The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-07-24
ULYSSES S. GRANT.

fsis Career as a Citizen and Soldier.
Ulysses Simpson Grant was born at Point
Pleasant Ohio, April 81, 1922. His boyhood
days were uneyentful. At q he was grad
uated from the Military Academy at West
Point, and two years later received his COM
mission as second lieutenant going at once
| into the Mexican campaign under Generals
! Taylor and Scott. After number of years
service in the regular army, in the meantime
rising to the rank Of captain, he resigned his
commission in July, 1854, and took up his
residence in st. Louis. From ST. Louis he
removed in 1859 to Galena, Illinois, where he
entered into business with his father and
| brothers.
| This is in brief the history of General
| Grants life previous to the War of the Re-
| bellion
| From his private life at Galena he was
! drawn out by the civil war, and having acted
| first as aide-de-camp to the Governor of
| Illinois, and afterwards as Colonel of the
| 21st Illinois Volunteers, he was made
Brigadier-General in July, 1861. While in
command at Cairo he secured Paducah, and
| with it Kentucky. In November, 1861, he
fought the battle of Belmont. On Feb 6,
1862, Fort Henry fell, and ten days later Fort
| Donelson surrendered to him unconditional
| ly being Immediately followed by the eva
cuation of Columbus and Bowling Green. He
was next made commander of the district Of
| West Tennessee, and, his forces advancing
up that river to Pittsburg Landing, he fought
| April 9th and 7th the famous battle of
| Shiloh, concerning which so much has lately
been written, and at which the Confederate
General, Albert S. Johnston, lost his life.
At this time, on account of the death of
| Gen. G. Z. Smith, the command of 40 900 men
devolved on Gen. Grant A very large por-
tion of this force had been lying three weeks
at Pittsburg Landing, in preparation for an
attack on Corinth, when suddenly, at day
break of April 9th, it was surprised by an
overwhelming Confederate force, under Gen.
Johnston The Union army was defeated
with heavy loss. Gen. Grant arrived on the
field at o'clock on the same morning, his
presence at once giving courage to the de-
| moralized forces He Immediately reformed
the lines. On the same evening he was REIN
forced by Gen. Buell., and on the following
| day the battle was renewed and the enemy
defeated, withdrawing to Corinth. The loss
| on each side was about 1900. Gen. Grant
| was slightly WOuDutu. During Tile siege Oh
Corinth he was second in command to Gen.
Halleck, and when the latter was ordered to
| Washington, Gen. Grant was appointed to
take command of the Department of Ten
| nessee. The situation at that time was pre-
| carious. Many serious problems demanded
Gen. Grants immediate attention. Among
them was the disposal of guerillas, spies and
traders who were crossing the line on all
sorts OF preteXts, carrying information and
Stores to the enemy. He issued several Sc
| orders nct thpm fO0k n0cCacciOO Of
all the unGccupied buildings at Memphis, and
| rented them for the benefit of the United
States government He gave the Memphis
avalanche" the alternative of suspending
publication or dismissing an editor who had
written an ''incendiary and reasonable" ar
tice During the fall of 50, Gen. Grants
department was extended.by the addition of
a portion Of Mississippi as far as Vicks-
were constituted the 18th army
corps. After a few unsuccessful move
mentS against VickSburg, "the Gibraltar of
the Mississippi" from the north, and after
the loss Of an immense quantity of stores
which the Confederates seized and de-
stroyed, Grant moved his army down the
west bank of the river. He crossed to the
east side at point below the city on the last
day of April, 1868, and defeated the enemy
in the actions of Raymond, jackson, Cham
pion's Hin and Big Black, preventing Gen
J. E. Johnston from joining Pentberton al
Nicksburg He laid siege to that place May
18TH 1t was a hard siege of almost tWt
months duration, Finally on July Ath thC
city was surrendered with 1900 prisoners
FheYenpon Gen. Grant was promoted to Tho
rank Of major general in the regular army
After the partial defeat of the Union troop,
under Gen. Rosecrans at Chickamauga
Tenn, in September, he was assigned tt
the largely reinforced army, and in No
vember defeated Gen. Bragg at Chattanooga
Concerning Chattanooga, Gen. Halleck said
Considering the strength of the rebel po
sition and the difficulty of storming its in
trenchments, the battle of Chattanoog;
must be considered the most remark
able in history. Not onlyldid the officers
and men exhibit great skill and daring il
their operations on the field, but the hlghes
praise is due the commanding general for hi
admirable dispositions for dislodging the en-
, emy from position ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Moreover by turning his right flank ant
throwing himself back upon Rlnggold an(
Dalton, Shermans forces were interpose(
between Bragg and Longstreet so as to pre-
vent any possibility of their forming juno
ton"
AT this time General Grant was the hero o
the hour. His name was on every tongu
and he at once became the idol of the North
while his most remarkable military geniu
| caused him to become model for the South
The first measure passed in the COMPRESSION
al session of 1864 was resolution proYid
ing that gold medal be struck for Genera