One of the noteworthy events in the Roundtable’s history was the appearance of Ulysses S. Grant’s grandson at a meeting. This meeting, which occurred on December 3, 1958, was a joint meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable and the Western Reserve Historical Society. At this meeting, Ulysses S. Grant III was the speaker, and he gave a presentation titled “The Strategy of the Civil War.” Who better to discuss this topic than the grandson of the person who was the author of the military strategy that won the Civil War and thereby preserved the Union? Of note, this presentation occurred during the third year of the Roundtable’s existence. The text of this presentation can be accessed by clicking on this link.
Ulysses S. Grant III was born in Chicago on the 4th of July in 1881. After education in Austria, where his father was an American diplomat, he attended Columbia University, but left in 1898 when he received an appointment to West Point. Grant and Douglas MacArthur joined their first summer camp at West Point in July and August 1899. They soon learned that they were plebes who were especially marked for hazing by upperclassmen, because they were the grandson and son, respectively, of well-known military men (Ulysses S. Grant and Arthur MacArthur). Grant graduated sixth in the Class of 1903, while Douglas MacArthur graduated first in that class.
After graduation, Grant served on Mindanao in the Philippines (1903-04), in the Cuban Pacification (1906), in Mexican Border Service (1913-1917 including the Veracruz Expedition in 1914), and in the Pancho Villa Expedition (1916). He also served in World War I and World War II. In 1904 Grant was as an aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, and he met his future wife while he was at the White House. In 1907 Grant married Edith Ruth Root (1878-1962), the daughter of Elihu Root, former Secretary of War and Secretary of State. They had three daughters: Edith, Clara Frances, and Julia. Grant died in 1968 at age 87.