Again he was initially rejected for appointments, but with the aid of an Illinois congressman, he was appointed to command an unruly 21st Illinois volunteer regiment. This act of rebellion sparked Grant's patriotism, and he volunteered his military services. On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Finally, in 1860, he humbled himself and went to work in his father's tannery business as a clerk, supervised by his two younger brothers. To support his family, he was reduced to selling firewood on a St. Grant then failed to find success with a real estate venture and was denied employment as an engineer and clerk in St. He tried to farm land that had been given to him by his father-in-law, but this venture proved to be unsuccessful after a few years. In 1854, Grant moved his family back to Missouri, but the return to civilian life led him to a low point. On July 31, 1854, Grant resigned from the Army amid allegations of heavy drinking and warnings of disciplinary action. In the summer of 1853, Grant was promoted to captain and transferred to Fort Humboldt on the Northern California coast, where he had a run-in with the fort's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. He began to drink, and a reputation was forged that dogged him all through his military career. He missed Dent and his two sons - the second of whom he had not yet seen at this time - and thusly became involved in several failed business ventures in an attempt to get his family to the coast, closer to him. In 1852, he was sent to Fort Vancouver, in what is now Washington State. Over the next six years, the couple had four children, and Grant was assigned to several posts. He also developed strong feelings that the war was wrong, and that it was being waged only to increase America's territory for the spread of slavery.Īfter a four-year engagement, Grant and Dent were finally married in 1848. After getting the opportunity to lead a company into combat, Grant was credited for his bravery under fire. Serving under General Zachary Taylor and later under General Winfield Scott, he closely observed their military tactics and leadership skills. During the Mexican-American War, Grant served as quartermaster, efficiently overseeing the movement of supplies. Before the couple could wed, however, he was shipped off for duty. Grant proposed marriage in 1844, and Dent accepted. Louis, Missouri, where he met his future wife, Julia Dent. Early CareerĪfter graduation, Lieutenant Grant was stationed in St. He planned to resign from the military after he served his mandatory four years of duty. In 1843, he graduated 21st out of 39 and was glad to be out. He did well in mathematics and geology and excelled in horsemanship. Grant didn't excel at West Point, earning average grades and receiving several demerits for slovenly dress and tardiness, and ultimately decided that the academy "had no charms" for him. Not wanting to be rejected by the school, he changed his name on the spot. A clerical error had listed him as Ulysses S. When Grant was 17, his father arranged for him to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point. He hated the idea of working in his father's tannery business-a fact that his father begrudgingly acknowledged. Shy and reserved, he took after his mother rather than his outgoing father. He did, however, show great aptitude as a horseman in his youth. A year after Grant was born, his family moved to Georgetown, Ohio, and had what he described as an "uneventful" childhood. He was the first son of Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and businessman, and Hannah Simpson Grant. Grant," came after he joined the military. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, near the mouth of the Big Indian Creek at the Ohio River. After leaving the presidency, he commissioned Mark Twain to publish his best-selling memoirs. Though Grant was highly scrupulous, his administration was tainted with scandal. In 1869, at age 46, Grant became the youngest president in U.S. armies in 1864 and relentlessly pursued the enemy during the Civil War. Grant was entrusted with the command of all U.S.
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