Julia Dent Grant foresaw great things for the man she called "Ulyss." She kept that faith through difficult times. Their wedding was delayed for four years while Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885; see entry in volume 3) fought in the Mexican War (1846-48). Their early married life was spent in forts in New York and Michigan, far from the easy plantation life in which Julia was raised. Their young children were fatherless while Grant was stationed in the Pacific Northwest —a remote outpost too dangerous for Julia and the children to join him. Then came seven years while Grant struggled, first as a farmer, then as a real estate agent, and then as a clerk in his family's leather goods business.

When the Civil War broke out, Grant was nearly forty. He assembled a group of volunteers, gained a commission, and went off to battle. Great things...