ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1843, Grant left Ohio and reported for duty with the Fourth United States infantry at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. His rank of brevet lieutenant entitled him to $779 a year. Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny, a well-respected army officer with extensive service that went back to the War of 1812, commanded the post. At Jefferson Barracks, Kearny kept discipline at a high standard, but without strict rules or regulations. Grant remembered that every drill and roll call had to be attended, but in the intervals, officers were permitted to enjoy themselves, leaving the garrison and going where they pleased without making a written application.
Also serving with the Fourth Infantry was Fred Dent, Grant’s West Point roommate during their last year. Conveniently for Dent, his family lived about five miles west of Jefferson Barracks on a five-thousand-acre farm called White Haven. They were one of the more prominent St. Louis families, and their “wealth” included eighteen slaves. The patriarch of the family, Frederick, was known as Colonel Dent. He had been a merchant in Pittsburgh, but much preferred life as a gentleman planter. With Ellen, his wife of two years, he moved to St. Louis, where they eventually raised four sons and four daughters. Their oldest daughter, Julia, would steal the heart of Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant.
By all accounts the Dents had a happy household. Ellen enjoyed reading, while Julia loved to play with her brothers, sisters, and the servants. Julia recalled her childhood with great fondness: “Life seemed one long summer of sunshine, flowers and smiles to me and to all of my family.”1
Lieutenant Dent encouraged his fellow officers from Jefferson Barracks to visit White Haven when opportunity allowed. Grant was among those who took Dent up on his offer and enjoyed himself immensely. He especially liked to talk politics with the colonel, even though their party affiliations differed—Grant was a Whig like his father and Dent a Democrat. Ellen also captivated his attention with her love of books. She saw a bright future for Grant, saying that “he has a good deal in him. He’ll make his mark.” After a while Grant began showing up at White Haven twice a week and sometimes stayed for dinner. He was often accompanied by James Longstreet, who also served with the Fourth. Julia was the main reason he kept coming back. In his memoirs Grant described his courtship of Julia, who had just returned from boarding school in St. Louis and was not yet eighteen at the time:
After that I do not know but my visits became more frequent; they certainly did become more enjoyable. We would often take walks, or go on horseback to visit the neighbors, until I became quite well acquainted in that vicinity. Sometimes one of the brothers would accompany us, sometimes one of the younger sisters. If the 4th infantry had remained at Jefferson Barracks it is possible, even probable, that this life might have continued for some years without my finding out that there was anything serious the matter with me; but in the following May a circumstance occurred which developed my sentiment so palpably that there was no mistaking it.2
With that said Grant realized he was in love.
Julia and Grant shared a mutual interest in horses, and during the warmer months, they rode together daily. At the end of April 1844 their courtship was put on hold when Grant received permission to visit his family. Just before he left, they spent the day together, and as a symbol of his devotion, he offered her his class ring. Julia declined, telling Grant that her mother would not approve of such a gift from a gentleman. Then, right before he said good-bye, Grant asked Julia if she would miss him. It is not known what she said at that moment, but in her memoirs Julia recorded, “I, child that I was, never for a moment thought of him as a lover. But, Oh! How lonely I was without him.”3
In early May, the Fourth Infantry was transferred from Jefferson Barracks to Natchitoches, Louisiana, near the Texas border. Texas had declared its independence from Mexico and many Texans sought annexation by the United States. US soldiers were sent to the region to watch over things and make sure Mexico did not intervene. Grant was in Ohio when the Fourth left St. Louis. “A day or two after my arrival,” he recalled, “I received a letter from a classmate and fellow lieutenant in the 4th [Robert Hazlitt] informing me, and advising me not to open any letter postmarked St. Louis or Jefferson Barracks until the expiration of my leave, and saying that he would pick up my things and take them along for me. His advice was not necessary, for no other letter was sent to me.”
Instead of traveling to Louisiana to be with his regiment, Grant returned to Jefferson Barracks on May 20. The officer on duty there was Lieutenant Richard Ewell, another of Grant’s West Point classmates and future Confederate general. Grant asked him to extend his leave for several more days so he could go to White Haven. Ewell agreed, and Grant set off to see Julia. He almost did not make it to her home. A creek which he had to ford was out of its banks and Grant almost drowned. Grant recovered, and upon seeing Julia for the first time in weeks, he declared his love for her. According to Julia, Grant immediately wanted to get married, but she insisted they get engaged first. So Grant presented Julia with his ring, and this time she accepted. Julia in turn gave him a lock of her hair. Neither said a word to the Dents, and they spent the rest of his leave taking horseback rides and long walks. On May 27, 1844, Grant left St. Louis to join his regiment in Louisiana. He and Julia would not see each other again for a year.
Grant took a paddle wheel steamer down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, then another boat back up the Mississippi to the Red River and from there to Natchitoches, Louisiana. The trip took about ten days before he met up with the Fourth Infantry at Camp Salubrity. There was a permanent post, Fort Jessup, twenty-five miles to the southwest of Natchitoches. But it was too crowded to accommodate the Fourth, so they had to find another station. The regiment stayed at Salubrity until September 1845, living in linen tents. Grant described them as “our linen Mansions,” which were “posted on a ridge near a pine forest.” He later complained that “these lodgings did little to shield the men from the summer heat and the heavy rains that drenched their quarters. The food was bad; the cost of living was high; bugs and ticks infested the camp. There was nothing to do but sit and wait—although one had to sit on the makeshift bed, for there were no chairs. So much for Camp Salubrity.”4
Despite the horrible conditions, Grant made the best of the situation by exploring the surrounding area and its many plantations and, of course, writing to Julia. He kept up a constant flow of correspondence and became despondent when she did not immediately write back. In one letter he told her, “You don’t know Julia with how much anxiety and suspense I await their arrival.” In another he told his fiancée how the sunsets made him think of her because “at that time I am most always on parade and no doubt I sometimes appear very absent minded.”5
Grant was feeling more and more anxious about Julia and the idea of marrying her was often on his mind. He wrote to the Dents asking for permission to write to Julia as a suitor. They failed to respond and he was beside himself. Grant applied for leave and received it in April 1845. He immediately proceeded to St. Louis to plead his case. After arriving at White Haven Grant learned from Julia that her parents felt he was not a good fit for their daughter. The Colonel told her that “you are too young and the boy is too poor.”6 Furthermore, “he hasn’t anything to give you.” Grant argued his case, even offering to resign and apply for a teaching position in Hillsboro, Ohio. Julia’s father then suggested that he court her sister Nellie instead, but Grant said no. He finally wore Dent down and was given approval to court Julia through the mail. The Colonel then left for a business appointment in Maryland and Grant stayed in St. Louis for two weeks enjoying Julia’s company. Before he left she gave him a ring with her name inscribed on the inner surface.
Meanwhile tension between the United States and Mexico was growing over the issue of annexation. The discussion of whether the US should acquire the Republic of Texas was a hot topic in the 1844 presidential race that was won by James K. Polk from Tennessee. Congress eventually passed a joint resolution for annexation and the Mexicans sent a military force along the Rio Grande to dispute Texas claims over its boundary on the river. Polk responded by ordering General Zachary Taylor and an army of occupation to New Orleans. Taylor was then told to ready his men for movement into Texas once the republic approved annexation. War was on the horizon.
In July 1845 the Fourth Infantry left for New Orleans and remained there for about two months. In early September, the Fourth was ordered to Texas to join the Third Infantry on the disputed border. The regiment moved south by water and arrived a site at the mouth of the Nueces River near Corpus Christi in early August. Although the convoy of sailing ships reached its destination unmolested, Grant almost became one of the war’s early casualties when he nearly drowned coming ashore:
I thought I had learned enough of the working of the double and single pulley, by which passengers were let down, and determined to let myself down without assistance. Just as I did someone called out “hold on.” It was too late. I tried to hold on with all my might, but my heels went up, and my head went down so rapidly that my hold broke, and I plunged head foremost into the water some twenty-five feet below. When I came to the surface again, being a fair swimmer, and not having lost my presence of mind, I swam around until a bucket was lowered for me. I do not believe there was a man on board who sympathized with me in the least when they found me uninjured.7
By the end of October the occupation force grew to almost four thousand strong as it awaited orders to proceed against the Mexicans. Grant watched Taylor as he readied the men and liked what he saw. In his memoirs Grant said, “A better army, man for man, probably never faced an enemy than the one commanded by General Taylor.”8 What impressed Grant the most about the sixty-one-year-old Taylor was that “he dressed entirely for comfort, rarely wearing anything in the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer.”9 Grant would later emulate Taylor during the Civil War with his own unique uniform that made him look more like an enlisted man than the commander of the Union army.
