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Lot #68
U. S. Grant

Scarce handwritten letter from President Grant, penned from his Long Branch summer home in 1874

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Estimate: $2000+
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Description

Scarce handwritten letter from President Grant, penned from his Long Branch summer home in 1874

ALS as president, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, August 10, 1874. Written from Long Branch, New Jersey, a letter to John Hoey, in part: "It will be impossible for me to visit Mr. Dinsmore this week, as I should much like to do; and as he will be leaving in a few days for a climate more conducive to his health my visit will have to be put off until another season. I am just in receipt of a letter from Gov'r Fish in answer to one I wrote him last week asking him to come this way when going to Washington next. I have some important business with him of a public nature such as filling the Russian mission etc. He writes that he will be here on Thursday of this week…and then too there is a further embarrassment in the way. I had accepted an engagement with John Hill, Ex., Member of Congress to visit the Mining and Manufacturing regions of Northern New Jersey on Thursday & Friday, of last week, and in account of unexpected visitors had to break the engagement after he had made all arrangements for the trip…I could hardly go under the circumstances on Saturday which is the earliest day I could get away, and even then I expect to have company who will only pass a few days with me. Please excuse me to Mr. Dinsmore and say I hope to see him here before leaving." In fine condition.

Grant began summering with his family in Long Branch in 1867, and returned to his beachfront cottage at 995 Ocean Avenue for eight consecutive summers. Grant routinely stayed in Long Branch for three months at a time—arriving at the end of June, beginning of July, and remaining through September—and used the soothing Atlantic getaway to oversee matters that varied from personal to international, such as post-Civil War reconstruction and the potential annexation of the Dominican Republic. A New Yorker and general manager of the Adams Express Company, John Hoey was a developer of Long Branch, New Jersey, where he built a celebrated mansion, several cottages, and a park, and formed a friendship with Grant, Long Branch’s most prominent summer resident. Hoey, in 1888, succeeded the referenced William B. Dinsmore, as president of Adams Express.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs
  • Dates: #521 - Ended February 07, 2018





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