Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule (44 page)

Only a few months before, when Owen Wister published his dreadful, caustic biography of Ulys, Julia’s loyal friends and devoted children had staunchly supported her, but it was Mrs. Davis’s letter that had provided her the most consolation. “If I had not learned to steel myself against such attacks I never would have known an hour of peace or comfort,” she had written. “Genl. Grant’s and Mr. Davis’s records are complete, and posterity will judge for itself, even if every idle critic in the land or envious defamer should write scurrilous opinions from now until the end. In another half century when you and I are where we shall ‘see clearly’ and shall have our merited rest, the world will judge fairly, and commend justly.”

Even so, Mrs. Davis was not content to wait until the afterlife for justice. In response to a request from
The
New York World,
Mrs. Davis wrote an extraordinary article about Ulys titled “The Humanity of Grant.” Julia had known the essay was forthcoming, for Mrs. Davis, who had never met him, had asked Julia for anecdotes from their family life to include in the piece, but she had not expected such a striking, powerful refutation of Mr. Wister’s worst accusations. Mrs. Davis’s thesis—which she argued convincingly—was that Ulys was a decent person as well as a great man who had refused to humiliate General Lee and the people of the South in victory, and who had regarded human life as precious. In war he had used overwhelming force not because he was a butcher, but because he believed it would bring about a quicker end to the battle, thus ultimately saving lives.

Julia had been greatly moved by Mrs. Davis’s bold, public refutation of Mr. Wister’s book. Although she had written to express her gratitude the same day the article appeared in
The
World,
she was determined to thank her friend in person at the earliest opportunity, which the shopping trip for Vivien fortuitously provided.

•   •   •

Mrs. Davis received her warmly at her gracious home on West Forty-fourth Street. Julia knew that many people of the South considered it an outrage and a betrayal of the highest order that the widow of President Davis had made her home among the Yankees, but the northern climate was better for her health, and, as she confided to Julia, even if it had not been, she adored New York and could not imagine living anywhere else.

As they sat in her sunny parlor sipping tea, Julia thanked Mrs. Davis for praising Ulys in the papers. “Every word I wrote was true,” Mrs. Davis demurred, as if that made her gesture any less kind and noble.

“Speaking of writing . . .” Julia set down her teacup. “I have a confession to make. I’ve decided to try again to publish my memoirs.”

“Oh, Mrs. Grant, how delightful,” Mrs. Davis exclaimed, smiling. “I’m sure they’ll be a great success.”

“Nothing to rival General Grant’s, of course,” said Julia modestly. Ulys’s memoirs had been published in December of 1885 to great acclaim and had enjoyed sales that defied all expectations. Over three hundred thousand copies had sold, earning Julia more than half a million dollars and becoming the best-selling American book in the nation’s history.

Julia and the children had been well provided for, just as Ulys had promised. Julia had written her own life story not from pecuniary need, but for posterity.

“That’s not a fair comparison,” Mrs. Davis protested. “No one should expect their book to match the success of General Grant’s. Nevertheless, I look forward to reading yours.”

“I may be no more successful in finding a publisher this time than I was before.”

“Nonsense. I’m confident that your book will be published, and then, at last, you can set the record straight.”

Julia sipped her tea, thought for a moment, and returned the cup to its saucer. “I wouldn’t put it quite like that. Ulys wrote nothing that wasn’t true, but he left out a great deal. I don’t mean to set the record straight, but rather to fill it out.”

Mrs. Davis nodded sagely. Julia had told her how disappointed she had been to read Ulys’s wonderful book only to discover that she had played but a very small role in it. They had been married almost thirty-seven years, and she had spent almost all of them at his side. Even when he had gone to war, she had been with him more often than not. And yet anyone reading Ulys’s memoir would be forgiven for believing that Julia had been hundreds of miles away all the while. Anyone reading Ulys’s memoir would know that he was a great man, but they would never guess that he had enjoyed a great love.

