Class Book. eOPYRXGHT DEPOSIT RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN A BRA HA M LINCOLN RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1847-1865 By WARD HILL LAMON id EDITED BY DOROTHY LAMON TEILLARD WASHINGTON, D. C. PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR 1911 Copyright By Dorothy Lamon A.D. 1895 Copyright, zgii By Dorothy Lamon Teillard All rights reserved IHE TTNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 5ci.A2806iO PREFACE. THE reason for thinking that the public may be interested in my father's recollections of Mr. Lincoln, will be found in the following letter from Hon. J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior during the war: — Lawrence, Kansas, May 20, 1885. Ward H. Lamoriy Esq.^ Denver^ Col. Dear Sir, — There are now but few left who were intimately acquainted with Mr. Lincoln. I do not call to mind any one who was so much with him as yourself. You were his partner for years in the practice of law, his confidential friend during the time he was President. I venture to say there is now none living other than your- self in whom he so much confided, and to whom he gave free expression of his feeling towards others, his trials and troubles in conducting his great office. You were with him, I know, more than any other one. I think, in view of all the circumstances and of the growing interest which the rising generation takes in all that he did and said, you ought to take the time, if you can, to commit to writing your recollections of him, his sayings and doings, which were not necessarily committed to writing Vi PREFACE. and made public. Won't you do it? Can you not, through a series of articles to be published in some of the magazines, lay before the public a history of his inner life, so that the multitude may read and know much more of that wonderful man? Although I knew him quite well for many years, yet I am deeply interested in all that he said and did, and I am persuaded that the multitude of the people feel a like interest. Truly and sincerely yours, (Signed) J. P. Usher. In compiling this little volume, I have taken as a foundation some anecdotal reminiscences already published in newspapers by my father, and have adt#ed to them from letters and manuscript left by him. If the production seems fragmentary and lack- ing in purpose, the fault is due to the variety of sources from which I have selected the material. Some of it has been taken from serious manuscript which my father intended for a work of history, some from articles written in a lighter vein ; much has been gleaned from copies of letters which he wrote to friends, but most has been gathered from notes jotted down on a multitude of scraps scat- tered through a mass of miscellaneous material. D. L. Washington, D. C, March, 1895. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. TN deciding to bring out this book I have had in mind the many letters to my father from men of war times urging him to put in writing his recol- lections of Lincoln. Among them is one from Mr. Lincoln's friend, confidant, and adviser, A. IC. McClure, one of the most eminent of American journalists, founder and late editor of " The Phila- delphia Times," of whom Mr. Lincoln said in 1864 that he had more brain power than any man he had ever known. Quoted by Leonard Swett, in the "North American Review," the letter is as fol- lows : — Philadelphia, Sept. i, 1891. Hon. Ward H. Lamon^ Carlsbad^ Bohemia: My dear old Friend, — .... I think it a great misfortune that you did not write the history of Lincoln's administration. It is much more needed from your pen than the volume you published some years ago, giving the history of his life. That straw has been thrashed over viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, and over again and you were not needed in that work ; but there are so few who had any knowledge of the inner workings of Mr. Lincoln's administration that I think you owe it to the proof of history to finish the work you be- gan. and never knew anything about Mr. Lin- coln. They knew the President in his routine duties and in his official ways, but the man Lincoln and his plans and methods were all Greek to them. They have made a history that is quite correct so far as data is concerned, but be- yond that it is full of gross imperfections, especially when they attempt to speak of Mr. Lincoln's individual qualities and movements. Won't you consider the matter of writ- ing another volume on Lincoln ? I sincerely hope that you will do so. Herndon covered about everything that is needed outside of confidential official circles in Wash- ington. That he could not write as he knew nothing about it, and there is no one living who can perform that task but yourself .... Yours truly, (Signed) A. K. McClure. I have been influenced also by a friend who is a great Lincoln scholar and who, impressed with the injustice done my father, has urged me for several years to reissue the book of " Recollec- tions,*' add a sketch of his life and publish letters that show his standing during Lincoln's administra- tion. I hesitated to do this, remembering the following words of Mr. Lincoln at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, on his way to Washington : ** It is well known that the more a man speaks the less he is PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix understood — the more he says one thing, the more his adversaries contend he meant something else." I am now yielding to these influences with the hope that however much the book may suggest a ** patchwork quilt " and be permeated with Lamon as well as Lincoln, it will yet appeal to those readers who care for documentary evidence in matters historical. Dorothy Lamon Teillard. Washington, D. C, April, 191 1. CONTENTS. Letter from Ex-Secretary Usher, Letter from A. K. McClure. Memoir of Ward H. Lamon. CHAPTER 1. EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. Page Prominent Features of Mr. Lincoln's Life written by himself 9 Purpose of Present Volume 13 Riding the Circuit 14 Introduction to Mr. Lincoln 14 Difference in Work in Illinois and in Virginia .15 Mr. Lincoln's Victory over Rev. Peter Cartwright .... 15 Lincoln Subject Enough for the People 16 Mr. Lincoln's Love of a Joke — Could "Contribute Nothing to the End in View " 16 A Branch of Law Practice which Mr. Lincoln could not learn 17 Refusal to take Amount of Fee given in Scott Case ... 18 Mr. Lincoln tried before a Mock Tribunal 19 Low Charges for Professional Service 20 Amount of Property owned by Mn Lincoln when he took the Oath as President of the United States 20 Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln 2i Mrs. Lincoln's Prediction in 1847 that her. Husband would be President 21 The Lincoln and Douglas Senatorial Campaign in 1858 . . 22 " Smelt no Royalty in our Carriage " 22 Mr. Lincoln denies that he voted against the Appropriation for Supplies to Soldiers during Mexican War .... 23 Jostles the Muscular Democracy of a Friend 24 Political Letter of 1858 26 Prediction of Hon. J. G. Blaine regarding Lincoln and Douglas 27 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. JOURNEY FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. Page Time between Election and Departure for Washington . . 28 Mr. Lincoln's Farewell to his Friends in Springfield , .T", 30 At Indianapolis 32 Speeches made with the Object of saying Nothing . , , , y^ At Albany — Letter of Mr. Thurlow Weed 34 Loss of Inaugural Address 35 At Philadelphia — Detective and alleged Conspiracy to mur- der Mr. Lincoln 38 Plans for Safety 40 At Harrisburg 40 Col. Sumner's Opinion of the Plan to thwart Conspiracy . . 41 Selection of One Person to accompany Mr. Lincoln ... 42 At West Philadelphia — Careful Arrangements to avoid Dis- covery 43 At Baltimore — " It 's Four O'clock " 45 At Washington 45 Arrival at Hotel 46 CHAPTER IIL INAUGURATION. Formation of Cabinet and Administration Policy 48 Opposition to Mr. Chase 49 Alternative List of Cabinet Members 50 Politicians realize for the First Time the Indomitable Will of Mr. Lincoln 51 Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase, Men of Opposite Principles . . 51 Mr. Seward not to be the real Head of the Administration . 52 Preparations for Inauguration 53 Introduction by Senator Baker 53 Impression made by Inaugural Address 54 Oath of Office Administered 54 The Call of the New York Delegation on the President . . 55 CONTENTS. XllI CHAPTER IV. GLOOMY FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. Page Geographical Lines distinctly drawn 56 Behavior of the 36th Congress » * » SI Letter of Hon. Joseph Holt on the " Impending Tragedy " . 58 South Carolina formally adopts the Ordinance of Secession 62 Southern Men's Opinion of Slavery 62 Mr. Lincoln imagines Himself in the Place of the Slave- Holder 65 Judge J. S. Black on Slavery as regarded by the Southern Man d^ Emancipation a Question of Figures as well as Feeling . . 66 Mission to Charleston 68 " Bring back a Palmetto, if you can't bring Good News " . . 70 Why General Stephen A. Hurlbut went to Charleston ... 70 Visit to Mr. James L. Pettigrew — Peaceable Secession or War Inevitable 71 "A great Goliath from the North" — "A Yankee Lincoln- Hireling " 72 Initiated into the great " Unpleasantness " 73 Interview with Governor Pickens — No Way out of Existing Difficulties but to fight out 74 Passes written by Governor Pickens I^^l^ Interview with Major Anderson 75 Rope strong enough to hang a Lincoln-Hireling 76 Timely Presence of Hon. Lawrence Keith ....... 77 Extremes of Southern Character exemplified 77 Interview with the Postmaster of Charleston 78 Experience of General Hurlbut in Charleston 79 CHAPTER V. HIS SIMPLICITY. The Ease with which Mr. Lincoln could be reached .... 80 Visit of a Committee from Missouri . 81 A Missouri " Orphan " in Trouble 82 Protection Paper for Betsy Ann Dougherty 83 Case of Young Man convicted of Sleeping at his Post ... 86 Xiv CONTENTS. Page Reprieve given to a Man whom a "little Hanging would not hurt" 87 An Appeal for Mercy that failed 88 An Appeal for the Release of a Church in Alexandria ... 89 " Reason " why Sentence of Death should not be passed upon a Parricide 90 The Tennessee Rebel Prisoner who was Religious .... 90 The Lord on our Side or We on the Side of the Lord ... 91 Clergymen at the White House 91 Number of Rebels in the Field 92 Mr. Lincoln dismisses Committee of Fault-Finding Clergy- men 93 Mistaken Identity and the Sequel 94 Desire to be /?'^vciaA^i*o ^ 'HO ^i\^ ^A^cf^j tK/Xyyvf^x*Xyto , 'dy^Ct^yu^ 'i^tXiJl-uyt t*//-^"^""^ yv^JL, Oyyw^, AtJ'LiA^ ^K^i/ynv 'yv^VW nnA'dtrAi H^v 'fv^- ^^^ • ttU,tvyi40 'tym, ttACt^ , 7>U»d/ JM/\^ MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. WARD H. LAMON was born in Frederick County, about two miles north of Winchester, in the state of Virginia, on the 6th day of January, 1828. Two years after his birth his parents moved to Berkeley County in what is now West Virginia, near a little town called Bunker Hill, where he received a common school education. At the age of seventeen he began the study of medicine which he soon abandoned for law. When nineteen years of age he went to Illinois and settled in Danville; afterwards attending lectures at the Louisville (Ky.) Law School. Was admitted to the Bar of Kentucky in March, 1850, and in January, 185 1, he was admitted to the Illinois Bar, which comprised Abra- ham Lincoln, Judge Stephen T. Logan, Judge David Davis, Leonard Swett, and others of that famous coterie, all of whom were his fast friends. Conclusion of a Legal Document signed h^ Lincoln and Lamon. /Ke-^Zty^ They all rode the circuit together, there being no railroads at that time in the State. And it has been said that, " It is doubtful if the bar of any other state of the union equalled that of the frontier state of Illinois in professional ability when Lincoln won his spurs." A legal partnership was formed between Mr. Lamon and Mr. Lincoln for the prac- xxiv MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON, tice of law in the eighth District. Headquarters of this partnership was first at Danville and then at Bloomington. Was elected District Attorney for the eighth District in 1856, which office he continued to hold until called upon by Mr. Lincoln to accompany him to Washington. It was upon Mr. Lamon that Mr. Lincoln and his friends relied to see him safely to the National Capitol, when it became nec- essary at Harrisburg to chose one companion for the rest of the journey.* He was appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia, which position at that time was much more of a social func- tion than it was in after years. The Marshal performed some of the ceremonies which have since been delegated to the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds. He introduced people to the President on state occasions and * Executive Department, Springfield, III., Feb. 9, 1861. Dear Governor, — You will bear me witness that I seldom trouble my friends in Washington with letters of introduction. I must now ask you to indulge me in a suspension of this general rule, especially as my object has as much to do with your future as my own. W. H. Lamon, Esq., of our state visits Washington upon the invitation of Mr. Lincoln as his escort and companion. He is one of our ablest young lawyers, a man of strong and vigorous intellect and of influence throughout the entire state equal to any man in the state. His social qualities upon intimate acquaintance are of the finest type. He is chivalrous, courageous, generous. His integrity is unquestioned. Though inclined to be conser- vative, he is a Republican firm, and from principle. He is, however, retiring and not disposed to press himself on any one. May I ask of you that you will be kind to him as you were to me, and very much oblige Your friend, Richard Yates. Hon. Wm. H. Seward. MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMOJV. XXV was the general social factotum of the Executive Mansion. The position of Marshal was not of his own choosing. Had he consulted his own taste he would have preferred some appointment in Europe.* It was almost settled that he was to be sent as Consul to Paris, but in deference to Mr. Lin- coln's wish to have him near him in the trying times which he anticipated, he shouldered the duties of Marshal at this dangerous period, when it was one of much friction and difficulty, as slavery ruled for a hundred miles north and a thousand miles south and west of the Capitol. After the law was passed emancipating the slaves in the District of Columbia, that territory was made, or sought to be made, the asylum for the unemancipated slaves of the States of Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Lincoln was not yet ready to issue his general emancipation proclamation; the Fugitive Slave law was still in force and was sought to be enforced. This condition of things was seized upon by many political demagogues to abuse the President over the shoulders of the Marshal. They exaggerated the truly de- plorable condition of the bondmen and made execrable all officers of the Government, whose duty it became to execute laws of their own making. The jail was at that time in the custody of the Marshal, and he was responsible for the safe keeping of twice as many criminals as his means of keeping them safely justified; Feb. 4, 16&1. Hon. a. Lincoln: Dear Sir, — It affords me much satisfaction to hear that you have invited our excellent friend W. H. Lamon to accompany you to Washington and hope that there may be no necessity to interfere with his appointment to the consulate at Paris, that will give us all unbounded pleasure. Very truly your friend, J. P. Usher. XXvi MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. Congress being responsible for the insufficiency of those means. To have performed the official requirements of that office in pursuance of the then existing laws and the official oath required, and at the same time given satisfaction to the radical element of the Republican party, was impossible; hence the vindictive persecution that followed which con- tinued in the Republican party against Marshal Lamon to the end of his life. Colonel Lamon was a strong Union man but was greatly disliked by the AboHtionists ; was considered proslavery by them for permitting his subordinates to execute the old Mary- land laws in reference to negroes, which had been in force since the District was ceded to the Federal Government. After an unjust attack upon him in the Senate, they at last reached the point where they should have begun, intro- duced a bill to repeal the obnoxious laws which the Marshal was bound by his oath of office to execute. When the fight on the Marshal was the strongest in the Senate, he sent in the following resignation to Mr. Lincoln : Washington, D. C, Jany. 31, 1862. Hon. a. Lincoln, President, United States : Sir, — I hereby resign my office as Marshal for the District of Columbia. Your invariable friendship and kindness for a long course of years which you have ever extended to me impel me to give the reasons for this course. There appears to be a studious effort upon the part of the more radical portion of that party which placed you in power to pursue me with a relentless persecu- tion, and I am now under condemnation by the United States Senate for doing what I am sure meets your approval, but by the course pursued by that honorable body I fear you will be driven to the necessity of either sustaining the action of that body, or breaking with them and sustaining me, which you cannot afford to do under the circumstances. I appreciate your embarrassing position in the matter, and feel as unselfish in the premises as you have ever felt and acted MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. xxvii towards me in the course of fourteen years of uninterrupted friendship ; now when our country is in danger, I deem it but proper, having your successful administration of this Government more at heart than my own pecuniary interests, to relieve you of this embarrassment by resigning that office which you were kind enough to confide to my charge, and in doing so allow me to as- sure you that you have my best wishes for your health and happi- ness, for your successful administration of this Government, the '^eedy restoration to peace, and a long and useful life in the en- ment of your present high and responsible office. I have the honor to be Your friend and obedient servant, Ward H. Lamon. Mr. Lincoln refused to accept this resignation for reasons lich he partly expressed to Hon. William Kellogg, Mem- IX of Congress from Illinois, at a Presidential reception Dout this time. When Judge Kellogg was about to pass on '^ter shaking the President's hand Mr. Lincoln said, " Kel gg, I want you to stay here. I want to talk to you when 1 .ave a chance. While you are waiting watch Lamon Lamon was making the presentations at the 4ime). He s most remarkable. He knows more people and can call more by name than any man I ever saw," After the reception Kellogg said, " I don't know but you are mistaken in your estimate of Lamon ; there are many of our associates in Congress who don't place so high an esti- mate on his character and have little or no faith in him what- ever." "Kellogg," said Lincoln, "you fellows at the other end of the Avenue seem determined to deprive me of every friend I have who is near me and whom I can trust. Now, let me tell you, sir, he is the most unselfish man I ever saw ; is discreet, powerful, and the most desperate man in emer- gency I have ever seen or ever expect to see. He is my friend and I am his and as long as I have these great re- sponsibilities on me I intend to insist on his being with me, and I will stick by him at all hazards." Kellogg, seeing he XXviii MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. had aroused the President more than he expected, said, " Hold on, Lincoln ; what I said of our mutual friend Lamon was in jest. I am also his friend and believe with you about him. I only intended to draw you out so that I might be able to say something further in his favor with your endorsement. In the House today I defended him and will continue to do so. I know Lamon clear through." ** Well, Judge," said Lincoln, " I thank you. You can say to your friends in the House and elsewhere that they will have to bring stronger proof than any I have seen yet to make me think that Hill Lamon is not the most important man to me I have around me. Every charge preferred against the Marshal was proven groundless, but the Senators and Representatives who had joined in this inexcusable persecution ever remained his enemies as did also the radical press.