We are on Mount Mcgregor in upstate new york, a few miles north of Saratoga Springs. The significance of this Historic Site is this was the final home of civil war general and president ulysses s grant. This was the place where Ulysses Grant wrote his memoirs in 1885. He was dying of throat cancer. His family was facing serious financial problems. At this point in his life he was a man trying to take care of his family. We get to tell a story here that most people do not know about. After his second term as president , ulysses s. Grant and his wife julia went on a world tour for two years from 18771879. He met many world leaders, he was well respected around the world. When they arrived back in the states in 1879 they were looking for a place to settle because they had come out of the white house two years earlier. For grant it was always a easy decision, even though they owned multiple properties in the united states, the decision for grants, because he was always a devoted family man was to be close to family. He chose the location where his adult sons were living, new york city. The grants moved into a home in the Upper East Side of manhattan. Their children lived nearby. They enjoyed a few years, you could say, out of the limelight. They enjoyed the winter in new york city with family and summers with the entire family at their new jersey cottage. When grant arrived back from his tour he was in need of a income. That was a head scratcher for most people because he was a general and a president , and people wonder why he did not have a pension. It turns out he had given up his military pension to take the presidency. At the end of his presidency there was no pension. He spent a lot of money on a world tour. His son, ulysses junior, buck, he was born in ohio, buck had gotten involved in wall street. He got his father involved and they formed a firm with a man named Ferdinand Ward. They named the firm grant and ward. Investments went well for a while. The early 1880s were a comfortable time. Money was coming in. Everything started to collapse in the final year of grants life. He had a slip and fall on the icy sidewalk in new york city. That put him bedridden for a few weeks. Early in 1884, the spring, he arrived at the office of grant and ward and found out there was a major financial crisis. He had to get a loan from his friend William Vanderbilt for 150,000 to try to keep the firm afloat. He brought the money to their business partner, Ferdinand Ward who had been doing the books the entire time. He thought maybe this would help the firm survive. In fact he found out soon afterwards that ward was actually a crook. He had been running essentially a ponzi scheme the entire time. The grants it hit the grant family like a bombshell. They were financially devastated because they had invested heavily in the firm, the whole family had. Now they had to find a way to make money. Grant felt personally responsible. He had encouraged his family and others to invest in the firm. Even though he was a victim, he felt personally responsible and wanted to pay back his debt. The grants were in a difficult situation financially because of the financial scandal. They packed up and moved out to new jersey for the summer of 1884 to essentially figure out what they were going to do for the future. To rebuild their lives, financially. Grant was approached by century magazine at this time, a big Magazine Company to write some articles. Been pestered to be an author for many years and had always resisted. Other people had written about him, he did not think he would be much of an author, he was a very modest man. Most of all come he did not need the money. They knew he was in a corner because he needed the money. They offered him 500 per article, enough to keep the family afloat to pay the basic bills. Grant got started writing articles about the civil war in the summer of 1884 at the new jersey cottage. That is when his writing career began. That was a way to bring in some money, but there was going to have to be a larger work of literature to be able to bring his family out of the debt they were in. Grant started his writing career kind of shaky. His first article was seen as more of a dry military report. The editor went so far as to remark essentially it might be be second disaster of shiloh. It was on the battle of shiloh and this may be the second disaster of shiloh. It was a poorly written article. Interestingly enough this editor came to visit grant in new jersey and talked to him freely. He said, would you tell me a little bit about the civil war. Grant started talking and telling him stories and anecdotes of the civil war, and he told grant that was the material people want to read. Grant came into his own as an author in the summer of 1884. By the end of the summer he started to have an idea that maybe this writing career could produce more money for the family. Around the same time, century magazine was ready to make a push to get him to write a larger book that could be sold. Century magazine told him they would publish it. He ended up starting to work on it as they went back to the new york city home for the winter of 18841885. As grant was working on the writing his articles during the summer of 1884, he ended up starting to have this throat pain. It started with a very bad sting in a very bad the back of his throat that he felt as he was eating a peach. He kind of shrugged it off as maybe being a wasp or something on the fruit when he ate it. It persisted, he ignored it because his regular doctor was away in europe and he wanted to see his regular doctor. He kind of just ignored it and said he would see his doctor in the fall, essentially. They did not think much of it at the time. He had been a smoker since the civil war, of cigars. Maybe it was just smokers throat, that is what they called it. He continued working on his writing career until the fall of 1884, when he finally went to the doctor, when they moved back to new york city. He ended up going to his regular doctor who knew it was a serious problem as soon as he looked at the throat. He sent him to a specialist, dr. John douglas. He went into dr. Douglass office, dr. Douglas took a look at his throat, and grant looked at his face and said, is it cancer . Unfortunately the doctor had to tell him it was. Grant worked on these memoirs his memoirs throughout the winter of 18841885 and towards the spring of 1885 it was really touch and go. He had a couple of neardeath experiences. His doctors believed the only way he would survive long enough to finish his book was to get him out of the city, which was humid and dusty and hot, to a mountaintop environment. That is what they did with a lot of ailing people during that time. They were looking for opportunities. A friend of the family, Joseph Drexel approached the doctors in the grant family to offer them the use of his cottage that he a just purchased on the top of Mount Mcgregor, above Saratoga Springs. The cottage that mr. Drexel offered to the grants was modest in size, but did have six rooms upstairs and a few downstairs. It had been originally a small inn built by the first owner of the mountain, duncan mcgregor. It was moved to accommodate the expansion of the resort in the early 1880s. The resort was expanded to the point where there was a 100 room balmoral thethe cottage. The whole property was turned into a victorian wilderness resort, you could call it. Mountaintop wilderness resort with wonderful overlooks and pathways. Wonderful air. There was one advertisement for the hotel that said if we do not cure your hayfever your stay is free. Mountain air was seen as curative. When grant and his party left new york city on the morning of june 16, 1885, grant was in very poor condition. The day he arrived it was incredibly hot on his trip and very difficult. Although once he got off of the train, and came up to the cottage he immediately got changed, came back out on the porch and the mountain air and the cool air of the mountain seemed to revive him. It seemed to have a good effect right away. Most importantly he was able to be with his entire family at the cottage. We will head into his bedroom. This is where grant would have come in from the outdoors. One thing you will notice that is missing here is a bed. Normally there is a bed in the bedroom. Unfortunately, because of grants condition,his throat he had to sleep sitting up in these chairs. He would have his feet on one side, and sit up on the other. This is where he would work on the memoirs in the heat or bugs chased him in. This is where his nurses or doctors, he had three doctors on call and two nurses, would administer any medicine or try to give him some nourishment. It was very hard for him to eat with his throat condition. Most of these items you see are the original. They were provided for the grant family by mr. Drexel. These two chairs that i just mentioned, these actually did come up from new york city with the grants. In fact grant rode in these on the train. Because mr. Drexel left this to become a memorial, grants son fred actually left his fathers personal belongings here. We have very personal items that show that grant was here and he was at home and he went through some tough times. We have his food bowl and the spitoon. We have hairbrushes, toothbrushes, stockings. His clothing, the beaver hats he is wearing in the photograph. We have the food mashing equipment used to process his food so he could try to take nourishment. It was very difficult. What is a really interesting item we have is grants original medicine. It is still here. The bottle with the original liquid. Most people guess that what they were using for medication was Something Like morphine or a heavy sedative. The only problem was that grant could not take medicine like that. It was too powerful and he would not be able to concentrate on working on his book. The doctors settled on a fairly new substance at the time, a little controversial. It was cocaine. What you see in the bottle is actually cocaine. They would stir it up and apply it topically on his throat to give him some pain relief. That way he could concentrate on finishing his book for the sake of his family. When grant arrived, you can imagine this man was internationally famous. The train car behind his familys train car was the press corps. When they found out grant was dying in march of 1885, they kept a 24hour vigil. They followed him up to the mountain and camped out across from the cottage. They would run up to the hotel and send telegraph wires to new york city. They also opened the Hotel Balmoral early that year. It normally do not open until july 1, they opened it when the grant family arrived. There was a lot of activity. People knew grant was here, he was in the papers everyday. He was a spectacle, you could say. Before secret service, the only person that volunteered was a Civil War Veteran, about the same age as grant, sam willis. He was a local Civil War Veteran in his early 60s. He volunteered and they put a tent behind the cottage up for him. He ended up being grants bodyguard. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, near where grant sat on the porch. He would tell people to move along. He would guarantee grants privacy. Grant made sams job difficult because grant was such a friendly man that the folks passing the cottage, he would tip his hat and wave and was friendly. That was one thing about grant, he was an unassuming man. You could sit next to him and not know he was famous. No matter how much money or fame he had, it did not change him. He was a simple man, very approachable. Sam actually got frustrated. He told grants oldest son, he said to fred, could you tell your father to be less friendly, he is making my job difficult. Sam went to fred and fred went to his father and told him the situation. I think what grant said next really shows his true character, he said, i dont want to be exclusive, let them come. In the fall of 1884, there was a bit of buzz in the Literary Community about grant writing a book. One of the people that was interested in publishing the book, other than century magazine, that had already made a offer, was samuel clemens, better known by mark twain. He had started his own Publishing Firm. He self published Huckleberry Finn that year, 1884. He shows up at the grant household. He had been a casual friend of general grant since recent civil war, he showed up in new 1884,ity in the fall of as grant with starting the memoirs. He asked the general, could i look at your contract . He looked at the contract and said later on, he said, i did not know whether to laugh or cry , it was the worst contract i had ever seen. It was only offering 10 of the profits. He said, that is inappropriate for a man of your stature. He said, i have a Publishing Firm, i can offer you 70 . It was an incredibly generous offer, especially for a man that was known to be held. They did not know he was dying, but they knew he was ill. Grant was reluctant at first, he was an honorable man, he said century magazine came to me first. That is when mark twain pulled and ace out of his pocket and said, general, if you remember in conversation a few years ago i asked if you could write your memoirs then. Grant eventually went with twains offer which was impossible to refuse. Mark twain had his nephew in law running his Publishing Firm called Charles Webster, that was the name. It was called Charles Webster in Charles Webster and company. He and Charles Webster came up with a plan to sell the memoirs doortodoor. Instead of selling them in bookstores. They would arrive and take preorders from folks doortodoor. One of the things that mark twain wanted to do was provide an opportunity for Civil War Veterans to be salesman. He would request veterans to don their uniforms to go doortodoor. Grant himself was a focus of his time. He was a celebrity. Having him writing the book was good for sales, but obviously having a veteran come to the door as well helped sell the books. It was doortodoor sales. There were thousands of sales all across the country. It gave them away to make money for themselves and support their old commander in his final hours. Twain came to the cottage a few weeks before grant passed away. Twain was checking on the progress of the book. The most important thing was to find out how well it was selling. He knew time was short and wanted to find out if it was a success. That was when mark twain was able to tell him, probably, i that was when mark twain was , i havetell him proudly presold 100,000 copies, and i have not canvassed two thirds of going tory. So brandnew at leat his grave that he had taken care of his family and succeeded so grant knew at least going to his grave that he had taken care of his family and succeeded. By the time he reached the cottage, mark twain believed that the second volume of his book, of his memoirs was complete. Grant was a perfectionist, he still had writing in him. As long as he was alive he would keep writing. He wrote at least another chapter. It was a struggle right to the very end, but he kept on it. He wanted the book to be as good as possible. No matter what his physical condition, he tried to work on the memoirs. Some days he could not get out of bed, physically. Other days he would write 40 pages. To give you an idea of this scope the memoirs would eventually be 1200 pages, 300,000 words. This is a major project for someone who would have been an expert writer, but to have somebody that is struggling with cancer, this was an incredibly heroic effort for the sake of his family. Grant worked up until the last few days before he passed away. He had finished his book. He asked to be taken down to the overlook, eastern overlook for one last view of the valley. By the time they arrived back to the cottage here grant was in very poor condition. They knew he did not have long to live. His son fred said to his father, would you like to lie down . He had been sleeping in chairs for months. They brought a bed from the nearby hotel and placed it here in the corner. Grant was surrounded by his loving family here on the evening of july 22, 1885. He saw that their faces were anxious. He whispered to his doctors, i do not wish anyone to be alarmed on my account. His final wishes were that his family be comfortable. They went up to bed, they came back down the next morning at just before 8 00 to surround him as he passed away peacefully on this bed on july 23, 1885. 132 years ago. His son fred walked to the mantel clock and stopped it at 8 08 in the morning to mark the time his father passed. It has not been touched since. It is a symbol of the time capsule that this place has been kept all of these years. Other than leaving a legacy for the country, the history of his life and civil war, he left his family an amazing legacy financially. The memoirs went on to sell over 300,000 copies and bring in almost 450,000 for the grant family. In todays money that would be between 10 million and 11 million. It was enough to get out of debt and live comfortably the rest of their lives. He really did succeed in his final battle here at the cottage. His final devotion for his family. Almost immediately after his passing, the owner of the cottage, mr. Drexel, decided this place would be left as a memorial to u. S. Grant. Things were left just the way they were when the grant family left. It has been kept that way for the last 132 years. That is why i think this cottage is so important to keep the way it is and to maintain. It is such a compelling story. It really gives you that wonderful insight into a relatively misunderstood figure in American History, ulysses s. Grant. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to Saratoga Springs new york to learn about its rich history. Lorne learn more about Saratoga Springs and other stops on our tour at cspan. Org cities tour. You are watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Next on American History tv, university of minnesota professor saje mathieu discusses how world war i impacted afri