frontier, Captain Grant going with his company first to Detroit and then to Sacketts Harbor. This year he married Miss Julia Dent, the sister of one of his classmates at West Point.

The discovery of gold in California, in the autumn of 1851, carried to that region an immense emigration, many of whom were desperate, vile and reckless, making it necessary to dispatch more troops in order to protect the

crowds of emigrants from the Indians, who had been provoked by the lawlessness of the whites to the most cruel reprisals. The battalion to which Captain Grant was attached was sent into Oregon, taking up its quarters at Fort Dallas in that distant territory.

In 1853, after a two-years' absence from his family, finding garrison life in that lonely region offered no opportunities of usefulness, he determined to resign his commission-having been promoted to a full captaincy-which he did on the 31st day of July, 1854, and commenced life as a private citizen, taking up his residence on a small farm near St. Louis, remaining there engaged in commercial pursuits until the year 1859, when he entered into partnership with his father in the leather trade at Galena, Ill. The firm of Grant & Son soon became a very prosperous concern, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion, to all appearances Captain Grant had one of the best business prospects of any one in Galena.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CIVIL WAR-MADE A BRIGADIER GENERAL.

Captain Grant was residing at Galena on the 12th of April, 1861. The "first shot" at Fort Sumter moved him to the utmost depths of his being, and his loyal spirit was roused to its utmost intensity. He said to a friend: The government educated me for the What I am, army. I owe to my country. I have served her through one war, and, live or die, will serve her through this." Going into the streets of Galena he found no difficulty in raising a company of volunteers; he tendered his and their services to the Governor of the State of Illinois. His zeal and straightforward manner so impressed Governor Yates that he at once made him Adjutant-General of the State. His familiarity with military regulations and the routine of military life enabled him to render efficient service in organizing the several camps that were being formed at different points. It was owing to his zeal and indomitable labors as mustering officer that Illinois was enabled to turn out so many men as she did at the early stages of the war. One of the Illinois regiments having a vacant colonelcy, the position was offered to and at once accepted by Grant, his commission dating from June 15, 1861.

The following letter by General Grant to his father-inlaw, Frederick Dent, then of St. Louis, is of special interest. It shows General Grant's loyalty and unwavering devotion to

the Union. This letter was first published on April 13, 1885, just twenty-four years after the surrender of Fort Sumter.

Extracts from an editorial in the N. Y. Tribune of April 14, 1885, commenting on this letter, are also given:

MR. F. DENT

GALENA, April 19, 1861.

Dear Sir:-I have but very little time to write, but, as in these exciting times we are very anxious to hear from you, and know of no other way but by writing first to you, I must make time.

We get but little news by telegraph from St. Louis, but from all other points of the country we are hearing all the time. The times are indeed startling, but now is the time, particularly in the border slave States, for men to prove their love of country. I know it is hard for men to apparentiy work with the Republican party, but now

all party distinctions should be lost sight of, and every true patriot be for maintaining the integrity of the glorious old Stars and Stripes, the Constitution and the Union. The North is responding to the President's call in such a manner that the Rebels may truly quake. I tell you, there is no mistaking the feelings of the people. The Government can call into the field not only 75,000 troops, but ten or twenty times 75,000 if it should be necessary, and find the means of maintaining them, too.

It is all a mistake about the Northern pocket being so sensitive. In times like the present, no people are more ready to give their own time, or of their abundant means. No impartial man can conceal from himself the fact that in all these troubles the Southerners have been the aggressors and the Administration has stood purely on the defensive, more on the defensive than she would have dared to have done but for her consciousness of strength and the certainty of right prevailing in the end. The news to-day is that Virginia has gone out of the Union. But for the influence she will have on the other border slave States, this is not much to be regretted. Her position, or rather that of Eastern Virginia, has been more reprehensible from the beginning than that of South Carolina. She should be made to bear a heavy portion of the burden of the war for her guilt.

In all this I can but see the doom of slavery. The North does not want, nor will they want, to interfere with the institution; but they will refuse for all time to give it protection unless the South shall return soon to their allegiance; and then, too, this disturbance will give such an impetus to the production of their staple, cotton, in other parts of the world that they can never recover the control of the market again for that commodity. This will reduce the value of the negroes so much that they will never be worth fighting over again.

I have just received a letter from Fred (Frederick Dent, Jr.) He breathes forth the most patriotic sentiments. He is for the old flag as long as there is a Union of two States fighting under its banner, and when they dissolve, he will go it alone. This is not his language, but it is the idea, not so well expressed as he expresses it.

Julia and the children are well, and join me in love to you all. I forgot to mention that Fred has another heir, with some novel name that I have forgotten. Yours truly, U. S. GRANT.

The Tribune says:

"It is a peculiarly important and timely contribution to history. It