Significant Dates in Grant's Life:
January 1, 1859
Enters real estate agency partnership with Henry Boggs.
January 14, 1875
Signs Specie Resumption Act, which helps stabilize currency by reducing
greenbacks in circulation and by resuming specie (gold) payments on January 1,
1879.
January 26, 1826
Birth of Julia Boggs Dent (future Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) in St. Louis.
January 29, 1877
Signs bill establishing Electoral Commission to decide disputed presidential
election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden.
February 6, 1858
Birth of 4th child, Jesse Root Grant, at Hardscrabble (near Saint Louis) (d.
1934).
February 6, 1862
Captures Fort Henry, TN, on the Tennessee River, opening up first major Union
victory of the war.
February 12, 1871
Signs Coinage Act, making gold the sole monetary standard.
February 16, 1862
Captures Fort Donelson, TN, on the Cumberland River, winning first major Union
victory of the war. Declares to Confederate General Simon B. Buckner, "No
terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I
[propose] to move immediately upon your works." The surrender of
approximately 13,000 Confederates to Grant marks the largest capture of men in
the history of the Western Hemisphere up to that point. Named (two-star) Major
General of volunteers.
March 1, 1872
Signs act establishing Yellowstone National Park, the first national park.
March 1, 1875
Signs Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial segregation in various modes of
public transportation and accommodations and discrimination in jury selection;
the most sweeping piece of civil rights legislation before 1964, it would be
ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883.
March 3, 1871
Signs act establishing the first Civil Service Commission in U.S. history; signs
the Indian Appropriation Act, which establishes Indians as national wards and
nullifies Indian treaties, causing the government to recognize for the first
time the need to insure the welfare of Indians as individuals rather than as
tribes.
March 3, 1885
Nominated as General on the retired list by President Chester A. Arthur.
March 4, 1869
First inauguration as president.
March 4, 1873
Second inauguration as president.
March 9, 1864
Commissioned (three-star) Lieutenant General, first man to hold that rank since
George Washington.
March 12, 1864
Named supreme commander of Union armies.
March 17, 1877
Grandson Algernon Edward Urban Sartoris is born to Algernon C.F. and Nellie
Grant Sartoris.
March 18, 1869
Signs Public Credit Act, which provides that government obligations are to be
paid in gold.
March 24, 1871
Issues proclamation against unlawful combinations in South Carolina.
March 25, 1865
Lee's failed attack on Fort Stedman, VA.
March 29, 1865
Opens final offensive at Petersburg, VA.
March 30, 1870
Announces the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibits the
denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of
servitude; calls it "a measure of grander importance than any other one act
of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day."
April 1, 1865
Victory at Five Forks, VA; Lee forced to leave Petersburg.
April 2, 1865
Occupies Petersburg, VA.
April 3, 1865
Occupies Richmond, VA, the capital of the Confederacy.
April 6-7, 1862
Battle of Shiloh: After initially being attacked and driven back by the
Confederates, Grant wins a staggering, but bloody, victory.
April 7, 1865
Victory at Sayler's Creek, VA.
April 7, 1879
Granddaughter Vivien May Sartoris is born to Algernon C.F. and Nellie Grant
Sartoris.
April 9, 1865
Robert E. Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox
Court House, VA, virtually ending the Civil War.
April 11, 1854
Resigns from army (effective July 31).
April 15, 1885
Granddaughter Julia Dent Grant is born to Ulysses S., Jr., and Fannie C. Grant.
April 20, 1871
Signs second Enforcement Act, which enables the president to suspend habeas
corpus to further enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment rights of
blacks.
April 22, 1874
Vetoes Inflation Act, which would have increased paper money in circulation.
April 27, 1822
Birth of Ulysses S. Grant in Point Pleasant, OH.
April 27, 1892
President Benjamin Harrison lays the cornerstone of Grant's Tomb.
April 27, 1897 Grant's Tomb dedicated. President William McKinley presides at
dedication ceremonies. "Grant Day" is a full public holiday.
May 1, 1863 Victory at Port Gibson, MS.
May 5-7, 1864
Battle of the Wilderness (VA): His first battle against General Robert E. Lee
ends in a tactical stalemate, but Lee loses the initiative and fails to halt
Grant's progress southward.
May 8, 1846
Fights in his first battle, Palo Alto, at the start of the Mexican War.
May 8-12, 1864
Battle of Spotsylvania (VA): Another tactically indecisive battle against Lee is
fought, but Lee's strategic initiative is destroyed. On May 11, Grant declares,
"I...[propose] to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."
May 8, 1871
Conclusion of the Treaty of Washington, ending the threat of war with Great
Britain over the Alabama claims and providing for arbitration of several other
disputes. The arbitrations authorized by this treaty would settle all standing
U.S. border disputes and award the U.S. $15,000,000 arising out of the Alabama
claims.
May 9, 1846
Fights in Resaca de la Palma (Mexican War battle).
May 12, 1863
Victory at Raymond, MS.
May 14, 1863
Captures Jackson, MS (state capital).
May 15, 1874
Orders disorderly bands in Arkansas to disperse.
May 16, 1863
Victory at Champion's Hill, MS.
May 17, 1863
Victory at Big Black River Bridge, MS.
May 17, 1877
Departs from Philadelphia on the S.S. Indiana to begin his world tour.
May 19, 1863
Makes first assault on Vicksburg.
May 19 - July 4, 1863
Siege of Vicksburg.
May 21, 1868
Nominated the Republican candidate for president.
May 21, 1874
Daughter Nellie Grant marries Algernon Sartoris in the White House in one of the
largest Washington social events of the century.
May 22, 1863
Makes second assault on Vicksburg.
