Julia Grant with father "Colonel" Frederick F. Dent, daughter Nellie, and son Jesse
Library of Congress
Grant was promoted full captain on September 30, 1853 and ordered to report to remote Fort Humboldt, California. He grew increasingly unhappy with the few duties of the peacetime army and, separated from his family, was reported to have begun abusing alcohol. Finally Grant resigned from the army on April 11, 1854 and reunited with his family at Julia’s family’s home of White Haven located in St. Louis, Missouri. Grant reflected that “when I resigned from the army and took to farming I was happy.”
Julia’s father, Colonel Dent, gifted Ulysses and Julia 80 acres of land after their wedding, which Grant cultivated for farming and built a cabin home from his bare hands which was named Hardscrabble.
General Frederick Dent Grant on horseback in front of the cabin (Hardscrabble) built by his father, Ulysses S. Grant, 1902
Missouri History Museum
Julia explained that the house was “so crude and homely I did not like it at all, but I did not say so. I got out all my pretty covers, baskets, books, etc., and tried to make it look home-like and comfortable, but this was hard to do. The little house looked so unattractive that we facetiously decided to call it Hardscrabble.”
White Haven - U.S. Grant Historic Site, 2011
Julia recalled moving into Hardscrabble during September 1856, but after Julia’s mother died in January 1857, Ulysses and Julia moved back into White Haven at the request of her father Colonel Dent, and Hardscrabble was not occupied by them again. To learn more about the construction and history of Hardscrabble, visit https://www.nps.gov/places/hardscrabble-the-house-that-grant-built.htm
Grant & Perkins Leather Store, 1862
WikiCommons
During this time, Ulysses and Julia welcome another son, and the following six years brought three more children and a series of unsuccessful efforts to establish a profitable business. With few options remaining, Ulysses Grant moved his family to Galena, IL in April 1860 and went to work as a clerk in a leather goods store owned by his father.
