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Civil War Soldiers - Grant
| Grant, Lewis A., brigadier-general,
U.S. Army, was born in Bennington county, Vt., Jan. 17, 1829. He was
educated at Townsend and Chester, Vt., practiced law at Bellows Falls,
Vt., and in 1861 organized the 5th regiment, Vermont volunteer
infantry, of which he was commissioned major, Aug. 15, 1861,
lieutenant-colonel Sept. 25, 1861, and colonel Sept. 16, 1862. He took
command of the "Old Vermont Brigade" in Feb., 1863, and continued in
command most of the time until the close of the war. The brigade was
actively engaged in almost every important battle of the Army of the
Potomac and with Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, and is said to
have lost more heavily in killed and wounded than any other brigade in
the Federal service. Col. Grant was promoted brigadier-general of
volunteers, April 27, 1864, and brevetted major-general of volunteers
Oct. 19, 1864, for his services at the battle of Cedar creek, in which
battle his division saved the day by holding Early in check for an
hour in the morning, while later in the day, after the arrival of
Sheridan, it was on this division that the line was formed from which
the victorious charge of the afternoon was made. After the war Gen.
Grant was one of the organizers and for several years was president of
the New England Loan & Trust company. He was made assistant secretary
of war by President Harrison, in April, 1890, and resigned in
December, 1893. He was awarded a Congressional medal of honor, in
1893, for having led his command at the battle of Salem Heights, Va.,
May 3, 1863, over the enemy's works and captured three battle flags.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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| Grant, Ulysses S., general, U.S. Army,
was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, April 27, 1822. His
grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, bore arms at the battle
of Lexington, and, when the war was ended, settled in western
Pennsylvania. As a lad Ulysses assisted on the farm. He received the
ordinary education of the frontier, going to school in winter, and at
all other times working on the farm. In 1839, through the
instrumentality of Thomas L. Hamer, member of Congress, he was
appointed to a cadetship at West Point, entering at the age of
seventeen. He was graduated in 1843, standing number twenty-one in a
class of thirty-nine, slightly below the general average of the class.
He was assigned to the infantry as brevet second lieutenant, and was
sent to Jefferson barracks at St. Louis, Mo., where he remained until
May, 1844, was then sent to Louisiana, and in Sept., 1845, was
commissioned second lieutenant. At the beginning of the Mexican war he
joined the army of occupation under Gen. Zachary Taylor and saw a
great deal of service, being in all the battles of the war in which
any one man could be. He first saw blood shed at Palo Alto on May 8,
1846, at Monterey he showed bold and skillful horsemanship by running
the gauntlet of the enemy's bullets to carry a message for "more
ammunition." In the spring of 1847 he was made quartermaster of his
regiment and placed in charge of the wagons and pack-train for the
march. At Vera Cruz he served with his regiment during the siege,
until the capture of the place, March 29, 1847. At the battle of
Molino del Rey, on Sept. 8 following, he was with the first troops
that entered the place. Seeing some of the enemy on top of a building,
he took a few men, climbed to the roof and forced the surrender of six
Mexican officers, for which service he was brevetted first lieutenant.
At the storming of Chapultepec he distinguished himself by conspicuous
services and received the brevet of captain. For an especially gallant
exploit during the advance on the city of Mexico, he was summoned into
the presence of Gen. Worth, specially complimented and promoted to a
full first lieutenancy. Lieut. Grant remained with the army in Mexico
until the withdrawal of the troops in 1848, then went with his
regiment to Pascagoula, Miss., and at the close of the war was
transferred with his regiment to Detroit, Mich. On July 5, 1852, he
sailed from New York with his regiment for California, via the Isthmus
of Panama, going first to Benicia barracks, Cal., and thence to Fort
Vancouver, Ore., a lonely outpost in the wilderness of the extreme
Northwest. In July, 1854, the year after he became captain, he
resigned from the army and went to St. Louis, where he had married, in
1848, Julia T. Dent, a sister of one of his classmates at West Point.
The next six years of his life were years of poverty, obscurity and
failure. He tried his hand as a farmer but was not successful ; took
up bill collecting, but this also resulted in failure; tried for the
position of county engineer, but failed to get the place; tried
auctioneering, and also made an experiment in the real estate
business, but the result was the same in all his ventures. In the
winter of 1859 he was actually wandering about the streets of St.
Louis seeking work, and even offering to become a teamster to
accompany quartermaster's stores to New Mexico. He finally went to
Galena, Ill., and became a clerk at a nominal salary of $66 a month,
in the store of his father and brother, who had a leather and saddlery
business. Lincoln's first call for troops was made on April 15, 1861,
and the telegraph flashed the call throughout the country. That
evening the Galena court house was packed with an excited crowd, and
Grant, being known as a West Pointer, as well as a Mexican soldier,
was called upon to preside. In four days he was drilling a company of
volunteers, then offered himself to Gov. Yates of Illinois, and was
given the charge of mustering regiments. His eleven years' service in
the regular army brought him a commission as brigadier-general of
volunteers, to date from May 17, 1861, and on May 24 he wrote to Adjt.-Gen.
