ULYSSES S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States, was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. At the age of seventeen he entered the Military Academy at West Point, and was graduated in 1843. He served with distinction in the Mexican war; but his first national reputation was won by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. From that time he rapidly rose in rank, and in March, 1864, was appointed lieutenant-general and general-in-chief of the Union army.

2. The first great event of the new administration was the completion of the Pacific Railroad. The first division of the road extended from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of one thousand and thirty-two miles. The western division reached from Ogden to San Francisco, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-two miles. On the 10th of May, 1869, the work was completed with appropriate ceremonies.

3. Before the inauguration of President Grant two additional amendments to the Constitution had been adopted. The first of these, known as the Fourteenth Amendment, extended the right of citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and declared the validity of the public debt. Early in 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted by Congress, providing that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This clause was proclaimed by the President as a part of the Constitution on the 30th of March, 1870.

4. In the first three months of the same year, the reorganization of the Southern States was completed. On the 24th of January, the senators and representatives of Virginia were readmitted to their seats in Congress. On the 23d of February a like action was taken in regard to Mississippi; and on the 30th of March the work was finished by the readmission of Texas.

5. In 1870 was completed the ninth census of the United States. Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the past ten years had been a period of growth and progress. During that time the population had increased to thirty-eight million five hundred and eighty-seven thousand souls. The national debt was rapidly falling off. The products of the United States had grown to a vast aggregate. American manufacturers were competing with those of all nations in the markets of the world. The Union now embraced thirty-seven States and eleven Territories. The national domain had spread to the vast area of three million six hundred and four thousand square miles. Few things have been more wonderful than the territorial and material growth of the United States.

6. In January of 1871, President Grant appointed Senator Wade of Ohio, Professor White of New York, and Dr. Samuel Howe of Massachusetts, to visit San Domingo and report upon the desirability of annexing that island to the United States. The measure was earnestly favored by the President. After three months spent abroad, the commissioners returned and reported in favor of annexation; but the proposal met with opposition in Congress, and was defeated.

7. The claim of the United States against the British government for damages done by Confederate cruisers during the civil war still remained unsettled. After the war Great Britain grew anxious for an adjustment of the difficulty. On the 27th of February, 1871, a joint high commission, composed of five British and five American statesmen, assembled at Washington City. From the fact that the cruiser Alabama had done most of the injury complained of, the claims of the United States were called the Alabama Claims. After much discussion, the commissioners framed a treaty, known as the Treaty of Washington. It was agreed that all claims of either nation against the other should be submitted to a board of arbitration to be appointed by friendly nations. Such a court was formed, and in the summer of 1872 convened at Geneva, Switzerland. The cause of the two nations was heard, and on the 14th of September decided in favor of the United States. Great Britain was required to pay into the Federal treasury fifteen million five hundred thousand dollars.

8. The year 1871 is noted in American history for the burning of Chicago. On the evening of the 8th of October a fire broke out in De Koven street, and was driven by a high wind into the lumber-yards and wooden houses of the neighborhood. All the next day the flames rolled on, sweeping into a blackened ruin the most valuable portion of the city. The area burned over was two thousand one hundred acres, or three and a third square miles. Nearly two hundred lives were lost, and the property destroyed amounted to about two hundred millions of dollars.

9. As the first term of President Grant drew to a close, the political parties made ready for the twenty-second presidential election. Many parts of the chief magistrate's policy had been made the subjects of controversy. The congressional plan of reconstruction had been unfavorably received in the South. The elevation of the negro race to the rights of citizenship was regarded with apprehension. The military spirit was still rife in the country, and the issues of the civil war were rediscussed with much bitterness. On these issues the people divided in the election of 1872. The Republicans renominated General Grant for the presidency. For the vice-presidency Mr. Colfax was succeeded by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. As the standard-bearer of the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties, Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, was nominated. This was the last act in that remarkable man's career. For more than thirty years he had been a leader of public opinion in America. The canvass was one of wild excitement. Mr. Greeley was overwhelmingly defeated, and died in less than a month after the election.

10. On the evening of the 9th of November, a fire broke out on the corner of Kingston and Summer streets, Boston; spread to the northeast; and continued with unabated fury until the morning of the 11th. The best portion of the city, embracing some of the finest blocks in the United States, was laid in ashes. The burnt district covered an area of sixty-five acres. Fifteen lives, eight hundred buildings, and property to the value of eighty million dollars were lost in the conflagration.

11. In the spring of 1872, the Modoc Indians were ordered to remove from their lands on Lake Klamath, Oregon, to a new reservation. They refused to go; and in the following November, a body of troops was sent to force them into compliance. The Modocs resisted, kept up the war during the winter, and then retreated into a volcanic region called the lava-beds. Here, in the spring of 1873, the Indians were surrounded. On the 11th of April, a conference was held between them and six members of the peace commission; but in the midst of the council the savages rose upon the kind-hearted men who sat beside them, and murdered General Canby and Dr. Thomas in cold blood. Mr. Meacham, another member of the commission, was shot, but escaped with his life. The Modocs were then besieged in their stronghold; but it was the 1st of June before Captain Jack and his band were obliged to surrender. The chiefs were tried by court-martial and executed in the following October.