* The following is a sample of many letters received by Colonel Lamon about this time: — March, 23, 1862. ... — I was rather sorry that you should have thought that I needed to see any evidence in regard to the war Grimes & Com- pany were making on you to satisfy me as to what were the facts. No one, however, had any doubt but that they made the attack on you for doing your duty under the law. Such men as he and his coadjutors think every man ought to be willing to commit perjury or any other crime in pursuit of their abolition notions. We suppose, however, that they mostly designed the attack on you as a blow at Lincoln and as an attempt to reach him through * At this time the Grand Jury of Washington County, District of Columbia, found a bill of indictment against Horace Greeley, of the New York " Tribune," for malicious libel of a public ofificer, the U. S. Marshal. The Marshal was averse to this pro- cedure, but the jury having the facts before them regarded the offence as so flagrant that the case was vigorously prosecuted. ^ /-P ^s^co ay P^h^t^ ^-7 ^^^L-jXT "9-7 t^*^^ ^;^ , t.ry^ Ol^JU^Z^,^ /c^Ul-^^-O /^-A^ Q.^2-— -^ -^i-r ^y^^l[jUi^^^c.^r^ MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. XXIX his friends. I do not doubt but they would be glad to drive every personal friend to Lincoln out of Washington. I ought to let you know, however, that you have risen more than an hundred per cent in the estimation of my wife on account of your having so acted as to acquire the enmity of the Abolition- ists. I believe firmly that if we had not got the Republican nomination for him (Lincoln) the Country would have been gone. I don't know whether it can be saved yet, but I hope so. . . . Write whenever you have leisure. Yours respectfully, S. T. Logan. Mr. Lincoln had become very unpopular with the politi- cians — not so with the masses, however. Members of Con- gress gave him a wide berth and eloquently " left him alone with his Martial Cloak around him." It pained him that he could not please everybody, but he said it was impossible. ^n a conversation with Lamon about his personal safety \ Lincoln said, " I have more reason today to apprehend danger to myself personally from my own partisan friends than I have from all other sources put together. "^ This estrange- ment between him and his former friends at such a time no doubt brought him to a more confidential relation with Colonel Lamon than would have been otherwise. In May, 1861, Lamon was authorized to organize and com- mand a regiment of volunteer Infantry, and subsequently his command was increased to a brigade.* Raising troops at the commencement of the war cost Washington, D. C, June 25, 1861. * CoL. W. H. Lamon : My Dear Sir, — I spoke to the Secretary of War yesterday, and he consents, and so do I, that as fast as you get Companies, you may procure a U. S. officer, and have them mustered in. Have this done quietly ; because we can not do the labor of adopt- ing it as a general practice. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln. XXX MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. Colonel Lamon $22,000, for which he never asked the Government to reimburse a dollar. Mr. Lincoln urged him to put in his vouchers and receive it back, but Lamon did not want to place himself in the position that any evil- disposed person could question his integrity or charge him with having wrongfully received from the Government one dollar. His military service in the field, however, was of short duration — from May, 1861, to December of that year — for his services were in greater demand at the Nation's Capital, He held the commission of Colonel during the war. Colonel Lamon was charged with several important missions for Mr. Lincoln, one of the most delicate and dangerous being a confidential mission to Charleston, S. C, less than three weeks before the firing on Sumter. At the time of the death of Mr. Lincoln, Lamon was in Richmond. It was believed by many who were familiar with Washington affairs, including Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, that had Lamon been in the city on the 14th of April, 1865, that appalling tragedy at Ford's Theatre would have been averted. ' From the time of the arrival of the President-elect at Washington until just before his assassination, Lamon watched over his friend and Chief with exceeding intelligence and a fidelity that knew no rest. It has been said of Lamon that, " The faithful watch and vigil long with which he guarded Lincoln's person during those four years was seldom, if ever, equalled by the fidelity of man to man." Lamon is perhaps best known for the courage and watchful devotion with which he guarded Lincoln during the stormy days of the Civil War. After Lincoln's death it was always distasteful to Lamon to go to the White House. He resigned his position in June following Mr. Lincoln's death in the face of the remonstrance of the Administration. f V V N J MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. XXxi The following is a copy of a letter of Mr. Seward accept- ing his resignation : — Department of State, Washington, June lo, 1865. To Ward H. Lamon, Esq., Marshal of the United States for the District of Columbia, Washington, D. C. My Dear Sir, — The President directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, in which you tender your resignation as Marshal of the United States for the District of Columbia. He accepts your resignation, as you desire, to take effect on Monday, the 12th instant, but in so doing deems it no more than right to say that he regrets that you should have asked him to do so. Since his advent here, he has heard from those well qualified to speak of your unwavering loyalty and of your constant per- sonal fidelity to the late President. These are qualities which have obtained for you the reputation of a faithful and fearless public officer, and they are just such qualities as the Government can ill afford to lose in any of its Departments. They will, I doubt not, gain for you in any new occupation which you may undertake the same reputation and the same success you have obtained in the position of United States Marshal of this District. Very truly yours, (Signed) William H. Seward. Colonel Lamon was never just to himself. He cared little for either fame or fortune. He regarded social fidelity as one of the highest virtues. When President Johnson wished to make him a Member of his Cabinet and offered him the position of Postmaster-General, Lamon pleaded the cause of the incumbent so effectually that the President was compelled to abandon the purpose. Judge David Davis, many years on the U. S. Supreme Bench, and administrator of Mr. Lincoln's estate, wrote the following under date of May 23, 1865, to Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. XXxii MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. There is one matter of a personal nature which I wish to sug- gest to you. Mr. Lincoln was greatly attached to our friend Col. Ward H. Lamon. I doubt whether he had a warmer attachment to anybody, and I know that it was reciprocated. Col. Lamon has for a long time wanted to resign his office and had only held it at the earnest request of Mr, Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln would have given him the position of Governor of Idaho. Col. Lamon is well qualified for that place. He would be popular there. He understands Western people and few men have more friends. I should esteem it as a great favor personally if you could secure the place for him. If you can't succeed no- body else can. Col. Lamon will make no effort and will use no solicitation. He is one of the dearest friends I have in the world. He may have faults, and few of us are without them, but he is as true as steel, honorable, high minded, and never did a mean thing in his life. Excuse the freedom with which I have written. May I beg to be remembered to your son and to your family. Yours most truly, David Davis. The faithfulness till death of this noble man's friendship is shown in the following letter written for him when he was dying, twenty-one years later. Bloomington, III., June 22, 1886. CoL. W, H. Lamon: Dear Sir, — On my return from Washington about a month since Judge Davis said to me that he had a long letter from you which he intended to answer as soon as he was able to do so. Since that time the Judge has been declining in health until he is now beyond all capability of writing, I have not seen him for three weeks until yesterday morning when I found him in lowest condition of life. Rational when aroused but almost onconscious of his surroundings except when aroused. He spoke in the kindest terms of you and was much annoyed because an answer to your letter was postponed. He requested me this morning through Mrs. Davis to write you, while Mrs. Davis handed me the letter. I have not read it as it is a personal letter to the Judge. I don't know that I can say any more. MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. XXXill It was one of the saddest sights of my life to see the best and truest friend I ever had emaciated with disease, lingering between life and death. Before this reaches you the world may know of his death. I understood Mrs. Davis has written you. Very truly, Lawrence Weldon. In striking contrast to this beautiful friendship is another which one would pronounce equally strong were he to judge the man who professed it from his letters to Lamon, cover- ing a period of twenty-five years, letters filled throughout with expressions of the deepest trust, love, admiration, and even gratitude ; but in a book published last November [1910] there appear letters from this same man to one of Lamon's bitterest enemies. In one he says, "Lamon was no solid firm friend of Lincoln." Let us hope he was sincere when he expressed just the opposite sentiment to Lamon, for may it not have been his poverty and not his will which consented to be thus " interviewed." He alludes twice in this same correspondence to his poverty, once when he gives as his reason for selling something he regretted to have sold that " I was a poor devil and had to sell to live," and again, " are you getting rich ? I am as poor as Job's turkey." One of Lamon's friends describes him : — " Of herculean proportions and almost fabulous strength and agility, Lamon never knew what fear was and in the darkest days of the war he never permitted discouragement to affect his courage or weaken his faith in the final success of the Nation. Big-hearted, genial, generous, and chivalrous, his memory will live long in the land which he served so well." Leonard Swett wrote in the " North American Review " : — " Lamon was all over a Virginian, strong, stout and athletic — a Hercules in stature, tapering from his broad shoulders to his heels, and the handsomest man physically I ever saw. He was six feet high and although prudent and cautious, was thoroughly courage- XXXIV MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. ous and bold. He wore that night [when he accompanied Lincoln from Harrisburg to Washington] two ordinary pistols, two der- ringers and two large knives. You could put no more elements of attack or defence in a human skin than were in Lamon and his armory on that occasion. . . . Mr. Lincoln knew the shedding the last drop of blood in his defence would be the most delightful act of Lamon's life, and that in him he had a regiment armed and drilled for the most efficient service." The four or five thousand letters left by Colonel Lamon show that his influence was asked on almost every question, and show that Mr. Lincoln was more easily reached through Colonel Lamon than by any other one man ; even Mrs. Lincoln herself asked Lamon's influence with her husband. Extracts from some of these letters may be found at the end of this volume. They breathe the real atmosphere of other days. After his resignation as Marshal, he resumed the practice of law in company with Hon. Jeremiah S. Black and his son, Chauncey F. Black. Broken in health and in fortune, he went to Colorado in 1879, where he remained seven years. It was here that the beautiful friendship began between Colonel Lamon and Eugene Field. This friendship meant much to both of them. To Eugene Field, then one of the editors of the Denver *' Tribune," who had only a boyhood recollection of Lincoln, it meant much to study the history of the War and the mar- tyred President with one who had seen much of both. To Colonel Lamon it was a solace and a tonic, this association with one in whom sentiment and humor were so delicately blended. One little incident of this friendship is worth the telling because of the pathetic beauty of the verses which it occasioned. One day when Field dropped in to see Lamon he found him asleep on the floor. (To take a nap on the floor was a habit of both Lamon and Lincoln, perhaps because they MEMOIR OF WARD 11. LAMON. XXXV both experienced difficulty in finding lounges suited to their length — Lamon was six feet two inches, Lincoln two inches taller.) Field waited some time thinking Lamon would wake up, but he did not ; so finally Field penciled the follow- ing verses on a piece of paper, pinned it to the lapel of Lamon's coat, and quietly left: — As you, dear Lamon, soundly slept And dreamed sweet dreams upon the floor. Into your hiding place I crept And heard the music of your snore. A man who sleeps as now you sleep, Who pipes as music'ly as thou — Who loses self in slumbers deep As you, O happy man, do now, Must have a conscience clear and free From troublous pangs and vain ado ; So ever may thy slumbers be — So ever be thy conscience too ! And when the last sweet sleep of all Shall smooth the wrinkles from thy brow, May God on high as gently guard Thy slumbering soul as I do now. This incident occurred in the summer of 1882. Eleven years after Colonel Lamon lay dying. He was conscious to the last moment, but for the last sixteen hours he had lost the power of speech. His daughter watched him for those sixteen hours, hoping every moment he would be able to speak. She was so stunned during this long watch that she could not utter a prayer to comfort her father's soul, but just before the end came, the last lines of the little poem came to her like an inspiration which she repeated aloud to her dying father ; " And when the last sweet sleep of all Shall smooth the wrinkles from thy brow, May God on high as gently guard Thy slumbering soul as I do now." XXXVl MEMOIR OF WARD H. LAMON. These were the last words Colonel Lamon ever heard on earth. He died at eleven o'clock on the night of May 7th, 1893; and many most interesting chapters of Lincoln's history have perished with him. a)'«av U4i^ ^4v>^ -^U^lv evt^ ^iUv^ ct/«*l^ -jJvyvW /^4/^ 'Ur**/^ tyyyt^i*^'*^*^^ ^ y^J, RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. CHAPTER I. EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. '\yl rHEN Mr. Lincoln was nominated for the Presi- dency in i860, a campaign book-maker asked him to give the prominent features of his life. He replied in the language of Gray's " Elegy," that his hfe presented nothing but " The short and simple annals of the poor." He had, however, a few months previously, written for his friend Jesse W. Fell the following : — I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Harden County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, some others in Macon counties, Illinois — My paternal grand- father, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 1781 or 2, where, a year lO RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, or two later, he was killed by indians, — not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest — His ancestors, who were quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania — An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite, than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like — My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age ; and he grew up, literally without education — He re- moved from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year — We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union — It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods — There I grew up — There were some schools, so-called ; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher, beyond '•'■readiny writin^ and cipherin'''' to the Rule of Three — If a straggler supposed to understand latin hap- pened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard — There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much — Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all — I have not been to school since — The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity — I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty two — At twenty one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon county — Then I got to New-Salem at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard county, where I remained a year as a sort of Clerk in a store — Then came the Black Hawk war ; and I was elected a Captain of Volunteers — a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since — I went the campaign, was elected, ran for the Legislature the same year EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. II (1832) and was beaten — the only time I ever have been beaten by the people — The next, and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature — I was not a candidate afterwards. During this Legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it — In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Con- gress — Was not a candidate for re-election — From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before — Always a whig in politics ; and generally on the whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses — I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again — What I have done since then is pretty well known — If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet, four inches, nearly ; lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, one hundred and eighty pounds ; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and grey eyes — No other marks or brands recollected — Yours very truly A. Lincoln. J. W. Fell, Esq. Washington, D. C, March 20, 1872. We the undersigned hereby certify that the foregoing statement is in the hand-writing of Abraham Lincoln. David Davis. Lyman Trumbull. Charles Sumner.