Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1885 — EARLY DAYS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EARLY DAYS.

Grant’s Boyhood—The House Where He Was Born. « The life of Ulysses 8. Grant is a romance as eventful, wonderful, and interesting as anything ever evolved from the brain of a novelist. He lived in a time of extraordinary activity in the development of this country, and figured in its history more conspicuously than any other man of his time. The boyhood of Grant was not more remarkable than that of any child in the same circumstances. Indeed, the anecdotes of his childhood in no way convey the idea that he manifested any precocity. He was the eldest of six children. His early surroundings were severely plain, his father, who was of Scotch descent, being a dealer in leather, neither rich nor poor, but ranking among the hard workers of a young and giowing State. The humble home where Grant was born Is not unknown to the public through the engraver’s skill.

HIS BIRTHPLACE AT POINT PLEASANT, O. At the age of 17 Grant entered the Military Academy at West Point. Those who believe that a name has much to do with the destiny of its owner will find confirmation of their theory in the accident which gave him the name he has made famous. He had been christened Hiram Ulysses, but the Congressman who procured his appointment by mistake wrote him down as U lysses S. Grant. The authorities at West 1 oint and the Secretary of War were petitioned by the young cadet to correct the blunder, but no notice was taken of the request. Ulysses S Grant he had been recorded and Ulysses 8. Grant he remained, the name, now so world-wide in its fame having been bestowed through a Congressman's defect of memory. The initials U. 8. suggested “Uncle Sam” to his comrades, a nickname he never lost, and one peculiarly prophetic in view of his extraordinary career. During the war he was not infrequently nicknamed “United States Grant”and “U’ncondit onal Surrender Grant,” the U. S. seeming to have special significance in those days which “tried men's i-ouls.”