Figure 1.--This 1860s image of the Grant children shows their four children, three sons and a daughter. The older boy wears a jacket with double breasted styling, perhaps a uniform. The middle boys wears a suit. The younger boy wears a kid of juvenile outfit with flouncy, knicker pants. Note the small bow tie. |
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th United States President. He came to the
Presidency a great military hero, the leading Union general in the
Civil War. Paradoxically, the decisive Civil War General is viewed
by many historians to have been a weak and vascilating president. Other historians dispute this view and see him an upholder of Civil Rights for blacks and a supporter of efforts to move native Americans toward citzenship. Scrupuously honest himself, the trust he placed in friends and political associates was often misplaced and he presided
over one of the most corrupt asministrations. He was loved at the time and still admired today because he was in so many ways American to the core.
Grant's grandfather served in the Continental Army. His parents were Jesse Grant a tanner and Hannah Simpson. His father was
an ardent abolistionist and a successful and tight-fisted tanner. Grant was related to two future presidents, both democrats, Grover Cleveland and Franklin Roosevelt. His mother Hannah was very softly spoken and stern and showed little affection for her son.
I only know of one brother Orville. He seems to have been a bad
seed involved in some unscrupulos deals after Grant became president.
The lowest point of Grant's life was when he had to work for his
brother in their father's store.
Ulysses was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio during 1822. Growing up in the Ohio Valley, he was on the great divide between free states and slave states. I have collected no information on his childhood yet. The most notable observation from his childhood was that he loved horses and was wonderful at handling them. It is said hat he was firm, had patience, and was quiet. I do not know how he was dressed as a boy. We also know that he grew up with a distinct dislike of the stench of his father's tannery business--the stench and gore.
He went to village schools. He was not a diligent student, but never missed a quarter.
Grant went to West Point against his will. He wanted to go to
college, but apparently his father could not afford it, or more lkely did not want to spend the money, so he
insisted his son go to West Point. A mistake in the appointment papers
resulted in Grant losing the Hirim in his name. Grant didn't like it,
considering it one of the most unpleasant 4 years of his life. He had trouble with the discipline and academics, but his head for mathematics and drawing skills helped him make it through. He graduated in the middle of his class, 21st out of 39 cadets.
In the Mexican War he fought under General Zachary Taylor. He was asigned to supplyduties, but destinguished homself in several combat encounters. He was assigned to isolated western posts where he missed his wife and took to drink. He was not a good drinker and was obviously affected by drink. He missed his wife so much that he resigned his commision so they could be together. There were rumors that drink was the problem.
Grant as a civilian he tried many ways to make a living, He farmed,
peddled wood, and sold realestate. He failed at each. Even so he freed a slave he had acquired theough his wife rather than selling him. Finally he had to ask his farther for help.
He was reduced to working under his brother Orville in his father's
leather goods stores.
Figure 2.--One might have thought early in the War that President Lincoln would at the conclusion preside over a victory parade to review the Grand Army of the Republic with Willie and Tad at his side. Sadly neither the President or Willie survived the War. That review did take place May 22-23, 1865. There were two children in the presidential box. I think they may have been the children of General Grant (Ellen and Jesse) who is the stand with him. They would ave been about 7-9 years old. Both look to be wearing matching Glengary caps. |
Grant's performance both before and after he was appointed Commander-in-chief has been the subject of considerable discussion. The generally accepted assessment is admiring, although this is not a universal assessmet. The Grant legacy never aproached the almost relogious reverce afforded Lee. It is Grant's campaigns that even today are studied in military colleges all over the world. [Korda] One element of Grant's performance besides his competence is his humanity--a trait too often overlooked. He cared greatly for the dead and wounded on both sides. He was especially admired by his men for his down to earth ways, his lack of artifaceand posturing. There was ordinaartness about Grant that his men insrabntly recognized and admired. He was in so many ways the complete opposite of McClellan.
Grant had that capacity so critical in a military commander to get men to do what he wanted them to do. [Shermam] One biographer writes, "Grant understood topography, the importance of supply lines, the instant judgement of the balance between his own strengths and the enemey's weaknesses, and above all the need to keep his armies moving forward, despite casualties, even when things have gone wrong--that and the simple importance of inflicting greater losses on the enemy than he can sustain, day after day, until he breaks. Grant the boy never retraced his steps. Grant the man did not retreat--he advanced. Generals who do that win wars." [Korda]
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant was still working for
his father in Galena, Illinois. Grant had showed little interest in politics. When the War broke out he felt strongly about preservatiin of the Union. Like many northereners, however, he felt strongly about the Union. For Grant saving the Union, not slavery was the major issue. He at first had trouble getting a command. When the War broke out he He was appointed by the
Governor to command an unruly regiment of Illinois volunteers. Grant whipped it into shape and by September 1861 he had risen to the
rank of brigadier general of volunteers. Grant was a mild mannered
commander. He was rarely known to curse. Contrary to popular
thought, he was not a heavy drinker. Througout his military and ater political career, Grant was underestimated by upper-class, better educated colleagues who considered him a provincial. [Bunting]
Grant sought to win control of the Mississippi Valley a key Union
objective. Grant in February
1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson. When
the Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, "No terms
except an unconditional and immediate surrender can
be accepted. I plan to moveimmediately upom your works." The Confederates under West Point classmate Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendered, and President Lincoln
promoted Grant to major general of volunteers. This was the first major Union victory. As a result, Grant was the first northern hero. His initials gave him the nickname "Unconditional Surender" Grant. Grant from an earkly point in the War was both competent and cnfident. One historain attributes this to the fact that Grant found early in his military career that they enemy was every bit as fearful as he was. [Bunting]
President Lincoln fended off demands for firing him by saying, "I can't spare this man--he
fights." He was given another command which he leads into Southern cotton country. Blacks flock to the Grant's Army. He did not know how to deal with this. He set up camps under the supervision of Union authorities on abandoned plantations. The Emancipation Proclamation allowed the induction of blacks. Skeptical at first he wa impressed with their performance.
After taking New Orleans, Vicksburg, Mississippi was the major objective of the Union's Western Campaign. Vicksburg was the key fortress city on the Mississippi. Taking Vivksburg would cut the Confederacy in two. "Vicksburg was the key," Lincoln said. Many believed that Vicksburg was impregnable. It was set on a bluff and surounded by swapms. It was a difficult campaign. Union soldiers ufferd from malaria. Critics complain that Grant's make little progress. The very succes of the War is at stake at Vicksburg. Grant rejects demands for direct assault. Vivksburg was an objective of great difficulty. He crossess the Mississippi River and maneuvers and fights skillfully to take Vicksburg. The fall of Vickesburg came within days of the Union victory at Gettyburgh. Next then broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga.
Lincoln, still searching for a commanfer to vigorously
pursue the War, appointed Grant General-in-Chief in March 1864. The two had not met before. There was, however, an immrdiate bond between the two men. Lincoln unconditionaslly supported Grant's military assessment and gave him all the supplies and men he needed. There was no political interference in Grants cnduct of the war and Lincoln defended Grant from critics.
Grant
directed Sherman to drive through the South while he himself,
with the Army of the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army
of Northern Virginia. Previously Union campaigns had involved long
periods of inaction after major engagements. Grant in 1864 launched a dogged campaign enganging Lee in battle after battle. Within a few miles of Richmond, Grat commited his most serious military mistake, throwing infantry and entrebched Confederate positions. Even after the disaster at Cold Harbor in the Wilderness, Grant drove south toward Richmond. Finally, on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered. Grant wrote out magnanimous terms of surrender that would prevent treason trials.
Grant did not want to be president. Late in the administration
of Andrew Johnson, however, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans. He was, as the symbol of Union victory during the Civil War, their logical candidate for President in 1868 and he was nonminated unanimously.
The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour of New York. Grant following tradition did not campaign and ofered no election promises. Seymour campaigned extenively in the North. The Republicans Party campaigned on continued radical reconstruction in the South. Seymour advocated an end to radical reconstruction (meaning black civil rights) and the more rapid reintegration of the South into the Union. The Democrats accused Grant as being a drunk and charged that his generalship resulted in excessive casualties. The issues in the campaign were of only minor importance. Ultimately it was Grant's emense personal popularity and reputation in saving the Union that won him the election. Grant won 53 percent of the popular vote and gained an Electoral College landslide. The American people after the assasination of Lincoln and Johnson's failed presidency, understanndably turned to the conquering hero of the War. The American people hoped for an end to turmoil in the South.
Grant's presidency is even more controversial that his military career. The general assessment has been that Grant provided neither vigor nor reform. Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted "a puzzled pathos, as of a man with aproblem before him of which he does not understand the terms." Some modern historians provide a more positive assessment of the Grant presidency. One historian writes that Grant "exerted a calming influenceon a country that had only just emerged from a bloody civil war." [Korda]
The Grant presidency is often remembered for scandals. As President, Grant presided over the Government much as he had run
the Army. Indeed he brought part of his Army staff to
the White House. He trusyed the men around him, but proved a poor judge of character. Although a man of scrupulous honesty, Grant as
President accepted handsome presents from admirers. Worse, he
allowed himself to be seen with two speculators, Jay Gould and
James Fisk. When Grant realized their scheme to corner the market
in gold, he authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to sell enough
gold to wreck their plans, but the speculation had already
wrought havoc with business.
