of miles away from his family, with no duties worthy of the name,
and the habit grew on him until the exasperated Colonel of his regiment
at last gave him the choice of resigning or being court-martialed
for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Face to face
with this ugly alternative, he chose resignation, and the army,
officially, knew him no more.

It was not only social and professional disgrace, but financial
ruin which confronted the broken officer as he bade good-bye to
his regiment at its desolate quarters in California, after fifteen
years of service to the army. He was absolutely without money
and, at the age of thirty-two, it was by no means easy for him to
begin life all over again and earn his own living at a new calling.
His fellow officers provided him with enough cash for his immediate
wants, and with their help he managed to find his way back to
Sackett's Harbor, New York, where there was a little money owing
him. But he failed to collect this and remained hopelessly stranded
until another officer came to his rescue and provided him with
sufficient funds to take him to his home. This friend in time of
need was Simon B. Buckner, whom he was to meet again under strange
and dramatic circumstances.

It was hardly to be expected, under such conditions, that stern
old Jesse Grant would welcome the home-coming of his eldest son.
Nevertheless, he helped him on his way to his wife and children,
and, sick at heart and broken in health, the young man joined his
family and began a desperate struggle to earn his own living. Mrs.
Grant's father was a slave owner and a sympathizer with the South
in the growing trouble between that section of the country and the
North. But the quarrel had not yet reached the breaking point,