Meet New Superintendent Matthew Tucker Blythe
The park is thrilled to welcome Matthew Tucker Blythe as the new superintendent of Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. The Midwest Regional Office announced the hiring in November 2018 after a comprehensive search to find a replacement for former Superintendent Tim Good, who left the park in April to become Superintendent of Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois.
Tucker brings with him an extensive record of accomplishments. He has previously worked as a ranger or supervisor at Arlington House, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Fredrick Law Olmstead National Historic Site, John F. Kennedy National Historic Site, Oklahoma City National Memorial, and most recently as Superintendent of Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. He holds a BA degree in historic preservation from Mary Washington College and an MA degree in communications from Wichita State University.
Tucker began working for the park in January and has been a welcome presence. He has assisted with a number of ongoing projects and has even worked the Visitor Center front desk a few times. In reading about Grant, Tucker states that “it struck me that Grant was just an ordinary, fallible human being, but despite those human shortcomings he rose to greatness.”
The park is also pleased to announce that at the beginning of the year Acting Superintendent Nichole McHenry returned to her role with the Midwest Regional Office as Program Manager of the office of Relevancy, Diversity, and Inclusion. However, she continues to have an office at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. Nichole did a great job as Acting Superintendent. She led a project to reorganize staffing and assisted with outreach efforts to promote special programming at the park during her nine-month tenure. We are excited to still have her around the office.
How Jefferson Davis inadvertently Helped Grant’s Future Success
On April 11, 1854, a lonely army officer at Fort Humboldt, California accepted a commission at the rank of Captain in the United States Army. After receiving the promotion, the officer promptly wrote a letter tendering his resignation from the army effective July 31. This letter eventually reached the desk of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who accepted the resignation. The young officer was Ulysses S. Grant. For Davis, Grant’s resignation was another issue of mundane bureaucratic paperwork. For Grant, this pivotal moment would have a profound effect on his future. Decades later while dying of throat cancer, Grant was asked by Dr. John P. Newman about his most providential experience. According to Dr. Newman, Grant replied, “My resignation from the army in 1854. I was then a Captain. If I had staid [sic] in the army I would have been still a Captain on frontier duty at the outbreak of the war and would thus have been deprived of the right to offer my services voluntarily to the country. That opportunity shaped my future.” By accepting Grant’s resignation, Jefferson Davis inadvertently set Grant on a path that would lead him to become the overall commander of all U.S. armies and at the same time a major nemesis to Jefferson Davis and his struggle for Confederate independence.
In accepting Grant’s resignation, Jefferson Davis also allowed him to return to White Haven. Grant would work to support his family as a struggling farmer during a time of great personal adversity and hardship. Weathering this storm greatly contributed to Grant’s growing determination and self-reliance, which would play an important role in his future success during the Civil War. For Grant, leaving the army in 1854 allowed him to be in a much better place (Illinois, where he moved from St. Louis not long before the outbreak of hostilities) to volunteer his services to the Union rather than serving on a frontier outpost far away from the theatre of war. In that crucial moment the future president of the Confederacy did Grant and ultimately the United States a great service by accepting Captain Ulysses S. Grant’s resignation from the army in 1854.
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site
On October 5th, 2019 the park celebrated the 30th anniversary of its establishment with a special roundtable discussion featuring leaders of the movement to save Ulysses S. Grant’s White Haven home. There was also lots of cake after the discussion!
The White Haven estate remained in private ownership until 1986, more than one-hundred years after Grant’s death. The six owners of White Haven after Grant made various changes to the property during this time. Most notably the 850-acre property was downsized to ten acres and the house was modernized to include heating, air conditioning, electricity, and indoor plumbing. In the early 1980s rumors started to spread that White Haven would be sold to developers and turned into a condo complex. Fearing this possible loss, concerned residents throughout St. Louis formed a historic preservation group called “Save Grant’s White Haven.” Starting in 1984, the preservation group led the effort to purchase White Haven from its last private owners, designate the home as a National Historic Landmark, and gain support in Congress to establish the property as a unit of the National Park Service. President George H. W. Bush signed House Resolution 1529 authorizing the NPS to purchase White Haven on October 2, 1989.
Featured discussants at the roundtable included retired Missouri State Representative Jack Goldman (President, Save Grant’s White Haven), Jeannine Cook (Vice President, Save Grant’s White Haven), Esley Hamilton (St. Louis County Historian), and Del Wenzlick (Son of Bill Wenzlick, the last private owner of White Haven). Park Ranger Nick Sacco moderated the discussion.
To learn more Save Grant’s White Haven, visit this page on the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site website.