The Republicans renominated Grant without opposition in 1872. The Republicans continued to champion black civil rights as well as greater rights for women. Grant was attacked
by Liberal Republican reformers. He called them "narrow-headed men,"
their eyes so close together that "they can look out of the same
gimlet hole without winking." The General's friends in the
Republican Party came to be known proudly as "the Old Guard." The Democrats nominated Horace Greeley of New York. Greely is one of those fascinating individuals that populate history. Actually he was first nominated by a group of "Liberal Republicans" who objected the scandals of the Grant administration. The Democrats were deadlocked at their convention and in the end decided in desperation on Greely.
Greeley was best known for as an editor of the New York Tribune and the slogan, "Go west young man, go west.". He wasan ecentric figure, not advisable for a presidebntial candidate. His interests included spiritualism, prohibition, vegetaranism and socialism provided fodder for the Republicans. , he was thus an easy target of Republican attacks. Greeley ran on "more honest government" and the end of Radical Reconstruction. Grant's popularity in the North again proved to be the deciding factor. Grant carried 55 percent of the popular vote. The Electoral College vote was complicated by the fact that Greely died after the election before the vote was taken.
Some historians rank Grant as one of the worst presidents. This seems inappropriate given the fact that thete were some notable achievements of the Grant presidency. Historians debate his commitment to civil rights. We know that Grant opposed slavery. Historians disagree, however, on his commitnment to black rights. Here his commitment before the Civil war was not notable, but the performance of black soldiers during the War appears to have changed his command. Although not all historians agree, the most reasonable assessment is that as president he embraced civil rights. [Bunting] The 14th and 15th
Amendments were ratified. The Justice Department was created. Grant took efforts to continue protecting black rights, including the use of Federal troops. He promoted an important Civil Rights Act, the last important action by the Federal Government on Civil Rights until the 1960s. It was only after his Administration that the newly won civil rights of Blacks were esentially lost. Some modern historians now suggest that Grant championed priciples that we now see as self evident at a time that they were under threat.
Grant also initiated a program to educate and aid native Americans
and begin moving them toward citzenship. This was of great importance as the
United States was at the end of the Civil Wwar teetering toward a
policy of genocide. Elements in the Army supported such a policy.
His attitudes toward native Americans was apparently formed in his
early years in the Army. This is a good example of Grant's
compassiomate character.
He was loved at the time and still admired today because he was in so many ways American to the core. Americans saw the humanity in Grant and the same respect for the ordinary man that his soldiers had seen. One historian writes that as president, Grant was "the symbol ... of America's military power, the integrity of its institutions, its basic decency and good intentions, and above all its rock-solid common sense." [Korda] When Grant toured Europe after his presidency, he was hailed as the very essence of America. He was seen and with considerable accuracy as having saved the Union and ended slavery. He was seen as an "American everyman". [Bunting]
After retiring from the Presidency, Grant became a partner in a
financial firm, which went bankrupt. About that time he learned
that he had cancer of the throat. He started writing his
recollections to pay off his debts and provide for his family. In perhaps his greatest act of courage, he labored in pain to complete his memoirs. Racing against death, he produced a memoir that ultimately earned
nearly $450,000. Soon after completing the last page, in 1885, he
died. While historians disagree on many aspects of Grant's life, there is universal acclim that he produced a masterpiece, the greatest of all presidential memoirs.
Julia Dent was the sister of Grant's roommate at West Point. She was not the pertiest of the sisters, but she was sociable and shared a love of horses with Grant. Shy young Lieutenant Grant lost his heart to Julia. He made his love known, as he said himself years later, "in the most awkward manner imaginable." Julia told her side of the story--her father opposed the match,
saying, "the boy is too poor," and she answered angrily that she was
poor herself. The "poverty" on her part came from a slave-owner's
lack of ready cash. Grant was deeply in love with Julia all
his life.
Julia was the Daughter of Frederick and Ellen Wrenshall Dent, Julia had grown up on a plantation near St. Louis in a typically Southern
atmosphere. Freerick Dent was a blowhard, rather like Grant's father. Julia's was as strong a pro-slave family as Grant's was a anti-slave abolitionist family. In memoirs prepared late in life--unpublished until
1975--she pictured her girlhood as an idyll: "one long summer
of sunshine, flowers, and smiles. . . . " She attended the Misses
Mauros' boarding school in St. Louis for 7 years among the
daughters of other affluent parents. A social favorite in that
circle, she met "Ulys" at her home, where her family welcomed him
as a West Point classmate of her brother Frederick; soon she felt
lonely without him, dreamed of him, and agreed to wear his
West Point ring.
Julia and her handsome lieutenant became engaged in 1844, but the
Mexican War deferred the wedding for 4 long years. Their marriage,
often tried by adversity, met every test; they gave each other a
life-long loyalty. Like other army wives,"dearest
Julia" accompanied her husband to military posts, to pass uneventful
days at distant garrisons. Then she returned to his parents'
home in 1852 when he was ordered to the West.
