The Ulysses S. Grant Association

	Ulysses S. Grant Chronology
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1822

APRIL 27, 1822. Birth of a son, later named Hiram Ulysses Grant, to tanner Jesse R. Grant (Jan. 23, 1794-June 29, 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (Nov. 23, 1798-May 1, 1883), at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio.

AUTUMN, 1823. Jesse Grant moved his family to Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio. Here their oldest son received his earliest education. "There were no free schools, and none in which the scholars were classified. They were all supported by subscription, and a single teacher--who was often a man or woman incapable of teaching much, even if they imparted all they knew--would have thirty or forty scholars, male and female, from the infant learning the A B C's up to the young lady of eighteen and the boy of twenty, studying the highest branches taught--the three R's .... 1

"I can see John D. White--the school teacher--now, with his long beech switch always in his hand. It was not always the same one, either. Switches were brought in bundles, from a beech wood near the school house, by the boys for whose benefit they were intended. Often a whole bundle would be used up in a single day. 2

"In my early days, every one labored more or less, in the region where my youth was spent, and more in proportion to their private means. It was only the very poor who were exempt. While my father carried on the manufacture of leather and worked at the trade himself, he owned and tilled considerable land. I detested the trade, preferring almost any other labor; but I was fond of agriculture, and of all employment in which horses were used. We had, among other lands, fifty acres of forest within a mile of the village. In the fall of the year choppers were employed to cut enough wood to last a twelvemonth. When I was seven or eight years of age, I began hauling all the wood used in the house and shops. I could not load it on the wagons, of course, at that time, but I could drive, and the choppers would load, and some one at the house unload. When about eleven years old, I was strong enough to hold a plough. From that age until seventeen I did all the work done with horses, such as breaking up the land, furrowing, ploughing corn and potatoes, bringing in the crops when harvested, hauling all the wood, besides tending two or three horses, a cow or two, and sawing wood for stoves, etc., while still attending school." 3

AUTUMN, 1836-SPRING, 1837. Ulysses attended the school of Richeson and Rand at Maysville, Kentucky.

AUTUMN, 1838-SPRING,1839. Ulysses attended the Presbyterian academy at Ripley, Ohio. "I was not studious in habit, and probably did not make progress enough to compensate for the outlay for board and tuition. At all events both winters were spent in going over the same old arithmetic which I knew every word of before, and repeating: 'A noun is the name of a thing,' which I had also heard my Georgetown teachers repeat, until I had come to believe it ...." 4

DECEMBER, 1838. "My father received a letter from the Honorable Thomas Morris, then United States Senator from Ohio. When he read it he said to me, 'Ulysses, I believe you are going to receive the appointment.' 'What appointment?' I inquired. 'To West Point; I have applied for it.' 'But I won't go,' I said. He said he thought I would, and I thought so too, if he did." 5

MARCH 3, 1839. Ulysses appointed to West Point.

MAY 15, 1839. Ulysses boarded a steamboat at Ripley to begin his journey to West Point. Apprehensive that other cadets would tease him about his initials, he decided to reverse his first two names and call himself Ulysses H. Grant. "I would have been glad to have had a steamboat or railroad collision, or any other accident happen, by which I might have received a temporary injury sufficient to make me ineligible, for a time, to enter the Academy." 6

MAY 29, 1839. Ulysses arrived at West Point and discovered that the congressman who appointed him, in doubt about his name, had used his middle name first and had used his mother's maiden name (Simpson) for a middle name. Officers insisted that Ulysses S. Grant had been appointed to West Point, Ulysses Hiram Grant had not. In time, Ulysses accepted U. S. Grant as his true name, insisting that his middle initial stood for "nothing." His family and Ohio friends continued to call him Ulysses; the other cadets nicknamed him "Uncle Sam" for his initials, soon shortened it to "Sam."

AUGUST 28, 1839. The cadets entered the barracks for the school year. "A military life had no charms for me, and I had not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I should be graduated, which I did not expect ... I did not take hold of my studies with avidity, in fact I rarely ever read over a lesson the second time during my entire cadetship." 7 Grant usually stood near the middle of his class in both studies and conduct, distinguishing himself in horsemanship and by election as president of the cadet literary society.

JUNE, 1843. Grant graduated from West Point, ranked twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine.

JULY 28, 1843. Grant learned that he was assigned to duty, beginning September 30, with the Fourth U. S. Infantry at Jefferson Barracks, just outside St. Louis, Missouri. His rank, established automatically by his West Point graduation, would be brevet second lieutenant.

FEBRUARY, 1844. Grant had often visited White Haven, the farm of the parents of Frederick Dent, a West Point roommate. Now Fred's sister Julia returned from St. Louis. "After that I do not know but my visits became more frequent; they certainly did become more enjoyable." 8

MAY, 1844. While on a visit to his parents in Ohio, Grant learned that his regiment had been ordered to Louisiana. "I now discovered that I was exceedingly anxious to get back to Jefferson Barracks, and I understood the reason without explanation from any one." 9 When he returned, Julia agreed to marry him.

JUNE, 1844. Grant arrived at the camp of the Fourth Infantry near Natchitoches, Louisiana. Grant's regiment was quartered at Camp Salubrity, named for its healthful location on high ground. The rest of the troops were nearby at Fort Jesup. "There was no intimation given that the removal of the 3d and 4th regiments of infantry to the western border of Louisiana was occasioned in any way by the prospective annexation of Texas, but it was generally understood that such was the case." 10

APRIL, 1845.Grant obtained leave for twenty days. He travelled to St. Louis to see Julia, and to gain her parents' consent to an engagement which had been a secret for almost a year. Colonel Dent doubted that Grant could support a family on a lieutenant's pay, but he liked Grant and could not deny his daughter's obvious determination.

JULY, 1845. The Fourth Infantry was sent to New Orleans to await orders.

SEPTEMBER, 1845.Grant sailed from New Orleans, bound for Corpus Christi on the Nueces River in Texas. Soon, Grant was promoted to full second lieutenant, and his commission was dated back to September 30, the date his regiment was fully assembled in Texas. The land between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers was claimed by both the United States and Mexico.

