Midwestern Presidential Pathway: Ulysses S. Grant Home

I'm a bit late starting this series, but the constant Rod Blagojevich outrages have kept me busy. But today is as good of a day as any to start my Midwestern Presidential Pathway series.

First stop is the Ulysses S. Grant home in Galena, Illinois.

I've done several travel series, but this one I'm going to break a rule I've set up for myself. Keep politics out of them. But I can't write about the Grant home without bringing in our impeached governor.

Earlier this month Little Marathon Pundit and I hopped in my car, and drove northwest from Morton Grove to the the upper-left hand corner of Illinois.

Grant was the second president who called Illinois home. The third was of course was Barack Obama. First one? C'mon...we all know who that was.

The future Civil War general and president moved from Missouri to Galena in 1860 after his farm failed. He was a clerk at a leather goods store owned by his brother but run by his younger brothers. He was anything but a success. Grant hadn't lived in Illinois long enough to vote in the 1860 election, although in his brilliantly written memoirs,
the nation's second Republican president wrote that he favored Illinois Democrat Stephen A. Douglas that year. Lincoln was his second choice.

Grant and his family lived in a modest brick home when he joined the Illinois militia when the first call for volunteers went out. Although viewed as an outsider, the West Point graduate was chosen as the colonel of a central Illinois regiment.

After leading the Union forces victory, a group of Galena citizens purchased the Italianate mansion that had been built the same year the clerk-turned-hero arrived in the town.

Grant lived in the home until 1869, when he moved into the White House; he was just 46 years old, one year younger than Obama. Grant owned the home for the rest of his life, although he visited infrequently after his presidency ended.

We visited the home on a Saturday. It's a good thing we didn't decide to drop by on a Monday or Tuesday. That's because the Grant home is closed on those days. It's a fairly recent phenomenon. On the day Obama gave his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, America's worst governor sneaked back to Chicago and slashed the hours at many state parks and historical sites, and closed some as well.

There isn't much opportunity for graft with history, so Blago isn't interested in it. Historians won't be kind to our crooked governor, they'll have the last laugh.

This spring the Grant home, along with several Lincoln-related sites will go back to a seven-day-a-week schedule thanks to funding from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. But that may only be a temporary fix. However, Blagojevich's successor, Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn, is a strong supporter of Illinois' state parks and historical sites.

The home isn't as large as it looks in the picture, a guided-tour takes about twenty minutes. On the upper right is the bed room of Frederick Dent Grant. Although just 11 years old when the Civil War started, Fred accompanied his father on most of his military campaigns. Which is pretty amazing, since one of the distinguishing characteristics of the War Between The States was the high casualty rate of generals. Those around them were certainly in some amount of peril. Fred not only survived the conflict, but went to West Point himself, became a general, and succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as New York City's police commissioner in 1897.

The home was decorated for the Christmas season, which was probably a holiday Grant's wife Julia enjoyed. She was fond of entertaining and her parties were well-received by Washingtonians during her husband's presidency.

Grant signed the legislation that made Christmas a federal holiday.

There is a stunning view from backyard of the home, which is situated on a bluff overlooking downtown Galena. But there is a blemish in that yard, which is the subject of my next post, entitled "Mrs. Butterworth."

Related posts:

Ulysses S. Grant invades Mississippi

Stephen A. Douglas Tomb in Chicago

Thirty hours in Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois

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