When Shooting Weddings And Chasing Storms Collide

This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories we tell stories about everything here on the shelf in the art, sports, and from business day history and everything in between.

And we love telling stories about history. As always, all of our stories about American history brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College when you know to study and learn about all the things that matter in life and all the things that are beautiful in life. If you can get the Hillsdale Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses go to Hillsdale.edu and now this is the story of our 18th president of United States Ulysses S Grant. This story isn't about his time as commander-in-chief, but rather the events in his life up to that point that shaped and molded him as a man is our own Monty Montgomery on the story Ulysses S Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in the small town of point Pleasant, Ohio to parents Jesse Ruth Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant years Dr. John Mars lack of the Ulysses S Grant presidential library with more his mother and father were very very important people in his life and in different ways. His father is more or less of an abolitionist and he also wrote for newspaper which which leaned an abolitionist direction. So he's very outgoing and the mother. She is a very, very shy person. She doesn't give grand the kind of love or support that you might expect for mother to give the father was always a presence, and in his life and always told him what to do, etc. etc. etc. Frank is much more like his mother than he is. Like his father. So this whole idea of Grant being a quiet person. I think you can trace back to the time when he's living at home. Grant is pretty much not interested in anything but farming and not interested in doing much of anything else. He certainly not not one of these people who wants to follow his father and his father's footsteps is one of the things his father did was this father worked in a tannery are owned, the tannery actually and Grant hated it, Grant loved horses he reacted very well to the horses and he knew he knew how to train there. He knew how to get them to do.

He could do things with horses that nobody else could do and is a very famous story of his experience with that where he really wanted this horses father thought it was just the horses of the work that he should do that. So Grant kept working on working on working on. So finally, the father said okay go in there but what I want you to do is make an offer for that horse is that if the neighbor who owns this horse doesn't accept the offer, then raise it up a little bit and raise it up again and so what Grant did actually he went to this neighbor and he said what my father told me that I should come and talk to you and I should offer you this much.

And if you didn't take that I should up a little bit in that intake that I should finally pay and pay no more than anything was $25 and so you have a situation where grand actually gets what he wants but he does it in such a way that it's something that he has the live down for the for the rest of his the rest of his life, and while Grant was busy developing a love for horses Jesse Ruth Grant was busy developing a roadmap for his son's education.

His father is a great believer in education and so Grant was sent off out of town to schools where he learned and learn. I think more about abolitionism than he learned about anything else but he was a very, very much of a real supporter of all is the father of of Grant and getting as much education as he possibly could use obsessed with education. He wanted his children and particularly grand casino is most important child, the city sought to have as much education as as possible. Use any Ringel of the Ulysses S Grant Museum with more on Jesse Ruth Grant strive to have a son properly educated, and I think one of those important moments was his father's drive to push them to to think to to read to be educated so to speak. This is sort of unusual at the time for Grant's upbringing. He's was an average person he would've expected to take over the family farm, but his father wanted him to to study to to continue to learn and so I think his drive that his father instilled in him.

Although they didn't have a great relationship is something that Grant is going to carry through the rest of his life. Ezekiel develops at West Point and then after that he didn't want to go to West Point.

His father shows up one day and basically tells him I've secured an appointment for you to West Point.

There was somebody in that town that didn't make it flunked out basically and self so there was an opening and grants father was willing to go for and grant is like what you know is a disorder that that typical scenario that has happened over the centuries where parents told her child that they are going to do something or there'll major in this inner child sort of says why he thought it was a terrible mistake. He would be a terrible soldier he thought he just disliked the military all his life.

Even when he was a famous general. He didn't particularly care about this, but the reason lies father really secures his appointment from him is because Jesse Ruth Grant knows that West Point will be free. He will have to pay for this education.

