Boy's life of General Grant

Front matter

BOY3 UF^ o^

COPYRIGHT .OFFICE.

No registration of title of this book as a preliminary to copyright protection has been found.

Chapter I

Ancestry. -Mathew Grant. -His voyage from England in the Mary and John. — Settlement at Mattapan near Boston. - Moves to Windsor, Conn. —Troublous times in the Colonies. — How people went to church. — Living in a blockhouse. —Noah Grant. - His son Noah Grant.- Jesse R.Grant, father of Ulysses. -Birth of our hero.- What he says of his parents

Chapter II

Weight of the baby. - Giving him a name. —Hiram Ulysses Grant. - Boyhood of Ulysses. - His first smell of powder. - Fondness for horses. — His skill as a rider. — Hauling wood and carrying passengers.— Skating. — How his frozen feet were cured. — Hauling logs for the new jail. — What "Dave and Me" did. — Breaking a neighbor's window by accident

Chapter III

The young horsebreaker. - Riding circus ponies. - Young Grant's famous horse-trade. — Selling a refractory horse. — Trips to Cincinnati. — Sent to West Point. — How the appointment came about. — Mistake in his name - Grant's sensitiveness on the subject. —Preparing for examination. - His outfit. - Joiirney to West Point.- Canal, stage, railway, and steamboat. -West Point and its history. - Grant's proficiency. — Excels in horsemanship ^^"^^

Chapter IV

Grant thrashes an impertinent student. -A salutary lesson. - "Uncle Sam " — Popular with his fellows. — An arbiter of disputes. — First visit home. - A happy reunion. - Graduates from the Military Academy.— His standing in his class.— Home again. — Appointed into the Fourth Infantry. —His first uniform. — Joins his regiment at St.

Louis. — Meets his future wife. — Courtship under difficulties, — Troubles between Texas and Mexico. — Fourth Infantry ordered to the frontier 52-65

Chapter V

On to Texas. — General Taylor. — Desires of the Government. — State of affairs at that time. — Landing of the Fourth Infantry at Corpus Christi. — On the Nueces. — Grant's personal mishap. — Kinney, the mule-trader. — Smuggling as a profession. — Hunting near Corpus Christi. — Capturing wild horses. —Grant's horse transactions. — His promotion. — Brevet rank. — Marching to the Rio Grande. — Encountering great herds of wild horses. — Sights on the plains . 66-78

Chapter VI

Arrival opposite Matamoras. — Fort Brown and Brownsville. — Attack by Mexicans. — Point Isabel. — Sending for provisions. — Fort Brown shelled. — Taylor's return from Point Isabel. — Attacked by the Mexican army. — Battle of Palo Alto. — An artillery duel. — Battle of Resaca de la Palma. — Victory for the Americans. — Grant's part in the battles. — Return to Fort Brown. — Occupation of Matamoras and Camargo. — Movement on Monterey 79-93

Chapter VII

The battle of Monterey. — Strength and organization of the army. — Defenses of the city. — Bishop's palace. — Black Fort. — Movements of "Worth's Division. — Capture of the Saltillo Road. — Advance into the city. — Grant goes for ammunition. — A perilous ride. — General Ampudia surrenders. — Hoffman's verses on " Monterey." — Men who became famous. — Characteristics of General Taylor. — His hatred of uniform. — An amusing incident. — An armistice. — Scott's plans for the war. — Grant goes to Vera Cruz. — Battle of Buena Vista, 94-106

Chapter VIII

March from Vera Cruz. — Meeting the enemy. — Battle of Cerro Gordo.

— Scott's plan of battle. — "Always obey your superior officer." — Advance to, Perote and Puebla. — A long wait for reinforcements. — Advance into the valley of Mexico. — Battles of Contreras and Churubusco. — Attack upon the city. — Grant's exploit at Molino del Rey.

