Includes 15 minutes for questions and answers. Please submit your questions in the question and answer function at any time during the top. We will do to respond to as many as possible for the final part of the program. Now, modern meter Major Generals. Some of our viewers have commented on our approach to the civil war in 50 objects. While the multi layered social and political history takes in the totality of the context of the war, it doesnt really consider the militarys history or the sequence. When you think about that . It is a fair enough comment, of course. The objects that we are discussing are all in some way related to new york history, so it relates to the soldiers who served, the leaders who helped or hindered the war effort. The relics they brought back from battle. Along the way, over the last seven weeks, we touched on battles, those who experienced, certainly the battle of new york city. Early on we dealt with a inaudible lot a lot indeed. We are doing okay. That is a fair comment. I agree. Tonights Program Features to objects. The ulysses grand portrait and a coin by Benjamin Franklin who designed this. First up, the land in portrait of grant. Its 1864. Ulysses grant arrives in washington to receive his promotion from Lieutenant General. This is the first of George Washington to achieve that. He raises eyebrows when he tries to register at the hotel. Why . He gets to the Willard Hotel and he had been to washington quite seldom. He asks for room. He is with his little boy, by the way. The desk clerk gives that desk clerk kind of look. If there are any movie busts out there, and says we have no room. And they say well we have a room up in the attic. He says he will take it. He takes the letter from those days. You signed a book. He wrote u. S. Grant and son. He turned it around and the desk clerk looked at it and if everything popped out of the size. He said mr. Grant, we have a wonderful suite for you. I believe they gave him a sweet that lincoln state and overlooking 14th street. Suddenly, he was treated like royalty, but it goes to show you what a simple he suite had and ostentatiously he presented himself on the eve of the moment when hes going to be come ranked alongside washington in the military. Truly. He was scruffy and unkempt. He was so averse to pretension, that this is in many ways, you set a foundation evan or is this double public image. How so . He had been a preceded and command by general wind field was quite with swords. He was 70 years old. He has a feathered try calm hat. Then by George Mcclelland who is called a little napoleon because he also had a favorite ornate by contrast trust in a field uniform. He chomped down cigars. Once the country found out after he became famous that he like cigars, he was bombarded with cigars. This became his cachet, kind of a reversed lori and he didnt care about himself. He was unpretentious about himself. His unpretentiousness, we should add, helped him live down to negative. To crippling negatives. One were rumors about his excessive drinking, which were true to a degree. He did binge drink and he was a bad drinker. He was a bad drunk. When he was unoccupied he drank. He had a camp that watched out for his not getting hold of the bottle. He was also at this point in washington, living down and active overt, active antisemitism that any military commander had had promulgated in American History at that point. He ordered clear his entire command in the west of old cheese. Essentially, triggering because he was annoyed by jewish traders that had begun to treat in his camp. He had to look down a bit and i think his lack of pretension get him helped him. He first catapulted to National Attention in february 1862 by capturing how did the press characterize the man at that event . s u. S. Grant, which was his fortuitously, late in life monogram, became Unconditional Surrender graham, because he demanded Unconditional Surrender. The union was starting for victory. He became a celebrity overnight. The visual media could not quite keep up with the celebrity. Here we see an early image of grant. It is an image of grant. It just happens not to be ulysses grunt. Someone found an image of a guy named william grant. He was a contractor in illinois. Since grant they just got this out to the weekly newspapers, and this was the image of grant people first saw. Notice hes wearing a feathered hat. Very long beard. He was so obscure they didnt even know they did not know it was not grant. Here is the real grant with an image of him in the field. The next slide. Its interesting. He had a camp artist in his midst. Tell us a little bit about this famous portrait . This is a very casual photograph of grant. I will add that this is a pretty rare one in the collection. Grant was photographed more than any american in his time. Im convinced of it. Frederick douglass maybe a close competitor. But grant always had the title. Posts a remarkably candid photograph. The southern man also had a camp artist following George Washington as we say, the previous Lieutenant General. Sean was very well trained painter who followed him to chat a new guy and was very well received. Grant liked it and it was shipped back to washington where was displayed in the u. S. Capital. It obliged Abraham Lincoln to look at it because grant had become so popular. It would be a disrespect for lincoln ought to look at. It he had protests he had photographers. Managed to maintain a homespun image, very much like Abraham Lincoln. These depictions also served a purpose as far as grant supporters were concerned, not only to elevate him in terms of military rank, but perhaps to put him in the public eye politically. Did images really have that sort of power to do such a thing . Yes. I think how successful Abraham Lincoln was as a president ial candidate when images of him began circulating in 1860. I think they had a huge effect. Images were not as promiscuous as they are now. You could not find them on the internet because there was no electricity. You cannot find them in magazines or newspapers. They were sought after. We were hung on walls. In family albums. Yes, the grant victories early in the war and lincolns seeming inability to maintain control of the civil government in the wake of emancipation proclamation encouraged a lot of grant admirers to propose that he either replace grant, the republican ticket, an 1864, or to be the democratic nominee, since grant was not known to have any politics, and issue politics generally. He did not even vote. He was put forth as a potential candidate, and by the way, lincoln would not entertain the idea of promoting him to it Lieutenant General until he had backdoor insurances that grant had no such plans. Despite all the brouhaha, he wrote to the chairman of the dnc and said i have no political ambitions in either party. That satisfied lincoln. But the image is almost advanced him as a candidate will before grant was ready. Interesting. Back to grant who makes it to washington to receive his third start. Lincoln at the white house the torrents of guests had trouble finding him in the crowd. He was a slightly build hero. He did not know he was slightly built. What did he do at this party . First of all him at Abraham Lincoln who is easy to see in a crowd. He was six feet four. Average men were about five foot four or five. Grant simply climbed up with lincolns encouragement on a set tee so he can be seen it above the crowd. This was not calculated to please the first lady where they spend a fortune in money she took an immediate dislike to grant and his wife. Her dislike extended to julia. But this crushing scene was immortalized by peters painting called the Republican Court at the white house. By the way, this was the first time that Abraham Lincoln never met ulysses us grant, and later the retreated to the cabin room in a more private scene. Lincoln conferred his promotion. In the painting, grant is standing on a pedestal as opposed to a sofa. Yes. More and more images proliferated of grant in the final year of the war. He found time to post photographs in the field and sometimes in the studio. Sometimes we saw him in softer domestic scenes later on, like this one with his family. A rare portrait collection from the historical. It makes him look a lot softer. A home body, i guess. More typically, you see portraits of him in uniforms like this. After the war, every northern Hospital Union league club, Veterans Organization commissioned a grant portrait painting for its walls. One of the best you say, as our first object this evening, which is the james read landon portrait of grant. What is so special about this painting . I hope everyone sees that there is some relationship to the photograph we just had. Landon was a veteran portrait painter. He had done shawn marshall, other celebrities, thomas sully. He had done webster, lincoln. Where he was about to do lincoln. Yes, like many capable painters, he flourished in the postwar, raged to have grant portraits for clubs and halls. Veteran organizations. This is one of those portraits. I love it, because it really reflects grands casual self confidence. Hand and pocket. Wearing a uniform. Calmly and command as all of the portraits showed him. By the way, speaking of politics, you mentioned 1868 as the date has painting was completed, and there is a political story as well. Three years after lincolns death with Andrew Johnson to run for a term in his own right. Impeachment, barely. Grant is the obvious choice. He is a candidate. These are the paintings that services posters. Note that these Campaign Posters do not take a matter of military uniform. They are there to remind people that he is the hero of the war. He won the contest in the union. By the way, why is he successful . I think in a way, there is a pattern to the way americans deal politically with war heroes. Scott grant was the hero of the mexican war but he did not win. Exact retailer who grant really modeled himself after, won the president ial election. Grant won the president ial election. Look at 1952. Dwight eisenhower. Again, another general who had gone to peacetime but remember it is a horror war hero, was recruited by democrats not douglas mcarthur. But dwight eisenhower. There is a pattern here. Grant wrote right into the storyline. Interesting. The storyline, obviously continues and we remember grant as one who saved the union and in fact, but today with monuments and statues, we recently have seen a grand statue topple, which is somewhat unfortunate. You want to comment on that . I have been writing a lot and speaking a lot on statues. This is a sight of it we should only look for a moment. It was toppled and defaced and Golden Gate Park along with the statue of i understand the rationale but i dont agree with vandalism. Grant is a mystery. The explanation we heard is that he was the last american president to own a human being. He was given the gift of an enslaved person by his father in law. Granted use him and did not pay him, but he did also liberate him and gave him his freedom. No president in the 19th century than ulysses grant. He fought for constitutional amendments, voting rights. He battled the ku klux klan to a standstill before he gave up presidency. I think its tragic, really, and one hopes that the pent up rage about monumental liesing american heroes without really understanding of the nuances and the stories calms down a bit so we can look at this on a case by case basis. Absolutely. Our next object. Its a coin. Designed by Major GeneralBenjamin Franklin butler. We see a coin designer or Major General . On he is a complicated, bizarre, controversial figure. He was a democrat in politics and massachusetts. He was a businessman. He owned a middle. Very successful. He was a white supremacist in as late as 1860. He supported jefferson davis, the president of the United States at the Democratic Convention of 1860. Even supported stephen douglas, the southern Democrat John 1860. He ran for governor and lost. When the more breaks out, he is such a staunch unionist that he raises a militia brigade in massachusetts, and immediately touches on controversy, because he has the army by his units and uniforms from his own unit. Not a cool move. There is a little bit of corruption and his story as well. Why does lincoln appoint a Major General in the union army . Because lincoln did not want the war to be a professional war west point soldiers. He did not just wanted to be a war of republican generals. He made a big effort to recruit democratic generals. Unfortunately, they appointed butler so quickly, that he had high rank in the military, which turned out to be a problem. He was a real character, though. He was very grotesque. We have an image of him. He has a rags to riches kind of life. He supported conservative democrats. Needless to say, he was a provocative figure as you say. What things did he do exactly to stir up controversy . As you say, he was not the most easy on the eyes, as the saying goes. So he goes into the service and he winds up at fortress monroe and virginia. One day, an African American rose up to in a row boat and is taken to his headquarters and says, i have escaped from slavery and i want protection from the union army. This is a year and a half before emancipation. Benjamin butler thinks about it. He is a lawyer. Skilled lawyer. He says you are the contraband of war. I take you. I accept you. Then more African Americans enslaved people liberated themselves, and that is where the term contraband comes from. That is the term for people who escaped slavery on their own but were not their freedom was not guaranteed by executive order or legislation. Butler becomes a hero in the Early Movement for freedom and recognition of the earning of enslaved people for their own liberation. He is transferred to new orleans where he makes his greatest mark, i suppose, in a negative way. He takes his army all the way to new orleans. You Orleans Butler marches in, declares himself the concord of new orleans anyway. He establishes a command there, which is more controversial in terms of anything he has done in his career. One thing, when his soldiers are bat upon by the enraged pro southern or southern women of new orleans, the fancy ladies, he issues an infamous order. I think we have it on the screen. He says if any women lets go to the next slide. If any women are caught treating Union Soldiers with disrespect, they will be regarded and held liable to be treated as the women of the town thats a nice way of saying you will be arrested for prostitution. The spinning stopped. Butler was kind of a brutal Occupying Force all to himself. He was alleged to have made corrupt bargains with consulate officers. He stole the piece of the action. He was allegedly confiscating spoons from plantation owners so he became known as the spoons butler. Eventually he was relieved of his command and sent away to his next controversial assignment. That is when the story picks up and it explains the metal. Before we leave new orleans, along with all the stuff he did. The sanitary conditions. The yellow fever. He left the city wealthier than when he arrived. That covers an interesting silver lining. He was a good organizer. He whipped the town into shape. He was a person any person caught dragging an American Flag through the streets was hanged. I think his occupying record will remain undisputed for generations. This brings us to late september 1864 as he observes an allblack regiment fighting at new Market Heights near the confederate capital of richmond. What happens . He is not only observing. He is commanding. One fifth of his force is occupying american troops. U. S. Calling troops. Half of them die in this assault. Butler dug really badly. All of his campaigns he did not do well that they. He would go on to do terrible at the ballot and north carolina. He would finally be relieved by grant. He couldnt stand him. But on this day, butler recognized this heroic African American troops and decided to commemorate them by having this medal struck to presented them in a kind of a kingly gesture. It was not uncommon, but it was a rarity for African American troops, and it may be the only one of its kind struck as a presentation piece for African American soldiers. We have a slight after the war with South African south american African American musicians. If we could see the next slide, please. The butler metal it marked a specific battle and celebrated a specific regiment. Tell us a little bit more about this extremely rare object in the historicals. If you were in silver and the rest and bronze, four officers and grunts. We have one of the silver copies. You see it. Its beautifully designed, ornate, its got a hole at the top so it could be fastened to the uniform like any other metal, but of course, the hierarchy of the military did not like them. So they judged this metal to be an official. It was never designated as an official token of esteem for these brave soldiers. They always wore it on the other side of their lapel and kind of flashed to each other. They flashed to each other when they met at the unions. In sympathy, butler always word in the inside of his lapel as well. Its really beautiful