When he gets that appointment and so you know that's that's reason number one in reason number two, and perhaps most important is that this education at West Point is to provide for him will secure his future for the rest of his life. Once Grant completes that degree he doesn't have to spend a lot of time in the military and then and then he can go in and and do whatever he wants with a world-class education at the time of course. And so he's going to West Point and sort of against his will, but this is this is for his future and you know for his benefit, so to speak, he only went because he liked traveling and so he thought well maybe this way I'll get to see some of the country that I ordinarily won't won't see he did it because his father in fact he said since my father said I should go. I guess I better go.

I better change of and you're listening to the story of Ulysses S Grant, my goodness without his dad's influence.

The world could have been changed. Certainly Ulysses S grants world when we come back more of this remarkable life. The early life life before the life most of us know about Ulysses S Grant dear on our American school punks view of the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, or asking you to become a part of the our American stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country.

Please make a donation monthly gift of $17.76 is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters total our American stories.com now go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming@ouramericanstories.com and we continue with our American stories only returned with our look into Ulysses S grants back story only last left off grants father Jesse Ruth Grant secured an appointment at West Point and appointment Grant would rather not of taken and here's Dr. John Marr is a lack with more Grant is not a very popular figure at West Point. He doesn't make a lot of a lot of friends. He is not somebody that people look up to as one of the individuals who's gonna really make a difference if there is are they gonna say yeah and grant boy when he gets it when he gets in the Army. He's gonna he's gonna be a terrific person, etc. etc. but it doesn't it doesn't really work out, but even at West Point, PTs tried to stay never read his lessons more than once because he just was bored by. He spent most of his time reading novels for more than anything else important moment to think for grand even even at a time where I think he's very unhappy but he begins to develop his love for horses a little bit more into sort of a more useful skill grant is actually a very good horseman how he breaks several records that are going to stand for a long time at West Point. This is a skill that later fishing the Mexican war, and in the Civil War as well are going to be argued to be important. Grant would graduate West Point in a middling position within his class. 21st out of some 40 students but he would meet someone there who would change his life and delete him to someone who would become very important to him.

I think two of the most important things that that happened to him as he met two people. One person was a fellow named Fred.

Dense and dense.

It was his roommate.

The dent said look you go you're going to be going to be going to to the St. Louis area.

My father and my family has that has a place there and you're welcome to come anytime and so he does go there and he meets his future wife, Julia, of course, grant like we said, comes from a very modest abolitionist family from Ohio and Julie is the daughter of a relatively well-to-do plantation owner with a pretty sizable number of enslaved persons working at the plantation and so her family is is part of the slave economy whereas grants is is not now in Julia's father never thrilled with the idea of her you know being courted by Grant and grants father Jesse regret was certainly not thrilled with the idea of his son courting a the daughter of the of the slave owner is my understanding that the grant family no members of the Graham family showed up to to the wedding one.

One thing that really did draw them together. The one thing was, Julia liked to horseback ride and so they would take rides together and hang on his horse and she had her horse along the plantation and that that I think help bring down the ring them together and interestingly enough, Julia is one of the few people who thinks the that grant is going to amount to anything. Most people say that he's not giving effect to the father.

Her father didn't like grant at all and thought he was going to be. He's an absolute loser grant would soon find himself in a more uncomfortable position than simply dealing with an unimpressed father-in-law would be shipped out to the front in the Mexican-American war and grant went. Despite his personal opinion on the conflict and the fact you'd be assigned to a job which he didn't like quartermaster a glorified paper pusher in the eyes of grant. He's one of these people who believes that if you given an order lightly with his father to give our you follow the order you do what you're supposed to do and so you have a situation where you are grant and note numerous occasions, is willing to do the quartermaster were even know he doesn't like it, but he'll do it anyway. Yet when he gets a chance. He sneaks into into battle. He really learns a lot from Gen. Zachary Taylor. He sees the way he commands streams the way he inspires the way he leads his men from the front, not from the back. These moments are really important for grant even though grant oppose the Mexican war.

He saw it as it is a war of aggression towards a neighboring state. He thought it was unjust.

He understood that the political motivations behind it from Pres. James K.

Polk essentially start a war with Mexico to gain this territory that Mexico would work refuse to sell and continue to expand West to fill manifest destiny grant find the problem with this, but nevertheless his time in the Mexican war really becomes this really important moment for grant and after the Mexican-American war.

Grant was sent all across the expanded United States to remote forts in order to protect settlers falling into a depression as a result of being away from home and family for so long. In fact, one of the children he doesn't even see until several years later when he shows up back at his house in St. Louis.

The child is the recognizer and what Grant was doing.

He was drinking during that time. And the reason he was drinking was because he missed his wife and his family so much. One could almost argue that he self-medicating himself, and this led to problems with his superiors, especially a man by the name of Robert Buchanan who would issue him an ultimatum after finding grant hung over on the job.

Buchanan says you can behave like that. We can't do that.

So you have a choice. You either straighten out our you resign and so what what actually happens is is grant doesn't want to resign but he has no choice. This is where these rumors really that'll follow him for the rest of his life originate of him being the drunk he was not addicted to alcohol in the same sense that that an alcoholic is supposed to perhaps more than abuse of alcohol to alleviate some of that depression or or banks that he has that episode just made it so much more difficult form and he's had a battle that for the rest of his life and even to the present day after resigning from the military grant would return home and return home broke there's a couple instances where he's such bad shape that he's got a self firewood on the street corners of St. Louis and there is a very famous famous episode where Grant and Sherman who don't know each other all that well meet and I think Sherman is says five heckuva thing for former West Point resident grant and Greg just said yeah I guess it is, and that was about it.

So we did that. He also had a self full of favorite watch so we could buy his his family is kid something for Christmas so you have some of that.

So there's just a number of instances where where Grant tries things and usually come to think of it usually has something to do with farming and that something he thinks he can really do well, but he doesn't do well and with no other options grant will be forced to ask his father for a job. What happened was he went to his father which was a very incredibly difficult thing from the duty to go to his father and say give me a job in your store where we sell sell these 10 damn good. So grant doesn't like that.

He's not involved, PC doesn't do anything to do with the with tanning, but he's involved in the selling and he made any tours of the Midwest and the cells in the father is doing that doing quite successfully. You know, at this at this particular time so you Grant convinces father Nick and I can't make it on my own.

Give me a job in the store and he's got a brother older brother who is ill and so he helps him and it's a very, very confused thing with the result is that grant does work for the father and the father never lets him forget that. And so for the rest of his life. Even when he's president. The father is still trying to get get stuff from grant for some of his friends.

What a rich and complicated early history grant going to college. He doesn't want to go to doesn't like the military. While there develops his crafty skill horsemanship. By the way that mattered. If you are soldier back in the 19th century. Your ability to move and maneuver with the horse in my goodness. The drinking what we can understand it away from his kid is kid didn't even recognize him when he comes back to see him and ultimately chooses to resign, knowing he will be able to give up drinking comes back home selling firewood on a street corner and then the man having to beg his dad for a job. He never wanted when we come back more of this remarkable life story.

The early life of Ulysses S Grant. These were real life people folks walk around before us with real-life stories and real life heartbreak and when we come back more. This remarkable story of Ulysses S Grant dear on our American story, and we returned to our American stories and or look into the life of Ulysses S Grant. When we last left off grant was at his lowest point was at this time, the grant would be given a slave by the name of William Jones hears any rang dealt with more on that story of his father-in-law gives him a druggist gives him a slave.

I guess what I'm trying to say and grant works alongside him, which is something that would've been frowned upon by you know white slaveowning society of the time. However, eventually you know even it is low as he realizes that will one this season. This is not for him and so he can emancipate her. He freeze William Jones, probably at one of his lowest times when he could really have benefited from the monetary value that an enslaved person could have brought him. I think it's an important part in the story of grant because you really need to see how he evolves over time I think is best to say that he felt sort of ambivalent. He didn't really care about institution of slavery, but he also didn't speak out openly against it, at least in his early in his early years, and so he's just kind of in between. They are not really cared for, not really loving, and so that that's an important moment while you know, before the Civil War for grant. Julia thinks that slavery is wonderful effects even holds on more or less holds onto a slave throughout the throughout the Civil War where grant comes to see that slavery is a evil and if you understand why there is a Civil War you have to understand that people are fighting to two different slavery.

He thought the Civil War was a terrible thing that that there were that it shouldn't happen. There's no reason to attend to split the country apart. Slavery was, not not worth doing it. Nothing was was worth doing it in the way he really got into the war, more or less. He got into the war was when they had a big town meeting in Galena and he was chosen as the person run the town meeting simply because he was the only West Point or that any everybody in town, new, and so the result is that you have the you have grant running the meeting and then once he runs the meeting and once he gets company really set up by the end in Galena, then it doesn't much matter because they say well that's that's nice, but nobody wants to give grand what he thinks he deserves because you West Point or that he did he get a regiment until finally the governor of Illinois radiates from the eighth gives him the 21st Regiment because nobody else can can make these guys toe the line and somehow grant Which is an amazing thing in itself. Grant would be the one that could step in there and get these guys in line because normally he just really doesn't really play much of a role in this sort of thing.

In fact, Yates of that Yates gives him is based on his quartermaster scale.

But in this case, he becomes the leader of the 21st of Illinois Regiment and soon Grant get his first taste of battle in the American Civil War grant is is leading this 21st Regiment which he straightened out pretty well.

Leaving him and into into battle. But he's scared to death. In fact he says in his memoirs how his heart moving into his throat and until he gets over this hill and he's expecting to find the Confederates ready to clean his clock and they don't then they're gone and he comes the conclusion now these guys are as afraid of me as I am of and this is something he never forgets for the rest of the Civil War. I think one of the big things that you have to understand is, is that grant understood that the people he was fighting were just human beings. They were some of the people he had met before. There were some people that that there were that I meet later on, but he came to understand that Robert E Lee, for example, who we had met.

He's really good wings couldn't admit that he met him, but he did meet him during the Mexican-American war steadily was no Superman. He was just a member of the famous statement he says work for somebody is worried about what's grant Wesley going to do and grandsons looked don't worry about Lee. You worry about yourself, you do what you keep indicating that he's going to a triple somersault and land behind our lines is just like that happen. I know this guy. He's just that another human being and the other secondly that these are fellow Americans that you're fighting against Grant's demeanor was more like his mother as he pushed his father.

He was a calm individual how he didn't really show a lot of emotion and so if you take his Mexican war experience learning from Taylor learning from Scott is in his own demeanor you really see a very calm calculated individual and battles. He's also going back to his earlier time when he's willing to continue act, whether or not he has three the power to do what he's going to do it.

The whole idea is you keep moving forward and keep moving forward you're going this way in your stop doesn't matter. Keep going keep going keep going and that's what Lincoln comes to billing and after winning countless victory after countless victory in the wax. Lincoln would promote grant to general when grant is promoted and these recalled back to Washington, you know no one really knows him. The EC sort of quietly been fighting in the West. Just whipping the rebel so to speak, but he comes back to Washington and when he checked into the hotel with a sign they basically put them up in an attic. You know grant again. His personality was not flashy. He didn't. He didn't really like attention or anything like that is never known to be, you know, have his uniform super clean or anything, so he just goes along with it until the clerk.

After a few minutes, realizes who he is because he had read about him. And certainly they could see pictures of them, but they were accurate to what grant looked like he sees that you is grant has signed in in him, he realized the mistake is made, and so he very quickly puts the hotel staff to I believe get a guest out of the room so to general grant can have a room and it certainly won't eat when he goes to the White House to to meet Pres. Lincoln.

He notes full of people and so here it is again shy grant walking hand into this room full of high society Washington people always say he shrinks in the moment, but he certainly taken, by the moment of Lincoln's were presenting him to all these Washington elite and at the end of the war and after seeing so much bloodshed grant which show humility and respect to his former enemies and Appomattox, allowing them to keep their guns and horses provided they simply return home. He fairly much follows what Lincoln has said Lincoln kept saying let him off easy. Let him off easy. So one of the things that happens, Appomattox, is they get together and grant is willing to give Lee and give the Confederates and treat them fairly and what he does is were not going to put it to you. Confederates will then let you off easy, which Lincoln agrees with other Americans agree with, because after all, these are all-American and great job to Monty Montgomery for putting that together and a special thanks to the Ulysses S Grant presidential library in Starkville, Mississippi their contributions to this piece.

And what an American story. What turnaround from selling word on the street corner begging his dad for a job as a grown man. The only couple of years later, leaving U.S. Army in the Civil War and the unbecoming US president just remarkable. My goodness is charged to always be moving forward and to take action.

This is why Lincoln finally put them in command as he was just willing to fight and also what he said about all your enemy or something you might hear, and perhaps his greatest insight is a commander they feared us as much as we feared them for life US grant here on our American story, and we continue with our American stories up next story of my old Minsky Arizona based photographer takes family photos shoots weddings and also cases storm here is Mike with how he got into this unique line of work I is a moment where lightning bolts behind her house outside watching it like hundred feet away and I was like seven or eight and I just remember it. Still, like it was so bright and intense. I dare you know if I remember the sound of thunder. I remember I couldn't see anything like that, like, five, 10 seconds, it was so bright that always stuck with me and that came back to me.

That memory came back to me when I heard some other storm chasers talking about why they love chasing tornadoes and when they were little kids there trailer park with their with their parents got hit by a tornado mom stay sad. Anyway got sucked out a window and then came back in and then jumped on top of her two boys and was holding down on how to order.

Make sure you know they can have the van and then those boys drop teenagers and all they want to do is chase tornadoes so as I so that's like a little origin story kind of thing that they had a nonlife maybe this was mind because when I was getting into photography. It was like what I wanted to shoot.

That was that was what I was looking at online see people take these pictures of lightning and I might Howdy do that I want to do that. That's based that's really what country meets at I think photography in the first place. But even after you figuring that out. Once I was into it. I was looking back at old photos of mind from high school and later and I have a photo from high school really had a crazy severe storm and I couldn't. I guess at the time I can help it. I ran outside with the camera took a picture of storm and that was you know when I was like 60 or something and so I think that's always been there.

I just never realized that was anything I could do so. I was just staring at lightning photos can believe people can take those pictures and I want to learn how to do that on around the same time my daughter was born Jesus almost 13 now, and I've course to take pictures of her and you know I had a little DG point-and-shoot camera that could do really close up macro mode so she's a little baby I'm just really close-ups of her face and hands, and I really like and and then I try to use data get picture lighting and I captured somehow with this dumb can this amazing lightning strike back on the house. I was like holy crap want to do this.

This is amazing, but I can't do it with this camera. I need a better camera and I went home that night and told my wife, Gina, I need a real character. Is the point thing is and she's like are both good and we sold all our DVDs like box sets of DVDs. We had a time that you really were watching but actually solve get money back and even surprising and made like five or six on about spot. My first real camera and then from there it was taking pictures of my daughter with a better camera Netherlands is doing you know you know cooler stuff with it and then getting a little bit better friends like Katie just take a few Christmas card picture for us which is like the old story that always happens from people get again and I and I sent you nothing in patient storms and select kind of all, happened the same time and I and I shoot weddings and family stuff now on top of storms and so I still am doing same thing.

