General Grant National Memorial (often referred to as Grant's tomb) erected in memory of the great Civil War commander. Thanks to this warrior at a critical time in its history the United States defended its unity.

Grant received a military education, but not too fond of the service. He took part in the war with Mexico, and was forced to resign due to alcohol addiction. In civilian life, could not succeed: the future commander worked in the leather workshop, which published saddles and harness. Hour Grant struck in 1861, with the beginning of the Civil War. The governor of Illinois has made him a colonel and placed at the head of the regiment of volunteers. In battles Grant earned a reputation as a man with an iron will. When the Union army did not succeed in the bloody battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln ordered Grant command of all Union forces. Anyone acting decisively and firmly, swept to victory over the southerners and accepted the surrender of their commander Robert E. Lee.

By the end of the war, General became one of the most popular people in the country. It was he who had the difficult task of reconstruction of the South, where the black population, even gain freedom, subjected to discrimination. During the reconstruction of more than 1,500 African Americans were elected to political office here.

In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant at age 46 was elected president of the United States in 1872 - re-elected for a second term. During his US experienced an economic boom and the subsequent decline, a surge of the civil rights of black populations and corruption scandals. After completing his second term Grant and his wife Julia have traveled the world - they took their leaders and met an enthusiastic crowd.

But the family's financial situation deteriorated to the 1884 Grant lived almost in poverty. At the same time, general ill with cancer. Understanding the proximity of his death and trying to ensure that his wife, he took over and completed their memoirs for a few days before his death in 1885.

In New York, the great commander was seen off in the last journey of about one million people. Eminent citizens have put forward the idea of ​​creating a memorial Grant competition to design the monument was announced in the US and Europe. Hemingway won American John Duncan, combining the features of a project of the mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the grave of Napoleon at Les Invalides in Paris.

The monument was unveiled in 1897, to the seventy-fifth anniversary of the birth of General. Majestic fifty-meter mausoleum - the largest tomb of America. It is decorated with polished granite and marble, high central drum surrounded by Ionic columns. The main hall is decorated with reliefs and mosaics depicting Grant victory. In the middle of the room lie the two sarcophagi - General and his faithful, his beloved Julia. When she became first lady, her little cross-eyed by nature, offered to correct a defect, but her husband said: "I love her so." Julia has lived for seventeen years more and wrote memoirs, which ended with the words: "The light of his great fame still reaches me, falls upon me, and warms me."