Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

This guide to the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C. starts with a rumor that dogged Grant during the Civil War, a line about his drinking habits that spread through newsrooms in 1863 and was never fully confirmed or denied. It traces the memorial built to answer it, the largest equestrian statue in the country, and sculptor Henry Shrady, who spent two decades chasing exact accuracy in every buckle and cavalry drill, only to die two weeks before the unveiling. Look for the cavalry rider who wears Shrady's own face.