The Making of an American Pantheon: Grant's Tomb

Is this is our American stories do not mix the story of Ulysses S Grant the 18th president, but this isn't a story about a Civil War victories his presidency. It's about his final resting place.

Tell the story is Louis Picone, author of Grant's tomb taken away. Louis Grant was the most popular man in America, but he was also perhaps the one figure that was admired by all sections and was really a unified on this was a time when America was still greatly divided after the civil was only 15, 18 years after the Civil War, but he was beloved by Democrats and Republicans by Northerners and Southerners by whites and African-Americans by men and women in the North. He was the savior of the union. He was a liberator 4 million enslaved even in the South.

He was beloved is just it's it's fascinating to think about that because he was the victorious general that defeated the South, but he was beloved because he was magnanimous he had given generous terms, the Robert E Lee at Appomattox, but also all throughout the war. He was known for treating Southerners with compassion, whether they were captured soldiers or whether they were southern citizens but he was diagnosed with inoperable throat and tongue cancer, which at the time. A diagnosis of cancer was pretty much a death sentence. He died on July 23. He was surrounded by all of his loved one. He was surrounded by his children by his wife Julia advised doctors who had grown so close with. It was what's considered a good Victorian death. The country was united there was an outpouring of grief and notes of condolence that came in from the north and the south and all throughout the world. Even before he had died Confederate generals that he had been friendly with at West Point before the Civil War had come to visit him on his deathbed to say their final goodbyes, but the public's outpouring of grief was immense.

It was something that had never been seen before, because one was beloved by the North and the South. Unlike Abraham Lincoln of years earlier and also the public had this long time to prepare for this, like this long drawn out saga of basically reading about and watching Grant die so it was really an immense outpouring of grief that would then manifest itself first in the funeral, but then later to so the opening act of Grant's funeral first. His body was taken by train to Albany and he was placed in a public space we can lie in state and thousands and thousands of people lined up to see the remains of grant because at the time he would like it was an open coffin funeral that was held that was kind of the expectation at the time that the public would get to look upon the remains one final time after the public viewing in Albany. The body was again placed on a funeral train that brought the remains to New York City. An interesting side note just to show how popular grant. There was a coffin company that had created a one-of-a-kind beautiful coffin that grant would be buried and it was shipped ahead of Grant's body was shipped to New York City so the funeral company that had handled Grant's funeral had put the empty coffin on display in their storefront window and 70,000 New Yorkers lined up just to see the empty coffin of grant that kind of gives a taste of what the funeral would be like in a couple days. First, the procession marched 7 miles and it included 60,000 marchers. If you were sitting on the bench in New York City at the time it would've taken five hours for the funeral procession to pass you from beginning to end. It was 60,000 marchers. Many of those were union veterans, but there was also more than a handful of Confederate veterans that had traveled to pay their respects to grant two of the pallbearers were Confederate generals as well. The funeral had this disc herniation of reunification and reconciliation throughout. It was the largest funeral that had ever been held for any president. Up until this time, one and 1/2 million people witnessed the funeral which is more than the population of New York City at the time the population was about 1.3 million, 1 1/2 million people saw the few so much larger than a concert at Madison Square Garden. Even the Beatles came to Madison Square Garden when he got that many people commanded to New York City the same and the phrase that was repeated all throughout the funeral. Whether it was in speeches whether was held in banners was Grant's campaign slogan of reunification.

Let us have peace. They were almost repeated as if they were Grant's final words and that let us have peace that it became the hallmark of his death and his two so the remains were placed in a temporary crypt in Riverside Park and there was reports that the designer had basically sat down to design the crypt and 20 minutes later he was done. If you see images of it that that's pretty easy to believe it kind of looks like a pizza oven, but the intentions were not to be there for long because right away after he died.

That's when the mayor Mayor William Grace had gathered together. Gilded Age elites president Chester Arthur former Pres. Chester Arthur New York City, former and past mayors and governors titans of industry J.P. Morgan Joseph Pulitzer asked her Vanderbilt to gather them together to form the grant Monument Association whose mission was to build a magnificent Gilded Age monument for Graham and indeed he was a warrior in his mantra. Let us have peace. Many a warrior has that is there mantra.

Nobody knows the price of war better than warriors reunification reconciliation were his themes and when we come back more of the story of Grant's tomb with Louis Picone here on our American story books. If you love the stories we tell about this great country and especially the stories of America's rich past.

