Is Grant’s Tomb with a View a Monument That Works?

Earlier this week, I wrote about Grant Cottage, the modest, rural house near Saratoga where Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) heroically finished his memoirs — crippled with a cancerous throat, tongue, and jaw — and, three days later, died, his last mission finished. Having done humble and woodsy, today I’m going grand and metro. Last week, I visited Grant’s Tomb or, more precisely, the General Grant National Memorial, on Riverside Drive and 122nd Street in Manhattan, near the Columbia campus. Dedicated in 1897, it’s the biggest tomb in America and was, for years, the cathartic, anchor memorial to the spirit of the Civil War, embodied by Grant.

Like Grant, it’s had its ups and downs. Does it still work? And what’s its art history? Why is it in New York?

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Civil War

Presidency

Earlier this week, I wrote about Grant Cottage, the modest, rural house near Saratoga where Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) heroically finished his memoirs — crippled with a cancerous throat, tongue, and jaw — and, three days later, died, his last mission finished. Having done humble and woodsy, today I’m going grand and metro. Last week, I visited Grant’s Tomb or, more precisely, the General Grant National Memorial, on Riverside Drive and 122nd Street in Manhattan, near the Columbia campus. Dedicated in 1897, it’s the biggest tomb in America and was, for years, the cathartic, anchor memorial to the spirit of the Civil War, embodied by Grant.

Like Grant, it’s had its ups and downs. Does it still work? And what’s its art history? Why is it in New York?