May 22, 1872
Signs Amnesty Act, which restores civil rights to all Southerners except certain
former Confederate leaders.
May 22, 1873
Orders disorderly bands in Louisiana to disperse.
May 29, 1868
Declares "Let us have peace," later the inscription carved on his
tomb, in letter of acceptance upon his nomination for president.
May 30, 1850
Birth of 1st child, Frederick Dent Grant, in St. Louis (d. 1912).
May 31, 1870
Signs First Enforcement Act to insure the protection of the voting rights of
Southern blacks.
June 1-3, 1864
Battle of Cold Harbor (VA): Heavy losses on June 3 force Grant to change his
tactics.
June 6, 1872
Renominated for president by the Republican National Convention.
June 7, 1876
Granddaughter Julia Dent Grant, the future Princess Cantacuzene, is born to
Frederick D. and Ida H. Grant in the White House.
June 15-18, 1864
Crosses the James River in one of the greatest maneuvers of the war and invests
Petersburg, VA.
June 17, 1861
Appointed Colonel of the 21st Illinois Regiment of Volunteers.
June 22, 1870
Signs bill creating the Department of Justice, which is placed under the
Attorney General; this marks a major consolidation of the federal government's
power to enforce civil rights.
July 1, 1839
Enters U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
July 4, 1855
Birth of 3rd child, Ellen ("Nellie") Wrenshall Grant, in
Wish-ton-wish, MO (d. 1922).
July 4, 1863
Surrender of Vicksburg to Grant: General John C. Pemberton surrenders his
approximately 30,000 troops to Grant, along with 172 cannon, the largest capture
of men and arms in world history up to that time. Grant promoted to Major
General in the regular army.
July 4, 1881
Grandson Ulysses S. Grant III is born to Frederick D. and Ida H. Grant.
July 11, 1875
The Grants' first grandchild, Grant Greville Edward Sartoris, is born to
Algernon C.F. and Nellie Grant Sartoris.
[July 19, 1885
Approximate date Grant completes his Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, four days
before his death.]
July 22, 1852
Birth of 2nd child, Ulysses S. ("Buck") Grant, Jr., in Bethel, OH (d.
1929).
July 23, 1885
Dies at cottage in Mount McGregor, NY, approximately four days after completing
his Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
July 25, 1866
Commissioned the first full (four-star) General in U.S. history.
August 5, 1853
Promoted to Captain.
August 5, 1881
Granddaughter Nellie Grant is born to Jesse R. and Elizabeth C. Grant.
August 7, 1861
Appointed (one-star) Brigadier General of volunteers (antedated to May 17).
August 12, 1867
Appointed Secretary of War ad interim in the cabinet of President Andrew
Johnson.
August 22, 1848
Marries Julia Boggs Dent in Saint Louis.
September 4, 1861
Establishes headquarters in Cairo, IL, in command of district of southern
Illinois and southeastern Missouri.
September 6, 1861
Occupies Paducah, KY, giving the Union a strong foothold in the West without
bloodshed.
September 8, 1847
Given Brevet rank of First Lieutenant for gallantry in the Battle of Molino del
Rey.
September 13, 1847
Given brevet rank of Captain for gallantry in the Battle of Chapultepec.
September 16, 1847
Promoted to First Lieutenant.
September 19, 1862
Victory at Iuka, MS.
September 23, 1846
Undertakes dangerous mission to ride through the bullet-ridden streets of
Monterrey to obtain ammunition for his men.
September 24, 1869
"Black Friday" financial panic erupts when Jay Gould and Jim Fisk
attempt to corner the gold market, but it ends when Grant orders sale of
government gold.
September 26, 1881
Granddaughter Miriam Grant is born to Ulysses S., Jr., and Fannie C. Grant.
September 28, 1883
Grandson Chaffee Grant is born to Ulysses S., Jr., and Fannie C. Grant.
September 29, 1864
Captures Fort Harrison, VA.
September 30, 1845
Commissioned Second Lieutenant.
October 4, 1862
Victory at Corinth, MS.
October 12, 1871
Issues proclamation ordering the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina to disperse and
surrender arms.
October 16, 1863
Named commander of the Grand Division of the Mississippi, which puts him in
command of the Western theater of the war.
October 17, 1871
Suspends the writ of habeas corpus in nine South Carolina counties, one of the
boldest displays of peacetime presidential power in U.S. history. Following
this, Grant would send federal troops to South Carolina and pursue a prosecution
of white supremacist terrorism that would destroy the Ku Klux Klan within one
year.
October 17, 1876
Orders white terrorist "rifle clubs" in South Carolina to disperse.
October 25, 1862
Named commander of the Department of the Tennessee.
November 2, 1862
Begins Vicksburg Campaign.
November 3, 1868
Elected to his first term as president, defeating Gov. Horatio Seymour of NY.
November 5, 1872
Re-elected president, defeating Horace Greeley of NY.
November 7, 1861
Battle of Belmont (his first Civil War battle): captures Belmont, MO, but then
withdraws.
November 23, 1863
Battle of Chattanooga: victory at Orchard Knob, TN.
November 24, 1863
Battle of Chattanooga: victory at Lookout Mountain, TN.
November 25, 1863
Battle of Chattanooga: victory at Missionary Ridge, TN; gains control of
Chattanooga, a major east-west railroad junction.
November 28, 1873
Successful arbitration of Virginius dispute with Spain avoids war.
November 30, 1880
Granddaughter Rosemary Alice Sartoris is born to Algernon C.F. and Nellie Grant
Sartoris.
December 14, 1902
Death of Julia Dent Grant in Washington, DC.
December 21, 1874
Orders disorderly gatherings in Mississippi to disperse.