Our 18th United States President was a prime example of a military hero being elected into office without the proper credentials to exercise the office of Commander-in-Chief. Ulysses S. Grant held office from 1869-1877 and was the first President to serve two full consecutive terms since Andrew Jackson forty years earlier, but his most notable achievement came before office, when he led the North to victory as General of the Union army during the Civil War. It was based on this popular public reception that soon catapulted him into the job. At the time, he was the youngest man to assume the Presidency and had never held public office before in his life.
Although he has scored some points for his active stand in the Civil Rights Movement, his Presidency was rocked by Economic Depression and scandal – including Black Friday and the Whiskey Ring. His term was succeeded by Rutherford B. Hayes, a fellow Ohio-born President. After Hayes’ term came to an end and he decided not to run again, Grant actually sought re-election for a third term but the nomination ultimately went to yet another Ohio President, James A. Garfield.
I have not yet finished with my President Grant quest, which will conclude when I visit his grave in New York – but here are the significant Grant locations that I have visited in Ohio.
Saturday, August 22, 1998 / Sunday, August 3, 2008 - Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace – Grant’s birthplace, located in the tiny town of Point Pleasant, Ohio, has quite an interesting history. He was born in this tiny one-room cabin in 1822, but only lived here for the first year of his life before his family moved on to Georgetown, Ohio. The house remained in place until after Grant’s death in 1885 at which time it became a ‘traveling’ memorial to both the Civil War and the late President.
It traveled first by towboat up the Ohio River into Cincinnati. Then it was displayed at Goodale Park in Columbus as a part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Northwest Territory. Next it traveled by railroad car across the nation, finally landing back in Columbus where it was situated on the Ohio State Fairground. In 1896 a Grant Memorial structure was constructed around the house and was dedicated by President William McKinley the following year.
As the 100th anniversary of Grant’s birth approached, a movement arose to move the structure back to its original location in Point Pleasant. Finally in 1936, it was dismantled in sections, shipped by truck, and reconstructed on its original foundation. One year later the Ohio River flooded Point Pleasant and the home was engulfed by water up to its roof. It was just over sixty years later that the home was engulfed by Bob and me as we made our first visit.
My photo of the Grant birthplace from 1998
The room in which he was born – which is the only room in the house – with the original baby cradle in which the President once slept
A small welcome and museum area with a few relics had been added on to the front of the original cabin. One interesting item that was in the house at that time was the baby cradle in which a baby Hiram Ulysses Grant (the President’s given name) once slept. Our second visit came ten years later as Bob, Jackie, and I were touring the Cincinnati region. The house was virtually unchanged since the first visit – except for the baby cradle had now been replaced with a representative cradle from the period, which bothered me a bit. Eventually the docent told me where that cradle was now located.
Entering Point Pleasant, Ohio
With the Grant Historic District sign in the Memorial Park next to the house
The birth home
And from the opposite angle
The Ohio Historical Marker
Inside the birth room again, now with a non-original cradle
In lieu of having my photo with the Bible on which Grant was sworn into office, this Bible was presented to him on his Inauguration Day by the American Bible Society
That happens to be General Grant!
Time to move on to the next Grant location
Sunday, August 3, 2008 - Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse - The next stop for the Grant family after Point Pleasant was Georgetown, just about twenty miles east into Ohio. Here the family would remain for fifteen years, from 1824-1839. His father Jesse established a tannery just across the street – which is now a residential home. Although all of the furnishings in the house were non-originals, that elusive cradle that once adorned the birth home was now located here.
The Ohio Historical Marker at Georgetown
Outside the Grant boyhood home
The President’s bedroom. If anyone on a historical tour ever asks what that device is that I am holding, tell them it is used to wind the bed ropes tight. You’ll get a star for the day.
Finally reunited with the original cradle in which President Grant once slept
The Grant tannery across the street from the boyhood home
Bob, Jackie, and I toured the two-story home during our Cincinnati tour and then moved on to the Grant Schoolhouse. Young Hiram attended classes here between 1829, when it was first built, and 1835. Most of the furniture and items inside were of the period, but there was one bench that was from the time period when Grant attended school there.
The schoolhouse where President Grant attended
In the famous squatting postion over the original bench that was there when Grant attended – which was clearly designated as a ‘do not sit’ structure
Continue to the next President…
Return to Saturday in Ohio 1998… (under construction)
Return to Sunday in Ohio 2008…
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