Modern Finnish popular music includes a renowned heavy metal scene, in common with other Nordic countries, as well as a number of prominent rock bands, jazz musicians, hip hop performers, and dance music acts such as Bomfunk MCs and Darude. Finnish electronic music such as the SÃ¤hkÃ¶ Recordings record label enjoys underground acclaim. IskelmÃ¤ (coined directly from the German word Schlager, meaning hit) is a traditional Finnish word for a light popular song. Finnish popular music also includes various kinds of dance music; tango, a style of Argentinean music, is also popular. One of the most productive composers of popular music was Toivo KÃ¤rki, and the most famous singer Olavi Virta (1915â1972). Among the lyricists, Sauvo Puhtila (born 1928), Reino Helismaa (died 1965) and Veikko "Vexi" Salmi are the most remarkable authors. The composer and bandleader Jimi Tenor is well known for h


1928), Reino Helismaa (died 1965) and Veikko "Vexi" Salmi are the most remarkable authors. The composer and bandleader Jimi Tenor is well known for his brand of retro-funk music.


Notable Finnish dance music artists include Bomfunc MCs, Darude, JS16, and DJ Orkidea.


Amorphis, Children of Bodom, HIM, Impaled Nazarene, Lordi, Nightwish, Sentenced, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Tarja Turunen, The 69 Eyes, and Negative, ("Best Finnish Act" MTV Europe Music Awards 2007)   Negative "Best Finnish Act" in European MTV Awards 2007 , have had success in European and Japanese heavy metal and hard rock scenes since the 1990s, and have been gaining popularity rapidly in the United States since the late 1990s. In the later 1990s the cello metal group Apocalyptica played Metallica cover versions as cello quartettos and sold half a million records worldwide. The recently retired Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus were one of Finland's most popular metal acts in the early 2000s.


Arguably one of Finland's most domestically popular rock groups is CMX. Although this group is not widely known outside of the country, bassist Billy Gould of popular U.S. rock group Faith No More produced CMX's 1998 album Vainajala. Ravelin, Antti. "CMX Biography." AOL Music.


One of the most influential musical contribution to international rock music is the band Hanoi Rocks, led by guitarist Antti Hulkko, aka Andy McCoy. Another rock band to enjoy commercial success is The Rasmus. After eleven years together and several domestic releases, the band finally captured Europe (and other places, like South America). Their 2003 album Dead Letters sold 1.5 million units worldwide and garnered them eight gold and five platinum album designations. The single "In the Shadows" placed on Top 10 charts in eleven countries and was the most played video on MTV Europe for 2005. Most recently, the Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band Lordi won the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with a record 292 points, giving Finland its first ever victory. So far the most successful Finnish band in the United States is HIM; they were the first band from Finland to ever sell an album that was ce


victory. So far the most successful Finnish band in the United States is HIM; they were the first band from Finland to ever sell an album that was certified gold by the RIAA.


Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, one of the largest open-air heavy metal festivals in the world, is held annually in Kaisaniemi, Helsinki.


Erkki Karu, one of the pioneers of the Finnish cinema, with cinematographer Eino Kari in 1927.


Finland has a growing film industry with a number of famous directors such as Aki KaurismÃ¤ki, Timo Koivusalo, Aleksi MÃ¤kelÃ¤ and Klaus HÃ¤rÃ¶. Hollywood film director/producer Renny Harlin (born Lauri Mauritz Harjola) was born in Finland.


Linus Torvalds, a famous Finnish software engineer, known for his contribution to the Linux operating system.


Finland is one of the most advanced information societies in the world. There are 200 newspapers; 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines and 67 commercial radio stations, with one nationwide, five national public service radio channels (three in Finnish, two in Swedish, one in Sami); digital radio has three channels. Four national analog television channels (two public service and two commercial) were fully replaced by five public service and three commercial digital television channels in September 1, 2007.


Each year around twelve feature films are made, 12,000 book titles published and 12 million records sold. 79 percent of the population use the Internet.


Finns, along with other Nordic people and the Japanese, spend the most time in the world reading newspapers. The most read newspaper in Finland is Helsingin Sanomat, with a circulation of 434,000. The media group SanomaWSOY behind Helsingin Sanomat also publishes the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat and commerce-oriented Taloussanomat. It also owns the Nelonen television channel. SanomaWSOY's largest shareholder is Aatos Erkko and his family. The other major publisher Alma Media publishes over thirty magazines, including newspaper Aamulehti, tabloid Iltalehti and commerce-oriented Kauppalehti. Finland has been at the top of the worldwide Press Freedom Ranking list every year since the publication of the first index by Reporters Without Borders in 2002.


Finland's National Broadcasting Company YLE is an independent state-owned company. It has five television channels and 13 radio channels in two national languages. YLE is funded through a television license and private television broadcasting license fees. Ongoing transformation to digital TV broadcasting is in progress   analog broadcasts ceased on the terrestrial network 31 August, 2007 and will cease on cable at the end of 2007. The most popular television channel MTV3 and the most popular radio channel Radio Nova are owned by Nordic Broadcasting (Bonnier and Proventus Industrier).


The people of Finland are accustomed to technology and information services. The number of cellular phone subscribers as well as the number of Internet connections per capita in Finland are among the highest in the world. According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Finnish mobile phone penetration exceeded fifty percent of the population as far back as August 1998 â first in the world â and by December 1998 the number of cell phone subscriptions outnumbered fixed-line phone connections. By the end of June 2007 there were 5.78 million cellular phone subscriptions, or 109 percent of the population.


Another fast-growing sector is the use of the Internet. Finland had more than 1.52 million broadband Internet connections by the end of June 2007, i.e., about 287 per 1,000 inhabitants.  The Finns are not only connected; they are heavy users of Internet services. All Finnish schools and public libraries have for years been connected to the Internet.


Karjalanpiirakka, a traditional Finnish pastry.


Traditional Finnish cuisine is a combination of European, Fennoscandian and Western Russian elements; table manners are European. The food is generally simple, fresh and healthy. Fish, meat, berries and ground vegetables are typical ingredients whereas spices are not common due to their historical unavailability. In years past, Finnish food often varied from region to region, most notably between the west and east. In coastal and lakeside villages, fish was a main feature of cooking, whereas in the eastern and also northern regions, vegetables and reindeer were more common.  The prototypical breakfast is oatmeal or other continental-style foods such as bread. Lunch is usually a full warm meal, served by a canteen at workplaces. Dinner is eaten at around 17.00 to 18.00 at home.


ten at around 17.00 to 18.00 at home.


