thecivilwarparlor:Ulysses S. Grant on the Porch at Mount MacGregor Four Days Before His DeathThe pho
thecivilwarparlor:Ulysses S. Grant on the Porch at Mount MacGregor Four Days Before His DeathThe photograph, taken in 1885 by John G. Gilman, shows the eighteenth president of the United States four days before his death on July 23, 1885. Bankrupt and suffering from painful throat cancer, Grant turned to writing about the Civil War as a means to provide an income for his family. As he grew weaker, he heroically completed his Memoirs. Grant retreated to the summer cottage of philanthropist Joseph Drexel at Mount MacGregor in the Adirondack Mountains.His friend Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) judged the Memoirs “the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar.” Refreshingly honest, clear, and fluidly written, the book was soon in demand in both the North and South. Sales of 250,000 copies were quickly realized, generating for Julia (by then a widow) $200,000, the largest royalty check that had ever been written.Credit: New-York Historical Society Library -- source link
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