GRANT, Ulysses S., eighteenth president of
the United States, born at Point Pleasant, Clermont
co., Ohio, 27 April, 1822; died on Mount McGregor,
near Saratoga, N. Y., 23 July, 1885. (See
the accompanying view of Grant's birthplace.) He
was of Scottish ancestry, but his family had been
American in all its branches for eight generations.
He was a descendant of Matthew Grant, who
arrived at Dorchester, Mass., in May, 1630. His
father was Jesse R. Grant, and his mother Hannah
Simpson. They were married in June, 1821, in
Clermont county, Ohio. Ulysses, the oldest of six
children, spent his boyhood in assisting his father
on the farm, a work more congenial to his tastes
than working in the tannery of which his father
was proprietor. He attended the village school,
and in the spring of 1839 was appointed to a
cadetship in the U. S. military academy by Thomas
L. Hamer, M. C. The name given him at birth
was Hiram Ulysses, but he was always called by
his middle name. Mr. Hamer, thinking this his
first name, and that his middle name was probably
that of his mother's family, inserted in the official
appointment the name of Ulysses S. The officials
at West Point were notified by Cadet Grant of the
error, but they did not feel authorized to correct
it, and it was acquiesced in and became the name
by which he was always known. As a student,
Grant showed the greatest proficiency in
mathematics, but he gained a fair standing in most of
his studies, and at cavalry-drill he proved himself
the best horseman in his class, and afterward was
one of the best in the army. He was graduated in
1843, standing twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine.
He was commissioned, on graduation, as a brevet
2d lieutenant, and was attached to the 4th infantry
and assigned to duty at Jefferson barracks, near
St. Louis. (See portrait taken at this period on
page 711.) In May, 1844, he accompanied his regiment
to Camp Salubrity, Louisiana. He was
commissioned 2d lieutenant in September, 1845. That
month he went with his regiment to Corpus Christi
(now in Texas) to join the army of occupation,
under command of Gen. Zachary Taylor.
He participated in the battle of Palo Alto, 8
May, 1846; and in that of Resaca de la Palma, 9
May, he commanded his company. On 19 Aug. he
set out with the army for Monterey, Mexico, which
was reached on 19 Sept. He had been appointed
regimental quartermaster of the 4th infantry, and
was placed in charge of the wagons and pack-train
on this march. During the assault of the 21st on
Black Fort, one of the works protecting Monterey,
instead of remaining in camp in charge of the
quartermaster's stores, he charged with his
regiment, on horseback, being almost the only officer
in the regiment that was mounted. The adjutant
was killed in the charge, and Lieut. Grant was
designated to take his place. On the 23d, when
the troops had gained a position in the city of
Monterey, a volunteer was called for to make his way
to the rear under a heavy fire, to order up
ammunition, Lieut. Grant volunteered, and ran the gauntlet
in safety, accomplishing his mission. Garland's
brigade, to which the 4th infantry belonged, was
transferred from Twiggs's to Worth's division, and
ordered back to the mouth of the Rio Grande,
where it embarked for Vera Cruz, to join the army
under Gen. Scott. It landed near that city on 9
March, 1847, and the investment was immediately
begun. Lieut. Grant served with his regiment
during the siege, until the capture of the place, 29
March, 1847. On 13 April his division began its
march toward the city of Mexico; and he participated
in the battle of Cerro Gordo, 17 and 18 April.
The troops entered Pueblo on 15 May, and Lieut.
Grant was there ordered to take charge of a large
train of wagons, with an escort of fewer than a
thousand men, to obtain forage. He made a two
days' march and procured the necessary supplies.
He participated in the capture of San Antonio and
the battle of Churubusco, 20 Aug., and the battle
of Molino del Rey, 8 Sept., 1847. In the latter
engagement he was with the first troops that
entered the mills. Seeing some of the enemy on the
top of a building, he took a few men, climbed to
the roof, received the surrender of six officers and
quite a number of men. For this service he was
brevetted a 1st lieutenant. He was engaged in
the storming of Chapultepec on 13 Sept.,
distinguished himself by conspicuous services, was highly
commended in the reports of his superior officers,
and brevetted captain. While the troops were
advancing against the city of Mexico on the 14th,
observing a church from the top of which he
believed the enemy could be dislodged from a defensive
work, he called for volunteers, and with twelve
men of the 4th infantry, who were afterward joined
by a detachment of artillery, he made a flank
movement, gained the church, mounted a howitzer in
the belfry, using it with such effect that Gen.
Worth sent for him and complimented him in
person. He entered the city of Mexico with the
army, 14 Sept., and a few days afterward was
promoted to be 1st lieutenant. He remained with the
army in the city of Mexico till the withdrawal of
the troops in the summer of 1848, and then accompanied
his regiment to Pascagoula, Miss. He there
obtained leave of absence and went to St. Louis,
where, on 22 Aug., 1848, he married Miss Julia B.
Dent, sister of one of his classmates. He was soon
afterward ordered to Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., and
in April following to Detroit, Mich. In the spring
of 1851 he was again transferred to Sackett's
Harbor, and on 5 July, 1852, he sailed from New York
with his regiment for California via the Isthmus
of Panama. While the troops were crossing the
isthmus, cholera carried off one seventh of the
command. Lieut. Grant was left behind in charge
of the sick, on Chagres river, and displayed great
skill and devotion in caring for them and supplying
means of transportation. On arriving in
California, he spent a few weeks with his regiment at
Benicia barracks, and then accompanied it to Fort
Vancouver, Oregon. On 5 Aug., 1853, he was
promoted to the captaincy of a company stationed at
Humboldt bay, Cal., and in September he
went to that post.
He resigned his commission, 31 July, 1854, and settled on a small farm near St. Louis. He was engaged in farming and in the real-estate business in St. Louis until May, 1860, when he removed to Galena, Ill., and there became a clerk in the hardware and leather store of his father, who in a letter
