{"id":14098,"date":"2020-04-21T19:09:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T23:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=14098"},"modified":"2020-06-19T15:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T19:35:00","slug":"no-ordinary-log-cabin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2020\/04\/no-ordinary-log-cabin\/","title":{"rendered":"No Ordinary Log Cabin"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 1864, philanthropist, abolitionist, and Presbyterian educator George H. Stuart<\/a> made an offer to Ulysses S. Grant. \u201cI incidentally asked him if there was anything I could do for him in Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo thank you,\u201d quickly responded General Grant, who was occupied fighting the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Then the General paused. \u201cBut on second thought, he said: \u2018Yes, perhaps you can help me.\u2019\u201d Grant\u2019s wife Julia, then in Burlington, New Jersey, had been \u201canxious to move to Philadelphia\u201d had been \u201cdeterred by the high rates that are asked for houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could Stuart possibly help \u201cget a furnished house ready for Mrs. Grant?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Chestnut Street home in Philadelphia given outright as a gift to the Grants. (railsplitter.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The well-connected Stuart immediately reached out to monied friends and associates, including A.J. Drexel, George W. Childs, and Jay Cooke, and \u201cfound no difficulty raising the money\u201d \u2013 $40,000 in all \u2013 the equivalent of more than $633,000 in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n

Stuart and a few of his top donors wrote Grant a letter dated January 2, 1865 confirming their plan to buy a house: \u201cIt affords us great pleasure to present to yourself and family a house furnished and ready in our \u2018city of homes.\u2019 As citizens of Philadelphia, feeling that it would be a high honor to have you a fellow-townsman, we present it as a token of the welcome which our entire city extends to your family while you are still fighting the battles of the nation and which we will most heartily extend to yourself when the war shall be over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensconced in his sparse cabin at City Point, Virginia, Grant responded immediately: \u201cIt is with gratitude and pride that I accept this substantial testimonial of the esteem of your loyal citizens. \u2026 I will not predict a day when we will have peace again, with a Union restored, but that that day will come is as sure as the rising of to-morrow\u2019s sun. I have never doubted this in the darkest days of this dark and terrible rebellion. Until this happy day of peace does come my family will occupy and enjoy your magnificent present. But until then I do not expect nor desire to see much of the enjoyment of a home fireside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Grant got back to the business of war.<\/p>\n

Three days after Lee\u2019s surrender at Appomattox, on April 12th, the group purchased the four-story brick townhouse at 2009 Chestnut Street, furnished it, stocked its dining room with \u201cfine silver,\u201d filled its closets with \u201csnowy linen\u201d and its larders with supplies. When Ulysses and Julia Grant arrived in the city on May 3rd, they had no idea the house was a fait accompli<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Stuart\u2019s committee had arranged for \u201ca handsome luncheon\u201d welcoming the Grants at the house \u201cthe purchase of which had been kept as a profound secret from him and his family.\u201d With another of his co-conspirators, Stuart went down to the Walnut Street wharf \u201cto meet and escort General Grant and his family to their future residence. After reaching the house, where they were introduced to the ladies assembled,\u201d related Stuart, \u201cI suggested to Mrs. Grant that she go upstairs and take off her bonnet, which she thought was unnecessary, as they were only going to stay for lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen all were assembled in the parlor,\u201d Stuart continued, \u201cI opened a silver case, which had been presented by J. E. Caldwell & Co., and which contained the handsomest engrossed deed that I had ever seen\u2026 Standing with my back to the fireplace opposite to General Grant as he sat upon the sofa, I said to him, \u2018 Permit me, General Grant, to present you with a deed for this house and lot, from a few of your Philadelphia friends and admirers, with their best wishes that you and your dear family may live long to enjoy this your new home…”<\/p>\n