— In a church belfry with a howitzer. — Grant's memory. — Capture of the city. — Declaration of peace 107-118

Chapter IX

Promoted again. - Favorably mentioned in several reports. -General s'otts rattlesnake story. -Grant returns to the United States - Robbed on the way. -Marries Miss Dent. - On duty at Sacke ts Harbor and Detroit. -The first baby. -" The Cicotte mare. - Quarrel with Zachary Chandler. - Dog-fight on Grosse Isle^- A Son of Temperance and an Odd Fellow. - Second son born. - Mrs Grant

returns to St. Louis

Chapter X

Off for California. - On the Isthmus. - Difficulties and hardships of the iourney.- Failure of the contractor to keep his agreement. - Overland in the mud. - How Grant acquitted himself. - Arrival at Panama - Embarking on the Golden Gate. - Outbreak of cholera. - Arrival at San Francisco. -Expense of living in California. - Grant m Oreeon -His experience at farming. - Another promotion. - At Humboldt Bay. - Resigned and goes home. - Settles down to ^^^^^^S-- In the real-estate business. - Moves to Galena, 111. . . ^^^^^

Chapter XI

Galena and its history. - Lincoln's election. - Threatened t^o^^^^^ ^j^^ the South. - Excitement in North and South after Lincoln's election. _ The inauguration. - Conduct of Buchanan's administration. - Call for troops. - Response of Galena. - Speeches of E. B. ^ashburn^e and

John A. Rawlins

Chapter XII

Galena raises a company. - Grant drills and ^^^^^^^^Vl't'w^^hin.ton" sides at a meeting. -Writes to the adjutant-general at Washington, "toe to Springfield. -Enters the State service -Military adviser to the governor. - Colonel of Twenty-first Illinois Infantry. - Ordered to Nor?h Missouri. - Light marching order. - Guarding -Iway^and

bridges

Chapter XIII

Grant becomes a brigadier-general. -Ordered '^^^l^^'^^^^-J^^ command at Jefferson City. -State of ^«J!^%^h^ere^- The border States. - Grant goes to Cape Girardeau. - His staff-officers. - Pursuing Jeff Thompson. - Transferred to Cairo. - Captures Paducah^K> . -Battle of Belmont. -Driving the rebels and driven by them^-- Grant's narrow escape. - Intelligence of a^horse. - Losses at^^^e^ mout

Chapter XIV

Fremont superseded by Halleck. — Characteristics of the two men. — Fremont's march to the South-west. — His imaginary foe. — Retreat to Rolla. — Grant at Cairo. — His annoyances. — Fugitive slaves, and how they were dealt with. — Union sentiment in the border States. — Winter of 1861-62. — Buell at Bowling Green and Mill Springs. — Movements against Forts Henry and Donelson. — Capture of Fort Henry, and investment of Donelson. — A woman's tongue, and what came of it 201-217

Chapter XV

The Rebels make a sortie from Donelson. — Repulsed at a decisive moment.^ — Grant's discovery. — Three days' rations in haversacks, m Grant's movements on the battlefield. — Terrible weather for campaigning. — John B. Floyd and his escape. — General Pillow.— Buckner's flag of truce and his proposal. — Grant's reply. — The surrender. — Excitement in the North, and gloom at the South.— Losses at Donelson 218-232

Chapter XVI

Movements after Donelson. — Evacuation of Columbus. —Capture of Clarksville and Nashville. — Up the Tennessee River. — Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh. — Great battle there. — First day's fighting. — Grant's army in peril. — Reinforced by Buell. — Fighting on the second day. — Rebels driven back. — Fugitives from the battlefield.

— Grant injured by a fall. — Death of Albert Sidney Johnston.— Losses at Shiloh 233-248

Chapter XVII

Grant's narrow escape in the battle. — Confederate strength at Corinth.

— General Halleck assumes command. — Siege of Corinth. — A slow approach. — Fifteen miles in six weeks. — Grant asks to be relieved.

— His request denied. — Rebels evacuate Corinth. — Pope and Buell pursue them. — Grant in command of the department. — His escape from guerrillas. — Rebels attack Corinth .... 239-264

Chapter XVIII

Vain attempt against Vicksburg. — Grant's long line of communications.

— Dickey's raid. — Rebels capture Holly Springs. — Colonel Bowers and the muster-roll. — Grant falls back. — INIovemeut from Memphis towards Vicksburg. — Canal-digging. — A misfortune. — Various expeditions. — Playing a joke on the Rebels. -Running the batteries. — Landing at Grand Gulf. — The first battle .... 265-280

CHAPTER XIX. Intercepted dispatches. - The march continued. - Battle of Raymond

— Capture of Jackson. -Destruction of rebel factories and store-houses. -General Joseph E. Johnston. - Pemberton comes out to meet Grant.- Battle of Champion Hills, and defeat of rebels. - Pemberton retires to Vicksburg. - Investment of the place. — The siege

— Exploding a mine. —Famine in Vicksburg . . . 281-296

Chapter XX

Result of the mine. - The Lord and Joe Johnston. -A flag of truce - Terms of surrender. - Vicksburg in Union hands. -Rudeness of General Pemberton. -Grant's "Yankee trick. "- Surrender of Port Hudson. — Grant ordered to Cairo. — Commanding the grand military division of the Mississippi. - Grant at Chattanooga. -A state of siege.

