Early life and career of Ulysses S. Grant

Early life and career of Ulysses S. Grant
Engraving of the Grant Birthplace in Point Pleasant, Ohio

This article is part of a series about Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the first born son of Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant. This article lends itself to the story of this future general's ancestry, birth, and early career in and out of the United States army from 1822 to 1861. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio and he was educated in both private and public schools or academies and was later known to be an avid reader. Grant was raised as a Methodist, but uncommon for his time, he was not baptized or forced to attend church by his parents. Growing up in a middle-class family and supported by his father's tanneries, he sought a different career in the military. He was appointed to West Point by Ohio Congressman Thomas L. Hamer. It was Hamer who gave Grant the name Ulysses S. Grant when Grant entered West Point as a plebe in 1839. After four years at West Point, he was stationed in Missouri, where he met his future wife, Julia Dent. In 1846, Grant served in the Mexican–American War, where he was brevetted for bravery. There he fought in Mexico and learned under two commanders, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Upon his return to the United States, he married Julia and started a family.

After the war, Grant was assigned to posts in New York and Michigan before traveling west to a posting at Fort Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest and at Fort Humboldt in present-day Northern California. On his journey to California by ship, Grant compassionately aided victims of a cholera epidemic while he was traveling through Panama, arriving in San Francisco in 1853, during the California Gold Rush. Grant's tenure in the Pacific Northwest included the aftermath of the Cayuse War. Grant's various attempts at speculation ventures failed in his effort to support Julia and his family. While stationed at Fort Humboldt Grant became lonely and depressed and he began to drink. After accusations of drunkenness while on duty at Fort Humboldt, Grant was compelled to resign and returned to Missouri and his family. Six years of civilian life were difficult for Grant, as he had little aptitude for business or farming, and was devastated by the Panic of 1857. In 1859, the family moved again, to Galena, Illinois, where Grant had a job as a clerk in his father's leather shop. He worked there until 1861, when the American Civil War began.