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There was talk about that even before he had died, but several weeks before he had died. He tried to speak with his family about his thoughts about where he should be buried. He had mentioned several different locations he had mentioned St. Louis. They had lived there and he had a cemetery plot that he owned their he had mentioned Illinois.

He had mentioned West Point the attic had also mentioned New York City, but ultimately his family wouldn't speak to about they were still in denial and Julia just couldn't bring herself to have the conversation with Greg. So when he died, it was still undetermined about where he would be buried and it seemed like everyone in the public had an opinion. Most people felt that grant should be buried on national ground. He was a national hero West Point or Arlington Cemetery or the old soldiers and it kinda became almost like a national competition where cities were vying for the honor but Julia ended up choosing New York City really for three reasons. One is that she still lived in New York City. That would be a close location where she can go visit the grave number two was the mayor of New York City. He aggressively lobbied the family for the honor of hosting Grant's tomb.

He had sent a telegram just a couple of hours after it was announced the grant had died to the family again offering his city offering to take the family on a tour anywhere throughout the city. They can choose a location and he also promised this grand unprecedented Gilded Age tomb would be built and is on perhaps the most important reason why Julia had chosen New York City was that she could be buried by grant side down West Point Arlington Cemetery. The old soldiers home which is which was kind of like the summer White House in Washington DC. All of those locations had regulations that only members of the military to be buried there, and spouses couldn't be buried. So for Julia, that was a showstopper and that was really the but the primary reason why she ended up choosing New York City.

They had settled on Riverside Park. Riverside Park is very far north in the city if a Taurus goes to New York City and they go to the Empire State building and they go to Rockefeller Center Broadway show Times Square, Riverside Park is about 7080 blocks north of its pretty close to Columbia University, but the mayor of New York City had kind of sold the family on that location for several different reasons. At that time there was very little population one reporter at said that there is more goats than people. But the mayor had felt that eventually the population would keep moving further and further north and Riverside Park would become the cultural and population center of the city the population moved further and further north but that never really happened or became the cultural center of the city. The other reason was that the mayor had convinced the family that census was so unpopulated that when they built this magnificent tomb for grant. The architects would really have a blank slate to work. They started fundraising right away, but a monumental Gilded Age tomb really caused a monumental amount of money and the grant Monument Association headset and extremely aggressive target ambitious target of $1 million. Nothing like that had ever been raised through public subscription before. That's how Lincoln's tomb is been funded and that's how Garfield's tomb is been funded, but those tombs were much much less than $1 million. So the million dollar target was really just an astronomical ambitious target that there was some efforts to capitalize on the fact that there was so many people in New York City for the funeral. So there was some canisters that were set up throughout the city to raise money. Children held fairs and bake sales, they would get little articles written about them in the newspapers and it was also perfect timing. If Grant had died 10 years earlier. The country would've still been to greatly divided to really focus on the cause of building this Grant's tomb really celebrating grant death or memorializing his death in such a universal fashion. If you died 10 years later the Civil War would've kind of of of past a little bit more into history and Grant's star would've fallen just a little bit more. By that point, but after that strong start fundraising and donations began to taper off after the funeral. And after all the public sentiment had started to dissipate. Then public attention had looked the focus on other things in the morning, black morning ribbons and banners were taken down off the homes fundraising started to dry up at about $100,000 and a couple years later, it was only about $150,000 so outside of New York City. Very few funds ended up coming into the grant Monument to Grant's tomb almost immediately there was an outcry for everyone outside of New York City feeling that New York City had basically stolen the tomb that it wasn't the right location.

The opinion was, you know what New York City wanted this. They convinced the family let them fundraising. I'm not sending them a dime. Another thing which is really hard to believe at this time 20 years after the Civil War wasn't even a statue of grant. So after Grant had passed away.

There was all of these other efforts to memorialize grant that were popping up throughout the country. In Leavenworth, Kansas and Philadelphia and Chicago. There was these other grant Monument funds work some aggression. Name the grant Monument Association even at the there was just all of these other efforts that were vying for the public's dollars to memorialize grant every dollar that went to the statue in Chicago was one less dollar that was coming to the tomb in New York City, but also it wasn't until 1895 years after Grant had died that the design was finally chosen and that was another reason why the fundraising had dried up because able to know what they were donating. They had felt that after so many years. I don't even know their building.

How come I'm donating to even know what I'm donating towards so fundraising had started off strong but very quickly, had turned into a challenge.

So finally September 1890 a big milestone was achieved when John Hemenway Duncan who was an architect from New York City was chosen with the winning design that wasn't the end of the difficulties one the original target that was set by the grant Monument Association was in the fall of 1895 to complete the tomb but there was stone worker strikes. There was the panic of 1893 there was other issues. One of the big problems was with the leadership of the grant Monument Association.

