As a second-lieutenant he joined the army of occupation in Texas 
        under General Zachary Taylor, was in the battles of Palo Alto and 
        Resaca de la Palma, and was present at the capture of Monterey. 
        Promoted captain in 1853, in 1854 he resigned his commission and 
        settled on a farm near St. Louis, Missouri. 
             In 1861, when the Civil War began, Grant was appointed colonel of
        the 21st Regiment of Illinois Infantry. In November, now brigadier- 
        general, he fought the battle of Belmont. In February 1862 he captured 
        Fort Henry, and soon after Fort Donelson. In April he fought a two 
        days' battle at Shiloh. After various unsuccessful movements against 
        Vicksburg, Grant crossed the Missisippi, April 1863, twice defeated 
        the enemy, and drove them into Vicksburg, when he besieged. After many 
        assaults the stronghold surrendered conditionally on July 4, 1863, 
        with 31.600 prisoners. In October he fought at Chattanooga, and drove 
        the enemy out of Tennessee. 
             In March 1864 Grant, now a major-general in the regular army, was 
        promoted lieutenant-general, and given the command of all the armies 
        of the United States. His plan of campaign was to concentrate all the 
        national forces into several distinct armies, which should operate 
        simultaneously against the enemy. Sherman moving toward Atlanta, while 
        Grant himself accompanied the army of the Potomac against Richmond. On 
        May 4 he crossed the Rapidan, encountered General Robert E. Lee in the 
        Wilderness, and fought a desperate three days' battle, and pursuing 
        the offensive, he drove the enemy within the lines of Richmond. On 
        March 29, 1865, began a week's hard fighting, after which Lee 
        surrendered his entire army, April 9. The fall of Richmond 
        substantially ended the war. 
             In July 1866 Grant was appointed full general; in 1868 and 1872 
        he was elected president by the Republicans. Amont the events of his 
        administration were the guaranteeing of the right of suffraqge without 
        regard to race, colour or previous servitude, and the peaceful 
        settlement of the 'Alabama Claims'. The proposal of a third term of 
        presidency not having been approved, Grant became a sleeping partner 
        in a bankinghouse. 
             In May 1884 the house suspended, and it was discovered that two 
        of the partners had robbed the general of all he possessed. In the 
        hope of providing for his family, he begun his autobiography, when in 
        1884 a sore throat proved to be cancer at the root of the tongue. The 
        sympathies of the nation were aroused, and in March 1885 congress 
        restored him to his rank of general, which he had lost on accepting 
        the presidency. He died at Mount McGregor near Saratoga, July 23. 
 

Source:  Chambers's Biographical Dictionary.