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Grant the painter?

To the editor:

The website for Ulysses S. Grant home in Galena claims that Grant was an amateur painter. I believe they hold an annual art festival to commemorate "the little known fact" that Grant was a painter. What is the factual support of this claim? What are the sources or documents that confirm U.S. Grant was an amateur painter before, during or after his years at West Point?

Robert Cook, Ph.D.
Major, USAR (Ret.)
Reynoldsburg, Ohio

Editor's note: We asked Dr. John Y Simon, Director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and a long-time member of the ISHS, to answer your question. His response follows:
"When seventeen-year-old cadet Ulysses Grant entered the United States Military Academy in 1839, photography was in its infancy and the school trained engineers who needed to portray terrain and structures. As part of the curriculum, cadets studied art under Robert Weir, a notable artist, who had the cadets copy drawings of cityscapes and also work with both watercolors and oils. Fewer than a dozen of Grant's pictures survive, and they are used as illustrations in the first volume of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Some of Grant's paintings, especially one of a draft horse and another of an Indian family trading with a merchant, have considerable appeal, but Grant, who practiced art when it was required does not seem to have maintained much interest in the subject after graduation."

King Philip and Black Hawk

To the editor:

I enjoyed your review of Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America in the current issue of Illinois Heritage, but you may have made a small mistake. You say: "Not surprisingly, the Black Hawk war is the only conflict in American history named for an individual." Did you mean to omit King Philip's war?

Rob Barr
Evanston

Editor's note: Thanks for writing. Your point is well taken. I should have said "United States history," as King Philip's war (1675-76 ), although very much a part of American history, predates the Revolution by a century.

Penitentiary records

To the editor:

I have learned that some people who committed crimes in Indian Territory and were tried in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, were sent to the Southern Illinois Penitentiary. My great-uncle, Frank Loomis Lynch, was convicted of bootlegging and was sent there in February, 1887. I would like to know if these prisoner's records are available from the Illinois State Archives. I would appreciate any information you can give me in ordering his records.

LaCreta Guy
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Editor's note: ISHS Office Manager Mary Lou Johnsrud, former Executive Secretary and Office Manager for the Illinois State Genealogical Society, answers your question below:

"The 1887 Register of Prisoners at the Menard Correctional Center can be found at the Illinois State Archives. The register shows the prisoner's name and number, date received, crime, sentence, and case disposition. Registers usually show the county of jurisdiction. The prisoner's race is shown for 1939-1956; assignment within the prison is shown for 1904-1973. Your listing should be found under Department of Corrections, record group 243.001. Effective July 2003, the Illinois State Archives is required to charge to all out-of-state or non-Illinois residents, a pre-paid and nonrefundable user fee of $10. The fee entitles you to two unofficial, non-certified copies of the records requested, if records exist. Send check or money order (made out to IL Secretary of State) to:

Illinois State Archives
Reference Unit
Margaret Cross Norton Building
Capitol Complex
Springfield, IL 62756

ILLINOIS HERITAGE

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