Former president Ulysses S. Grant dies

Today in history, Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer brought on by his infamous cigar smoking.

“The son of a tanner, Grant showed little enthusiasm for joining his father’s business, so the elder Grant enrolled his son at West Point in 1839. Though Grant later admitted in his memoirs that he had no interest in the military apart from honing his equestrian skills, he graduated in 1843 and went on to serve first in the Mexican-American War, which he opposed on moral grounds, and then in California and Oregon, tours of duty that forced him to leave behind his beloved wife and children.

The loneliness and sheer boredom of duty in the West drove Grant to binge drinking. By 1854, Grant’s alcohol consumption so alarmed his superiors that he was asked to resign from the Army. He did, and returned to Missouri to try his hand at farming and land speculation. Although he kicked the alcohol habit, he failed miserably at both vocations and was forced to take a job as a clerk in his father’s tanning business.” Source: Former president Ulysses S. Grant dies

I’ve read this book three times. Grant is a very interesting man at a very interesting time in American history. Some have also called him the first ‘civil rights’ president because of all he did to end slavery. You can learn more here…