Last updated: July 29, 2021
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An Introduction to Ulysses S. Grant's Classmates in the West Point Class of 1843
Library of congress
Four classmates from Grant’s class died during the Mexican War, which began only three short years after graduation. A further eight died before the Civil War began. Three resigned their commissions before the Civil War for private life, and two were cashiered (dishonorably discharged) before the Civil War. Seventeen graduates served in the Union military, and of those thirteen eventually became Generals. Three graduates became Confederate Generals, and ironically all of them were born in Northern states. Edmunds B. Holloway served in the Missouri State Guard as a Colonel, but was accidently killed by his own men in June 1861. Although the State Guard was not technically in service of the Confederacy at the time of his death, Holloway had recently resigned from the U.S. Army and the State Guard became affiliated with the Confederate Army several months later. Interestingly, Holloway was the first West Point graduate to be killed in combat during the Civil War. Roswell Ripley was, like Grant, from Ohio, but joined the Confederacy and was in the South Carolina militia that fired on Fort Sumter. Samuel G. French and Frank Gardener, who are mentioned below, also served as Confederate generals. Each of these classmates spent four years at the academy and shared in the trials and successes of West Point with Ulysses S. Grant.
Several other classmates had unique experiences and personal interactions with Ulysses S. Grant after graduating from West Point.
William Buell Franklin (1823-1903) of Pennsylvania placed first in the class and was assigned to the Topographical Engineers. He fought in the Mexican American War and during the Civil War he rose to the rank of Major General of U.S. volunteers. He commanded the Left Grand Division in General Burnside’s army and commanded it during the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg. During that battle one of his subordinates, General George Meade, briefly penetrated Confederate General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson’s lines only to be pushed back. Franklin was later transferred to the Western Theatre with the Department of the Gulf. He was a known gossiper, and was among the Generals who spread rumors about Grant regarding an incident after the surrender of Vicksburg where Grant’s horse was spooked by a locomotive whistle and fell with Grant on the saddle. Grant severely injured his left leg, keeping him bedridden for two weeks and forcing him to use crutches for some time afterwards. Several officers attributed the fall to Grant’s drinking. Franklin claimed, “Grant had commenced a frolic which would have ruined his body and reputation in a week.” Giving Franklin’s love to gossip about his commanders to benefit his reputation, including complaints made directly to President Lincoln against General Burnside in the aftermath of Fredericksburg, make his comments regarding Grant’s drinking highly suspect. Late in the war, Franklin found himself without any significant role and left the army at the conclusion of the Civil War.
Samuel G. French of New Jersey (1818-1910) was a Mexican-American War veteran but resigned his commission before the Civil War and became a planter in Mississippi. When the Civil War began, French sided with the south. He became a Confederate division commander and fought against Grant in the Vicksburg campaign. He would later fight under Confederate General John Bell Hood in Tennessee. Late in life he wrote a book about his experiences and relayed a humorous story about Grant at West Point. French remembered classmate Frank Gardner (a New York native who also fought for the Confederacy and surrendered at Port Hudson in Mississippi), who passed to his fellow classmates a “huge heirloom watch some four inches in diameter.” Grant happened to have the watch when it was his turn to recite for his engineering class. As Grant was reciting, the watch, hidden in his coat started making loud noises. French described the sound as a “Chinese Gong” and remembered that despite the loud noise coming from the watch in his coat, Grant kept his composure while his classmates were trying not to laugh. The professor thought the sound was coming from the hall and had the classroom door closed, which made the sound louder. Eventually Grant’s recitation outlasted the bong noise.
