Grant's Tomb Photo Tour

Pat Young

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Featured Book Reviewer
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
Long Island, NY
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Grant's Tomb July 15, 2018
Michele and I headed to Manhattan today to visit the General Grant National Memorial, better known as Grant's Tomb. The building is a massive monument to Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant and a memorialization of the Union Army he led and the achievements for civil rights won during his presidency. That is me standing at the top of the stairs in this nine story high tomb.
 
It had just poured rain a few minutes before Michele snapped this picture of the tomb and the huge plaza in front of it. For those who may have visited here in the 1970s, this is no longer the derelict refuge of of prostitutes. It has been restored to its original beauty.

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The two eagles, by the way, were not part of the original design. They were on the old Manhattan Post Office. When it was being demolished, they were given to the Tomb.
 
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When Grant passed away on July 23, 1885 at a cottage at Mount McGregor in the Adirondacks, the question arose as to where his funeral would be held and where he would be buried. His wife Julia said that Grant had wanted his funeral to be held in New York City. He had not indicated a clear preference for the place of his burial, except to say that he wanted to buried with his wife, precluding most military cemeteries.
 
Is it true, @Pat Young that Frank Scaturro was involved with the impetus to clean up the tomb?
Yes. He was a student volunteer at the Tomb while he was at Columbia University. He peppered the National Park Service and New York City government with memos on the deteriorated conditions of the tomb. When the authorities did not act, he put out a more than 200 page expose of the neglect and mismanagement of the site. The Grant family threatened to sue to remove the remains of U.S and Julia. A Congressional hearing was held and reforms begun. I will try to delve into this a little more later.
 
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.
 
The interest in the funeral was so great that when word got out that Grant's casket was being made at the Stein company in Rochester, 15,000 people went to see the casket before it was shipped to New York.

Grant, at his death, weighed less than 100 pounds.
 
When the funeral train arrived in New York City, it was met be a procession led by General Hancock and the remains were taken to City Hall. A quarter of a million people filed past the casket during the two days of viewing at city hall.

Fred Grant encouraged the inclusion of former Confederates in the funeral program and FitzHugh Lee, Joe Johnston, and Simon Buckner all participated.
 
The tomb is on top of a 270 foot tall hill overlooking the Hudson River. Before this part of New York was developed, visitors could look east and see Long Island Sound. The building itself is 160 feet high.

This shot was taken from the east side of the park looking over the children's playground.

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Almost immediately after Grant's death, a debate arose over where Grant's Tomb should be. Most presidents had been buried in the states of their birth. So Ohio was suggested, as was Illinois. Washington was the favorite of many veterans because it was near the scene of Grant's Virginia victories. Julia decided New York would be the place because it had embrace Grant after his presidency. She might have also been attracted by its modernity and cultural vibrancy.

A committee of powerful and wealthy men was appointed to run the Grant Monument Association. They set themselves the task of raising 1 million dollars for the tomb. At first, the response was encouraging. But once 150,000 dollars was raised, money dried up. Many newspapers called for their readers to refuse to donate for a "national" monument that would be in one city. The fact that the Association did not have a design for the monument also hurt fundraising.

After three years of anemic efforts from the Association, Grant's friend Horace Porter took over. He promised to raise half a million dollars in just a few months, and he did so. Instead of a national fundraising campaign, he focused fundraising on New York. He also made an appeal to the working people of the city to give any amount, no matter how small. Porter raised the money from 90,000 people whose average contribution was about six dollars.

The Tomb was finally dedicated in 1897:

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