WEBVTT - When Shooting Weddings And Chasing Storms Collide 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.040 This is Lei Habib, and this is our American Stories. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.520 And we tell stories about everything here on this show, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.840 from the arts to sports, and from business to history 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.720 and everything in between. And we love telling stories about 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.319 history as always. All of our stories about American history 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.040 brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.400 where you can go to study and learn about all 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:33.880 the things that matter in life and all the things 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.839 that are beautiful in life. And if you can't get 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.760 to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.320 and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu. And 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.800 now this is the story of our eighteenth President of 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.800 the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. But this story isn't 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.239 about his time as commander in chief, but rather the 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.680 events in his life up to that point that shaped 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.680 and molded him as a man. Here's our own Monty 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:04.800 Montgomery on the story. Ulysses S. Grant was born on 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.199 April twenty seventh, eighteen twenty two, in this small town 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.440 of Point Pleasant, Ohio, to parents Jesse Grant and Hannah 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.360 Simpson Grant. Here's doctor John mars Lack of the Ulysses S. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:23.520 Grant Presidential library with more. His mother and father were 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.119 very very important people in his life in different ways. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.319 His father is more or less of an abolitionist, and 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.319 he also wrote for a newspaper which which leaned in 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:40.480 an abolitionist direction, So he's very outgoing. The mother, she 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:44.560 is a very, very shy person. She doesn't give Grant 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.360 the kind of love or support that you might expect 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.360 for a mother to give. The father was always a 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:57.800 presence in his life and always told him what to do, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.840 Grant is much more are like his mother than he 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.960 is like his father. So this whole idea of Grant 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.640 being a quiet person, I think you could trace back 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:14.120 to the time when he's living at home. Grant is 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:20.160 pretty much not interested in anything but farming, and not 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.440 interested in doing much of anything else. He's certainly not 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.919 one of these people who wants to follow his father 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.440 and his father's footsteps, because one of the things his 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.079 father did was his father worked in a tannery or 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.160 owned a tannery actually, and Grant hated it. Grant loved horses. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:43.240 He reacted very well to horses, and he knew how 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.560 to train them, he knew how to get them to do. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.720 He could do things with horses that nobody else could do. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.919 And there's a very famous story of his experience with 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.040 that where he really wanted his horse and his father 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.840 thought it was just the horse just wasn't worth it. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.560 He shouldn't do that. So Grant kept working on him, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.680 working on and working on him. So finally the father said, Okay, 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.480 go in there, but what I want you to do 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.760 is make an offer for that horse. If the neighbor 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:15.720 who owns this horse doesn't accept the offer, then raise 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:17.880 it up a little bit and raise it up again. 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.680 And so what Grant did, actually he went to this 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.760 neighbor and he said, well, my father told me that 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.760 I should come and talk to you, and I should 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:28.960 offer you this much, and if he didn't take that, 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:30.640 I should up it a little bit, and if he 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.160 didn't take that, I should finally pay pay no more 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.600 than I think it was twenty five dollars. And so 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:40.920 you have a situation where Grant actually gets what he wants, 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.400 but he does it in such a way that it's 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.040 something that he has to live down for the rest 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.080 of the rest of his life. And while Grant was 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.800 busy developing a love for horses Jesse route. Grant was 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:59.480 busy developing a roadmap for his son's education. His father 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.120 was a great believer in education, and so Grant was 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.960 sent off out of town to schools where he learned, 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.400 and he learned I think more about abolitionism than he 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.040 learned about anything else. But he was a very, very 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.719 much of a real supporter. Was the father of Grant 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:23.200 and getting as much education as he possibly could. He 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:28.400 was obsessed with education. He wanted his children, and particularly Grant, 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.200 his you know, his most important child as he saw it, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:37.240 to have as much education as as possible. Here's Eddie 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.080 Gringau of the ulysses As Grant Museum with more on 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.720 Jesse Root Grant's drive to have his son properly educated. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.200 I think one of those important moments was his father's 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:54.200 drive to push him to think, to read, to be educated, 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.040 so to speak. This is sort of unusual at the 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.679 time for Grant's upbringing. He's he was an average person. 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.440 He would have been expected to take over the family farm, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.640 but his father wanted him to study, to continue to learn, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.480 and so I think this drive that his father instilled 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.920 in him. Although they didn't have a great relationship it's 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.120 something that Grant is going to carry through the rest 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.760 of his life as he develops at West Point. And 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.680 then after that he didn't want to go to West Point. 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:21.840 His father shows up one day and basically tells him, 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.359 I have secured an appointment for you to West Point. 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.640 There was somebody in that town that didn't make it, 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.280 flunked out, basically, and so there was an opening and 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:37.080 Grant's father was willing to go for and Grant is like, what, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.880 you know, it's sort of that typical scenario that has 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.520 happened over the centuries where parents tell their child that 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.920 they're going to do something or their well major in 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.719 this and their child sort of says why he thought 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.680 it was a terrible mistake. He would be a terrible soldier, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.800 he thought, and if he just disliked the military all 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.279 his life, even when he was a famous general, he 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.680 didn't particular care about this. But the reason why his 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.360 father really secures his appointment from him is because jesse 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.000 Rue Grant knows that West Point will be free. He 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.760 won't have to pay for this education when he gets 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.040 that appointment, and so you know, that's that's reason number one, 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.839 and then reason number two and perhaps most important is 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.719 that this education that West Point is going to provide 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.560 for him will secure his future for the rest of 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.159 his life. Once Grant completes that degree, he doesn't have 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:27.800 to spend a lot of time in the military and 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.280 then and then he can go and do whatever he 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.160 wants with a world class education at the time, of course, 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.080 and so he's going to West Point and sort of 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.840 against his will, but this is this is for his future, 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.880 and you know, for his benefit, so to speak. He 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.960 only went because he liked traveling, and so he thought, well, 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:47.919 maybe this way I'll get to see some of the 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.800 country that I ordinarily won't won't see. They did it 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.200 because his father. In fact, he said, since my father 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.520 said I should go, I guess I better go. I 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.640 better changed about how their goal And you're listening to 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.279 the story of Ulysses S. Grant, and my goodness, without 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.960 his dad's influence, the world could have been changed, certainly 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.280 Ulysses S. Grant's world. When we come back more of 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.000 this remarkable life, the early life, the life before the 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.160 life most of us know about Ulysses S. Grant. Here 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:31.760 on our American story. Folks, if you love the great 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.000 American stories, we tell and love America like we do. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.120 We're asking you to become a part of the Our 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.160 American Stories family. If you agree that America is a 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.760 good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.239 gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:50.080 becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.760 Stories dot com now and go to the donate button 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.600 and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:10.400 our American Stories dot Com. And we continue with our 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:14.160 American Stories, and we return with our look into Ulysses S. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:18.360 Grant's backstory. When we last left off, Grant's father, Jesse 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.920 Root Grant had secured him an appointment at West Point, 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.560 an appointment Grant would rather not have taken. And here's 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:31.960 doctor John Marzelac with more. Grant is not a very 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.240 popular figure at West Point. He doesn't make a lot 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.560 of a lot of friends. He is not somebody that 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.560 people look up to as one of the individuals who's 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.240 going to really make a difference. And everywhere they're going 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.600 to say, yeah, that Grant boy when he gets when 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.679 he gets in the army, he's gonna he's going to 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.439 be a terrific person, et cetera, et cetera. But it 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.600 doesn't it doesn't really work out. But even at West Point, 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.640 he's tried to stay never read his lessons more than 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.360 once because he just was bored by it. He spent 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.240 most of his time reading novels more than anything else. 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:07.880 One of the important moments I think for Grant, even 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.439 even at a time where I think he's very unhappy, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.520 but he begins to develop his love for horses a 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.760 little bit more into sort of a more useful skill. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.280 Grant is actually a very good horseman. He breaks several 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.200 records that are going to stand for a long time 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.760 at West Point. This is a skill that later, especially 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.560 in the Mexican War and in the Civil War as well, 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.560 are going to be are going to be important. Grant 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.840 would graduate West Point in a middling position within his class, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.160 twenty first out of some forty students. But he would 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.000 meet someone there who would change his life and de 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:48.599 lead him to someone who would become very important to him. 