Although Grant never intentionally tried to impress his commanding officer, Taylor just happened to witness an amusing incident. Taylor relayed the story to future Confederate general Lafayette McLaws: “Lieut. Grant was in charge of a party of men detailed to clear the way for the advance of boats laden with troops from Aransas Bay to Corpus Christi by removing the oyster beds and other obstructions. Failing either by words or signs to make those under him understand him, Lieut. Grant jumped into the water, which was up to his waist, and worked with his men.” Taylor then proclaimed that he wished he “had more officers like Grant, who would stand ready to set a personal example when needed.”10
Corpus Christi was to Grant’s liking. He enjoyed the climate and after completing his army chores during the day, mainly drilling the enlisted men, Grant would ride his horse across the Texas plains. But mostly his mind was on Julia and once again Grant considered resigning from the military so he could marry her. Even Jesse Grant thought this was a good idea, partially because as a Whig he opposed war with Mexico. Yet it was the Colonel who had the final say and he still was against marriage between his daughter and a soldier.
Grant’s stay in Corpus Christi ended on March 11, 1846, when Taylor’s Army of Occupation was ordered to the Rio Grande to position itself opposite Matamoras. Grant wrote Julia that “it is a town of considerable importance in Mexico, and as we are informed, occupied by several thousand troops, who it is believed by many will make us fight for our ground before we will be allowed to occupy it. But fight or no fight everyone rejoices at the idea of leaving Corpus Christi.”11 After marching 196 miles, the Army of Occupation arrived on the Rio Grande. For the next few weeks it was a standoff between the Americans and Mexicans as both sides readied for combat. Then on April 12, 1846, the Mexican forces under General Mariano Arista issued an ultimatum to Taylor. They warned him to break camp or war would commence between the two countries. Taylor refused and the following week Mexican cavalry crossed the Rio Grande, and headed toward the Americans. Back in Washington President Polk had been alerted by Taylor that war was inevitable. On May 9, 1846, he told Congress that “a state of war exists between the Government of the Republic of Mexico and the United States.”12 A day later both houses of Congress had voted for war.
Although the Mexican War became an important part of Grant’s young military career, shaping how he would command during the Civil War, he was not in favor of conflict between the two countries. He later wrote that the Mexican War was “the most unjust war ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” Furthermore, Grant said that it was “an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies.” When the Civil War broke out fifteen years later, Grant believed that the South’s attempt to secede from the Union had a direct correlation to the Mexican War. With the addition of Texas as a slave territory, war was inevitable. “Nations, like individuals, are punished for our transgressions,” he opined. “We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times.”13
Two days before war was formally declared by Congress, Taylor’s army struck the main body of the Mexican army on the plain at Palo Alto, a low-lying, coastal prairie surrounded by tall trees. The battle continued for several hours and it was the American artillery that won the day. Grant was positioned on the far right of the American line and when Taylor pushed forward in that direction Grant came under fire from the Mexican artillery. Next to him an enlisted man was decapitated and several other soldiers were knocked down by the enemy guns. That night the Mexicans withdrew, but Taylor was not finished.
The next morning the Americans marched toward the Mexicans, who had established a prepared position behind a series of ponds at Resaca de la Palma, a short distance from Palo Alto. Taylor ordered an attack and this time Grant was an active participant in the battle. Although as a quartermaster he was meant to stay away from the front lines, his company commander was assigned elsewhere and left Grant in charge. He found a clear area with several Mexican soldiers and charged his company across the field, meeting no resistance. The battle ultimately drove the Mexicans back across the Rio Grande, and the next day Taylor crossed the river with his own army and seized Matamoros.