Modern Finnish cuisine combines country fare and haute cuisine with contemporary continental cooking style. Today, spices are a prominent ingredient in many modern Finnish recipes, having been adopted from the east and west in recent decades.


All official holidays in Finland are established by acts of Parliament. The official holidays can be divided into Christian and secular holidays, although some of the Christian holidays have replaced holidays of pagan origin. The main Christian holidays are Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and All Saints Day. The secular holidays are New Year's Day, May Day, Midsummer Day, and the Independence Day. Christmas is the most extensively celebrated holiday: usually at least 23rd to 26th of December are holidays.


In addition to this, all Sundays are official holidays, but they are not as important as the special holidays. The names of the Sundays follow the liturgical calendar and they can be categorised as Christian holidays. When the standard working week in Finland was reduced to 40 hours by an act of Parliament, it also meant that all Saturdays became a sort of de facto public holidays, though not official ones. Easter Sunday and Pentecost are Sundays that form part of a main holiday and they are preceded by a kind of special Saturdays. Retail stores are prohibited by law from doing business on Sundays, except during the summer months (May through August) and in the pre-Christmas season (November and December). Business locations that have less than 400 square metres of floor space are allowed Sunday business throughout the year, with the exception of official holidays and certain Sundays, su


than 400 square metres of floor space are allowed Sunday business throughout the year, with the exception of official holidays and certain Sundays, such as Mother's Day and Father's Day.


Paavo Nurmi at the 1920 Summer Olympics.


2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen celebrating victory at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.


Various sporting events are popular in Finland. PesÃ¤pallo (reminiscent of baseball) is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular sports in Finland in terms of media coverage are Formula One, ice hockey and football. The Finnish national ice hockey team is considered one of the best in the world. During the past century there has been a rivalry in sporting between Finland and Sweden, mostly in ice hockey and athletics (Finland-Sweden athletics international). Jari Kurri and Teemu SelÃ¤nne are the two Finnish-born ice hockey players to have scored 500 goals in their NHL careers. Football is also popular in Finland, though the national football team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships. Jari Litmanen and Sami HyypiÃ¤ are the most internationally renowned of the Finnish football players.


ampionships. Jari Litmanen and Sami HyypiÃ¤ are the most internationally renowned of the Finnish football players.


Relative to its population, Finland has been the number one country in the world in automobile racing, measured by international success. Finland has produced three Formula One World Champions â Keke Rosberg (Williams, 1982), Mika HÃ¤kkinen (McLaren, 1998 and 1999) and Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen (Ferrari, 2007). Along with RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen, the other Finnish Formula One driver currently active is Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren). Rosberg's son, Nico Rosberg (Williams), is also currently driving, but under his mother's German nationality. Other notable Finnish Grand Prix drivers include Leo Kinnunen, JJ Lehto and Mika Salo. Finland has also produced most of the world's best rally drivers, including the ex-WRC World Champion drivers Marcus GrÃ¶nholm, Juha Kankkunen, Hannu Mikkola, Tommi MÃ¤kinen, Timo Salonen and Ari Vatanen. The only Finn to have won a road racing World Championship, Jarno Saarinen, was ki


kunen, Hannu Mikkola, Tommi MÃ¤kinen, Timo Salonen and Ari Vatanen. The only Finn to have won a road racing World Championship, Jarno Saarinen, was killed in 1973 while racing.


Among winter sports, Finland has been the most successful country in ski jumping, with former ski jumper Matti NykÃ¤nen being arguably the best ever in that sport. Most notably, he won five Olympic medals (four gold) and nine World Championships medals (five gold). Kalle Palander is a well-known alpine skiing winner, who won the World Championship and Crystal Ball (twice, in KitzbÃ¼hel). Tanja Poutiainen has won an Olympic silver medal for alpine skiing, as well as multiple World Championship competitions.


Some of the most outstanding athletes from the past include Hannes Kolehmainen (1890â1966), Paavo Nurmi (1897â1973) and Ville Ritola (1896â1982) who won eighteen gold and seven silver Olympic medals. They are also considered to be the first of a generation of great Finnish middle and long-distance runners (and subsequently, other great Finnish sportsmen) often named the "Flying Finns". Another long-distance runner, Lasse VirÃ©n (born 1949), won a total of four gold medals during the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics.


The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were held in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. Other notable sporting events held in Finland include the 1983 and 2005 World Championships in Athletics, among others.


In Finland also, Riku Kiri, Jouko Ahola and Janne Virtanen was the greatest strength athletes in the country, they competed in the World's Strongest Man beetwen 1993 and 2000.


Some of the most popular recreational sports and activities include floorball, Nordic walking, running and skiing.


*Suuret suomalaiset   a list of the "100 Greatest Finns" of all time as voted by the Finnish people in 2004.


Below are listed some of the characteristics of Finnishness. The term "Finnishness" is often referred to as the national identity of the Finnish people and its culture.


A triptych by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, depicting the Aino Story of Kalevala on three panes.


Runeberg's tart is a Finnish pastry available on the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg's birthday on February 5.


A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot'). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.  Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.


In general, larger kangaroos have adapted much better to changes wrought to the Australian landscape by humans and though many of their smaller cousins are endangered, they are plentiful. They are not farmed to any extent, but wild kangaroos are shot for meat, over which there is controversy.  Steve Dow: "An industry that's under the gun". Sydney Morning Herald online, September 26, 2007.


The kangaroo is an Australian icon: it is featured on the Australian coat of arms,  Australia's coat of arms URL accessed January 6, 2007.  on some of its currency,  The Australian currency URL accessed January 6, 2007.  and is used by many Australian organisations, including Qantas.  The Kangaroo symbol URL accessed January 6, 2007.


The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru, referring to a grey kangaroo.  Etymology of mammal names URL accessed January 7, 2007.  The name was first recorded as "Kangooroo or Kanguru" on 4 August,1770, by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook on the banks of the Endeavour River at the site of modern Cooktown, when HM Bark Endeavour was beached for almost seven weeks to repair damage sustained on the Great Barrier Reef.


A common myth about the kangaroo's English name is that it came from the Aboriginal words for "I don't understand you." According to this legend, Captain James Cook and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks were exploring Australia when they happened upon the animal. They asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded "Kangaroo", meaning "I don't understand you", which Cook took to be the name of the creature.  Tour lecture,  , Dawsonville, GA.


Kangaroo soon became adopted into standard English where it has come to mean any member of the family of kangaroos and wallabies.  Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men; females are does, flyers, or jills, and the young ones are joeys.  Animal Bytes: Kangaroo and Wallaby URL accessed January 7, 2007.  The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. Kangaroos are sometimes colloquially referred to as roos.


A Tasmanian Forester (Eastern Grey) Kangaroo in motion.


There are four species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos:


* The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world. Fewer in numbers, the Red Kangaroo occupies the arid and semi-arid centre of the continent. A large male can be 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb).


* The Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is less well-known than the red (outside of Australia), but the most often seen, as its range covers the fertile eastern part of the continent.


* The Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) is slightly smaller again at about 54 kg (119 lb) for a large male. It is found in the southern part of Western Australia, South Australia near the coast, and the Darling River basin.


* The Antilopine Kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus) is, essentially, the far-northern equivalent of the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos. Like them, it is a creature of the grassy plains and woodlands, and gregarious.


In addition, there are about 50 smaller macropods closely related to the kangaroo in the family Macropodidae.


Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus)


Europeans have long regarded Kangaroos as strange animals. Early explorers described them as creatures that had heads like deer (without antlers), stood upright like men, and hopped like frogs.  Combined with the two-headed appearance of a mother kangaroo, this led many back home to dismiss them as travellers' tales for quite some time.


Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like all marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.


Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The comfortable hopping speed for Red Kangaroo is about 20 25 km/h (13 16 mph), but speeds of up to 70 km/h (44 mph) can be attained, over short distances, while it can sustain a speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) for  nearly two kilometres.    This fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators.


Because of its long feet, it cannot walk correctly. To move at slow speeds, it uses its tail to form a tripod with its two forelimbs. It then raises its hind feet forward, in a form of locomotion called "crawl-walking."


The average life expectancy of a kangaroo is about 4 6 years.


Different species of kangaroos eat different diets.  Eastern grey kangaroos are predominantly grazers eating a wide variety of grasses whereas some other species (e.g. red kangaroos and swamp wallabies) include significant amounts of shrubs in the diet. The smaller species of kangaroos also consume hypogeal fungi.  Many species are nocturnal  Archives URL accessed January 7, 2007.  and crepuscular,  Columbus Zoo article URL accessed January 7, 2007.  usually spending the days resting in shade and the cool evenings, nights and mornings moving about and feeding.


Because of its grazing, kangaroos have developed specialized teeth. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground, and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined together, the lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars move forward as they are ground down, and eventually fall out, replaced by new teeth that grow in the back.


Despite having a herbivorous diet similar to ruminants such as cattle which release large quantities of methane through exhaling and eructation, kangaroos release virtually none. The hydrogen byproduct of fermentation is instead converted into acetate, which is then used to provide further energy. Scientists are interested in the possibility of transferring the bacteria responsible from kangaroos to cattle, since the greenhouse gas effect of methane is 23 times greater than that of carbon dioxide.  Radio Australia - Innovations:


Methane In Agriculture. 15 August  2004. Retrieved 28 August 2007.


Kangaroos have few natural predators. The Thylacine, considered by palaeontologists to have once been a major natural predator of the kangaroo, is now extinct. Other extinct predators included the Marsupial Lion, Megalania and the Wonambi. However, with the arrival of humans in Australia at least 50,000 years ago and the introduction of the dingo about 5,000 years ago, kangaroos have had to adapt.   The mere barking of a dog can set a full-grown male boomer into a wild frenzy.   Wedge-tailed Eagles and other raptors usually eat kangaroo carrion. Goannas and other carnivorous reptiles also pose a danger to smaller kangaroo species when other food sources are lacking.


Along with dingos and other canids, introduced species like foxes and feral cats also pose a threat to kangaroo populations. Kangaroos and wallabies are adept swimmers, and often flee into waterways if presented with the option. If pursued into the water, a large kangaroo may use its forepaws to hold the predator underwater so as to drown it.  Canadian Museum of Nature - Kangaroo URL accessed January 6, 2007.  Another defensive tactic described by witnesses is catching the attacking dog  with the forepaws and disembowelling it with the hind legs.


Newborn joey sucking on a teat in the pouch


Kangaroos have developed a number of adaptations to a dry, infertile continent and highly variable climate. As with all marsupials, the young are born at a very early stage of development   after a gestation of 31 36 days. At this stage, only the forelimbs are somewhat developed, to allow the newborn to climb to the pouch and attach to a teat. In comparison, a human embryo at a similar stage of development would be about seven weeks old, and premature babies born at less than 23 weeks are usually not mature enough to survive. The joey will usually stay in the pouch for about nine months (180 320 days for the Western Grey) before starting to leave the pouch for small periods of time. It is usually fed by its mother until reaching 18 months.


The female kangaroo is usually pregnant in permanence, except on the day she gives birth; however, she has the ability to freeze the development of an embryo until the previous joey is able to leave the pouch. This is known as diapause, and will occur in times of drought and in areas with poor food sources.  The composition of the milk produced by the mother varies according to the needs of the joey. In addition, the mother is able to produce two different kinds of milk simultaneously for the newborn and the older joey still in the pouch.


Unusually, during a dry period, males will not produce sperm, and females will only conceive if there has been enough rain to produce a large quantity of green vegetation.


Hindleg of a kangaroo Kangaroos and wallabies have large, stretchy  tendons in their hind legs. They store elastic strain energy in the tendons of their large hind legs, providing most of the energy required for each hop by the spring action of the tendons rather than by any muscular effort. This is true in all animal species which have muscles connected to their skeleton through elastic elements such as tendons, but the effect is more pronounced in kangaroos.


