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This love story is a hidden part of
Ulysses Grant's life.
Most people focus on his
Civil War time and not realize that
the strongest
support and foundation for his life
is his family and his love for his wife.
A house to me is, you know, a structure the
physical architecture
where is a home
has those emotional connections.
This is where Ulysses and Julia met, where three of their four children were
born.
It was that emotional touchstone for them.
What we have is
the rooms, the
physical tangible connection to the living that went on here.
But, to have something even more personal
personal thoughts being put down,
someone receiving it, reading it, keeping it.
I think gets you more directly
to the individual, both Ulysses and Julia
(Voice of Ulysses) Kiss our little boys for me and a thousand
kisses for yourself dear Julia.
I mean, when a man writes to you "the last thing I thought of at night
was you Julia
and I dreamed about you!"
It gives you a real sense of an individual's
personality and character.
(Voice of Ulysses) "Without you
no place, no home, can be very pleasant to me."
They were separated so often
especially when Grant was on the west coast for two years.
To be that far apart and mail doesn't get their very often...
To think you wouldn't know for four and half months
that your wife had survived and that you have another child...
The unknown
can become unbearable.
(Voice of Ulysses) "I have been separated from you and Fred long enough.
And as to Ulys,
I've never even seen him!"
It's through those letters that you really get insight
into
why he was willing to resign in 1854 to come back here to be
reunited with his family.
In the process of doing the preservation of the home here
a window in the upstairs hall was sagging.
They decided to pull the entire
window framing, and sash, and everything out.
And a portion of the letter
came out with it!
To have an actual artifact
from Grant
kept here in the home was pretty,
pretty special.
The family aspect of Grant
gave him this
foundation, this stability that
allowed him to handle some
really challenging, difficult times.
It certainly gave him the
ability to go
and do what he thought was his duty
by rejoining the Army
and staying with that cause.
This place, White Haven,
allows us a great opportunity
to look into the personal lives of
this country's
Presidents that was
under the greatest of strains and see
who he was as a person.
Soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan
can understand how hard it is to be
away from the little things in life
that make day-to-day living good,
especially when you have small children and
a place you'd rather be.