General Ulysses S. Grant, U.S.A.

General Ulysses S. Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and graduated at the Military Academy July 1, 1843. He was promoted brevet second lieutenant of the Fourth Infantry the same day, and second lieutenant Fourth Infantry September 30, 1845. He served first at Jefferson Barracks, and then on frontier duty at Natchitoches (Camp Salubrity) in 1844.45, and then took part in the military occupation of Texas and the war with Mexico, being engaged in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, siege of Vera Cruz, battle of Cerro Gordo, capture of San Antonio, battle of Churubusco, battle of Molino del Rey, storming of Chapultepec, and assault and capture of the City of Mexico. He was regimental quartermaster of the Fourth Infantry from April 1, 1847, to July 23, 1848, and again from September 11, 1849, to September 30, 1853.

He moved. with his regiment to the Pacific coast in 185 2, and was at several different stations. He was promoted captain August 5, 1853, but resigned July 31, 1854.

Upon leaving the army Captain Grant retired to private life, and engaged in farming near St. Louis, Missouri. Then he became a real estate agent at St. Louis until 1860, and subsequently a merchant at Galena, Ohio, where he resided at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion.

Entering the volunteer service he was in command of a company in April and May, and assisting in organizing and mustering volunteers into service until June 17, 1861, when he was appointed colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Infantry. His first active service was to march on Quincy, Illinois, and then guarding the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad. He was placed in command, first at Ironton, then at Jefferson City, and finally of the District of Southwestern Missouri, with headquarters at Cape Girardeau. This command was subsequently extended to embrace Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky. He had, in the mean time, been appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, May 17, 1861.

He was in command of the Army of the Mississippi, in the Vicksburg campaign, in all its various maneuvers, until he again electrified the country by the capture of the city of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, with stores and garrison of thirty-one thousand five hundred men. For this brilliant affair he was made major-general of the U. S. Army.

General Grant was, on the 16th of October, 1863, placed in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, including the Armies of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee, and continued his operations up to the battle of Chattanooga, for which he received the thanks of Congress December 17, 1863, and a gold medal.

On March 17, 1864, he was placed in command as general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, and was called to the East to supervise the operations of the Army of the Potomac, and commenced in the May following that celebrated campaign on the line which terminated on the 9th of April, 1865, in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee.

He was by act of Congress made general of the U. S. Army July 25, 1866; but resigned this commission on March 4, 1869, having been elected President of the United States, and on that day was inaugurated as such. After holding this office for eight years, General Grant retired to private life, and died at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York, July 23, 1885.

Source: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1893, 419 pgs.

Related Links:

• Civil War Records
• Civil War Microfilm at the National Archives
• Grant Surname