1857-St. Louis, Missouri

 It is now late autumn. Julia is pregnant with our newest baby boy. She looks like it will only be a few more months until he will be born. We haven't decided on a name yet, but I'm am thinking to name him after my father. About a month ago an abolitionist by the name of John Brown raided a federal reserve in Virginia. His plan was to hand out arms to slaves and start a revolt all over the country. Brown claimed he was one of the few seeing the truth clearly. He said that slavery can not be ended by legal means. I have to agree with him. The court believes that slaves are much too important to be freed. I have never advocated war except as a mean of peace. If there was to be a war it would be about more than slavery, it would be about a way of life. Abolitionist are so daft they don't even dare to think the economy will collapse if slavery is abolished. The economy is not in an amazing state today as a matter of fact. I have been struggling to find a steady job. Julia's father offered me a job on his ranch, but that would mean that I would have to move away from her and our children. I politely rejected his kind offer. Julia and I made a promise we would always stay together. I'm considering saving up for a slave so he can help us tend the land we own. We have a farm that isn't much, but it is enough to get us by. I built our cabin myself. I called it "Hardscrabble" because of hard times. When our farm wasn't enough I farmed on my brother-in-law's ranch in St. Louis with many slaves. There was a plague and we were unable to harvest the crops. I just hope they punish John Brown for what he did. He got his own two sons involved and they were both killed. What a shameful man. I heard that he was almost stabbed to death as well. Someone needs to stand up and resolve this huge political mess.

1850-St. Louis, Missouri

Today Frederick Dent Grant was born. He is as strong as an ox. The Mrs. and I are very lucky for such a healthy baby. He is our first child, hopefully the first of many. There are complicated times here in the West. We are a slave state here in Missouri. We used to be a balanced country. The North and the South. Eleven free states and eleven slave states. When California came into the country as a free state forces became unbalanced and we had the lower hand against the North. Last month there was a new compromise formed that stated the Utah and New Mexico territories have popular sovereignty towards slavery. For sure the territories will vote pro slavery. They have rich soil in the West. There will be no possible way to farm all of that land without a few slaves to plant and tend the land. I myself have visited the western territories during the war with Mexico. The scenery is beautiful and reminds me of how great our nation is. We are a strong country that no one will dare to challenge. Slavery is required for our nation to thrive. The daft folk in the North don’t understand how life works here in the South. We need a strong president who will look into the issue that is the North.

1839-West Point, Ohio

It is my third day here at the United States Military Academy. I do not necessarily like it here but it is better than Point Pleasant. In fact, I think anywhere is better than Point Pleasant. The Academy is very strict. This morning I received a good paddlin’ for slouching during the morning prayers. There are few people here that I enjoy being around. My bunk mate until graduation is Sampson. He’s nice I guess. We’ll eventually get along. I thought I would be missing home, but to my surprise I’m as happy as a white tailed rabbit finding a nice patch of cabbage. Before breakfast at around 5:30 in the morning everyone runs a route of 9 miles. This route leads straight through the town. It is still dark and many people are still sleeping so we are punished for being too loud. Right after a breakfast of eggs and ham (which I don’t expect to change over the years) we head out for marching drills. Those who find it difficult to follow are punished. There seems to be a lot of punishin’ done here at the Academy. Sampson is a Southerner so our views are the same. Don't be fooled that I live in the North and agree with everything they do.