Grant died at 8:08 AM on July 23, and by 8:14 AM the NY Times had posted an announcement of his passing on a window. By 9:30 AM, flags in New York flew at half-mast. President Grover Cleveland issued a proclamation:
The President of the United States has just received the sad tidings of the death of that illustrious citizen and ex-President of the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant, at Mount McGregor, in the State of New York, to which place he had lately been removed in the endeavor to prolong his life. In making this announcement to the people of the United States the President is impressed with the magnitude of the public loss of a great military leader, who was, in the hour of victory,
magnanimous; amid disaster, aster, serene and self-sustained; who, in every station, whether as a soldier or a Chief Magistrate, twice called to power by his fellow-countrymen, trod unswervingly the pathway of duty, undeterred by doubts, single-minded minded and straightforward. The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his prolonged and patient struggle with painful disease, and has watched by his couch of suffering with tearful sympathy. The destined end has come at last, and his spirit has returned to the Creator who sent it forth. The great heart of the nation that followed him when living with love and pride bows now in sorrow above him dead, tenderly mindful of his virtues, his great patriotic services and of the loss occasioned by his death. In testimony of respect to the memory of General Grant it is ordered that the Executive Mansion and the several departments at Washington be draped in mourning for a period of thirty days, and that all public business shall, on the day of the funeral, be suspended, and the Secretaries taries of War and of the Navy will cause orders to be issued for appropriate ate military and naval honors to be rendered on that day.
Joan Waugh. U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (Civil War America) (Kindle Location 2764). Kindle Edition.