In August 1846 Taylor’s army pushed 150 miles deeper into enemy territory stopping at Monterrey, where the Mexican Army held the city. The exhausting march across barren wasteland at the height of summer demanded all the logistical prowess that Taylor’s small army could muster. Assuming that Grant’s skill with horses would work equally well with mules, his colonel appointed him the fourth infantry quartermaster despite Grant’s protest to remain with his company and share its dangers.
Extreme heat forced the army to travel at night and contributed to a general lethargy among the pack animals, which became Grant’s problem as quartermaster. His handling of the situation underscored one of his character traits: “I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life; but I would have the charity to excuse those who have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack animals at the time.” Typical of Grant, he approached the pack animals as detached and emotionless, not allowing himself to get worked up enough to curse.
At Monterrey, he could not stand to remain behind in camp. He rode forward into the fighting and won temporary appointment as regimental adjutant when the officer in that position was killed. During the next two days he distinguished himself as a combat officer, leading a successful charge and volunteering to ride back through sniper-infested streets to bring up ammunition. He accomplished this dangerous task without a scratch, galloping through intersections by lying off the side of his gray mare Nellie.
Grant participated in the attack on the Black Fort, the city’s main defense. Almost one-third of the American force was killed or wounded in the first assault, and the army regrouped at a different location. Grant, who had commandeered a horse for the first charge, offered it to another officer and grabbed another mount from his quartermaster contingent. During the second charge, the first officer was killed, and Grant—as the only other mounted officer— became the new commander for the detachment. Grant and his troops fought a house-to-house battle through the city, and the entire force took heavy losses. A few days later the Mexicans sought an armistice, and Taylor negotiated the terms, which were quite liberal. Essentially the Mexican troops were allowed to evacuate Monterrey with their arms and horses and retire to a line below Rinconada Pass, sixty miles to the south. Although President Polk and others criticized Taylor’s generosity toward the Mexicans, such compassion for the enemy greatly influenced Grant eighteen years later when he offered almost identical surrender terms to Lee at Appomattox. For his bravery at Monterrey, Grant was promoted to brevet second lieutenant.
Nonetheless, the battle had been enough of a success to boost Taylor’s fame across the country, and he was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate. The other ranking general in the army, Winfield Scott—who considered himself a great officer— began to protest that he, too, needed to be involved in the war. What had started out as a territorial war was in danger of being completely bogged down in political bickering. President Polk, fearing for his job, pushed Taylor aside to a field command and named Scott as the army’s commanding general. Scott’s immediate plan to end the war with Mexico was to strike directly at Mexico City via the coastal port at Veracruz, this would take time to implement. With the change in leadership the Fourth Infantry now reported to Scott. Grant would later say that “both were pleasant to serve under—Taylor was pleasant to serve with.”14
Like Taylor, Scott had the experience to take over the US Army. At fifty-nine he was two years younger than Taylor, and served more than half his life as general officer, commencing with the appointment as major general during the War of 1812. Scott was proud to wear the uniform of an army officer. When he inspected troops, Scott was often in full regalia surrounded by a large staff. He was known within the army as Old Fuss and Feathers. Grant said he “wore all of the uniform the law allowed.”15
In March 1847 Scott finally received permission to move his army to the port city of Veracruz. Grant’s unit followed to assist. Outnumbered by the Mexican army, Scott left Veracruz without waiting for a supply line and marched for the capital city—a tactic that Grant later used at Vicksburg. When peace negotiations failed, Scott’s army fought two deadly battles at Chapultepec and Molino del Rey, before the battle of Mexico City forced the surrender of the Mexican capital in mid-September 1847. Not willing to remain behind with the wagons and mules, Grant again showed his courage in battle at nearby San Cosme. He led a group of troops to capture a church and place a mountain howitzer in the belfry where it could fire on distant Mexican soldiers. The incident was even mentioned in the battle dispatches forwarded to Washington. In his memoirs Grant recalled the difficulty he and his men experienced when trying to reach the church, but noted that his perseverance accomplished the task at hand:
