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Grant was hailed across the North as the winning general in the American Civil War and overall his military reputation has held up quite well. Achieving great national fame for his victories at Vicksburg and the surrender at Appomattox, he was widely credited as the General who "saved the Union". Grant was the most successful general, Union or Confederate, to dominate the Civil War. Criticized by the South for using excessive force, his overall military reputation stands intact. Grant's drinking was often exaggerated by the press and falsely stereotyped by many of his rivals and critics.
Thomas B. Hughlett, on behalf of only a small group of local Republicans, purchased the house for $2,500 in June 1865 and presented it to Grant two months later. The house is typical of the Italianate style, which is characterized by well defined rectilinear shapes, projecting eaves supported by brackets, low pitched roof, and balustraded balconies over covered porches. Examples include Jazzmobile, Inc.'s annual Free Outdoor Summer Mobile Concerts at Grant's Tomb and the annual Grant's Tomb Summer Concert, which in 2009 featured West Point's United States Military Academy Band. Every year on April 27, the anniversary of Grant's birth, a ceremony celebrating his life is held at the memorial. Cottage Porch Chats are held Wednesdays at noon periodically throughout the season.
Civilian struggles, slavery, and politics
The last to be sold was No. 3, the nearest to Fifth Avenue and Central Park. Grant Home State Historic Site is owned by the state of Illinois and managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as a historic house museum with rooms furnished to represent a mid-1860s appearance. Information is given about Grant's activities during the Civil War up through his presidency. An adjacent building houses exhibits about Grant and the history of the home.
Naturally, keeping the house in order is, under the circumstances, more than enough to keep Mrs. Allen busy. It was in the 1880's that Galena's lead‐mining and riverboat industries went into a decline. Eventually, what had been a thriving city became a forgotten country town.
Army
In March 1859, Grant freed William by a manumission deed, potentially worth at least $1,000, when Grant needed the money. Grant moved to St. Louis, taking on a partnership with Julia's cousin Harry Boggs working in the real estate business as a bill collector, again without success and with Julia's prompting ended the partnership. In August, Grant applied for a position as county engineer, believing his education qualified him for the job. The Grant administration was often remembered primarily for a number of scandals, including the Gold Ring and the Whiskey Ring, but modern scholarship has better appreciated Grant's appointed reformers and prosecutions. Grant appointed John Brooks Henderson and David Dyer, who prosecuted the Whiskey Ring; Benjamin Bristow and Edwards Pierrepont, who served as Grant's anti-corruption team; and Zachariah Chandler, who cleaned up corruption in the Interior. Grant's administration prosecuted Mormon polygamists , vice crimes such as pornography, and abortion (1873–1877).
A group of townspeople raised funds among themselves and purchased the mansion, presenting it as a gift to Galena's leading citizen. Galena will re‐enact the event on Aug. 19, 1965, and a citizens group has promised “historical accuracy.” Proving difficult, at the moment, is the problem of the leafy arch, for Galena's main street has been denuded of trees. The centennial committee also may let concrete suffice for the sidewalk; the original was made of boards. It is easy for the visitor to imagine that the Grant family is close by, for the house is kept as though the 18th President of the United States were expected at any moment. This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
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Johnson, who believed the law would be overturned, said he would assume Grant's legal responsibility, and reminded Grant that he had promised him to delay his resignation until a suitable replacement was found. The following Monday, not willing to wait for the law to be overturned, Grant surrendered the office to Stanton, causing confusion with Johnson. With the complete backing of his cabinet, Johnson personally accused Grant of lying and "duplicity" at a stormy cabinet meeting, while a shocked and disappointed Grant felt it was Johnson who was lying. The publication of angry messages between Grant and Johnson led to a complete break between the two. Grant's popularity rose among the Radical Republicans and his nomination for the presidency appeared certain. Grant was initially optimistic about Johnson, saying he was satisfied the nation had "nothing to fear" from the Johnson administration.
Fundamentally, Grant had an expansionist impulse to protect American interests abroad and was a strong advocate of the Monroe Doctrine. Besides Grant himself, the main players in foreign affairs were Secretary Fish and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Charles Sumner. Sumner, who hated Grant, led the opposition to Grant's plan to annex Santo Domingo. Sumner previously had hypocritically fully supported the annexation of Alaska. In 1871, a U.S. expedition to Korea failed to open up trade and ended with an American military victory at the battle of Ganghwa-do. Soon after taking office, Grant took conservative steps to return the nation's currency to a more secure footing.
A strong and capable leader, Grant engineered the Union victory at Vicksburg in 1863, which helped turn the tide of the war. In March 1864 Grant was appointed lieutenant general and commanded the Union army to war's end. On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to Grant at Appomattox Court House, and Grant's image as a war hero was complete.
Upon Grant's death in 1885, his widow declared he had wished to be buried in New York, and a new committee, the Grant Monument Association, appealed for funds. Progress was slow at first, since many believed the tomb should be in Washington, D.C., and because there was no architectural design to show. Eventually they selected a proposal by John Hemenway Duncan for a tomb of "unmistakably military character," modeled after the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, with twin sarcophagi based on Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides.
Grant, now realizing that the South was determined to fight and that the war would not be won with one battle, would later write, "Then, indeed, I gave up all idea of saving the Union except by complete conquest." Union inaction created the opportunity for the Confederates to attack first before Buell arrived. On the morning of April 6, 1862, Grant's troops were taken by surprise when the Confederates, led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard, struck first "like an Alpine avalanche" near Shiloh church, attacking five divisions of Grant's army and forcing a confused retreat toward the Tennessee River. One Union line held the Confederate attack off for several hours at a place later called the "Hornet's Nest", giving Grant time to assemble artillery and 20,000 troops near Pittsburg Landing.
During Republican negotiations with Democrats, that Grant took no direct part in, the Republicans received the White House for Hayes in return for ending enforcement of racial equality for blacks and removing federal troops from the last three states. As promised, Hayes withdrew federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana, which marked the end of Reconstruction. The Ulysses S. Grant Cottage National Historic Landmark is a preserved time capsule of the 18th president’s final days. Built in 1872 atop Mt. McGregor in eastern New York state, the cottage was where Grant wrote his final memoirs before succumbing to throat cancer.
Grant's Tomb is generally open to the public from Wednesdays through Saturdays. In addition to being a national memorial since 1958, Grant's Tomb was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and was designated an official New York City landmark in 1975. The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site near St. Louis, and several other sites in Ohio and Illinois memorialize Grant's life. The U.S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site, located at the top of Mount McGregor in Wilton, New York, preserves the house in which he completed his memoirs and died.
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