Ulysees S. Grant letter (RLC.Ms.518)

Biographical note

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1843 and went on to have a successful military career. Grant fought in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and later served as the Union general who brought the American Civil War (1861-1865) to an end. In 1868, Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States and served two terms, leaving office in March 1877. As president, Grant helped stabilize the nation after the effects of the Civil War, passed the Fifteenth Amendment which guaranteed that the right to vote shall not be denied due to a person’s race, and ended the first Ku Klux Klan in 1871. Following his presidency, Grant and his wife, Julia Dent (1826-1902), embarked on a two year long world tour and then settled in New York. In 1885, the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant was published and became a critical and popular success. Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885, in Wilton, New York.