The herald., 1897-04-28


and followed by trumpeter of the reg
ular army sounding TAPS" the last
call of the camp. by the side Of the cas-
ket. 1t was the final scene. General
! Sherman cried outright, General Sheri-
dan and General Johnston and other
, noted men gave way to while thou
sands of veterans and onlookers couid
not restrain their grief.
Col. Grant and his relatives went be-
side the casKet and the chil1ren threw
their offerings Of dowers upon 1t and
retired Mrs Grant, the generals wid-
ow, wac not present. Some OF her frienus
urged her to be there, but she SAID
that she felt that she had bade the gen
eral good by at the funeral srvices at
Mount McGregor and she preferred TO
have that as the remembrance or their
last parting.
To the low strains of music the cas-
ket was borne to the tomb and placed
in the steel casing. The door or the
vault was locked and the key handed to
General Hancock, who passed II TO
Mayor Grace. In turn. the mayor gave
the key to President Crimmins of the
park commission.
The Seventh regiment faced the river
during this time, and three volleys re-
sounded. Then three volleys more were
belched from the guns of the Twenty
second regiment. The mounting OF the
guard followed. The ssntries were
placed and they began the vigil which
has not since ceased. Then the vast
procession and gathering began to dis
integrate. At o'clock, when the last
of the troops had gone, ten of the SOL
diers of Battery H of the Fifth United
States artillery, arrived at the door OF
the tomb, where two soldiers stationed
themselves with presented arms. Hith-
err and thither paced two other sentinels
with trailed arms.
That night men who had fought in the
blue and men who had fought ID the
gray met as comrades to talk over the
time when they had faced each other
on the field of battle. AS the sentries
paced in front of the unpretentious
tomb, everyone knew that the time so
ardently hoped for by General Grant
| had come in spirit as well as in name.
The immense crowds dispersed to their
homes and the city resumed its normal
| aspect.
THE OLD TOMB
| The old tomb of General Grant, a
squat, little brick built affair, which wac
intended as a temporary resting place for
| the body and held it for almost twelve
years, stands as a woeful contrast to the
new tomb in which the remains are TO
rest for all time.
The two-the old tomb and the new
stand close together, almost side by side.
| The one impresses even the most careless
| observer with the idea of temporal
power, the other, the old tomb, in its
simplicity is an emblem of sorrow which
seemed to center the natural sadness
| that hovers about the memory of hero,
and to concentrate these memories to
one little poetic spot
With the old tomb, the thousands who
stood before the grated door each year
| thought only of the dead man of war;
with the new tomb that feeling must in
| part give way before the magnificence
of the artistic structure which has been
reared to preserve the memory.
| On little knoll, which was always the
first spot in the vicinity to tell of the
approach of spring and the last to take
| on the garb of winter, the temporary
tomb stands. The first touch of work
done upon it was on Tuesday, July 2S,
| 1885, five daye after the death of General
| Grant. During those few days the con-
sent of the Grant family had been OBJ
tanned to the interment in New York
| and the Riverside park site decided upon
! The plans of ]. Wrey Mould, architect OF
the park department, had in the mean
time been prepared, and day and night
| the work went OH, closely watched by
| President Crimmins of the park board
and his colleagues, Commissioners Bor-
! den and Beelman. AS many men as
could possibly work together were set to
work, and the little tomb grew day by
day. There is a granite base with walls
| three feet thick of black and red brick
rising above it until they finish in a top
of blue stone. Then granite keystone
and a barrel roof. Very simple yet cub
stantial las has been shown in the pass
| ing years.
| In length the structure iS seventeen
| feet, in width twelve feet four inches
| in height twenty-one feet. Its one door
| opens toward the Hudson river. The
floor of the tomb is something more
! than two feet below the surface of the
! knoll. and is reached by stone steps from
the door. For the proper placing of the
coffin and its steel casing brick piers
were built up from the floor to above the
| door level.
. The tomb was declared finished shortly
after noon on Friday. August Z. and the
steel casing having been set on the piers
everything was in readiness q the plac-
ing of the coffin in it on the following
day.
In the years which followed some i'm
provements were made on the tempo
rary tomb The walls of brick were
| piastered with cement, a grated doc.
took the place of the original one of iron
and oak; about the three foot iron cross
a metal initial Co was artistically
woven, and a marble casing covered the
brick piers which supported the stee
| case
Through the grated door mourners and
| sght-seers looked into the dingy in
terror, saw the case oAsteel, with its one
| light point at front, where was the in
scription in letters of silver: ~. S
Grant, Died July %, 1885"
Although a constant guard was KEEP
at this tomb and the grating kept al
ways locked. half dozen years ago tht
| guardians discovered one day that two
rames had been scratched on the fac'
of the steel casing to the cabinet. The
| guard was more strictly kept after that
and the vandals, who would doubles!
| have carried away the very bricks O
the wall if permitted, were kept away
Now the old tomb, having served IT.
purpose well, rests in the shadow of th'
granite monument, unguarded and un
| sI1pp