by Keith Graham Harrison, PCinC
Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant III was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 4, 1881. He was the son of Major General Frederick Dent and Ida Marie (nee Honoré) Grant, and the grandson of the Union Army Commander and the nation’s 18th President, Ulysses Grant. President Ulysses Grant was an Original Companion of the New York Commandery, assigned Insignia #2006. Major General Grant served during the Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War and was also an Hereditary Companion of the New York Commandery, assigned Insignia #4067. He was a third-generation Companion of the New York Commandery with Insignia #15385.
His elementary education included four years at the Theresianum in Vienna and four and one-half years at the Cutler School in New York. He was a student at Columbia in 1898 before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating from West Point in 1903, where he ranked sixth in his class, Ulysses S. Grant III went on to engineer’s school and Army service in the Cuban Pacification (1906), the Vera Cruz Expedition (1914), the Punitive Mexico Expedition (1916), and World War I (1917-1918). He graduated from the U.S. Army War College in 1934, when he became Colonel of the Corps of Engineers, and was later promoted to Major General in 1943. During World War II, General Grant was a pioneer civil defense planner. He fully retired from active military service on July 15, 1946, completing a 43-year career in uniform.
In the immediate postwar years, he served as Chairman of the National Park and Planning Commission in Washington (1942–1949). From 1946 to 1951, he served as Vice-President of George Washington University and also served as President of the American Planning and Civic Association (1947–1949). From 1957 to 1961, General Grant was Chairman of the National Civil War Centennial Commission, which was established to coordinate the 100th anniversary of the War of the Rebellion, a post he later resigned, citing his wife’s illness.
General Grant headed a wide variety of historical and patriotic societies and was decorated by six nations. Honors included the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit. He also served as President of the Columbia Historical Society in Washington, DC.
On July 4, 1967, in Clinton, New York, Major General Ulysses S. Grant III was honored at his College Hill home when Congressman Alexander Pirnie presented him with a West Point Academy scroll. Nearly 200 people attended the ceremony. The presentation coincided with General Grant’s 86th birthday. In presenting the July 4th-dated scroll on behalf of Major (and Future Four-Star) General Donald Vivian Bennett, West Point Superintendent of Cadets, Pirnie read Bennett’s message, which said, “The Superintendent, Alumni and Corps of Cadets of the U.S. Military Academy extend sincere good wishes for health and happiness to Ulysses S. Grant III, Major General, retired USMA, class of 1903. As soldier, statesman, educator, and citizen, he has given unsparingly of himself for the benefit of his countrymen. His many significant and lasting contributions in all fields of endeavor are a reflection of his lifelong emulation of the ideals of duty, honor, and country. On this, the occasion of the 86th birthday (July 4) and the fittingly concurrent anniversary of the independence of our nation, his Alma Mater salutes her distinguished son.” Village Mayor Harlan Lewis, along with Utica Mayor Frank M. Dulan, and Rome Mayor William A. Valentine, all read proclamations designating Saturday, July 8, as a day of tribute to the Grant family service to the nation over the past century.
After the scroll presentation, Pirnie read a message from the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General Harold K. Johnson. It read, “For more than a century, the Grant family has given more than its share of public service to this nation. The career of Major General Ulysses S. Grant III has lent further continuity to the tradition of that distinguished family. Commissioned in 1903 when tactics involved movement on foot and horseback, he has seen the horse displaced by the armed vehicle with air cover. His imagination, superior intellect, and keen insight were equal to this transition. His active duty included service in Cuba and at Vera Cruz and spanned two world wars, but his contributions to our country did not cease with retirement. Not only has he been recognized for distinguished service in the field of education as Vice-President of George Washington University, but he also donated much of his time to assisting civic and patriotic organizations in such positions of responsibility as President of the American Planning and Civic Association, Chairman of the Civil War Centennial Commission (1961), and President of the Columbia Historical Society.”
General Grant served as Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Union Veterans for two terms (1953-1955) and on October 11, 1957, he was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Loyal Legion. He also served two terms in this position until October 1961, when he was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Donald Macy Liddell, Jr.
General Grant married Edith Ruth Root, daughter of Cabinet Secretary Elihu Root, on November 27, 1907, in Washington, DC. General and Mrs. Grant had three daughters, Edith (Mrs. David W. Griffiths of Arlington, Virginia); Clara Frances (Mrs. Paul E. Ruestow of Malverne, New York); and Julia (Mrs. John S. Dietz of Syracuse, New York). Mrs. Grant died in 1962.
General Grant died August 29, 1968, at his home on College Hill in Clinton, New York, at the age of 87. Funeral services took place on Monday at the Hamilton College Chapel with the Rev. Carl A. Aveihle, Rector Emeritus of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Utica, officiating. Members of the family served as bearers. Military honors were conducted by Brigadier General Charles C. Noble, Director of Civic Works, Office Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army, representing the Chief of Staff and Chief of Engineers, and Colonel Samuel Patten, Professor of Military Science, Syracuse University. Honorary pallbearers were Charles Kohl, representative of Cooley-McCullough Post 22 American Legion, Washington, DC, and Edward V. Buckley and David E. Berger, Helmuth-Ingalls Post 232, Clinton, New York. He was buried next to his wife at the Hamilton College Cemetery.