There is also a link between the hopping action and breathing: as the feet leave the ground, air is expelled from the lungs; bringing the feet forward ready for landing refills the lungs, providing further energy efficiency. Studies of kangaroos and wallabies have demonstrated that, beyond the minimum energy expenditure required to hop at all, increased speed requires very little extra effort (much less than the same speed increase in, say, a horse, dog or human), and that the extra energy is required to carry extra weight. For kangaroos, the key benefit of hopping is not speed to escape predators the top speed of a kangaroo is no higher than that of a similarly-sized quadruped, and the Australian native predators are in any case less fearsome than those of other continents but economy: in an infertile continent with highly variable weather patterns, the ability of a kangaroo to travel l


ome than those of other continents but economy: in an infertile continent with highly variable weather patterns, the ability of a kangaroo to travel long distances at moderately high speed in search of food sources is crucial to survival.


A sequencing project of the Kangaroo genome was started in 2004 as a collaboration between Australia (mainly funded by the state of Victoria) and the National Institutes of Health in the US.  Kangaroo hops in line for genome sequencing URL accessed January 6, 2007.  The genome of a marsupial such as the kangaroo is of great interest to scientists studying comparative genomics because marsupials are at an ideal degree of evolutionary divergence from humans: mice are too close and haven't developed many different functions, while birds are genetically too remote. The dairy industry has also expressed some interest in this project.


Eye disease  is rare but not new among kangaroos.  The first official report of kangaroo blindness took place in 1994, in central New South Wales.  The following year, reports of blind kangaroos appeared in Victoria and South Australia.  By 1996, the disease had spread "across the desert to Western Australia".  Australian authorities were concerned that the disease could spread to other livestock and possibly humans.  Researchers at the Australian Animal Health Laboratories in Geelong detected a virus called the Wallal virus in two species of midge, believed to have been the carriers.       Veterinarians also discovered that less than three percent of kangaroos exposed to the virus developed blindness.


Before European settlement, the kangaroo was a very important animal for Australian Aborigines, for its meat, hide, bones and sinews. In addition, there were important Dreaming stories and ceremonies involving the kangaroo.  Aherrenge is a current kangaroo dreaming site in the Northern Territory. The game of Marn grook was played using a ball made from kangaroo  by the Kurnai people.


Unlike many of the smaller macropods, kangaroos have fared well since European settlement. European settlers cut down forests to create vast grasslands for sheep and cattle grazing, added stock watering points in arid areas, and have substantially reduced the number of dingoes.


Kangaroos are shy and retiring by nature, and in normal circumstances present no threat to humans. Male kangaroos often "box" amongst each other, playfully, for dominance, or in competition for mates. The dexterity of their forepaws is utilised in both punching and grappling with the foe, but the real danger lies in a serious kick with the hindleg. The sharpened toenails can disembowel an opponent.


There are very few records of kangaroos attacking humans without provocation, however several such unprovoked attacks in 2004 spurred fears of a rabies-like disease possibly affecting the marsupials. The only reliably documented case of a fatality from a kangaroo attack occurred in New South Wales, in 1936. A hunter was killed when he tried to rescue his two dogs from a heated fray. Other suggested causes for erratic and dangerous kangaroo behaviour include extreme thirst and hunger.


In 2003, Lulu, an Eastern Grey, saved a farmer's life.  She received the RSPCA National Animal Valor Award on May 19 of the next year.


A "kangaroo crossing" sign on an Australian highway.


A kangaroo crossing a highway.


A collision with a vehicle is capable of killing a kangaroo. Kangaroos dazzled by headlights or startled by engine noise have been known to leap in front of cars.  Since kangaroos in mid-bound can reach speeds of around 50 km/h (31 mph) and are relatively heavy, the force of impact can be severe.  Small vehicles may be destroyed, while larger vehicles may suffer engine damage. The risk of harm to vehicle occupants is greatly increased if the windscreen is the point of impact.  As a result, "kangaroo crossing" signs are commonplace in Australia.


Vehicles that frequent isolated roads, where roadside assistance may be scarce, are often fitted with "roo bars" to minimise damage caused by collision. Bonnet-mounted devices, designed to scare wildlife off the road with ultrasound and other methods, have been devised and marketed.


If a female is the victim of a collision, animal welfare groups ask that her pouch be checked for any surviving joey, in which case it may be removed to a wildlife sanctuary or veterinary surgeon for rehabilitation.  Likewise, when an adult kangaroo is injured in a collision, a vet, the RSPCA or the National Parks and Wildlife Service can be consulted for instructions on proper care. In New South Wales, rehabilitation of kangaroos is carried out by volunteers from WIRES.


Occasionally, individuals take on the task of rearing a recovered joey themselves. The rule-of-thumb says that if the joey is already covered with fur at the time of the accident (as opposed to still being in its embryonic stage), it stands a good chance of growing up properly. Lactose-free milk is required, otherwise the animal may develop blindness. They hop readily into a cloth bag when it is lowered in front of them approximately to the height where the mother's pouch would be. The joey's instinct is to "cuddle up", thereby endearing themselves to their keepers, but after hand-rearing a joey, it cannot usually be released into the wild and be expected to provide for itself immediately. Usually wildlife sanctuaries are willing to adopt kangaroos which are no longer practical, or have grown too large to contain, needing at least 1 acre and 7ft boundary fences for a fully grown kangaroo


angaroos which are no longer practical, or have grown too large to contain, needing at least 1 acre and 7ft boundary fences for a fully grown kangaroo.


Kangaroos have been featured on coins, as well as being used as emblems and logos. They have also been used as mascots and in the naming of sports teams and are extremely well-represented in films, television, toys and souvenirs around the world.


*Dawson, Terence J. 1995. Kangaroos: Biology of the Largest Marsupials. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. Second printing: 1998. ISBN 0-8014-8262-3.


Ulysses S. Grant, See military career for a discussion of Grant's middle initial.  born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822   July 23, 1885), was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869 1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.


Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war.  The following year, his brilliant campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi andâwith the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburgâturned the tide of the war in the North's favor. Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war.  In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Grant has been described by  J.F.C. Fuller as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialis


st general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialists around the world.


In 1868, Grant was elected president as a Republican. Grant was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Although Grant was personally honest, he not only tolerated financial and political corruption among top aides but also protected them once exposed.


Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African Americans. See Skidmore (2005); Bunting (2004), Scaturro (1998), Smith (2001) and Simpson (1998)   Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his Memoirs, which was enormously successful among veterans, the public, and the critics.


Ulysses Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio


Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio


Grant was born in a log cabin in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. He was the eldest of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798 1883). His father, a tanner, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio.


