Frederick Dent Grant had big shoes to fill.  As the oldest son of Ulysses S. Grant, Fred was treated “always as if I were already a man.”  He helped with chores around his childhood home at White Haven and was taught to ride and swim at an early age.  “I can see myself now, a chubby little chap, sitting on the back of one of the farm horses and holding on for dear life, my father urging me to be brave,” Grant later recalled.

Young Fred was also exposed early on to the stark realities of warfare.  Not long after his father was promoted to the rank of colonel in the 21st Illinois Infantry in 1861, Fred accompanied him through the Illinois countryside.  Colonel Grant believed his 11-year-old son was relishing his time as an unofficial member of the 21st.  He wrote to his wife Julia: “Fred enjoys it hugely…The Soldiers and officers call him Colonel and he seems to be quite a favorite.”

Ulysses also bragged about his son’s bravery a few years later when he brought him along during the Vicksburg Campaign of 1863.  “Fred is very well enjoying himself hugely. He has heard balls whistle and is not moved in the slightest by it. He was very anxious to run the blockade of Grand Gulf.”  But decades later, Fred painted a different picture, having been horrified by what he saw from a Union gunboat at Grand Gulf: “I was sickened by the scenes of carnage.” 

At one point, the boy was shot in the leg by a Confederate soldier, but soon made a complete recovery and was able to stay with his father until the 45-day siege of Vicksburg ended.  Fred returned to Ulysses’ side again during further battles.  And he accompanied him to Washington, DC, when President Lincoln promoted Grant as Commanding General of all Union armies.

Despite his early distaste for the horrors of combat, Frederick Grant pursued a military career.  Like his father, he attended West Point six years after the end of the Civil War.  He was eventually promoted to the rank of Major General during the Spanish-American War.  Also like his father, he was a heavy smoker and died of cancer in 1885 at age 62.