The conversation turned to other things—their children, women’s suffrage, the astonishing changes time had wrought upon Washington and New York. Ideas and institutions that had once seemed everlasting, inviolable, had crumbled to dust, while new marvels they never could have imagined as young belles were appearing every day. The world was changing so swiftly, they agreed, that they often did not recognize the country their grandchildren would inherit.

But some things were eternal and unchanging—love, family, faith. The blessing of friendships, old and new.

“When the great story of our age is finally told,” Mrs. Davis said afterward as she escorted Julia outside to her carriage, “I wonder if posterity will write it as a tragedy.”

“Not a comedy?” asked Julia, amused. “Not a grand and glorious adventure?”

“A tall tale or a satire, perhaps, if your friend Mr. Twain writes it.”

“He probably will,” Julia remarked. “He already has.”

They shared a laugh, exchanged farewells, and promised to continue their correspondence. With one last wave, Julia settled into the carriage and rode back to the hotel, lost in thought.

A tragedy, a comedy—none of those forms suited her life with Ulys, her life as Mrs. Grant.

Theirs was a love story. It could only and always be a love story.

Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule
is a work of fiction inspired by history. Many events and people appearing in the historical record have been omitted from this book for the sake of the narrative. Although the lives of Ulysses and Julia Grant are well documented, almost nothing exists about Jule beyond a few brief mentions in Julia Grant’s memoirs. Thus her life as depicted in this story is almost entirely imagined.

I offer my sincere thanks to Denise Roy, Maria Massie, Liza Cassity, Christine Ball, Brian Tart, and the outstanding sales teams at Dutton and Plume for their ongoing support of my work and their contributions to
Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule.
I appreciate the generous assistance of my first readers, Marty Chiaverini, Geraldine Neidenbach, and Heather Neidenbach, whose comments and questions proved invaluable. I also thank Nic Neidenbach, Marlene and Len Chiaverini, and friends near and far for their support and encouragement.

I am indebted to the Wisconsin Historical Society and their librarians and staff for maintaining the excellent archives I have come to rely upon in my work. The resources I consulted most often were: George Rollie Adams,
General William S. Harney: Prince of Dragoons
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001); Adam Badeau,
Grant in Peace: From Appomattox to Mount McGregor. A Personal Memoir
(Hartford, CT: S. S. Scranton & Co., 1887); Julia Cantacuzene,
My Life Here and There
 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922); Emma Dent Casey,
When Grant Went a-Courtin’: The Personal Recollections of His Courtship and Private Life
(New York: Circle Publishing Company, 1909); Joan E. Cashin,
First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006); Charles Adolphe de Pineton, Marquis de Chambrun,
Impressions of Lincoln and the Civil War: A Foreigner’s Account,
trans. General Aldolphe de Chambrun (New York: Random House, 1952); Catherine Clinton,
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life
(New York: HarperCollins, 2009); Julia Dent Grant,
The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant,
ed. John Y. Simon (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1975); Ulysses S. Grant,
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
 (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885); Ulysses S. Grant and Jesse Grant Cramer,
Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister, 1857–78
(New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1912); Ulysses S. Grant and John Y. Simon,
The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1967); Ulysses S. Grant, E. B. Washburne, and James Grant Wilson,
General Grant’s Letters to a Friend, 1861–1880
(New York: T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1897); Elizabeth Keckley,
Behind the Scenes
(New York: G. W. Carleton & Company, 1868); H. A. M., “The United States Through English Eyes,”
Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country,
vol. 61 (February 1860); Mark Perry,
Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America
 (New York: Random House, 2004); Horace Porter,
Campaigning with Grant
(New York: Century Company, 1897); Ishbel Ross,
The General’s Wife: The Life of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant
(New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1959); and Jonathan D. Sarna,
When General Grant Expelled the Jews
(New York: Nextbook, 2012).

As always and most of all, I thank my husband, Marty, and my sons, Nicholas and Michael, for their enduring love and tireless support. I could not have written this book without you.

Jennifer Chiaverini is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, The Spymistress,
Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival,
and the Elm Creek Quilts series. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!