March – Sam inscribed a copy of Huckleberry Finn to Edith Beecher: To Edith Beecher with the very best wishes of Mark Twain March 1885 [MTP].

Sam made many day trips to New York during the month, as General Grant’s strength waned. From Perry:

“It was as if Grant, Julia, Fred, the doctors, and all of his regular visitors had now steeled themselves for Grant’s last campaign. This was true also of Twain, who came from Hartford nearly every day to visit the offices of Charles L. Webster & Co before stopping at 66th Street to check on Grant’s condition and his progress on the memoirs” [Perry 162].

Charles Webster moved the publishing co. to bigger rooms at 42 E. 14th Street in early March, right after signing the Grant contract [AMT 2: 494].

Karl Gerhardt was given the commission to sculpt the Nathan Hale statue for the capitol in Hartford [Schmidt].

March-June, 1885 – Ulysses S. Grant wrote a small card note to Clemens: “There is much more that I could do if I was a well man. I do not write quite as clearly as I could if well If I could read it over myself many little matters of anecdote and incident would suggest themselves to me.” [MTP].