Excerpt from The Life of Ulysses S. Grant, General United States Army This volume was undertaken at the solicitation of the publishers, who wished a life of General Grant for the people. There is no authority for the youth and childhood of Grant but his father: the son never consents to indulge in reminiscence respecting his early years, and uniformly refers biographers to the record for his career during manhood. In regard to the Mexican War, I have been favored with some material by Hon. Mr. Washburne, who has also furnished me with data respecting Grant's life on the frontiers. In the campaigns from Belmont to Chattanooga, I have followed, upon all disputable points, the authority of Gen. Adam Badeau, in his "Military History of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant." I have frequently in the text expressed my obligations to the careful researches of this gentleman; and I repeat my acknowledgments in this introduction. The telegrams, despatches, letters, of Gen. Grant, which have been for the first time given to the public by this accomplished historian, I have freely used; because I have regarded them as Gen. Grant's own commentaries upon his own campaigns, written, like Cæsar's, in the field. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.