* * The circumstances under which the original preceding sketch was written are explained in the following letter : — National Hotel, Washington, D. C, Feb. 19, 1872. Colonel Ward H, Lamon : Dear Sir, — In compliance with your request, I place in your hands a copy of a manuscript in my possession written by Abraham Lincoln, giving a brief account of his early history, and the com- 12 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Were I to say in this polite age that Abraham Lincoln was born in a condition of life most humble and obscure, and that he was surrounded by circumstances most unfavorable to culture and to the development of that nobility and purity which his wonderful character after- ward displayed, it would shock the fastidious and super- fine sensibilities of the average reader, would be regarded as prima facie evidence of felonious intent, and would subject me to the charge of being inspired by an antago- mencement of that political career which terminated in his election to the Presidency. It may not be inappropriate to say, that some time preceding the writing of the enclosed, finding, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, a laudable curiosity in the public mind to know more about the early history of Mr. Lincoln, and looking, too, to the possibilities of his being an available candidate for the Presidency in i860, I had on several occasions requested of him this information, and that it was not without some hesitation he placed in my hands even this very modest account of himself, which he did in the month of December, 1859. To this were added, by myself, other facts bearing upon his legislative and political history, and the whole forwarded to a friend residing in my native county (Chester, Pa.), — the Hon. Joseph J. Lewis, former Commissioner of Internal Revenue, — who made them the basis of an ably-written and somewhat elabo- rate memoir of the late President, which appeared in the Pennsyl- vania and other papers of the country in January, i860, and which contributed to prepare the way for the subsequent nomination at Chicago the following June. Believing this brief and unpretending narrative, written by him- self in his own peculiar vein, — and in justice to him I should add, without the remotest expectation of its ever appearing in public, — with the attending circumstances, may be of interest to the numerous admirers of that historic and truly great man, I place it at your disposal. I am truly yours, Jesse W, Fell. EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. 13 nistic animus. In justice to the truth of history, how- ever, it must be acknowledged that such are the facts concerning this great man, regarding whom nothing should be concealed from public scrutiny, either in the surroundings of his birth, his youth, his manhood, or his private and public life and character. Let all the facts concerning him be known, and he will appear brighter and purer by the test. It may well be said of him that he is probably the only man, dead or living, whose true and faithful hfe could be written and leave the subject more ennobled by the minutiae of the record. His faults are but " the shadows which his virtues cast." It is my purpose in these recollections to give the reader a closer view of the great war President than is afforded by current biographies, which deal mainly with the outward phases of his life ; and in carrying out this purpose I will en- deavor to present that many-sided man in those relations where his distinguishing traits manifest themselves most strongly. With the grandeur of his figure in history, with his genius and his achievements as the model statesman and chief magistrate, all men are now familiar ; but there yet remain to be sketched many phases of his inner life. Many of the incidents related in these sketches came to my knowledge through my long-continued association with him both in his private and public life ; therefore, if the Ego shall seem at times pushed forward to undue prominence, it will be because of its convenience, or 14 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. rather necessity, certainly not from any motive of self- adulation. My personal acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln dates back to the autumn of 1847. In that year, attracted by glowing accounts of material growth and progress in that part of the West, I left my home in what was then Berkeley County, Virginia, and settled at Danville, Ver- million County, Illinois. That county and Sangamon, including Springfield, the new capital of the State, were embraced in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, which at that early day consisted of fourteen counties. It was then the custom of lawyers, like their brethren of England, " to ride the circuit." By that circumstance the people came in contact with all the lawyers in the circuit, and were enabled to note their distinguishing traits. I soon learned that the man most celebrated, even in those pioneer days, for oddity, originality, wit, ability, and elo- quence in that region of the State was Abraham Lincoln. My great curiosity to see him was gratified soon after I took up my residence at Danville. I was introduced to Mr. Lincoln by the Hon. John T. Stuart, for some years his partner at Springfield. After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery, — my swal- low-tail coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an astonishing outfit for a young limb of the law in that set- tlement), — Mr. Lincoln said : " And so you are a cousin of our friend John J. Brown ; he told me you were com» ing. Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a glance that you were a Virginian ; but EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. I 5 I don't think you would succeed at splitting rails. That was my occupation at your age, and I don't think I have taken as much pleasure in anything else from that day to this." I assured him, perhaps as a sort of defence against the eloquent condemnation implied in my fashionable claw- hammer, that I had done a deal of hard manual labor in my time. Much amused at this solemn declaration, Mr. Lincoln said : " Oh, yes ; you Virginians shed barrels of perspiration while standing off at a distance and superin- tending the work your slaves do for you. It is different with us. Here it is every fellow for himself, or he does n't get there." Mr. Lincoln soon learned, however, that my detesta- tion of slave labor was quite as pronounced as his own, and from that hour we were friends. Until the day of his death it was my pleasure and good fortune to retain his confidence unshaken, as he retained my affection unbroken. I was his local partner, first at Danville, and afterward at Bloomington. We rode the circuit together, traveling by buggy in the dry seasons and on horse-back in bad weather, there being no railroads then in that part of the State. Mr. Lincoln had defeated that redoubtable cham- pion of pioneer Methodism, the Rev. Peter Cartwright, in the last race for Congress. Cartwright was an oddity in his way, quite as original as Lincoln himself. He was a foeman worthy of Spartan steel, and Mr. Lincoln's fame was greatly enhanced by his victory over the famous 1 6 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. preacher. Whenever it was known that Lincoln was to make a speech or argue a case, there was a general rush and a crowded house. It mattered little what subject he was discussing, — Lincoln was subject enough for the people. It was Lincoln they wanted to hear and see ; and his progress round the circuit was marked by a constantly recurring series of ovations. Mr. Lincoln was from the beginning of his circuit- riding the light and life of the court. The most trivial circumstance furnished a back-ground for his wit. The following incident, which illustrates his love of a joke, occurred in the early days of our acquaintance. I, being at the time on the infant side of twenty-one, took par- ticular pleasure in athletic sports. One day when we were attending the circuit court which met at Blooming- ton, 111., I was wrestling near the court house with some one who had challenged me to a trial, and in the scuffle made a large rent in the rear of my trousers. Before I had time to make any change, I was called into court to take up a case. The evidence was finished. I, being the Prosecuting Attorney at the time, got up to address the jury. Having on a somewhat short coat, my misfor- tune was rather apparent. One of the lawyers, for a joke, started a subscription paper which was passed from one member of the bar to another as they sat by a long table fronting the bench, to buy a pair of pantaloons for Lamon, — "he being," the paper said, "a poor but worthy young man." Several put down their names with some ludicrous subscription, and finally the paper EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. ly was laid by some one in front of Mr. Lincoln, he being engaged in writing at the time. He quietly glanced over the paper, and, immediately taking up his pen, wrote after his name, "I can contribute nothing to the end in view." Although Mr. Lincoln was my senior by eighteen years, in one important particular I certainly was in a marvelous degree his acknowledged superior. One of the first things I learned after getting fairly under way as a lawyer was to charge well for legal services, — a branch of the practice that Mr. Lincoln never could learn. In fact, the lawyers of the circuit often complained that his fees were not at all commensurate with the service ren- dered. He at length left that branch of the business wholly to me ; and to my tender mercy clients were turned over, to be slaughtered according to my pop- ular and more advanced ideas of the dignity of our profession. This soon led to serious and shocking embarrassment. Early in our practice a gentleman named Scott placed in my hands a case of some importance. He had a demented sister who possessed property to the amount of $10,000, mostly in cash. A " conservator," as he was called, had been appointed to take charge of the estate, and we were employed to resist a motion to remove the conservator. A designing adventurer had become acquainted with the unfortunate girl, and know- ing that she had money, sought to marry her ; hence the motion. Scott, the brother and conservator, before we 2 1 8 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. entered upon the case, insisted that I should fix the amount of the fee. I told him that it would be ^250, adding, however, that he had better wait ; it might not give us much trouble, and in that event a less amount would do. He agreed at once to pay $250, as he ex- pected a hard contest over the motion. The case was tried inside of twenty minutes; our success was complete. Scott was satisfied, and cheer- fully paid over the money to me inside the bar, Mr. Lincoln looking on. Scott then went out, and Mr. Lin- coln asked, "What did you charge that man? " I told him ^250. Said he : " Lamon, that is all wrong. The service was not worth that sum. Give him back at least half of it." I protested that the fee was fixed in advance ; that Scott was perfectly satisfied, and had so expressed him- self. " That may be," retorted Mr. Lincoln, with a look of distress and of undisguised displeasure, *' but / am not satisfied. This is positively wrong. Go, call him back and return half the money at least, or I will not receive one cent of it for my share." I did go, and Scott was astonished when I handed back half the fee. This conversation had attracted the attention of the lawyers and the court. Judge David Davis, then on our circuit bench, called Mr. Lincoln to him. The judge never could whisper, but in this instance he probably did his best. At all events, in attempting to whisper to Mr. Lincoln he trumpeted his rebuke in about these EARLY ACQUAINTANCE, 1 9 words, and in rasping tones that could be heard all over the court room : " Lincoln, I have been watching you and Lamon. You are impoverishing this bar by your picayune charges of fees, and the lawyers have reason to complain of you. You are now almost as poor as Lazarus, and if you don't make people pay you more for your services you will die as poor as Job's turkey ! " Judge O. L. Davis, the leading lawyer in that part of the State, promptly applauded this malediction from the bench ; but Mr. Lincoln was immovable. " That money," said he, " comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl, and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner." That evening the lawyers got together and tried Mr. Lincoln before a moot tribunal called *' The Ogmathorial Court." He was found guilty and fined for his awful crime against the pockets of his brethren of the bar. The fine he paid with great good humor, and then kept the crowd of lawyers in uproarious laughter until after midnight. He persisted in his revolt, however, declar- ing that with his consent his firm should never during its life, or after its dissolution, deserve the reputation en- joyed by those shining lights of the profession, " Catch 'em and Cheat 'em." In these early days Mr. Lincoln was once employed in a case against a railroad company in Illinois. The case was concluded in his favor, except as to the pronounce- ment of judgment. Before this was done, he rose and 20 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. stated that his opponents had not proved all that was justly due to them in offset, and proceeded to state briefly that justice required that an allowance should be made against his client for a certain amount. The court at once acquiesced in his statement, and immedi- ately proceeded to pronounce judgment in accordance therewith. He was ever ready to sink his selfish love of victory as well as his partiality for his client's favor and interest for the sake of exact justice. In many of the courts on the circuit Mr. Lincoln would be engaged on one side or the other of every case on the docket, and yet, owing to his low charges and the large amount of professional work which he did for noth- ing, at the time he left Springfield for Washington to take the oath of office as President of the United States he was not worth more than seven thousand dollars, — his property consisting of the house in which he had lived, and eighty acres of land on the opposite side of the river from Omaha, Neb. This land he had entered with his bounty land-warrant obtained for services in the Black Hawk War.i Mr. Lincoln was always simple in his habits and tastes. He was economical in everything, and his wants were few. He was a good liver ; and his family, though not extravagant, were much given to entertainments, and saw and enjoyed many ways of spending money not observable by him. After all his inexpensive habits, and a long life of successful law practice, he was reduced to the necessity of borrowing money to defray expenses for EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. 21 the first months of his residence at the White House. This money he repaid after receiving his salary as Presi- dent for the first quarter. A few months after meeting Mr. Lincoln, I attended an entertainment given at his residence in Springfield. After introducing me to Mrs. Lincoln, he left us in con- versation. I remarked to her that her husband was a great favorite in the eastern part of the State, where I had been stopping. " Yes," she replied, " he is a great favorite everywhere. He is to be President of the United States some day ; if I had not thought so I never >vould have married him, for you can see he is not pretty. But look at him I Does n't he look as if he would make a magnificent President? " " Magnificent " somewhat staggered me ; but there was, without appearing ungallant, but one reply to make to this pointed question. I made it, but did so under a mental protest, for I am free to admit that he did not look promising for that office ; on the contrary, to me he looked about as unpromising a candidate as I could well imagine the American people were ever likely to put forward. At that time I felt convinced that Mrs. Lin- coln was running Abraham beyond his proper distance in that race. I did not thoroughly know the man then ; afterward I never saw the time when I was not willing to apologize for my misguided secret protest. Mrs. Lin- coln, from that day to the day of his inauguration, never wavered in her faith that her hopes in this respect would be realized. 22 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, In 1858, when Mr. Lincoln and Judge Douglas were candidates for the United States Senate, and were mak- ing their celebrated campaign in Illinois, General McClel- lan was Superintendent of the Illinois Central Railroad, and favored the election of Judge Douglas. At all points on the road where meetings between the two great politicians were held, either a special train or a special car was furnished to Judge Douglas ; but Mr. Lincoln, when he failed to get transportation on the regular trahis in time to meet his appointments, was re- duced to the necessity of going as freight. There being orders from headquarters to permit no passenger to travel on freight trains, Mr. Lincoln's persuasive powers were often brought into requisition. The favor was granted or refused according to the politics of the conductor. On one occasion, in going to meet an appointment in the southern part of the State, — that section of Illinois called Egypt, — Mr. Lincoln and I, with other friends, were traveling in the " caboose " of a freight train, when we were switched off the main track to allow a special train to pass in which Mr. Lincoln's more aristocratic rival was being conveyed. The passing train was deco- rated with banners and flags, and carried a band of music which was playing " Hail to the Chief." As the train whistled past, Mr. Lincoln broke out in a fit of laughter and said, **Boys, the gentleman in that car evidently smelt no royalty in our carriage." On arriving at the point where these two political EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. 23 gladiators were to test their strength, there was the same contrast between their respective receptions. The judge was met at the station by the distinguished Democratic citizens of the place, who constituted almost the whole population, and was marched to the camping ground to the sound of music, shouts from the populace, and under floating banners borne by his enthusiastic admirers. Mr. Lincoln was escorted by a few Republican politicians ; no enthusiasm was displayed, no music greeted his ears, nor, in fact, any other sound except the warble of the bull-frogs in a neighboring swamp. The signs and pros- pects for Mr. Lincoln's election by the support of the people looked gloomy indeed. Judge Douglas spoke first, and so great was the enthu- siasm excited by his speech that Mr. Lincoln's friends became apprehensive of trouble. When spoken to on the subject he said : " I am not going to be terrified by an excited populace, and hindered from speaking my honest sentiments upon this infernal subject of human slavery." He rose, took off his hat, and stood before that audience for a considerable space of time in a seem- ingly reflective mood, looking over the vast throng of people as if making a preliminary survey of their tenden- cies. He then bowed, and commenced by saying : " My fellow-citizens, I learn that my friend Judge Douglas said in a public speech that I, while in Congress, had voted against the appropriation for supplies to the Mexican soldiers during the late war. This, fellow-citizens, is a perversion of the facts. It is true that I was opposed to 24 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the policy of the Administration in declaring war against Mexico^; but when war was declared, I never failed to vote for the support of any proposition looking to the comfort of our poor fellows who were maintaining the dignity of our flag in a war that I thought unnecessary and unjust."* He gradually became more and more excited ; his voice thrilled and his whole frame shook. I was at the time sitting on the stand beside Hon. O. B. Ficklin, who had served in Congress with Mr. Lincoln in 1847. Mr. Lincoln reached back and took Ficklin by the coat-collar, back of his neck, and in no gentle man- ner lifted him from his seat as if he had been a kitten, and said : " Fellow-citizens, here is Ficklin, who was at that time in Congress with me, and he knows it is a lie." He shook Ficklin until his teeth chattered. Fearing that he would shake Ficklin's head off, I grasped Mr. Lincoln's hand and broke his grip. Mr. Ficklin sat down, and Lincoln continued his address. After the speaking was over, Mr. Ficklin, who had been opposed to Lincoln in politics, but was on terms of * For some time before this speech Mr. Lincoln had been receiving letters from friends inquiring as to the truth or falsity of Mr. Douglas's charge. Knowing that he had opposed the war with Mexico, while in Congress, they were in doubt whether or not the charge was true, and believed that if true it would be dan- gerous to his prospects. To one of these anxious friends he writes under date of June 24, 1858 : " Give yourself no concern about my voting against the supplies, unless you are without faith that a lie can be successfully contradicted. There is not a word of truth in the charge, and I am just considering a little as to the best shape to put a contradiction in. Show this to whom you please, but do not publish it in the papers." EARLY ACQUAINTANCE. 