America's Greatest 19th Century Presidents (26 page)

In 1839, Jesse Grant learned that a neighbor’s son had been dismissed from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and he asked 17 year old “Lyss” if he was interested in attending.  With no other real educational options, Hiram accepted. Using his political connection with a U. S. Congressman, Jesse saw to it that Hiram was admitted to West Point in 1839.  Although he had no interest in a military career, he was highly motivated to continue his education and thought that formal military instruction might lead to credentials in teaching. Thus, Grant’s military career began as a replacement by way of replacing another appointee, the very same way Stonewall Jackson would enter West Point three years later.

West Point

Grant at about 21

Before setting off on his own to New York, Hiram decided to reverse his name from Hiram Ulysses to Ulysses Hiram, rather than have his initials spell out “H. U. G”, which he knew would lead to incessant teasing. Grant’s concerns would prove irrelevant, however, due to an error in the registration process that designated him as Ulysses S. Grant. Apparently, the Congressman who recommended him, Tom Hamer, mistakenly listed his name as Ulysses S. Grant out of confusion due to his mother’s last name formerly being Simpson.  West Point documents from those years show the young man signing his name “U. H. Grant,” even while official papers continued to list him as “U. S. Grant.”  After graduation, Grant adopted the mistaken military designation, and like another future president, Harry Truman, he was always quick to explain that the “S” didn’t stand for anything.

Today West Point is considered the country’s elite military academy, and but in 1839, it was still a fairly unimpressive place, consisting of a few buildings surrounding a barren parade ground. About a decade earlier, Robert E. Lee graduated first in his class from West Point without receiving a single demerit for time, attire, or work, but that was certainly not Grant’s style. At the “Point,” the newly christened Ulysses S. Grant quickly distinguished himself in mathematics and horsemanship, but he lacked the drive to compete for class standing and frequently received demerits for refusing to go to church. And though Grant would later be characterized as an aggressive fighter during the Civil War, at West Point he was still a tiny teenager, at 5’2 and less than 120 pounds, with one life-long friend referring to him as “delicate”. At West Point, the small kid seemed to go out of his way to avoid confrontation even when in the right. 

Known as “Sam” to his closest academy friends, he was described as “sensitive and withdrawn, certainly not outgoing”,
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and it’s believed the shy “Sam” didn’t attend a single West Point school dance while a student. A classmate would later comment, “He didn’t really want to make the army his life and his biggest interest while at West Point was painting watercolors, often copying the works of European artists.”
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  And, rather than study his textbooks, Hiram spent most of his time reading novels.  As a result, he graduated 21
^st
in his class, around the middle of the pack. With no intention of remaining in the military any longer than it took to complete his obligatory service time, he set his sights on becoming a college mathematics teacher.

West Point was the place where many of the most influential men of the Civil War would meet. Jefferson Davis and Albert Sidney Johnston attended West Point with Robert E. Lee, while years later William Tecumseh Sherman roomed with George H. Thomas. And among the seven classes that passed through West Point during Grant’s four-year stay between 1839 and 1843, more than fifty of those cadets would become officers on one side of the Civil War or the other, including men like Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan, and A.P. Hill.

Chapter 3: Early Military Service, 1839 to 1854

The Mexican-American War: 1846-1848

Upon graduation, Hiram officially became Ulysses S. Grant, brevet second lieutenant, attached to the Fourth U. S. Infantry Regiment stationed at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis, Missouri. Although he had displayed a natural aptitude for horsemanship, including setting the Academy’s equestrian high jump record, Grant would hold an administrative position, not a cavalry one. Brevet Second Lieutenant may sound like a prestigious title, but Grant was mustered into the Army as a quartermaster, an individual who oversaw the management and supplies of the regiment. 

Before the Civil War, the only time Grant saw anything approaching battlefield combat was during the Mexican-American War. When the United States declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846, growing sentiment in the North was that the annexation of Texas was just a slaveholders’ ploy to seize more territory for the further expansion of slavery. Grant was part of one of the first units to enter the disputed territory, and he believed the Army was being sent there just to provoke a fight. Grant was hardly the only one holding this opinion; a young Congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln first gained national attention for sponsoring legislation demanding that President Polk show the spot where Mexicans had fired on American troops, believing that “President Polk's War” was full of deception. 

In May 1844, Grant was ordered to Louisiana, as part of a coordinated effort made in anticipation of the annexation of Texas.  Then in September of 1845, Grant’s regiment was transported to Corpus Christi via the Nueces River in Texas.  Six months later, General Zachary Taylor (who in 1849 would become the 12th President of the United States but die in office just a year later), marched his small army from Nueces to the Rio Grand across the territory then in dispute by the United States and Mexico, with both countries claiming it.

