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of canaries and Julia Boggs dent grant
C
anaries not only warned coal miners
of poisonous gases but were kept in
shops to lure customers and trained,
like dogs, bears, and roosters, to fight
as men bet. An old saw ran, “My neighborhood
was so tough, its canary birds all sang bass!”
Paprika and cayenne were added to their diets
to alter their coloring from all-yellow. They
were crossed “hard feather to soft feather”
and mated with other finches to become “mule
canaries” exhibited at shows for their singing
ability. The Canary Islands were not named for
them but for a breed of dog (canis) the Romans
found there.
Canaries were a favorite of Julia Dent. Her
brother Frederick, a classmate of Ulysses S.
Grant at West Point, took him home for a visit.
Although Julia liked him instantly, she was
content to be friends. The change came when
her pet canary died. “Ulys,” as she called him,
built a coffin, painted it yellow, arranged a
funeral, and made seven of his fellow soldiers
attend. She was won then—though the relationship lingered at engagement for some four
years, during which they saw each other once.
She accepted his West Point ring when he was
leaving for the Mexican War but was not ready
for the nuptials.
Julia was considered odd. She thought herself a favorite of the spirit world, including fairies (who visited her) and sprites. They blessed
her children and grandchildren. She described
her dreams and premonitions to anyone who
would witness to their truth.
Julia’s mother had “second sight,” too. It
told her that Grant would rise to the greatest
heights. She knew her daughter’s “drooping
Historical
Perspectives
by Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler
eye” (for which deriders described her as
being “wall-eyed” and “crossed-eyed”) to be
the special mark of inner sight. A doctor would
have corrected its ugliness in keeping with
her husband’s rising status, but Grant found
out and told her never to think of amending
herself again. Over the years, as her eyesight
worsened, he read her hundreds of books. She
made no claim of being a seer but knew that
she possessed something beyond the ordinary.
When possible, her pictures were always in
profile and showed her “better side.” “Aunt
Mehitable,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book, accused
her of demanding dim lighting to assuage her
poor looks.
Canaries were prophetic for others, too.
President Lincoln appointed Zebina Eastman
United States Consul in Bristol, England,
where he tried to influence “John Bull’s” views
of the Civil War. In English cities, canaries
were displayed to amuse children. Initially,
the Greater Canary, “General Lee,” rode in a
miniature coach driven by the “Lesser Canaries.” Eventually, the topmost canary became
“General Grant,” who condemned “General
Lee” to be shot and shot him. The “rabble”
cheered the successful canary. Although The
Times of London at first held back, Eastman
read the canaries as evidence of the change
of attitude.
Not all of Julia’s dreams involved canaries,
but many were Grant- and Civil War-focused.
Before they were married, in keeping with a
superstition that what is dreamed in a new bed
comes true, Julia named a bedpost for Grant
and found him returned to her “wearing borrowed plumage” after nearly drowning. Her
dream that he was commissioned Colonel of
the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry proved
true. Although he never wanted her to talk of
her abilities, he became a believer when she
“saw” him in danger at the battle of Belmont.
He was also pleased with her prediction about
the fall of Richmond. She knew that the messenger from Mrs. Lincoln urging their presence
at Ford’s Theater was from the conspirators
and that he and three others, including John
Wilkes Booth, had sat opposite her party that
day spying and indulging in raucous insults.
Grant’s second inauguration, 4 March 1873,
was held during the coldest weather on record
for such an event. A temporary building had
been erected in Judiciary Square especially
for the occasion, but workers had neglected to
heat it. Guests, bundled for protection from the
cold, knocked against one another, and tempers flared. Sleet, snow, and terrible wind
plummeted the temperature to four degrees
below zero. The Marine Band, “the President’s
Own,” tried to play during the parade, but the
valves of the brasses froze. At the event itself,
the food froze. The champagne, if not all ice,
was iced over and had to be pierced to “bring
it to cup.” The hot chocolate and coffee were
quickly depleted. When the Grants and his
cabinet arrived at 11:30, he was announced
with the Navy Band’s “Hail to the Chief,” or as
much of it as could be summoned from frozen
instruments played by half-frozen men. The
Grants and their party were taken almost
immediately to a nearby heated area to have
supper, and Mrs. Grant was thus spared seeing
the true horror. As a surprise, her husband had
arranged for a hundred canaries to be brought
in at the proper moment to sing for the guests
and her. They had frozen in their cages.
Following that second term, the Grants
traveled around the world for two years. Ulys
again witnessed the unusual powers of his wife.
She was seized with a violent shivering before
the unidentified tree under which Christ knelt.
In India, he saw amazement on the faces of
those whose sacred cows nibbled on the wreath
of marigolds they gave her. He watched as she
started and trembled when they were asked to
plant trees at Nagasaki. Her memoirs say that
the Japanese ladies reminded her of “so many
singing, chirping canary birds.”
Julia Grant believed that, had she and her
sister-in-law Virginia been allowed to testify
at the Congressional Investigation, they could
have cleared her husband of involvement in the
James Fiske and Jay Gould manipulations of
the gold market that resulted in the infamous
24 September 1869 Black Friday of the “Era
of Good Stealings.” Perhaps she found some
comfort in imagining a flock of canaries pursuing and pelting Grant’s political enemies with
their droppings.
Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler, of Galloway Ridge, a former
college president, is widely published in academics and
creative writing and works as a writer and an editor.
As Central Region Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished
Poet 2013-2015, she mentors student and adult poets.
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