Ulysses S. Grant

18th U.S. President and Commanding General of the Union Army

Hiram Ulysses Grant, who was born on April 27, 1822, was the first child of Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson.^[1]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Order: 18th
Office: President of the United States
Took office: March 4, 1869
Left office: March 4, 1877
Predecessor: Andrew Johnson
Successor: Rutherford B. Hayes

Life and work

As a youth, Grant developed exceptional horse-handling skills and drove supply wagons for his father.^[2] He was nominated to West Point by Representative Thomas L. Hamer in 1839, where his name was mistakenly enrolled as "U. S. Grant"^[3] Grant graduated 21st out of 39 in his class and was assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment.^[4] During the Mexican-American War, Grant served as a quartermaster and learned logistics that later proved valuable.^[3]

After the war, Grant struggled financially for seven years, farming unsuccessfully and selling firewood.^[5] He freed a slave named William Jones by manumission deed in March 1859.^[6] Jesse Root Grant, a Whig Party supporter and abolitionist, named his son Hiram Ulysses but always called him Ulysses.^[1][7] Grant married Julia on August 22, 1848, and the couple had four children: Frederick, Ulysses Jr., Ellen, and Jesse II.^[8][9]

Understanding the importance of Kentucky's neutrality to Lincoln, Grant advanced on Paducah, Kentucky, and took it without a fight on September 6.^[3]

What the cited sources add

The same source notes the brigade marched through Alabama to Nashville and Louisville in pursuit of Bragg from August 14 to September 26.^[10] It records the Battle of Resaca on May 14-15 and that the unit mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, on December 16.^[10] A 2025 article in The Columbian states Grant first arrived at Columbia Barracks as a soldier in 1852 with the 4th Infantry.^[11]

References

Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hesseltine 2001, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Waugh 2009, p. 14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: White 2016, p. 24–25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2001, p. 28–29; Smith 2001, p. 28–29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McFeely 1981, p. 10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brands 2012a, p. 12–13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Longacre 2006, p. 6–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2001, p. 28–29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Ulysses S. Grant" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2001, p. 28–29; Simpson 2014, p. 49 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Battle Unit Details - the Civil War", U.S. National Park Service. facts only, no text reused. nps.gov
"Clark County History: Ulysses S. Grant", The Columbian, June 8, 2025. facts only, no text reused. columbian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ulysses S. Grant (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.