| wishfulslayer
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| 666503. Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:16 pm |
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Now, I cannot accurately source this, I saw it on a Civil War Documentary in my American History class a while ago. Sorry!
1. The 'S' in Ulysses S. Grant doesn't actually stand for anything. While registering his son for Westpoint Military Academy, Grant's father simply put it in.
2. Following his involvement in the Civil War, General Grant didn't want anything to do with politics, and so adamantly refused to campaign when he was nominated for president. Although he sat at home, he won the Presidency.
3. General Grant, who was the leader of the Union Army, was actually born in the South, while General Lee, the leader of the Confederate Army, was born in the North.
Hope you find this interesting! |
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| masterfroggy
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| 666510. Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:45 pm |
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| wishfulslayer wrote: | Now, I cannot accurately source this, I saw it on a Civil War Documentary in my American History class a while ago. Sorry!
1. The 'S' in Ulysses S. Grant doesn't actually stand for anything. While registering his son for Westpoint Military Academy, Grant's father simply put it in.
2. Following his involvement in the Civil War, General Grant didn't want anything to do with politics, and so adamantly refused to campaign when he was nominated for president. Although he sat at home, he won the Presidency.
3. General Grant, who was the leader of the Union Army, was actually born in the South, while General Lee, the leader of the Confederate Army, was born in the North.
Hope you find this interesting! |
1. The S does stand for something, it stands for Simpson which was his mothers maiden name, the mis-naming was not his fathers mistake, but the person who nominated him for West Point a US congressman called Thomas Hamer.
Ulysses was his middle name, Hiram was his first name. |
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| wishfulslayer
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| 666512. Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:49 pm |
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| Sweet. Thanks for that, anything to do with the Civil War lost all academic significance the minute I became a criminology major. :D |
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| Flash
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| 666553. Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:35 pm |
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| masterfroggy wrote: | | The S does stand for something, it stands for Simpson which was his mothers maiden name |
So people keep telling us. Let's ask the man himself:
| Quote: | Grant, Memoirs, 1952 ed., footnote by E.B. Long, sourced from the Dictionary of American Biography.
Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.' |
"McFeeley" is Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) |
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| zomgmouse
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| 666697. Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:54 pm |
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| The other "middle S" president, Harry S. Truman, was given the S. to appease both his grandfathers, both of whose names started with S. |
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| masterfroggy
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| 666712. Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:12 am |
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When Congressman Hamer registered Grant at West point, the S stood for Simpson, and that is the point, Grant, later, went on to claim that in ‘his mind the S stood for nothing’, which also does not matter.
In the book the life of Ulysses S Grant 1822 1885 by E.E Brown, published in 1885
The author Writes
“The name of the young cadet was entered upon the books as Ulysses S. Grant. This mistake probably arose from the fact of his having a younger brother by the name of Simpson, which was also his mother's name before her marriage.
Library of congress
OCLC Number 7569137
Congressman Hamar registered him (mistakenly) with the middle name/initial of Simpson, and West point refused to change it. Grant was stuck with the name for three years, until he graduated. After which he was free to do as he pleased, he could have called himself Ulysses Land for all anyone cared. |
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| exnihilo
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| 666735. Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:12 am |
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1) Hamer didn't register him, he nominated him, and in the letter doing so got his name wrong. Grant was christened as Hiram Ulysses Grant.
2) It was not entirely unusual for the candidate to do no active campaigning, and the fact that he didn't received little attention though newspapers of the time did make mention of Seymour's energetic campaign.
3) Grant was not born in the South, he was born in Ohio and Robert E Lee was not born in the North, he was born in Virginia. |
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| wishfulslayer
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| 666969. Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:56 am |
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| 3. Grant was born in Ohio, which, at the time of the Civil War, was claimed as Union State. In General Lee's case, he was born in Virginia, which was considered a Confederate State. |
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| exnihilo
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| 666976. Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:04 am |
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| Yes, that's what I said. Your original point 3 said the opposite. |
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| Neotenic
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| 666980. Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:12 am |
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| The North will rise again! |
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| zomgmouse
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| 666983. Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:20 am |
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| The South will always rise! At least, it does for me, usually in the morning. |
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| Moosh
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| 668151. Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:13 pm |
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| Neotenic wrote: | | The North will rise again! |
Whilst as a Northerner I like Mr Smith's sentiment there, I always wondered about the 'again'. When was the first time? |
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| Mort
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| 668169. Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:12 pm |
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| Moosh wrote: | | Neotenic wrote: | | The North will rise again! |
Whilst as a Northerner I like Mr Smith's sentiment there, I always wondered about the 'again'. When was the first time? |
Hmm, maybe the Birmingham Political Union in 1830 that campaigned for reform of the House of Commons that later inspired the Chartist movement, the first working class labour movement in the world. In the 1840s, Britain was pretty close to a working class revolution with sporadic riots such as the Newport Rising related to Chartism. |
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| Celebaelin
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| 668172. Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:19 pm |
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| Whilst the West Midlands is certainly not in the South I think describing Birmingham as being in the North is a pretty good indicator of whereabouts in the UK you call home Mort. |
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| Mort
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| 668221. Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:20 pm |
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| Celebaelin wrote: | | Whilst the West Midlands is certainly not in the South I think describing Birmingham as being in the North is a pretty good indicator of whereabouts in the UK you call home Mort. |
Actually, a study from Sheffield University into the north-south divide according to statistics about education standards, life expectancy, death rates, unemployment levels, house prices and voting patterns found that the divide runs more from the Northwest to the Southeast - from the estuary of the Severn, near the Welsh-English border, to the mouth of the Humber.
This divide splits the Midlands and puts Birmingham in the 'North' - but only just!
I'm originally from Norway, so I'm more Northern than all of you! |
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