Ending that separation, Grant resigned his commission 2 years
later. Farming and business ventures at St. Louis failed, and in
1860 he took his family--four children now--back to his home in
Galena, Illinois. He was working in his father's leather goods
store when the Civil War called him to a soldier's duty with his
state's volunteers. Throughout the war, Julia joined her husband
near the scene of action whenever she could.
After so many years of hardship and stress, she rejoiced in his
fame as a victorious general, and she entered the White House in
1869 to begin, in her words, "the happiest period" of her life. With
Cabinet wives as her allies, she entertained extensively and
lavishly. Contemporaries noted her finery, jewels and silks and
laces. Upon leaving the White House in 1877, the Grants made
a trip around the world that became a journey of triumphs. Julia
proudly recalled details of hospitality and magnificent gifts they
received. Grant loved to travel, but Julia was less nappy and the
trip was cut short at her request.
Grant in 1844 suffered yet another business failure and they lost all they had. To provide for his wife, Grant wrote his famous personal memoirs, racing with time and death from cancer. The means thus afforded and her widow's pension enabled her to live in comfort, surrounded by children and grandchildren, till her own death in 1902. She had attended in 1897 the dedication of Grant's monumental tomb in New York City where she was laid to rest. She had ended her own chronicle of their years together with a firm declaration: "the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."
The Grants had four children. Grant was an incredibly devoted husband and father. Julia was easily flustered and Grant was very gentle with her. Grant was very much the devoted Victorian father. His son would love to wretle with his father when he came home. Grant wuld tell him, "I am a peaceful man, but I will not be intiminated by one of your size" and the two would playfully wrestle on the floor. He would read Dickens and other authors to the children in the evening.
Fred as a young boy was with his father on my of the major battles during the Civil War.
That must have been a little dangerous, but his father must have benefitted from his company. After his brilliant victory at Vicksburg, Grant brought 12-year old Fred with him in 1863 when he came to Washingon to assume command of the Army of the Potomac. It is said that a desk clerk at the Wilard Hotel, acuromed to seeing generals, was going to given his an attic room until he saw the signature, "U.S. Grant and son, Galinya, Illinois". Two weeks later, Julia and the other children joined him in Washington. Fred attended West Point after the War. Having been at so many umportant Civil War battles at his father's side, he mist have had some stories to tell the other cadets! Fred married a French woman with some money, but had finacial problems. He rose to the rankmog general in the army. He was appointed New York City Police Commissioner, became the U.S. Ambassador to Austria Hungary, and Assistant War Secretary under President McKinnely. He was nominated forva cabinent post, but the Senate rejected him in a largely party-line vote.
Buck went to Harvard as well as the University of Göttingen, a German university. I am not sure why he studied in Germany. He also went to Colombia Law School. He worked for his father briefly as secretary in the White House. He ran for the U.S. Senate in California, but lost among charges unsubstantiate charges of bribery. Buck convinced his father to join his Grantband Wood brockerage firm. It was one of the finacial scandals affecting the Frant administration. Some of the partners went to jail. Years later Buvk became a fixture in San Diego society and built the U.S. Grant Hotel.
Ellen was known as Nellie. Nellie was only 6 years old when the Civil War began. Grant would write letters home to the children even after the most bitter battles. Ater Cold Harbor, Grant's worst performace as a general, he wrote home to Nellie about a drawing of the old woman in a shoe. Nellie was 13 when her father wascelected president. She married Alggernon Sartoris, a British diplomat, in a gala White House wedding. Her father wept when she sailed away to England. They had four children and Nellie fit in well with English society. Her hisband drank heavily and was not faithful. Nellie obtained a divorce with a substantial finacial settlement. When she returned to America she was a wealthy woman. She remairred, but became ill and was paralized during her final years.
A photograph of Jessie in ealy 1865 with his parents outside Richmond sow him wearing a suit with strpped detailing and knickers. Grant loved to wrestle playfully with the boy. After his presidencu, Grant took Jessie on a trip around the world. Jesse became an author and engineer. He married twice anf had two children. He tried to run for president without success.
I have noted one portrait of Julia with the two oldest boys. They are about 4 and 2 years old. Both are wearing dresses. The oldest boy has short hair. The younger boy short curls. Portraits of Grant's youngest son Jesse show him wearing variety of outfits. One is a military styled jacket with a plaid kilt. Another is a suit with a piped jacket and longish bloomer knickers worn with white socks.
Bunting, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (Times), 2004), 180p.
Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (Harper Collins, 2004), 161p.
That Grant Boy
Sherman, William Tecumseh.
Wead, Doug. All the President's Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Familirs (Atria: New York, 2003), 456p.
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