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:53.160 I think two of the most important things that happened 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.360 to him as he met two people. One person was 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:00.920 a fellow named Fred Dent At Dent as his roommate 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.480 Dad said, look, you're you're going to be going, uh, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.319 you're going to be going to the Saint Louis area. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.760 My father and my family has a has a place there, 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.760 and you're welcome to come any time. And so he 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:18.120 does go there and he meets his future wife, Julia. 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.319 Of course, Grant, like we said, comes from a very 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:27.880 modest abolitionist family from Ohio, and Julia is the daughter 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:32.000 of a relatively well to do plantation owner with a 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:36.280 pretty sizable number of enslaved persons working at the plantation, 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:40.559 and so her family is part of his slave economy. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:45.040 Whereas Grants is not now Julia's father, he's not very 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.640 thrilled with the idea of her, you know, being courted 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.000 by Grant. And Grant's father, Jesse Rue Grant, was certainly, 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.559 uh not thrilled with the idea of his son courting 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.240 a the daughter of a of a slave owner. Is 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.880 my understanding that the Grant family, No members of the 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.400 Grant family showed up to the wedding. One thing that 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.200 really did draw them together. The one thing was Julia 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.240 liked to horseback ride, and so they would take rides together, 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:15.959 you know, hey on his horse and she on her 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.720 horse along the plantation, and that I think helped bring 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:24.760 them bring them together. And interestingly enough, Julia is one 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.120 of the few people who thinks that Grant is going 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.280 to amount to anything. Most people say, nah, he's not 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.240 gonna be a good fact the father her father didn't 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.040 like Grant at all and thought he was going to 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.680 be He's an absolute loser. Grant would soon find himself 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.760 in a more uncomfortable position than simply dealing with an 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.040 unimpressed father in law. He would be shipped out to 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.600 the front in the Mexican American War, and Grant went 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.720 despite his personal opinion on the conflict and the fact 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.600 he would be assigned to a job which he didn't like. Quartermaster, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:06.720 a glorify paper pusher. In the eyes of Grant, he's 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.720 one of these people who believes that if you're giving 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.360 an order, like with his father, if you're giving an order, 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.640 you follow the order, you do what you're supposed to do, 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:19.520 and so you have a situation or Grant numerous occasions 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.040 is willing to do the quartermaster work, even though he 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.600 doesn't like it, but he'll do it anyway. But yet 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.839 when he gets a chance, he sneaks into battle He 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.400 really learns a lot from General Sachary Taylor. He sees 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.160 the way he commands streeps, the way he inspires, the 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:40.280 way he leads his men from the front, not from 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.280 the back. These moments are really important for Grant. Even 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.080 though Grant opposed the Mexican War, he saw it as 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:50.360 a as a war of aggression towards a neighboring state. 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.800 He thought it was unjust. He understood that the political 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.520 motivations behind it from President James K. Polk Toes initially 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.320 start a war with Mexico to gain this terr toory 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.920 that Mexico would refuse to sell and continue to expand 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.320 west to fulfill manifest destiny. Grant finds a problem with this, 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.880 but nevertheless, his time in the Mexican War really becomes 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:16.360 this really important moment for Grant. And after the Mexican 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.679 American War, Grant was sent all across the expanded United 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:25.080 States to remote forts in order to protect settlers falling 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.640 into a depression as a result of being away from 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:32.800 home and family for so long. In fact, one of 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.360 the children he doesn't even see until several years later 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.160 when he shows up back at his house and Saint Louis, 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.320 the child doesn't even recognize him. And what Grant was 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.760 doing he was drinking during that time, and the reason 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.760 he was drinking was because he missed his wife and 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:52.040 his family so much. One could almost argue that he's 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:56.599 self medicating himself. And this led to problems with his superiors, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.280 especially a man by the name of Robert Buchanan, who 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.800 would issue him an ultimatum after finding Grant hung over 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.880 on the job. Buchanan says, you can't behaved like that. 