The unemployment bug bit me on March 18, 2009.

It won’t be long before I move back to DC to look for a job. The whole family is flying out here to help me move back. I’m truly blessed in that regard. As a ‘reward’ for helping me, will there be any opportunity for us to get Muffin Stamps on the way back?

Unfortunately, the opportunities are really poor!

Maybe the most reasonable diversions would be Fort Laramie, in Wyoming, and Scotts Bluff, in Nebraska.

or

Once we cross into Nebraska, head south and stop at Nicodemus? Then backtrack a little and then keep heading south until we get to I-70 East? When we get to Topeka, we could see the Brown v. Board of Education site and continue home along I-70.

Both diversions add about 3 hours on to our projected 30 hour trip, which doesn’t count time spent at the sites. On hour 27 of our road trip, would we still be happy that we stopped at those parks, if it still meant that we had 6 hours to go, instead of 3?

The view from the Grant Memorial

In 2008, Sheryl & Eric, along with myself, got the muffin stamp for the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. It is located on the west side of the U.S. Capitol and has a commanding view of the National Mall. I took the above picture at Christmastime in 2008.

While clearing out some clutter in my apartment, I came across this Insider’s Guide article, by Barbara Danzig, from the Sunday, March 18, 2001 edition of The Washington Post.

Who’s Remembered in the Grant Memorial?

Flanked on one side by the artillery, on the other by the cavalry, and supported by the infantry, the man sits astride his war horse. Behind these warriors is the Capitol, symbol of the Union for which they fought.

Who is the man on the horse? In a word–the only word etched in the marble–Grant.

The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is hidden in plain sight on First Street at the east end of the Mall. That location would seem prominent enough, but most people I know (including many other Washington natives) are surprised to hear of its existence.

That’s too bad, because it is considered one of the most important sculptures in the city.

This wonderfully detailed memorial was first suggested in 1895 by the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Grant’s old command. It took more than 20 years to complete, with dedication on April 27, 1922, on the 100th anniversary of Grant’s birth. Vice President Calvin Coolidge presided at the dedication, with General of the Armies John Pershing giving the keynote address.

On a recent holiday there were quite a few others braving the blustery wind–a busload of tourists. While dodging out of the way to avoid interfering with their efforts to be photographed in front of the artillery and cavalry groups, I did my best to clamber around the marble platform, which is 252 feet wide and 71 feet deep.

Grant himself is perched in the middle and sculpted in bronze, wearing the uniform he typically wore into battle, slouch hat and no sword, sitting astride his charger, Cincinnatus.

He seems quite relaxed, unlike Cincinnatus and the soldiers, whose tension suggests an ongoing battle.

Sitting atop a 22-foot marble pedestal, Grant and his horse are 17 feet high and weigh 10,700 pounds. They face the Mall, and from way up there, Grant can surely see the Lincoln Memorial.

(Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of Lincoln, was on the jury that selected the winning Grant Memorial design submitted by Henry Merwin Shrady. Another tidbit: Shrady was the son of the physician who attended Grant in his final illness.)

Shrady came to art late in life, after failing health forced him to leave his post as president of the Continental Match Co. While he recuperated, he began to sketch animals and taught himself to sculpt. Because he was relatively little known, his selection as the sculptor for the Grant Memorial was very controversial. But he gave it his all, dedicating the last 20 years of his life to the work. He died two weeks before it was dedicated.

Another controversy centered on the site. The memorial was originally intended for the Ellipse, but Theodore Roosevelt vetoed the idea because the statues would block his view of the Potomac. The decision to place it at the east end of the Mall ignited another controversy over the removal of three massive trees. The superintendent of the Botanical Gardens challenged the plans in court, and lost. The memorial was erected in sections beginning in 1909.

Shrady painstakingly addressed every detail to ensure an accurate depiction of Grant and his troops. With the help of the New York Police Department, he was able to make an in-depth study of horses, even to the point of dissecting them. The United States Military Academy conducted cavalry and artillery drills for his benefit, and the secretary of war loaned him Civil War uniforms. Shrady studied the former president’s life mask at the Smithsonian and learned about him from his eldest son, Maj. Gen. Frederick Dent Grant.

There is nothing stylized or allegorical about the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. It stands like a ghost of the battles fought to save the Union. The combatants are forever in motion with the action, the agony and the excitement frozen for all time. The level of detail is fascinating and draws the viewer into the hearts of the participants–man and animal alike.

Strain and overwork contributed to Shrady’s death, and left the bas relief infantry panels for the sides of the Grant pedestal undone. Other sculptors completed them using Shrady’s sketches.

Like the tourists in her article, I just snapped pictures of the statue and moved on, so it’s nice to get a more in-depth description about the memorial and all aspects of its history.

The Johnsons and I found this stamp at the Washington Monument bookstore, which is at least a mile away. The memorial is administered and maintained by the National Mall and Memorial Parks (NAMA).