25 warm personal friendship with him, turned to him and said : " Lincoln, you nearly shook all the Democracy out of me to-day." Mr. Lincoln replied : " That reminds me of what Paul said to Agrippa, which in language and substance I will formulate as follows : I would to God that such Democracy as you folks here in Egypt have were not only almost, but altogether shaken out of, not only you, but all that heard me this day, and that you would all join in assisting in shaking off the shackles of the bondmen by all legitimate means, so that this country may be made free as the good Lord intended it." Ficklin continued : " Lincoln, I remember of reading somewhere in the same book from which you get your Agrippa story, that Paul, whom you seem to desire to personate, admonished all servants (slaves) to be obedi- ent to them that are their masters according to the flesh, in fear and trembhng. It would seem that neither our Saviour nor Paul saw the iniquity of slavery as you and your party do. But you must not think that where you fail by argument to convince an old friend like myself and win him over to your heterodox abolition opinions, you are justified in resorting to violence such as you practiced on me to-day. Why, I never had such a shak- ing up in the whole course of my life. Recollect that that good old book that you quote from somewhere says in effect this, ' Woe be unto him who goeth to Egypt for help, for he shall fall. The holpen shall fall, and they shall all fall together.' The next thing we know, Lin- 2& /RECOLLECT/OATS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. coin, you and your party will be advocating a war to kill all of us pro-slavery people off." " No, " said Lincoln, " I will never advocate such an extremity ; but it will be well for you folks if you don't force such a necessity on the country." Lincoln then apologized for his rudeness in jostling the muscular Democracy of his friend, and they sepa- rated, each going his own way, little thinking then that what they had just said in badinage would be so soon realized in such terrible consequences to the country. The following letter shows Lincoln's view of the politi- cal situation at that time : — r- Springfield, June ii, 1858. W. H. Lamon, Esq. : My dear Sir, — Yours of the 9th written at Joliet is just received. Two or three days ago I learned that McLean had appointed delegates in favor of Lovejoy, and thencefor- ward I have considered his renomi nation a fixed fact. My opinion — if my opinion is of any consequence in this case, in which it is no business of mine to interfere — remains un- changed, that running an independent candidate against Lovejoy will not do ; that it will result in nothing but disas- ter all round. In the first place, whoever so runs will be beaten and will be spotted for life ; in the second place, while the race is in progress, he will be under the strongest temptation to trade with the Democrats, and to favor the election of certain of their friends to the Legislature; thirdly, I shall be held responsible for it, and Republican members of the Legislature, who are partial to Lovejoy, will for that purpose oppose us ; and, lastly, it will in the end lose us the District altogether. There is no safe way but a convention ; and if in that convention, upon a common platform which all are willing to stand upon, one who has been known as an ' /^ ^r?4l2:±f!>' */^ ^^^^^ 'y^ te~ /-;.. A-© ^^,^,-*,~.^ ^-/^^-.^ <^*i-»-«-„-^3 .^i-^j^ /*.^->— ..^-..o , ft-A^ z--C^ ^r^t.<^^ •<-— r^ ^y^Jt^^ FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 35 This arrangement was reported to Mr. Lincoln, who said : " I fear it will give mortal offense to our friends, but I think the arrangement a good one. I can readily see that many other well meant plans will * gang aglee,* but I am sorry. The truth is, I suppose I am now public property ; and a public inn is the place where people can have access to me." Mr. Lincoln had prepared his Inaugural Address with great care, and up to the time of his arrival in Washington he had not shown it to any one. No one had been con- sulted as to what he should say on that occasion. During the journey the Address was made an object of special care, and was guarded with more than ordinary vigilance. It was carefully stored away in a satchel, which for the most of the time received his personal supervision. At Harrisburg, however, the precious bag was lost sight of. This was a matter which for prudential reasons could not be much talked about, and concerning which no great apaount of anxiety could be shown. Mr. Lincoln had about concluded that his Address was lost. It at length dawned upon him that on arriving at Harris- burg he had intrusted the satchel to his son Bob, then a boy in his teens. He at once hunted up the boy and asked him what he had done with the bag. Robert confessed that in the excitement of the reception he thought that he had given it to a waiter of the hotel or to some one, he could n't tell whom. Lincoln was in despair. Only ten days remained until the inauguration, and no Address ; not even a trace of the notes was preserved from which it had been prepared. 36 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I had never seen Mr. Lincoln so much annoyed, so much perplexed, and for the time so angry. He seldom manifested a spirit of anger toward his children, — this was the nearest approach to it I had ever witnessed. He and I started in search of the satchel. We went first to the hotel office, where we were informed that if an employe of the hotel had taken charge of it, it would be found in the baggage-room. On going there, we found a great pile of all kinds of baggage in promiscuous confusion. Mr. Lincoln's keen eye soon discovered a satchel which he thought his own ; taking it in his hand eagerly he tried his key ; it fitted the lock, — the bag opened, and to our astonishment it contained nothing but a soiled shirt, several paper collars, a pack of cards, and a bottle of whiskey nearly full. In spite of his perplexity, the ludicrous mistake overcame Mr. Lincoln's gravity, and we both laughed heartily, much to the amusement of the bystanders. Shortly afterward we found among the mass the bag containing the precious document. I shall never forget Mr. Lincoln's expression and what he said when he first informed me of his supposed loss, and enlisted my services in search of it. He held his head down for a moment, and then whispered : " Lamon, I guess I have lost my certificate of moral character, written by myself. Bob has lost my gripsack containing my Inaugural Address. I want you to help me to find it. I feel a good deal as the old member of the Meth- odist Church did when he lost his wife at the camp- FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 37 meeting, and went up to an old elder of the church and asked him if he could tell him whereabouts in hell his wife was. In fact, I am in a worse fix than my Meth- odist friend ; for if it were nothing but a wife that was missing, mine would be sure to pop up serenely some- where. That Address may be a loss to more than one husband in this country, but I shall be the greatest sufferer." On our dark journey from Harrisburg to Philadelphia the lamps of the car were not lighted, because of the secret journey we were making. The loss of the Address and the search for it was the subject of a great deal of amusement. Mr. Lincoln said many funny things in connection with the incident. One of them was that he knew a fellow once who had saved up fifteen hundred dollars, and had placed it in a private banking establish- ment. The bank soon failed, and he afterward received ten per cent of his investment. He then took his one hundred and fifty dollars and deposited it in a savings bank, where he was sure it would be safe. In a short time this bank also failed, and he received at the final settlement ten per cent on the amount deposited. When the fifteen dollars was paid over to him, he held it in his hand and looked at it thoughtfully; then he said, "Now, darn you, I have got you reduced to a portable shape, so I'll put you in my pocket." Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Lincoln took his Address from the bag and carefully placed it in the inside pocket of his vest, but held on to the satchel with as much 38 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. interest as if it still contained his " certificate of moral character." While Mr. Lincoln, in the midst of his suite of attend- ants, was being borne in triumph through the streets of Philadelphia, and a countless multitude of people were shouting themselves hoarse, and jostling and crushing each other round his carriage, Mr. Felton, the president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railway, was engaged with a private detective discussing the details of an alleged conspiracy to murder him at Balti- more. At various places along the route Mr. Judd, who was supposed to exercise unbounded influence over the new President, had received vague hints of the impending danger. Mr. Lincoln reached Philadelphia on the afternoon of the 2 1 St. The detective had arrived in the morning, and improved the interval to impress and enlist Mr. Felton. In the evening he got Mr. Judd and Mr. Felton into his room at the St. Louis Hotel, and told them all he had learned. Mr. Judd was very much startled, and was sure that it would be extremely imprudent for Mr. Lincoln to pass through Baltimore in open daylight, according to the published programme. But he thought the detective ought to see the President himself; and, as it was wearing toward nine o'clock, there was no time to lose. It was agreed that the part taken by the detective and Mr. Felton should be kept secret from every one but the President. Mr. Sanford, president of the Ameri- can Telegraph Company, had also been co-operating in FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 39 the business, and the same stipulation was made with regard to him. Mr. Judd went to his own room at the Continental, and the detective followed. The crowd in the hotel was very dense, and it took some time to get a message to Mr. Lincoln. But it finally reached him, and he responded in person. Mr. Judd introduced the detec- tive ; and the latter told his story again. Mr. Judd and the detective wanted Mr. Lincoln to leave for Washing- ton that night. This he flatly refused to do. He had engagements with the people, he said, to raise a flag over Independence Hall in the morning, and to exhibit himself at Harrisburg in the afternoon, — and these engagements he would not break in any event. But he would raise the flag, go to Harrisburg, get away quietly in the evening, and permit himself to be carried to Wash- ington in the way they thought best. Even this, however, he conceded with great reluctance. He condescended to cross-examine the detective on some parts of his nar- rative ; but at no time did he seem in the least degree alarmed. He was earnestly requested not to commu- nicate the change of plan to any member of his party except Mr. Judd, nor permit even a suspicion of it to cross the mind of another. In the mean time, Mr. Seward had also discovered the conspiracy, and despatched his son to Philadelphia to warn the President-elect of the terrible snare into whose meshes he was about to run. Mr. Lincoln turned him over to Judd, and Judd told him they already knew 40 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. about it. He went away with just enough information to enable his father to anticipate the exact moment of Mr. Lincoln's surreptitious arrival in Washington. Early on the morning of the 2 2d, Mr. Lincoln raised the flag over Independence Hall, and departed for Har- risburg. On the way, Mr. Judd gave him a full and precise detail of the arrangements that had been made the previous night. After the conference with the de- tective, Mr. Sanford, Colonel Scott, Mr. Felton, and the railroad and telegraph officials had been sent for, and came to Mr. Judd's room. They occupied nearly the whole of the night in perfecting the plan. It was finally agreed that about six o'clock the next evening Mr. Lin- coln should slip away from the Jones Hotel at Harris- burg, in company with a single member of his party. A special car and engine was to be provided for him on the track outside the depot ; all other trains on the road were to be ** side-tracked " until this one had passed. Mr. Sanford was to forward skilled "telegraph-climbers," and see that all the wires leading out of Harrisburg were cut at six o'clock, and kept down until it was known that Mr. Lincoln had reached Washington in safety. The detective was to meet Mr. Lincoln at the West Philadel- phia Station with a carriage, and conduct him by a circuitous route to the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Station. Berths for four were to be pre-en- gaged in the sleeping-car attached to the regular midnight train for Baltimore. This train Mr. Felton was to cause to be detained until the conductor should receive a pack- FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 4 1 age, containing important "government despatches," addressed to " E. J. Allen, Willard's Hotel, Washington." This package was to be made up of old newspapers, carefully wrapped and sealed, and delivered to the de- tective to be used as soon as Mr. Lincoln was lodged in the car. Mr. Lincoln acquiesced in this plan. Then Mr. Judd, forgetting the secrecy which the spy had so impressively enjoined, told Mr. Lincoln that the step he was about to take was one of such transcendent importance that he thought " it should be communicated to the other gen- tlemen of the party." Therefore, when they had arrived at Harrisburg, and the public ceremonies and speech- making were over, Mr. Lincoln retired to a private par- lor in the Jones House ; and Mr. Judd summoned to meet him there Judge Davis, Colonel Sumner, Major Hunter, Captain Pope, and myself. Judd began the conference by stating the alleged fact of the Baltimore conspiracy, how it was detected, and how it was pro- posed to thwart it by a midnight expedition to Washing- ton by way of Philadelphia. It was a great surprise to all of us. Colonel Sumner was the first to break the silence. " That proceeding," said he, " will be a damned piece of cowardice." Mr. Judd considered this a " pointed hit," but replied that " that view of the case had already been presented to Mr. Lincoln." Then there was a general interchange of opinions, which Sumner interrupted by saying, — 42 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " I 'II get a squad of cavalry, sir, and cut our way to Washington, sir ! " " Probably before that day comes," said Mr. Judd, " the inauguration day will have passed. It is important that Mr. Lincoln should be in Washington on that day." Thus far Judge Davis had expressed no opinion, but had put various questions to test the truthfulness of the story. He now turned to Mr. Lincoln, and said, " You personally heard the detective's story. You have heard this discussion. What is your judgment in the matter? " " I have thought over this matter considerably since I went over the ground with the detective last night. The appearance of Mr. Frederick Seward with warning from another source confirms my belief in the detective's statement. Unless there are some other reasons be- sides fear of ridicule, I am disposed to carry out Judd's plan." There was no longer any dissent as to the plan itself; but one question still remained to be disposed of. Who should accompany the President on his perilous ride? Mr. Judd again took the lead, declaring that he and Mr. Lincoln had previously determined that but one man ought to go, and that I had been selected as the proper person. To this Sumner violently demurred, "/have undertaken," he exclaimed, " to see Mr. Lincoln to Washington ! " Mr. Lincoln was dining when a close carriage was brought to the side door of the hotel. He was called, hurried to his room, changed his coat and hat, and FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 43 passed rapidly through the hall and out of the door. As he was stepping into the carriage, it became manifest that Sumner was determined to get in also. " Hurry with him ! " whispered Judd to me ; and at the same time, placing his hand on Sumner's shoulder, he said aloud, "One moment. Colonel ! " Sumner turned round, and in that moment the carriage drove rapidly away. *'A madder man," says Mr. Judd, "you never saw." We got on board the car without discovery or mishap. Besides ourselves, there was no one in or about the car except Mr. Lewis, general superintendent of the Penn- sylvania Central Railroad, and Mr. Franciscus, superin- tendent of the division over which we were about to pass. The arrangements for the special train were made ostensibly to take these two gentlemen to Philadelphia. At ten o'clock we reached West Philadelphia, and were met by the detective and one Mr. Kenney, an under-official of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Bal- timore Railroad, from whose hands the " important par- cel" was to be delivered to the conductor of the 10.50 P.M. train. Mr. Lincoln, the detective, and myself seated ourselves in a carriage which stood in waiting; and Mr. Kenney sat upon the box with the driver. It was nearly an hour before the Baltimore train was to start ; and Mr. Kenney found it necessary to consume the time by driving northward in search of some imaginary person. As the moment for the departure of the Baltimore train drew near, the carriage paused in the dark shadows 44 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. of the depot building. It was not considered prudent to approach the entrance. We were directed to the sleeping-car. Mr. Kenney ran forward and delivered the "important package," and in three minutes the train was in motion. The tickets for the whole party had been procured by George R. Dunn, an express agent, who had selected berths in the rear of the car, and had insisted that the rear door of the car should be opened on the plea that one of the party was an invalid, who would arrive late, and did not desire to be carried through the narrow passage-way of the crowded car. Mr. Lincoln got into his berth imme- diately, the curtains were carefully closed, and the rest of the party waited until the conductor came round, when the detective handed him the "sick man's" ticket. During the night Mr. Lincoln indulged in a joke or two, in an undertone ; but with that exception the two sections occupied by us were perfectly silent. The detective said he had men stationed at various places along the road to let him know if all was right ; and he rose and went to the platform occasionally to observe their signals, returning each time with a favorable report. At thirty minutes past three the train reached Balti- more. One of the spy's assistants came on board and informed him in a whisper that " all was right." Mr. Lincoln lay still in his berth ; and in a few moments the car was being slowly drawn through the quiet streets of the city toward what was called the Washington depot. There again was another pause, but no sound more FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 45 alarming than the noise of shifting cars and engines. The passengers, tucked away on their narrow shelves, dozed on as peacefully as if Mr. Lincoln had never been born, until they were awakened by the loud strokes of a huge club against a night-watchman's box, which stood within the depot and close to the track. It was an Irish- man, trying to arouse a sleepy ticket-agent comfortably ensconced within. For twenty minutes the Irishman pounded the box with ever-increasing vigor, and at each blow shouted at the top of his voice, " Captain ! it 's four o'clock ! it's four o'clock ! " The Irishman seemed to think that time had ceased to run at four o'clock, and making no allowance for the period consumed by his futile exercises, repeated to the last his original state- ment that it was four o'clock. The passengers were intensely amused; and their jokes and laughter at the Irishman's expense were not lost upon the occupants of the two sections in the rear. In due time the train sped out of the suburbs of Baltimore, and the apprehensions of the President and his friends diminished with each welcome revolution of the wheels. At six o'clock the dome of the Capitol came in sight, and a moment later we rolled into that long, unsightly building, the Washington depot. We passed out of the car unobserved, and pushed along with the living stream of men and women toward the outer door. One man alone in the great crowd seemed to watch Mr. Lincoln with special attention. Standing a little to one side, he looked very sharply at him, and, 46 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". as he passed, seized hold of his hand, and said in a loud tone of voice, "Abe, you can't play that on me ! " We were instantly alarmed, and would have struck the stranger had not Mr. Lincoln hastily said, " Don't strike him ! It is Washburne. Don't you know him?" Mr. Seward had given to Mr. Washburne a hint of the information received through his son ; and Mr. Washburne knew its value as well as another. The detective admonished Washburne to keep quiet for the present, and we passed on together. Taking a hack, we drove toward Willard's Hotel. Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Washburne, and the detective got out in the street, and approached the ladies' entrance, while I drove on to the main entrance, and sent the proprietor to meet his distinguished guest at the side door. A few minutes later Mr. Seward arrived, and was introduced to the company by Mr. Washburne. He spoke in very strong terms of the great danger which Mr. Lincoln had so narrowly escaped, and most heartily applauded the wis- dom of the " secret passage." It now soon became apparent that Mr. Lincoln wished to be left alone. He said he was " rather tired ; " and, upon this intimation, the party separated. The detec- tive went to the telegraph- office and loaded the wires wnth despatches in cipher, containing the pleasing in- telligence that "Plums" had brought "Nuts" through in safety. Mr. Lincoln soon learned to regret the midnight ride to which he had yielded under protest. He was con- FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 47 vinced that he had committed a grave mistake in listen- ing to the sohcitations of a professional spy and of friends too easily alarmed, and frequently upbraided me for having aided him to degrade himself at the very moment in all his life when his behavior should have exhibited the utmost dignity and composure. Neither he nor the country generally then understood the true facts concerning the dangers to his life. It is now an acknowledged fact that there never was a moment from the day he crossed the Maryland line, up to the time of his assassination, that he was not in danger of death by violence, and that his life was spared until the night of the 14th of April, 1865, only through the ceaseless and watchful care of the guards thrown around him. CHAPTER III. INAUGURATION. IF before leaving Springfield Mr. Lincoln had become weary of the pressure upon him for office, he found no respite on his arrival at the focus of political intrigue and corruption. The time intervening between his arrival at Washington and his Inauguration was, for the most part, employed in giving consideration to his In- augural Address, the formation of his Cabinet, and the conventional duties required by his elevated position. The question of the new Administration's poUcy absorbed nearly every other consideration. To get a Cabinet that would work harmoniously in carrying out the policy determined on by Mr. Lincoln was very difficult. He was pretty well determined on the con- struction of his Cabinet before he reached Washington ; but in the minds of the public, beyond the generally accepted fact that Mr. Seward was to be the Premier of the new Administration, all was speculation and con- jecture. All grades of opinion were advanced for his con- sideration : conciliation was strongly urged ; a vigorous war policy ; a policy of quiescent neutrality recommend- ing delay of demonstrative action for or against war, — and all, or nearly all these suggestions were prompted IN A UG URA 770 iV. 49 by the most unselfish and patriotic motives. He was com- pelled to give a patient ear to these representations, and to hold his decisions till the last moment, in order that he might decide with a full view of the requirements of public policy and party fealty. ** As late as the second of March a large and respectable delegation of persons visited Mr. Lincoln to bring matters to a conclusion. Their object was to prevent at all hazards the appointment of Mr. Chase in the Cabinet. They were received civilly and treated courteously. The President listened to them with great patience. They were unanimous in their opposition to Mr. Chase. Mr. Seward's appointment, they urged, was absolutely and indispensably required to secure for the Administra- tion either the support of the North or a respectful hearing at the South. They portrayed the danger of putting into the Cabinet a man like Mr. Chase, who was so notoriously identified with and supported by men who did not desire the perpetuation of the Union. They strongly insisted that Mr. Chase would be an unsafe coun- sellor, and that he and his supporters favored a Northern republic, extending from the Ohio River to Canada, rather than the Union which our fathers had founded. They urged another argument, which to them seemed of vital importance and conclusive, — that it would not be possible for Mr. Seward to sit in the Cabinet with Mr. Chase as a member. To think of it was revolting to him, and neither he nor his State could or would tolerate it. 4 50 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. These arguments, so earnestly put forth, distressed Mr. Lincoln greatly. At length, after a long pause, he replied that it was very difficult to reconcile conflicting claims and interests ; that his greatest desire was to form an Administration that would command the confidence and respect of the country, and of the party which had placed him in power. He spoke of his high regard for Mr. Seward, of his eminent services, his great genius, and the respect in which he was held by the country. He said Mr. Chase had also great claims that no one could gainsay. His claims were, perhaps, not so great as Mr. Seward's ; but this he would not then discuss : the party and the country wanted the hearty and har- monious co-operation of all good men without regard to sections. Then there was an ominous pause. Mr. Lincoln went to a drawer and took out a paper, saying, " I had written out my choice and selection of members for the Cabinet after most careful and deliberate consideration ; and now you are here to tell me I must break the slate and begin the thing all over again." He admitted that he had sometimes apprehended that it might be as they had suggested, — that he might be forced to reconsider what he regarded as his judicious conclusions ; and in view of this possibility he had constructed an alternative list of members. He did not like the alternative list so well as the original. He had hoped to have Mr. Seward as Secretary of State and Mr. Chase his Secretary of Trea- sury. He expressed his regrets that he could not be IN A UG URA TIOAT. 5 I gratified in this desire, and added that he could not reasonably expect to have things just as he wanted them- Silence prevailed for some time, and he then added': " This being the case, gentlemen, how would it do for us to agree upon a change like this? To appoint Mr. Chase Secretary of the Treasury, and offer the State Department to Mr. William L. Dayton, of New Jersey?" The delegation was shocked, disappointed, outraged. Mr. Lincoln, continuing in the same phlegmatic manner, again referred to his high appreciation of the abihties of Mr. Seward. He said Mr. Dayton was an old Whig, like Mr. Seward and himself, and that he was from New Jersey, and was " next door to New York." Mr. Seward, he added, could go as Minister to England, where his genius would find wonderful scope in keeping Europe straight about our home troubles. The delegation was nonplussed. They, however, saw and accepted the inevitable. For the first time they realized that indomi- table will of the President-elect which afterward became so notable throughout the trying times of his Administra- tion. They saw that " the mountain would not come '^ to Mahomet, with the conditions imposed, and so Mahomet had to go to the mountain." The difficulty was accommodated by Mr. Seward coming into the Cabinet with Mr. Chase, and the Administrative or- ganization was effected to Mr. Lincoln's satisfaction. Mr. Seward was a Republican with centralizing ten- dencies, and had been a prominent and powerful mem- ber of the old Whig party, which had gone into decay. 52 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Mr. Chase was a State's Rights Federal Republican, not having been strictly attached to either the Whig or the Democratic organization ; he had for years been a conspicuous leader of the Antislavery party, which had risen on the ruins of the Whig party, while Mr. Seward had cautiously abstained from any connection with the Antislavery party /^r j'^. Mr. Lincoln adopted, whether consciously or unconsciously, the policy of Washington in bringing men of opposite principles into his Cabinet, as far as he could do so, hoping that they would harmonize in administrative measures ; and in doing this in the case of Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase he entirely reversed the original arrangement, — by giving Mr. Seward, a Republican centralist, the post of Jeffer- son, a State's Rights Federal Republican ; and to Mr. Chase, a Federal Republican, the post assigned to Hamilton, a centralist. There was a prevailing opinion among a great many politicians that Mr. Seward had an overpowering influ- ence with Mr. Lincoln ; and the behef was general that he, in whose ability and moderation the conservative people at the North seemed to have the most confi- dence, would be the real head of the Administration. This supposition was a great mistake. It underrated the man who had been elected to wield the helm of govern- ment in the troubled waters of the brewing storm. Mr. Lincoln was as self-reliant a man as ever breathed the atmosphere of patriotism. Up to the 2d of March, Mr. Seward had no intimation of the purport of the Inaugural IN A UG URA TION. 5 3 Address. The conclusion was inevitable that if he was to be at the head of the Administration, he would not have been left so long in the dark as to the first act of Mr. Lincoln's official life. When the last faint hope was destroyed that Mr. Seward was virtually to be President, the outlook of the country seemed to these politicians discouraging. The 4th of March at last arrived. Mr. Lincoln's feelings, as the hour approached which was to invest him with greater responsibilities than had fallen upon any of his predecessors, may readily be imagined. If he saw in his elevation another step toward the fulfilment of that destiny which he at times believed awaited him, the thought served but to tinge with a peculiar, almost poetic, sadness the manner in which he addressed himself to the solemn duties of the hour. There were apprehensions of danger to Mr. Lincoln's person, and extensive preparations were made for his protection, under the direction of Lieutenant-General Scott. The carriage in which the President-elect rode to the Capitol was closely guarded by marshals and cavalry, selected with care from the most loyal and efficient companies of the veteran troops and marines. Mr. Lincoln appeared as usual, composed and thought- ful, apparently unmoved and indifferent to the excite- ment around him. On arriving at the platform, he was introduced to the vast audience awaiting his appearance by Senator Baker, of Oregon. Stepping forward, in a manner deliberate and impressive, the President-elect 54 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, delivered in a clear, penetrating voice his Inaugural Address, closing this remarkable production with the words, which so forcibly exemplified his character and so clearly indicated his goodness of heart : *' I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." The immense audience present was deeply impressed, and with awe viewed the momentous character of the occasion they were given to contemplate. The Address produced comparatively little applause and no mani- festations of disapprobation. All were moved with a profound anxiety concerning their own respective States and the future of their country; and the sentiments they had just heard uttered from the Chief Executive foreshadowed the storm awaiting the nation. After the oath of office was administered to him by the venerable Chief-Justice of the United States, Judge Roger B. Taney, Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the Presi- dential Mansion in the same order that was observed in going to the Capitol, amid the firing of cannon and the sound of music. Mr. Buchanan accompanied him, and in taking his leave expressed his wish and hope, in earnest and befitting language, that Mr. Lin- IN A UG URA TION. 5 5 coin's Administration of the government would be a happy and prosperous one. The Inauguration over, every one seemed to have a sense of relief : there had been no accident, no demonstra- tion which could be construed as portending disturbance. The New York delegation, on the night of the Inau- guration, paid their respects to the President. He said to them that he was rejoiced to see the good feeling manifested by them, and hoped that our friends of the South would be satisfied, when they read his Inaugural Address, that he had made it as nearly right as it was possible for him to make it in accordance with the Constitution, which he thought was as good for the people who lived south of the Mason and Dixon line as for those who lived north of it. 33a&(iiur&ib g. CHAPTER IV. GLOOMY FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. «Ai WER the first shout of triumph and the first glow -^-^ of exultation consequent on his Inauguration, Mr. Lincoln soon began to realize with dismay what was before him. Geographical Hnes were at last distinctly drawn. He was regarded as a sectional representative, elected President with most overwhelming majorities north of Mason and Dixon's line, and not a single elec- toral vote south of it. He saw a great people, compris- ing many millions and inhabiting a vast region of our common country, exasperated by calumny, stung by defeat, and alarmed by the threats of furious fanatics whom demagogues held up to them as the real and only leaders of the triumphant party. His election had brought the nation face to face with the perils that had been feared by every rank and party since the dawn of Independence, — with the very contingency, the crisis in which all venerable authority had declared from the beginning that the Union would surely perish, and the fragments, after exhausting each other by commercial restrictions and disastrous wars, would find ignominious safety in as many paltry despotisms as there were fragments. FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 57 On the 3d of March, 1861, the Thirty-sixth Congress had reached the prescribed period of its existence, and had died a constitutional death. Its last session of three months had been spent in full view of an awful public calamity, which it had made no effort to avert or to mitigate. It saw the nation compassed round with a frightful danger, but it proposed no plan either of con- ciliation or defence. It adjourned forever, and left the law precisely as it found it. In his message to Congress, President Buchanan had said : " Congress alone has power to decide whether the present laws can or cannot be amended so as to carry out more eifectually the objects of the Constitution." With Congress rested the whole responsibility of peace or war, and with them the message left it. Rut Congress behaved like a body of men who thought that the calami- ties of the nation were no special business of theirs. The members from the extreme South were watching for the proper moment to retire; those from the middle slave States were a minority which could only stand and wait upon the movements of others ; while the great and all-powerful Northern party was what the French minis- ter called *'a mere aggregation of individual ambitions." They had always denied the possibility of a dissolution of the Union in any conjuncture of circumstances ; and their habit of disregarding the evidence was too strong to be suddenly changed. In the philosophy of their politics it had not been dreamed of as a possible thing. Even when they saw it assume the shape of a rixe,d and 58 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, terrible fact, they could not comprehend its meaning. They looked at the frightful phenomenon as a crowd of barbarians might look at an eclipse of the sun : they saw the light of heaven extinguished and the earth covered with strange and unaccountable darkness, but they could neither understand its cause nor foresee its end, — they knew neither whence it came nor what it portended. The nation was going to pieces, and Congress left it to its fate. The vessel, freighted with all the hopes and all the wealth of thirty millions of free people was drifting to her doom, and they who alone had power to control her course refused to lay a finger on the helm. Only a few days before the convening of this Con- gress the following letter was written by Hon. Joseph Holt, Postmaster-General, afterward Secretary of War, under Buchanan : — Washington, Nov. 30, i860. My dear Sir, — I am in receipt of yours of the 27th inst., and thank you for your kindly allusion to myself, in connection with the fearful agitation which now threatens the dismemberment of our government. I think the Presi- dent's message will meet your approbation, but I little hope that it will accomplish anything in moderating the madness that rules the hour. The indications are that the movement has passed beyond the reach of human control. God alone can disarm the cloud of its lightnings. South Carolina will be out of the Union, and in the armed assertion of a distinct nationality probably before Christmas. This is certain, un- less the course of events is arrested by prompt and decided action on the part of the people and Legislatures of the Northern States ; the other slave States will follow South Carolina in a few weeks or months. The border States, FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 59 now so devoted to the Union, will linger a little while; but they will soon unite their fortunes with those of their South- ern sisters. Conservative men have now no ground to stand upon, no weapon to battle with. All has been swept from them by the guilty agitations and infamous legislation of the North. I do not anticipate, with any confidence, that the North will act up to the solemn responsibilities of the crisis, by retracing those fatal steps which have conducted us to the very brink of perdition, politically, morally, and financially. There is a feeling growing in the free States which says, " Let the South go ! " and this feeling threatens rapidly to increase. It is, in part, the fruit of