Beschreibung:

GRANT, ULYSSES, S., President . Photograph signed ("U.S. Grant Lt. Gen. U.S.A."), also signed by Grant's aides-de-camp ADAM BADEAU ("Adam Badeau Brevet Col. & Mil Secy") and ORVILLE E. BABCOCK ("O.E. Babcock Lt. Col. A.D.C."), n.p. [Cincinnati, Ohio], n.d. [c.1865]. Oval, 355 x 278 mm. (13 15/16 x 10 15/16 in.) including mount, handwritten imprint of "Leon Van Loos Cin[cinna]ti O[hio Photo," at lower right, verso with large printed advertisement for "Leon Van Loo's Photographic Studio. " A striking oversize image, probably war date, of Grant and his two most trusted staff members, all in full military uniform. Grant is seated with folded papers (maps?) on his lap, holding a lit cigar in his right hand, looking straight at the camera. Badeau and Babcock stand at each side. Grant's very bold signature appears directly below the central image and the signatures of Badeau of Babcock beneath. VERY RARE. GRANT AND HIS AIDES BABCOCK AND BADEAU Orville E. Babcock (1836-1884), who graduated West Point in May 1861, served as aide to General Banks, and as an engineer in the Vicksburg campaigns before becoming Grant's aide in May 1864. He accompanied Grant during the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, the Petersburg seige and the Appomattox surrender. He remained close to Grant and was Grant's personal secretary during the White House years until 1877, when he was implicated in a scandal over fraudulent whiskey tax stamps (see William S. McFeely, Grant: A Biography , pp.404-416). Adam Badeau (1831-1895) "strangest of the strange men who were close to Grant" -McFeeley) was staff officer to Thomas W. Sherman before becoming military secretary to Grant in March 1864; he retained that post until 1869. He later held ambassadorial posts under Grant's administration, assisted in the early stages of the writing of Grant's Memoirs and published his own exhaustive work on Grant's campaigns. Provenance : Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's, 29 October 1986, lot 61).