MARCH 11, 1846. Grant began to march across the disputed territory. General Zachary Taylor's force reached the Rio Grande on March 28. There were small clashes between U.S. and Mexican units which led to a Mexican declaration of war on April 23. "Even if the annexation itself could be justified, the manner in which the subsequent war was forced upon Mexico cannot ... The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions." 11

MAY 8, 1846. Taylor won the battle of Palo Alto as Grant found himself under fire for the first time. "You want to know what my feelings were on the field of battle! I do not know that I felt any peculiar sensation. War seems much less terrible to persons engaged in it than to those who read of the battles ... During that night I believe all slept as soundly on the ground at Palo Alto as if they had been in a palace. For my own part I dont think I even dreamed of battles." 12

MAY 9, 1846. Taylor's forces won the battle of Resaca de la Palma. Grant led a charge against a group of Mexican soldiers and captured them. Only then did he discover that they were occupying ground already captured. "This left no doubt in my mind but that the battle of Resaca de la Palma would have been won, just as it was, if I had not been there." 13

MAY 18, 1846. United States troops occupied the Mexican port of Matamoras.

AUGUST 19, 1846. Taylor began to move toward Monterey. Grant had been detailed as regimental quartermaster.

SEPTEMBER 21, 1846. During the battle of Monterey, Quartermaster Grant was expected to remain behind the lines. Without orders, he rode to the front and charged with his regiment. Grant now replaced the regimental adjutant.

SEPTEMBER 23, 1846. Heavy fighting continued in Monterey. Short of ammunition, General Garland asked for a volunteer to carry a message to General Twiggs through streets occupied by Mexican forces. Grant ran the gauntlet riding on the side of his horse with one foot hooked on the cantle of the saddle and an arm around the neck of his horse.

JANUARY 11 1847. Grant's Fourth Infantry was ordered to leave General Taylor's force and join that of General Winfield Scott. The troops retraced their route across Mexico to Camp Page on the Gulf. Embarking on transports on February 13, they met other troops at the island of Lobos on February 21 and continued their journey.

MARCH 9, 1847. Scott's force landed near Vera Cruz. After Vera Cruz was formally occupied (March 29), Scott began to plan his march overland to Mexico City. On April 1, Grant again found himself appointed quartermaster, and this time the assignment was permanent. He saw, but did not participate in, the battle of Cerro Gordo on April 18. The army moved slowly but steadily towards Mexico City, stopping at Tepeyahualco (April 24-May 10) and Puebla (May 15-August 7). After United States forces won the battle of Churubusco (August 20), Santa Anna negotiated an armistice (August 21).

SEPTEMBER 8, 1847. Grant participated in the assault on Molino del Rey.

SEPTEMBER 13, 1847. During the assault on San Cosme Garita, outside Mexico City, Grant ordered a howitzer placed in a church belfry where it could be fired effectively. This came to the favorable attention of General Worth. During the night, civic officials of Mexico City asked for surrender terms.

SEPTEMBER, 1847. Grant was promoted to first lieutenant as of September 16 and brevet captain as of September 13. An honorary brevet lieutenancy, as of September 8, served as reward for his services at Molino del Rey. "I had gone into the battle of Palo Alto in May, 1846, a second lieutenant, and I entered the city of Mexico sixteen months later with the same rank, after having been in all the engagements possible for any one man and in a regiment that lost more officers during the war than it ever had present at any one engagement. My regiment lost four commissioned officers, all senior to me, by steamboat explosions during the Mexican War. The Mexicans were not so discriminating. They sometimes picked off my juniors." 14

JUNE 12, 1848. The occupation of Mexico ended for Captain Grant as Worth's Division marched out of Mexico City. Grant's transport sailed from Vera Cruz on July 16.

JULY 23, 1848. The Fourth Regiment landed at Pascagoula, Mississippi. As soon as another officer was assigned to the quartermaster's duties, Grant hurried on leave to White Haven.

AUGUST 22, 1848. Captain Grant was married to Julia Dent.

NOVEMBER 17, 1848. Grant reported at Detroit. He learned that he had been assigned to duty at the dreary outpost of Madison Barracks at Sackett's Harbor, New York, on Lake Ontario. By spring of the following year, Grant had obtained a transfer to Detroit.

MAY 30, 1850. Birth of the Grant's first child, Frederick Dent Grant.

SPRING, 1851-SPRING, 1852. A full year was spent at Sackett's Harbor. Then the Fourth Infantry was ordered to the Pacific Coast. Grant said goodbye to his wife and son, who would be staying with his parents (June 15), and reported at Governor's Island, New York, for embarkation (July 5) on the steamer Ohio.

JULY 16, 1852. The Ohio anchored off Aspinwall (now Colon) on the Isthmus of Panama. The trip across steamy and deadly Panama began. Cholera decimated the regiment. Grant, as regimental quartermaster, had to travel at the end of the column and supervise the public property. Grant drove recalcitrant mules through the jungle in a race with disease. When the regiment arrived in California, there were a few weeks of rest at Benicia Barracks near San Francisco before the troops were deployed to garrison duty.

SEPTEMBER 20, 1852. Grant arrived at Fort Vancouver, Oregon (later Washington) Territory. Prices were inflated on the Pacific Coast, and Grant's attempts to supplement his captain's pay were unsuccessful. Discouraged and unhappy about the long separation from his family, which now included a second son he had never seen (Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., born July 22, 1852, usually called "Buck"), and with no prospect of reunion, fellow officers later recalled that Grant found consolation in drink. He began to consider resigning.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1853. Grant received notice that he had been promoted to captain as of August 5, to take the place of an officer who had died, along with orders to report at Fort Humboldt, California.

APRIL 11, 1854. Grant received his official commission as captain and wrote his resignation from the army the same day. On June 2, the resignation was accepted by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. "In the late summer of 1854 I rejoined my family, to find in it a son whom I had never seen, born while I was on the Isthmus of Panama. I was now to commence, at the age of thirty-two, a new struggle for our support. My wife had a farm near St. Louis, to which we went, but I had no means to stock it. A house had to be built also. I worked very hard, never losing a day because of bad weather, and accomplished the object in a moderate way. If nothing else could be done I would load a cord of wood on a wagon and take it to the city for sale." 15

SUMMER, 1855. After living for nearly a year at White Haven with Julia's parents, the Grant family now moved to Wish-ton-wish, another farm on the Dent estate. Here their third child Ellen, whom they called Nellie, was born on July 4.

SUMMER, 1856. The Grant family moved into its own home, built largely by Grant alone. Almost every farm in the neighborhood had a name, often a pretentious one; Grant called his Hardscrabble.

