Today - July 23rd - is the anniversary of the death of Ulysses S. Grant.
On July 23rd 1885, the 18th president of the United States drew his last gasping breath. His slow and painful death at the strangulating hands of throat cancer was a bleeding wound over which the people of the United States wept in unison. Ulysses was a hero and represented a time when values were fought for, when action was taken, and when treason did not go unpunished. The man’s agony was accredited to more than just cancer though, as a social and financial fallout casued by a con artist named Ferdinand Ward during his post-presidential years had stripped him of his credibility and brought bankruptcy upon him and the many close friends of his whom he’d unwittingly roped into Ward’s Ponzi scheme.
Admirers from around the country would not leave the old, broken general to die in the shadows, though. Many banded together to make his deliverance to the beyond as comfortable as possible; a humble cottage on Mount McGregor, New York, was lent to him by an NYC banker, philanthropist, and book-collector by the name of Joseph William Drexel to serve as his place of passing. While many members of the Grant family regularly stopped by to visit their patriarch, Julia Dent Grant, Freddy, his wife, Ida, and their daughter, Julia, were full-time residents of the cottage along with Ulysses’ valet and close friend, Harrison Terrell.
Ulysses spent the summer of 1885 gradually declining within the walls of what is today known as Grant Cottage, toiling away over the pieces of paper that would become his memoirs. Among the many to pay homage to the old dog during his dying days was Mark Twain, who later published Ulysses’ memoirs. This historical document would earn the Grant family roughly $450,000 during its first three years on shelves, which would have been worth $14,700,000 in 2022. With that, Ulysses had saved his family.
Whimsy Productions, Inc. had the honor and the privilege of filming at Grant Cottage during the autumn of 2016 and in the autumn of 2021 during its production of The Love Letters of Ulysses S. Grant. There, by the leave of its inspiring staff Ben Kemp, Pat Porto, and others, we were able to film the heartwarming scenes of Julia Dent Grant reading Ulysses’ love letters back to him during the final day of his life, proving to him that she had treasured his love and his letters from the very beginning to the very end.
Follow the link below to Grant Cottage's website and plan a visit during your next trip to upstate New York!
Patricia Cameron,
Producer, Whimsy Productions, Inc.
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