When George III of England ascended the throne and began to oppress the
Colonists, an opportunity was created for the American people to act. With
sublime patriotism they arose to the occasion in defense of their rights,
and historians allude to the inspiring event as the opening scene in the
Revolution.

And when, by a stroke of diplomacy, Thomas Jefferson purchased from
Napoleon Bonaparte the Louisiana Territory, one million square miles,
or over six hundred millions of acres, for two cents and a half an
acre, an opportunity was seized whose benefit to the American Nation no
one can estimate.

But if you would know a grand hero in whose life opportunity shone like
Mars, read the life of Ulysses S. Grant--the man out of whose very
failures evolved a most brilliant success. When, standing with leaden
heart in the little store at Galena, the opportunity for a military life
came knocking at the door, he welcomed it. For when morning broke on the
12th of April, 1861, and the first guns of the Civil War roared upon
Sumter, Grant marched to the front, and soon became a brigadier-general
"The spur of disappointed hopes, the fire of his ambition, and the iron
will that lay back of many of his failures--all the qualities latent in
the man of coming greatness, sprang into mighty being."

A gigantic opportunity next confronted him, for yonder on the banks of
the Cumberland frowned the massive walls of Fort Donelson. Behind them
Buckner's gray legions stood ready for action. It was the hour of fate.
Grant pressed on, the Confederates surrendered the stronghold, and the
first Union victory was won. Shiloh and Vicksburg, Cold Harbor and
Petersburg, Richmond and Appomattox, and many other glorious victories
tell the story of opportunities masterfully grasped.