Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/165

 GRANT 157 lost proficiency during his course at the acad- emy was mathematics. He graduated in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39, and was made a brevet second lieutenant of infantry and at- tached as a supernumerary lieutenant to the 4th regiment, which was stationed on the Missouri frontier. In the summer of 1845 the regiment was ordered to Texas, to join the army of Gen. Taylor. On Sept. 30 Grant was commis- sioned as a full lieutenant. He first saw blood shed at Palo Alto, May 8, 1846, and took part also in the battles of Resaca de la Palma and Monterey, and the siege of Vera Cruz. In April, 1847, he was made quartermaster of his regiment, but still participated in all active operations ; and after the battle of Molino del Rey, Sept. 8, 1847, he was appointed on the field a first lieutenant for his gallantry. In his report of the battle of Ohapultepec (Sept. 13, 1847) Col. Garland, commanding the first bri- gade, said : " The rear of the enemy had made a stand behind a breastwork, from which they were driven by detachments of the 2d artillery under Capt. Brooks and the 4th infantry under Lieut. Grant, supported by other regiments of the division, after a short but sharp conflict." "I must not omit to call attention to Lieut. Grant, 4th infantry, who acquitted himself most nobly, upon several occasions, under my own observation." Grant was brevetted captain for his conduct at Chapultepec, to date from the battle. After the capture of the city of Mexico he returned with his regiment, and was sta- tioned first at Detroit, and then at Sackett's Harbor. In 1848 he married Miss Julia T. Dent of St. Louis, sister of one of his classmates. In 1852 he accompanied his regiment to Califor- nia and Oregon, and while at Fort Vancouver, Aug. 5, 1853, was commissioned full captain. On July 31, 1854, he resigned, and removed to St. Louis, cultivating a farm near that city and engaging in business as a real estate agent. In 1859 he was employed by his father in the leather trade at Galena, 111. When the civil war broke out, he was chosen to command a company of volunteers, with which he marched to Springfield. There he was retained as an aid to Gov. Yates, and acted as mustering officer of Illinois volunteers until he became colonel of the 21st regiment, his commission dating from June 17, 1861. He joined his regiment at Mattoon, organized and drilled it at Casey - yille, and then crossed into Missouri, where it formed part of the guard of the Hannibal and Hudson railroad. On July 31 he was placed in command of the troops at Mexico, forming a part of Gen. Pope's force. On Aug. 3 he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, the commission being dated back to May 17, and assumed command of the troops at Cairo, which were soon increased by the addition of Gen. McClernand's brigade. He seized Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee, on Sept. 6, and Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland, on the 25th. In a proclamation to the citizens of Paducah he said : " I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors." On Oct. 16 he sent out a detach- ment under Col. Plummer to check the advance of the confederate forces under Gen. Jeff Thompson, which was accomplished by a bat- tle at Fredericktown, Mo., on the 21st. On Nov. 7, with two brigades, Grant fought the battle of Belmont, where he commanded in person and had a horse shot under him. Gen. Halleck, on assuming command of the depart- ment of Missouri, gave Gen. Grant the com- mand of the district of Cairo (Dec. 21), which was so extended as to form one of the largest military divisions in the country, including the southern part of Illinois, that portion of Ken- tucky west of the Cumberland river, and the southern counties of Missouri. After a re- connoissance in force toward Columbus in Jan- uary, 1862, Grant started on Feb. 3 from Pa- ducah, with a force of 15,000 men, aided by Commodore Foote with a fleet of gunboats, for the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, the former of which commanded the Tennessee river, and the latter the Cumberland, near the dividing line between Kentucky and Tennes- see. Fort Henry, commanded by the confeder- ate Gen. Tilghman, surrendered on Feb. 6, and Fort Donelson, commanded by Gen. Buckner, on the 16th. The reduction of Fort Henry was mainly the work of the gunboats ; Fort Donelson was only captured after a severe battle (Feb. 15), in which the federal forces, which had been increased to 30,000 or more, sustained a loss of 2,300. In answer to Buck- ner's proposal that commissioners be appoint- ed to arrange the terms of capitulation, Grant wrote : " No terms other than an uncondition- al and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." The capture of Fort Donelson with all its defenders except Gen. Floyd's brigade was the first brilliant and substantial victory that had crowned the federal arms. To the gratification at so great a military success was added a popular admiration of the terse and soldierly declaration in which the surrender had been demanded ; and the hero of the affair sprang at once into national celebrity. He was immediately commissioned major general of vol- unteers, to date from Feb. 16. Gen. C. F. Smith had been directed by Gen. Halleck to make an expedition up the Tennessee with about 40,000 men ; but he died soon after it started, and the command devolved upon Gen. Grant. A large portion of the force, after lying three weeks at Pittsburgh Landing, in preparation for an attack on Corinth, was surprised at day- break of April 6 by an overwhelming confed- erate force under Gen. A. S. Johnston, driven from its camp, and routed with heavy loss. Gen. Grant arrived on the field of battle at 8 A. M., and reformed the lines. Heavy re- enforcements, under Gen. Buell, having ar- rived in the night, the battle was renewed on the 7th, and the enemy, defeated, withdrew