LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT, Was born at Mount Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio. It seems that the only marked traits of character he exhibited in early boyhood were energy, industry, will. His educational advan tages, at this period, were those of the common, country school -no more. In the year 1839, at the age of seventeen, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated on the 30th day of January, 1843. During his stay t this Institution he manifested that untiring industry, close application and unconquerable will which distinguished his boyhood, and which have constituted so conspicuous an element of his military character. It appears, however, that he was never regarded as a genius; and the grade he sustained on the day of graduation-that of 21 in a class of about 42-would not indicate extraordinary advancement in the studies assigned him. But it was remarked by those who conducted him through his Academic course, as it has been by those who have observed his military career, that he never lost an inch of the ground gained at each successive step in his progress. At his graduation it is said he possessed a "practical knowledge of the use of the rifled musket, the field piece, mortar, siege, and sea-coast guns, small sword and bayonet, as well as the construction of field works, and the fabrication of all munitions and materiel of war. At the close of his Academic course, he entered the United States regular army as a Brevet Second-Lieutenant of infantry. At this time, the United States being at peace with all nations, Grant was attached as a Supernumerary Lieutenant to the fourth infantry, then stationed on the frontier in Missouri and Missouri Territory, and engaged in keeping down the Indian tribes that at that time were very troublesome to the early settlers of that region. Here Grant had not been many months when he was ordered, with his regiment, to join the army of General Taylor, in Texas. Soon after this, Corpus Christi, an important port on the Texan shore, was taken possession of by the American army as a base of operations against the Mexicans, between whom and the United States disputes respecting certain imaginary boundary lines were fast ripening into a war and it was here that Grant received his commission as full Second Lieutenant of Infantry. This commission dated from the 30th day of September, 1845. On the 8th day of May, 1846, he participated in the battle of Palo Alto, and although not noticed in the official reports, was spoken of by his comrades as having displayed great gallantry. He was likewise engaged in the subsequent brilliant operations of General Taylor along the banks of the Rio Grande. On the 23d of Septem ber, 1846, he took part, with great credit to himself, in the splendid affair at Monterey. It is a noteworthy fact that, although Grant's conduct in every one of these engagements was highly meritorious, he remained in the back ground, claiming no honors or promotions, but quietly biding his time. After the formal declaration of war by the United States, against Mexico, he was transferred to the command of General Scott, and subsequently (March 29, 1847,) particinated in the siege of Vera Cruz. Immediately after this affair, he was appointed the Quartermaster of his regiment, which office he retained throughout the Mexican campaign. He was, however, honored with the appointment, on the field, of First Lieutenant, to date from the 8th of September, 1847, for gallant and distinguished voluntary services rendered on that day in the famous battle of Molino del Ray. Congress afterwards wished to confirm the appointment as a mere brevet, but Grant refused to accept it under such circumstances. On the 13th of September, 1847, he was made Brevet Captain of the regular army for gallant conduct in the battle of Chepultepec, which battle occurred on the preceding day. On the 16th of November, 1847, he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the fourth regiment of regular infantry, still retaining his brevet rank of Captain. At the close of the Mexican war, Grant, upon the distribution of his regiment in companies and sections among the various Northern frontier defences, along the borders of the States of Michigan and New York, took command of his company in one of these defences. His regiment having been afterwards consolidated and ordered to the Department of the Pacific, Grant, with his own and some other companies, was sent into Oregon to Fort Dallas. He received his full promotion to Captain of infantry, in August, 1853, and was, shortly afterwards, attached to the Department of the West; but, not regarding military so favorable to progress as civil life, he resigned his connection with the United States army on the 31st day of July, 1854, after which he resided near the city of St. Louis, Missouri, until the year 1859. Here he resided on a small farm, occupying himself in winter by hauling wood to the Carondelet market, and during the summer in the collection of debts, for which latter business, it is said, he had little capacity. In the year 1859, he embarked in the leather trade with his father, the firm opening business in the city of Galena, Illinois. Grant continued in the leather business, driving a prosperous trade, up to the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, when he offered his services to his country, upon the first call for volunteers, and was appointed by Governor Yates as Commander-in Chief of the Illinois forces and mustering officer of Illinois volunteers. Desiring active service in the field, he resigned his appointment as. mustering officer, and accepted the Colonelcy of the 21st regiment of Illinois volunteers, with a commission dating from June 15, 1861. In August, 1861, Colonel Grant was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General of volunteers, his commission dating from May 17, 1861. Shortly after this he was appointed commandant of the post at Cairo-which post included the Missouri shore of the Mississippi river, from Cape Girardeau to New Madrid, and the opposite shore, to the point of land on which Cairo stands. This position Grant filled with great ability, checkmating, by his adroit maneuvering, the efforts of the rebels to occupy, perma nently, southern Kentucky, and conducting those successful expeditions against Forts Henry and Donelson, which opened the way to the occupation of Western Tennessee. On the 16th of February, 1862, the day after the surrender of Fort Donelson, he was appointed Major General of volunteers, and was placed in command of an expedition up the Tennessee river against the rebels in and about Corinth, under comman of Johnston and Beauregard. This expedition terminated in the great battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing-which battle, occupying two days, (April 6th and 7th, 1862,) was one of the bloodiest of the war, and resulted in the defeat of the rebels and their retreat upon Corinth. For the immense slaughter which attended this battle, General Grant was very severely censured by the people, generally, throughout the Western States. Soon after this, General Halleck having assumed command of the army before Corinth, and that place having fallen into the hands of the United States forces by evacuation, an important change took place in the army, which resulted in the assignment of General Grant to the District of West Tennessee, and the promotion of General Halleck to the office of General-in-Chief. The former soon after formed the plan of opening the Mississippi river to its mouth. Memphis having been given up to our troops, the chief obstacle in the way of the prosecution of the design were Vicksburg and Port Hudson. After a series of expeditions and battles, land and naval, in which the courage and fortitude of the Union troops were no less prominently exhibited than the superior engineering powers and unyielding stubbornness of General Grant, Vicksburg was reduced by siege, and was occupied by Grant on the 4th of July, 1863; and directly after this (July 8, 1863) followed the surrender of Port Hudson to General N. P. Banks. On the 16th of October, 1863, the Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the Tennessee were formed into the Military Division of the Mississippi, under the command of General Grant. The General, however, was not long in this position until, the grade of Lieutenant-General having been revived, he was promoted to that office-which office gave him control of the entire forces of the United States. This appointment was made in February, 1864, and was immediately followed by the most active, thorough preparations for a movement upon Richmond by the Army of the Potomac under the personal command of General Grant, and an expedition against Atlanta under command of General Sherman. After the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House and the siege of Petersburg, Lee's retreat was cut off by the rapid movements which Grant instituted, and on the 9th of April, just one week after the last great battle, the army of Northern Virginia capitulated. Soon after the rebel General Johnston surrendered to General Sherman, on the same terms granted by Grant to Lee, and the great civil war was ended. Grant was appointed Secretary of War ad interim, August 12th, 1867, and filled the office with distinction until January 14, 1868, at which time Secretary Stanton was reinstated by Congress. On the 21st of May, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the Presidentia) chair by the Republican Convention, which met at Chicago. |