On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826 1902), the daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (Buck), Ellen Wrenshall Grant (Nellie), and Jesse Root Grant.


At the age of 17, Grant entered                                                    the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio," Smith, Grant, p. 24.  knowing Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson and forgetting that Grant was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss." Grant wrote his name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials, H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle initial only. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ?


nly. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.'  He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment.


Lieutenant Grant served in the Mexican-American War (1846â1848) under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where, despite his assignment as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey (where he volunteered to carry a dispatch on horseback through a sniper-lined street), and Veracruz. Once Grant saw his friend, Fred Dent, later becoming his brother-in-law, lying in the middle of the battlefield; he had been shot in the leg.  Grant ran furiously into the open to rescue Dent; as they were making their way to safety, a Mexican was sneaking up behind Grant, but the Mexican was shot by a fellow U.S soldier.  Grant was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the


very: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the 1880s he wrote that the war was unjust, accepting the theory that it was designed to gain land open to slavery.


After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife, eight months pregnant with their second child, could not accompany him because his salary could not support a family on the frontier. In 1854, Grant was promoted to captain (one of only 50 still on active duty) and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. However, he still could not afford to bring his family out West. He tried some business ventures, but they failed. Grant resigned from the Army with little advance notice on July 31, 1854, offering no explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him


explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him drunk on duty as a pay officer and offered him the choice between resignation or court-martial. According to Smith, pp. 87-88, and Lewis, pp. 328-32, two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan himself confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant told educator John Eaton, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign."   Some biographers discount the rumors and suggest Grant's resignation, and his drinking, were both prompted by profound depression.  According to this view, Buchanan hated Grant and concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. Th


concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. The War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good name." McFeely, p. 55-56; Simpson, Triumph, pp. 60-61. Buchanan tolerated drunkenness in other officers, and in Grant's successor, and surprised fellow officers by forcing Grant's resignation. Garland, p. 126, notes that at the time the War Department made clear that Grant did not leave under a cloud.  He wrote in his memoirs about the war against Mexico: "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation".  Ulysses S Grant Quotes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War


otes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War


A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven lean years. From 1854 to 1858 he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by his father-in-law, but it did not prosper. Grant owned one slave (whom he set free in 1859); his wife owned four slaves (two women servants and their two small boys). His wife's slaves were leased in St. Louis in 1860 after Grant gave up farming. The land and cabin where Grant lived is now an animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Company.  In 1858-59 he was a bill collector in St. Louis. Failing at everything, in humiliation he asked his father for a job, and in 1860 was made an assistant in the leather shop owned by his father and run by his younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosp


is younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. McFeely, ch. 5.


Although Grant was essentially apolitical, his father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis (a fact that lost Grant the good job of county engineer in 1859). In 1856 he voted for Democrat James Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew FrÃ©mont" (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign literature for Abraham Lincoln  The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2007.  and the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War Democrats. He refused to announce his political affiliation until 1868, when he finally declared himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. .


ed himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. .


The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois.


Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President  Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers, which he accomplished with efficiency. Grant pressed for a field command; Yates appointed him colonel of the undisciplined and rebellious  21st Illinois Infantry in June 1861.


Grant was deployed to Missouri to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Under pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Jackson, Missouri had declared it was an armed neutral in the conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state.  By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and Missouri was controlled by Union forces, who had to deal with numerous southern sympathizers.


In August, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by Lincoln, who had been lobbied by Congressman Elihu Washburne.  At the end of August, Grant was selected by Western Theater commander Major General John C. FrÃ©mont to command the critical District of Southeast Missouri.


Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive action against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Andrew H. Foote's Navy gunboats, he captured two major Confederate fortresses, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederat


e battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's and a West Point classmate, and senior commander with Floyd and Pillow fleeing, yielded to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of over 12,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The captures of the two forts with over 12,000 prisoners were the first major Union victories of the war, gaining him national recognition. Desperate for generals who could fight and win, Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life.  At one poi


general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life.  At one point during the Civil War, a picture of Grant with a cigar in his mouth was published. He was then inundated with cigars from well wishers. Before that he had smoked only sporadically, but he could not give them all away, so he took up smoking them, a habit which may have contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life; one story after the war claimed that he smoked over 10,000 in five years.


Despite his significant victories (or perhaps because of them), Grant fell out of favor with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck had a particular distaste for drunks and, believing Grant was an alcoholic, was biased against him from the beginning. After Grant visited Nashville, Tennessee, where he met with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, Halleck used the visit as an excuse to relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his army on March 17.


General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864


In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling. Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into a victory.


The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; with over 23,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States up to that time. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain. When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall.


10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall.


In an attempt to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862 1863 conducting a series of operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous. These attempts failed.


However, his strategy to take Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military history. Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed the river by using U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and in a daring move that defied conventional military principles cut loose from most of his supply lines.  One of the enduring myths about Grant is that he dispensed with all of his supply lines and lived entirely off the land. This story was first propagated by former journalist Charles A. Dana and years later, Grant wrote the same in his memoirs. However, supply requisitions show that, while the men and animals of the Army of the Tennessee foraged for much of their food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout


food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout the campaign. This supply train was a target of Pemberton until Champion Hill.  Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the rail line to Vicksburg.


Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant


Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major general in the regular army, effective July 4.


general in the regular army, effective July 4.


A distinguished British historian has written that "we must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brilliant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss."  Lincoln said after the capture of Vicksburg and after the lost opportunity after Gettysburg, "Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the War."


After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Confederate Braxton Bragg followed to Lookout Mountain,  surrounding the Federals on three sides. On October 17, Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of Mississippi, which included Chattanooga. He immediately relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Thomas' chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, helping to better supply the Army of the Cumberland.


Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted. In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center, which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the Army of the Cumberland at the center of the Confederate line. Hooker's men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas' men made an unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at


n unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the Confederacy. Grant reportedly said afterward, "Damn, I had nothing to do with this battle," according to Hooker.


Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army a rank not awarded since George Washington (or Winfield Scott's  brevet appointment), recently re-authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind on March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States.


In March 1864, Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant, George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first gene


William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as important as tactical victories on the battlefield.


The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical advantage.


The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight, resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not just to win individual battles, it was to fight constant battles in order to wear down and destroy Lee's army.


Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox."


Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against these assaults.


The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a massive assault by Hancock's 2nd Corps that broke a portion of Lee's line, captured 30 artillery pieces, took 4,000 prisoners, and broke forever the famous Stonewall Division. In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed in Grant's favor. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or repleni


ive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or replenish against an opponent that was well supplied and had superior numbers. The next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared defense. Cold Harbor was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting in horrific casualties (3,000 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last a


many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his troops across the James River.


Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative but to settle down to a siege.


As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled, respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took center stage. There was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's re-election prospects even bleaker.


In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas.


At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865.


Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honor of serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh as saying, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant.


Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities. Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable losses. Many in the North denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, an accusation made both by Northern civilians appalled at the staggering number of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern  Democrats who either favored the Confed


of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern  Democrats who either favored the Confederacy or simply wanted an end to the war, even at the cost of recognizing Southern independence. Grant persevered, refusing to withdraw as had his predecessors, and Lincoln, despite public outrage and pressure within the government, stuck by Grant, refusing to replace him. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he won all his campaigns.


Historian Michael Korda explained his strategic genius: Korda, (2004)


After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 264.  Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.''


As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Johnson.  Although he accompanied Johnson on a national stumping tour during the 1866 elections, he did not appear to be a supporter of Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan.


h no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the general election that year, he won against former New York governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082 votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House, he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet elected president.


The second president from Ohio, Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated Horace Greeley.


Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Ame


ate resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity.


Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent KKK organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. He was charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed  .


Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872.  General Grant National Memorial by the National Park Service. Retrieved March 29, 2006.  Grant also signed into law making Christmas a federal holiday in 1870.  Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application, CRS Report for Congress, 98-301 GOV, updated February 8, 1999, by Stephen W. Stathis


The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections, as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856.


By 1875 the Grant administration was in disarray and on the defensive on all fronts other than foreign policy. With the Democrats in control of the House, Grant was unable to pass legislation. The House discovered gross corruption in the Interior, War, and Navy Departments; they did much to discredit the Department of Justice, forced the resignation of Robert Schenck, the Minister to Britain, and cast suspicion upon Blaine's conduct while Speaker. Nevins, Hamilton Fish 2:811ff.  Historian Allan Nevins concludes: Nevins, Fish 2:811


In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes-Tilden election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson .


The Grant administration's first economic accomplishment was the signing of the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit which the GOP Congress had passed after Grant ` s inaugural in March 1869 . The act had the effect that the gold price on New York exchange fell to 310 dollar an ounce  - the lowest point since the suspension of specie payment in 1862 .


As Jean Edward Smith notes in his 2002 biography on Grant, the presidential treasury secretary Boutwell reorganized  the Treasury by discharging unnecessary employees, started sweeping changes in Bureau of Printing and Engraving to protect the currency from counterfeiters and revitalized tax collections to hasten the collection of revenue. This changes soon led the Tresury having a monthly surplus .


The Grant administration reduced the debt by appromixately 435 million dollar. That was achieved by selling the growing gold surplus at weekly auctions for greenbacks and buying back wartime bonds with the currency . With this Grant ` s treasury secretary Boutwell had established a policy if continued had payed of the national debt in a quarter of a century . Newspapers like the New York Tribune wanted that the Government buy more bonds and Greenbacks, the New York Times praised the the Grant administration `s debt policy .


On other economic fronts did the Grant administration have acomplishments . Under


Grant the nation `s credit was substantially raised. Taxes was reduced by 300 million dollar. Annual interest rates were reduced by approximately 30 million dollar . The U . S balance of trade was changed from 130 million dollar against the United States to 120 million dollar in favor of the United States . He also reduced inflation and to 1873 bolstered economic recovery . He also promoted economy in federal expenditures . His veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 saved the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 to get worse and the veto was praised by the financial community and many newspapers .


The Resumption of Species Act of 1875 which was signed by Grant and helped to end the crisis in 1879 when the law came in to effect


He also pressed for internal improvements and increased shipbuilding and foreign trade. He also wanted to enhance and improve the commercial marine .


Grant/Wilson campaign poster


In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama. He also proposed to annex the independent, largely black nation of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Su


island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal Republicans in 1872. Another notable foreign policy action under Grant was the settlement of the Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 through the dispatchment of the USS Alaska to Liberia where US envoy James Milton Turner negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia.  Liberian-Grebo War of 1876


The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary from stopping the fraud. However, Grant eventually released large amounts of gold back onto the market, causing a large-scale financial crisis for many gold investors. Jay Gould had already prepared and quietly sold out while Fisk denied many agreements and hired thugs to intimidate his creditors.


The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million dollars in taxes were stolen from the federal government with the aid of high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement, "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow.   Secretary of War William W. Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official.


er a government official.


Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident involving Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson and his assistant John D. Sanborn. Another was a problem with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield. The CrÃ©dit Mobilier of America scandal also ruined the political career of his first vice president, Schuyler Colfax, who was replaced on the Republican ticket in the 1872 election with Henry Wilson, who was also involved in the scandal.


President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872.


Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than supporting the party's needs.  His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent."


Grant's legacy has been marred by charges of anti-Semitism. The most frequently cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part:


The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart â opportunistic traders who were Jewish. McFeely, p 124.  Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram


Jewish. McFeely, p 124.  Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out,"  and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them."


lerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them."


The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders, all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the community throughout his administration, on both political and social levels.


Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873.


Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:


Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum.


After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife.  He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were huge.  The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and Burma.  In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress ShÅken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay.


In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor.


That same year, Grant was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School.


In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church.  Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. Hesseltine (2001) pp 432-39   His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination.


Grant writing his memoirs.


In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled.


Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill.


Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day.  Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties.


Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000.  Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written.


Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America.


Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg, Mississippi


*In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee").


*Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill.


*The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant.


*Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant.


*Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue.


*Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street.


*Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y.


*There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio.


*There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio.


*Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant.


Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands were thrust into his pockets.


* As a young man, Grant's father, Jesse, taught him the trade of tanning. Jesse Grant had been taught how to tan by Owen Brown, the father of known abolitionist John Brown. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts".


* When Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1864, he agreed to sit down for photographer Mathew Brady. As the sun had begun to set by the time Grant arrived, Brady instructed one of his assistants to open the shades of the skylight in Brady's studio. The assistant slipped and shattered the skylight, causing two-inch-thick shards of glass to rain down around Grant, who had taken his seat as requested. He was unharmed, and showed "the most remarkable display of nerve" that Brady had ever seen.  O'Brien, Cormac (2007). "Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States".


* Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of the White House. A long-standing story is that he referred to the people who approached him in the lobby as "those darn lobbyists," implying that he was the source for the term lobbyist. This story is unlikely to be true since there are examples of the term being used in U.S. and British magazines and newspapers before Grant's presidency.  World Wide Words.


* In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National Rifle Association.


* Grant suffered from tone-deafness. He disliked music intensely and would go out of his way to avoid having to hear any other than patriotic songs. In Jeffrey Shaara's The Last Full Measure - which is set after the Battle of Gettysburg, the subject of his father Michael's 1974 bestseller The Killer Angels - Grant is portrayed as saying, "I know only two songs. One is 'Yankee Doodle'. The other isn't." Whether he actually said this is unclear.  Shaara, Jeffrey M. (1998). "The Last Full Measure".


* Grant's wife, First Lady Julia Grant, was cross-eyed. When it was suggested to her that she have an operation to have it corrected, President Grant replied that he liked her that way. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts".


* Grant's favorite brand of bourbon whiskey was Old Crow.


* Grant enjoyed eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast.


* The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles) appeared on the program on March 12, 1953.


** This was also featured on an episode of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, in which in a dream sequence Dorothy competes on Jeopardy against a scholar and her roommate Rose. When asked the question, Dorothy replies Ulysses and is wrong, while Rose replies Cary Grant and is correct.


* In the film Wild Wild West, President Grant is a minor character that must deal with the Loveless Alliance.


Once while in office he was arrested for speeding his horse and buggy and fined $20 and had to walk back to the white house. (www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm )


* A dispute between Grant and his commanding officer Henry Wager Halleck is the subject of a pivotal question in the film Quiz Show.


*Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown and Company, 1968, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-12632.


*Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.


*Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5.


*Garland, Hamlin, Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, Macmillan Company, 1898.


*Grant, Ulysses S.,  Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885 86, ISBN 0-914427-67-9.


*Hesseltine, William B.,  Ulysses S. Grant: Politician 1935.


* Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, Little, Brown, and Co., 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8.


* McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography, W. W. Norton & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-393-01372-3.


* McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0.


* Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-395-65994-9.


*Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, Simon and Shuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84927-5.


*Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861   1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2.


* Scaturro, Frank J., President  Grant Reconsidered (1998).


* Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991).


* Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882.


*Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8078-2893-9.


* Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, Morningside Press, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2.


* Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986).


* Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5.


* Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.


* McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977).


* McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984).


* Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994).


* Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955.


* Mosier, John., "Grant", Palgrave MacMillan, 2006 ISBN 1-4039-7136-6.


* Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5 6, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8071-1873-7.


* Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7 12, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8071-2136-3.


* Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13 25, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8071-2535-0.


* Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26   June 3, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8071-2803-1.


* Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989).


* Sword, Wiley, Shiloh: Bloody April. 1974.


* Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962.


* Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875.


* Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- )  multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878.


*Emerson, Col. John W.,  Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns, U.S. Grant Association website.


* The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (1918). "President Grant (1869)", 260-65.


Otters are amphibious (or in one case aquatic) carnivorous mammals.  The otter subfamily Lutrinae forms part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers, as well as others. With 13 species in 7 genera, otters have an almost worldwide distribution.


An otter's den is called a holt.  Male otters are dog-otters, females are bitches and babies are cubs or pups.  The collective noun romp is sometimes used for a group of otters, being descriptive of their often playful nature.


Otters have long, slim bodies and relatively short limbs, with webbed paws. Most have sharp claws on their feet, and all but the sea otter have long muscular tails.


They have a very soft underfur which is protected by their outer layer of long guard hair. This traps a layer of air, and keeps them dry and warm under water.


Otters do not depend on their specialized fur alone for survival in the cold waters where many live: they also have very high metabolic rates. For example Eurasian otters must eat 15% of their body-weight a day, and sea otters, 20 to 25%, depending on the temperature. In water as warm as 10Â°C an otter needs to catch 100 g of fish per hour to survive.  Most species hunt for 3 to 5 hours a day, and nursing mothers up to 8 hours a day.


Most otters have fish as the primary item in their diet, supplemented by frogs, crayfish and crabs.  Some are expert at opening shellfish, and others will take any available small mammals or birds.  This prey-dependence leaves otters very vulnerable to prey depletion.


Otters are very active, chasing prey in the water or searching the beds of rivers, lakes or the sea.  Most species live beside water, entering it mainly to hunt or travel, otherwise spending much of their time on land to avoid their fur becoming waterlogged.  The sea otter lives actually in the sea.


Otters are playful animals, for example sliding repeatedly down snowy slopes, apparently from sheer enjoyment.  Different species vary in their social structure, with some being largely solitary, while others live in groups   in a few species these groups may be fairly large.


The following are short descriptions of a selection of species (see below for full list)


The northern river otter (Lontra canadensis) became one of the major animals hunted and trapped for fur in North America after European contact. As one of the most playful, curious, and active species of otter, they have become a popular exhibit in zoos and aquaria, but unwelcome on agricultural land because they alter river banks for access, sliding, and defense . River otters eat a variety of fish and shellfish, as well as small land mammals and birds.  They grow to 1 m (3 to 4 feet) in length and weigh from 5 to 15 kg (10 to 30 pounds).


In some areas this is a protected species, and some places have otter sanctuaries, which help ill and injured otters to recover.


A sea otter in Morro Bay, California


Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) live along the Pacific coast of North America.  Their historic range included shallow waters of the Bering Strait and Kamchatka, and as far south as Japan. Sea otters have some 200,000 hairs per square cm of skin, a rich fur for which humans hunted them almost to extinction. By the time the 1911 Fur Seal Treaty gave them protection, so few sea otters remained that the fur trade had become unprofitable.


Sea otters eat shellfish and other invertebrates (especially clams, abalone, and sea urchins ), frequently using rocks as crude tools to smash open shells. They grow to 1 to 1.5 m (2.5 to 5 feet) in length and weigh 30 kg (about 65 pounds). Although once near extinction, they have begun to spread again, from remnant populations in California and Alaska.


Unlike most marine mammals such as (seals or whales), sea otters do not have a layer of insulating blubber. As with other species of otter, they rely on a layer of air trapped in their fur, which they keep topped up by blowing into the fur from their mouths.  They spend most of their time in the water, whereas other otters spend much of their time on land.


This sub-species (Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli) of the smooth-coated otter was the subject of the book Ring of Bright Water by the British naturalist Gavin Maxwell, and is named after him.  It is native to the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh of Iraq, but it has been suggested that it may have become extinct as a result of the large-scale drainage that has taken place in the region since the 1960s .


Eurasian otter


This species (Lutra lutra) inhabits Europe, and its range also extends across most of Asia and parts of North Africa. In the British Isles they occurred commonly as recently as the 1950s, but became rare in many areas due to the use of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and as a result of habitat-loss and water pollution (they remained relatively common in parts of Scotland and Ireland). Population levels attained a low point in the 1980s, but are now recovering strongly, and by 1999 estimated numbers indicated a recovery to under 1000 animals  . The UK Biodiversity Action Plan envisages the re-establishment of otters by 2010 in all the UK rivers and coastal areas that they inhabited in 1960. Roadkill deaths have become one of the significant threats to the success of their re-establishment.


nt threats to the success of their re-establishment.


The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) inhabits South America, especially the Amazon river basin, but is becoming increasingly rare due to poaching, habitat loss, and the use of mercury and other toxins in illegal alluvial gold mining. This gregarious animal grows to a length of up to 1.8 metres (6 feet), and is more aquatic than most other otters.


The word "otter" derives from the Old English word otr, otor or oter.  This and cognate words in other Indo-European languages ultimately stem from a root which also gave rise to the English words "water", "wet" and "winter".


Norse mythology tells of the dwarf Ãtr habitually taking the form of an otter.  The myth of Otter's Ransom    is the starting point of the Volsunga saga.


In some Native American cultures, otters are considered totem animals. The time of year associated with this is also associated with the Aquarius sign of the Zodiac, through which the sun passes January 20-February 19.


An otter in Southwold, Suffolk, England


Genus Lutra


Genus Hydrictis


Genus Lutrogale


Genus Lontra


Genus Pteronura


Genus Aonyx


Genus Enhydra


See  for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the   and   tags, and the template below.


* Gallant, D., L. Vasseur, & C.H. BÃ©rubÃ© (2007). Unveiling the limitations of scat surveys to monitor social species: a case study on river otters.  Journal of Wildlife Management 71:258â265.


James Watt (January 19 1736   August 19 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.


James Watt was born on 19th of January, 1736 in Greenock, a seaport on the Firth of Clyde. His father was a shipwright, ship owner and contractor, while his mother, Agnus Muirhead, came from a distinguished family and was well educated. Both were Presbyterians and strong Covenanters.


Watt attended school irregularly but instead he was mostly schooled at home by his mother. He exhibited great manual dexterity and an aptitude for mathematics, while Latin and Greek left him cold, and he absorbed the legends and lore of the Scottish people.


When he was 17, his mother died and his father's health had begun to fail.  Watt travelled to London to study instrument-making for a year, then returned to Scotland   to Glasgow   intent on setting up his own instrument-making business. However, because he had not served at least seven years as an apprentice, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen (any artisans using hammers) blocked his application, despite there being no other mathematical instrument makers in Scotland.


Watt was saved from this impasse by three professors of the University of Glasgow, who offered him the opportunity to set up a small workshop within the university. It was established in 1758 and one of the professors, the physicist and chemist Joseph Black, became Watt's friend.


In 1764, Watt married his cousin Margaret Miller, with whom he had five children, two of whom lived to adulthood.  She died in childbirth in 1772. In 1777 he married again, to Ann MacGregor, daughter of a Glasgow dye-maker, who survived him. She died in 1832.


Watt had a brother by the name of John. He was shipwrecked when James was 17.


Four years after opening his shop, Watt began to experiment with steam after his friend, Professor John Robison, called his attention to it.  At this point Watt had still never seen an operating steam engine, but he tried constructing a model.  It failed to work satisfactorily, but he continued his experiments and began to read everything about it he could.  He independently discovered the importance of latent heat in understanding the engine, which, unknown to him, Black had famously discovered some years before.  He learned that the University owned a model Newcomen engine, but it was in London for repairs.  Watt got the university to have it returned, and he made the repairs in 1763.  It too just barely worked, and after much experimentation he showed that about 80% of the heat of the steam was consumed in heating the cylinder, because the steam in it was condensed by an injected stre


tion he showed that about 80% of the heat of the steam was consumed in heating the cylinder, because the steam in it was condensed by an injected stream of cold water. His critical insight, to cause the steam to condense in a separate chamber apart from the piston, and to maintain the temperature of the cylinder at the same temperature as the injected steam, came finally in 1765 and he soon had a working model.


Now came a long struggle to produce a full-scale engine.  This required more capital, some of which came from Black.  More substantial backing came from John Roebuck, the founder of the celebrated Carron Iron Works, near Falkirk, with whom he now formed a partnership.  But the principal difficulty was in machining the piston and cylinder.  Iron workers of the day were more like blacksmiths than machinists, so the results left much to be desired.  Much capital was spent in pursuing the ground-breaking patent, which in those days required an act of parliament.  Strapped for resources, Watt was forced to take up employment as a surveyor for eight years.  Roebuck went bankrupt, and Matthew Boulton, who owned the Soho foundry works near Birmingham, acquired his patent rights.  Watt and Boulton formed a hugely successful partnership (Boulton & Watt), which lasted for the next twenty-five years


am, acquired his patent rights.  Watt and Boulton formed a hugely successful partnership (Boulton & Watt), which lasted for the next twenty-five years.


Watt finally had access to some of the best iron workers in the world. The difficulty of the manufacture of a large cylinder with a tightly fitting piston was solved by John Wilkinson who had developed precision boring techniques for cannon making at Bersham, near Wrexham, North Wales. Finally, in 1776, the first engines were installed and working in commercial enterprises. These first engines were used for pumps and produced only reciprocating motion.  Orders began to pour in and for the next five years Watt was very busy installing more engines, mostly in Cornwall for pumping water out of mines.