complete estrangement, and in part a weariness of this perpetual conflict between North and South, which has now lasted, with increasing bitterness, for the last thirty years. The country wants repose, and is willing to purchase it at any sacrifice. Alas for the delusion of the belief that repose will follow the over- throw of the government ! I doubt not, from the temper of the public mind, that the Southern States will be allowed to withdraw peacefully ; but when the work of dismemberment begins, we shall break up the fragments from month to month, with the nonchalance with which we break the bread upon our breakfast-table. If all the grave and vital questions which will at once arise among these fragments of the ruptured Republic can be adjusted without resort to arms, then we have made vast progress since the history of our race was written. But the tragic events of the hour will show that we have made no progress at all. We shall soon grow up a race of chieftains, who will rival the political bandits of South America and Mexico, and who will carve out to us our miserable heritage with their bloody swords. The jnasses of the people dream not of these things. They suppose the Republic can be destroyed to-day, and that peace will smile over its ruins 60 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. to-morrow. They know nothing of civil war: this Marah in the pilgrimage of nations has happily been for them a sealed fountain ; they know not, as others do, of its bitterness, and that civil war is a scourge that darkens every fireside, and wrings every heart with anguish. They are to be commiser- ated, for they know not what to do. Whence is all this? It has come because the pulpit and press and the cowering, unscrupulous politicians of the North have taught the people that they are responsible for the domestic institutions of the South, and that they have been faithful to God only by being unfaithful to the compact which they have made to their fellow-men. Hence those Liberty Bills which degrade the statute-books of some ten of the free States, and are con- fessedly a shameless violation of the federal Constitution in a point vital to her honor. We have presented, from year to year, the humiliating spectacle of free and sovereign States, by a solemn act of legislation, legalizing the theft of their neighbors' property. I say theft^ since it is not the less so because the subject of the despicable crime chances to be a slave, instead of a horse or bale of goods. From this same teaching has come the perpetual agitation of the slavery question, which has reached the minds of the slave population of the South, and has rendered every home in that distracted land insecure. This is the feature of the irrepressible conflict with which the Northern people are not familiar. In almost every part of the South miscreant fanatics have been found, and poisonings and conflagrations have marked their footsteps. Mothers there lie down at night trembling beside their children, and wives cling to their husbands as they leave their homes in the morning. I have a brother residing in Mississippi, who is a lawyer by profession, and a cotton planter, but has never had any con- nection with politics. Knowing the calm and conservative tone of his character, I wrote him a few weeks since, and implored him to exert his influence in allaying the frenzy of FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 6 1 the popular mind around him. He has replied to me at much length, and after depicting the machinations of the wretches to whom I have alluded, and the consternation which reigns in the homes of the South, he says it is the unalterable determination of the Southern people to over- throw the government as the only refuge which is left to them from these insupportable wrongs ; and he adds : " On the success of this movement depends my every interest, — the safety of my roof from the firebrand, and of my wife and children from the poison and the dagger." I give you his language because it truthfully expresses the Southern mind which at this moment glows as a furnace in its hatred to the North because of these infernal agitations. Think you that any people can endure this condition of things ? When the Northern preacher infuses into his audi- ence the spirit of assassins and incendiaries in his crusade against slavery, does he think, as he lies down quietly at night, of the Southern homes he has robbed of sleep, and the helpless women and children he has exposed to all the name- less horrors of servile insurrections ? I am still for the Union, because I have yet a faint, hesi- tating hope that the North will do justice to the South, and save the Republic, before the wreck is complete. But action, to be available, must be prompt. If the free States will sweep the Liberty Bills from their codes, propose a conven- tion of the States, and offer guaranties which will afford the same repose and safety to Southern homes and property enjoyed by those of the North, the impending tragedy may be averted, but not otherwise. I feel a positive personal humiliation as a member of the human family in the events now preparing. If the Republic is to be offered as a sacri- fice upon the altar of American servitude, then the question of man's capacity for self-government is forever settled. The derision of the world will henceforth justly treat the pre- tension as a farce ; and the blessed hope which for five 62 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. thousand years our race, amid storms and battles, has been hugging to its bosom, will be demonstrated to be a phantom and a dream. Pardon these hurried and disjointed words. They have been pressed out of my heart by the sorrows that are weigh- ing upon it. Sincerely your friend, J. Holt. Within forty-eight hours after the election of Mr. Lincoln, the Legislature of South Carolina called a State Convention. It met on the 17th of December, and three days later the inevitable ordinance of secession was formally adopted, and the little commonwealth be- gan to act under the erroneous impression that she was a sovereign and independent nation. She benignantly accepted the postal service of the " late United States of America," and even permitted the gold and silver coins of the federal government to circulate within her sacred limits. But intelligence from the rest of the country was published in her newspapers under the head of '* foreign news;" her governor appointed a "cabinet," commis- sioned " ambassadors," and practised so many fantastic imitations of greatness and power, that, but for the serious purpose and the bloody event, his proceedings would have been very amusing. It was a curious little comedy between the acts of a hideous tragedy. In the practice which provoked the fury of his North- ern countrymen, the slaveholder could see nothing but what was right in the sight of God, and just as between man and man. Slavery, he said, was as old almost as FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. ^l time. From the hour of deliverance to the day of dispersion, it had been practised by the peculiar people of God, with the awful sanction of a theocratic State. When the Saviour came with his fan in his hand, he not only spared it from all rebuke, but recognized and regu- lated it as an institution in which he found no evil. The Church had bowed to the authority and emulated the example of the Master. With her aid and countenance, slavery had flourished in every age and country since the Christian era ; in new lands she planted it, in the old she upheld and encouraged it. Even the modest of the sectaries had bought and sold, without a shade of doubt or a twinge of conscience, the bondmen who fell to their lot, until the stock was exhausted or the trade became unprofitable. To this rule the Puritans and Quakers were no exceptions. Indeed, it was but a few years since slavery in Massachusetts had been suffered to die of its own accord, and the profits of the slave-trade were still to be seen in the stately mansions and pleasant gardens of her maritime towns. The Southern man could see no reason of State, of law, or of religion which required him to yield his most ancient rights and his most valuable property to the new-bom zeal of adversaries whom he more than sus- pected of being actuated by mere malignity under the guise of philanthropy. All that he knew or had ever known of the policy of the State, of religion, or of law was on the side of slavery. It was his inheritance in the land descended from his remotest ancestry ; recorded 64 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. in the deeds and written in the wills of his nearest kindred ; interwoven more or less intimately with every tradition and every precious memory ; the basis of public economy and of private prosperity, fostered by the maternal care of Great Britain, and, unlike any other domestic institution, solemnly protected by sep- arate and distinct provisions in the fundamental law of the federal Union. It was, therefore, as much a part of his religion to cherish and defend it as it was part of the religion of an Abolitionist to denounce and assail it. To him, at least, it was still pure and of good report ; he held it as sacred as marriage, as sacred as the rela- tion of parent and child. Forcible abolition was in his eyes as lawless and cruel as arbitrary divorce, or the violent abduction of his offspring ; it bereft his fireside, broke up his family, set his own household in arms against him, and deluded to their ruin those whom the Lord had given into his hand for a wise and beneficent purpose. He saw in the extinction of slavery the ex- tinction of society and the subversion of the State ; his imagination could compass no crime more daring in the conception, or more terrible in the execution. He saw in it the violation of every law, human and divine, from the Ten Commandments to the last Act of Assembly, — the inauguration of every disaster and of every enormity which men in their sober senses equally fear and detest ; it was the knife to his throat, the torch to his roof, a peril unutterable to his wife and daughter, and certain penury, or worse, to such of his posterity FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 65 as might survive to other times. We smile at his delusion, and laugh at his fears ; but we forget that they were shared by eight millions of intelligent people, and had been entertained by the entire generation of patriots and statesmen who made the Union, — by Jefferson who opposed slavery and " trembled " for the judgment, as by the New-England ship-owner and the Georgia planter, who struck hands to continue the African slave-trade till 1808. Mr. Lincoln himself, with that charity for honest but mistaken opinions which more than once induced him to pause long and reflect seriously before committing his Administration to the extremities of party rage, de- clared in an elaborate speech, that, had his lot been cast in the South, he would no doubt have been a zealous defender of the " peculiar institution," — and confessed, that, were he then possessed of unlimited power, he would not know how to liberate the slaves without fatally disturbing the peace and prosperity of the country. He had once said in a speech ; " The Southern people are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist among them, they would not introduce it : if it did now exist among us, we should not instantly give it up. This I believe of the masses North and South. Doubtless, there are individuals on both sides who would not hold slaves under any circumstances; and others would gladly introduce slavery anew if it were out of existence. We know that some Southern men do free their slaves, go North, and become tip-top Aboii- S 66 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. tionists ; while some Northern men go South, and become cruel slave-masters." Judge Jeremiah S. Black, in a paper written in re- sponse to a memorial address on William H. Seward, said : " The Southern people sprang from a race ac- customed for two thousand years to dominate over all other races with which it came in contact. They supposed themselves greatly superior to negroes, most of them sincerely believing that if they and the African must live together, the best and safest relations that could be established between them was that of master and servant. . . . Some of them believed slavery a danger- ous evil, but did not see how to get rid of it. They felt as Jefferson did, that they had the wolf by the ears : they could neither hold on with comfort nor let go with safety, and it made them extremely indignant to be goaded in the rear. In all that country from the Potomac to the Gulf there was probably not one man who felt convinced that this difficult subject could be determined for them by strangers and enemies ; seeing that we in the North had held fast to every pound of human flesh we owned, and either worked it to death or sold it for a price, our provision for the freedom of unborn negroes did not tend much to their edification. They had no confidence in that ' ripening ' influence of humanity which turned up the white of its eyes at a negro com- pelled to hoe corn and pick cotton, and yet gloated over the prospect of insurrection and massacre." Further, emancipation was a question of figures as well FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 6/ as feeling. The loss of four millions of slaves, at an average value of six hundred dollars each, constituted in the aggregate a sacrifice too vast to be contemplated for a moment. Yet this was but a single item. The cotton crop of i860 was worth the round sum of a hundred and ninety-eight million dollars, while that of 1859 was worth two hundred and forty-seven million dollars, and the demand still in excess of the supply. It formed the bulk of our exchanges with Europe ; paid our foreign indebtedness ; maintained a great marine ; built towns, cities, and railways ; enriched factors, brokers, and bankers ; filled the federal treasury to overflowing, and made the foremost nations of the world commercially our tributaries and politically our dependants. A short crop embarrassed and distressed all western Europe ; a total failure, a war, or non-intercourse, would reduce whole communities to famine, and probably precipitate them into revolution. It was an opinion generally received, and scarcely questioned anywhere, that cotton- planting could be carried on only by African labor, and that African labor was possible only under compulsion. Here, then, was another item of loss, which, being pros- pective, could neither be measured by statistics nor com- puted in figures. Add to this the sudden conversion of millions of producers into mere consumers, the de- preciation of real estate, the depreciation of stocks and securities as of banks and railways, dependent for their value upon the inland commerce in the products of slave-labor, with the waste, disorder, and bloodshed 68 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, inevitably attending a revolution like this, and you have a sum-total literally appalling. Could any people on earth tamely submit to spoliation so thorough and so fatal? The very Bengalese would muster the last man, and stake the last jewel, to avert it. In the last days of March, 1861, I was sent by Presi- dent Lincoln on a confidential mission to Charleston, South Carolina. It was in its nature one of great delicacy and importance ; and the statie of the public mind in the South at that juncture made it one not altogether free from danger to life and limb, as I was rather roughly reminded before the adventure was con- cluded. Throughout the entire land was heard the tumult of mad contention ; the representative men, the pol- iticians and the press of the two sections were hurling at one another deadly threats and fierce defiance ; sober and thoughtful men heard with sickening alarm the deep and not distant mutterings of the coming storm ; and all minds were agitated by gloomy forebodings, distressing doubts, and exasperating uncertainty as to what the next move in the strange drama would be. Following the lead of South Carolina, the secession element of other Southern States had cut them loose, one by one, from their federal moorings, and " The Confederate States of America " was the result. It was at the virtual Capital of the State which had been the pioneer in all this haughty and stupendous work of rebellion that I was about to trust my precious life and limbs as a stranger within her gates and an enemy to her cause. FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 6g Up to this time, Mr. Lincoln had been slow to realize or to acknowledge, even to himself, the awful gravity of the situation, and the danger that the gathering clouds portended. Certain it is that Mr. Seward wildly under- rated the courage and determination of the Southern people, and both men indulged the hope that pacific means might yet be employed to arrest the tide of passion and render a resort to force unnecessary. Mr. Seward was inclined, as the world knows, to credit the Southern leaders with a lavish supply of noisy bravado, quite overlooking the dogged pertinacity and courage which Mr. Lincoln well knew would characterize those men, as well as the Southern masses, in case of armed conflict between the sections. Mr. Lincoln had Southern blood in his veins, and he knew well the character of that people. He believed it possible to effect some accommodation by dealing directly with the most chivalrous among their leaders ; at all events he thought it his duty to try, and my embassy to Charleston was one of his experiments in that direction. It was believed in the South that Mr. Seward had given assurances, before and after Lincoln's inauguration, that no attempt would be made to reinforce the Southern forts, or to resupply Fort Sumter, under a Republican Administration. This made matters embarrassing, as Mr. Lincoln's Administration had, on the contrary, adopted the policy of maintaining the federal authority at all points, and of tolerating no interference in the enforcement of that authority from any source whatever. v „^ ,, ^COLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ,/Vhen my mission to Charleston was suggested by •xVlr. Lincoln, Mr. Seward promptly opposed it. "Mr. President," said he, " I greatly fear that you are send- ing Lamon to his grave. I fear they may kill him in Charleston. Those people are greatly excited, and are very desperate. We can't spare Lamon, and we shall feel very badly if anything serious should happen to him." " Mr. Secretary," replied Mr. Lincoln, " I have known Lamon to be in many a close place, and he has never been in one that he did n't get out of. By Jing ! I '11 risk him. Go, Lamon, and God bless you ! Bring back a Palmetto, if you can't bring us good news." Armed with certain credentials — from the President, Mr. Seward, General Scott, Postmaster- General Blair, and others — I set out on my doubtful and ticklish adventure. While I was preparing my baggage at Willard's Hotel, General (then Mr. Stephen A.) Hurlbut, of Illinois, en- tered my room, and seeing how I was engaged inquired as to the object. He being an old and reliable friend, I told him without hesitation ; and he immediately asked if he might not be allowed to accompany me. He desired, he said, to pay a last visit to Charleston, the place of his birth, and to a sister living there, before the dread outbreak which he knew was coming. I saw no objection. He hurried to his rooms to make his own preparations, whence, an hour later, I took him and his wife to the boat. FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. yi On arriving at Charleston about eight o'clock Satur- day night, the Hurlbuts went to the house of a kinsman, and I went to the Charleston Hotel. It so happened that several young Virginians arrived on the same train, and stopped at the same hotel. They all registered from Virginia, and made the fact