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We lost an American hero 140 years ago today...

Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:38 pm
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
69107 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:38 pm
The 18th President of the United States (1869-1877) and General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States (1864-1869): Ulysses S. Grant.

On July 23, 1885, at exactly 8:08 AM, Grant succumbed to throat cancer just days after completing his personal memoirs for publishing. They would go on to become a national bestseller, giving his wife and family all the money they needed to live out the rest of their days in relative comfort.

On August 8, 1885, more than one million people lined the streets of New York City to watch his funeral procession that was an estimated seven miles long and filled with Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War. His pallbearers were William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan, representing the Union, and Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, representing the Confederacy.

His final resting place in New York City, known appropriately as Grant's Tomb, is the final resting place for both him and his wife and is visited by an estimated 100,000 tourists every year.

Posted by Spankum
Miss-sippi
Member since Jan 2007
60155 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:44 pm to
You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…
Posted by sta4ever
Member since Aug 2014
17363 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:45 pm to
Most definitely an American hero. A great US general.

Was watching a documentary on him yesterday actually.
Posted by Dadren
Jawja
Member since Dec 2023
2981 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:46 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…

There’s a west grant street in south Baton Rouge…is that not named after him? Serious question.
Posted by Sofaking2
Member since Apr 2023
18328 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:49 pm to
Shitty president, no doubt about that
Posted by AlextheBodacious
Member since Oct 2020
3537 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:52 pm to
quote:

Shitty president, no doubt about that

Who’d you vote for in 1868 and 1872?
Posted by Landmass
Premium Member
Member since Jun 2013
23497 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:56 pm to
frick that yankee
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
69107 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 3:57 pm to
quote:

Shitty president, no doubt about that



His reputation has actually improved dramatically amongst presidential historians. In the late-20th century, most had him ranked near the bottom. Most now rank him in the middle tier.
Posted by CleverUserName
Member since Oct 2016
15926 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:00 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…


Whelp.. the Grant Presidential Library is located at Mississippi State University.
Posted by magildachunks
Member since Oct 2006
34785 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:04 pm to
The Greatest General of the Civil War.
Posted by GeauxTGRZ
PTal
Member since Oct 2005
4805 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:11 pm to
quote:


In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant used a pocket veto to block a federal bill aimed at protecting the dwindling bison herds.

Grant's decision to veto the bill was rooted in the prevailing sentiment among some officials at the time, who believed that the decimation of the bison population would help in controlling Native American tribes and forcing them onto reservations, and to adopt an agricultural way of life instead of hunting the buffalo and roaming the plains.



F*ck em
Posted by LSURussian
Member since Feb 2005
133323 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:14 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…
There are Grant streets in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, Al, Atlanta, Little Rock and many other southern cities.

Most students of history remember that Grant was a personal friend of Robert E. Lee and granted Lee and Lee's officers amnesty.

quote:

President Andrew Johnson was another advocate of harsh treatment for Lee and his generals, but he was soon to learn his views were in direct contrast to those of the North’s war hero, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

The Appomattox terms of surrender offered and signed by Grant included the clause “…each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States Authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.”

Grant had wanted peace and included this line to ensure there would be no future reprisals against the Confederates.

Grant Protects Lee From Treason Trial
This post was edited on 7/23/25 at 4:17 pm
Posted by F1y0n7h3W4LL
Below I-10
Member since Jul 2019
3459 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:19 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…

We have a parish named after him not that the citizens had much say in the matter.

Wikipedia

Grant was one of several new parishes created by the Reconstruction legislature in an attempt to build the Republican Party in the state. Founded in 1869, it had a slight majority of freedmen, many of whom had worked on cotton plantations in the area. It was named for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant[
Posted by Cosmo
glassman's guest house
Member since Oct 2003
128525 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:22 pm to
quote:

presidential historians.


Are leftists and their rankings reflect that

They have Obama and LBJ top 10 but Coolidge bottom 10 lol
This post was edited on 7/23/25 at 4:25 pm
Posted by soccerfüt
Location: A Series of Tubes
Member since May 2013
72512 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:24 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…of Swaziland
FIFY
Posted by MrWhipple
West of the Mississippi
Member since Jun 2016
1138 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:29 pm to
Did they ever figure out who is in his tomb?
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
94559 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:31 pm to
quote:

is pallbearers were William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan, representing the Union, and Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, representing the Confederacy.



Folks (particularly with "modern" sensibilities) sometimes forget both how small the army was in the mid-1800s (prewar) period and, even smaller the officer corps was (mostly produced by a single institution, USMA/West Point).

Sam (Grant), Sherman, Sheridan and Buckner were all about the same age and were at West Point together. Longstreet was there during those years, as well. They all served in the Mexican War, most of them under Winfield Scott Hancock, of whom Joe Johnston (himself a contemporary of Jefferson Davis) was a key staff officer.

Bucker was the Governor of Kentucky when both Sherman and Sheridan died, but had only lost an election for governor at the time of Grant's death.

I tell these stories to flash forward to Sherman's death and funeral. Sherman dies of pneumonia during a cold New York Winter in early 1891, at 71. Johnston, still alive at that point, is again a pallbearer, having turned 84 earlier that year. On a bitter cold, wet day in the Capital, an associate reportedly begged Johnston, "Joe? You're an old man. Put on your damned hat!" Responding, "If that was me in there (motioning to the coffin) and Sherman out here, he wouldn't put his hat on."

Johnston died a month later of pneumonia.

#Themoreyouknow

This post was edited on 7/23/25 at 4:33 pm
Posted by DustyDinkleman
Here
Member since Feb 2012
19051 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:36 pm to
quote:

You’ll never see a street named after him in the south…


Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
69107 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:37 pm to
Buckner was also one of Grant's closest friends prior to the outbreak of the war. He helped out Grant when he was at his lowest point, giving him money to get back home to his family after resigning from the Army in disgrace in 1854. Eight years later, that same Buckner would surrender an entire army to Grant at Fort Donelson.
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
69107 posts
Posted on 7/23/25 at 4:43 pm to
quote:

Most students of history remember that Grant was a personal friend of Robert E. Lee and granted Lee and Lee's officers amnesty.



Grant and Lee were most certainly not friends. They had a respect for each other but I know of no historian who ever confused that respect for friendship. However, Grant was instructed by Lincoln to provide for the Confederates lenient terms as reunification was at the forefront of the Command-in-Chief's mind that April. He did not want treason trials or executions to follow in the wake of Union victory. He wanted a brotherly reunion devoid of hatred and discord. Grant agreed with his line of thinking and fought hard to keep Lincoln's wishes after he was assassinated.
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