Never Turn Back: The Heroic Life of Ulysses S. Grant

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In his Personal Memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant related a story from his early army days that perfectly encapsulates the epic grit that allowed him to repeatedly stand tall and overcome so many daunting obstacles throughout his life.

In the spring of 1844, a 22-year-old Grant learned that his unit, the Fourth Infantry Regiment, was being moved from Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, to a new posting along the frontier of Louisiana. Before that could happen, the young brevet second lieutenant had an important matter of the heart to attend to.

After receiving a few days of leave, Grant set out on a stormy night for a nearby plantation called White Haven. Only five miles west of Jefferson Barracks, White Haven was the family home of Grant’s West Point roommate, Fred Dent. Outside of his army duties, Grant had become a regular visitor to the picturesque Dent estate, especially after Fred’s eldest sister, Julia, returned there from boarding school. As Grant would reveal to one of the younger Dent sisters, when it came to his feelings for Julia, “it was a case of love at first sight. . . .”1

Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent became an inseparable pair. Despite a four-year age difference, they were totally at ease with one another. Although quiet and reserved to many on the outside, Grant was able to be his true best self around Julia, revealing his heart, humor, and wit. As Julia would write, “I thought he was a Knight from one of the romances that I used to read . . . He entirely enchanted me . . . He was handsome, kind, honest, brave, he was scarcely real to a little girl like myself.”2 Grant biographer Ron Chernow offers a touching anecdote from this time that highlights the strength of the couple’s attachment to each other: “When Julia’s pet canary died, Grant crafted a tiny coffin for the bird, painted it yellow, then coaxed eight young officers into attending a mock funeral.”3

Given the fact that Grant was eventually visiting White Haven up to four times a week, the departure of his unit from Jefferson Barracks to Louisiana was not the most welcome news. Before he could be separated from Julia, the young soldier decided to take fate into his own hands. With an important question for Julia at the top of his mind, Grant procured a horse and braved the elements on a stormy night as he rode out for White Haven.

During his ride, Grant eventually reached Gravois Creek, which was normally so shallow that he jokingly wrote, “There is not water enough in the creek at ordinary stages to run a coffee mill . . .”4 On this night, however, conditions were much different. In Grant’s words, “it had been raining heavily, and, when the creek was reached, I found the banks full to overflowing, and the current rapid.”5 As he looked on at the obstacle before him, Grant paused and considered what to do. Should he push forward and navigate the hazardous torrent ahead, or should he backtrack? Grant ultimately decided to push on. As he wrote, “One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go any where, or to do anything, not to turn back, or stop until the thing intended was accomplished.”6 Driven by that mentality, Grant guided his horse into the stream, and although soaked from head to toe, he reached the other side and went on to his ultimate destination.

Grant found the private moment he was waiting for with Julia amid his weeklong stay at White Haven. During a ride together to a wedding in St. Louis, Julia wrote that Grant “declared his love and told me that without me life would be insupportable.”7 Despite her strong feelings for Grant, the shy 18-year-old Julia did not feel ready for marriage yet. She professed that she “would rather be engaged.”8 Because of Julia’s domineering father, who opposed her relationship with a common army officer like Grant, their engagement would also have to be a secret for the time being. In the interim, Grant offered Julia his class ring and asked her to wear it, which she did. The couple finally joined hands in matrimony four years later, on August 22, 1848. They were destined to become each other’s steadfast companions through thick and thin, enduring war, difficult absences from each other due to Grant’s remote army postings, financial hardships, and the intense scrutiny and challenges that come along with being mighty public figures. Across all of it, they maintained an unbreakable love and loyalty to each other, a shining example of the lifelong devotion that every husband and wife should strive to uphold.    

Because Grant refused to turn back when faced with the dangers of Gravois Creek on that stormy night in the spring of 1844, he went on to fulfill his mission of proposing to Julia—the incredible woman who was the love of his life and his most steadfast supporter. Guided by his philosophy about never turning back until accomplishing what he set out to do, Ulysses S. Grant became one of the greatest heroes in American history.

