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GRANT'S TOUR

AROUND THE WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

LEAVES THE

HIS EARLY LIFE-ENTERS WEST POINT-GALLANT CON-
DUCT IN THE MEXICAN WAR-MARRIES
ARMY-THE NATION'S CALL-GRANT ENTERS THE
UNION ARMY-STATIONED AT CAIRO- - VICKSBURG-
CHATTANOOGA - MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF-LEE'S

-

SURRENDER-GENERAL GRANT BECOMES PRESIDENT---
HIS SECOND TERM-THE HISTORIAN'S ESTIMATE OF
HIM-TOUR ROUND THE WORLD.

In the early part of the Rebellion, the venerable
General Scott remarked: "I don't understand this war.
I never knew a war of this magnitude that did not throw
to the surface some great general. We have had splendid
fighting, but no damage has been done. Both armies
have drawn off in good order at the close of a conflict,
ready to begin the next day. Such fighting must be
interminable. Somebody must be destroyed. The enemy
must be spoiled; his means of warfare taken from him.
I must make an exception in favor of that young man out
West. He seems to know the art of damaging the enemy
and crippling him."

The young man referred to was General Grant, who
afterwards proved himself to be the "great general” which
General Scott had expected the war would develop.

Let us see who General Grant was:

He was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, in the State of Ohio, April 27th, 1822. His grandfather desired that he might be called Hiram, while his grandmother was equally desirous that he should be called Ulysses, after the Grecian hero; so the matter was compromised by calling him Hiram Ulysses. His father was by trade a tanner, and Ulysses was early initiated into the mysteries of the trade. At that period, the facilities for obtaining an education were not as good as they are now, and thus that of young Grant was very limited, and so "he grew up a sturdy youth, differing little from scores of hard-working young men around him."

When eighteen years of age, he succeeded in obtaining an appointment in the Military Academy at West Point, through the influence of Mr. Hamer, member of Congress from the district in which Grant's family lived. When Mr. Hamer presented his name for cadetship, by mistake he wrote the name, Ulysses S. Grant, and his name was so entered on the books at West Point. As Ulysses Simpson Grant he pursued his studies, graduated, and has since been known throughout our land. "He labored under great disadvantages, in comparison with many young men in his class, in his want of knowledge of the preparatory studies which they possessed. He made up. however, for all deficiencies in this respect, by his close application and perseverance." He graduated at West Point, in 1843, the twenty-first in his class. He was appointed brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth Regular Infantry, at that time stationed at Jefferson Barracks. He immediately joined his regiment, and in the following spring he moved with it up the Red River, to do frontier duty.

In 1845, at the commencement of our difficulties with Mexico, Grant and his regiment accompanied General Taylor to Corpus Christi, as a part of the "Army of Occupation." Soon after, he was promoted to a full second lieutenant. Grant's active military life began in 1846, when war was declared by Mexico against the United States. He accompanied General Taylor in his

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march from Point Isabel, and took an active part in the battles of Resaca and Palo Alto. When the army passed into the interior, his regiment accompanied it, and took part in the battle of Monterey.

Soon after this, his regiment was transferred to the command of General Scott, and he was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. Soon after, they took part in the battles between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico. He distinguished himself at Molino del Rey, and was appointed brevet first lieutenant. His bravery at Cha

pultepec caused him to be appointed brevet captain, and to be honorably mentioned in the dispatches.

When the war was over, his regiment returned to the United States, and was soon after stationed at Detroit. Shortly after his return, he was married to a Miss Dent, of St. Louis, Missouri. From Detroit he was transferred to Sackett's Harbor. At a later period, a force being sent to Oregon, he accompanied it, and while at this post, received, in 1852, a full commission as captain. In the following year he resigned his commission, and settled on a small farm, near that of his father-in-law, a short distance from St. Louis. Here he remained for a time, but when, a few years later, his father invited him to go into the leather trade with him, he at once availed himself of the opportunity, and moved to Galena, Illinois, in 1859; and "Grant & Son, Leather Dealers," becane well-known in their line of business.

He was quietly pursuing his business when the news of the fall of Fort Sumpter startled the land, and fired him with his old military enthusiasm. In the attack which had been made, he saw the old flag, for which he had often risked his life, imperiled. With the spirit of a true patriot, he exclaimed: "Uncle Sam educated me for the army; and although I have served faithfully through one war, I feel that I am still a little in debt for my education, and I am ready to discharge it and help put down this rebellion." He was invited by the Governor of his State to assist in organizing the quota demanded of that State, he taking the rank of Adjutant-General. He assisted in raising the necessary men, but did not accept the position offered him; and when Governor Yates proposed to send his name to Washington for the appointment of Brigadier-General, Grant nobly replied: "I do not ask for promotion; I want to earn it."

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