On this anniversary of the birth of Hiram Ulysses Grant, 200 years ago Wednesday, he is remembered as the 18th president of the United States, commander of the U.S. Army during the Civil War and national hero. He can also be thought of as an ordinary human being who struggled with many things that we struggle with now, two centuries later.
Grant’s official story is one of unrelenting service to his country. The Ohio native studied at West Point Military Academy. He graduated from West Point as a skilled horseman. Following his graduation, he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, here in St. Louis. Not long after arriving at Jefferson Barracks, Grant met Julia Dent, the sister of one of his West Point classmates and the daughter of a plantation owner. Shortly after meeting Dent, Grant went on to fight in the Mexican-American War. After the war, Grant returned to St. Louis and married Dent in 1848. The couple had four children. Grant resigned from the military in 1854 after being assigned to a series of remote army posts, including some on the West Coast. The Grant family lived at White Haven, the Dent family’s plantation.
Grant’s military career advanced quickly during the Civil War. After it began in April 1861, Grant reenlisted and became a colonel in the 21st Illinois Volunteers. President Abraham Lincoln soon made Grant a brigadier general. Grant had his first major military victory after his troops captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee. By 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of all U.S. armies. Grant commanded the victorious Union army and, on April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.
Grant was invited to join Lincoln at Ford’s Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865, but declined in order to visit family. Grant described Lincoln’s death as the “darkest day of my life.” He was convinced he would have somehow stopped John Wilkes Booth from pulling the trigger and assassinating Lincoln.
Grant served two terms in the presidency from 1869 to 1877, which was in the middle of Reconstruction. He supported pardons for former Confederate leaders while also attempting to protect the civil rights of freed slaves. In 1870 he oversaw the creation of the Justice Department. During his term, the 15th Amendment, which gave black men the right to vote, was ratified. He signed legislation limiting the activities of white terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Later in life, Grant commissioned Mark Twain to assist in writing and publishing his memoirs. The royalties of his memoirs totaled about $450,000, which would be more than $10 million today.
The story of one of the most extraordinary military leaders in American history is made even more remarkable when one considers his personal life.
Grant received little warmth or nurturing from his mother. he was constantly reminded by his father that Grant disappointed him. He was a mediocre student. Dent’s father, his eventual father-in-law, also did not approve of Grant; he opposed the marriage and went so far as to scheme ways to keep Dent from marrying him. Neither father thought Grant would ever make something of himself.
Multiple times he failed as a businessman, which required him to take whatever jobs he could to provide for his family, including walking the streets of St. Louis selling firewood. He started out his military career as an ambivalent soldier. Grant struggled with how to reconcile that his wife’s family owned slaves when he considered it morally wrong. He battled with alcoholism through much of his adult life.
Grant remained honest during his presidency, but his administration tarnished him with corruption and scandal. Later in his life, he was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to write his memoirs to be able to provide for his family after he died, since he was swindled out of their savings.
Grant never used any of these personal and human experiences as an excuse. Despite his personal demons and difficult relationships, Grant rose to be a hero of our country. At the end of his life, Grant wrote “I am glad to say that while there is much unblushing wickedness in this world … there is a compensating goodness of the soul.” Grant never seemed to let that wickedness stop him accomplishing great things. Endeavors that Americans should be forever grateful for.
I am not sure which I admire more, Grant’s professional life or his personal journey. Perhaps Twain said it best when he wrote, “He was a very great man and superlatively good.”
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