Opening paragraphs.........................

     On April 27, 1822, Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, tucked away in the rural southwestern corner of the state near Cincinnati.  The tiny, boxy house, constructed of wood and painted white, stood a short stroll from the Ohio River with Kentucky clearly visible on the far shore.  Under its slanting roof the residence was humble, consisting of a single open room with a fireplace.  Point Pleasant was little more than a nondescript cluster of makeshift cabins overlooking bustling river traffic.
     Delivered by a stern-faced, bearded abolitionist, Dr. John Rogers, the plump baby weighed in at ten and three-quarters pounds, with reddish-brown hair and blue-grey eyes.  For many weeks, his father, Jesse Root Grant, and mother, Hannah Simpson Grant, conferred with relatives to find a suitable name for the hefty infant.  The choices bandied about suggest a literate clan with high expectations for the child.  Hannah opted for Albert to honor Thomas Jefferson's treasury secretary, Albert Gallatin, while her father opted for Hiram as a "handsome" biblical name.  Hannah's stepmother evinced "enthusiastic admiration for the ancient commander, Ulysses," recalled Jesse Grant, and urged "that the babe should be named Ulysses."  Some accounts claim the matter was finally settled by plucking names from a hat.  Whatever the case, the family agreed on Hiram Ulysses Grant, which translated into the unfortunate initials H.U.G.  The boy would show a decided preference for Ulysses and gradually discarded Hiram, especially when other boys "teased him about his initials."  But this didn't halt the taunts since Grant was known as "Ulyss" or "Lyss", soon bastardized by malicious schoolmates into "Useless Grant."  The name Ulysses S. Grant was the product of a later bureaucratic error that stuck.

-Ron Chernow,  Grant