rejoice in the high achievement and station of
their son Ulysses.

CHAPTER III

THE PERIOD OF YOUTH

Of such ancestry General Grant was born April 27, 1822, in Point
Pleasant, Ohio, and was named Hiram Ulysses Grant. A picture of the
house in which he was born shows it to have been a small frame dwelling
of primitive character. Its roof, sloping to the road in front, inclosed
the two or three rooms that may have been above the ground floor. The
principal door was in the middle of the front, and there was one small
window on each side of it. Apparently there was a low extension in the
rear. This manner of house immediately succeeded the primal log cabins
of the Western States, and such houses have sufficed for the happy
shelter of large families of strong boys and blooming girls, as sound in
body and soul, if not so refined and variously accomplished, as are
reared in mansions of more pretension. Love, virtue, industry, and
mutual helpfulness made true homes and bred useful citizens.

In the next year his parents removed to the village of Georgetown, Ohio,
in Brown County, where the father continued his business of tanner.
There young Grant lived until he became a cadet in the Military Academy
at West Point. His life was that of other boys of like condition, with
few uncommon incidents. Being the eldest of an increasing family, it
naturally happened that he was required to perform a share of work for
its support, and to bear responsibilities. In his early youth his
employment was in the farm work, and this he always preferred. He had a
native liking for the open air, and enjoyed the smell of furrows and
pastures and woods more than that of reeking hides in their vats. He was
fond of all animals, and especially delighted in horses, early
demonstrating a surprising power in managing them. He was locally noted
for his success in breaking colts, and as a trainer of horses to be
pacers, those having this gait being esteemed more desirable for riding,
at a time when a large part of all traveling was done on horseback. As
General Grant became famous at a comparatively early age, a large crop
of stories of his early feats in the subjection and use of horses was
cultivated by persons who knew him as a boy. Many of these, doubtless,
are entirely credible; few of them are so extraordinary that they might
not be true of any clever boy who loved horses and studied their
disposition and powers.

He was a lad of self-reli