ALS signed “U. S. G.,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, Galena, Illinois, October 22, 1868. Letter to his friend J. Russell Jones, about the political fallout from efforts by his challenger, former New York Governor Horatio Seymour, to apologize for Blair’s racist statements. He also assesses the potential for an assassination and its effect, should it occur. In full: “Enclosed I return you the two letters which you requested should be returned. I shall not leave here for two or three days after the election in Nov. My mind was made up to this the day after you left here. I cannot realize that there is danger; but if it should come before election it would upset everything. After election there would not be the same insinuation to the deed nor would the same damage accrue, I will still go to Phila. as first proposed and from there to Washington. I predict that Seymour’s apologies for Blair and correction of his statements made from the stump commencing in Buffalo today will injure his chances for election more than all Blair has said will. The fact is Blair represents truthfully the element in his party which will control it if elected. Seymour evidently intends now to throw out a bait to the loyal element.” In very good to fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, a couple small repairs to folds on first page, scattered soiling, heavier to first page, and some light show-through from writing on reverse.
Following the Civil War, Grant strayed from the more lenient policies of Lincoln and Johnson and acceded to the Congressional Republicans' Radical Reconstruction, premised on military strength in the South. Democratic vice-presidential candidate Francis Blair lambasted Grant, under whom he had served at Vicksburg, accusing him of 'stripping the white race of their birthright' with his policies. With his diatribes costing the Democrats votes, worried party leaders convinced presidential candidate Seymour to break from Blair and campaign on his own; but his speeches and apologies could not undo the damage or diminish Grant's war-hero popularity. He lost the election by a significant margin.
Before accurately predicting the futility of Seymour's independent campaign, Grant talks about the danger of assassination involved in traveling to Washington, D.C. Though he casually dismisses the fear, he does push back his trip to the city until “two or three days after the election.” Given the already heavy tension, further inflamed by Blair's speeches, he could not entirely deny the potential for the same type of threat that caused President Lincoln to enter the city secretly before his own inauguration. A fascinating letter with superb content, written just twelve days before claiming victory in the presidential election of 1868. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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