These Gilded Age elites that were on the board of the grant Monument Association got distracted with their with their Gilded Age business and they really didn't get the attention to the grant Monument Association and the Grant's tomb that it really needed help drive forward the turns out, the fall of 1895 ended up getting pushed several times and it wasn't until April 1897 when they finally completed and dedicated grants to and even though they were able to raise the funds to complete the tomb. It wasn't the $1 million that they had originally budgeted or that they had originally set the goal of several features in Duncan's original vision grant up scaled-back like the tomb was shortened from hundred and 60 feet 250 feet statuary that was eliminated so they can meet the budget so it wasn't until 12 years later that they had the dedication and you might think. By that point the public had forgotten about grant is now been dead for 12 years but the affection and the public sentiment for grant was still just as just as powerful, just as strong as it was at the funeral 12 years earlier and you been listening to Louis Picone tell the story of Grant's tomb, which by the way still sits in a beautiful area in the Morningside Heights neighborhood very near Columbia University in the shadows of the George Washington Bridge. That famous bridge you see in movies just ahead. It's a great place to bring your family to touch a piece of history. Visit if you ever get to New York City when we come back more of this remarkable story. Grant's tomb story here on our American story, and we returned to our American stories and the story of Grant's tomb in 1950s Groucho Marx had a joke disguised as a question for contestants on the show, you bet your life goes, who's buried in Grant's tomb and the answer was no one is grant is buried in circumference just above the ground but in the 50s. Not very many people knew that during the dedication of Grant's tomb. Most people did grant was on the top of everyone's mind years after his death, the dedication of his tomb. Let's continue with Louis Picone telling us about that event the public sentiment for grant was still just as just as powerful, just as strong as it was at the funeral 12 years earlier. There was another dedication procession that was almost as large as the funeral march that it taken place. 12 years earlier.

Thousands attended the dedication including the dedication address being made by Pres. William McKinley at the time.

Former Pres. Grover Cleveland was thereby. William McKinley sighed, the widow, Julia was at the dedication as well as a very interesting friend that she had developed over the years who was Jefferson Davises widow Farina Davis which is just another interesting facet of this reunification and reconciliation sentiment. In addition to the funeral. There was also another feature which was a massive gathering of ships from across the globe that had traveled to New York City for this international show of respect as well. As warships and other sea craft all throughout the country. So the Hudson River was almost like it almost looks like from the images that you can walk from from New York to New Jersey across the Hudson River just jumping from one ship to the next and the ships had covered about 70 locks probably about 4 miles of ships had gathered to be part of this dedication ceremony and there was 21 gun salute that were fired from the ships there were blowing their horns in support the Kansas City Journal had written about the magnitude of the day and they said never before in the history of the of the United States has such attribute been paid to the noble bed so is really a phenomenon that it never been seen before. All throughout American history, dedication the tomb that had been created was the largest tomb in American history before or since it's 150 feet tall.

It's 8100 ft.³ so it's much larger than Lincoln's too much larger than Garfield's. Immediately after the tomb was dedicated. It became the number one tourist attraction never call that I said that tomb is located well outside of the towards area of New York City. So if you were going to see the Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated a year after Grant had died and Grant's tomb was more popular than the Statue of Liberty. It was such an attraction. It was the number one source attraction for 20 years after was dedicated in one of the interesting facets of the story that right around the time the grant had died. Postcards became popular and it is kind of like what's known as the Golden age of the postcard.

So Grant's tomb was was a prominent image on postcards and those postcards would be sent all over the world that would further further attract people to come see Grant's tomb when they came to America, but also became an important site for reunification. It was really the only site in the country where African-American white citizens union and Confederate veterans would come to make the pilgrimage often at the same time to pay their respects to grant so it was really unique. There was movies made about Thomas Edison, Thomas Edison's production company made a movie about Grant's tomb where it was kind of featured as like the central point in this romantic comedy that is almost like sleepless in Seattle.

Years later, it's a silly film but it shows the popularity in the drawer. Grant's tomb so by the late 1920s in the roaring 20s they finally decided that it was time to complete Duncan's vision. All of those features that were stripped out when it was fun raising issues with decided to begin fundraising complete Grant's tomb at the way that was phrased in the newspapers at the time that it wasn't complete when it was finished. Even though most of the public kinda felt this was complete. Even members of the grant Monument Association after the 12 years struggle, but there was still a large portion of a large enough portion of the grant Monument Association that felt that it wasn't complete and very quickly over $100,000 was raised but then October 1929 stock market crashes and that kind of became the deathknell for completing grants to but with the Great Depression also came a new focus on historic sites. One of Franklin Roosevelt's new Deal organizations was the WPA and the WPA had funded both the money and the labor to do enhancements and to do repairs at historic sites, so there was repairs to the floor.