The stunned General \u201carose seeming quite overcome with the gift, and, thanking us with tears in his eyes\u2026 Soon after, we repaired to the large dining-room, where a bountiful repast had been spread with all the delicacies of the season\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be gratifying for our citizens to know that Lieutenant General Grant will hereafter be a permanent resident of Philadelphia,\u201d declared the Inquirer <\/em>the following day. \u201cHe will vote at our elections, associate with our citizens, will doubtless take an interest in our municipal concerns, and in every sense of the word, will be a citizen of the city of Philadelphia.\u201d And then the newspaper offered good wishes: \u201cMay the General\u2019s future life in this city be as happy and peaceful as the past four years of his career have been stormy and tempestuous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next morning, Stuart pulled up to the house in Chestnut Street in an open buggy to introduce the General to his new city. He introduced Grant to Independence Hall, where a crowd gathered, and Fairmount Park, where, as president eleven years later, Grant would ceremoniously open the Centennial Exposition. On this ride, Grant doubtless contemplated ways to thank the city for its generosity.<\/p>\n

By mid-July, 1865, Grant had arranged a gift. \u201cIn return for the house which I was instrumental in presenting to him,\u201d Stuart later wrote, \u201cGeneral Grant presented \u2026 the log cabin in which he had spent the last months of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was no ordinary log cabin, according to Adam Badeau of Grant\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Grant’s Cabin. Lemon Hill Drive and Sedgley Drive, East Fairmount Park, February 21, 1950 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe last four months of the rebellion . . . were passed by [Grant] within its walls. Here he received the reports of his great subordinates almost daily, and sent them each their orders and their rewards. Here he watched Sherman’s route as he came across the continent to the sea. . . Here he received the President, Gen. Sherman, Gen. Sheridan, Gen. Meade, and Admiral Porter. . . Here the last orders for all these generals were penned before the commencement of the great campaign which terminated the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where would Philadelphia install such a venerable souvenir? Possibly \u201cone of the public squares of Philadelphia,\u201d suggest one report. \u201cFairmount Park or Rittenhouse Square will be selected,\u201d said another. Stuart \u201cchartered a vessel to bring the cabin to Philadelphia\u201d and by early August, a crew had re-assembled it on a bluff near Lemon Hill, overlooking the Schuylkill \u201cexactly as it stood on the banks of the James River.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have in our midst,\u201d reported the Inquirer<\/em> of August 4th, \u201c\u2026no less a relic of General Grant than the . . . log cabin erected expressly for his head-quarters at City Point, Va. . . . This cabin will, as long as it can be kept together, be an object of great historical interest to Americans, and every visitor to the city will be desirous of viewing it.\u201d Grant\u2019s cabin immediately attracted \u201chosts of visitors.\u201d Photographers seized the moment. Peregrine F. Cooper offered souvenir photographs individually and \u201c$60 per thousand.\u201d Cooper wasn\u2019t the only photographer to visit Grant\u2019s Cabin, which quickly became a staple of Philadelphia tourism.<\/p>\n

Today, more than a century-and-a-half later, the bluff<\/a> in Fairmount Park stands overgrown and empty. And 2009 Chestnut<\/a> is an anonymous commercial space.<\/p>\n

[Sources: The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, \u201cGeneral Grant And Family Take Up Their Residence in Philadelphia,\u201d May 4, 1865; \u201cPresentation of a Log Cabin,\u201d July 13, 1865; \u201cFrom Fortress Monroe,\u201d July 13, 1865; \u201cArrival of General Grant\u2019s Log Cabin,\u201d July 15, 1865; \u201cRelic of the War – General Grant\u2019s Log Cabin,\u201d August 4, 1865;  \u201cGen Grant\u2019s Log Cabin,\u201d August 8, 1865; [Advertisement] \u201cA Fine Photographic View of General Grant\u2019s Log Cabin at Fairmount Park, August 19, 1865; \u201cGeneral Grant\u2019s City House,\u201d December 16, 1879; George H. Stuart, The Life of George H. Stuart, Written by Himself<\/a><\/em> (Philadelphia, J. M. Stoddard and co. 1890).]<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time: What became of Grant\u2019s Cabin and his city house.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December 1864, philanthropist, abolitionist, and Presbyterian educator George H. Stuart made an offer to Ulysses S. Grant. \u201cI incidentally asked him if there was anything I could do for him in Philadelphia.\u201d \u201cNo thank you,\u201d quickly responded General Grant, who was occupied fighting the Civil War. Then the General paused. \u201cBut on second thought, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}