NOVEMBER, 1856. Grant cast his only presidential ballot prior to the time he was himself elected. "It was evident to my mind that the election of a Republican President in 1856 meant the secession of all the Slave States, and rebellion. Under these circumstances I preferred the success of a candidate whose election would prevent or postpone secession, to seeing the country plunged into a war the end of which no man could foretell. With a Democrat elected by the unanimous vote of the Slave States, there could be no pretext for secession for four years. I very much hoped that the passions of the people would subside in that time, and the catastrophe be averted altogether; if it was not, I believed the country would be better prepared to receive the shock and to resist it. I therefore voted for James Buchanan for President." 16

"The reason I voted for Buchanan was that I knew Frémont." 17

DECEMBER 23, 1857. Grant pawned his watch, presumably to buy Christmas gifts for his family. The Panic of 1857 had withered crop prices. Only a few weeks later, February 6, 1858, came the birth of the fourth Grant child, Jesse Root Grant, Jr. In the spring of that year, Grant rented out his Hardscrabble farm and himself rented White Haven from his father-in-law. Following another poor season, plagued by poor health, he entered the real estate business in St. Louis. In January, 1859 he moved into a back room in St. Louis rented from his business partner, while his family temporarily remained at White Haven. In March, his family joined him in a rented cottage in St. Louis.

MARCH 29, 1859. Despite the financial troubles of the Grant family, there was one remedy Grant refused to consider. He set free his slave, William Jones, who had come to him through his wife's family. 18

AUGUST 15, 1859. Grant submitted his application for the position of County Engineer of St. Louis. 19 Although qualified, Grant was passed over by politicians who preferred a Republican.

MAY, 1860. After many years of disappointment in Missouri, Grant took a clerkship in a leather goods store owned by his father and operated by his brothers Orvil and Simpson in Galena, Illinois.

NOVEMBER 8, 1860. The Republicans of Galena held a victory celebration in the Grant store. Grant helped his Republican brother Orvil serve oysters and liquor. Grant had not lived in Illinois long enough to be eligible to vote, and was apparently undecided about the merits of Lincoln and Douglas.

APRIL 18, 1861. The local Republican congressman, Elihu B. Washburne, favorably impressed by Grant, arranged for him to preside over a public meeting held in Galena to respond to Lincoln's call for troops after Fort Sumter. Grant drilled the company of Jo Daviess Guards raised at the meeting, but declined the captaincy (April 20). Instead he travelled to Springfield (April 25) to offer his services to Governor Yates. Grant found temporary employment as clerk in the adjutant's office.

MAY 8, 1861. Grant was appointed mustering officer. It was a temporary job which ended within two weeks.

MAY 10, 1861. While Grant was in St. Louis seeking a commission, he witnessed the disorder following the capture of Camp Jackson by Unionists under Nathaniel Lyon and Frank Blair.

MAY 22, 1861. Grant finished his mustering and returned to Galena. Two days later he wrote to Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas: "I feel myself competant to command a Regiment if the President, in his judgement, should see fit to entrust one to me." 20 The letter was never answered.

JUNE, 1861. Grant visited the headquarters of George B. McClellan in Cincinnati seeking a staff appointment. McClellan did not receive him.

JUNE 15, 1861. Grant returned to Springfield and accepted Governor Yates' offer of the colonelcy of the Seventh District Regiment, an unruly group which had driven its first colonel into retirement.

JUNE 16, 1861. Grant boarded a streetcar in Springfield to ride out to his regiment at Camp Yates.

JUNE 28, 1861. Following patriotic oratory from two Illinois Democratic congressmen, John A. Logan and John A. McClernand, 603 members of the regiment volunteered to enter the U. S. service as the Twenty-First Illinois.

JULY 3, 1861. The Twenty-First Illinois began its first march: from Springfield to Quincy on the Mississippi. This was followed by a period of confusion during which Grant was ordered to take his regiment to Naples to await a steamer to Ironton, Missouri. The steamer got stuck on a sand bar, and while the regiment awaited its release, new orders came to relieve a regiment surrounded near Palmyra, Missouri. By train, the regiment reached Quincy. "My sensations as we approached what I supposed might be 'a field of battle' were anything but agreeable. I had been in all the engagements in Mexico that it was possible for one person to be in; but not in command. If some one else had been colonel and I had been lieutenant-colonel I do not think I would have felt any trepidation. Before we were prepared to cross the Mississippi River at Quincy my anxiety was relieved; for the men of the besieged regiment came straggling into town. I am inclined to think both sides got frightened and ran away." 21

JULY, 1861. Grant was ordered to proceed from the Salt River against Colonel Thomas Harris, some twenty-five miles south at Florida, Missouri. "As we approached the brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards." 22 Grant's regiment was soon located at Mexico, Missouri.

JULY 31, 1861. President Lincoln appointed Grant a brigadier general of volunteers following the recommendations of a caucus of Illinois congressmen. Then, August 5, the appointment was confirmed by the Senate. Grant's commission was dated back to May 17, which gave him valuable seniority. Grant was now in command at Ironton, Missouri.

AUGUST 17, 1861. As Grant prepared to move against the enemy, General Benjamin M. Prentiss arrived to claim command, wrongfully asserting that he outranked Grant. Without prolonged argument, Grant departed for St. Louis, where General Frémont reassigned him to Jefferson City.

AUGUST 27, 1861. Replaced by General Jefferson C. Davis at Jefferson City, Grant again returned to St. Louis. This time he was given command of all troops in south-east Missouri (August 28), with headquarters temporarily at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

SEPTEMBER 4, 1861. Grant established headquarters at Cairo, Illinois. On September 3, Confederate General Leonidas Polk had violated the self-proclaimed neutrality of Kentucky by occupying Columbus. News reached Grant on September 5. Grant then occupied Paducah (September 6). His quick action prevented the Confederates from consolidating their defense line in Kentucky.

NOVEMBER 7, 1861. Grant led his troops to Belmont, Missouri, across the Mississippi River from Columbus, Kentucky, in a diversionary movement to prevent Confederate reinforcement of Sterling Price. The Union troops overran a Confederate camp and began to celebrate victory. Then the Confederates returned with a superior force. Grant's men began to scramble for their transports, and the general himself barely escaped death or capture.

JANUARY, 1862. Dissatisfied with use of his force for defensive and diversionary purposes, Grant asked Major General Halleck, now in command in the West, for permission to begin a campaign on the Tennessee River. On February 1, he got it.

