View source for General Grant Tree

{{short description|Giant sequoia in Kings Canyon National Park, California}}
[[File:General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon National Park.jpg|thumb|upright|The General Grant Tree is located in [[General Grant Grove]], [[Kings Canyon National Park]]]]

The '''General Grant Tree''' is the largest [[Sequoiadendron giganteum|giant sequoia]] (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') in the [[General Grant Grove]] section of [[Kings Canyon National Park]] in [[California]], and the [[List of largest giant sequoias|second largest giant sequoia tree]] in the world after the [[General Sherman Tree]]. Once thought to be well over 2,000 years old, recent estimates suggest the General Grant Tree is closer to 1,650 years old.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nation's Christmas tree aged 1,650 General Grant in Kings Canyon National Park no young whippersnapper|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=8 December 2003|first=Douglas|last=Fischer|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-6974521.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105181149/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-6974521.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2012}}</ref> The tree also features the third largest footprint of any living giant sequoia, measuring {{convert|107.6|ft|m|abbr=on}} in circumference at ground level.<ref name="Flint"/>

==History==
[[File:Grant-tree-xmas.jpg|thumb|right|The tree is decorated as the "Nation's Christmas Tree"]]
The tree was named in 1867 after [[Ulysses S. Grant]], [[Union Army]] general and the 18th [[President of the United States]] (1869–1877). President [[Calvin Coolidge]] proclaimed it the "Nation's [[Christmas tree|Christmas Tree]]" on April 28, 1926. Due in large part to its huge base, the General Grant Tree was thought to be the largest tree in the world prior to 1931, when the first precise measurements indicated that the [[General Sherman Tree]] was slightly larger. On March 29, 1956, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] declared the tree a "National Shrine", a memorial to those who died in war. It is the only living object to be so declared.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm |title=Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Information Page |author=National Park Service |access-date=2007-03-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070328195728/http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm#bea |archive-date=2007-03-28 }}</ref>

In September 2003, the General Grant Tree moved up one place in the giant sequoia size rankings when the [[Washington Tree]] lost its crown and the hollow upper half of its trunk after a fire caused by a lightning strike.

==Dimensions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Height above base<ref name="Flint"/>
| {{Convert|267.4|ft|m|1|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|-
! Circumference at ground<ref name="Flint"/>
| {{Convert|107.6|ft|m|1|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|-
! Diameter {{Convert|4.5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} above highest point on ground<ref name="Flint"/>
| {{Convert|28.9|ft|m|1|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|-
! Diameter {{Convert|60|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} above base<ref name="Flint"/>
| {{Convert|16.3|ft|m|1|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|-
! Diameter {{Convert|180|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} above base<ref name="Flint"/>
| {{Convert|12.9|ft|m|1|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|-
! Estimated [[Trunk (botany)|bole]] volume<ref name="Flint">{{cite book|last=Flint|first=Wendell D.|title=To Find the Biggest Tree|publisher=Sequoia National Forest Association|year=1987|page=94}}</ref>
| {{Convert|46608|ft3|m3|0|abbr=on|disp=table}}
|}

==See also==
* [[List of largest giant sequoias]]
* [[List of individual trees]]
* [[List of oldest trees]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons and category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050828043733/http://www.nps.gov/seki/grantwlk/gg1.htm Virtual Grant Tree Walk] 
* {{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/seki/xmastree.htm |title=General Grant: Our Nation's Christmas Tree |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224081801/http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/xmastree.htm |archive-date=2010-12-24}}
* [https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/largest-trees-in-world.htm The largest giant sequoias by trunk volume]

{{coord|36.7488|-118.9709|region:US_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Ulysses S. Grant}}
{{Kings Canyon National Park}}
{{List of official United States national symbols}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Grant Tree}}
[[Category:Individual giant sequoia trees]]
[[Category:Kings Canyon National Park]]