After serving his two terms as president, it’s easy to imagine Ulysses S. Grant finally getting to leave the chaos of war and politics behind to live out the rest of his days in peace. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him, and the way his story ended was rather tragic. According to Finance & Markets, Grant did have a brief time of happiness when he traveled Europe for a few years. After returning to the States, he needed to replenish the money he had spent from his savings. Sadly, it was his attempts to make more money that resulted in financial disaster.
Grant initially attempted to invest in the Mexican Southern Railroad, which eventually went bankrupt. However, it was his last-ditch effort for money that ended in financial ruin — Grant invested in a brokerage firm run by a man named Ferdinand Ward, who, unbeknownst to him, was a swindler of the worst kind. Ward eventually ran off with all of his investors’ money, including Grant’s, leaving him completely broke.
Luckily, a little bit of help came from an unlikely source — writer and author Mark Twain. Grant decided to publish his memoirs, and Twain was happy to help. Grant managed to finish his manuscript a few days before his death from throat cancer on July 23, 1885 (via History). Though he never saw the financial outcome of his memoirs, it became a huge success, thus ensuring his family’s financial security for years to come.
