The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1868-03-19
nlistrll
GENERAL GRANT.
HIS EARLY LIFE--wHAT HIS FATHER
SAYS OF 1T.

bAlb VI III,
The New York Ledger for March
9TH contains the first two of a series
of letters by j. II. Grant, in which he
describes the early days of his distin-
guished son. They are illustrated by
portraits Of the writer and his wife.
and picture of the house in which
the General was born. We make the
following extracts
The General comes Of a good fight.
ing stock. His great grandfather,
Captain Noah Grant, a native OF
Windsor, now Tolland, Connecticut,
was killed in the battle at White
plains, in 1856 his great grandfath
er's brother, Lieut.. Solomon Grant,
was killed in the same battle. | have
iu my possession an original muster.
roll made out by Captain Noah Grant,
in 1755--the year before his death.
His own name heads it as captain
the names, dates Of service, and
"qudlig' of the men are duly enter
ed in separate columns; and, as illus.
trative of the sentiments of those
early days, one hundred and twelve
years ago, on the military aspect OF
color, l may quote the following des
ignations Of some Of the privates
prince, negro" Jupiter, negro"
The leading passion of Ulysses
almost from the timo he could &c
alone, was for horses. The FIRST time
he ever drove horse alone, he was
about seven aud a half years old.
had gone away from home to Ripley
twelve miles off. Iwcnt in the morn
ing and did not get back till night. ]
owned at the time a three year ole
colt, which had been ridden undei
the saddle to carry the mail. but haC
never had a collar on. While | wa,
gone, Ulysses got the colt and put ;
collar and the harness on him, ant
hitched him to sled. Then he pu
single line on him and drove off
and loaded up the sled with brusf
and came back again. He kept at it
hauling successive loads all day, anC
when | came home at night, he had q
pile of brush as big as a cabin.
He used to harness horses when hC
had to get up in the .manger to put
the bride and collar on, and then
turn the half bushel over to throw
the harness on.
At right aud half years of age he
had become a regular driver, aud use
to work by team all day, day aftel
day, hauling wood. There would be
man in the woods to load aud an
other at the house to unload, bu
Ulysses would drive the team.
At about ten years Of age he uset
to drive a pair Of horses from George
town, where he lived, forty miles t,
Cincinnati, aud bring back load oi
passengers. rs..
When Ulysses was boy, il a cir
Gus or any show came along, in which
there was call for somebody to com,
forward and ride pony, be was al
ways the enc to present himself, anC
whatever he undertook to ride b,
rode. This practice he kept up unit
he got to be so large that he wa
ashamed to ride pony.
Once, when he was q boy, q shoy
came along 10 which there was mis-
chievous1 pony, trained to go roun'
the ring like Lightning, and he wa
Expected to throw auy boy that at
temrted to ride him. Us.
"Will any boy come forward an,
ride this pony?' shouted the ring
master. ... ......f
Ulysses stepped forward and noun
ted the pony. The performance be-
gan. Romdy and round, aud reup
the ring went the pony, faster an
faster, making the greatest effort t
dismount the rider. But Ulysses sa
as steady as if he had grown to tn
pony's back. Presently out came
large monkey aud sprang up benin
Ulysses. The people set up a grea
shout of laughter, and on the pon
ran; but il all produced 90 effect o
the rider. Then the ring maste
made the monkey jump up on t
Ulysses shoulders, standing with hi
feet on his shoulders, and with hi
hands holding on to his hair. A
this there was another aud still loud
er shout, but not a muscle Of Ulysse:
face Loved. There was not a tremo
Of his pertes. A few more round
aud the ring-master gave it up; b
had come across boy that the pom
aud the monkey both could not dis
mount.
Ulysses had the habit Of ridin
our horses to water standing up Of
their bare backs. He began thi
practice when about Eve years old
AT eight or nine he would ride thea
a, the top Of their speed, he standing
upon one foot and balancing himsel
by the bride reins. The ground owe
which he used 10 mako these perform
ances was little descending toward