Grant's Tomb, circa 1909

Grant's tomb 2004

Grant's Tomb is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), an American Civil War General and the 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant (1826-1902). The tomb complex is now officially known as the General Grant National Memorial and is located in Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York, New York, near the intersection of Riverside Drive and 122nd Street. Grants Tomb (photo c. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1704x2272, 963 KB) Grants Tomb, Morningside Heights, New York City. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1704x2272, 963 KB) Grants Tomb, Morningside Heights, New York City. ... A mausoleum is a large and impressive tomb, usually constructed for a deceased leader. ... Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877). ... 1822 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought in North America within the United States of America, between twenty-four mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the... The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... Julia Grant Julia Dent Grant (January 26, 1826 - December 14, 1902), wife of Ulysses S. Grant, was First Lady of the United States. ... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, consisting of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently curving rise-and-fall of Riverside Drive. ... Manhattan Borough,highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in New York City. ...

Designed by architect John Duncan, the granite and marble structure was completed in 1897 and at the time was the largest mausoleum in North America. Duncan took as his general model the original mausoleum, the tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the world. A huge public subscription paid for it. Over a million people had attended Grant's funeral parade, held in 1885 and which was seven miles (11 km) long and featured Confederate and Union generals riding together in open victorias, U.S. President Grover Cleveland, his cabinet, all the Justices of the Supreme Court, and virtually the entire Congress. The parade for the dedication ceremony of the tomb, held April 27, 1897, the 75th anniversary of Grant's birth, was almost as large and was headed by President William McKinley. For the Canadian politician, see John Duncan (Canadian politician). ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A mausoleum is a large and impressive tomb, usually constructed for a deceased leader. ... The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, depicted in this hand-coloured engraving from a series issued in 1572 by Martin Heemskerck (1498-1574), who based his reconstruction on descriptions. ... The Seven Wonders of the World (or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) is a widely-known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity. ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837–June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th (1893–1897) President of the United States, and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The name Mckinley redirects here. ...

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) wrote: Walt Whitman Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist born on Long Island, New York. ...

"As one by one withdraw the lofty actors

From that great play on history's stage eterne

That lurid, partial act of War and peace—of old and new contending,

Fought out through wrath, fears, dark dismays, and many a long suspense;

All past—and since, in countless graves receding, mellowing,

Victors and vanquish'd—Lincoln's and Lee's—now thou with them,

Man of the mighty days—and equal to the days!

Thou from the prairies!—tangled and many-vein'd and hard has been thy part,

To admiration has it been enacted!"

Duncan's over-ambitious original design, chosen by the Grant Monument Association, included monumental staircases leading down through terraced gardens to a dock on the river, bridging the Hudson Line railroad tracks and providing public access to the shoreline, was scaled back, and the monument itself was reduced in size. The domed space, with commemorative mosaic murals and sculpture, and a large central oculus revealing on the lower level the twin porphyry catafalques of the General's and Mrs Grant's, are quite spectacular examples of purely symbolic Beaux-Arts civic triumphalism. The conception may have been drawn from the catafalque of Napoleon at Les Invalides. Over the entrance are carved words from Grant's 1885 memoirs: "Let us have peace." ... The church at the Invalides, with its dome Les Invalides in Paris, France consists of a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement containing museums and monuments, all relating to Frances military history, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the buildings original... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In the late 20th century, the tomb was allowed to decline to a state of severe disrepair, and was considered by many to be an eyesore and a desecration. In the 1990s, after a paper by a Columbia University student was released to the news media and Grant's descendants threatened to remove the remains and have them buried elsewhere, the National Park Service was embarrassed into spending $1.8 million to restore the memorial and to provide for upkeep. When the work was complete, a re-dedication was held on the dedication's centennial, April 27, 1997. Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A riddle relating to Grant's Tomb, popularized by Groucho Marx on his game show You Bet Your Life, is "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" Though the proper answer is "nobody"—Grant and his wife are entombed, not buried—Groucho would usually accept "Grant". Groucho would ask this question to contestants to ensure that they won something on his show; a similar question was, "How many bullets are there in a six-shooter?" Groucho Marx poses for an NBC promotional photograph Julius Henry Marx, known as Groucho Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977), was an American comedian, working both with his siblings, the Marx Brothers, and on his own. ... You Bet Your Life was an American radio and television quiz show. ...

External links

• General Grant National Memorial
• Grant's Tomb Association
• Grant's funeral and the mausoleum
• More detail, on the occasion of the centennial re-dedication