Grant's father had obtained his son's appointment to the Academy
through the intervention of a member of Congress, who, remembering
that the boy was known as Ulysses and that his mother's name before
her marriage was Simpson, had written to the Secretary of War at
Washington, requesting a cadetship for U. S. Grant. This mistake
in his initials was not discovered until the young man presented
himself at West Point, but when he explained that his name was
Hiram Ulysses Grant and not U. S. Grant, the officials would not
correct the error. The Secretary of War had appointed U. S. Grant
to the Academy and U. S. Grant was the only person they would
officially recognize without further orders. They, therefore,
intimated that he could either enroll himself as U. S. Grant or
stay out of the Academy, making it quite plain that they cared very
little which course he adopted. Confronted with this situation,
he signed the enlistment paper as U. S. Grant and the document,
bearing his name, which thus became his, can be seen to-day
among the records at West Point. This re-christening, of course,
supplied his comrades with endless suggestions for nicknames and
they immediately interpreted his new initials to suit themselves.
"United States," "Under Sized" and "Uncle Sam" all seemed to be
appropriate, but the last was the favorite until the day arrived when
a more significant meaning was found in "Unconditional Surrender"
Grant.

The restrictions and discipline of West Point bore much more harshly
on country-bred boys in those years than they do to-day when so
many schools prepare students for military duties. But to a green
lad like Grant, who had been exceptionally independent all his
life, the preliminary training was positive torture. It was then
that his habitual silence stood him in good stead, for a talkative,