ULYSSES S. GRANT.

name.

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Ulysses S. Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, April 27, 1822. was very unwilling to follow his father's trade, which was that of a tanner, and, at seventeen, an appointment was secured for him at West Point. His name having been wrongly registered, Grant vainly attempted to set the matter right, but finally accepted his "manifest destiny, ,"assumed the change thus forced upon him, and thenceforth signed himself "Ulysses Simpson," the latter being his mother's family Two years after completing his four years course as cadet, the Mexican war broke out, in which Grant conducted himself with great gallantry, receiving especial mention and promotion. In 1847 he was made firstlieutenant, captain in 1853, and in 1854 he resigned his commission, and entered the leather and saddlery business at Galena, Illinois, in 1859, where he remained until the opening of the war in 1861, when he immediately offered his services in behalf of the Union. His modesty and diffidence delayed their acceptance, and Governor Yates, of Illinois, was the first to avail himself of them. Grant finally took the field as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteers. In February, 1862, he was made a major-general, and commanded the armies of the South-west. On the 12th of March, 1864, he was made lieutenant-general and put in command of all the armies, and

took personal direction of the military operations in Virginia, and, on the 9th of April, 1865, General Lee surrendered the Confederate armies to him, at Appomattox Court House, and hostilities were ended.

He was nominated and elected by the Republicans President of the United States in 1868, and re-elected by the same party in 1872. He died amid the regrets of the civilized world, and was borne to his last resting place by the gallant Union officers he had commanded, and the brave Confederate officers who had fought against him.

Administration.

In 1868 Grant was elected President. In 1869 the Pacific Railroad was completed, and in 1870 the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right of suffrage to Negroes became a law. In 1873 the Court of Arbitration, to which the Alabama claims and other questions had been referred, decided nearly everything in favor of the United States, and ordered that Great Britain pay $15,000,000 to this Government.In 1872 Grant was re-elected.-In 1876 the Centennial of American Independence was celebrated by a great international exhibition at Philadelphia.—The same year the election for President took place.-This resulted doubtfully, and the question was referred to an Electoral Commission, which decided that Gov. Hayes, the Republican nominee, had been elected.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

Rutherford B. Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio. He commenced the practice of law in Cincinnati in his thirty-fourth year, when he received his first official position as the City Solicitor, which he held till the war broke out in 1861. Very near its opening he enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteers, and served with the regiment till he received the command of a brigade in 1864. His first appointment was as Major, his first promotion came within less than a year, and in September of 1862 he held a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, and was in command of his regiment, which he led into the battle of South Mountain. During the battles of the Army of the Potomac, Col. Hayes received a severe wound in the arm, but remained with his regiment to the last, and was the first officer whose command established a position at South Mountain. Two years later he had become Brigadier-General Hayes, and was elected to Congress from the second Ohio district by the Republicans. In the fall of 1866, Mr. Hayes was nominated and elected to Congress a second time by the Republicans, but Congress had held but one session, when he was

nominated and elected Governor of Ohio by the same party. During his political career, he was three times elected Governor of Ohio, and twice a Member of Congress. By a reference to the "Important Events" in 1876-77, will be found the particulars of his election to the Presidency of the United States in 1877. Mr. Hayes took the oath of office on Saturday the 3d of March, and was inaugurated President of the United States, Monday the 5th of March. Pending the time of the election and before the meeting of the electoral commission, the country was greatly agitated and seemed threatened with civil war, but immediately after his inauguration quiet and confidence were restored and peace reigned throughout the United States.

Administration.

Hayes was inaugurated March 5, 1877.-In 1877 a railroad strike occurred, which resulted in considerable rioting and bloodshed.-A commission to settle the fisheries question which had arisen with Great Britain decided against the U. S. in 1877, and ordered the payn eit of $5,500,000 to Great Britain, for damages-Silver money was made a legal tender for all debts by a bill passed over the President's veto early in 1878.