Description: Birthplace of U. S. Grant. Ulysses Simpson Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. In 1823, his family moved to Georgetown, Ohio. Grant lived there until he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1839. Grant graduated from West Point in 1843. He ranked twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine students. Grant served under General Zachary Taylor in the Mexican-American War. In the years before the American Civil War, Grant lived much of the time in St. Louis, Missouri, working as a real estate agent and as a farmer. He failed in both of these businesses. Grant also assisted his father in a tannery business. After the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Grant volunteered for military duty. He first served as colonel of the Twenty-First Illinois Infantry but soon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general due to his previous military experience. In March 1864, President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and named him supreme commander of all Union forces. By early June 1864, Grant had surrounded General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, Virginia, and a ten month siege ensued. The Northerners finally drove the Confederates from Petersburg in early April 1865, and The Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 9, 1865. n 1868, the Democratic Party chose Horatio Seymour as its presidential candidate. Seymour, a former governor of New York, supported states' rights and opposed equal rights for African Americans with whites. The Republican Party selected Grant, a defender of equal opportunities for African Americans with whites and a supporter of a strong federal government. Grant easily won the Electoral College vote, capturing twenty-six of the thirty-four states. Grant's first term as president was troubled with corruption. Grant remained above the corruption, but some of the U.S. public faulted him for his poor leadership and his inability to control his cabinet. Grant sought reelection in 1872. He won easily, receiving fifty-six percent of the popular vote. Grant promised to end the violence in the South but did little about it during his second term. An economic depression in 1873 further alienated the public from Grant. Due to Grant's declining popularity, the Republican Party nominated Rutherford B. Hayes as president, although Grant had desired to seek a third term. Grant also sought the party's candidacy in 1880, but the Republicans selected James Garfield instead. Grant spent his last years in New York, writing his memoirs. When he was elected president, Grant had resigned his commission in the military. In 1885, the United States Congress reappointed Grant as General of the Army. His salary helped him pay rising bills. He died on July 23, 1885 from throat cancer. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07703
Subjects: Ohio History--Presidents and Politics; Grant, Ulysses S., 1822-1885; Birthplaces; Historic houses
Places: Point Pleasant (Ohio); Clermont County (Ohio)