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The brown-eyed Julia Boggs Dent Grant was born on January 26, 1826 on White Haven Plantation in St. Louis County, Missouri. Her parents were "Colonel" Frederick Dent and Ellen Bray Wrenshall Dent. Those brown eyes had a condition known as being "wall-eyed", that is, to see one object and another at the same time. After returning home in 1844 from seven years of boarding school, she met the young Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant, who was stationed at the nearby Jefferson Barracks. He was a classmate of Julia’s brother, Frederick Dent. Julia's father Colonel Dent made it clear from the start that he hoped his daughter would marry someone able to provide her with comfort. This was something Ulysses Grant could not offer on a soldier’s pay. Even so, by the time his regiment was ordered to Louisiana, he and Julia were engaged, unbeknownst to Colonel Dent. After a year’s delay, they finally told him and very reluctantly he gave permission for them to marry. The Mexican War again delayed their marriage, but at the successful conclusion of the war, the young couple was married on August 22, 1848. Among Grant’s attendants was future Confederate General James Longstreet, who was also Julia’s cousin.
Grant always needed Julia's support, and she was a tremendous partner for him. He was apt to fall into moods of uncertainty and depression, and Julia was able to keep his spirits up. After appointing Grant as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, President Lincoln would send for Julia to join her husband, knowing of her good influence on him. The couple had four children: Frederick Dent Grant (born in 1850), Ulysses S. Grant Jr. (called "Buck", born in 1852), Ellen (Nellie) Wrenshall Grant (born in 1855), who was married in the White House in 1874, and Jesse Root Grant (born in 1858).
The years before the Civil War were filled with pain, hardship and difficulties for the Grants and Julia. Julia stayed with her in-laws in Ohio at the time, while her husband was serving in the army on the Pacific Coast. After a two-year separation, they were reunited. They faced hardships, however, since Grant had resigned from the army. Julia’s father gave them land to farm. They called the land "Hardscrabble". The Grants had little success in farming the land, and the Panic of 1857 brought financial ruin to the farm. By 1860, the Grants were living in Galena, Illinois where Grant was working for his father in the tanning business.
The Civil War presented them a unique challenge. Colonel Dent supported the Confederacy and refused to speak to his son-in-law. Julia remained loyal to her husband and in turn the Union. She spent a lot of time with him even when he was in the field. The war’s end, Lincoln’s assassination and the turmoil afterwards, propelled the Grants into the spotlight. Given gifts, honors and even a house in Galena, the years after the war brought fame and prosperity to the Grants.
Julia Grant was be the first First Lady to serve 8 full years since Elizabeth Monroe. With the help of the socially prominent wife of the Secretary of State, Julia Fish, Mrs. Grant made her way through the protocol of the White House. She would not allow smoking in the White House, except for her husband's ever-present cigars. She held Tuesday afternoon receptions given for "any and all" and when asked about allowing "colored visitors", Julia replied, "admit all" but her staff denied entrance to them in defiance of her direction. In 1874 her daughter Nellie’s wedding was held in the White House. Nellie married an Englishman, Algernon Sartoris, in an elaborate ceremony.
When Grant decided not to run for a third term, Julia was disappointed. Grant kept the letter announcing his decision not to seek re-election a secret from her. Her last act as first lady was to prepare a luncheon for the incoming Rutherford and Lucy Hayes on Inauguration Day 1877. She cried when she climbed into her carriage to leave.
After leaving the White House, the Grants took a two and a half year world tour. Julia enjoyed herself on the tour. She met Queen Victoria and was feted in China. The Grants returned from Europe in 1879. They were very popular on their return home, and their presence was in demand. But this was not enough for Grant to win the Republican nomination for President in 1880. Following this, Julia and Ulysses moved to New York where unwise speculations on Wall Street left them in financial devastation.
Ulysses Grant was diagnosed with incurable throat cancer and spent the last years of his life writing his memoirs in the hope that they would bring in enough money to support Julia. His death on July 23, 1885 left Julia lost and frightened. After several years, supported by the extremely successful sale of Grant’s memoirs, Julia returned to Washington where she lived in comfort. She also wrote her own memoirs – the first First Lady to do so – but she never published them. They were finally published in 1975. She cultivated friendships with Frances Cleveland, Caroline Harrison and even with Edith Roosevelt.
Julia Grant died on December 14, 1902, just over a month before her 77th birthday. She is buried (or more correctly, she is "entombed") in Grant’s Tomb, in New York City. One historian's assessment of Julia Grant is that she was "a wonderful helpmate to her husband: supportive, calming and humorous. Julia Grant was unique in that no one enjoyed their stay in the White House as much as she did, received as little censure as she did, or left it as sadly as she did."