The corner stone was laid by President
Harrison in 1892 and dedicated April 27, 1897, on the seventy-fifth
anniversary of Grant's birth, with a great military, naval and civil
parade. The occasion was marked by an address of President McKinley
and an oration of Gen. Horace Porter, president of the Grant Monument
Association.
An attempt to remove Grant's body to Washington was made in Congress
but overwhelmingly defeated. The speech by Congressman Amos Cummings
in the House of Representatives, was a happy condensation of the
facts. He fittingly said: "New York was General Grant's chosen home.
He tried many other places but finally settled there. A house was
given to him here in Washington, but he abandoned it in the most
marked manner to buy one for himself in New York. He was a familiar
form upon her streets. He presided at her public meetings and at all
times took an active interest in her local affairs. He was perfectly
at home there and was charmed with its associations. It was the spot
on earth chosen by himself as the most agreeable to him; he meant to
live and die there.
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