While most of the Spielberg-centric attention has been focused on War Horse of late, the director is now currently hard at work making his long-cherished Lincoln project. And though the cameras are already cranking, he’s still had time to add yet one more talented type to a cast list already bulging with them: Jared Harris will play Civil War commander (and future president) Ulysses S Grant.

During the conflict, Grant won a reputation as a dedicated and driven general, ending up in charge of all the Union armies in their battle with the Confederate forces. He remained in command during the reconstruction period following the war and worked closely with Lincoln himself.

Harris joins an ensemble that already includes (deep breath): Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, David Oyelowo, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley and Lee Pace, amongst others.

Adapted by Tony Kushner from Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography bestseller Team Of Rivals, the film will chronicle Lincoln’s efforts to end the war and the divided cabinet he wrangled in the time after it.

Harris, who last cropped up in The Ward, will next be seen as Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows.

There’s no set release date yet, though Lincoln is scheduled to arrive in December 2012.