Boys Book of Famous Soldiers | Page 8

French and Indians. 1755. Joined General Braddock's staff with rank of
colonel. 1757. Resigned his army commission. 1759. Married Martha
Dandridge Custis. 1775. Appointed commander-in-chief of American
forces, in Revolution. 1781. Receives surrender of Cornwallis. 1788.
Became first President of the United States. 1797. Ended second term
as President. 1799. December 14. Died at Mt. Vernon.

GRANT
THE MAN WHO "CAME BACK"

"Can a man 'come back'?"
This is a question one frequently hears nowadays; and the answer is,
more often than not, a shrug of the shoulders. For the man who has
once failed--or even passed his first chance of success--is not
considered seriously in this busy day and time. He is a
"down-and-outer"; he cannot "come back."
But there are exceptions to every rule, and one of the most striking ones
in all history, to the above adage, is furnished by the man who led the
Union forces to victory in the American Civil War, and later achieved
the presidency.
Here was a man who, at forty, was generally regarded as a failure, a
ne'er-do-well. But for the accident of war he would in all likelihood
have ended his days "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." We have a
picture of this middle-aged man, clerking for his younger brothers in a
country store, at eight hundred dollars a year, and day by day sinking
further into the slough of despond.
He was of little real value to the store, at even that meager salary. He
was no good at driving bargains or at palavering with the trade. He
tried to keep out of sight as much as possible among the boxes and
shelves. His clothing was poor and shabby, his hair and beard long and
unkempt. The brand of failure was stamped all over him.
Yet this was the man who in five short years was to become the most
famous military leader of his day.
The life story of Ulysses Simpson Grant abounds in strange paradoxes.
If ever a man was made the plaything of fate, it was he. His career has
even persuaded some writers into the belief that he was "the Man of
Mystery."
His father, Jesse Grant, was a self-taught man, who is said to have
received but six months actual schooling in his life. He was all the
more determined that his son, Ulysses, should have the education that
he lacked. We find him intervening more than once to drive the boy

contrary to the latter's wishes--but to his later good. The father was tall,
about six feet, rugged and aggressive, making friends and enemies with
equal readiness. Ulysses' mother, however, was quiet, self-possessed,
and patient--qualities which she afterwards gave the boy. Jesse Grant
said of her in later years: "Her steadiness and strength of character have
been the stay of the family through life."
At the time of Ulysses' birth (April 27, 1822) the family were living at
Point Pleasant, Claremont County, Ohio. But when he was still an
infant they removed to Georgetown, a few miles away, where the father
established a tannery. At this time the town was little more than a
clearing hewed out from the virgin forest. Wood was plentiful and
cheap, and for this reason, Mr. Grant bought a tract of land and set up
his tannery.
Ulysses, or "Lys" as the neighbors called him, was the oldest of six
children--three boys and three girls. As soon as Ulysses was old enough,
his father started him to school. There were no public schools in those
days, so he went to a school maintained by private subscription and
taught by a man named John White.
White had his own notions about a curriculum, and one of the most
important was discipline. On top of his desk always reposed a bundle
of good husky switches--except at frequently recurring times when they
were beating a tattoo on some hapless scholar's back. It was his boast
that he often used up a whole bunch in a single day. However, his
school was no different from many another of the time. Beatings were
taken as a matter of course. "Spare the rod and spoil the child!"
Ulysses went to this school until he was fourteen, and mastered the
elementary studies. Between whiles he helped his father at the tannery
or on the farm. The tannery work he always hated. But outdoor work,
particularly with horses, he delighted in. At seven years of age he drove
a team with all the skill of a man; and it was said that when he could
scarcely walk he could ride horseback. The story is told of him that at a
county fair, where a prize of five dollars was offered to any one who
could stick on a trick pony, Ulysses won it after several other boys had