Frederick Dent Grant - Early Military Career

Early Military Career

Grant was appointed to West Point in 1866 and graduated in 1871. He was assigned to the 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. He took a leave of absence to work with the Union Pacific Railroad as a civil engineer. Late in 1871, he was aide-de-camp to General William Tecumseh Sherman in Europe. He rejoined the 4th Cavalry in Texas in 1872.

In 1873, he was assigned to the staff of General Philip Sheridan and promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was on the Yellowstone Expedition and was with George Armstrong Custer during the Black Hills expedition.

In 1874, Grant married Ida Marie Honoré (1854–1930), the daughter of Henry Hamilton Honoré, who made his fortune in Chicago real estate. They were married in Chicago and had two children: Julia Dent Grant (born 1876) and Ulysses III (born 1881). (Note: Ulysses IV was the son of Ulysses S. (Buck) Grant, Jr.)

The birth of his first child, Julia Dent Grant, in essence saved his life. Grant received leave to travel from Custer's unit in the Black Hills of South Dakota to Washington, D.C. for her birth. Had he remained with Custer's unit, he would have been in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (June 24–25, 1876) in which Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army were killed. {{This cannot be correct as Custer, accompanied by Grant (who was accused of drunkedness by some other members of the expedition), was in the Black Hills in 1874 (not 1876) The 7th Cavalry under the command of Custer left Ft. Abraham Lincoln in May 1876 as the Yellowstone part of the summer campaign of 1876. Neither it nor Custer was in the Black Hills at any time after the summer of 1874.}}

In 1877, he took a leave of absence to accompany his father on a trip around the world.

In 1878, Grant was in the Bannock War and was in the fight against Victorio in New Mexico.