Julia D. Grant

Julia Boggs (Dent) Grant (1826-1902) was born to a slaveholding family and raised on the family plantation in Missouri. Julia met Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) in 1844, through her brother, Fred Dent, who was a classmate of Grant's at West Point. They became engaged in 1844 when Julia was eighteen years old but Grant's military service in the Mexican War delayed their wedding until 1848. The family had little money and the Civil War was a turning point for them as Ulysses' military prowess resulted in successive promotions to higher ranks, concluding the war as Major General and being promoted to General of the Army by President Andrew Johnson after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Julia accompanied her husband during much of his Civil War campaigns, leaving their four children with relatives. In 1868 Julia provided strong encouragement and support in her husband's presidential campaign and became a hostess for many social events at the White House during their 8-year tenure there. After leaving the White House the couple went on a two-year world tour to Europe, Asia and Africa. They moved to New York but were again close to poverty due to bad investments which were only resolved after President Grant's death when his memoirs were published. Julia moved to Washington, D. C., after the death of her husband and wrote her own memoirs which she tried to get published, including asking for the assistance of Jane Stanford in funding their publication. They were not published until 1975, 73 years after Julia's death.