General Notes

18th President of the USA.

21st cousin 7 times removed.


As a second-lieutenant he joined the army of occupation in Texas  under General Zachary Taylor, was in the battles of Palo Alto and  Resaca de la Palma, and was present at the capture of Monterey.  Promoted captain in 1853, in 1854 he resigned his commission and  settled on a farm near St. Louis, Missouri.  In 1861, when the Civil War began, Grant was appointed colonel of  the 21st Regiment of Illinois Infantry. In November, now brigadier-  general, he fought the battle of Belmont. In February 1862 he captured  Fort Henry, and soon after Fort Donelson. In April he fought a two  days' battle at Shiloh. After various unsuccessful movements against  Vicksburg, Grant crossed the Missisippi, April 1863, twice defeated  the enemy, and drove them into Vicksburg, when he besieged. After many  assaults the stronghold surrendered conditionally on July 4, 1863,  with 31.600 prisoners. In October he fought at Chattanooga, and drove  the enemy out of Tennessee.  In March 1864 Grant, now a major-general in the regular army, was  promoted lieutenant-general, and given the command of all the armies  of the United States. His plan of campaign was to concentrate all the  national forces into several distinct armies, which should operate  simultaneously against the enemy. Sherman moving toward Atlanta, while  Grant himself accompanied the army of the Potomac against Richmond. On  May 4 he crossed the Rapidan, encountered General Robert E. Lee in the  Wilderness, and fought a desperate three days' battle, and pursuing  the offensive, he drove the enemy within the lines of Richmond. On  March 29, 1865, began a week's hard fighting, after which Lee  surrendered his entire army, April 9. The fall of Richmond  substantially ended the war.  In July 1866 Grant was appointed full general; in 1868 and 1872  he was elected president by the Republicans. Amont the events of his  administration were the guaranteeing of the right of suffraqge without  regard to race, colour or previous servitude, and the peaceful  settlement of the 'Alabama Claims'. The proposal of a third term of  presidency not having been approved, Grant became a sleeping partner  in a bankinghouse.  In May 1884 the house suspended, and it was discovered that two  of the partners had robbed the general of all he possessed. In the  hope of providing for his family, he begun his autobiography, when in  1884 a sore throat proved to be cancer at the root of the tongue. The  sympathies of the nation were aroused, and in March 1885 congress  restored him to his rank of general, which he had lost on accepting  the presidency. He died at Mount McGregor near Saratoga, July 23.
Source: Chambers's Biographical Dictionary.