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Ulysses S. Grant and Family

Medium: Albumen silver print
Dimensions: Image: 15.9 × 19.7cm (6 1/4 × 7 3/4"); Mount: 27.3 × 30.6cm (10 3/4 × 12 1/16")

Topic: Interior; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Male; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Natural Resource Occupations\Agriculturist\Farmer; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Politics and Government\Cabinet member\Secretary of War; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\General; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Politics and Government\President of US; Ulysses Simpson Grant: Congressional Gold Medal; Portrait

Credit Line: Owner: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division; This record is part of the Catalog of American Portraits, a research archive of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Permission to reproduce images (if available) must be obtained from the portrait owner. Please note that if an owner is listed above, this information may not be current.

Exhibition Label: As today, the nineteenth-century public was avid for human interest stories about the heroes who were lionized in print and photographs. In a Victorian society that placed extreme value on the family, it was de rigueur that a public figure be shown with his wife and children. Ulysses Grant had married Julia Dent (1826–1902), sister of a West Point classmate, in 1848. They had four children: Frederick (1850–1912); Ulysses Jr. (1852–1929); Ellen (Nellie) (1855–1922); and Jesse (1858–1939). Grant was devoted to Julia, and their separation in 1852, when he was ordered west, made him lonely, probably exacerbated his tendency to drink, and contributed to his decision to resign from the army in 1854. During the Overland Campaign, Grant attempted to get away from the front to see his family whenever possible. He turned down Lincoln’s invitation to join him at Ford’s Theatre on the night of the assassination because he was traveling to Philadelphia to see Julia and his children.