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CLASS OF 1843
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As a cadet Grant excelled only in horsemanship, but he proved a brave and resourceful junior officer in the Mexican War. In 1848
he and Julia Dent married. They became inseparable and had four children. The oldest, Frederick, was also a West Point graduate
(1871). Grant disliked peacetime army service and resigned in 1854, despite few prospects in civilian life.
With the Civil War, Grant emerged as one of history’s greatest generals. None of the war’s other generals won the
surrender of three enemy armies—at Fort Donelson (1862), Vicksburg (1863), and Appomattox (1865). No other so effectively
united strategic vision, operational finesse, tactical focus, exemplary leadership, moral courage, and unassuming modesty.
Twice elected president, Grant completed his masterly memoirs four days before his death from throat cancer.
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