Adam Badeau, Grant in peace: from Appomattox to Mount McGregor, a personal memoir

[423] Mr. Charles Wood, of Lansingburg, New York, wrote to General Grant and offered to lend him $1,000 on his note for twelve months, without interest, with the option of renewal at the same rate. He inclosed a cheque for $500, ‘on account,’ he said, ‘of my share for services ending April, 1865,’ and General Grant gratefully accepted the offer.

About the same time Mathias Romero, the Mexican Minister, his valued friend from the time when the French were driven from Mexico, came on from Washington, and insisted on lending him $1,000. At first the General declined the offer, but Romero suddenly quitted the room, leaving his cheque for $1,000 on the table. But for these succors the man who had dined with half the kings of the earth would have wanted money to buy bread for himself and his children.

For it was not only himself and Mrs. Grant who were to be supported, but two of his sons and their families. Ulysses went to live with his father-in-law, the Hon. J. B. Chaffee, who was a man of means; but General Grant must maintain the others, for, until released by their creditors, they could not even go into business. Mrs. Grant, however, owned two little houses in Washington, and she wrote at once to Mr. W. McLean, of Cincinnati, who she knew was buying property at the capital. McLean was a stanch personal friend of General Grant, although a political opponent, and Mrs. Grant asked him at this crisis to purchase her houses, telling him that she needed money for the absolute living expenses of the family. McLean at once directed his agent to purchase the houses, whether they were needed or not, and to pay the market price. This timely act relieved the family from their immediate anxieties. The generous loan of Romero was repaid; the dishonored cheques for household expenses were redeemed, and enough was left to live on during the summer.

As early as December 1883, the editors of The Century