Editing General Grant Tree (section)

==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.