On this day in history, July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant died at his New York villa.
The 18th President of the United States had a complicated and compelling backstory and time in the White House.
According to White House sources, Grant was a graduate of West Point University and later became president of the United States.
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According to the New York State Museum, Grant grew up in 1822 in Georgetown, Ohio, in a family of tanners who turned animal hides into leather.
In June 1843, at age 21, Grant graduated from the Military Academy at West Point as an officer in the United States Army.
According to the National Park Service, “Of the 1843 graduates who survived four grueling years at West Point, Grant graduated 21st out of 39 cadets.”
Ulysses S. Grant graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1843 and became an army leader before being elected president. (Stock Montage/Getty Images)
The NPS also noted that “Long before Grant became a famous general who won the Civil War, he was known within the Army as an excellent horseman.”
“Before the class commenced, Grant was given the opportunity to showcase his riding skills to the cadet corps and the audience during the ceremony. One cadet said, ‘Watching Grant ride was better than any circus,'” the same source said.
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After marrying Julia Dent, the sister of a West Point classmate, in 1848, Grant moved from one army post to another across the United States, according to History.com.
Six years later, he resigned from the military and was reunited with his wife in Missouri on the plantation where she had grown up.
By 1860, the Grant family had four children.
President Ulysses S. Grant with his wife Julia Grant and their children, Frederick, Ulysses Jr., Ellen, and Jesse, Washington, DC, circa 1870. (Kean Collection/Getty Images)
According to History online, they moved to Galena, Illinois, to pursue success in Grant’s father’s leather goods business.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Grant helped recruit, train, and lead troops to Springfield, Missouri, earning the title of colonel and later brigadier general, according to the Britannica.
The real Ulysses S. Grant was an American hero
In the years that followed, Grant earned a great deal of respect for his battle victories throughout the Midwest.
In 1864, he was appointed lieutenant general by President Abraham Lincoln, giving him full command over all American forces, History Online reported.
(President Lincoln would describe Mr. Grant as “independent and vigilant” in his strategic plan, NPS said.)
As the White House website indicated, by April 9, 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee had surrendered, finally ending the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant was elected 18th President of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
According to the Britannica, Grant was nominated President of the United States by 1868 due to his strong ties to the Republican Party.
The 46-year-old won the election against Democratic candidate Horatio Seymour.
According to History online, he became the youngest president-elect in U.S. history at the time.
Grant brought in many leaders from the Army during the first of his two terms, which the Britannica noted was the fresh start the country needed in its recovery period.
“The final resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia is the largest mausoleum in North America.”
He also ratified the 15th Amendment, which gives black men the right to vote.
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He also signed a bill restricting the activities of white terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, according to History Online.
He is also the president who made Yellowstone National Park America’s first national park.
Grant is photographed reading a newspaper in a wicker chair at his home in Mount McGregor, New York, in July 1885. He died of throat cancer just four days ago. (Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Grant defeated Democratic candidate Horace Greeley in the 1872 election and remained in office for four more years.
The scandals that swirled around Grant during his tenure in the White House, most of which did not involve the president himself.
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After leaving the White House, Grant worked for a financial firm before learning he had throat cancer, as the White House website indicated.
He died at age 63 in Mount McGregor, New York, where he was spending the summer with his family, according to History Online.
He was buried in New York City’s Riverside Park, where he was joined by his wife Julia some 17 years later.
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The National Park Service announced that “the final resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia is the largest mausoleum in North America.”
“This is a testament to the nation’s gratitude to the man who, as Commander of the Union Army, ended the bloodiest conflict in American history, and then as President of the United States, helped heal the post-Civil War nation and fulfill the rights of all citizens.”