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:10.680 We can't do though, So you have a choice. You 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.360 either straight now or you resign. Add So what actually 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.760 happens is is a Grant doesn't want to resign, but 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:22.360 he has no choice. This is where these rumors really 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.120 that will follow him for the rest of his life 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.760 originate of him being a drunk. He was not addicted 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.640 to alcohol in the same sense that an alcoholic is 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.080 as supposed to, perhaps more of an abusive alcohol to 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.400 alleviate some of that depression or or you know, angst 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.680 that he has. That episode just made it so much 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.600 more difficult for him, and he's had a battle that 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.280 for the rest of his life and even to the 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:54.760 present day. After resigning from the military, Grant would return 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:02.520 home and return home broke. There's a couple of instances 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.800 where he's such bad shape that he's got to sell 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.680 firewood on the street corners of Saint Louis. And there's 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.160 a very famous, famous episode where Grant and Sherman, who 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.560 don't know each other all that well, meet and I 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.440 think Sherman has says, well, heck of a thing for 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.280 former West Pointers, isn't it Grant? And Grant just said, yeah, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.640 I guess it is, and that was about it. So 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.560 he did that, and he also had to sell a 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.680 favorite watch so he could buy his family, his kids 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.280 something for Christmas, So you have some of that. So 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.000 there's just a number of instances where Grant tries things 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.120 and usually, come to think of it, usually it has 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.280 something to do with farming, and that's something he thinks 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.360 he can really do well. But he doesn't do well, 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.960 and with no other options, Grant would be forced to 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:59.480 ask his father for a job. What happened was he 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.520 went to his father, which was an incredibly difficult thing 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.000 for him to due to go to his father and say, 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.280 give me a job in your store where we sell 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.680 sell these tan goods. So Grant doesn't like that. He's 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:18.760 not involved, he doesn't do anything to do with with tanning, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.440 but he's involved in the selling, and he tours the 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.640 Midwest and he sells, and the father's doing quite successfully, 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.560 you know this at this particular time. So, yeah, Grant 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.040 convinces his father Luca, I can't make it on my own, 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.040 give me a job in the store. And he's got 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.240 a brother, an older brother who's ill, and so he 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.960 helps him. And it's a very very confused thing. But 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:47.320 the result is that Grant does work for the father, 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:51.000 and the father never lets him forget that. And so 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.360 for the rest of his life, even when he's president, 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.880 the father is still trying to get get stuff from 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:02.720 Grant for some of his friends. What a rich and 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.400 complicated early history. Grant going to a college he doesn't 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.040 want to go to, doesn't like the military. But while 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.600 there develops this craft, this skill horsemanship, by the way, 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.000 that mattered if you were a soldier back in the 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.800 nineteenth century, your ability to move and maneuver with a horse, 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.919 and my goodness to drinking, well, we can understand it 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.159 away from his kid. His kid didn't even recognize him 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.840 when he comes back to see him and ultimately chooses 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:29.959 to resign, knowing he won't be able to give up drinking, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.919 comes back home selling firewood on a street corner, and 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:35.560 then in the end having to beg his dad for 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.040 a job he never wanted. When we come back, more 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.520 of this remarkable life story, the early life of Ulysses S. Grant. 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:47.080 These were real life people, folks who walked around before us, 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.800 with real life stories and real life heartbreak. And when 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.159 we come back more of this remarkable story of Ulysses S. Grant. 0:17:54.359 --> 0:18:09.680 Here on our American stories, and we return to our 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.840 American stories and our look into the life of Ulysses. 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.399 Asked Grant. When we last left off Grant, he was 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.000 at his lowest point. It was at this time that 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.439 Grant would be given a slave by the name of 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:26.520 William Jones. Here's Eddie Rangel with Moore on that story. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.320 His father in law gives him a or I guess 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:35.280 gives him a slave. I guess what I'm trying to say. 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.640 And Grant works alongside him, which is something that would 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.560 have been frowned upon by you know, white slave owning 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.200 society of the time. However, eventually, you know, even at 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.040 his lowest, he realizes that well, one this is this 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.600 is not for him, and so he emancipates or he 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.440 frees William Jones, probably at one of his lowest times 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.919 when he could really have been benefitted from the monetary 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.800 value that an enslaved person could have brought him. I 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.359 think it's an important part in the story of Grant 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.800 because you really get to see how he evolves over time. 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:14.800 I think it's best to say that he felt he 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.520 was sort of ambivalent. He didn't really care about institution 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.600 of slavery, but he also didn't speak out openly against it, 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.119 at least in his early in his early years, and 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.199 so he's just kind of in between there and not 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.040 really caring for it and not really loving it. And 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.879 so that's an important moment. While you know, before the 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.280 Civil War for Grant, Julia thinks that slavery is wonderful. 