— Capture of Lookout Valley. - Charge of tlie mule brigade, 297-317

Chapter XXI

Bragg's mistake. -Grant meets a party of rebel soldiers. - Bragg's notice to noncombatants. -Attack upon Mission Ridge. - Capture of Lookout Mountain. -The Battle above the clouds. -Great battle of Chattanooga. - How the Ridge was taken . - Bragg's retreat. - Effect of the victory iu the North. - Grant named for the presidency. - His ambition. - - The sidewalk. " - Made a lieutenant-general. - Ordered to Washington 318-335

Chapter XXII

On duty at Washington. -His staff. - General plan of campaign. - State of affairs at the time.- Army of the Potomac. -Its condition and morals. -Lee's position.- Preparing for the offensive. - Beginning the movement. -Crossing the Rapidan. - Encountering Lee's army. -Hard fighting in The Wilderness. - Six days of battles. -A wily foe.- <' Shall fight it out on this line if it takes all sum-

"^^^ - • • • 336-352

Chapter XXIII

End of The Wilderness battles. - A few days of rest. - Meade's congratulatory order. - Hancock attacks, and is repulsed. - Another advance. -Sheridan's raid and its results. - Grant's army on the Paraunkey. -Attack on Petersburg. - Headquarters at City Point. -Reinforcements. - Grant and the negro sentinel. -Mr. Lincoln's experience - Sheridan again. - Battles in the Shenandoah Valley. - Grant's coolness at an explosion 353-369

Chapter XXIV

Forming negro regiments. — Anger of the Confederates. — How they treated some negro soldiers. — General Butler's retaliation. — General Lee's letter and Grant's answer. — Hood's campaign and the result. — Grant visits New York. — Sheridan's raid. — Last movement on Richmond. — Battles of Dinwiddle, Five Forks, and Appomattox. — Evacuation of Richmond. — Lee's army in a trap . . . 370-387

Chapter XXV

Lee's surrender. — How it was brought about, — Terms of the agreement.

— Johnston's surrender. — President Lincoln's visit to Richmond. — Reception by the negroes. — How New York received the great news.

— Lincoln's return to "Washington. — Grant's return. — Assassination of the President. — How Grant escaped. — The President's dream. — Anger of the North. — The French in Mexico. — How they were driven out 388-402

Chapter XXVI

Grant makes a tour through the Northern States. —Revisits Galena.— Citizens give him a house — The new sidewalk. — Goes to Missouri and Ohio. — Visits the South. — Secretary of War ad interim. — Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. — Nominated for the presidency. — Elected. — His administration. — Re-elected. — Retirement. — Journey around the world. — In Cuba and Mexico. — Bankruptcy. — Writing his memoirs. — Disease. — Death 403-420

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

General Grant Frontispiece

Lieutenant Grant riding for Ammunition AT Monterey Facing Page 55

Battle of Buena Vista " " 97 -

"Halt! Who comes There ? " " " 125*'

Battle of Shiloh " *' 167 '^

Siege of Yicksburg " " 201

General Grant at His Headquarters . " " 249

Battle of Fredericksburg " " 287

Surrender of Lee " " 327

BOYS' LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.

Chapter. I

Ancestry.— Matliew Grant. -His voyage from England in the Mary and John. — Settlement at Mattapan near Boston. - Moves to Windsor, Conn. —Troublous times hi the Colonies. — How people went to church. — Living in a blockhouse. — Noah Grant. - His son Noah Grant.- Jesse R.Grant, father of Ulysses. — Birth of our hero.— What he says of his parents.

Ulysses S. Grant was an American of the eighth generation from Mathew Grant and his wife, Priscilla, who came from Dorchester, England, in May, 1630, and settled in Massachusetts. Nearly all of the one hundred and forty passengers on the ship Mary and John, which brought Mathew Grant to America, were from Devon, Somerset, and Dorchester; and they came with the intention of remaining permanently in America.

The Mary and John had a rough voyage of ten weeks across the Atlantic. The captain had agreed to land the passengers at Boston ; but instead of that he landed them nine miles from that city. They brought suit, and recovered damages for the violation of his agreement. Then they crossed the bay in little boats, reached Boston, and thence went to a place that the Indians called Mattapan, four miles from Boston, which they named Dorchester in honor of the English town whence they came.

Five years after his arrival in the New World, Mathew Grant moved with his family to Windsor, Conn., and remained there until the time of his death. He was surveyor for the Windsor colony for more that forty years, and was also for many years the town clerk of Windsor. His eldest son, Samuel, settled on lands on the east bank of the Connecticut River, opposite Windsor; and his descendants are still to be found there.

The founder of the Grant family in America suffered many hardships. The first meal of the Dorchester settlers was of fish without any bread, and they had many a similar meal afterwards. Roger Clap, the historian of the settlement, says : " The place was a wilderness. Fish was a good help to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I thought the very crusts from my father's table would have been sweet; and when I could have meal and salt and water boiled together, I asked, ' Who would ask for better?'"

The reasons for the movement to Connecticut are not clearly known ; but certain it is that about half the Dorchester settlers joined in it. One old writer

HARDSHIPS OF COLONIAL LIFE. 11

says it was caused by " a hankering after new lands " which were fertile and grassy, while the region around Dorchester was rocky and heavily wooded; besides, there would he better opportunities for trading in furs with the Indians. The journey was one of great hardship, and so was life in the new settlement. So troublesome were the Indians, that the settlers built a stockade of trunks of trees set upright in the ground and close together, and all went there at night for safety. For many years they were in constant danger from the Indians whether at home, at church, in the fields, or wherever else they went. The Indians always came without warning; and their work was quick and murderous.

In those troubled times, throughout all the New England colonies, the men carried their guns to church with them as a matter of caution ; and they took seats at the doors of the pews so as to be ready to rush out in case of an Indian alarm. To this day, in the New England States, though guns are no longer carried to the house of divine worship, the seating follows the custom of old Colonial times, — women and children at the head or inner end of the pew, and men at the door.

No doubt Mathew Grant had his share of Indian fighting, and bore his part bravely. Since his time the Grant family has been a warlike, one as we learn from its history. General Grant's great grandfather, Noah Grant, and his brother Solomon, of the fifth generation from Mathew Grant, held commissions in the English army in 1756 in the old French and Indian War. They went in an expedition to Canada, and both were killed in that j^ear. Nineteen years later, General Grant's grandfather, Noah Grant, went with a Connecticut company to join the Continental army in Massachusetts at the outbreak of the Revolution, and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He served through the whole of the Revolutionary War; but was on furlough a part of the time, as he was married in Connecticut during the war, and was a widower with two children at its close.

After the war was ended, and the independence of the United States acknowledged. Captain Noah Grant moved to Pennsylvania, and afterwards to Liverpool, Ohio, the second move being made in 1799. Before leaving Pennsylvania he married a second time ; and his eldest son by his second marriage was Jesse R. Grant, the father of the hero of our story.

Comparatively little is known of the ancestors of General Grant down to the beginning of the present century. But certain it is that none of them were " cradled in luxury," and there can be little doubt that the firmness of will and indomitable perseverance for which General Grant was noted were an inheri-

PITTSBURG IN 1799 13

tance derived from the environments of all the family, from Mathew to Jesse. We have learned something about the hardships through which Mathew Grant undoubtedly passed, and the conditions of life remained very much the same for a century or more after the arrival of the Mary and John. About the time of the Revolution, the Connecticut Valley became prosperous ; but prosperity could only be gained through industry which, though general, was by no means universal. There was a disposition among the people to emigrate to the West; and, as already stated, the grandfather of General Grant joined in the migration.

Compare for a moment the condition of things at that time and at the present.

Pittsburg was a frontier post of five hundred inhabitants, who lived in log houses, and were protected by Fort Pitt, which stood at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, where they form the Ohio. There were settlements at several points throughout Ohio, but none of great consequence ; and practically the whole region was a wilderness. There was a rough road over the mountains from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, but no turnpike ; and the majority of travelers who could afford any kind of conveyance went on horseback, the journey occupying eight or ten days. At present, one can make it

14 BOYS* LIFE OF GENEKAL GRANT.

in as many hours in a Pullman car, the triumph of luxurious locomotion on wheels.