FEBRUARY 2, 1862. Grant's forces advanced from Cairo.

FEBRUARY 6, 1862. Naval forces under Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote captured Fort Henry. Grant's forces were on their way in the combined operation. The victory was one of maneuver rather than battle, for almost all of the Confederates had been withdrawn to Fort Donelson, about eleven miles away on the Cumberland River. The following day, Grant made a reconnaissance to within one mile of Donelson. "I intend to keep the ball moving as lively as possible," he wrote his sister. 23

FEBRUARY 12, 1862. Although Halleck preferred to have Grant consolidate his position, Grant began to move his troops towards Fort Donelson. They arrived the following day, and General John A. McClernand led his division in a reckless premature assault on the Donelson lines. Next day (February 14), Grant watched an assault on Donelson by the gunboats of Foote's flotilla which was equally unsuccessful. The Confederates were now emboldened to make an assault of their own (February 15) aiming to break out of the siege, which had temporary success, but then the Confederates were forced back to their lines. "I heard some of the men say that the enemy had come out with knapsacks, and haversacks filled with rations. They seemed to think this indicated a determination on his part to stay out and fight just as long as the provisions held out. I turned to Colonel J. D. Webster, of my staff, who was with me, and said: 'Some of our men are pretty badly demoralized, but the enemy must be more so, for he has attempted to force his way out, but has fallen back: the one who attacks first now will be victorious and the enemy will have to be in a hurry if he gets ahead of me," 24 Grant's men advanced immediately.

FEBRUARY 16, 1862. During the night, Generals John Floyd and Gideon Pillow fled from Fort Donelson. Nathan Bedford Forrest saved his cavalry. General Simon B. Buckner, now in command, requested an armistice to arrange terms of surrender. To this, Grant responded: "Yours of this date proposing Armistice, and appointment of Commissioners, to settle terms of Capitulation is just received. No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." 25 The surrender of Donelson destroyed the entire Confederate line in the middle theatre of war. It confirmed the loss of Kentucky and the imminent threat to Tennessee. As the first major Union victory of the war, it touched off great celebrations in the North, in the course of which Grant's words provoked as much enthusiasm as the victory itself.

FEBRUARY 17, 1862. Lincoln signed the papers for Grant's promotion to major general of volunteers.

MARCH 4, 1862. Halleck ordered Grant to turn his forces over to General C. F. Smith. Due to telegraph failures, Halleck believed that Grant was failing to obey orders to report to his superior. On March 13, Grant was restored to command. On March 17, he resumed his Tennessee River campaign, beginning to mass his troops at Pittsburg Landing for a thrust against the vital rail center at Corinth, Mississippi, some twenty miles away.

APRIL 6, 1862. Confederate forces under Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard attacked the Union position at Shiloh Church, near Pittsburg Landing. Grant was breakfasting some miles away at Savannah, preparing to meet additional troops scheduled to arrive with General Don Carlos Buell, when he heard the firing and hurried to the front. A stubborn defense of the Hornets' Nest by General Benjamin M. Prentiss won valuable time for Grant, but by the end of the day, the army had been pushed back to the river. "During the night rain fell in torrents and our troops were exposed to the storm without shelter. I made my headquarters under a tree a few hundred yards back from the river bank. My ankle was so much swollen from the fall of my horse the Friday night preceding, and the bruise was so painful, that I could get no rest. The drenching rain would have precluded the possibility of sleep without this additional cause. Some time after midnight, growing restive under the storm and the continuous pain, I moved back to the log-house under the bank. This had been taken as a hospital, and all night wounded men were being brought in, their wounds dressed, a leg or an arm amputated as the case might require, and everything being done to save life or alleviate suffering. The sight was more unendurable than encountering the enemy's fire, and I returned to my tree in the rain." 26

APRIL 7, 1862. Aided by reinforcements brought by Buell, Grant was able to drive the Confederates from the field. It had been a costly victory for the North, and there were angry public reactions in the North to the great loss of life and the lack of preparation for a Confederate attack. "Shiloh was the severest battle fought at the West during the war, and but few in the East equalled it for hard, determined fighting. I saw an open field, in our possession on the second day, over which the Confederates had made repeated charges the day before, so covered with dead that it would have been possible to walk across the clearing, in any direction, stepping on dead bodies, without a foot touching the ground." 27

APRIL 11, 1862. General Halleck took personal command of the army, and very slowly moved against Corinth. Grant served unhappily as second in command. Corinth was occupied on May 30; the Confederates had decided to evacuate. Disgusted by Halleck's unwillingness to engage the enemy, Grant considered resigning. General William T. Sherman persuaded him to remain.

JUNE 21, 1862. Grant left Halleck at Corinth to establish separate headquarters as district commander at Memphis.

JULY 11, 1862. Halleck was ordered to Washington to serve as general-in-chief. Grant was ordered to Corinth to take command of the army, and arrived on July 15.

SEPTEMBER 19, 1862. Confederate General Braxton Bragg ordered Sterling Price to prevent Grant from sending reinforcements to Buell. Grant sent troops under William S. Rosecrans and E. O. C. Ord to drive Price from Iuka, Mississippi, before he could be reinforced by Earl Van Dorn or go east to join Bragg. Rosecrans encountered the enemy, and although the battle was inconclusive, the Confederates retreated.

OCTOBER 3-4, 1862. While Grant was at Jackson, Tennessee, Van Dorn attacked Rosecrans at Corinth. Grant sent reinforcements as soon as he learned of the attack, but Rosecrans repelled the assault before they arrived, and Van Dorn withdrew with his army largely intact.

OCTOBER 25, 1862. Grant was assigned the Department of Tennessee and reinforced. On November 2, he began the Vicksburg campaign.

NOVEMBER 13, 1862. Union forces occupied Holly Springs in northern Mississippi, where Grant established a supply base for the advancing army.

DECEMBER 17, 1862. In an effort to crush the sordid and unpatriotic trade between Northern merchants and rebels, Grant issued General Orders No. 11 expelling all Jews from the Department of Tennessee. The motivation of this order remains a subject of controversy. Vigorous protests in Washington resulted in official revocation.

DECEMBER 20, 1862. While Grant was at Oxford, Mississippi, Van Dorn captured Holly Springs and destroyed the supplies. By December 23, Grant was back at Holly Springs, but had decided to move headquarters to Memphis. He now gave up his overland drive on Vicksburg.

