Grant, Ulysses Simpson

Ulysses Simpson (1822-1885), the eighteenth president of the United States. He was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and died at Mount McGregor, New York, July 23, 1885. As a boy he was remarkably fond of horses. He taught his father's horses to pace, but could not be induced to train horses for others. One neighbor hit upon a device. Knowing Ulysses had a long trip to make he managed to loan him a saddle horse and was rewarded for his shrewdness, for it came back well broken to pace.

At the age of seventeen young Grant went to West Point. He stood well in mathematics and ranked about midway in a class of thirty-nine. He preferred the cavalry service, but was made second lieutenant of infantry and was ordered to Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis. Here he made the acquaintance of Julia Dent who became his wife. In 1844 he was ordered to Natchitoches, Louisiana, then a frontier town. He went through the Mexican War creditably. Though he himself says he was much afraid under fire he was complimented for bravery and was promoted twice for coolness and efficiency.

In 1854 he resigned from the army and went to St. Louis to live with his wife and children on a small farm given him by Mrs. Grant's father. It lay ten miles outside of the city. Grant built a log cabin with his own hands, cleared land, hauled cordwood to market, planted corn, and did his best to maintain himself as a farmer. In 1860, becoming discouraged by hard labor and small returns, he turned his back on "Hardscrabble," as he called the place, and moved to Galena, Illinois, where he entered a leather store established by his father who owned a tannery.

Here the outbreak of the Civil War found him. He interested himself in raising troops. The neighbors wanted him to take charge of a local company, but he declined, and was soon offered a regiment. His skill in the handling of troops was so evident that President Lincoln made him a brigadier-general.

His first campaign was undertaken in 1862. With 20,000 men he marched south to open up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. With the assistance of Commodore Foote and his gunboats he reduced Fort Henry and invested Fort Donelson. His old West Point classmate, General Buckner, in command of the defense, wrote asking for terms. Grant replied, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Buckner, in no condition to prolong the defense, surrendered. "Unconditional surrender" caught the ear of the North and made Grant popular. The next year Grant ran his gunboats past Vicksburg, marched his army past the land side of the fortress, defeated Johnston and Pemberton, and received the surrender of Vicksburg July third.

Grant's promotion was rapid. He was made commander of the department of the Mississippi. At Corinth he was almost whipped, but his reputation was sustained by Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. President Lincoln had admiration for the man who went ahead and accomplished something without complaining or wasting his energies in calling for more troops. A deputation came in one day to protest against the retention of a man who drank whiskey, as Grant was said to do. The president, whose sympathies would ordinarily have been with their views, looked sober for a moment; then asked them with a twinkle in his eye where he could get some of Grant's whiskey for his other generals.

As confidence in his military skill grew Grant was made commander of all the military forces of the North. He received the surrender of General Lee and the Army of Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse April 9, 1865. It is characteristic of the simplicity and thoughtfulness of the man that he directed the Confederates to keep their horses and use them in planting crops. He rejoiced in the preservation of the Union, but was too large hearted a man to take a petty delight in the distress of his opponents.

In 1868 he was the popular choice, we may say, of the Republican party for the presidency. He was reelected in 1872. His political life is the least satisfactory part of his career. Himself a man of integrity and kindness, his administration was marked by the outrages of "carpet baggers" in the Southern States, and he himself was beset and surrounded by corrupt officeholders without patriotism or principle, who disgraced the government by dishonest practices.

After retiring from office Grant made a tour of the world. He was received as the first of Americans and returned delighted with his reception. He was led to be a candidate for a third term, but was not successful in gaining the nomination. This mistake annoyed him, and he was further humiliated by the discreditable failure of a business firm in which his name appeared and in which he had a nominal interest. Although in no way responsible for the failure he turned over every dollar he had and looked the world in the face a beggar.

Friends insisted on making up a purse. A publishing firm urged him to undertake the writing of an autobiography. This he set about. A malignant cancer appeared, but he wrote on under the very shadow of death, revising proof, even after the disease had deprived him of his power of speech. This autobiography is remarkable for its modesty, simplicity, and fairness. It carries with it the conviction that it was written by one trying to tell things as they were.

After considering many plans, the Grant family consented to the erection of a grand mausoleum overlooking the Hudson River in the upper part of New York City. The great commander's remains rest here. See Presidents