The road being in possession of the enemy, we had to take the field to the south to reach the church. This took us over several ditches breast deep in water and grown up with water plants. These ditches, however, were not over eight or ten feet in width. The howitzer was taken to pieces and carried by the men to its destination. When I knocked for admission a priest came to the door, who while extremely polite, declined to admit us. With the little Spanish then at my command, I explained to him that he might save property by opening the door, and he certainly would save himself from becoming a prisoner, for a time at least; and besides, I intended to go in whether he consented or not. He began to see his duty in the same light that I did, and opened the door, though he did not look as if it gave him special pleasure to do so. The gun was carried to the belfry and put together.16
The US Army won the day easily. For a second time Grant was promoted, this time as a brevet captain. Throughout his time in Mexico, Grant sent a constant stream of letters to Julia. She later recalled the excitement of receiving his correspondence: “My soldier lover was in and about Mexico for four years, including the war. Every mail brought me a letter. Every one of them full of sweet nothings, love and war, and now and then some pressed flowers. Some were written on drum-heads, captured from the Mexicans and others on sheets of foolscap, folded and sealed with red wafers. I read each one every day until the next one came. I have them all.”
Although the fighting had ceased, peace negotiations dragged on through spring 1848 and Scott’s army remained in Mexico City as occupiers. With little else to do Grant enjoyed the sights, learning Spanish, hiking, and exploring. He grew to love the country and its people. One Sunday Grant attended a bullfight. He paid fifty cents to witness the Mexican national sport and was appalled by what occurred that day. “The sight to me was sickening. I could not see how human beings could enjoy the sufferings of beasts, and often of men, as they seemed to do on these occasions.” In his memoirs Grant described the bull fight in great detail:
At these sports there are usually from four to six bulls sacrificed. When all is ready a bull is turned into the ring. Three or four men come in, mounted on the merest skeletons of horses blind or blind-folded and so weak that they could not make a sudden turn with their riders without danger of falling down. The men are armed with spears having a point as sharp as a needle. Other men enter the arena on foot, armed with red flags and explosives about the size of a musket cartridge. To each of these explosives is fastened a barbed needle which serves the purpose of attaching them to the bull by running the needle into the skin. Before the animal is turned loose a lot of these explosives are attached to him. The pain from the pricking of the skin by the needles is exasperating; but when the explosions of the cartridges commence the animal becomes frantic. As he makes a lunge towards one horseman, another runs a spear into him. The trick is to dodge an attack from the animal and stab him to the heart as he passes. If these efforts fail the bull is finally lassoed, held fast and killed by driving a knife blade into the spinal column just back of the horns. There was a feeling of disgust manifested by the audience to find that he had come to life again. I confess that I felt sorry to see the cruelty to the bull and the horse. I did not stay for the conclusion of the performance; but while I did stay, there was not a bull killed in the prescribed way.
When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was ratified on May 30, 1848, Mexico arranged to transfer Texas, New Mexico, and California to the United States for fifteen million dollars, and the conflict was formally over. Upon reflecting on the war many years later, Grant concluded that the main reason for the US Army’s success against its Mexican foe was the professionalism of the American troops: “Every officer, from the highest to the lowest, was educated for his profession, not at West Point necessarily, but in the camp, in garrison.” The troops serving under them “were brave men, and drill and discipline brought out all there was in them.” The soldiers in the Mexican army, on the other hand, did not have the same professionalism. The rank and file were “poorly clothed, worse fed, and seldom paid,” Grant observed. And although they performed well in most of the battles, “the trouble seemed to be a lack of experience among the officers, which led them after a certain time simply to quit, without being particularly whipped, but because they had fought enough.”17
Although he was against going to war with Mexico, his participation in the conflict helped him develop as a soldier. While his role was mostly behind the scenes, the experience taught him much about leadership, command, and military tactics. He ultimately followed some of Scott’s tactics and later adopted Taylor’s unpretentious dress. But for now, Grant put the war behind him. His mind was on St. Louis and to be with Julia.