Archeological Investigations at Ulysses S. Grant NHS The
restored stone building at Ulysses S. Grant NHS. Ulysses S.
Grant, general of the triumphant Northern Army during the Civil
War that brought an end to slavery in the United States, himself
owned enslaved people. Prior to rejoining the Army in 1860, and
then going on to become the 18th president (1869-1877), Grant
farmed his wife’s family’s property outside of St. Louis,
Missouri, with his father-in-law, Frederick Dent. NPS
archeologists have been uncovering clues at White Haven, named
after an estate in Dent’s native Maryland, that help us to
better understand conditions of slavery in the two decades
before the Civil War. They investigated a stone building behind
the main house at White Haven to learn more about activities
carried out there, and about the people who may have lived in
it. This stone structure was probably a summer kitchen, and may
have been sewing room and residence for African American house
servants. The Dents and Grants at White Haven