Julia Grant - Engagement and Marriage To Grant

Engagement and Marriage To Grant

Grant proposed several times before Julia finally accepted. When she did, they were sitting on the front steps of her beloved childhood home, a picturesque plantation called White Haven. In 1844 the couple embarked on a four-year engagement, delayed by the Mexican-American War, during which they saw each other only once.

Ulysses Grant, aged 26, married Julia Dent, aged 22, on August 22, 1848 at White Haven plantation. Neither of their fathers approved the match - hers because as a career soldier, Grant's prospects seemed bleak; his because the Dents were slaveholders. Grant's parents refused to attend the wedding, though they did come to accept Julia.

Their marriage, often tried by adversity, met every test; they gave each other a lifelong loyalty. Like other army wives, "dearest Julia" accompanied her husband to military posts, to pass uneventful days at distant garrisons. Then she returned to his parents' home in 1852 when he was ordered West.

The Grants had three sons and a daughter:

• Frederick Dent Grant (1850–1912) - soldier, public official.
• Ulysses Simpson Grant, Jr. known as "Buck" (1852–1929) - lawyer.
• Ellen Wrenshall Grant known as "Nellie" (1855–1922) - homemaker.
• Jesse Root Grant (1858–1934) - engineer.

Ending that separation, Grant resigned his commission two years later. Farming and business ventures at St. Louis failed, and in 1860 he took his family back to his home in Galena, Illinois.