G R A N T B I R T H DA Y C E R E M O N Y T O I N C L U D E R E D E D I C A T I O N O F O V E R L O O K

GRANT Newsletter staff

Editor

Frank Scaturro

Senior Editor

Scott Berman

Text

Frank Scaturro, Scott Berman

GRANT is published by the Grant

Monument Association.

To submit a story idea or letter

to the editor, write to:

GMA Newsletter

P.O. Box 1088

FDR Station

New York, NY 10150-1088

gma@grantstomb.org

Volume XI , Issue 2

Spr ing 2011

I N T H I S I S S U E

G R A N T Overlook Rededication:

Set for April 27 1

U.S. Grant Association:

Update on new endeavors 2

Mark Twain:

Newly released autobiography 2

Farewell:

Ulysses S. Grant V 3

Invitation:

Grant Birthday Ceremonies 3

The Newsle tte r o f the Grant Monument Assoc iat ion

O n April 27, 2011, the annual commemoration of the birth of President Grant will be

accompanied by the rededication of a refurbished overlook pavilion. Originally designed by New York City Parks Department architect Theodore E. Videto in 1909 and completed in 1910, the overlook, located immediately to the west of Grant‟s Tomb on Riverside Drive, was for years a comfort station for visitors. It offered a neoclassical viewing pavilion with public restrooms on the lower

level.

The overlook was not the first restroom facility at the site. There had been a small wooden comfort station for women in the area beforehand, but New York Parks Department officials recognized by 1908 an urgent need to replace it with upgraded and modernized facilities. At the time, Grant‟s Tomb‟s visitation exceeded that of the Statue of

Liberty.

Construction on the overlook began on July 30, 1909, and the building was opened to the public on May 30, 1910. The structure was not completed until June 25 of that year. Although little is known

about its architect, Theodore Videto is known to have designed several comfort stations in New York City between 1909 and 1911, including in Central Park,

Chelsea Park, and Columbus Park.

The Grant‟s Tomb overlook served its intended purpose for decades, but it has not been in use since the 1960‟s. Various proposals to restore the structure had been discussed within the National Park Service

(NPS) for over 20 years. The overlook‟s interior and exterior deterioration was extensive by the time the NPS commenced its recent restoration. The new overlook will contain public restrooms, but it is also

expected to allocate space for some of

the exhibits currently inside the Tomb.

This newsletter previously reported earlier anticipated reopenings for the overlook, including last year, the centennial year of the structure‟s completion. Delays occurred due to budgetary and administrative issues, but with the 2011 Grant birthday approaching, we are able to report a reopening on April 27. As for the birthday commemoration itself (invitation on page 3 of this newsletter), all are invited

to attend.

The refurbished overlook pavilion at night

Mitchell Memorial Library, the Vicksburg National Military Park, and the Shiloh National Military Park, a teachers institute for American history teachers in

Mississippi,” reports Marszalek.

Also on the docket, USGA‟s executive director adds, is “a traveling exhibit on USG and Julia's tour of the world.” Ryan P. Semmes, a Marszalek colleague at both USGA and Mississippi State University, where the Grant papers are housed, reports that planning is underway to take the exhibit, recently on display at the Starkville, Mississippi, Public Library, to various libraries, museums, schools, or historic sites. Locations and dates are still

being planned.

are working on the first scholarly edition of the Grant memoirs,” Marszalek reported. “We are also planning a „Best of Grant‟ volume highlighting what we think are the best USG letters in the previous

volumes.”

Next up: digitizing volume 32 and later the memoirs, he says. These will be added to digital versions of all the Papers volumes currently available at library.msstate.edu/ usgrantassociation. That website itself, incidentally, has received about 57,000 hits in its first year,

according to Marszalek.

In other news, USGA‟s annual meeting is slated for May 6-8 in Galena, Illinois, and will feature Grant authors Josiah Bunting and Joan Waugh. Then, in June, USGA “is co-sponsoring, with the MSU

G R A N T P A G E 2

T he completion of the monumental, 47-year Ulysses S. Grant Papers project—

volume 31, which covered the final phase of Grant‟s life, was published in 2009—is just the beginning of a new active agenda for the Ulysses S.

