Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/50

 28 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS [Covington, Ky.] for advice and assistance. I re ferred him to Simpson, my next oldest son, who had charge of my Galena business, and who was staying with me on account of ill health. Simp son sent him to the Galena store, to stay until some thing else might turn up in his favor, and told him he must confine his wants within $800 a year. That if that would not support him he must draw what he lacked from the rent of his house and the hire of his negroes in St. Louis. He went to Galena in April, 1860, about one year before the capture of Sumter; then he left. That amount would have supported his family then, but he owed debts at St. Louis, and did draw $1,500 in the year, but he paid back the balance after he went into the army.&quot; When news was received of the beginning of the civil war, a public meeting was called in Galena, and Capt. Grant was chosen to preside. He took a pronounced stand in favor of the Union cause and a vigorous prosecution of the war. A company of volunteers was raised, which he drilled and accom panied to Springfield, 111. Gov. Yates, of that state, employed Capt. Grant in the adjutant-gen eral s department, and appointed him mustering officer. He offered his services to the National government in a letter written on May 24, 1861, but no answer was ever made to it. On June 17 he was appointed colonel of the 21st Illinois regi ment of infantry, which had been mustered in at