“Gold could not buy him…” Grant Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin

Today, the Grant Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin remembers a couple of vintage articles about the man, his horses and his log cabin headquarters.

On July 25, 1865, the Boston Evening Transcript included two short articles about General Grant.

The first gave insights into the man and his horses, especially his war horse.

The second told of the display of his working cabin.

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General Grant’s War Horse.

A newspaper correspondent states that General Grant is peculiarly proud of his stud, but is particularly so of his war charger.

To the few friends to whom he unbends he takes great delight in exhibiting his horses.

“Perhaps,” said the General, “you would like to see the horse I have ridden in all the campaigns I have commanded?”

The General ordered his horse to be brought out.

To the surprise of the gentleman the animal seemed no more than a lady’s palfrey.

Small, slender, with agile limbs, black as a coal, an eye like a hawk, intelligent, but mild, with the unmistakable “lick” on each side of the mane, not unlike the “cowlick” on a boy’s head, looking for all the world like a family pet for women and children.

The visitor uttered his astonishment by saying, “Beautiful, but no endurance.”

“Endurance!” said General Grant, “this animal exceeds any horseflesh I ever saw for endurance.

“I have taken this horse out at daylight and kept in the saddle till dark, and he came in as fresh when I returned as when I saddled him in the morning.

“Gold could not buy him. He was imported from a rare breed by Jeff Davis himself.

“He was taken from Jeff Davis’s plantation.”

“I suppose,” said the visitor, “you would exchange this horse for Jeff Davis?”

“You have said it,” said the General, “I would exchange for the rebel chief, but for nothing else under heaven.”

Such is the renowned war horse of the Lieutenant-General.

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General Grant’s Log Cabin.

The log cabin used by General Grant at City Point as his headquarters, and which arrived in this city a few days since, will be taken to Fairmount Park today, and put up by the commissioners of the city property just north of the Mansion House.

The log cabin is twenty-five by thirty feet, one story high, and forms the letter T.

It cost, when first erected, two thousand eight hundred dollars.

The furniture used by General Grant will be placed in the cabin.

The commissioner intends to surround the building with a rustic fence, and a register will be placed in the reception room in which visitors may record their names. (Philadelphia Ledger.)

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The Grant Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin shows with images of the City Point, Virginia cabin and of the General and his war horse.

Grant Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin