This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/25/2024
Set of Two Gen. U.S. Grant Original Cabinet Cards: Last Photograph of Grant - Four Days Before His Death and Grant and His Family.
The historical imporance of these two original cabinet cards featuring General U.S. Grant, who led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War, and subsequently was elected the United States 18th President, cannot be emphasized enough. The cabinet card featuring Grant sitting on his porch, four days before his death, is titled at the bottom "Last Photograph of Gen. Grant. Four Days Before Death." and bears the stamp "Compliments of The Albany Journal" on the left side. The photographer's name and copyright appears on the verso, with the location of Grant's home, reading "Gilman, Mt. McGregor and Canajoharie, N.Y., Copyrighted July 22, 1885.The copyright language also appears on the frong of the card. This cabinet card, showing Grant quietly reading the newspaper, his cane on the chair beside him, is amazing in his detail, the longer you look, the more you see, such as what appears to be two female figures behind the chair next to him, inside the house. Grant's features are clearly seen, including his glasses, and the small tuft of hair that has escaped his hat on his left side.
The second cabinet card is titled "The Grant Family At Mt. McGregor" (the family's "cottage") home in New York. The card has "Cortland Standard Premium" at the other end, the region's newspaper. In the photograph, Grant's family is gathered around him on the front porch and steps of the home. Again, as with the other cabinet card offered here in this lot, the details are incredible, to Grant's whiskered face to the expressions of his family, and details of their clothing. Both cards are magnificent examples of the craft of cabinet card photographer.
Grant, who as the U.S. army's commanding general, led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865, briefly served as U.S. secretary of war., and served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As An effective civil rights executive, Grant signed a bill to create the Justice Department and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans during Reconstruction. As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy, supported congressional Reconstruction and the Fifteenth Amendment, and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan. Under Grant, the Union was completely restored. He appointed African Americans and Jewish Americans to prominent federal offices. Grant's story is the ultimate American Success Story in that he faced personal problems and poverty at the beginning of the Civil War, ended up being it's hero, accepting General Lee's surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomatox Court House.
Dimensions: Both cabinet cards measure approimately 4.25 in x 6 in.
The cabinet card of Grant just before his death is in overall very good condition with some light staining. The cabinet card featuring Grant and his famly is torn at both the upper left and upper right corners and bears some light wear, including some staining on the verso.
Authentication: Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.