GRANT SIGNS WEST POINT DIALECTIC SOCIETY CERTIFICATE.
GRANT, ULYSSES S. 1822-1885. Document Signed ('UH Grant'), appointing Henry M. Judah to the Dialectic Society of the USMA, 1 p, folio, on parchment, West Point, June 20, 1843, also signed by W.S. Hancock (1824-1886) as secretary of the organization, with engraved vignette and red wax-blue silk seal, light creasing and soiling, matted and framed.

EARLY ULYSSES S. GRANT DOCUMENT SIGNED 'U.H. GRANT.' When Grant first arrived at West Point, he wanted to use Ulysses as his first name but make his given name Hiram his middle name. However, when Congressman Thomas Hamer submitted hi application, and knowing the boy only as Ulysses Grant, he supplied an 'S' as a middle initial for Grant's mother's maiden name 'Simpson.' The error would eventually stick.
The first election U.S. Grant ever won was to be President of the Dialectic Society at West Point, an organization dedicated to literary discussion and debate. Winfield Scott Hancock served as Secretary of the society and also signs here. Honorary membership is granted to fellow Civil War general Henry M. Judah (1821-1866), who served as Grant's Inspector General during the Battle of Shiloh. Judah's career on the battlefield was unimpressive, marred by alcoholism and poor performance. Toward the end of the war, however, serving in an administrative capacity in Marietta, GA, he recognized that the surrendered Confederate soldiers and locals were on the verge of starvation, issuing corn and bacon to the needy until new crops could be raised, a humanitarian gesture greatly appreciated by the defeated Georgians.