DECEMBER 28-29, 1862. In the meantime, General Sherman had left Memphis without knowledge of the destruction at Holly Springs. Moving down the Mississippi and picking up reinforcements at Helena, Arkansas, he made an unsuccessful assault on Vicksburg along Chickasaw Bayou.

JANUARY 2, 1863. General John A. McClernand arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo and took over command of the forces near Vicksburg from Sherman. McClernand had been intriguing for command of the Mississippi River expedition and could not be prevented from exercising command unless Grant took personal control.

JANUARY 17, 1863. "I visited McClernand and his command at Napoleon. It was here made evident to me that both the army and navy were so distrustful of McClernand's fitness to command that, while they would do all they could to insure success, this distrust was an element of weakness. It would have been criminal to send troops under these circumstances into such danger." 28

JANUARY 30, 1863. Grant took personal command of the Vicksburg expedition over McClernand's protests at Young's Point on the Mississippi, north of Vicksburg.

MARCH, 1863. Sherman had discovered that Vicksburg was inaccessible from the north. Grant now tried to bring land and naval forces south of Vicksburg without passing the batteries. Beginning in January, Sherman's men had worked on a canal on the peninsula opposite Vicksburg; in March, it was abandoned because of low water. A more ambitious canal at Duckport was abandoned because of low water. James B. McPherson's corps worked on a circuitous route through Lake Providence, Louisiana, finally abandoned because of its impracticability. An attempt was made to move through the Yazoo Pass, 325 miles north of Vicksburg, to use the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers, but Confederates halted the Union gunboats at Fort Pemberton. While trying to use a route through Steele's Bayou, Acting Rear Admiral Porter's fleet barely escaped capture. Grant now realized he would have to abandon all of these routes.

APRIL 16, 1863. Porter ran his fleet successfully south past the Vicksburg batteries. Six supply transports followed on April 22. Troops marched overland west of the river to below Vicksburg.

APRIL 29, 1863. After a naval bombardment of Grand Gulf, south of Vicksburg, Grant decided against an attempt to land his men there. Instead, McClernand's command was landed some miles below at Bruinsburg (April 30). "When this was effected I felt a degree of relief scarcely ever equalled since. Vicksburg was not yet taken it is true, nor were its defenders demoralized by any of our previous moves. I was now in the enemy's country, with a vast river and the stronghold of Vicksburg between me and my base of supplies. But I was on dry ground on the same side of the river with the enemy. All the campaigns, labors, hardships and exposures from the month of December previous to this time that had been made and endured, were for the accomplishment of this one object." 29

MAY 1, 1863. Grant's victory at the battle of Port Gibson gave the Union forces a firm footing in Mississippi and compelled the abandonment of the fortifications at Grand Gulf (May 3). Grant now began moving inland, brought up more troops, and prepared to attack Pemberton's army in the Vicksburg area.

MAY 12, 1863. McPherson's corps won a victory at Raymond. Now Grant decided to strike for the interior and the state capital at Jackson. If he had moved immediately against Vicksburg from the south, he might have won the position without capturing Pemberton's army. He preferred to surround Vicksburg and win both. He also wanted to avoid the danger of being trapped between two rebel armies: one at Vicksburg, and another coming from the east under Joseph E. Johnston.

MAY 14, 1863. Union forces captured Jackson, Mississippi, after some fighting. Now Grant turned back towards Vicksburg, winning the battle of Champion's Hill on May 16. The Confederates crossed the Big Black River after another fight on the following day, and on May 18, Grant completed the encirclement of Vicksburg.

MAY 19, 1863. An assault on the lines at Vicksburg moved the Union lines slightly forward. Another assault on May 22 did less good and cost many lives. Grant now decided upon a siege.

JUNE 18, 1863. Grant relieved McClernand of command for improperly issuing a congratulatory order to his troops without obtaining headquarters approval. The bombastic document extolled McClernand's troops at the expense of other troops and other commanders.

JUNE 22, 1863. Grant learned that the Confederate army under J. E. Johnston had crossed the Big Black River and was possibly preparing an attack to save the Vicksburg garrison. But before the attack came, Vicksburg had fallen.

JUNE 25, 1863. Union forces exploded a mine under the Confederate line, but were unsuccessful in breaking through. Another mine, exploded July 1, was similarly unproductive. The major pressure on the Confederates came through the exhaustion of supplies.

JULY 3, 1863. Pemberton sent a message to Grant requesting terms of surrender. Grant answered as he had at Fort Donelson that his only terms were unconditional surrender.

JULY 4, 1863. Vicksburg surrendered. The garrison marched out and stacked arms. Grant immediately provided food for the starving soldiers and civilians. After the fall of Port Hudson on July 9, the entire Mississippi was in Union hands. The loss of Vicksburg coupled with the battle at Gettysburg marked a turning point in the war. Grant was now promoted to major general in the regular army. "If the Vicksburg campaign meant anything, in a military point of view, it was that there are no fixed laws of war which are not subject to the conditions of the country, the climate, and the habits of the people. The laws of successful war in one generation would insure defeat in another." 30

AUGUST, 1863. Grant went to New Orleans to confer with General Banks. While there, he received painful injuries when his horse fell.

SEPTEMBER 13, 1863. Halleck told Grant to send all available troops to the aid of Rosecrans near Chattanooga. Grant's own preference was for an expedition to Mobile. On September 19-20, the defeat at Chickamauga forced Rosecrans back into Chattanooga, where he was virtually besieged by Bragg.

OCTOBER 17, 1863. As Grant travelled by train from Cairo to Louisville, Secretary of War Stanton boarded the train at Indianapolis with orders giving Grant command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee. In addition, Grant was given permission to replace Rosecrans with George H. Thomas.

OCTOBER 23, 1863. Grant entered Chattanooga. By October 28, Union forces had opened a precarious supply route called the cracker line to prevent starvation.

NOVEMBER 23-25, 1863. Battle of Chattanooga. On the first day, Grant put his men in position and drove the Confederates from Orchard Knob. On the second, Hooker led his men up Lookout Mountain. Then, on November 25, Union forces assaulted the main Confederate position on Missionary Ridge. "The Confederates were strongly intrenched on the crest of the ridge in front of us, and had a second line half-way down and another at the base. Our men drove the troops in front of the lower line of rifle-pits so rapidly, and followed them so closely, that rebel and Union troops went over the first line of works almost at the same time. Many rebels were captured and sent to the rear under the fire of their own friends higher up the hill. Those that were not captured retreated, and were pursued. The retreating hordes being between friends and pursuers caused the enemy to fire high to avoid killing their own men. In fact, on that occasion the Union soldier nearest the enemy was in the safest position." 31 Years later, Grant was asked if the Confederates had failed because they believed their position impregnable. With a twinkle in his eye, Grant replied, "Well, it was impregnable." 32

With Chattanooga now safe, Grant sent troops to Knoxville, where General Ambrose Burnside was besieged by Confederate General James Longstreet. The Confederates withdrew on December 3-4 before Grant's force arrived.

