Grant Grant loved the Circus

[donna]

"General Grant and his family were enthusiastic patrons of the circus. It was said that Ulysses' father, Jesse Grant, would walk further to see a show than any man alive. The General was an admirer of Issac Van Amburgh and was interested in good horses that were often seen in the circus ring. "There was never a horse that 'Lys' couldn't ride," boasted his uncle, Samuel Simpson. Once a circus arrived with a trick horse which could throw everybody at riding it, Ulysses, then a mere boy, jumped in the ring and, as his uncle described it, "Lys held on and he rode that horse around the ring 'til it was tame as a cow."

From:

"Clowns and Cannons, The American Circus During the Civil War" by William L. Slout, The Borgo Press, 1997, page 70.

 

[diane]

He won five dollars for that ride, too! That was big money for a boy then. Circus riding was a short experience for him but he learned some tricks that came in handy during the Mexican War. When he had to deliver a message under fire, knowing how to slide from side to side of his horse at a gallop saved his life!

 

[donna]

In some other accounts of his ride, it written that the ringmaster sent a monkey that was one with circus to jump on Ulysses back to make him fall off. He kept riding and never fell.

Also his father, Jesse Grant wrote that Ulysses loved the circus and would ride any trick pony anytime they went to the circus.

 

[donna]

Another thread on circus.