After the conclusion of the war, the Fourth regiment returned to New York, and the different companies composing it were stationed among the various forts and defences on the Northern borders of New York and Michigan, having their head-quarters at Detroit and Sackett's Harbor.

HIS MARRIAGE-HE IS ORDERED TO THE

PACIFIC.

Soon after his return he married Miss Julia Dent, a daughter of Frederick Dent, Esq., of Gravois, near St. Louis, and a lady of refinement and education. In 1852, the Fourth was ordered to the Pacific, and the battalion to which Lieutenant Grant was attached had its headquarters at Fort Dallas, Oregon Territory. In August, 1853, he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and was subsequently stationed at a fort nearly four hundred miles in the interior of California.

HIS

RESIGNATION FROM THE ARMY-BECOMES FARMER, COLLECTOR AND TANNER. Captain Grant was some time afterwards ordered to the Mississippi, but on the thirty-first of July, 1854, he resigned from the service and took up his residence with his father-in-law, near St. Louis, a portion of the time being engaged in the real estate and money-collecting business. A writer thus describes his mode of life at that time:

"General Grant occupied a little farm to the southwest of St. Louis, whence he was in the habit of cutting the wood and drawing it to Carondelet, and selling it in the market there. Many of his wood purchasers are now calling to mind that they had a cord of wood delivered in person by the great General Grant. When he came into the wood market he was usually dressed in an old felt hat, with a blouse coat, and his pants tucked in the tops of his boots. In truth, he bore the appearance of a sturdy, honest woodsman. This was his winter's work. In the summer he turned a collector of debts; but for this he was not qualified. He had a noble and truthful soul; so when he was told that the debtor had no money, he believed him, and would not trouble the debtor again. One of the leading

merchants of St. Louis mentioned this circumstance to me. From all I can learn of his history here, he was honest, truthful, indefatigable—always at work at something; but he did not possess the knack of making money. He was honorable, for he always repaid borrowed money. His habits of life were hardy, inexpensive, and simple."

In 1859 he removed to Galena, Illinois, where he became engaged in partnership with his father, in the leather trade. Devoting himself to his new business with the same attention and devotion which had marked his connection with the military service, the firm soon acquired a reputation second to none in the country, and such was the character of the two partners, that their recommendation was considered a certain guarantee of the superiority of the article.

In this connection it will not be out of place to mention the following anecdote:-A party of Illinois politicians visited the head-quarters of General Grant when they were located near Vicksburg, and endeavored to obtain his views on the political questions of the day. One of their number was especially earnest in his efforts, and while in the midst of what he considered a very persuasive speech, was interrupted by General Grant, who quietly remarked:

"There is no use of talking politics to me. I know nothing about that subject, and, furthermore, I don't know of any person among my acquaintances who does. But," continued he, "there is one subject with which I am perfectly acquainted; talk of that, and I am your man."

"What is that, General ?" asked the politicians in surprise.

'Tanning leather," replied General Grant.

Another anecdote is also given, for the truth of which we cannot vouch :-An infamous proposal of some kind was made on one occasion by a person to General Grant. The General becoming much annoyed, hastened the de

parture of the offender by the application of his boot. An officer who witnessed the punishment, remarked that he did not think the man was much injured, when the reply was made that there could be no doubt of the effectiveness of the assault, as "that boot never fails under such circumstances, for the leather came from Grant's store in Galena."

THE REBELLION-HE IS APPOINTED MUSTERING OFFICER OF ILLINOIS.

When in April, 1861, the telegraphic wires transmitted to the loyal people of the country the astounding intelligence that the traitors had opened their batteries upon the little garrison at Fort Sumter, Ulysses S. Grant, considering the claims of the Government paramount to those of family or business, raised and organized a company, and went with it to Springfield, where it was mustered into service. Governor Yates, of Illinois, soon afterwards, with a view of availing himself of the superior ability and military knowledge of the subject of our sketch, gave him the responsible appointment of mustering officer of the troops from that commonwealth, at the same time giving him the position of aid on his staff. After a brief period of arduous duty, he requested the Governor to give him an appointment in one of the three years' regiments then being organized, so that he might be enabled to carry out his earnest and patriotic desire to wield his sword upon the field of battle. Many of the officers who were leading the enemy, had been, until the breaking out of hostilities, warm friends of "U. S.," but when they united their fortunes with those of the seceding States, he blotted the past, with all its pleasant associations, from his memory, and regarding them only as enemies of his country, expressed his eagerness and his wish either to lead a band of patriots to the field to punish them for their treason, or,

if the Executive thought best, to accompany his fellowpatriots in a more humble and less responsible capacity.

IS APPOINTED COLONEL, AND IS ORDERED TO MISSOURI.

His application was responded to favorably, and in the middle of June, 1861, he resigned his position as mustering officer, and was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-first regiment of Illinois volunteers, organized at Mattoon, in that State. Colonel Grant immediately proceeded to Mattoon and removed his encampment to Caseyville, at which place for four weeks he superintended the organization and drill of his command. At the end of that time it was ordered into Missouri, and marching his men one hundred miles of the distance, he arrived at the point at which he had been instructed to report, and his command was detailed for guard duty along the line of the Hannibal and Hudson Railroad, in the northern part of the State. The military knowledge and experience of Colonel Grant were here first brought into requisition, and for the purpose of affording them all the scope they merited, he was made an Acting Brigadier-General, and placed in command of all the troops in that part of Missouri, then known as the "District of North Missouri." In the following August his regiment was ordered to Pilot Knob, and from thence to Ironton, and shortly afterwards to Marble Creek, and other important points, all of which he placed in a condition of defence.

COLONEL

GRANT APPOINTED BRIGADIERGENERAL-HIS BOLD MOVEMENT UPON PA

DUCAH.

In the same month Colonel Grant was detached from his regiment and appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, with rank and commission to date from the seventeenth of May, 1861, an exalted position for which he was

admirably adapted, and in every way competent. The wisdom of the Administration in making the selection has been proven too frequently since that period to require more than passing notice at this time.

The following officers received commissions as Brigadiers on the same date:

Samuel P. Heintzleman, Andrew Porter, William B. Franklin, and George A. McCall, of Pennsylvania; Erasmus D. Keyes, Darius N. Couch, and Frederick W. Lander, of Massachusetts; Philip Kearney and William R. Montgomery, of New Jersey; William T. Sherman, J. D. Cox, and Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio; John Pope, S. A. Hurlbut, B. M. Prentiss, and John A. McClernand, of Illinois; A. S. Williams and I. B. Richardson, of Michigan; James Cooper, of Maryland; J. J. Reynolds and Don Carlos Buell, of Indiana; Samuel R. Curtis, of Iowa; Benjamin F. Kelly, of Virginia; Franz Sigel, of Missouri; Fitz John Porter and Charles P. Stone, of the District of Columbia; Thomas W. Sherman, of Rhode Island; Rufus King and Charles S. Hamilton, of Wisconsin ; John W. Phelps, of Vermont, and Joseph Hooker, of California.

The large majority of these officers still occupy responsible positions in the Union army, but Ulysses S. Grant has, by his repeated victories, become the recipient of honors more numerous and exalted than any of his colleagues of 1861, until at length, in March, 1864, he attained the highest position that the government of the United States can bestow upon a military hero.

Soon after his appointment, General Grant was placed in command of a District composed of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, with his head-quarters at Cairo, a point which previous to the war was regarded as an insignificant and unprepossessing western town, but which, from its location at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers,