On reflection, I think that whether Grant won, or failed to lose, every battle is not as important as whether he won the war. According to the chatter I am hearing from my ACW nerd follows here and on FB and Twitter, the answer to that will be in the affirmative.