Thomas, commanding at Washington, D. C, tendering his services to the
government, but the letter was carelessly filed away and temporarily
lost. Gov. Yates then placed Grant in command of the 21st Ill.
volunteer infantry, and on July 3 he led it to Palmyra, Mo., and from
there to guard the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad. Subsequently he
took command of the district of southeast Missouri, with headquarters
at Cairo, and on Sept. 6, took possession of Paducah, Ky., on the Ohio
near the mouth of the Tennessee, thus commanding a large region. Early
in November he was ordered to make a demonstration in the direction of
Belmont, a point on the west bank of the Mississippi, about eighteen
miles below the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, the object
being to prevent the crossing of hostile troops into Missouri. He
received his orders Nov. 5; moved 3,100 men on transports on the 6th;
landed at Belmont on the 7th, and broke up and destroyed the camp
while under fire, with raw troops. When Gen. Halleck assumed command
of the Department of the Missouri he placed Grant in command of the
district of Cairo, which was enlarged so as to make one of the
greatest in size in the country, including the southern part of
Illinois, Kentucky west of the Cumberland, and the southern portion of
Missouri. In Feb., 1862, Grant gained a reluctant consent to a
well-matured plan that he had been cherishing for a month past, and
started off with 15,000 men, aided by Com. Foote with a gunboat fleet,
to capture Forts Henry and Donelson, the former commanding the
Tennessee river, and the latter the Cumberland, near the dividing line
between Kentucky and Tennessee. The capitulation of both of these
forts, as well as the other military achievements of Gen. Grant, are
important parts of the main history of the Civil war, and are given
appropriate mention on other pages of this work, but it may be said
here that the boldness of the assault at Fort Donelson, and the
completeness of the victory, made Grant the hero of the people. The
president nominated him to the senate as major-general of volunteers,
to date from Feb. 16, 1862, the date of the surrender of Fort Donelson,
and the senate immediately confirmed him. While this was going on Gen.
Halleck, who never seemed to estimate Grant's work at its value, was
writing to the war department that after his victory Grant had not
communicated with him, and the result of this complaint was that Grant
was suspended from his command. Halleck's jealousy met with a rebuff,
however, and Grant was restored to his position and was soon on his
way to other important and decisive victories. On March 17 he
transferred his headquarters to Savannah, on the Tennessee river, and
in the vicinity of Pittsburg landing. After the dearly-bought victory
at Shiloh, Grant was named second in command of all the Federal troops
congregated in that section, but especially intrusted with the right
wing and reserve, and on April 30 the order was given to advance
against Corinth. On June 21 Grant moved his headquarters to Memphis,
on July 11 Halleck was appointed general-in-chief of all the armies
and six days later set out for Washington, leaving Grant in command of
the Army of the Tennessee, to which position he was officially
promoted on Oct. 25. On Jan. 29, 1863, he arrived at Young's point
above Vicksburg, and began in detail the working out of well matured
plans of his own, the ultimate object of which was the capture of the
fortified city of Vicksburg, a supposed impregnable position commanded
by the Confederate Gen. Pemberton. The history of this campaign is the
record in detail of one of the master strokes and brilliant
achievements of the Federal forces during the Civil war, but it is
unnecessary to recount the different movements in this sketch. On May
1 he defeated a portion of Pemberton's force at Port Gibson; on May 12
he routed a part of Johnston's army that was trying to join Pemberton;
and then pushed on to Jackson, Miss., capturing that place on the
14th. Grant then turned about and moved rapidly toward Vicksburg,
attacking Pemberton at Champion's hill, and from this onward the
advance was steady and the fighting constant. And after an active
campaign of eighty days, on the afternoon of July 4, 1863, the Federal
troops marched in and took possession of the city, while Pemberton's
troops marched out as paroled prisoners of war. Port Hudson soon
surrendered to Banks, and the Mississippi was open for commerce
through its entire length, or, as President Lincoln expressed it, "the
mighty river ran unvexed to the sea." Grant was at once appointed a
major-general in the regular army to date from July 4, 1863, a gold
medal was given him by Congress, and on Oct. 18 he was given command
of the "Military District of the Mississippi," comprising the
departments of the Tennessee, the Ohio, and the Cumberland. He went at
once to Chattanooga, took command in person, and five days later a
three hours' battle was fought at Wauhatchie in Lookout valley,
resulting in a Federal victory and the opening of a much-needed line
of communication for supplies. Grant then ordered a concentration of
forces near Chattanooga, and on Nov. 23, one month after his arrival,
began the series of battles embracing Chattanooga, Orchard knob,
Lookout mountain and Missionary ridge. On March 1, 1864, Grant was
nominated lieutenant-general, the grade having been revived by
Congress, was confirmed by the senate on March 2, and left Nashville,
where he then was stationed, in obedience to an order calling him to
Washington, March 4. His new commission was handed him by the
president on the 9th, and he was given formal command of all the
armies of the United States on the 17th. He established himself at
Culpeper, Va., with the Army of the Potomac, and opened the final
great campaign of the war, on May 4, when he crossed the Rapidan, and
the 5th, 6th, and 7th witnessed the terrible scenes of the battle of