known with some show of enthusiasm that they had come to join the Con- federate army. I registered simply "Ward H. Lamon," followed by a long dash of the pen. That evening, and all the next day (Sunday), little attention was paid to me, and no one knew me. I visited the venerable and distinguished lawyer, Mr. James L. Petigru, and had a conference with him, — having been enjoined to do so by Mr. Lincoln, who personally knew that Mr. Petigru was a Union man. At the close of the interview Mr. Petigru said to me that he seldom stirred from his house ; that he had no sympathy with the rash movements of his people, and that few sympa- thized with him ; that the whole people were infuriated and crazed, and that no act of headlong violence by them would surprise him. In saying farewell, with warm expressions of good-will, he said that he hoped he should not be considered inhospitable if he requested me not to repeat my visit, as every one who came near him was watched, and intercourse with him could only result in annoyance and danger to the visitor as well as to himself, and would fail to promote any good to the Union cause. It was now too late, he said ; peaceable secession or war was inevitable. J2 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Governor Pickens and his admirable and beautiful wife were boarding at the Charleston Hotel. Early Monday morning I sent my card to the governor re- questing an interview, and stating that I was from the President of the United States. The answer came that he would see me as soon as he was through with his breakfast. I then strolled downstairs into the main lobby and corridors, where, early as the hour was, I soon discovered that something wonderful was " in the wind," and, moreover, that that wonderful something was embodied in my own person. I was not, like Hamlet, " the glass of fashion and the mould of form," yet I was somehow "the observed of all observers." I was con- scious that I did not look like "the expectancy and rose of the fair state ; " that my " personal pulchritude," as a witty statesman has it, was not overwhelming to the beholder; and yet I found myself at that moment immensely, not to say alarmingly^ attractive. The news had spread far and wide that a great Goliath from the North, a "Yankee Lincoln- hireling," had come suddenly into their proud city, uninvited, un- heralded. Thousands of persons had gathered to see the strange ambassador. The corridors, the main office and lobby, were thronged, and the adjacent streets were crowded as well with excited spectators, mainly of the lower order, — that class of dowdy patriots who in times of public commotion always find the paradise of the coward, the bruiser, and the blackguard. There was a wagging of heads, a chorus of curses and epithets not at FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 73 all complimentary, and all eyes were fixed upon the daring stranger, who seemed to be regarded not as the bearer of the olive-branch of peace, but as a demon come to denounce the curse of war, pestilence, and famine. This was my initiation into the great "Un- pleasantness," and the situation was certainly painful and embarrassing ; but there was plainly nothing to do but to assume a bold front. I pressed my way through the mass of excited humanity to the clerk's counter, examined the register, then turned, and with difficulty elbowed my way through the dense crowd to the door of the breakfast- room. There I was touched upon the shoulder by an elderly man, who asked in a tone of peremptory authority, — "Are you Mark Lamon?" " No, sir ; I am Ward H. Lamon, at your service." " Are you the man who registered here as Lamon, from Virginia?" " I registered as Ward H. Lamon, without designating my place of residence. What is your business with me, sir?" " Oh, well," continued the man of authority, " have you any objection to state what business you have here in Charleston?" "Yes, I have." Then after a pause, during which I surveyed my questioner with as much coolness as the state of my nerves would allow, I added, " My business is with your governor, who is to see me as soon as he has finished his breakfast. If he chooses to impart 74 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. to you my business in this city, you will know it; otherwise, not." " Beg pardon ; if you have business with our governor, it *s all right ; we '11 see." Shortly after breakfast I was waited upon by one of the governor's staff, a most courtly and agreeable gentle- man, in full military uniform, who informed me that the governor was ready to receive me. My interview with Governor Pickens was, to me, a memorable one. After saying to him what President Lincoln had directed me to say, a general discussion took place touching the critical state of public affairs. With a most engaging courtesy, and an open frankness for which that brave man was justly celebrated, he told me plainly that he was compelled to be both radical and violent ; that he regretted the necessity of violent measures, but that he could see no way out of existing difficulties but to fight out. " Nothing," said he, " can prevent war except the acquiescence of the President of the United States in secession, and his unalterable resolve not to attempt any reinforcement of the Southern forts. To think of longer remaining in the Union is simply preposterous. We have five thousand well-armed soldiers around this city ; all the States are arming with great rapidity; and this means war with all its conse- quences. Let your President attempt to reinforce Sumter, and the tocsin of war will be sounded from every hill- top and valley in the South." This settled the matter so far as accommodation was FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 75 concerned. There was no doubt in my mind that Pickens voiced the sentiment of Rebellion. My next duty was to confer with Major Anderson at the beleaguered fort. On my intimating a desire to see that officer, Governor Pickens promptly placed in my hands the following : — State of South Carolina, Executive Department, 25 March, 1861. Mr. La'mon, from the President of the United States, requests to see Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, on busi- ness entirely pacific ; and my aid, Colonel Duryea, will go with him and return, merely to see that every propriety is observed toward Mr. Lamon. F. W. Pickens, Governor. A flag-of-truce steamer was furnished by the governor, under charge of Colonel Duryea, a genial and accom- plished gentleman to whom I am indebted for most considerate courtesy, and I proceeded to Fort Sumter. I found Anderson in a quandary, and deeply despondent. He fully realized the critical position he and his men occupied, and he apprehended the worst possible con- sequences if measures were not promptly taken by the government to strengthen him. His subordinates gener- ally, on the contrary, seemed to regard the whole affair as a sort of picnic, and evinced a readiness to meet any fate. They seemed to be "spoiling for a fight," and were eager for anything that might relieve the monotony of their position. War seemed as inevitable to them as to Governor Pickens. ^6 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. After a full and free conference with Major Anderson, I returned to the Charleston Hotel. The excited crowds were still in the streets, and the hotel was overflowing •with anxious people. The populace seemed maddened by their failure to learn anything of the purpose or results of my visit. The aspect of things was threatening to my personal safety, and Governor Pickens had already taken steps to allay the excitement. A rope had been procured by the rabble and thrown into one corner of the reading-room ; and as I entered the room I was accosted by a seedy patriot, somewhat past the middle age. He was dressed in a fork-tailed coat with brass buttons, which looked as if it might have done service at Thomas Jefferson's first reception. He wore a high bell-crowned hat, with an odor and rust of antiquity which seemed to proclaim it a relic from the wardrobe of Sir Walter Raleigh. His swarthy throat was decorated with a red bandana cravat and a shirt-collar of amazing amplitude, and of such fantastic pattern that it might have served as a " fly " to a Sibley tent. This individual was in a rage. Kicking the rope into the middle of the room, and squaring himself before me, he said, — "Do you think that is strong enough to hang a damned Lincoln abolition hireling?" To this highly significant interrogatory I replied, aim- ing my words more at the crowd than at the beggarly ruffian who had addressed me, " Sir, I am a Virginian by birth, and a gentleman, I hope, by education and ^tate of ^ottth 0|arolina EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. -2 r^ ..--/f^^. - y^^Y FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. jy instinct. I was sent here by the President of the United States to see your governor — " The seedy spokesman interrupted with, " Damn your President ! " I continued : "You, sir, are surrounded by your friends — by a mob ; and you are brutal and cowardly enough to insult an unoffending stranger in the great city that is noted for its hospitality and chivalry ; and let me tell you that your conduct is cowardly in the extreme. Among gentlemen, the brutal epithets you employ are neither given nor received." This saucy speech awoke a flame of fury in the mob, and there is no telling what might have happened but for the lucky entrance into the room at that moment of Hon. Lawrence Keitt, who approached me and laying his hand familiarly on my shoulder, said, — " Why, Lamon, old fellow, where did you come from ? I am glad to see you." The man with the brass buttons showed great aston- ishment. " Keitt," said he, " do you speak to that Lincoln hireling?" "Stop!" thundered Keitt ; "you insult Lamon, and you insult me ! He is a gentleman, and my friend. Come, Lamon, let us take a drink." The noble and generous Keitt knew me well, and it may be supposed that his " smiling " invitation was music in one sinner's ears at least. Further insults to the stranger from the loafer element of Charleston were not indulged in. The extremes of Southern character ^~ ^8 /RECOLLECT/OATS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the top and the bottom of the social scale in the slaveholding States — were exemplified in the scene just described, by Keitt and the blustering bully with the shirt-collar. The first, cultivated, manly, noble, hospit- able, brave, and generous ; the other, mean, unmanly, unkempt, untaught, and reeking with the fumes of the blackguard and the brute.® My instructions from Mr. Lincoln required me to see and confer with the postmaster of Charleston. By this time the temper of the riotous portion of the populace, inflamed by suspicion and disappointed rage, made my further appearance on the streets a hazardous adventure. Again Governor Pickens, who despised the cowardice as he deplored the excesses of the mob, interposed his authority. To his thoughtful courtesy I was indebted for the following pass, which enabled me to visit the postmaster without molestation : — Headquarters, 25 March, 1861. The bearer, Mr. Lamon, has business with Mr. Huger, Postmaster of Charleston, and must not be interrupted by any one, as his business in Charleston is entirely pacific in all matters. F. W. Pickens, Governor. At eight o'clock that Monday night I took the train for my return to Washington. At a station in the out- skirts of the city my friends. General Hurlbut and wife, came aboard. Hurlbut knew the conductor, who gave him seats that were as private as possible. Very soon the conductor slipped a note into my hands that was FOREBODINGS OF COMING CONFLICT. 79 significant as well as amusing. It was from General Hurlbut, and was in the following words : — Don't you recognize us until this train gets out of South Carolina. There is danger ahead, and a damned sight of it. Steve. This injunction was scrupulously observed. I learned afterward that about all of Hurlbut's time in Charleston had been employed in eluding the search of the vigilants, who, it was feared, would have given him a rough wel- come to Charleston if they had known in time of his presence there. Without further adventure we reached Washington in safety, only a few days before the tocsin of war was sounded by the firing on Fort Sumter. On my return, the President learned for the first time that Hurlbut had been in South Carolina. He laughed heartily over my unvarnished recital of Hurlbut's experience in the hot- bed of secession, though he listened with profound and saddened attention to my account of the condition of things in the fort on the one hand, and in the State and city on the other. I brought back with me a Palmetto branch, but I brought no promise of peace. I had measured the depth of madness that was hurrying the Southern masses into open rebellion ; I had ascertained the real temper and determination of their leaders by personal contact with them ; and this made my mission one that was not altogether without profit to the great man at whose bidding I made the doubtful journey. CHAPTER V. HIS SIMPLICITY. POLITICAL definitions have undergone some curious changes in this country since the beginning of the present century. In the year 1801, Thomas Jefferson was the first "repubUcan" President of the United States, as the term was then defined. Sixty years later, Abraham Lincoln was hailed as our first Republican President. The Sage of Monticello was, indeed, the first to introduce at the Executive Mansion a genuine republican code of social and official etiquette. It was a wide departure from the ceremonial and showy observances for which Hamilton, his great rival, had so long contended, and which were peculiarly distasteful to the hardy freemen of the new Republic. Mr. Lincoln profoundly admired the Virginian. Noth- ing in the career or the policy of Jefferson was nearer his heart than the homely and healthful republicanism impHed in the term " Jeffersonian simplicity." While Mr. Lincoln occupied the White House, his intercourse with his fellow-citizens was fashioned after the JefFer- sonian idea. He believed that there should be the utmost freedom of intercourse between the people and their President. Jefferson had the truly republican idea HIS SIJVIPLICITY, 8 1 that he was the servant of the people, not their master. That was Lincoln's idea also. Jefferson welcomed to the White House the humble mechanic and the haughty aristocrat with the same unaffected cordiality. Mr. Lincoln did the same. *' There is no smell of royalty about this establishment," was a jocular expression which I have heard Mr. Lincoln use many times ; and it was thoroughly characteristic of the man. " Lincolnian simplicity " was, in fact, an improvement on the code of his illustrious predecessor. The doors of the White House were always open. Mr. Lincoln was always ready to greet visitors, no matter what their rank or calling, — to hear their complaints, their petitions, or their suggestions touching the conduct of public affairs. The ease with which he could be approached vastly increased his labor. It also led to many scenes at the White House that were strangely amusing and sometimes dramatic. Early in the year 1865, certain influential citizens of Missouri, then in Washington, held a meeting to consider the disturbed state of the border counties, and to formulate a plan for securing Executive interference in behalf of their oppressed fellow-citizens. They " where- ased " and " resolved " at great length, and finally appointed a committee charged with the duty of visiting Mr. Lincoln, of stating their grievances, and of demand- ing the removal of General Fisk and the appointment of Gen. John B. McPherson in his place. The committee consisted of an ex-governor and several able and earnest 6 82 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. gentlemen deeply impressed with the importance of their mission. They entered the White House with some trepidation. It was at a critical period of the war, and they supposed it would be difficult to get the ear of the President. Grant was on the march to Richmond, and Sherman's army was returning from the sea. The committee knew that Mr. Lincoln would be engaged in considering the momentous events then developing, and they were there- fore greatly surprised to find the doors thrown open to them. They were cordially invited to enter Mr. Lin- coln's office. The ex-governor took the floor in behalf of the op- pressed Missourians. He first presented the case of a certain lieutenant, who was described as a very lonely Missourian, an orphan, his family and relatives having joined the Confederate army. Through evil reports and the machinations of enemies this orphan had got into trouble. Among other things the orator described the orphan's arrest, his trial and conviction on the charge of embezzling the money of the government ; and he made a moving appeal to the President for a reopen- ing of the case and the restoration of the abused man to his rank and pay in the army. The papers in the case were handed to Mr. Lincoln, and he was asked to examine them for himself. The bulky package looked formidable. Mr. Lincoln took it up and began reading aloud : " Whereas, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman " — " Whereas, HIS SIMPLICITY, 83 without resentment the said heutenant received a letter from a man named , stating that the President must be a negro ; " and " Whereas, the said heutenant cor- ruptly received while an officer on duty, from a man in , the sum of forty dollars — " " Stop there ! " exclaimed the lieutenant, who was at that moment behind the ex-governor's chair. " Why, Mr. Lincoln — beg pardon — Mr. President, it wa' n't but thirty dollars." " Yes," said the governor, " that charge, Mr. President, is clearly wrong. It was only thirty dollars, as we can prove." " Governor," said Mr. Lincoln, who was by this time thoroughly amused, but grave as a judge, " that reminds me of a man in Indiana, who was in a battle of words with a neighbor. One charged that the other's daughter had three illegitimate children. ' Now,' said the man whose family was so outrageously scandalized, ' that 's a lie, and I can prove it, for she only has two.' This case is no better. Whether the amount was thirty dollars or thirty thousand dollars, the culpability is the same." Then, after reading a little further, he said : " I believe I will leave this case where it was left by the officers who tried it." The ex-governor next presented a very novel case. With the most solemn deliberation he began : " Mr. President, I want to call your attention to the case of Betsy Ann Dougherty, — a good woman. She lived in County, and did my washing for a long time. Her 84 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. husband went off and joined the rebel army, and I wish you would give her a protection paper." The solemnity of this appeal struck Mr. Lincoln as uncommonly ridiculous. The two men looked at each other, — the governor desperately in earnest, and the President masking his humor behind the gravest exterior. At last Mr. Lincoln asked with inimitable gravity, " Was Betsy Ann a good washerwoman?" "Oh, yes, sir; she was indeed." " Was your Betsy Ann an obliging woman ? " " Yes, she was certainly very kind," responded the governor, soberly. "Could she do other things than wash?" continued Mr. Lincoln, with the same portentous gravity. " Oh, yes ; she was very kind — very." " Where is Betsy Ann? " " She is now in New York, and wants to come back to Missouri ; but she is afraid of banishment." " Is anybody meddling with her? " " No ; but she is afraid to come back unless you will give her a protection paper." Thereupon Mr. Lincoln wrote on a visiting card the following : — Let Betsy Ann Dougherty alone as long as she behaves herself. A. Lincoln. He handed this card to her advocate, saying, " Give this to Betsy Ann." HIS SIMPLICITY. 