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Julia Dent Grant 1826 ~ 1902
Julia Dent Grant
Julia Dent Grant was a Missourian by birth, being the daughter
of Judge Dent, of St. Louis, who resided on a large farm near
that city. Here Mrs. Grant spent her girlhood. Her youngest
brother, Frederick J. Dent, was appointed to West Point and
formed a strong attachment for his classmate, Ulysses S. Grant,
who had been appointed to the Military Academy from Ohio: This
intimacy caused young Grant to come with his cadet friend young
Dent, to St. Louis, when they had their first furlough. The
result of the meeting of young Grant and Miss Dent was their
marriage on the 22nd of August, 1848, at Judge Dent's city
residence in St. Louis. Through all the trials to which Mrs.
Grant was subjected as the wife of a lieutenant in the army in
the forties and fifties, she bore herself with much loyalty to
her husband and to her children; in fact her devotion to her
husband and her children was her most striking characteristic.
When the war of the Rebellion broke out Lieutenant Grant had
resigned from the army and was living at Galena, Illinois. They
had four children, three sons and one daughter, and were in
reduced circumstances. Governor Yates in his great dilemma for
mustering officers, received from E. B. Washburn a
recommendation of Ulysses S. Grant, a citizen of Galena. The
ex-lieutenant of the army made haste to respond to the call of
Governor Yates and engaged in drilling the troops at
Springfield. Soon after he was appointed Colonel of the 21st
Infantry Volunteer Regiment, in May, 1861, and from that time
until his victorious entry into Washington at the close of the
war, Mrs. Grant remained with her family except for making an
occasional visit to her husband in the field. Through every
phase of her husband's brilliant promotion from one high
position to another, Mrs. Grant was the same unaffected,
sincere, devoted wife, mother and friend.
When General Grant was elected to the Presidency she assumed the
duties of Lady of the White House with the same simplicity of
manner, sincerity and cordiality that had characterized her
whole life. At no time in the history of the country has any
woman who presided over the White House been called upon to
conduct more brilliant functions than was Mrs. Grant. Entering
the White House so near the close of the war there were more
distinguished visitors to Washington than there have ever been
during any administration. She received royalty and the most
illustrious of our country with such genuine hospitality and
graciousness as to avoid all criticisms and to win universal
admiration. For eight years she was the first Lady in the Land,
and it can be claimed that she made no enemies and was much
beloved for her goodness of heart and sympathetic disposition.
At the close of General Grant's administration, in their journey
around the world, they were received by the crowned heads of
every country, and Mrs. Grant was universally admired for the
simplicity of her manner and sincerity of her greeting. Her
absolute devotion to her husband and children has left an
example worthy of emulation. Her faithful vigilance during
General Grant's long illness is especially to be admired
Weary of excitement and of being in the public eye, her children
being married and away from her, she sought the National Capital
for a home in which to spend her declining years. She received
the continued respect and loving thought of the Nation to the
day of her death in 1902. Her remains rest beside her husband's
in the tomb on Riverside Drive, New York.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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