Down the Ohio River, one may now travel by a swift steamboat, or he may skirt its banks by the swifter railway. In 1799 Noah Grant loaded his wife and five children into a flat-boat, along with a horse, two cows, cooking, table, and farming utensils, and all the rest of their worldly goods. One end of the boat was roofed over; and under this rough shelter, day and night, the boat floated with the current, Noah and his wife each taking turns at watching while the other slept. ^

Jesse R. Grant, the father of the general, was five years old at the time of this voyage. All through his life he remembered it perfectly, and used to tell how vast the river appeared to his young eyes which had never gazed on a stream of the size of the Ohio. The boat landed at what is known as Liverpool, Ohio, but was then a settlement of half a dozen log cabins at the edge of a dense forest. Here the family remained a short time, and then moved to Deerfield, where, in 1805, Mrs. Grant died, and the family was broken up. Noah Grant, with the two younger children, went to live with his eldest son, while the others (there were five children altogether) found homes in the neighborhood of Deerfield. Jesse was taken into the family of Judge

JESSE K. GRANT. 15

Tod, whose son was afterwards the renowned war governor of Ohio. Jesse also lived for a short time in the family of Mr. Brown, the father of John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame, " Whose soul goes marching on."

As soon as he was old enough to learn a trade, Jesse Grant left Deerfield and went to Maysville, Ky., where he became apprenticed to a tanner. When he had learned his trade and was ready for business, he set up a tannery at Ravenna, Ohio, and a few years later moved to Pleasant Point, where he went into the same occupation. It was at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, that the man, destined to conquer the greatest rebellion that the world ever saw, was born on the 27th of April, 1822. His mother was Hannah, daughter of John Simpson, whom Jesse Grant had married in June, 1821.

Concerning his parents. General Grant wrote as follows in his " Memoirs : " —

^' During the minority of my father, the West afforded but poor facilities for the most opulent of the youth to acquire an education ; and the majority were dependent, almost exclusively, upon their own exertions for whatever learning they obtained. I have often heard him say that his time at school was limited to six months, when he was very young, too young, indeed, to learn much, or to appreciate the advantages of an education ; and to a ' quarter's schooling ' afterwards, probably while living with Judge Tod. But his thirst for education was intense. He learned rapidly, and was a constant reader up to the day of his death — in his eightieth 3-ear. Books were scarce in the Western Eeserve during his youth, but he read every book he could borrow in the neighborhood where he lived. This scarcity gave him the early habit of studying everything he read, so that when he got through with a book, he knew everything in it. Even after reading the daily papers — which he never neglected — he could give all the important information they contained. He made himself an excellent English scholar; and before he was twenty years of age he was a constant contributor to Western newspapers, and was also, from that time until he was fifty years old, an able debater in the societies for this purpose, which were common in the West at that time. He always took an active part in politics, but was never a candidate for office, except, I believe, that he was the first mayor of Georgetown. He supported Jackson for the presidency ; but he was a Whig, a great admirer of Henry Clay, and never voted for any other Democrat for high office after Jackson.

^•My mother's family lived in Montgomery County, Pa., for several generations. I have little information about her ancestors. Her family took no interest in genealogy, so that m}^ grandfather, who died when I was sixteen years old, knew only back to his grandfather.

''My mother's father, John Simpson, moved from Montgomery County, Pa., to Clermont County, Ohio, about the year 1819, taking with him his four children, — three daughters and one son. My mother, Hannah Simpson, was the third of these children, and was then over twenty years of age. Her eldest sister

BIRTH OF OUR HERO. IT

was at that time married, and had several children. She still lives in Clermont County at this writing, October 5th, 1884, and is over ninety years of age. Her brother, next of age, and now past eighty-eight, • is also living in Clermont County, within a few miles of the old homestead, and is as active in mind as ever. He was a supporter of the Government during the war, and remains a firm believer that national success by the Democratic party means irretrievable ruin.-"

At the time of General Grant's birth there was a stream of emigration from the East to Ohio and other Western States. It came principally from New England, New York, and Pensylvania, there being vary few people from Virginia and the other Southern States who settled north of the Ohio River. Steamboating in the valley of the Mississippi was then in its infancy, the first steamboat there having been launched at Pittsburg in 1811. Navigation was principally by flatboats and keelboats, and a great force of men was required for handling them.