The floor had been damaged over the years. There was repairs to the electricity because electricity had been installed.

If you would gone to Grant's tomb at the time and looked up, you would see all of these wires that were snaked across the ceiling so the wires were made more discrete but there was also a troubling sign. There was a post office that was demolished over by City Hall and there was these two Eagle statues that used to be at the post office. They were placed in Grant's tomb and it's just kind of disturbing because we've gone from this grand vision. The now Grant's tomb is being adorned with hand-me-downs from other structures throughout New York City. Also, Grant's reputation really started to crater at this point the southern cause revisionism.

The lost cause ideology that really started right after the Civil War had started to really take hold in the early 1900s right around the time of the movie or the nation and by the 1950s where grant had once been the magnanimous hero alongside Washington and Lincoln. Now he was criticized as corrupt was drunk. He was a butcher. It was right about that time to that crime in New York City started to rise and there is even an article in the night the late 1950s about a massive gang fight.

The biggest gang fight it's ever been seen in New York City that was in Riverside Park at grants to going into the 1960s. By this point the National Park Service had taken over ownership and authority of Grant's tomb where once thousands of people had visited every day now that number had started to dwindle down to the dozens in Riverside Park and Grant's tomb started to become more popular with gangs and prostitutes and addicts and disc criminals of all stripes, people started to become scared to go to grants to it was desecrated by graffiti and was damaged by vandals was overrun with weeds and littered with all types of refuse every morning people would come in there, the workers would come in their in a noble effort to try to clean up the tomb and they would pick up the drug refuse in the bottom and there was homeless that would gather at tomb and it would start to use the tomb almost as a toilet because it was any public restrooms. The Eagles that were placed there. The vandals would would break off the beaks from the Eagles and it was reported that the National Park Service had like a cash of Eagle beaks ready to replace them when frequently they were being broken off.

There was even Congressional efforts to relocate the body of grant. It was prominent in Illinois.

They had said that in Illinois we take care of Lincoln's tomb, and we can take care of Grant's tomb to so it really gone from a joke from Groucho Marx joke to justice.

Horrible national joke of the site image true just to run down Grant's tomb was remember my dad bringing me there in my teen years.

During the late 70s and early 80s. It was a disaster. When we come back story of Grant's tomb continues with Lewis Picone dear on our American stores and returned to L American stores in her final portion of our story. Unbranched tomb with Lewis Picone, author of the epic death of Ulysses S Grant in the making of an American Pantheon.

When we last left off Grant's tomb and fallen into a state of decay future of the tomb was hanging in the balance. Let's pick up where we last left off by the early 1990s, the outlook for Grant's tomb look very dire the situation. I've been described about the about the vandalism and about the fact that no one was going there anymore and criminals gathering up to.

This is been going on since like the mid 60s up until the early 1990s almost 30 years, the situation had been going on and it really became a site that very few brave souls would actually go venture to go see it because it'd been this dangerous location so I've researched a lot of residential sites in my writing.

I've written three books about about presidential locations about the birthplaces. My second book includes information about the graves and in the location where presidency died done a lot of research on presidential locations. Many of them have been lost to history, but I've never seen an individual private citizen who is done so much to frankly save a presidential locations.

That was almost on the path to certain due.

So Frank Santoro was a student at Columbia University, which is really just like a stone throw away from Grant's tomb now for his whole life he had been interested in the presidents and particularly became enamored with grant and just felt that grant hadn't been served correctly by historians and he felt that his that he deserved better, but Frank enrolled as a law student said just by happenstance.

He ended up at Columbia was the fact that Grant's tomb is so close that made him go to Columbia but because of his of his interest in grants. It was natural for Frank to start going to grants to, and eventually he started giving tours at grants to our first he started giving tours at grants to, and then he started to volunteer at grants to us.

We had gone there so much he started to just give tours on his own now what Frank sought Grant's tomb really horrified, not just what was visible to the tours that were going there.

