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Birth/Early Life
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His father was Jesse Grant who was a farmer and his mother was Hannah Simpson Grant. In 1823 his family moved to Georgetown, Ohio where they would have 5 more kids, there was Simpson Grant, Clara Grant, Orvil Grant, Jenny Grant, and Mary Grant. -
Education
In 1827 at the age of five Grant went into school to start his formal education, he started at a subscription school but then later enrolled into two private schools. -
The Military
In the year 1839 Jesse Grant (Ulysses S. Grant's father) had arranged for his sons admission to the Military Academy at West Point. In 1843 however Hiram had graduated from West Point, he was a skilled horseman and had been commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry. He was later on stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, while he was their he had met Julia Dent, she was the daughter of a merchant and a planter. -
The Mexican War
Before Grant had gone into the Mexican War he had proposed to Julia in 1844 wich she had happily accepted, before they could get married Grant was shipped off to the Mexican-American war where he was a quartermaster while serving General Zachary Taylor and then later on General Winfield Scott. While Grant was with them he had carefully observed their military tactics and their leadership skills. Later on he was given an opportunity to lead a company into combat which he was then later -
The Mexican War Continuation
Grant was then later on credited for his bravery under fire, he had also developed a strong feeling that war was wrong and that it was only being waged to increase the spread of slavery for America. -
Marriage
After the Mexican war Grant and Julia eventually got married on August 22, 1848. In the next 6 years the the couple would have 4 children and in the process Grant was assigned to several posts. In 1852 he had been sent to Fort Vancouver. In the process he had missed Julia and his two sons (He hadn't seen the others at this time) so he tried to get them to move to the coast so that they would be closer to him. On July 31, 1854 Grant had resigned from the army. -
The Civil War
On April 12, 1861 Confederate troops had attacked Fort Sumter and this had sparked Grant, he volunteered for the army and was ordered to command the 21st Illinois volunteer regiment, he had given them lessons and later on he realised that they were ready for battle. Their first major victory happened in February of the year 1862 where him and his troops captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee. In July 1863 they had captured Vicksburg, Mississippi. Then on April 9, 1865 the Confederacy surrendered. -
Presidency
After the Civil War Grant was appointed America's first four star general (who at the time President Andrew Johnson recommended) later on in January of the year 1868 President Johnson had been impeached, the republicans then nominated Grant as a presidential candidate, he had received more than 50% of the popular vote. At the age of 46, he had become the youngest president elect up to that point in time. -
Scandals
While Grant had been president he had always been marked with scandal or corruption. During Grant's first term as president speculators that had been led by James Fisk and Jay Gould had tried to influence the government and manipulate the gold market. The plot had failed and resulted into Black Friday that had resulted into a "financial panic", Grant wasn't involved into the scheme but his reputation had decreased because he had been associated with Fisk and Gould beforehand. -
Later Years
On July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant had died due to esophageal cancer, he had died while him and his family were spending summer in the Adirondack Mountains. His memoirs had been published by his friend Mark Twain. At Grant's funeral procession more than a million people had came. He had been laid in a tomb in New York city's Riverside Park. When Julia Grant died in 1902 she was buried right next to him.
