is resignation took effect, following a leave
of absence, July 31, 1854.

There was another cause, as told in army circles, for his resignation.
He had become so addicted to drink that his resignation was required by
his commanders, who held it for a time to afford him an opportunity to
retrieve his good fame if he would; but he was unable. Through what
temptation he fell into such disgrace is not clearly known. But garrison
posts are given to indulgences which have proved too much for many an
officer, no worse than his fellows, but constitutionally unable to keep
pace with men of different temperament. It might be thought that Grant
was one unlikely to be easily affected; but the testimony of his
associates is that he was always a poor drinker, a small quantity of
liquor overcoming him.

He was now thirty-two years old, a husband and father, discharged from
the service for which he had been educated, and without means of
livelihood. His wife fortunately owned a small farm near St. Louis, but
it was without a dwelling house. He had no means to stock it. He built a
humble house there by his own hard labor. He cut wood and drew it to St.
Louis for a market. In this way he lived for four years, when he was
incapacitated for such work by an attack of fever and ague lasting
nearly a year. There is no doubt that the veteran and his family
experienced the rigors of want in these years; no question that neither
his necessities nor his duties saved him from being sometimes overcome
by his baneful habit.

In the fall of 1858 the farm was sold. Grant embarked in the real estate
agency business in St. Louis, and made sundry unsuccessful efforts to
get a salaried place under the city government. But his fortunes did
not improve. Finally in desperation he went in 1860 to his father for
assistance. His father had established two younger sons in a hide and
leather business in Galena, Ill. Upon consultation they agreed to employ
Ulysses as a clerk and helper, with the understanding that he should not
draw more than $800 a year. But he had debts in St. Louis, and to cancel
these almost as much more had to be supplied to him the first year. His
father has told that the advance was repaid as soon as he began earning
money in the civil war.

In Galena he was known to but few. Ambition for acquaintance seemed to
have died in him. He was the victim of a great humiliation and was
silent. He avoided publicity. He was destitute of presumptio