Description:

An original Matthew Brady photograph of Ulysses Grant the horse-lover posing with Cincinnati his favorite mount

(ULYSSES S. GRANT) (1831-1881) Mounted albumen, 4" x 2.75" on its original 10" x 8" mount bearing the imprint "Brady" and "Washington" just below a photograph of Ulysses Grant standing next to his favorite horse, Cincinnati. Identified on the verso in pencil: "Gen Grant and Mount Cincinnatus." Light dampstains, mild foxing and toning to mount with some minor chips and tears which do not affect image.

Grant was a great admirer of horses, and became an adept rider at an early age. At West Point he excelled at horsemanship and gave an impressive jumping display at his graduation. During the Civil War, Grant had several mounts, including Kangaroo—a thoroughbred who was found emaciated on the battlefield of Shiloh and Jeff Davis—whom he acquired on the Mississippi plantation of Jeff Davis' brother, Joseph. Following the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863, Grant travelled to St. Louis, where he received a summons from a gentleman, who himself unable to ride due to illness and a great admirer of the general, offered his own horse, a son of Lexington, who at the time was the fastest four-mile thoroughbred in the United States. Grant graciously accepted the horse, and named him Cincinnati. Cincinnati (c. 1860-1878), who stood seventeen hands high, soon became Grant's favorite horse, and it was on this mount that he rode to Appomattox to negotiate Lee's surrender. Grant allowed only two other people to ride him: Admiral David Ammen (who had saved Grant from drowning as a boy), and Abraham Lincoln, who rode Cincinnati daily while at City Point in 1865.

The present photograph was likely taken in late 1863 or early 1864, but before March 1864, when Lincoln commissioned Grant a Lieutenant (3 star) General (note that the saddle blanket only bears two stars in this image).

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June 21, 2016 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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