Grant Association (USGA).

John F. Marszalek, USGA‟s executive director and managing editor, told the Grant newsletter about several new initiatives that will take Grant scholarship and the story of the great American to new audiences in

new venues.

First, USGA has completed a supplemental volume 32 of the papers and plans to publish it this year. This volume will include Grant manuscripts that were not known to the editors at the time the previous chronological volumes were published. Also, “we

N E W I N I T I A T I V E S , N E W V E N U E S F O R USG A

N E W LY R E L E A S E D M A R K T W A I N A U T O B I O G R A P H Y I N C L U D E S G R A N T M A T E R I A L

O ne hundred years after his death in 1910, volume 1 of the unexpurgated version of

The Autobiography of Mark Twain has been released by the University of California Press. Although heavily edited versions of the autobiography have been published in previous years (1924, 1940, and 1959), it was reportedly the author‟s wish that parts of his memoirs be withheld until a century after his death. The editors of this authoritative edition have avoided the omissions of the past and included detailed footnotes to offer context on the author‟s recollections of distant events. Much of the content was dictated by Twain and has a

conversational style.

The autobiography includes substantial material on U.S. Grant, whose memoirs Twain published. Pages 66 through 100 of volume 1 contain six of what became known as the “Grant Dictations.” Composed in May and June 1885, as Grant was dying of throat cancer, these

constituted the “earliest known substantial body of texts that Clemens said were intended for his autobiography,” according to the editors. Although these dictations

previously had been published, they are presented here for the first time in the order of their creation, with substantial

background provided by the editors.

The cover of vol. 1 of Twain’s Autobiography

The bulk of these dictations concern the story of how Twain secured the contract to publish Grant‟s memoirs, but they begin with amusing stories of Twain‟s first encounters with the General and his memorable toast to “The Babies” at the Chicago Grand Army of the Republic Festival of 1879—remarks that brought the house down laughing, starting with Grant himself. Other dictations concern a variety of disparate recollections, including Grant‟s appeal to the Chinese government to save a program for educating Chinese students in the United States; the sculptor Karl Gerhardt, who made a bust of Grant; and Rev. John Philip Newman, who ministered to Grant during his final

illness.

Twain was not pleased with this version of his account of Grant‟s memoirs, so he went on to retell the story in subsequent dictations in 1906 that are expected to appear in

volume 2 of his Autobiography.

Mr. Grant served as a trustee of the GMA since 2005. Those who had an opportunity to meet him recall his kindness. His grandson, Ulysses S. Grant VI, called him “the smartest man I

G R A N T P A G E 3 G R A N T P A G E 3

U lysses S. Grant V, the last surviving great-grandson of President Grant, died on March

2, 2011 in Battlefield, Missouri, at the age of 90. Born on September 21, 1920, Mr. Grant was the son of Major Chapman Grant and Mabel (Ward) Grant. His grandfather, Jesse Root Grant, was the youngest of President

Grant‟s four children.

Mr. Grant served in both World War II and the Korean War, and he later owned an avocado-growing operation in California. He lived much of his life in Escondido before moving to Battlefield during his later years. He also took an avid interest in his family‟s history and housed a number of artifacts from his great-grandfather. One of his historical undertakings was a search (not yet completed) for the original 1843 daguerreotype that is considered the earliest photograph of his famous

ancestor.

ever met.” He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Jean, three children, 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and one

great-great grandchild.

U L Y S S E S S . G R A N T V

YOU ARE INVITED TO CEREMONIES AT GRANT’S TOMB COMMEMORATING THE 189TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT ULYSSES

S. GRANT’S BIRTH

ON SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2011, JOIN THE OLIVER TILDEN CAMP #26, SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR. CEREMONIES BEGIN AT 11:00 A.M. THE KEYNOTE

SPEAKER WILL BE LARRY CLOWERS AS GENERAL GRANT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS WIFE CONNIE, WHO DEPICTS JULIA.

ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011, JOIN THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST

POINT AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. GUEST SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE ALVIN PARKER, A COLLATERAL DESCENDANT OF ELY S. PARKER, GENERAL GRANT’S

ADJUTANT WHO WROTE THE FINAL DRAFT OF THE SURRENDER TERMS AT APPOMATTOX; BRIG.-GEN. TIMOTHY TRAINOR, DEAN OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD AT WEST POINT; GRANT DESCENDANT AND GMA VICE-PRESIDENT ULYSSES GRANT DIETZ; DIANA

LINNEN, WHO WILL PRESENT A PROCLAMATION FROM THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO; AND GMA PRESIDENT FRANK SCATURRO. CEREMONIES BEGIN AT 11:00 A.M. THE

OVERLOOK PAVILION WILL BE REOPENING THAT DAY AS WELL.

GRANT’S TOMB IS AT RIVERSIDE DRIVE AND W. 122 ST. IN NEW YORK CITY. SITE

STAFF CAN BE REACHED AT (212) 666-1640.

Ulysses S. Grant V with his wife, Jean

Grant Monument Association

P.O. Box 1088

FDR Station

New York, NY 10150-1088

G R A N T P A G E 4

T H E G M A T H A N K S T H E N E W Y O R K

C O M M A N D E R Y O F T H E M I L I T A R Y O R D E R O F T H E

L O Y A L L E G I O N ( M O L L U S ) F O R I T S G E N E R O U S

S U P P O R T I N B R I N G I N G T H I S N E W S L E T T E R T O

Y O U . S I N C E 1 8 6 5 , U N I O N O F F I C E R S A N D T H E I R

D E S C E N D A N T S H A V E W O R K E D T H R O U G H

M O L L U S T O P E R P E T U A T E T H E M E M O R Y O F T H E

S T R U G G L E F O R T H E U N I O N .

PRESIDENT Frank J. Scaturro VICE PRESIDENTS Ulysses Grant Dietz Claire Ruestow Telecki SECRETARY Edward S. Hochman TREASURER Howard R. Rosenthal BOARD OF TRUSTEES Wajdi Atallah Scott J. Berman* Nicole Telecki Berry

Rev. Dr. Robert G. Carroon George Chall Grant C. de MaCarty* Julia Grant Dietz*

Ulysses Grant Dietz* Victoria England Hon. Nicholas Fish John Grant Griffiths

James A. Grismer Edward Happle* Edward S. Hochman* Marie E. Kelsey*

Clarence D. (Hugh) Long, III Diane E. Meives* Donna Neralich* Jessamine Price

Richard R. Prouty Stephen Repp Donald Martin Reynolds

M. Garland Reynolds* Howard R. Rosenthal*

Frank J. Scaturro Claire Ruestow Telecki* Hon. Frank J. Williams Vic Williams J. Sheppard Yudkoff*

HONORARY TRUSTEES Kenneth L. Burns

John S.D. Eisenhower Hon. Henry A. Kissinger James M. McPherson Hon. Jerrold Nadler Hon. Colin L. Powell Jan Scruggs

* Executive Committee Members

N E W S L E T T E R S TA F F N E E D E D

T h e G M A c a n u s e s o m e e x t r a h e l p p r e p a r i n g t h e d e s i g n a n d l a y o u t o f t h i s n e w s l e t t e r . I f y o u a r e p r o f i c i e n t w i t h M S P u b l i s h e r o r s i m i l a r p u b l i s h i n g s o f t w a r e a n d t h i n k y o u c a n a s s i s t , p l e a s e c o n t a c t u s a t g m a @ g r a n t s t o m b . o r g . A s a l w a y s , w e a l s o w e l c o m e t h o s e w h o a r e a v a i l a b l e t o w r i t e a r t i c l e s .

IN MEMORIAM:

Ulysses S. Grant V

1920-2011