But, though he was at that time no champion of the black race, Grant
was always a strong Union man, opposed heart and soul to secession.
Indeed, when news of the attack upon Fort Sumter arrived in Galena,
he arrayed himself with the defenders of the flag gathered at a
mass meeting held in the town to form a company in response to the
President's call for 75,000 volunteers. Moreover, this meeting
had no sooner been called to order than someone proposed him as
chairman, and to his utter astonishment, he found himself pushed
from the rear of the room to the front and from the front to the
platform. Probably few in the audience knew who or what he was,
and his embarrassment was such that for a few minutes no words came
to his lips. Finally, however, he managed to announce the object
of the meeting, warning those who intended to enlist that they would
be engaged in serious business involving hard work and privation,
expressing his willingness to aid in forming the Galena Company
and ending with a simple statement of his own intention to reenter
the army.

There was nothing eloquent about his short speech but it had the
tone of a man who knew what he was talking about, and the audience,
availing itself of his military experience, immediately voted
to entrust the organization and drilling of the volunteers to his
care, and from that moment he never again entered his father's
place of business.