Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/743

Rh 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 ga u ntlet 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