the Wilderness between opposing forces aggregating 183,000 men. Then
by strategic movements Grant endeavored to outwit Lee, and a long
series of battles resulted. Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor and
Chickahominy followed, and by the time Grant had reached the James
river he had lost, including the Wilderness fight, 70,000 of his
troops. Then ensued the Richmond and Petersburg campaign, with the
capture of those places as the desideratum, and through the summer,
autumn, and following winter the campaign was "fought out on this
line." On the morning of April 2, 1865, an assault was begun upon the
lines around Petersburg, the city was evacuated the same night, and
the Federal forces took possession on the morning of April 3. Then the
retreat of the Confederates began, closely pursued by the Federal
troops, and on April 9 the end came — the war was over — Lee
surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Following the
surrender Grant established his headquarters in the city of
Washington. Wherever he went he was greeted with ovations ; honors
were heaped upon him from every hand, and he was universally hailed as
the country's deliverer. Congress, as a reward for his military valor,
created for him the grade of general. He also obtained through
Congress the entire control of affairs relating to the southerrn
states, and in Aug., 1867, was appointed by President Johnson
secretary of war ad interim while Secretary Stanton was under
suspension. Grant protested against this action, and much dissension,
ensued, but he held the office until Jan. 4, 1868, when, the senate
refusing to confirm the suspension of Stanton, Grant promptly retired,
greatly to the president's annoyance. Grant grew daily in popularity
with the people, and at the national convention of the Republican
party, held at Chicago on May 20, 1868, he was nominated for the
presidency on the first ballot. When the election occurred in
November, out of 294 electoral votes cast for president, Grant
received 214, and Seymour, the Democratic candidate, 80 — the former
carrying twenty-six states against eight won by his rival — and on
March 4, 1869, the victorious general took the oath as chief executive
of the United States. During his first term of office occurred the
Credit Mobilier scandal, in connection with the building of the Union
Pacific railroad, but in all the investigations made in connection
with the matter, no stain ever rested on Grant. There came another
scandal, the "Back-pay" affair, where certain laws regarding salaries
had been passed, retroactive in their character, and near the close of
his term a determined effort was made by his political enemies to
encompass his defeat. The lamented Horace Greeley was placed against
him in the presidential contest of 1872, but Grant carried thirty-one
states and received the largest vote that had ever been given for any
presidential candidate. His second administration was mainly important
for the passage of the "Resumption act" in Jan., 1875, and the
detection and punishment of the ringleaders in the notorious "Whiskey
ring," of which many were men of great personal influence, and with
friends claiming to hold very important positions near the president
himself. Shortly after the close of his second term, on May 17, 1877,
he set sail from Philadelphia on a tour of the world, his first
objective point being England. On May 28 he arrived at Liverpool and
there received the first of a grand series of ovations in foreign
lands, which for two years and four months constituted a triumphal
tour never experienced by even a Roman or Oriental monarch, his
welcome by every class of people, from royalty to peasants, being of
the most heartfelt kind. He finally sailed from Yokohama for home on
Sept. 3, 1879, and touched the American shore at San Francisco on
Sept. 20. Then banquets and receptions met him everywhere, until he
sought the retirement of his private home. In 1880 he visited Cuba and
Mexico, after which he went with his family to his old home in Galena,
Ill., but the popular feeling in his favor was such that a movement
was started for his third nomination to the presidency of the United
States. The convention gathered at Chicago, in June, 1880, and for
thirty-six ballots the iron-clad vote for Grant was 306, with slight
variations ranging between 302 and 313. After a long and exciting
contest, the opposition became united upon James A. Garfield and
secured his nomination, thus defeating the third-term movement. The
military and public life of Gen. Grant having ended, he invested his
entire capital of accumulated money in a banking house in New York
city, and in May, 1884, through a series of unblushing frauds the firm
became bankrupt, and the man who had been able to conquer and subdue
the greatest uprising in all history found himself completely swindled
by the skillful manipulation of a single business partner. In 1884, at
the age of sixty-two, Gen. Grant was attacked by a disease which
proved to be cancer at the root of the tongue, and which ultimately
caused his death. On March 4, 1885, Congress unanimously passed a bill
creating him a general on the retired list, thus restoring him to his
former rank with full pay; but he enjoyed this evidence of a nation's
gratitude but a short time, for on July 21 an alarming relapse set in,
and on Thursday morning, July 25, 1885, death released him from his
suffering. In 1884 he began the preparation in two octavo volumes of
"Personal Recollections," in which he told the story of his life down
to the close of the Civil war, and he finished the proof-reading four
days prior to his death. Gen. Grant was buried at New York city, and
the public funeral, which occurred Aug. 8, 1885, was the most
impressive spectacle of the kind ever witnessed in the United States.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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