The last known photo of Ulysses S. Grant.

[Bleacher Creature]

Link to tweet

He would be gone four days later. I'm not sure why, but I find this picture mesmerizing.

[RockRaven]

1. He died 4 days later, 1 yr after being diagnosed w cancer; he just finished writing his memoirs.

He had become dead broke, for complicated reasons having to do with wall street crooks and credulity/bad decisions, and was desperate to do something to leave his soon-to-be-widow with anything. So some publisher originally offered him 10% royalties, but Mark Twain stepped in with a deal that offered him 70% royalties (totally unheard of degree of royalties, pure friendship/generosity/gratitude not the result of a bidding war). He and the people around him scrambled to get it done before his health failed. Julia ended up getting $450K over the years ($13M in 2020 dollars), and the memoirs are/were praised by historians and literary critics. Not too shabby.

[calimary]

4. Remarkable story.

Gives you a whole new picture of the man.

Thanks, RockRaven!

[Chin music]

7. +1z

Chivalry. A honorable trait.

[Karadeniz]

2. The items on the porch, his body position...everything so natural and normal... it could be today.

[SunSeeker]

3. Except for the top hat! But those slippers...I think I had a pair!

[Haggard Celine]

5. I thought the top hat was rather odd.

It's strange to see a guy wear one while he's just sitting on the porch reading the newspaper. He must have worn it for the photo. I don't imagine he did that all the time.

[AngryOldDem]

6. There's another one.

It shows him wrapped in a blanket, on his porch, working on his autobiography, and lookng extremely ill. Taken around the same time as this one.

Man did his best, but was easily taken advantage of. If you care, ”Grant”, by Ron Chernow, is a fascinating read.

[Chin music]

8. +1z

[MyOwnPeace]

13. Loved the TV mini-series.....

based on Chernow's book..... (yeah, I did it for the 'hat!' )

[Solomon]

17. Yep. He got a raw deal in the "history" books.

He was a remarkable man.

[MyOwnPeace]

18. Indeed!

Interesting how the rankings and perceptions change over the years. Eisenhower was 'down' for a bunch of years, but, because of the 'work' of those that have followed, he's looking better all the time!
One thing for sure though - ain't NO WAY tRump is ever gonna' rise up from the swamp that he crawled out of!

[no_hypocrisy]

9. His Cottage is open for tours.

I've been there. His presence still resonates.

Grant's SIL got his money involved in the original Ponzi scheme. That's how he became broke. (It SOUNDED "legit".)

[trusty elf]

10. ...

[MyOwnPeace]

12. BRILLIANT!!!!!!

[Tanuki]

16. I ❤️ it!

😸🤣🥂

[Rhiannon12866]

11. And must be at Grant's Cottage, where he died. It's near me and I've been there several times.

When I was a kid, my grandmother was friendly with the older lady who maintained the site, so she took us kids several times. It was pretty spooky with displays of his bandages and dried funeral flowers and the clock stopped at the moment he died. It's at the top of Mount McGregor, quite a view from up there, but then they also moved a prison up there and I only went once after that, a lot scarier than the cottage with high fences and armed guards. But since they closed down the prison, Grant's Cottage has again become a more active historical site and they've started offering historical programs there. I should go back...

[2naSalit]

14. There was a home in...

Galena, IL where he lived for a time, went there during my honeymoon. This place looks a bit different, larger.

[NNadir]

15. The second greatest President of the 19th century.

The received history of his Presidency is sorely mistaken.

Without him, there'd be no US.

[youcantbeatblue]

19. Bio by Chernow

I just finished the Chernow book on Grant and have become a little obsessed with him. I have a picture of him up in my office. Fascinating life, and I can relate to his life of both good moves and bad choices.