fe attracted
little attention till in 1861, when Sumter was fired upon and Lincoln
called for volunteers. Galena at once held a war meeting to raise a
company. Captain Grant, because of his military experience, was made
president of the meeting, and afterward was offered the captaincy of the
company, which he refused, saying, "I have been a captain in the regular
army. I am fitted to command a regiment."

He wrote at once a patriotic letter to his father-in-law, wherein he
said, "I foresee the doom of slavery." He accompanied the company to
Springfield, where his military experience was needed. Governor Richard
Yates gave him work in the adjutant's office, then made him drill-master
at Camp Yates; and as his efficiency became apparent he was appointed
governor's aide, with rank of colonel. He mustered in several regiments,
among them the 7th Congressional regiment at Mattoon. He made such an
impression on this regiment that they named their camp in his honor, and
about the middle of June sent a delegation of officers to ask that he be
made colonel. Governor Yates reluctantly appointed him, and at the
request of General John C. Fremont, the commander of the Department of
the West, Grant's regiment (known as the 21st Illinois Volunteers) was
ordered to Missouri. Colonel Grant marched his men overland, being the
first commander of the State to decline railway transportation. His
efficiency soon appeared, and he was given the command of all the troops
in and about Mexico, Missouri. At this point he received a dispatch from
E. B. Washburne, Congressman for his district, that President Lincoln
had made him brigadier-general. He was put in command at Ironton,
Missouri, and was proceeding against Colonel Hardee, when he was
relieved from command by B. M. Prentiss and ordered to Jefferson City,
Missouri. He again brought order out of chaos, and was ready for a
campaign, when he was again relieved, and by suggestion of President
Lincoln placed in command of a district with headquarters at Cairo,
Illinois.

This was his first adequate command, and with clear and orderly activity
he organized his command of nearly ten thousand men. On the 6th of
September, learning that the Confederates were advancing on Paducah, he
took the city without firing a gun, and issued an address to the people
of Kentucky which led Lincoln to say, "The man who can write like that
is fitted to command in the West." Early in November, in obedience to a
co