"I Shall Feel Ever Grateful"

General Grant and Congressman Washburne

Anna Carlson
Heritage School, Rockford

Ulysses S. Grant led large armies to great victories. He was twice elected president of the United States. Yet in some respects he owed his fame to one man, Elihu Washburne, an unnoticed congressman from Galena.

Grant did not have much success in his early life. He was born to Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant. His father was a tanner and saw at an early age that Ulysses would never make it as a tanner or in any other trade. At age seventeen and with great reluctance Grant enrolled in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

After graduation, Grant wanted to teach math at the academy but instead he fought in the Mexican War. After the war, he was put on Pacific Guard. Soon, Grant started to complain to his commander about this duty and it was reported that he started drinking. On April 11, 1854, Grant wrote two letters, one accepting his promotion to captain and the other resigning his commission.

Grant moved home to Missouri and farmed the land his father-in-law had given his wife, Julia, as a wedding gift. Grant did not succeed at farming, and he began to sell firewood in St. Louis. Then he tried real estate. When this failed, he gained a position in the St. Louis custom house. He lost this job when the collector died. In 1857 he pawned his watch to buy Christmas presents.

When Grant had first returned home, his father had offered him a job at the family's leather shop in Galena, but he would not allow Ulysses to bring his family. But when his brother became ill in late 1859, Grant was then needed to help in the shop. The family moved to Galena in the spring of 1860, and Grant finally seemed satisfied: "In my new employment I have become pretty conversant and am much pleased with it. I hope to be a partner soon and am sanguine that a competency at least can be made out of the business."

Grant built this log cabin in Missouri, where he lived with his family and farmed his father-in-law's land.

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Perhaps the most fortunate acquaintance that Grant made in Galena was Elihu Washburne. A Galena attorney, Washburne was a U.S. congressman and a political advisor to Abraham Lincoln when Grant met him.

Elihu Washburne, congressman from Galena, promoted Ulysses S. Grant to lead a regiment from Galena.

On April 16, 1861, the citizens of Galena held a meeting concerning the looming war against the South. Two days later, another meeting was held to raise volunteers. Washburne called Grant forward to speak. Grant later reported: "Although a comparative stranger, I was called upon to preside; the sole reason possibly was that I had been in the army and had seen service. . . Speeches were in order, but it is doubtful whether it would have been safe just then to make other than patriotic ones." Volunteers were then called to form a company. The quota of Illinois had been fixed at six regiments, and it was assumed that one company would be expected from Galena.

Congressman Washburne suggested that Grant, the only man in Galena with military experience, be the captain of this regiment. But Grant declined. He did not want to be a soldier again. But he did agree to drill and recruit the men. On April 24, they were ready to set out for Springfield. Washburne asked Grant to go along. He declined, but Washburne persisted and Grant went. When they arrived in Springfield, Grant wanted to leave but Washburne again persuaded him to stay. As Grant explained: "at the request of members of the company and of Mr. Washburn [sic] I come here for the purpose of assisting for a short time." (Grant never did learn to spell his patron's name correctly.)

Grant originally declined when Washburne suggested that he captain a Civil-War regiment from Galena. Washburne was a promoter of Grant, ultimately recommending him to President Lincoln as brigadier general.

Washburne then wrote a letter to Illinois Governor Richard Yates, recommending that Grant be given the rank of colonel. But Captain John Pope, who knew Grant from Mexico and did not like him, told Yates that he was a "deadbeat."

While he waited, Grant asked for a few days leave to visit his parents in Covington, Kentucky. On visiting an old army friend there, Grant learned that Governor Yates had named him colonel. Washburne was again responsible. In a letter to the congressman, Grant said, "In conclusion Mr. Washburn [sic] allow me to thank you for the part you have taken in giving me my present position. I think I see your hand in it and admit that I had no personal claims for your kind office in this matter. I can assure you however my whole heart is in the cause which we are fighting for. . . "

Before taking his position, Grant returned to Galena. There he asked an old friend, Eli A. Collins, for five hundred dollars to buy a uniform and a horse. He did not want to ask his brothers because they were taking care of his family's expenses while he was gone.

In 1861 President Lincoln asked Washburne for recommendations for brigadier generals. The congressman again recommended Grant. When Grant saw his name on the list of newly named brigadier generals in the St. Louis newspaper, he said, "Must

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be Washburn's work." Even when Grant was marching with his troops, Washburne helped Mrs. Grant at home. Later promotions also came with Washburne's influence. As Grant's letter to Julia explains, "Rawlens has showed me a letter from Mr. Washburn, written from Washington City from which it appears that he has been urging me for the place of Major General. . . Mr. Washburn has certainly acted very generously towards me and I shall feel ever grateful towards him for it." Indeed, Washburne was Grant's political protector as well. In Mrs. Grant's memoirs, she wrote: "General Grant was always grateful to Mr. Washburne for his able and timely defense of him at this critical time."

Although General Grant had trouble growing up and establishing his career, he did find success in Galena. It was here that he met the most important person in his early professional life, Congressman Elihu Washburne.—[From James Arnold, The Armies of U.S. Grant; Bruce Catton, U.S. Grant and the American Military Tradition; Jesse Cramer, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to his Father and his Youngest Sister; Ulysses Grant III, Ulysses S. Grant Warrior and Statesman; Horace Green, General Grant's Last Stand; William McFeely, Grant; Kenneth Owens, Galena, Grant and the Fortunes of War; Geoffrey Perret, Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier and President; John Y. Simon, ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, vols. 1-9; John Y Simon, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant); Steve Repp, Ulysses S. Grant: The Galena Years; W. E. Woodward, Meet General Grant.]

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