FEBRUARY 29, 1864. The bill to restore the rank of lieutenant general became a law. It had been passed with the understanding that Grant would receive the promotion. On March 1, Lincoln submitted Grant's nomination, which was confirmed the following day. On March 3, Grant was ordered to Washington to receive his commission. By this time, there was speculation about a political career for Grant. In a letter to his father on February 20, Grant had written: "All I want is to be left alone to fight this war out; fight all rebel opposition and restore a happy Union in the shortest possible time." 33

MARCH 8, 1864. Lincoln and Grant met for the first time. In the evening, Grant was guest of honor at a White House reception. When word spread through the large crowd that the general had arrived, there was so much confusion that Grant had to stand on a sofa so that all could see him. On the following day, Lincoln presented the commission with a short speech of four sentences. As usual, Grant could be even more concise. "Mr. President, I accept the commission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men. " 34

MARCH 12, 1864. Grant was assigned to command all armies of the United States. He decided to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac. First, however, he made a quick trip to Nashville to confer with Sherman, who was given Grant's former command on March 18. By March 23, Grant was back in Washington.

APRIL 27, 1864. Grant gave orders for the movement of the Army of the Potomac. On May 4, the army crossed the Rapidan.

MAY 5-7, 1864. The Army of the Potomac met Lee's Army of Northern Virginia while crossing the Wilderness. The Confederates had an excellent position, and Union advances were purchased with great loss of life.

MAY 8-20, 1864. The Wilderness campaign was succeeded by the bloody battles at Spotsylvania. During the fighting at Spotsylvania, Grant informed Halleck of his intention "to fight it out on this line if it takes all Summer." 35

MAY 21, 1864. Grant began to move to his left again. On May 23, Winfield Scott Hancock's corps captured a bridge over the North Anna River. Lee, however, had placed his force so effectively on the south bank of the river that Grant chose not to bring on a general engagement. He slipped to his left again, and crossed the Pamunkey on May 27. The road to Richmond now led past Cold Harbor.

JUNE 1-3, 1864. Assaults were made upon a strong Confederate position at Cold Harbor. The loss to the North was severe, and, unlike earlier battles, did nothing to improve the Union position. "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made." 36

JUNE 14, 1864. Grant's army crossed the James on pontoon bridges heading towards Petersburg. Unable to break the Confederate line in frontal attack, Grant had steadily slipped to his left and now had his lines southeast of Richmond. On the following day, Union forces made the first assault on Petersburg. The battle of Petersburg gradually settled into a siege.

JULY 30, 1864. In an effort to crack the Confederate line a huge mine was exploded, but the Federal assault after the blast failed in the Battle of the Crater. There were no more major battles in 1864. Instead, Grant exerted relentless pressure on the overextended Confederate lines near Petersburg. By August, Grant could see the end. "The rebels have now in their ranks their last man. The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, guarding rail-road bridges and forming a good part of their garrisons for intrenched positions. A man lost by them can not be replaced." 37

AUGUST 7, 1864. Grant replaced General David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley with General Philip Sheridan, who was given orders to harass the enemy constantly and destroy supplies.

AUGUST 18, 1864. Grant seized the Weldon Railroad, a vital supply line for Lee's army.

OCTOBER 27, 1864. A similar attempt upon the South Side Railroad was unsuccessful. The siege of Petersburg continued, but neither side could do much more than hold its position through the winter.

MARCH 25, 1865. Lee failed in his effort to break the Union line at Fort Stedman. On the same day, Lincoln landed from the River Queen at City Point for a series of conferences with Grant.

MARCH 29, 1865. Grant sent Sheridan around the right end of Lee's line in order to force Lee to retreat. Sheridan's victory at Five Forks of April 1 forced Lee to abandon Petersburg and Richmond two days later. Lee made one last desperate effort to collect his forces at Amelia Court House and join Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina. Sheridan quickly blocked Lee's road, and the Army of Northern Virginia was virtually surrounded.

APRIL 6, 1865. Lee's effort to avoid encirclement led to his defeat at Sayler's Creek.

APRIL 7, 1865. Grant wrote to Lee: "The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle." 38

APRIL 9, 1865. After discovering that escape would be impossible, Lee arranged to meet Grant at Appomattox. "I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse." 39 The two generals met in the parlor of the McLean House, Lee in an immaculate new uniform, Grant informally dressed with only shoulder straps to show rank. "We soon fell into a conversation about old army times ... Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting." 40 Finally, Grant wrote a letter embodying his terms and Lee wrote one accepting them.

APRIL 14, 1865. Grant met with the Cabinet to discuss Lee's surrender and the future of the South. Lincoln invited the Grants to join him at the theatre that evening. Grant replied that he was anxious to visit his children at Burlington, New Jersey. Thus Grant eluded the plan of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators to assassinate him along with Lincoln.

APRIL 24, 1865. Grant arrived at Sherman's headquarters in North Carolina in an effort to eliminate the bitterness caused by Sherman's surrender terms to General Joseph E. Johnston. In attempting to end all Confederate resistance east of the Mississippi, Sherman's agreement went beyond what Grant conceded to Lee at Appomattox and raised cries in the North that Sherman was settling terms of peace.

OCTOBER, 1865. After touring the nation and receiving praise everywhere, Grant moved with his family into a house on I Street in Washington.

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1865. Grant toured the South at the request of President Andrew Johnson, and was greeted with surprising friendliness. His report recommended a lenient Reconstruction policy.

JULY 25, 1866. Congress established a new rank, general of the armies of the United States, to which Grant was immediately appointed.

AUGUST 28, 1866. President Johnson left for a political tour, though the ostensible purpose was the dedication of the Stephen A. Douglas monument in Chicago. Grant went along reluctantly. When the heckling of the crowd at various stops prompted Johnson into angry and undignified responses, Grant lost sympathy with the President.

