DID YOU KNOW?
Grants cottage in Wilton, New York
Grants Galena, Illinois house
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Grant helped recruit, equip, and drill troops in Galena. Then Gov. Richard Yates made him an aide and assigned him to the state adjutant general’s office. Yates then appointed him Colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteers in June 1861. Before he had even engaged the enemy, Grant was appointed Brigadier General. Grant soon gained command of the District of Southeast Missouri, headquartered at Cairo, Illinois.
Then in January 1862, dissatisfied with the use of his force for defensive and diversionary purposes, Grant received permission from General Henry Wager Halleck to begin an offensive campaign. On February 16 he won the first major Union victory of the war, when Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River in Tennessee, surrendered with about 15,000 troops. When the garrison’s commander, General Simon B. Buckner, requested his Union counterpart’s terms
Grant family
He then settled at White Haven, the Dents’ estate in Missouri, Grant began to farm 80 acres given to Julia by her father. This farming venture was a failure, as was a real estate partnership in St. Louis in 1859. The next year Grant joined the leather goods business owned by his father and operated by his brothers in Galena, Illinois.
In the Mexican-American War Grant showed gallantry in campaigns under General Zachary Taylor. He was then transferred to General Winfield Scott’s army, where he first served as regimental quartermaster and commissary. Grant then subsequently distinguished himself in battle in September 1847, earning commissions as First Lieutenant and Captain, though his permanent rank was First Lieutenant.
Then, on July 5, 1852, when the 4th Infantry sailed from New York for the Pacific coast, Grant left his growing family (two sons had been born) behind. Assigned to Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory. He was promoted to Captain in August 1853 and was assigned to Fort Humboldt, California. Then on April 11, 1854, Grant resigned from the army.