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"One summer day we were going to a morning wedding, and Lieutenant
Grant was also invited," says Mrs. Grant. He came for us on horseback
and asked my brother's permission to drive me, in exchange for his saddle,
to which he gladly consented. The day beautiful, the roads were a little
heavy from previous rain, but the sun shone in splendor. We had to cross
a little bridge that spanned a ravine, and, when we reached it, I was surprised
and a little concerned to find the gulch swollen, a most unusual thing,
the water reaching to the bridge. I noticed, too, that Lieutenant
Grant was very quiet, and that the high water bothered me. I asked several
times if he thought the water dangerous and told him I would go back rather
than take any risk. He assured me, in his brief way, that it was perfectly
safe, and in my heart I relied on him. Just as we reached the old bridge
I said, 'Now if anything happens, remember I shall cling to you, no matter what you say to the contrary.' He simple said, 'All right,' and we were over the planks in less than a minute. Then his mood changed, he became more social, and in asking me to be his wife, used my threat as a theme. After dinner that afternoon Lieutenant Grant asked me to set the day. I wanted to be engaged, and told him it would be much nicer than getting married, a sentiment he did not approve. We were very quiet at the house that evening and neither said a word of the secret. After supper he went back to the regiment, and a few days later General Taylor sent him to Camp Salubrity, in Louisiana. He was too shy to ask father, so he waited till he was stationed and wrote to him. Father never answered the letter. I was his favorite daughter and he thought army life would not suit me. "'Besides,' said father, 'you are too young and the boy is too poor. He hasn't anything to give you.'" "I rose in my wrath said I was poor too, and hadn't anything to give him. "The next year (1845) he came back on a leave of absence, and I can remember just how he looked as he rode up in his new uniform. Father was going to Washington on business, and we were all on the front porch kissing him good-bye and stuffing his pockets with notes of things he was to buy. Lieutenant Grant asked for my hand, and he, in a hurry to get off, consented." On August 22, 1848 Miss Julia Boggs Dent became the bride of her dashing Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant at the Dent winter home in St. Louis. |
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