The boatmen of that time were marked characters in their way. They were a powerful, hardy race, unerring shots with the rifle, and fond of fighting and "• rough frolics " on shore. If two or more crews happened to meet in a town where they had landed for the night, there was pretty sure to be a fist fight, and perhaps two or three of them, before bedtime. After a fight, the combatants shook hands, and no animosity remained. Wounds and bruises were regarded as of little consequence ; and the boatmen used to boast that they had " mighty healing flesh."

It was an imperative rule of the boatmen that they would do no work on shore, their only place of industry being on the water. Their principal land amusement was shooting at a mark, and playing rough practical jokes on each other. With the rifle-ball they would knock a pipe from a fellowboatman's hat-band, or spill the contents of a tin cup as it was being raised to the holder's lips. They would cut off the head of a wild turkey in flight, and snuff a candle at fifty paces without putting out the light. Their most favorite amusement was "driving the nail." This consisted in sinking a nail into a tree two-thirds of its length, and then, at fifty paces, driving it home with a rifle-ball.

When two of them quarreled and made up their differences, it was not unusual for them to shoot small objects from each other's heads as a mark of friendship. A famous boatman, Mike Fink, the best shot on the river, lost his life in one of these affairs. He was to shoot an apple from the head of a man with whom he had quarreled and made up. When he fired, the man fell to the ground, where-

KEEL-BOATMEN ON WESTERN RIVERS. 19

upon his brother shot Fink through the heart. In a few moments the supposed dead man rose to his feet; and it was found that Fink's bullet had passed between the man's head and the apple, making only a slight scalp wound.

Occasionally the boatmen had desperate fights with river pirates who infested certain portions of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In these encounters there was generally bloodshed and loss of life, especially when the pirates were victorious.

Chapter II

Weight of the baby. — Giving him a name. — Hiram Ulysses Grant. — Boyhood of Ulysses. — His first smell of powder. — Fondness for horses. — His skill as a rider. — Hauling wood and carrying passengers. — Skating. — How his frozen feet were cured. — Hauling logs for the new jail.— "What "Dave and Me" did. — Breaking a neighbor's window by accident.

" How much did the baby weigh ? " one of our young readers asks.

It weighed ten and three-quarter pounds, so the tradition is in the family ; and it was pronounced a strong and healthy infant. Its name was a matter of great consequence, that could only be decided at a family council; and this was not held until the child was six weeks old. On the day appointed for the meeting, Mr. and Mrs. Grant entered the family wagon and drove to the house of the Simpsons, the parents of Mrs. Grant, ten miles away. Of course the baby accompanied them; and this was probably his first journey away from home, and his first opportunity to see the world. He did not keep a memorandum of what he saw on or by the way; and history does not tell us of his comments concerning the ride, or how he " liked the country."

NAMING THE BABY. 21

It is possible that he remarked on returning home that he didn't know the world was so large.

The council consisted of the boy's parents, his grandparents on the mother's side, and two maternal aunts; and there was a long discussion of the subject before them, which became heated towards the end. Finally it was determined to vote by ballot; and thereupon each one wrote on a slip of paper the name which he or she preferred. The slips were then dropped into a hat, and one of the aunts was delegated to draw from the hat a single slip and read forth the name thereon inscribed.

The scrap of paper bore the name of " Ulysses ; " and when all the slips were examined it was found that the vote stood as follows : —

Ulysses 2

Albert 2

Theodore 1

Hiram 1

Hiram was voted by John Simpson, the father of Mrs. Grant, and out of deference to him it was subsequently prefixed to Ulysses; so that the boy was baptized Hiram Ulysses Grant. Albert was in honor of Albert Gallatin, who was then minister for the United States at Paris, and was highly popular for his many public services, which covered altogether a period of fully fifty years.

22 boys' life of general grakt.

Theodore was voted by one of the maiden aunts who thought it a pretty name ; and Ulysses was the choice of the boy's father and grandmother. The reader may wonder how such a classic name should have found its way into Ohio at that time, when schools, even of the common sort, were rare, and colleges practically unknown in that region. Well, here is the story that they tell about it : —

A copy of Fenelon's " Telemachus " had been brought into the settlement, and Jesse Grant borrowed and read the book shortly after his marriage. Then he sought and obtained permission to lend it to his mother-in-law, and she had just completed its perusal at the time of the family council. Both of them had been forcibly impressed with the character of Ulysses, the father of the hero of the story, who is depicted as "gentle of speech, beneficent of mind," "the most patient of men," "equally unmoved against danger and reproach," and " the wise Ulysses." One apostrophe to Telemachus is as follows : —