National Republican., 1885-08-09
THE CHANGE OF NAME.
,Mw HE CAME TO BE NOMINATED A.
fJiYssEs :. INSTEAD or HIRAM ULYSSES.
CouRr OF CLAIMS CHAMBERS,

WAsuINGToN, ID. C., Ivgust 7, 1885.
Editor NATIONAL REPuBLICAN:
You ask me what | have heard Pres-|
dent Grant say about his change of name.
| have heard him speak of it on several
occasions. Once he explained it quite|
fully, thus:
The Member of Congress from the dis
trict in Ohio which embraced the town.
of Georgetown, where both he and the|
Grant family resided, the Hon. Thomas
l.. liamer, had nominated for appoint
mcnt as cadet at the West Point Mill
tary academy II young man who proved
deficient in his examination, and failed
of the appointment.
Mr.. lIamcr was thereupon suddenly
called upon to make another nomination
There had been some cstrangcment on
coldness between him and Mr.. Grant, the
father of the future President, entirely
growing out Of political matters, as UNI
dcrstood. They were both active Demo-
Gratis.
It occurred to Mr.. llamer that he had
an opportunity to show his respect foi
the Grant family by nominating young
Grant, then II boy of about sixteen years
of age, TO the vacant cadetship, He knew
the young man as he knew other boys OF
that age in his town, and had always
heard him called Ulysses or, more com
monty, "Ulyss." Without consulting the
family he sent to the President the nomi.
nation of young Grant. Thinking the
boy had another name than Ulysses, he
supposed il must be Simpson, because
that was his mothers maiden name, and
he nominated him as Ulysses S. Grant
The nomination to the Senate, the con.
frmution and the appointment were so
made.
Young Grant afterwarl asked ut the
War Department that his name be en-.
tered correctly, but was told that no
change could be made without new
domination 10, and confirmation by, the
Scnltc; hislIpp,c Hcn' nn tie rtryiste,
at West Point as Mr.. Hamer had given il
During the whole time that Grant waS
at West Point, in his private correspond
cnce and in his official communication
to the Department he did not adopt the
:. as the initial of his middle name.
Upon graduation, however, when ht
was commissioned an officer in the army
as Ulysses = Grant, he thought it useless
to contend longer against the United
States, which insisted upon naming hin
in spite of his rcmonstrnccs, and h,
then adopted that name and ever after
ward used it altogether.
Such is the statement which | hay,
/ heard President Grant make.
The names given to him by his parents
were Hiram Ulysses or Ulysses Hiram
in which order is by no means clear
There are persons, and ] believe some o
| the family rs well as others, who under
stand that the order was Hiram Ulysses
and who think that President Grant him
self said so; but the records 50 far dis
covered reverse that order. On the 20tl
of May, 1880, he signed hotel register Il
West Point L. II. Grant and on the 2Otl
of March, 1910, he wrote Il letter to tn
War Department, which have examines
this week, which he signed L. III. Grant
Well, | do not think that is conclusiv
if the tradition of the family is otherwise
because since he was always called Ulys
scs, he might have put that name or ii
initial forward in ordinary use. Man
persons do that. II is no uncommon o,
currcnce for persons to transfer thei
Christian names, Us everybody know
who has had occasion To examine record
and documents in relation to tamilic
Whatever was the order of Gener
Grants Christian names given by III
parents, the name by which he will a
ways be known in history was conierrc
upon him at the nomination of NJ
llamcr by the United States, whose in
terestS he has 50 faithfully served,
Mr. llumer, who was the instrumcI
of General Grants first dedication to tn
public service, and but for whose act i
that matter the dcstinics Of this countr
might have been wholly different frol
what they are and are to he, was born ]
Pennsylvania, admitted to the barin 1872
year before General Grant was born
he settled in Georgetown, Ohio, where h
practiccd law, was II Member of CongreS
from December ., 1888, to March 3, lS3'
(thc sd, 3lth and 35th Congresscs.) Whe
the war with McXico broke ont he el
listed as Il private and was immed
atcly appointed II brigadicr-gencral. II
died in Monterey, Mexico, while in SER
ice, December 3, 1916 unfortunate in II.
having lived to witness what great thin.
came from that one kind and friendly nt'
inspired by the best of feelings, this nom
nation Of his ncighbor's son to II cade
ship ut West Point.
WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON,