Life after Harvard and his Father's Death

Robert enrolled in Harvard Law school following his graduation but joined the Union Army, at his father’s request, as General Grant’s aide-to-camp and was present at General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in Appomattox. Following his father’s assassination in 1865, Robert moved to Chicago with his mother and brother Tad and finished his law studies. Robert passed the bar on February 25, 1867. After just a few months in Chicago, Robert opened a firm with a partner and firmly established himself as one of the finest lawyers in the area with one newspaper declaring him “one of the most promising young men of the West.”