The graffiti, the stench overnight, homeless and vandals were using the site as a public restroom people would come in every day they clean it up but the stench you couldn't get rid of the drug refuse, but also when Frank started to look into the archives and look into into what was behind the scene. He found that there was a bunch of of archives of material for the grant Monument Association that had been stored in grants to that had either been willfully destroyed, willfully discarded or just destroyed through negligent, like for instance, there was a stack of paper archives from the grant Monument Association, almost 100 years old that had just been stored in the basement and had been damaged by water and it was basically garbage. By this point, so Frank started to become a say in a nice way, almost a thorn in the side of the National Park Service and really didn't see anything change so we had taken the. The next step of writing a 325 page report to meticulously list all of the things that have been happening a Grant's tomb over the years that led to the sorry condition and he sent this 325 page report, the mayor of New York City to the governor of New York City to all different types of politicians. He said that the secretary of the interior was in charge of the National Park Service and he also said that the president Bill Clinton now.

Eventually he had gained attention of an NBC morning show near it had ended up on television and basically showed on television. All of the horrible conditions in grants to have at this point have to remember not too many people revisiting grants almost became forgotten from public memory so there was probably many people in New York City and throughout the country that have even seen Grant's tomb before now. What they were seeing on television are so that help this cause and then in 1994 there was a New York Times article. It was a pretty short article but it just described the horrible conditions that were happening and that also helped galvanize public attention.

I kind of look at at Frank as kind of like the brains in the head of the efforts to really draw attention to grants to. There was one other individual who ended up partnering with Frank and that was Ulysses Grant Dietz Ulysses grants great great grandson.

So if Frank was the head and Frank was the brains I think that Ulysses was the heart of the effort and it was one thing to dismiss a private citizen who was trying to raise attention, but it's an altogether other things to just dismiss and disregard the pleas of a family member and actually end up suing the National Park Service one point but thanks to their efforts. Things began to change and they began to change fast turnaround was really nothing short of miraculous. Over the next couple of years. There was repairs completed inside and outside at grants. There was security that was added but also just New York City was changing during this time, so by 1997 there was another rededication and by this point it was really was restored to much of its former glory and Ulysses Grant Dietz had spoken at the dedication Frank was an invited after raising the attention through the New York Times and through the TV show was dismissed by the national parks are but Ulysses Grant Dietz, the great-great-grandson was welcome at the dedication and he had said. I believe that Grant's tomb could easily inspire that same sense of sympathy and hope and pride in the modern daily an audience far bigger and far more complicated than the one a century ago to. He had felt that that grant and Grant's tomb can still inspire that sense of reunification in 1997 and I contend that it's can still inspire that now and if if you just think about the kind of like the more recent history of Grant's tomb, and how it's been restored and how that parallels to grants reputation right about the time Frank Tauro was really was making noise about saving grants to and about the horrible conditions there grants reputation was at that all-time low in presidential rankings in 1994 he was considered the fourth from the worst. The only presidents worse than grant were James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding and Andrew Johnson. But during this time that Grant's tomb is come back so is grant.

There is been been much more of a focus on grants presidency in the reconstruction. And it historians of started to look closer on grants swift and severe reaction to crushing the KKK that informed during his present thousands of KKK members were arrested and really the KKK was really crushed. It wasn't until the early 1900s that the KKK had come back so that commitment to Native American rights and the onset of his presidency. His working through international works to solve a dispute with England would first find any president had done that before. There's really been a renewed and overdue focus on grants presidency and I mentioned 1994 he was fourth from the bottom you can see every several years when these presidential rankings are done. Grant is just every couple years. He just keeps rising more and more grants reputation is coming and now grant ranks at number 20. So he's well above the halfway mark I think is just astounding grants reputation and Grant's tomb of had this similar trajectory is just a heckuva fascinating story and it is indeed a heckuva story. The story of Ulysses S Grant, and his tomb, but also his presidency and his life that we told a couple of stories about grant program American stories.com and just to research and indeed you will be spellbound. What a remarkable story one American story lives. Great work as always. By the way, by Monty Montgomery and a special thanks to Louis Picone, author of Grant's tomb. The epitaphs of Ulysses S Grant making of an American Pantheon. By the way that's available on Amazon.com and all the usual suspects. By the way, this is another history story that's always brought to us by the great folks@hillsdalecollege40hillsdale.edu sign up for the free and terrific online courses. The story of Ulysses S. Grant's tomb the story.

In the end about America American life and American history lost causes tried to run the story of grant down into the ground. My goodness thanks to the likes and works of Ron Turner and so many other historians grants back is moving up in the rankings and the correct history. The correct story of this great general. This great leader well it's back and in shape.

Ulysses S Grant story Grant's tomb story you are now Americans