Grout pursued an academic course, he attended St. Johnsbury Academy and graduated from the State and National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1857.

[3] In 1862, Grout was nominated as State's Attorney of Orleans County but declined, deciding instead to enter the army.

In July 1862 he received his commission as lieutenant colonel of the 15th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War.

He later attained the rank of brigadier general as commander of one of three brigades organized for border defense by the Vermont State Legislature following the St. Albans Raid.

Grout died on October 7, 1902, and is interred in Grove Cemetery in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont.

[15][16] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress