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Lot 73
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U.S. Grant Scarce Signed Presidential ALS Concerning St. Louis, Missouri Property Once Farmed by Slaves
U.S. Grant Scarce Signed Presidential ALS Concerning St. Louis, Missouri Property Once Farmed by Slaves
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Description:

Grant Ulysses

President U.S. Grant 2x Signed ALS Concerning St. Louis, Missouri Property Once Farmed by Slaves

 

4pp ALS inscribed overall and 2x signed by 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1895), first as "U.S. Grant" at the bottom of page 3, and second as "U.S.G." at the center of page 4. In striking purple ink on watermarked cream and blue-lined bifold paper. Partly printed "Executive Mansion. Washington, D.C. --186-" letterhead dated January 18, 1873. Docketed by letter recipient verso. Expected light paper folds and a minor closed tear at base of paper gutter which has been professionally repaired. The word "to" on page 1 is slightly smeared. Else near fine. Each page measures 7.75" x 9.75".

 

President Grant wrote his friend and business adviser Charles W. Ford in January 1873 about central Missouri real estate.

 

"Executive Mansion.

 

Washington, D.C. Jan,y 18th 18673

 

Dear Ford,

 

I am in receipt of your letter concerning the sale of the Carondelet property. I do not think Bilt or Print (?) would be good men to bid in property for me, or to have knowledge of what I proposed to bid, or have bid, for me. Nor can I agree with them as to the value of the property. The sale was at a much lower price than I paid for a simple compromise when it was supposed that I held a title of equal value with Burns.

 

My suggestion is that you with, say John F. Long, fix upon the value of each of the lots that I am interested in, and the amount they would have to sell for to give me back the money I have paid out; and have bid up for me, rather than let other parties have any of the lots, a price sufficient to give me back my money if sold to other parties, provided to do so does not require a bid beyond what you appraise the property at. In that case I would bid up to appraisement. I would suggest also that you select two or three discreet men to bid for me, understanding beforehand what lots each were to bid in so they not bid against each other, and you openly make the first bid in each lot, without any disguise as to what you are acting for, and that you bid in each instance just what the property sold for at the former sale.

 

To give me back the original purchase money, without interest, and without any return for the taxes I have paid, a portion of the lots would have to bring $150.00 pr. Arpent and a portion $300.00 pr. Arpent. I think Shipley can inform you which lots I paid for and which two hundred dollars pr. Arpent on.

 

When I go to St. Louis I think I will commence suit against Burns even without hope of recoverin anything, but to prove to the public, in a legal way, that he is a rascal not to be trusted, and to secure his removal from his present position of trust + profit.

 

Yours Truly,

U.S. Grant

 

P.S. Let me hear what you think of these suggestions before you act, and what Shipley thinks of them, I do not now think it incumbent upon me to let the public, in this instance the enemy - know beforehand who are bidding for me, or how much I am going to bid. It seems to me sufficient that they should know that you are acting for me. If however you think there is the least impropriety in having any other bidder than yourself, in or known to be acting for me, then have it so. I would not do anything of even doubtful propriety for the land. Ask Shipley on this point.

 

U.S.G."

 

Ulysses S. Grant had long-standing ties to the St. Louis, Missouri area. Grant's wife Julia Dent (1826-1902) had grown up on nearby White Haven, her father's 850-acre plantation, and the Grants returned to manage this estate between 1854-1859. The Dent Family had owned about 30 slaves who harvested Indian corn, potatoes, wheat, and oats, cultivated gardens and orchards, and managed livestock on the estate. In addition, Julia was gifted 80 acres of this property from her father as a wedding present. U.S. Grant constructed two properties on this land; Hardscrabble, a log cabin, and Wish-ton-Wish, which burned in 1873.

 

Carondelet was a working-class settlement that sprang up to the south of St. Louis proper in the eighteenth century (it is now incorporated into the city's metropolitan limits.) In 1870, Grant and his eldest son traveled to St. Louis to settle some business affairs in Carondelet. As we know from this letter, however, by January 1873 Grant was ready to sever ties. Judge John Fenton Long (1816-1888) is mentioned in this letter as "John F. Long" on the bottom of page two. Long was Grant's friend and agent who helped him liquidate his Carondelet property in January 1875; their correspondence can be found in Vol. 26, Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, edited by John Y. Simon.

 

Grant was no stranger to financial losses, and the hit he would take on the Carondelet property would not be his last--Ferdinand Ward, the "Little Napoleon of Wall Street," would see to that in 1884. Grant was willing to take a loss on his Carondelet property in terms of interest and taxes as long as he could recoup his initial output, and he wanted to ensure strategic bidding could secure those ends. An arpent is an antiquated unit of measurement equaling roughly 272.52 square feet.

 

President Grant was acutely aware of how his private business affairs might be perceived of by the public. He urged Ford to act on his behalf with the utmost probity, understanding how his political position might leave him vulnerable to accusations of favoritism or rigging. It was in his capacity as President, too, that Grant wanted to remove a corrupt man named Burns from public office.

 

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