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.400 In fact, she even holds on the more or less 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.280 holds on to a slave throughout the throughout the Civil War, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:47.520 where Grant comes to see that slavery is evil. And 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.080 if you're going to understand why there is a civil war, 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:59.680 you have to understand that people are fighting to defend slavery. 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.200 He thought the Civil War was a terrible thing that 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.840 that there, that it shouldn't happen. There's no reason to 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.160 split the country apart. Slavery was not not worth doing it. 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.639 Nothing was worth doing it. And the way he really 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.160 got into the war, more or less he got into 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.560 the war was where they had a big town meeting 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.720 in Galena, and he was chosen as the person to 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.280 run the town meeting simply because he was the only 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:34.000 west Pointer that any everybody in town knew. And so 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.159 the result is is that that you have you have 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:41.919 Grant running the meeting. And then once he runs the meeting, 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.720 and once he gets a company really is set up 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:50.480 in Galena, then it doesn't much matter because they say, well, 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.640 that's that's nice. But nobody wants to give Grant what 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:58.000 he thinks he deserves because he's a west Pointer, that 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.280 he that he get a regiment, until finally the governor 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:07.359 of Illinois, Yates, Robert Yates, gives him the twenty first 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:11.040 regiment because nobody else can make these guys tow the line, 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:15.240 and somehow Grant can, which is an amazing thing in itself, 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.280 that Grant would be the one that could step in 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.520 there and get these guys in line because normally he 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.160 just doesn't really doesn't really play much of a role 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.359 in this sort of thing. In fact, Yates the job 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.679 that Yates gives him is based on his quartermaster's skill, 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.960 but in this case, he becomes the leader of the 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:40.040 twenty first to Illinois Regiment, and soon Grant would get 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.000 his first taste of battle in the American Civil War. 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.040 Grant is leading this twenty first regiment, which he's straightened 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:58.040 out pretty well, leading him into battle, but he's scared 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.080 to death. In fact, he says in his memoirs how 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.840 his heart kept moving into his throat and until he 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.760 gets over this hill and he's expecting to find the 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:13.560 Confederates ready to clean his clock, and they don't. They're 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:16.159 they're gone. And he comes to the conclusion, you know, 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:19.760 these guys are afraid of me as I am of them, 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:22.920 And this is something he never forgets for the rest 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:29.840 of the Civil War. I think one of the big 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:33.080 things that you have to understand is is that Grant 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:39.280 understood that the people he was fighting were just human beings. 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:41.919 They were some of the people he had met before. 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.360 There were some people that they were going to meet 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:48.639 later on. But he came to understand that Robert E. Lee, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.159 for example, who he had met the league, wouldn't wouldn't 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:53.880 admit that he met him, but he didn't meet him 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:57.520 during the during the Mexican American War, that Lee was 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:01.600 no superman. He was just Rember. The famous statement he says, 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:05.400 where somebody is worried about well that's Grant. What's Lee 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.160 going to do? And Grant says, look, don't worry about Lee. 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.959 You worry about yourself. You do what you keep indicating 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:14.680 that he's going to do a triple somersault and land 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:16.919 behind our lines. It's just not going to happen. I 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:20.399 know this guy, He's just another human being. And the 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:26.240 other secondly that these are fellow Americans that you're fighting against. 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:29.159 Grant's demeanor was more like his mother as opposed to 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.280 his father. He was a calm individual. He didn't really 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:35.080 show a lot of emotion. And so if you take 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:38.440 his Mexican War experience, learning from Taylor, learning from Scott, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:44.720 his own demeanor, you really see a very calm, calculated 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:49.000 individual in battles. He's also going back to his earlier 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:53.920 time when he's willing to act whether or not he 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:57.720 has the power to do it. He's just going to 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:01.040 do it. The whole ideas you keep moving forward, you 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:04.280 keep moving forward. If you're going this way and you're stop, 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.680 doesn't matter, keep going, keep going, keep going. And that's 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:13.360 what Lincoln goes to believe. And after winning countless victory, 0:24:13.400 --> 0:24:17.680 after countless victory in the West, Lincoln would promote Grant 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:23.720 to general. When Grant is promoted and he's recalled back 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:26.600 to Washington, you know, no one really knows him. He's 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:30.159 sort of quietly been fighting in the West, just whipping 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:32.320 the rebel, so to speak. But he comes back to 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:34.880 Washington and when he checks into the hotel with his son, 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:38.440 they basically put him up in an attic. You know, Grant, again, 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.840 his personality was not flashy. He didn't he didn't really 0:24:41.880 --> 0:24:44.480