I never decided really anything. It was just Mark, I want to chase the storms and capture these images and back in the day I was watching storm chasers on Discovery Channel and that was a big kind of inspiration because I didn't even know people that until I was watching that I was just blown away. While there's people out there that that like this is much as me and then they drive thousands of miles to chase it at that time, I would have been just waiting for storms around my house like wow I do better camera. Now I can actually drive out try to get closer to storms that are right here increase my odds pictures like and that's really how it started to slowly grew you know I just would start on chasing and it also. My daughter was also kind a part of it because I was starting to go out a lot so you know, Jack taken to justify me being gone all the time. I would take Lila with me is a year and 1/2 she got back and give my wife a break at night and it was kinda my way to be able to get out a little more so because I do that together then every you know, every summer, it was just driving more and more around Arizona at some point I decided to try to chase reseller tornado at the planes and went out for one day. My 2009 or 2010 was a horrible Boston then you know couple days next year. Year after Internet just all slowly grew, but probably I would say there was ever by God conscious decision was in 2011 and by July 5, 2011 I timeouts my third advertisement is practicing. There's this monumental apocalyptic wall of dust coming to Phoenix was like nothing I'd ever seen before and then I posted that online working within an hour to went viral. All across the world on all the new stations everything at that moment. I remember thinking man I really love doing this and people and people ended up licensing that video for commercials and all the stuff and unlike me.

I love doing this and I would do it for free. But here's people pay me for.

And so there was a decision there that okay I'm in a keep doing this time. Lasting eczema conflates I can get in and see what comes of it is I asked. I just kept on and then slowly you know people would see some things in license in 2013, I had another good one go viral and that's that license is still licensed day and and so it's kind of like confirmation that I had made the right decision.

But then I also started putting all these time-lapse clips I shot I started putting them to music and making little short films out yet. They start off kinda crappy. In my opinion, but I did my best, but as like time went on, they got better and better and it would get more popular people have seen that is much that they get staff take some baby to get shared on a bunch of blondes all over again and film festivals and things like that so I think a lot of that stuff is just been kind of a progression just continued kind of my my passion for it is what really drives me.

It's almost like an addiction. So I never kinda quit. I just keep going going gone and when I'm out chasing and never hard for me to ever stop, you know, I mean.if I'm by myself in a slightly next time I will just keep chase you know and other religious people with me. I was tired but but for me I just go to the earth And and so I think you know how are my stories and it's been one of just being passionate and dedicated. What, ideally, just continually proving that the timing out. I just every year. It's key chasing keep getting footage keep me stems out and kinda being consistent with so. Yet some point in I had a book published on Amazon. Then I got I want to meet with them. The local news station.

He's my footage about 56 years ago as I got the enemy so the verified nothing on twitter and Instagram and all that stuff you know as A result of that is been about 10, 11 years now we're just trying to be really consistent and and as and as I've grown to myself and my photography time on stuff people around the world will admit and no need for this BBC National Geographic they come to me for things where this year.

People are trying to get footage for show and so I'm like a forecaster for them or guiding TV production and I was how to guide a forecaster couple years ago Pearl Jam license a bunch of clips in the stock finished my studies and have all like a ton of my footage in it in a negative preview little sneak trailer for it or they were on stage playing in the background to my liking time-lapse flashing behind Pearl Jam and I'm sitting there just on my this isn't that surprising, but it's also insanely surprising and I just can't believe it.

And I'm really really humbled and blown away that that this ever happening.

All I really did was just chase storms and take pictures and I just love it that much and somehow the great job on the production by our team really combine their efforts, medicine, faith, and Robbie and a special thanks to Mike open ski and again you heard it from him. He does take pictures of weddings and family photos and he loves doing it, but the real thing he loves the passion is the chase and the chase of storms. Lightning drew him to photography storms, pull them in all the way the story of Mike open ski like so many Americans their passion becomes their business. Their business is their passion for story here on our American stories