Born APRIL 27, 1822, into a Methodist family in Ohio, he was nominated at age 17 for a position at West Point by Congressman Thomas Hamer, who mistakenly added the middle initial ‘S’ to his name.At West Point, Ulysses S. Grant set an equestrian high-jump record that lasted for nearly 25 years.
After graduation in 1843, Grant was sent to Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri, and while visiting the family of a West Point classmate he fell in love with the classmate’s sister, Julia Dent, and they secretly engaged.
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were both sent to fight in the Mexican-American War.
They participating together in General Winfield Scott’s march from Vera Cruz on the coast to Mexico City. Afterwards, Grant was stationed in Detroit, then Sackets Harbor, New York, then he was sent across the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco which was in midst of a gold rush and cholera epidemic.
Grant was at Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory and then Fort Humboldt in northwest California, but intemperance in drinking led to his forced resignation in 1854.
Returning to his wife Julia in Missouri, Grant attempted and failed at farming and various business endeavors. When the Civil War began, Grant responded to the call for volunteers.
He was quickly promoted to brigadier general and captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, gaining the nickname ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Grant.
When Grant captured Vicksburg, it gave control of the Mississippi to the Union and split the Confederacy.
Lincoln made him Commanding General of the United States Army.
Five days later Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865. Lincoln had invited Grant and his wife to the theater that night, but they had plans to travel to Philadelphia.
At Lincoln’s funeral, Grant wept, saying of Lincoln: “He was incontestably the greatest man I have ever known.”
In 1868, Grant was elected the 18th U.S. President. Considered a radical Republican, Grant worked to end the Democrat policies of racial discrimination in the South.
Grant fought the Democrat-affiliated Klu Klux Klan. Grant supported the 15th Amendment guaranteeing freed slaves the right to vote.
Grant stated in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1873: “Under Providence I have been called a second time to act as Executive over this great nation… The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed.”
Get the book Prayers and Presidents-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past Grant defended natural marriage, stating December 4, 1871: “In Utah there still remains a remnant of barbarism, repugnant to civilization… Neither polygamy nor any other violation of existing statutes will be permitted.”
Grant ended the Democrat policy of Indian removal. He appointed the first Native American to serve as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely S. Parker of the Seneca Tribe.
Grant continued his Second Inaugural Address: “My efforts…will be directed…by a humane course, to bring the aborigines of the country under the benign influences of education and civilization… Wars of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing commerce and all industrial pursuits…are demoralizing and wicked…”
Grant continued: “Our superiority of strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken into account and the balance placed to his credit… If the effort is made in good faith, we will stand better before the civilized nations of the earth and in our own consciences for having made it.”
Grant’s ‘Quaker Policy’ removed entrepreneurs from being Indian agents and replaced them with missionaries, stating in his First Annual Message, December 6, 1869: “The Society of Friends (Quakers)…succeeded in living in peace with the Indians in the early settlement of Pennsylvania… These considerations induced me to give the management of a few reservations of Indians to them.”
President Grant stated in his 2nd Annual Message, December 5, 1870: “Such religious denominations as had heretofore established missionaries among the Indians…are allowed to name their own agents… and are expected to watch over them and aid them as missionaries, to Christianize and civilize the Indians, and to train him in the arts of peace.”
President Ulysses S. Grant addressed Congress, January 1, 1871: “It would seem highly desirable that the civilized Indians of the country should be encouraged in establishing for themselves forms of Territorial government compatible with the Constitution of the United States… and it is highly desirable that they become self-sustaining, self-relying, Christianized, and civilized.”
President Grant stated in his 3rd Annual Message, December 4, 1871: “Through the exertions of the various societies of Christians to whom has been intrusted the execution of the policy… many tribes of Indians have been induced to settle upon reservations, to cultivate the soil, to perform productive labor of various kinds, and to partially accept civilization. They are being cared for in such a way, it is hoped, as to induce those still pursuing their old habits of life to embrace the only opportunity which is left them to avoid extermination. I recommend liberal appropriations to carry out the Indian peace policy, not only because it is humane and Christian-like…but because it is right.”
On June 26, 1876, President Grant proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving to commemorate America’s 100th anniversary: “The founders of the Government, at its birth and in its feebleness, invoked the blessings and the protection of a Divine Providence… The thirteen colonies…have expanded into a nation of strength and numbers…for which fervent prayers were then offered. It seems fitting that on the occurrence of the hundredth anniversary of our existence as a nation a grateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God for the protection and the bounties which He has vouchsafed to our beloved country. I therefore invite the good people of the United States…to mark its recurrence by some public religious and devout thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a nation during the century of our existence, and humbly to invoke a continuance of His favor and of His protection.” For God’s Glory Alone Ministries thanks Bill Federer and www.AmericanMinute.com
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