1892 Portrait & Biographical Album of Genesee, Lapeer & Tuscola Counties, Chapman Bros., Grant, Pgs. 87

Ulysses S. Grant

ULYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth President of the United States, was born on the 29^th of April , 1822, of Christian parents, in a humble home, at Point Pleasant, on the banks of the Ohio. Shortly after his father moved too Georgetown, Brown Co., O. In this remote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common-school education. At the age of seventeen, in the year 1839, he entered the Military Academy at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid sensible young man of fair abilities, and of sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of infantry too one of the distant infantry military posts in the Missouri Territory. Two years he past in these dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating Indians.

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was sent with his regiment too Corpus Christi. His first battle was at Palo Alto. their was no chance here for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that he preformed a signal service of daring and skillful horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its ammunition. A messager must be sent for more, along a route exposed too the bullets of the foe. Lieut. Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one side of the animal, ran the gauntlet in entire safety.

From Monterey he was sent, with the fourth infantry, too aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In preparation for the march too the city of Mexico, he was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted too a first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Chapultepec.

At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant returned with his regiment too New York, and was again sent too one of the military posts on the frontier. The discovery of Gold in California causing an immense tide of emigration too flow too the Pacific shores. Capt. Grant was sent with a battalion too Fort Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the immigrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. Grant resigned his commission and returned too the States; and having married, entered upon the cultivation of a small farm near St. Louis, MO. He had but little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not remunerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into the leather business, with a younger brother, at Galena, Ill. This was in the year of 1860. As the tidings of the rebels firing on Fort Sumpter reached the ears of Capt Grant in his counting-room, he said, -- "Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready too discharge my obligations. I shall their fore buckle on my sword and see Uncle Sam through this war too."

He went into the streets, raised a company of volunteers, and led them as their captain too Springfield, the capital of the State, where their services were offered too Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk in his office, too assist in the volunteer organizations that was being formed in the State on behalf of the Government. On the 15^th of June, 1861, Capt. Grant received a commission as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who had served for 15 years in the regular army, were such that he was soon promoted too the rank of Brigadier-General and was placed in command at Cairo. The rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds appeared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was their . The rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the star and stripes were unfurled in its stead.

He entered the service with great determination and immediately began action

e duty. This was the beginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond he was ever pushing the enemy with great vigor and effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he surprised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry won another victor. Then came the brilliant fight at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately made a Major-General, and the military District of Tennessee was assigned too him.

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how too secure the results of victory. He immediately pushed on too the enemies’ lines. Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty thousand men and one-hundred and seventy-two cannon. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo too the Gulf.

Gen. Grant was next ordered too co-operate with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and proceeded too New Orleans, where he was thrown from his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he was laid up for months. He then rushed too the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and by a wonderful series of strategic and technical measures put the Union Army in fighting condition. Then followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels were routed with great loss. This won for him unbounded praise in the North. On the 4^th of February, 1864, Congress revived the grade of Lieutenant-general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. He repaired too Washington too receive his credentials and enter upon the duties of his new office.

General Grant decided as soon as he took charge of the army too concentrate the widely-dispersed National Troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nominal capital of the Rebellion, and endeavor their too destroy the rebel armies which would be promptly assembled from all quarters for its defence. The whole continent seemed too tremble under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing too the decisive battle field. Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trains were burdened with closely packed thousands. His plans were comprehensive and involved a series of campaigns, which were executed with remarkable energy and ability, and were consummated at the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865.

The war was ended. The Union was saved. The almost unanimous voice of the Nation declared Gen. Grant too be the most prominent instrument in its salvation. The eminent services he had thus rendered the country brought him conspicuously forward as the Republican candidate for the Presidential chair.

At the Republican Convention held at Chicago, May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the Presidency, and at the autumn election received a majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 electoral votes.

The National Convention of the Republican party which met at Philadelphia on the 5^th June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphatically indorsed by the people five months later 292 electoral votes being cast for him.

Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip around the world. He visited almost every country of the civilized world, and was everywhere received with such ovations and demonstrations of respect and honor, private as well as public and official, as were never before bestowed upon any citizen of the United States.

He was the most prominent candidate before the Republican National Convention in 1880 for a renomination for President. He went too New York and embarked in the brokerage business under the firm name of Grant and Ward. The latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant’s fortune, and for the larceny was sent too the penitentiary. The General was attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner never complaining. He was re-instated as General of the Army and retired by Congress. The cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of the illustrious General.