JULY 31, 1867. President Andrew Johnson informed Grant that he intended to remove Secretary of War Stanton from office. Stanton, a holdover from the Lincoln administration, had been a consistent opponent of the President and stood close to the radical Republicans who dominated Congress. Stanton had refused to resign and Congress had supported him through the Tenure of Office Act (March 2, 1867), which required the consent of Congress to removals. At the same time, Congress had weakened the President's control of the army through the Command of the Army Act, which required that all military orders of the President have the approval of the general of the army (Grant). Johnson believed the Tenure of Office Act unconstitutional, and hoped to defeat the effort to force Stanton upon him by employing the popular Grant. On August 11, Grant agreed to take over the War Department temporarily, and on the following day Johnson ordered him to do so.

JANUARY 14, 1868. Grant resigned his position as Secretary of War ad interim after Congress reassembled and insisted upon the reinstatement of Stanton. Johnson believed that Grant had betrayed him; Grant now openly broke with Johnson.

MAY 21, 1868. The Republican National Convention at Chicago nominated Grant for President and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana for Vice President.

MAY 29, 1868. Grant concluded his letter of acceptance with "Let us have peace." 41 The words became a Republican slogan.

JULY 9, 1868. The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour, former Governor of New York, for President, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., formerly one of Grant's commanders, for Vice President.

NOVEMBER 3, 1868. Grant was elected President, winning the electoral votes of 26 of 34 states and an electoral college majority of 214-80 over his Democratic opponent. But the popular majority was only 306,000 in a total vote of 5,715,000. The newly enfranchised Negroes of the South cast 700,000 votes generally at the bidding of their Republican protectors.

MARCH 4, 1869. Grant was inaugurated President. In his inaugural address, he said: "The responsibilities of the position I feel, but accept them without fear. The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the people." 42 His Cabinet list, prepared without consultation, was generally considered weak. A. T. Stewart, a prominent New York merchant, was named Secretary of the Treasury even though his business interests made him ineligible. When Grant learned of the law, he asked Congress to change it, but soon found that this was unlikely. On March 9, he withdrew Stewart's nomination and two days later nominated George Boutwell of Massachusetts. This caused further complications since Massachusetts was already represented in the Cabinet through Attorney General E. R. Hoar. E. B. Washburne was given a courtesy appointment as Secretary of State, which ended soon with his appointment as Minister to France. He was succeeded in the State Department by Hamilton Fish of New York. The Chief of Staff, John A. Rawlins, became Secretary of War although he was dying, because Grant wanted to honor a faithful friend. Adolph E. Borie, a wealthy and congenial Philadelphian, briefly held the post of Secretary of the Navy; Jacob D. Cox, an able Ohio reformer, was Secretary of the Interior; John A. J. Creswell, a Maryland lawyer, was Postmaster General.

MARCH 18, 1869. Grant signed his first law, an Act to Strengthen the Public Credit, pledging the government to redeem in gold the greenback currency issued during the Civil War. Grant thus quickly placed himself with the financial conservatives of the day.

SEPTEMBER 24, 1869. Black Friday on the New York gold exchange as Jay Gould and Jim Fisk attempted to corner the available gold supply. In an effort to prevent the government from selling gold to break the corner, the conspirators had enlisted Abel Rathbone Corbin, Grant's brother-in-law. Corbin believed he had misled Grant into cooperation, but Grant approved a government gold sale which restored prevailing prices.

JANUARY 10, 1870. Grant submitted to the Senate a treaty of annexation with Santo Domingo. He believed that Santo Domingo offered an attractive field for American investment and a solution to the race problem. The treaty was reported adversely by the Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Charles Sumner, who spoke bitterly against it. Although Grant forced from his Cabinet Attorney General E. R. Hoar, who opposed annexation, and ultimately had Sumner deposed from the chairmanship of Foreign Relations (March 9, 1871), he was unable to get the treaty confirmed by the Senate.

MARCH 4, 1871. Grant appointed George William Curtis to head the first Civil Service Commission established by Congress. Because Congress failed to make an appropriation and ignored Curtis's recommendations, nothing came of this venture.

MAY 8, 1871. The Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Hamilton Fish, provided for the settlement by an international tribunal of American claims against England resulting from the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider Alabama. The tribunal eventually awarded $15,500,000 to the United States in a well-balanced decision which left no rancor in either country.

MAY 1, 1872. Meeting of the Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati. Leaders of the group included many prominent Republicans unhappy about vindictive Reconstruction and corruption in government which they called Grantism. Although many attractive presidential nominees were available, Horace Greeley received the nomination. Greeley's earlier radicalism, high tariff views, and well-known eccentricity repelled many who opposed Grant. The Democrats, on July 9, also nominated Greeley.

MAY 22, 1872. Grant signed an amnesty bill he had advocated. Although the final legislation was less generous than Grant wanted, now only a few hundred former Confederates were excluded from political privileges.

JUNE 5, 1872. The Republican Convention met at Philadelphia and renominated Grant on the first ballot (June 6).

SEPTEMBER 5, 1872. The New York Sun charged that Vice President Colfax, Vice-Presidential nominee Henry Wilson, James Garfield, and other prominent politicians were involved in the operations of the Credit Mobilier, a corporation established by the promoters of the Union Pacific to siphon off the profits of construction. Ultimately, two congressmen were censured for their part in the swindle and many other politicians were damaged in reputation.

NOVEMBER 5, 1872. Grant was reelected with an electoral college majority of 286-66, and a popular majority of 763,000.

MARCH 4, 1873. Grant was inaugurated for a second term. In his second inaugural, Grant said: "I acknowledge before this assemblage, representing, as it does, every section of our country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen for the great honor they have conferred on me by returning me to the highest office within their gift, and the further obligation resting on me to render to them the best services within my power. This I promise, looking forward with the greatest anxiety to the day when I shall be released from responsibilities that at times are almost overwhelming, and from which I have scarcely had a respite since the eventful firing upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present day ... I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication." 43

SEPTEMBER 18, 1873. The panic of 1873 began with the failure of the firm of Jay Cooke, spread to the stock exchange, and eventually led to widespread unemployment.

APRIL 22, 1874. Grant vetoed a bill to increase the amount of legal tender currency. Grant's strong stand against inflation led to a bill (June 20, 1874) limiting the amount of legal tender currency and providing for its retirement.

