On the Porch at Grant Cottage

I’m pleased to pass along (with permission) a neat treat shared with me by Ben Kemp, director of operations at Grant Cottage. This family portrait of Ulysses and Julia Grant at the Cottage, surrounded by their kids and grandkids, has become iconic in Grant circles, but historian Nick Sacco of the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site offers us the chance to see it in a new way. Nick has colorized it:

Ben was kind enough to share a comprehensive run-down of the family (from left):

• Ulysses S. “Buck” Grant Jr. (1852-1929) (wife Fannie J. Chaffee and children Miriam, Chaffee, and Julia are not pictured)
• Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1826-1902)
• Ellen Wrenshall “Nellie” Grant Sartoris Jones (1855-1922) (husband Algernon Sartoris and children Algernon, Vivien, and Rosemary are not pictured)
• Julia Dent Grant Cantacuzene (1876-1975), daughter of Frederick & Ida
• (Hiram) Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885);
• Ida Marie Honoré Grant (1854-1930), wife of Frederick Dent Grant
• Frederick Dent Grant (1850-1912)
• Ulysses S. Grant III (1881-1968), son of Frederick & Ida Grant
• Nellie Grant Cronan (1881-1972) daughter of Jesse & Elizabeth Grant
• Elizabeth Chapman Grant (1860-1945), wife of Jesse Root Grant II
• Jesse Root Grant II (1858-1934).

My thanks to Ben and Nick for allowing ECW to share this zing of color with you!

I’m excited for the chance to spend a little time on the porch myself. On Saturday, September 24, I’ll present “The Myth of Grant’s Silence” as the first-ever lecture for the Grant Cottage Literary Landmark Speaker Series. (That event was originally scheduled for this weekend, but then I went and got COVID, so the Cottage was kind enough to reschedule….)

Was Ulysses S. Grant truly the silent man as often described? Find out!