Taylor had been sent the year before, in April of 1844, to Fort Jesup, Louisiana to guard against any attempts by Mexico to reclaim the territory; where he and his men had remained until July of 1845.  Then, when the annexation of Texas seemed imminent, President James K. Polk directed him to deploy into the disputed territory in Texas, with Taylor subsequently choosing Corpus Christi to encamp his “Army of Occupation” in anticipation of a Mexican attack.  Grant’s regiment arrived in time to be part of Taylor’s subsequent victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma (in May of 1846), and Monterrey (in September of 1846), with Grant cited for showing particular gallantry at Monterrey for volunteering to carry a secret message through streets lined with enemy snipers. Grant admired Taylor and later wrote in his memoirs that he attempted to model his generalship after him.

Early in 1847, Grant’s Fourth U. S. Infantry Regiment was attached to General Winfield Scott’s army at Veracruz, who were set to advance on Mexico City.  Although Grant was in principle against war, he thought his abilities could best be served in action, but he had initially been assigned the position of quartermaster and commissary for the supply of clothes and items of subsistence to the fighting men. At the time, Grant had little interest in a military career and certainly no interest in the position he now held, but the experience gave him necessary experience years later when he commanded entire armies during the Civil War. And though Grant held a non-fighting position, when Scott’s army reached Mexico City, Grant was given the opportunity to show his skills in battle as a cavalryman and demonstrated exceptional bravery and initiative at Molino del Rey (September 8, 1847) and San Cosmé Garita (September 13, 1847). That brought him temporary field commissions as first lieutenant and then captain.

Winfield Scott was a military hero in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War

By the close of the Mexican-American War, Grant had served with several generals he would oppose, as well as command, in the Civil War including Robert E. Lee, Joseph. E. Johnson, Albert. S. Johnston, Theophilus H. Holmes, Louis Hébert, George A. McCall, Joseph K. Mansfield, and Philip Kearney. Over 15 years later, Grant would see Lee for the first time since Mexico at Appomattox Court House. 

Pacific Side, and Resignation

After being stationed first at Detroit, Michigan and then Sackets Harbor, New York, on July 5, 1852, Grant’s Fourth U. S. Infantry was ordered to the Pacific coast, to Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory. Grant was unhappy about the indefinite separation from the wife and family he now had, and his inability to bring them West because the Army did not financially support families in the Western territories. Thus, he attempted to save up the money to have his family brought to him by supplementing his army pay with a series of what proved to be disastrous business ventures.  That failing, he then began considering resignation of his commission.  In the mean time, his wife and first son went to live with Grant’s parents in Ohio, which he considered another failure.  His numerous failed attempts to unite his family led to noticeable depression, and by this time, word had already begun to spread (and was considered common knowledge in certain circles) that Grant was finding solace from the loneliness in alcohol, a rumor that never became part of his official military record but began to adversely affect his reputation..

In August of 1853, the final straw arrived. Grant was promoted to captain and assigned to Fort Humboldt in California, an extended assignment that would no doubt keep him separated from his family indefinitely.  Aware that even on a captain’s pay (in peace time) he couldn’t afford to bring his family West and support them, on April 11, 1854, Grant submitted his resignation to the U. S. Army and joined his family in St. Louis. Unable to afford to support them out West, it was decided that Julia would visit Grant’s parents in Ohio for a few months and then return to her family’s home in St. Louis until an opportunity arose to join her.  Ultimately, on April 11, 1854, he chose to leave the army and resigned his commission. Grant’s own father was so certain his son could only succeed in the military that he personally petitioned the Secretary of War unsuccessfully to rescind the resignation. Nevertheless, Grant was on his way home to join his family permanently, or so he thought.

Chapter 4: Personal Life, 1839 to 1861

Personal Conviction

Grant may have received demerits for refusing to attend church, but that did not mean he was not religious. Although raised a Methodist and known to have regularly attended church outside of West Point, Grant was said to have been entirely objective and non-parochial in his worldview.  Still, he had a strict regard for the Sabbath; he never played a game on that day, never wrote an official correspondence if he could avoid it, and in the battlefield, waged military campaigns early in the week, thoughtful of trying not to carry the war into Sunday if possible.  And while he seldom spoke of his religious beliefs, he maintained relationships with several clergymen who he considered among his closest friends. 

But, like all highly personal aspects of his life, he naturally avoided talking about religion, finding it inconceivable that anyone would be interested in something so personal. Yet, it was clear to all who knew him that he was filled with a deep reverence for all matters of religion and found nothing more offensive than making light of a religious concept or showing disrespect for things he considered sacred.  On the battlefield, he often conferred with clergy for perspective regarding his men.

Marriage

Although Grant was on assignment and in Texas after graduating at West Point, he did manage to meet his future wife, Julia, in 1844. Julia Boggs Dent was the well to do daughter of a Missouri plantation owner, which at first glance seems like an odd match for the rough and tumble Grant. Grant may not have enjoyed West Point, but he could thank it for meeting Julia, who was the sister of his West Point roommate and future aide-de-camp, Frederick Dent. As it turned out, Grant was closer to the Missouri belle when he was stationed in St. Louis, making it possible to court her.