MAY 1, 1875. A group of corrupt officials and businessmen known as the Whisky Ring was exposed by the St. Louis Democrat. An investigation ordered by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow ultimately compromised important Grant appointees and General Orville E. Babcock, Grant's private secretary. Upon first hearing of the scandals, Grant had ordered: "Let no guilty man escape." 44 Later, Grant's testimony influenced a jury to acquit Babcock.

MAY 29, 1875. Grant wrote a public letter announcing that he would not be a candidate for a third term.

MARCH 2, 1876. On the same day Secretary of War William W. Belknap was impeached on charges of accepting bribes from Indian agents, President Grant accepted his resignation. Since Belknap was no longer a government official, the Senate held that it had no authority to convict him.

DECEMBER 5, 1876. In his last message to Congress, Grant surveyed his years in the White House. "It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. From the age of 17 I had never even witnessed the excitement attending a Presidential campaign but twice antecedent to my own candidacy, and at but one of them was I eligible as a voter.

"Under such circumstances it is but reasonable to suppose that errors of judgment must have occurred. Even had they not, differences of opinion between the Executive, bound by an oath to the strict performance of his duties, and writers and debaters must have arisen. It is not necessarily evidence of blunder on the part of the Executive because there are these differences of views. Mistakes have been made, as all can see and I admit, but it seems to me oftener in the selections made of the assistants appointed to aid in carrying out the various duties of administering the Government--in nearly every case selected without a personal acquaintance with the appointee, but upon recommendations of the representatives chosen directly by the people. It is impossible, where so many trusts are to be allotted, that the right parties should be chosen in every instance. History shows that no Administration from the time of Washington to the present has been free from these mistakes. But I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." 45

MARCH 4, 1877. Grant retired from the White House.

MAY 17, 1877. The Grant family sailed from Philadelphia on a trip around the world.

DECEMBER 16, 1879. Grant returned from his trip during which he had been honored in many countries and had done much to improve relations with the United States.

JUNE 2, 1880. The Republican National Convention met in Chicago. The delegates were almost evenly divided between the followers of James G. Blaine and the stalwarts led by Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. The latter favored the renomination of Grant, and he received a plurality of votes on the first ballot. When the convention ended after thirty-six ballots in the nomination of James A. Garfield, 306 delegates were still voting for Grant. Although election in 1880 would have broken the third term tradition, Grant had written: "I can not decline if the nomination is tendered without seeking on my part." 46

APRIL, 1881. The Grants, Ulysses Jr. and his new wife, and Senor Don Matias Romero (former Mexican minister in Washington) toured Mexico. Grant had become president of Jay Gould's Mexican Southern Railroad. Genuinely fond of the Mexican people ever since the Mexican War, Grant believed their best interests lay in commercial expansion. Now he urged a railroad link between Mexico and the United States.

AUGUST, 1881. Grant bought a home, a brownstone at 3 East 66th Street, New York City.

DECEMBER, 1882. President Arthur appointed Grant to negotiate a commercial treaty with Mexico. The Mexicans named Romero as his counterpart. Both nations eventually rejected the resultant treaty because it had been drawn up by close personal friends.

DECEMBER 24, 1883. Returning from a visit, Grant slipped on the ice in front of his home in New York City. While still confined to bed in January, Grant developed pleurisy.

MAY 6, 1884. The firm of Grant and Ward collapsed. Ulysses Grant, Jr. had been lured by a remarkable swindler, Ferdinand Ward, into a partnership supported by his father and other relatives. General Grant had even been induced to borrow money from W. H. Vanderbilt to aid the firm. Grant had believed himself in comfortable financial circumstances; now he discovered that he had nothing and owed substantial sums. In order to support his family, Grant now began to write articles on his battles for the Century Magazine. In June he decided to write his Memoirs.

NOVEMBER, 1884. As Grant dictated to his secretary, he began to feel pain in his throat which soon made eating almost impossible. It was learned that this was a fatal cancer.

FEBRUARY 27, 1885. Grant signed a contract with his friend Mark Twain to publish his "Memoirs."

MARCH 4, 1885. As an act of respect, Grant was placed on the list of retired generals. The money this would bring was much needed.

MAY 23, 1885. "Memoirs," Volume I, went to the press. Prepared as Grant was dying, only the first part was dictated, since Grant could no longer speak without pain as the cancer grew in his throat. The latter parts were scrawled in pencil on a tablet and transcribed by former staff officer Adam Badeau and Grant's oldest son, Frederick. In a note to one of his doctors, Grant wrote: "If I live long enough I will become a sort of specialist in the use of certain medicines if not in the treatment of disease. It seems that one mans destiny in this world is quite as much a mystery as it is likely to be in the next. I never thought of acquiring rank in the profession I was educated for; yet it came with two grades higher prefixed to the rank of General officer for me. I certainly never had either ambition or taste for political life; yet I was twice president of the United States. If any one had suggested the idea of my becoming an author, as they frequently did, I was not sure whether they were making sport of me or not. I have now written a book which is in the hands of the manufacturers. I ask that you keep these notes very private lest I become an authority on the treatment of diseases. I have already too many trades to be proficient in any." 47

JUNE 16, 1885. To avoid the summer heat, the Grant family moved to a cottage at Mount McGregor, New York, in the Adirondacks.

JULY 23, 1885. Grant died at the cottage at Mount McGregor.

AUGUST 4, 1885. Funeral services for Grant were held at Mount McGregor. At the same time, a memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey. Following the funeral ceremonies, the coffin was carried by special train to Albany and displayed in the Capitol. The following day, the coffin was taken to City Hall in New York City.

AUGUST 8, 1885. Three Presidents of the United States attended the burial services, and Union and Confederate Generals rode together in carriages. New York City had offered ground in any of its public parks for the tomb, and although the family had originally inclined to a location in Central Park, it had finally settled upon Riverside Park. The coffin was placed in a hastily constructed temporary tomb.

DECEMBER 10, 1885. Publication of the Memoirs. Sales were so successful that by February 27, 1886, the publishers could give Mrs. Grant a check for $200,000. Total profits to the Grant family may have reached $450,000.

APRIL 27, 1891. Ground was broken for Grant's tomb. The task of raising the necessary $600,000 had taken considerable time, as did the construction of the tomb.

APRIL 27, 1897. The tomb was dedicated on what would have been Grant's seventy-fifth birthday. The coffin had been privately transferred ten days earlier.

DECEMBER 14, 1902. Julia Grant died, and was buried with her husband as both had earnestly requested.

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