12. About the beginning of President Grant's second term, the country was agitated by the Credit Mobilier Investigation in Congress. The Credit Mobilier was a joint stock company, organized in 1863 for the purpose of constructing public works. In 1867, another company, which had undertaken to build the Pacific Railroad, purchased the charter of the Credit Mobilier, and the capital was increased to three million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Owing to the profitableness of the work, the stock rose in value and large dividends were paid to the shareholders. In 1872 it became known that much of this stock was owned by members of Congress. A suspicion that those members had voted corruptly in matters affecting the Pacific Railroad seized the public mind, and led to a congressional investigation, in the course of which many scandalous transactions were brought to light.

13. In the autumn of 1873 occurred one of the most disastrous financial panics ever known in the United States. The alarm was given by the failure of Jay Cooke & Company of Philadelphia. Other failures followed in rapid succession. Depositors hurried to the banks and withdrew their money. Business was paralyzed, and many months elapsed before confidence was sufficiently restored to enable merchants and bankers to engage in the usual transactions of trade.

14. With the coming of 1876 the people made ready to celebrate the Centennial of American Independence. The city of Philadelphia was the central point of interest. There, on the 10th of May, the great International Exposition was opened with imposing ceremonies. In Fairmount Park, on the Schuylkill, were erected beautiful buildings to receive the products of art and industry from all nations. By the beginning of summer these stately edifices were filled to overflowing with the richest products, gathered from every clime and country. On the 4th of July the centennial of the great Declaration was commemorated in Philadelphia with an impressive oration by William M. Evarts, of New York, and a National Ode by the poet, Bayard Taylor. The average daily attendance of visitors at the Exposition was over sixty-one thousand. The grounds were open for one hundred and fifty-eight days; and the receipts for admission amounted to more than three million seven hundred thousand dollars. On the 10th of November, the Exposition, the most successful of its kind ever held, was formally closed by the President of the United States.

15. The last year of President Grant's administration was noted for the war with the Sioux. These fierce savages had, in 1867, made a treaty with the United States, agreeing to relinquish all of the territory south of the Niobrara, west of the one hundred and fourth meridian, and north of the forty-sixth parallel. By this treaty the Sioux were confined to a large reservation in southwestern Dakota, and upon this they agreed to retire by the first of January, 1876. But many of the tribes continued to roam at large through Wyoming and Montana, burning houses, stealing horses, and murdering whoever opposed them.

16. The Government now undertook to drive the Sioux upon their reservation. A large force of regulars, under Generals Terry and Crook, was sent into the mountainous country of the Upper Yellowstone, and the savages, to the number of several thousand, were crowded back against the Big Horn Mountains and River. Generals Custer and Reno, who were sent forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover the whereabouts of the Indians, found them on the left bank of the Little Horn.

17. On the 25th of June, General Custer, without waiting for reinforcements, charged headlong with his division into the Indian town, and was immediately surrounded. The struggle equaled in desperation and disaster any other Indian battle ever fought in America. General Custer and every man of his command fell in the fight. The whole loss of the Seventh Cavalry was two hundred and sixty-one killed, and fifty-two wounded. General Reno held his position, on the bluffs of the Little Horn, until General Gibbon arrived with reinforcements and saved the remnant from destruction.

18. Other divisions of the army were soon hurried forward, and during the summer and autumn the Indians were beaten in several engagements. On the 24th of November, the Sioux were decisively defeated by Colonel McKenzie at a pass in the Big Horn Mountains. On the 5th of January, the savages were again overtaken and routed by the forces of Colonel Miles. The remaining bands, under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, being able to offer no further serious resistance, escaped across the border into Canada.

19. In August, 1876, Colorado took her place as the thirty-eighth State of the Union. The population of the "Centennial State" numbered forty-five thousand.

20. The twenty-third presidential election was one of the most exciting and critical in the history of the nation. General Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York, were chosen as candidates by the Republicans; Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, by the Democrats. The Independent Greenback party presented as candidates Peter Cooper, of New York, and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio. The canvass began early and with great spirit. The real contest lay between the Republicans and the Democrats. The election was held. The general result was uncertain, and both parties claimed the victory! The election was so evenly balanced; there had been so much irregularity in the elections in South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon; and the power of Congress over the electoral proceedings was so poorly defined, that no certain result could be announced. For the first time in the history of the country, there was a disputed presidency.

21. When Congress convened in December, the whole question came before that body for adjustment. After much debating it was agreed that the disputed election returns should be referred for decision to a Joint High Commission, consisting of five members chosen from the United States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from the Supreme Court. The Commission was accordingly constituted. The returns of the disputed States were referred to the tribunal; and on the 2d of March a result was reached. The Republican candidates were declared elected. One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and one hundred and eighty-four for Tilden and Hendricks.