ess ventures. In 1860, Ulysses finally moved to Galena, Illinois where he worked for his father’s leather business. He earned eight hundred dollars a year and lived in a comfortable housing facing a cemetery.Not particularly interested in politics, Grant was nominally a Democrat at this time; but when the South seceded, he had no trouble in making up his mind to support the Union cause. He helped organize the first company of Union volunteers in Galena and accompanied the men to Springfield. At the request of the Illinois governor, Richard Yates, he remained to muster in the new volunteer regiments, for his experience as quartermaster, commissary, and adjutant in the field made him invaluable. Grant longed for active duty, however, and on May 24, 1861, tendered his services to the U. S. government, suggesting modestly that he was "competent to command a regiment." Failing to secure such an appointment, he accepted from Governor Yates the command of the 21st Illinois Regiment, quickly brought it under excellent discipline, and did good service against guerrillas in Missouri.On Aug. 7, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Grant brigadier general of volunteers, and he took up headquarters at Cairo, Ill. Only a few days after he assumed his new command, he occupied Paducah, Ky., at the strategic junction of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. On November 7 he attacked the Confederates at Belmont, Mo., in an assault that was not well planned or executed. During the attack, Grant’s horse is shot out from under him. The arrival of Confederate reinforcements compelled him to retreat. Belmont is frequently described as a fighting retreat by Union Forces. The general was still learning his trade, and his men were gaining much needed experience in the field and under fire.In February 1862, after much persuasion by Grant, Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Grant's superior officer, authorized him to move against Forts Donelson and Henry, the Confeder...
