U.S. Grant’s Birthplace (Happy Birthday, Gen. Grant!)

Maybe he’s lonely, and that’s why it looks like he’s crying. The green patina on the bronze plaque has streaked with age and rain, creating what looks like tears on Ulysses S. Grant’s right cheek. I’ve known Grant to cry only once—documented by one of his staff members on the evening of May 5, 1864, after the first day of the battle of the Wilderness—but here, at his birthplace, it looks like he’s perpetually in tears. The expression on his face, perhaps meant to show grim resolve in battle, has been downcast by the shape of his mustache into a frown, adding to the sad effect.

The bronze bas relief is set in the bridge abutment of the northbound lane of Grant Memorial Bridge, one of several features that comprise the Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace State Memorial in Point Pleasant, Ohio, situated along the Ohio River about 40 minutes south of Cincinnati. In the southbound lane, another plaque offers the briefest-possible three-paragraph biography of Grant’s life:

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born on April 27, 1822. He was the victorious commander of the Union forces in the finals stages of the war of the rebellion and President of the United States March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877.

He died at Mt. McGregor, NY, July 23, 1885. His parting message to his fellow countrymen that he served so faithfully was “LET US HAVE PEACE.” 

He lies buried in a sepulchre of rare magnificence on Riverside Drive, New York City. 

Aside from the bridge, there’s a small Grant Memorial Park on the east bank of the river and, across the street, the house where he was born in 1822. Built in 1817, the one-room house cost Jesse and Hannah Grant $2 a month to live there when they moved in in 1821. Today, the Ohio Historical Society operates the site seasonally.

The house is closed on the day of my visit, a week and a half shy of Grant’s birthday. It’s the sort of spring day that might feel fresh, with just-reddening buds adding highlights of color to the brown branches of the trees, but the clouds, like smoked-gray cotton, stuff the sky above to keep out the required sunlight that would make it cheerful. The grass, already deep green and shaggy, awaits its first cut. The house’s whitewash needs the winter crud washed off.

Grant was born here on this date, April 27, in 1822. As an infant in this home, as Mark Twain once mused, Grant concentrated “his whole strategic mind at . . . trying to find out some way to get his big toe into his mouth.” Thinking about the house in such ways helps humanize it on this empty day. Inside, items that once belonged to the Grants populate the house and help tell the family’s story—something I’d like to someday come back and hear.

Despite the day’s overcast and the closed building, I’m glad I’ve made the trek down here to visit. I’m glad to have paid my respects, but more importantly, I’m glad for the reminder of just how humble Grant’s origins were. The man who would one day save the country in the Civil War, who would serve two terms as president, and who would become the most famous American in the world came from the absolute humblest of beginnings in a tiny speck along the Ohio River.

Who would guess this little white clapboard house would portend a different white house some fifty years later?



13 Responses to U.S. Grant’s Birthplace (Happy Birthday, Gen. Grant!)

  1. I have the privilege of living within easy commuting distance of the house where Grant ended his life — Grant’s Cottage in Wilton, NY. It is preserved exactly as it was on the day Grant’s life ended, including the flowers. A support group has an active set of Grant related programs throughout the year.

    It was nice to read about and see the place the general’s great adventure began. Thanks for the post.

    1. Thanks, John. It’s worth a visit, particularly when coupled with a trip to Grant’s Boyhood Home in nearby Georgetown. (I’ll have a post on that part of my trip in a few days!)

  2. Rosemary, I too live near Grant Cottage. I have the privilege of being a voluntary tour guide and am a member of that support group, Friends of Grant Cottage. I consider it an honor to be a member of that group and a tour guide.

  3. Thanks for a great post, Chris. Wanted to say as well, how much I enjoyed your talk on Mine Run in Louisville a couple of weeks ago. It was great getting to meet you.

    1. It was nice to meet you, too. I’m glad you enjoyed the talk. Mine Run is a fascinating topic to me.

      Glad you enjoyed the post!

  4. I to have visited this site and it is worth the trip back to go in side. I guess we all have our stories on the site being closed .
    Buffalo C.W.R.T. STILL THANKS ME FOR INTRODUCING YOU TO THEM AS YOU HAVE BECOME THEIR FAVORITE SPEAKER SEE YOU THEIR IN SEPT I THINK

  5. Chris:

    I hope you’ll also visit the village of Georgetown, OH, about 10 miles inland from Point Pleasant. Grant’s parents moved there not too long after their eldest son was born. Young Ulys lived there until he left for West Point. Georgetown has regular tours of several restored buildings connected to Grant, including his one-room school and the family’s home. The village celebrates his life with an annual Grant festival.

  6. Chris,

    I passed on your Happy Birthday wish to Grant to those on my Grant List. Got some nice feedback.

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