Propelled by his persevering spirit, Grant braved the battlefields of the Mexican-American War from 1846–1848, refusing to run or hide in the face of danger. He continually rose to the occasion by standing tall in the chaos of combat, like when he raced his horse through the streets of Monterrey, Mexico, hanging low on the horse’s neck and flank to shield himself as he dodged enemy sniper fire and rode to retrieve fresh supplies for American troops as they were running dangerously low on ammunition.

After the war with Mexico, life in the peacetime army took a heavy toll on Grant. Bouncing from one remote military post to another, he grew very lonely. Desperately missing his family, he struggled with alcohol consumption and ultimately resigned from the Army in 1854. Over the next seven years, Grant showed his grit as he struggled to solve “the problem of poverty.”9 Refusing to give up once again, he toiled tirelessly, even selling firewood on the streets of St. Louis at one point, to support Julia and his four children.

The outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861 found Grant still down on his luck and working as a clerk at his father’s leather goods store in Galena, Illinois. When the call for volunteers to defend the Union came, he eagerly set out to do his duty. Despite his experience as a soldier, though, the rumors of Grant's drinking haunted him, and he initially struggled to obtain a command. Refusing to allow this discouraging setback to get the better of him, he bided his time and soon got the chance to prove himself. As soon as he did, Grant never looked back, proving himself as he seized each opportunity and beginning a meteoric rise that would eventually see him become General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States. As America’s most storied soldier since George Washington, Grant put his dogged determination to good use as he overcame obstacle after obstacle to mastermind the Union’s ultimate victory over the Confederacy.

After the four bloodiest years in American history, the job of rebuilding the war-scarred nation and reestablishing peace across the land fell to Ulysses S. Grant as the 18th President of the United States. Despite the enormous difficulties before him, he faced those challenges head-on, just as he had done on the battlefield and all throughout his life. Showing himself to be the right man at the right time once again, Grant’s balance of magnanimous and firm leadership ensured there was no outbreak of a second Civil War under his watch. He also took on the incredibly important role of protecting former slaves in the South as they began their new lives as freedmen. When violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan emerged to terrorize the former slaves and suppress their newly earned rights, President Grant hunted them down. For all of his efforts to protect African Americans, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass hailed Grant as “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.”10

In May 1884, Grant and many of his family members lost their life savings as a result of the duplicity of Ferdinand Ward, a financier with whom Grant had entered into a partnership. Shortly after that devastating financial blow, Grant began to experience pain in his throat, symptoms of what his doctor would reveal to be incurable throat and tongue cancer. Terrified that he would die and leave his beloved wife Julia destitute, the legendary general finally agreed to write his memoirs, signing a contract to do so with literary celebrity Mark Twain and his newly launched publishing house. Enduring pain so severe that even something as simple as trying to swallow food or water left him in terrible agony, Grant summoned all of his remaining strength to complete the project, which he ultimately did, finishing his manuscript on July 16, 1885, just one week before his death. The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant went on to become a huge financial success, selling a record-breaking three hundred thousand copies in two-volume sets. Persevering until the very end, Grant had won his final battle, leaving the soulmate he had ridden out to see on a stormy night long ago with financial security for the remainder of her days.   

Ulysses S. Grant’s life is a reminder that perseverance truly pays off. To echo his words, whenever you encounter a roadblock, never turn back or stop until achieving what you set out to accomplish.

Notes:

1. Ron Chernow, Grant (Penguin Books, 2018), 32.

2. Chernow, 33.

3. Chernow, 32.

4. Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs (Open Road Integrated Media, 2014), 11.

5. Grant, 11.

6. Grant, 11.

7. Chernow, 36.

8. Chernow, 36.

9. Chernow, 98.

10. Chernow, xxii.

Bibliography:

Chernow, Ron. Grant. Penguin Books, 2018.

Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: Volumes One and Two. Open Road Integrated Media, 2014.

Klein, Christopher. “Bankrupt and Dying from Cancer, Ulysses S. Grant Waged His Greatest Battle.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/articles/how-ulysses-grant-died-memoirs-mark-twain.