Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio,
April 27, 1822. He was of Scotch ancestry, but his family had been
American in all its branches for several generations. Was a descendant
of Mathew Grant, who arrived at Dorchester, Mass., in May, 1630. His
father was Jesse R. Grant and his mother Hannah Simpson; they were
married in Clermont County, Ohio, in June, 1821. In the fall of 1823 his
parents removed to Georgetown, the county seat of Brown County, Ohio.
Ulysses, the eldest of six children, spent his boyhood in assisting his
father on the farm, which was more congenial than working in the tannery
of which his father was proprietor. From an early age until 17 years
old attended the subscription schools of Georgetown, except during
the winters of 1836-37 and 1838-39, which were spent at schools in
Maysville, Ky., and Ripley, Ohio. In the spring of 1839, at the age of
17, was appointed to a cadetship in the Military Academy at West Point
by Thomas L. Hamer, a Member of Congress, and entered the Academy July
1, 1839. The name given him at birth was Hiram Ulysses, but he was
always called by his middle name. Mr. Hamer, thinking Ulysses his first
name, and that his middle name was probably that of his mother's family,
inserted in the official appointment the name of Ulysses S. Grant. The
officials of the Academy were notified by Cadet Grant of the error, but
they did not feel authorized to correct it, and it was acquiesced in and
became the name by which he was always known. Graduated from the Academy
in 1843, twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine members. Was attached to
the Fourth United States Infantry as brevet second lieutenant July 1,
1843; was appointed second lieutenant, Seventh Infantry, September 30,
1845, and transferred to the Fourth Infantry November 15, 1845. During