844 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS All the education the young candidate for military honors had was only such as he had obtained at the district school, and the examination for admission was considered a very trying ordeal, though it included only the branches taught in the common schools. He " brushed up " his studies, and as he was always cool and self-possessed, he did not fail from embarrassment, as many do on such oc- casions, but was passed and admitted. Of the class of eighty-seven only thirty- nine were graduated. In rank Grant was the twenty-first, indicating about the average ability. As a cadet he was popular with his comrades. He was honest, fair, and square, and was especially careful of the rights of others. The horse had been a favorite with him from his early childhood, and at the Academy he was distin- guished as a bold and fearless rider. He was sober and rather dignified in his manner. The name given to him by his parents was " Hiram Ulysses;" but the Congressman had made a mistake in presenting the nomination, and at West Point he was known as " Ulysses Sidney." Failing to correct the error, he ac- cepted the initial S., but made it stand for " Simpson," after his mother. The first name was suggested by an elderly female relative, who appears to have read the Odyssey, and appreciated its hero. The initials of his name as it finally stood had a national significance, which the newspapers , were not tardy in using at the time of his first decided victory. He was graduated in 1843, and appointed brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment of Infantry. The engineers and the cavalry ate considered more desirable arms of the service than the infantry, and the best scholars at the Military Academy are assigned to them. Grant's rank placed him in the latter. His regiment was sent to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. Frederick T. Dent, his classmate, was in the same command, and resided in the vicinity. He was in- vited to the house of the Dents, where he made the acquaintance of Miss Julia T. Dent, who became his wife five years later. In 1845, the events which led to the Mexican War assumed form, and Grant's regiment was ordered to Corpus Christi, where he was commissioned as a full sec- ond lieutenant. His post was situated at the mouth of the Rio Nueces, between which and the Rio Grande was a triangular section of territory claimed by both governments; and this was the nominal subject of dispute between the United States and Mexico. General Taylor, commanding about four thousand troops, was ordered to move his force to the Rio Grande, on which the Mexicans had concentrated an army. A body of United States dragoons, commanded b)^ Cap- tain Thornton, was surprised by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and all of them killed, wounded, or captured. This event fired the blood of the soldiers, as well as of the people of the country, and Taylor crossed the river with the main body of his little army. The Mexican generals declared that the advance of Taylor into the disputed territory was an act of war, and active hostilities had commenced. While the general was hastening to reinforce one of the forts attacked, he came upon the Mexicans drawn up in order of battle at Palo Alto. An action, mostly with
