His father was in the United States Army when Frederick was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family moved as the senior Grant was assigned to posts in Michigan and New York. Frederick spent his early childhood at his paternal grandparents' house while his father was stationed on the West Coast. After his father's resignation from the army, the family lived in St. Louis and in Galena, Illinois.
Frederick attended public school in Galena until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Grant's father organized a volunteer regiment and was made colonel. Frederick accompanied his father when the regiment was sent to northern Missouri, but he was sent home when it arrived. He then rejoined his father off and on during several campaigns during the war. Eager to be a part of the action, Frederick put himself in harm's way many times while with his father.[2] While following retreating Confederate soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, he was shot in the leg by a sharpshooter. The wound was painful but not serious.[3] Despite a painful infection, doctors were able to save his leg. In his weakened state, Frederick fell victim to typhoid fever, which was common in Union camps during the war, but made a full recovery.[2]
West Point controversy
Grant was appointed to West Point in 1866, and graduated in 1871.[4]
While Grant was named as one of the chief persecutors of Smith by American historian William McFeely in his 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, where he is quoted as saying to his father, then President, that "no damned nigger will ever graduate from West Point,"[5] recent scholarship has raised questions about McFeely's sources. The evidence McFeely employed to assert Grant's racism comes from an entirely separate hazing incident in 1870 involving a number of white cadets that Smith was never involved with. In a January 1871 investigation of the hazing, Grant testified to the Committee on Military Affairs that he was aware of the prank, that he supported it, and that he did nothing to stop it. McFeely conflates Grant's testimony from this case with the separate court martial cases against Smith to make it look like he was aware of and supported Smith's harassment. In actuality, Grant never testified in Smith's cases, nor did he admit to playing any role in his harassment.[6] In addition, the inflammatory racism cited by McFeely was described by a witness who was not present at the meeting.[6]
Smith was later discharged after failing an unconventional private examination by Professor Peter Michie. While Grant denied being a leader of the cadets who hazed Smith for being an African American, McFeely stated that there is "considerable evidence"[5] to suggest that he actively participated, and that "Frederick [...] "used his peculiar authority" in support of "the ceaseless harassment" of Smith".[7] However, according to Brooks D. Simpson, "McFreely does not reveal the nature of this "considerable evidence"", while the only "document cited in support of this contention, a letter from Smith to [...] David Clark [...] does not mention Fred Grant, nor does McFeely mention any instance when Smith named the president's son as one of his tormentors."[7]
Smith died of tuberculosis in 1876, and was eventually granted a posthumous commission in the United States Army in 1997.[8]
Frederick Grant resigned from the U.S. Army in 1881,[4] and assisted his father in preparing the latter's memoirs. During this time, he was in business in New York City.
In 1887, he ran on the Republican ticket for Secretary of State of New York, but was defeated by the Democratic incumbent Frederick Cook. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him the U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary. After Grover Cleveland became president in March 1893, Grant continued in his post until his successor presented his credentials on June 8, 1893.[9]
When the Spanish–American War started in 1898, Grant was commissioned as colonel of the 14th New York Volunteers on May 2, 1898, and was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on the 27th of the same month.[4] He arrived in Ponce, Puerto Rico on August 16 and participated in the occupation of Puerto Rico under General Nelson Miles.
In 1899, Grant was sent to the Philippines for service in the Philippine–American War. He arrived in Manila on June 19 and was given command of 2d Brigade, 1st Division, 8th Corps (southern line) on July 1. On February 18, 1901, he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Regular Army. He remained in the Philippines until October 1902.
When he returned to the United States, he held various commands and was promoted to major general in February 1906.[4] In May 1906 he asked that YMCAs be established at every post under his command because the associations reduced "courts-martial and desertions, and the enlisted men were more contented and happy. ... the service ... was invaluable to the army."[11]
On July 25, 1910, he was made commander of the Department of the East. On July 11, 1911, he became commander for the Eastern Division which included the Department of the East and the Department of the Gulf.
Death
Frederick Dent Grant died of cancer, the same disease that had claimed his father, and diabetes in the Hotel Buckingham near Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York City on April 12, 1912. At the time of his death, Grant was the second most senior officer on active duty in the U.S. Army after Major General Leonard Wood. His funeral service was held in the chapel at Fort Jay and he was buried in the West Point Cemetery.[1][12][13]
Through his son Ulysses, Grant was the grandfather of three girls, Edith Clara Grant (1908–1995), who married David Wood Griffiths, Clara Frances Grant (1912–2005), who married Paul Ernest Ruestow, and Julia Grant, who married John S. Dietz.[15][17]
^Smith, Timothy B. (2024). The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg: Five Battles in Seventeen Days, May 1-17, 1863. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. p. 367. ISBN978-0-7006-3655-6.
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