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Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?
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Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, are entombed, not buried, in Grant's Tomb located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The tomb's design is inspired by the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the sarcophagi resemble those of Napoleon Bonaparte. While commonly phrased as "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" the technically correct answer is that they are entombed above ground, not buried.
A punch line that can trace its lineage to the 1920s, "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" achieved its greatest fame in the 1950s, when served up as a consolation prize for failing contestants by comedian Groucho Marx on the quiz program, "You Bet Your Life."
The response to an earnest question, however, is that the remains of Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union Army during the American Civil War and 18th president of the United States, rest in Grant's Tomb next to those of his wife, Julia Dent Grant, as they both wished.
Grant's Tomb is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Its design is based on that of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the red granite sarcophagi which encase the remains of President Grant and his wife took as a model the sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte in Les Invalides.
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been a joke of sorts. You are expected to say that President Ulysses S. Grant is buried there, only to be told that it is both Grant and his wife, Julia, who are buried there. To be technically precise, however, no one is buried in Grant’s Tomb. This is because, as we can see in the link below, Grant and his wife are actually entombed and not buried in Grant’s Tomb.
Although we typically use the word “bury” to refer to any process in which we place human remains in their final resting place, the word literally means to place under the ground. In other words, a person is only truly buried if their remains are placed underground. This is not the case with the remains of President and Mrs. Grant. Instead, their remains were laid to rest above ground, within a tomb. Therefore, they are technically not buried in Grant’s Tomb.
So, depending on how technical you want to be about things, the answer to this is either A) that President and Mrs. Grant are buried in Grant’s Tomb or B) that no one is buried there.