Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant portrait

Portrait of Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. They met in Missouri in 1844, when Grant was stationed with Dent's brother at the United States Army base at Jefferson Barracks. Within one year, the couple was secretly engaged, as Julia's father, Frederick Dent, initially opposed the marriage due to Grant's lower economic status. Soon, Mr. Dent relented, but the United States had entered into the U.S.-Mexican War, further postponing the marriage. With the war's conclusion, Dent and Grant were married on August 22, 1848.