[Sidenote: =Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1822=]
[Sidenote: =Early schooling=]
[Sidenote: =Fond of horses=]
=167. A Poor Boy Becomes a Great Man.= Ulysses Simpson Grant was born
in 1822, in Ohio, at a place called Point Pleasant. When he was a
year old his parents removed to Georgetown, Ohio, and there a few
years later he attended school. He was taught little besides reading,
writing, and arithmetic. As he grew up he helped his father and mother
by hauling wood, plowing, and doing other useful work. He did not like
the leather business, his father's occupation, but he found great
pleasure in farm work because he was very fond of horses.
[Sidenote: =He liked to travel=]
Young Grant liked to travel. When the news came that he had been
appointed a cadet at the United States Military Academy, he was glad
because of the journey to West Point but not because of any other
opportunities it offered. He did not like West Point, and studied only
to please his father.
[Sidenote: =Fights under General Taylor=]
[Sidenote: =Resigns and returns home=]
After his graduation Grant fought in the Mexican War as lieutenant
under General Taylor and later under General Scott. After peace was
restored he served in California as a captain, but very soon resigned,
and when the Civil War broke out in 1861 he was working as a clerk in
his father's store at Galena, Illinois.
[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL GRANT, POINT PLEASANT, OHIO]
[Sidenote: =Grant goes to Springfield=]
[Sidenote: =His promotions=]
=168. A Great General.= When Lincoln's call for seventy-five
thousand men startled the country, Grant was made chairman of a
meeting at Galena called to raise a company of soldiers. He then
went to Springfield, where the governor set him to work drilling
soldiers and getting them ready for the war. After a time he became
colonel of a regiment. A further promotion followed which made him a
brigadier-general in command of several regiments. Later still he rose
to be major-general, in command of an army.
[Illustration: ULYSSES S. GRANT
_From a photograph taken in 1866 by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia_]
Early in the war it was seen that in order to conquer the Confederacy
it must be split in two by gaining possession of the Mississippi
River. As a part of the great campaign with this end in view, we find
Brigadier-General Grant directing the attacks on Fort Henry and Fort
Donelson. These places were less than ten miles apart, in western
Tennessee.
[Sidenote: =Captures Forts Henry and Donelson=]
With the help of Commodore Foote and his gunboats, Grant easily
captured Fort Henry. To take Fort Donelson was not so easy. The
Confederates tried to break through the right wing of Grant's army.
After hard fighting they were driven back, and General Buckner asked
what terms Grant would give if they surrendered. To this General Grant
replied that he would consider "no terms but an unconditional and
immediate surrender ... I propose to move immediately upon your works."
This answer has become famous.
[Sidenote: =Confederates fall back=]
[Sidenote: =Grant moves against Vicksburg=]
The surrender of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson forced the Confederates
to move back their line of defense. After winning the two days'
battle at Pittsburg Landing, General Grant turned his attention to
the Mississippi River. As long as the Mississippi remained open to
the southern forces, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas could send food
supplies to the Confederates on the east side of the river. This
General Grant wanted to stop, so, early in 1863, he moved southward to
take Vicksburg. He beat the Confederates in the field and drove them
into Vicksburg. The siege of the city lasted seven weeks. No one could
slip in or out. Meat and bread grew scarce. The houses were knocked to
pieces by cannon balls, and people found shelter in cellars and caves.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, TENNESSEE]
[Sidenote: =The surrender=]
On the Fourth of July, 1863, Vicksburg, with Pemberton's army of more
than thirty thousand men, surrendered. There was great happiness
throughout the North. President Lincoln sent a message of thanks to
General Grant, and Congress voted that he be given a medal.
[Sidenote: =Gettysburg on the same day=]
During this campaign in the lower Mississippi country a large
Confederate army had marched north from Virginia, across Maryland into
Pennsylvania. This army, under General Robert E. Lee, had won its way
as far as Gettysburg. Here, at the end of a great three days' battle,
the Confederates were decisively beaten; this defeat came on July 3,
and on the very next day came the news that far-away Vicksburg had
surrendered to Grant. After defeating the Confederates at Murfreesboro,
General Rosecrans was in turn defeated at Chickamauga, and then cooped
up in the town of Chattanooga by General Bragg. General Grant was
sent to rescue the Union army, which he did in the battles of Lookout
Mountain, led by Hooker, and Missionary Ridge, led by Sherman.
[Illustration: SCENE OF GRANT'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE WEST]
[Sidenote: =Lieutenant-general=]
=169. Great Commander of the Union Armies.= President Lincoln saw
that General Grant was a great soldier. He sent for him to come to
Washington and made him lieutenant-general in command of all the armies
of the United States.
[Sidenote: =The "Wilderness"=]
Grant took command at once. His first great object was to capture Lee's
army. The shortest way to Lee's army lay through the "Wilderness," a
part of the country lying south of the upper part of the Rapidan, in
Virginia, and covered with a thick forest of tangled underbrush. The
route was dangerous. But into the "Wilderness" Grant plunged with his
great army. General Lee was there with his troops. The fighting began.
For a month it was almost constant charging, back and forth, and there
were long lists of dead and wounded. Grant moved his army southward and
nearer Richmond. Lee met him in the bloody battles of Spottsylvania and
Cold Harbor.
[Sidenote: =Petersburg taken=]
Then Grant crossed the James River, south of Richmond, and began the
attack on Petersburg. This place was taken in the spring of 1865.
[Sidenote: =Richmond given up=]
General Lee told the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, that he
could hold Richmond no longer. He tried to get his army away, but the
men were weak from hard fighting, and Sheridan, with his cavalry, was
too quick for him.
[Sidenote: =Lee surrenders at Appomattox=]
General Grant wrote to General Lee suggesting that he surrender, and
thus prevent the loss of more lives. Lee agreed, and the papers were
signed April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. No more generous terms
were ever given than those granted to Lee and his men.
After the war was over General Grant served for a time in the cabinet
of President Johnson, who had become president at Lincoln's death.
[Sidenote: =Grant elected president=]
=170. President of the United States.= In 1868 Grant was elected
President of the United States. He was elected again in 1872. Late in
life he made a tour of the world, and everywhere was received with
great honor.
[Illustration: THE GRANT MONUMENT, RIVERSIDE PARK, NEW YORK]
[Sidenote: =Dies in 1885=]
He died July 23, 1885, at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York.
His body rests in Riverside Park, New York City, where a magnificent
monument has been built to his memory.