George Deshon (1823-1904) of Connecticut was second in the class and Grant’s junior year roommate. He did not fight in either the Mexican War or the Civil War. After a several years in the army ordnance department, he resigned and became a Roman Catholic Priest, later becoming Superior General of the Congregation of Paulists for New York City. In 1897, Father Deshon remembered his cadet days with Grant and included a humorous story regarding a time when the two were roommates. "He remembers that Grant and himself were up late past taps cooking a hash (forbidden food taken from the mess) of potatoes, butter etc, cooking on a bright coal fire in the open grate in our room and friends were waiting to come and partake of it, when the alarm was given [that] 'the inspector is on his rounds on the lower floor.'...The smell of the cooking was strong...the hash pan was placed under the bed. I stood off and threw half a pail of water on the fire and a big puff of steam and gas came out and killed the odor of the cooking," When the inspector came to their room and asked what was happening, the two cadets claimed, "the fire was intolerable and we threw some water on it to cool it." Deshon remembered that the inspector bought their story, which probably saved them from any demerits. Deshon also remembered visiting Grant at Long Branch when he was president-elect that and Grant embraced him warmly. Deshon remarked that "Grant never forgot his friends."
Robert Hazlitt (1821-1846) of Ohio was assigned to 4th infantry with Grant and stationed at Jefferson Barracks. He was also a frequent visitor to White Haven. Julia's sister Emma remembered a time when her sisters, Julia and Nellie, as well as Grant, Hazlitt and a few other officers were caught in a thunderstorm. Emma remembered that "there was no house along the road...the girls were afraid to get under the trees while the lightning played...so they turned to Hazlitt who was quite tall and thin 'and used him as a tent pole' with the girls crouching dry around his feet and the other young men outside soaking." Grant mentions Hazlitt in letters to Julia that "Mr. Hazlitt would like to be remembered" as the two were stationed in Louisiana and Texas prior to the Mexican-American War. This closeness ended abruptly when Hazlitt was killed in the Battle of Monterrey at age 25 years.
Three other classmates died in the Mexican-American War. John P. Johnstone of Virginia (1824-1847) was the youngest in Grant's class, graduating at just nineteen years old. He was also future Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's nephew. Young Johnstone died directing artillery fire at the Battle of Contreras. Theodore L. Chadbourne (1822-1846) of Maine died at the Battle of Resaca de-la Palma. George Stevens (1821-1846) fought in the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de-la Palma alongside Grant only to die days later when he drowned crossing the Rio Grande River to Mexico.
Christopher C. Augur of Michigan (1821-1898) was in the fourth infantry with Grant during the Mexican-American War and later served as a Union General in the Civil War. He was commander of the Department of Washington during the time of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and was present at the Peterson House as Lincoln lay dying. As commander of the Department of Washington, Augur was instrumental in organizing the pursuit of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. He stayed in the army in various postings in the south and west and retired with the rank of full Brigadier General in 1885.
Rufus Ingalls of Maine (1818-1893) was Grant's first roommate at West Point. After fighting in the Mexican-American War he was stationed with Grant at Columbia Barracks (later Fort Vancouver). During the Civil War, Grant tapped him as the chief quartermaster responsible for supplying federal armies operating against Richmond and Petersburg. He was present with Grant at Appomattox Court House when General Lee surrendered. After the war he stayed with the Army and was appointed the 16th Quartermaster General of the United States Army with the full rank of Brigadier General, retiring in 1883. In his memoirs Grant heaped great praise for Ingalls's efforts in supplying the army, saying "there never was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's corps with the army of the Potomac in 1864."
Charles S. Hamilton of New York (1822-1891) served in the Mexican-American War and was wounded at the Battle of Molino del Rey. He later served as a Union General in the Civil War, but slandered Grant in his quest to gain promotion. Historian Brooks Simpson writes of him, “[Hamilton] confided to Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin ‘Grant is a Drunkard.’ His wife has been with him for months only to use her influence in keeping him sober. He tries to let liquor alone-but he cannot resist the temptation always.” Hamilton also claimed a time when he and a friend came across a “beastly drunk Grant in Memphis, took him in hand, denied him any more to drink and called for Julia.” Apparently, Hamilton liked to gossip and according to Simpson he charged other Generals with drunkenness to seek a higher command. In the end this scheming backfired as Grant accepted Hamilton’s resignation in 1863, ending his military career.
Grant’s West Point class also included future brother-in-law Frederick T. Dent of Missouri (1820-1892), who was Grant's roommate during their last year at the Academy. You can learn more about his life on this webpage.
More than half of Grant's graduating class is known to have been photographed at least once. To view a gallery of these images, click the link below.