85 " But, Mr. President, could n't you write a few words to the officers that would insure her protection? " "No," said Mr. Lincoln, *^ officers have no time now to read letters. Tell Betsy Ann to put a string in this card and hang it round her neck. When the officers see this, they will keep their hands off your Betsy Ann." A critical observer of this ludicrous scene could not fail to see that Mr. Lincoln was seeking needed relaxation from overburdening cares, relief from the severe mental strain he was daily undergoing. By giving attention to mirth-provoking trifles along with matters of serious concern, he found needed diversion. We can never know how much the country profited by the humor- loving nature of this wonderful man. After patiently hearing all the Missouri committee had to say, and giving them the best assurances circumstances would allow, he dismissed them from his presence, enjoyed a hearty laugh, and then relapsed into his accustomed melancholy, contemplative mood, as if look- ing for something else, — looking for the end. He sat for a time at his desk thinking, then turning to me he said: "This case of our old friend, the governor, and his Betsy Ann, is a fair sample of the trifles I am con- stantly asked to give my attention to. I wish I had no more serious questions to deal with. If there were more Betsy Anns and fewer fellows like her husband, we should be better ofl". She seems to have laundered the governor to his full satisfaction, but I am sorry she didn't keep her husband washed cleaner." 86 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Mr. Lincoln was by nature singularly merciful. The ease with which he could be reached by persons who might profit by his clemency gave rise to many notable scenes in the White House during the war. Mr. Wheeler tells of a young man who had been con- victed by a military court of sleeping at his post, — a grave offence, for which he had been sentenced to death. He was but nineteen years of age, and the only son of a widowed mother. He had suffered greatly with home- sickness, and overpowered at night with cold and watch- ing, was overcome by sleep. He had always been an honest, faithful, temperate soldier. His comrades tele- graphed his mother of his fate. She at once went to Orlando Kellogg, whose kind heart promptly responded to her request, and he left for Washington by the first train. He arrived in that city at midnight. The boy was to be executed on the afternoon of the next day. With the aid of his friend, Mr. Wheeler, he passed the military guard about the White House and reached the doorkeeper, who, when he knew Mr. Kellogg's errand, took him to Mr. Lincoln's sleeping-room. Arousing Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Kellogg made known the emergency in a few words. Without stopping to dress, the President went to another room and awakened a messenger. Then sitting down, still in undress, he wrote a telegram to the officer commanding at Yorktown to suspend the exe- cution of the boy until further orders. The telegram was sent at once to the War Department, with directions to the messenger to remain until an answer was received. HIS SIMPLICITY. 87 Getting uneasy at the seeming delay, Mr. Lincoln dressed, went to the Department, and remained until the receipt of his telegram was acknowledged. Then turning to Kellogg, with trembling voice he said, " Now you just telegraph that mother that her boy is safe, and I will go home and go to bed. I guess we shall all sleep better for this night's work." A somewhat similar proof of Mr. Lincoln's mercy is the story told of a very young man living in one of the south- em counties of Kentucky, who had been enticed into the rebel army. After remaining with it in Tennessee a few months he became disgusted or weary, and managed to make his way back to his home. Soon after his arrival, some of the military stationed in the town heard of his return and arrested him as a rebel spy, and, after a mili- tary trial, he was condemned to be hanged. His family was overwhelmed with distress and horror. Mr. Lincoln was seen by one of his friends from Kentucky, who explained his errand and asked for mercy. " Oh, yes, I understand ; some one has been crying, and worked upon your feelings, and you have come here to work on mine." His friend then went more into detail, and assured him of his belief in the truth of the story. After some deliberation, Mr. Lincoln, evidently scarcely more than half convinced, but still preferring to err on the side of mercy, replied : " If a man had more than one life, I v think a little hanging would not hurt this one ; but after he is once dead we cannot bring him back, no matter 88 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, how sorry we may be ; so the boy shall be pardoned." And a reprieve was given on the spot. The following incident will illustrate another phase of Mr. Lincoln's character. A man who was then in jail at Newburyport, Mass., as a convicted slave-trader, and who had been fined one thousand dollars and sentenced to imprisonment for five years, petitioned for a pardon. The petition was accompanied by a letter to the Hon. John B. Alley, a member of Congress from Lynn, Mass. Mr. Alley presented the papers to the President, with a letter from the prisoner acknowledging his guilt and the justice of his sentence. He had served out the term of sentence of imprisonment, but was still held on account of the fine not being paid. Mr. Lincoln was much moved by the pathetic appeal. He then, after pausing some time, said to Mr. Alley : " My friend, this appeal is very touching to my feelings, and no one knows my weakness better than you. It is, if possible, to be too easily moved by appeals for mercy ; and I must say that if this man had been guilty of the foulest murder that the arm of man could perpetrate, I might forgive him on such an appeal. But the man who could go to Africa and rob her of her children, and then sell them into interminable bondage, with no other motive than that which is furnished by dollars and cents, is so much worse than the most depraved murderer that he can never receive pardon at my hand. No, sir ; he may stay in jail forever before he shall have liberty by any act of mine." HIS SIMPLICITY. 89 After the war had been fairly inaugurated, and several battles had been fought, a lady from Alexandria visited Mr. Lincoln, and importuned him to give an order for the release of a certain church in that place which had been seized and used as a hospital. He asked and was told the name of the church, and that there were but three or four wounded persons occupying it, and that the inhabitants wanted it to worship in. Mr. Lincoln asked her if she had applied to the post surgeon at Alexandria to give it up. She answered that she had, and that she could do nothing with him. " Well, madam," said he, ** that is an end of it then. We put him there to attend to just such business, and it is reasonable to suppose that he knows better what should be done under the circum- stances than I do." More for the purpose of testing the sentiments of this visitor than for any other reason, Mr. Lincoln said : " You say you live in Alexandria. How much would you be willing to subscribe towards building a hospital there?" She replied : " You may be aware, Mr. Lincoln, that our property has been very much embarrassed by the war, and I could not afford to give much for such a purpose." "Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, "and this war is not over yet ; and I expect we shall have another fight soon, and that church may be very useful as a hospital in which to nurse our poor wounded soldiers. It is my candid opinion that God wants that church for our wounded fel- 90 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. lows. So, madam, you will excuse me. I can do nothing for you." Afterward, in speaking of this incident, Mr. Lincohi said that the lady as a representative of her class in Alexandria reminded him of the story of the young man who had an aged father and mother owning considerable property. The young man being an only son, and be- lieving that the old people had lived out their usefulness, assassinated them both. He was accused, tried, and convicted of the murder. When the judge came to pass sentence upon him, and called upon him to give any reason he might have why the sentence of death should not be passed upon him, he with great promptness rephed that he hoped the court would be lenient upon him because he was a poor orphan ! Two ladies from Tennessee called at the White House one day, and begged Mr. Lincoln to release their hus- bands, who were rebel prisoners at Johnson's Island. One of the fair petitioners urged as a reason for the liberation of her husband that he was a very religious man ; and she rang the changes on this pious plea ad nausea7n, "Madam," said Mr. Lincoln, "you say your husband is a religious man. Perhaps I am not a good judge of such matters, but in my opinion the religion that makes men rebel and fight against their government is not the genuine article ; nor is the religion the right sort which reconciles them to the idea of eating their bread in the sweat of other men's faces. It is not the kind to get to heaven on." After another interview. HIS SIMPLICITY, 91 however, the order of release was made, — Mr. Lincoln remarking, with impressive solemnity, that he would expect the ladies to subdue the rebellious spirit of their husbands, and to that end he thought it would be well to reform their religion. " True patriotism," said he, " is better than the wrong kind of piety." This is in keeping with a significant remark made by him to a clergyman, in the early days of the war. " Let us have faith, Mr. President," said the minister, "that the Lord is on our side in this great struggle." Mr. Lincoln quietly answered : " I am not at all con- cerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right ; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation may be on the Lord's side." Clergymen were always welcomed by Mr. Lincoln at the White House with the respectful courtesy due to their sacred calling. During the progress of the war, and especially in its earlier stages, he was visited almost daily by reverend, gentlemen, sometimes as single visi- tors, but more frequently in delegations. He was a patient listener to the words of congratulation, counsel, admonition, exhortation, and sometimes reproof, which fell from the lips of his pious callers, and generally these interviews were entertaining and agreeable on both sides. It sometimes happened, however, that these visits were painfully embarrassing to the President. One delega- tion, for example, would urge with importunate zeal a strict observance of the Sabbath day by the army ; others 92 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. would insist upon a speedy proclamation of emancipa- tion ; while some recounted the manifold errors of com- manding generals, complained of the tardy action of the government in critical emergencies, and proposed sweep- ing changes of policy in the conduct of the war. There was scarcely a day when there were not several delegations of this kind to visit him, and a great deal of the President's valuable time was employed in this unim- portant manner. One day he was asked by one of these self-constituted mentors, how many men the rebels had in the field? Mr. Lincoln promptly but seriously an- swered, " Twelve hundred thousand, according to the best authority." His listeners looked aghast. " Good heavens ! " they exclaimed in astonishment. " Yes, sir ; twelve hundred thousand, no doubt of it. You see, all of our generals when they get whipped say the enemy outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe them. We have four hundred thousand men in the field, and three times four make twelve, — don't you see it? It is as plain to be seen as the nose on a man's face ; and at the rate things are now going, with the great amount of speculation and the small crop of fight- ing, it will take a long time to overcome twelve hundred thousand rebels in arms. If they can get subsistence they have everything else, except a just cause. Yet it is said that * thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.* I am willing, however, to risk our advantage of thrice in justice against their thrice in numbers." On but one occasion that I can now recall was Mr. HIS SIMPLICITY. 93 Lincoln's habitual good humor visibly overtaxed by these well-meaning but impatient advisers. A committee of clergymen from the West called one day; and the spokesman, fired with uncontrollable zeal, poured forth a lecture which was fault-finding in tone from beginning to end. It was delivered with much energy, and the short- comings of the Administration were rehearsed with pain- ful directness. The reverend orator made some keen thrusts, which evoked hearty applause from other gentle- , men of the committee. Mr. Lincoln's reply was a notable one. With unusual animation, he said : " Gentlemen, suppose all the prop- erty you possess were in gold, and you had placed it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope. With slow, cautious, steady step he walks the rope, bearing your all. Would you shake the cable, and keep shouting to him, ' Blondin ! stand up a little straighter ! Blondin ! stoop a little more ; go a little faster ; lean more to the south ! Now lean a little more to the north 1 ' — would that be your behavior in such an emergency ? No ; you would hold your breath, every one of you, as well as your tongues. You would keep your hands off until he was safe on the other side. This government, gentlemen, is carrying an immense weight ; untold treasures are in its hands. The persons man- aging the ship of state in this storm are doing the best they can. Don't worry them with needless warnings and complaints. Keep silence, be patient, and we will get you safe across. Good day, gentlemen. I have other duties pressing upon me that must be attended to." 94 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. This incident made Mr. Lincoln a little shy of preachers for a time. " But the latch-string is out," said he, " and they have the right to come here and preach to me if they will go about it with some gentle- ness and moderation." He firmly beheved that — " To speak his thoughts is every freeman's right, In peace and war, in council and in fight," And from this republican idea he would suffer not the slightest departure while he was President. Soon after the affair just described, a man of remark- able appearance presented himself at the White House and requested an audience with Mr. Lincoln. He was a large, fleshy man, of a stern but homely countenance, and of a solemn and dignified carriage. He was dressed in a neatly-fitting swallow- tailed coat, ruffled shirt of faultless fabric, white cravat, and orange- colored gloves. An immense fob chain, to which was attached a huge topaz seal, swung from his watch-pocket, and he carried a large gold-headed cane. His whole appearance was that of a man of great intellect, of stern qualities, of strong piety, and of dignified uncomeliness. He looked in every way like a minister of the gospel, whose vigor- ous mind was bent on godly themes, and whose present purpose was to discourse to Mr. Lincoln on matters of grave import. " I am in for it now," thought the President. "This pious man means business. He is no common preacher. Evidently his gloomy mind is big with a scheme of no ordinary kind." HIS SIMPLICITY. 95 The ceremony of introduction was unusually formal, and the few words of conversation that followed were constrained. The good man spoke with great delibera- tion, as if feeling his way cautiously; but the evident restraint which his manner imposed upon Mr. Lincoln seemed not to please him. The sequel was amazing. Quitting his chair, the portly visitor extended his hand to Mr. Lincoln, saying as the latter rose and con- fronted him : *' Well, Mr. President, I have no business with you, none whatever. I was at the Chicago conven- tion as a friend of Mr. Seward. I have watched you narrowly ever since your inauguration, and I called merely to pay my respects. What I want to say is this : I think you are doing everything for the good of the country that is in the power of man to do. You are on the right track. As one of your constituents I now say to you, do in future as you damn please, and I will sup- port you ! " This was spoken with tremendous effect. " Why," said Mr. Lincoln in great astonishment, *^ I took you to be a preacher. I thought you had come here to tell me how to take Richmond," and he again grasped the hand of his strange visitor. Accurate and penetrating as Mr. Lincoln's judgment was concerning men, for once he had been wholly mistaken. The scene was comical in the extreme. The two men stood gazing at each other. A smile broke from the lips of the solemn wag and rippled over the wide expanse of his homely face like sunlight overspreading a continent, and Mr. Lincoln was convulsed with laughter. 96 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "Sit down, my friend," said the President; "sit down. I am delighted to see you. Lunch with us to-day. Yes, you must stay and lunch with us, my friend, for I have not seen enough of you yet." The stranger did lunch with Mr. Lincoln that day. He was a man of rare and racy humor, — and the good cheer, the fun, the wit, the anecdotes and sparkling con- versation that enlivened the scene was the work of two of the most original characters ever seen in the White House. Shortly after the election of Mr. Lincoln, I talked with him earnestly about the habits, manners, customs, and style of the people with whom he had now to associate, and the difference between his present sur- roundings and those of his Illinois life, and wherein his plain, practical, common- sense actions differed from the polite, graceful, and elegant bearing of the cultivated diplomat and cultured gentlemen of polite society. Thanks to his confidence in my friendship and his affec- tionate forbearance with me, he would listen to me with the most attentive interest, always evincing the strongest desire to correct anything in which he failed to be and appear like, the people with whom he acted ; for it was one of the cardinal traits of his character to be like, of, and for the people, whether in exalted or humble life. A New Hampshire lady having presented to him a soft felt hat of her own manufacture, he was at a loss what to do on his arrival in Washington, as the felt hat seemed unbecoming for a President-elect. He there- HIS SIMPLICITY, 97 fore said to me : *' Hill, this hat of mine won't do. It is a felt one, and I have been uncomfortable in it ever since we left Harrisburg. Give me that plug of yours, until you can go out in the city and buy one either for yourself or for me. I think your hat is about the style. I may have to do some trotting around soon, and if I can't feel natural with a different hat, I may at least look respectable in it." I went to a store near by and purchased a hat, and by the ironing process soon had it shaped to my satisfaction ; and I must say that when Mr. Lincoln put it on, he looked more presentable and more like a President than I had ever seen him. He had very defective taste in the choice of hats, the item of dress that does more than any other for the improvement of one's personal appearance. Afterthe hat reform, I think Mr. Lincoln still suffered much annoyance from the tyranny of fashion in the matter of gloves. His hat for years served the double purpose of an ornamental head-gear and a kind of office or receptacle for his private papers and memoranda. But the necessity to wear gloves he regarded as an af- fliction, a violation of the statute against "cruelty to animals." Many amusing stories could be told of Mr. Lincoln and his gloves. At about the time of his third reception he had on a tight-fitting pair of white kids, which he had with difficulty got on. He saw approach- ing in the distance an old Illinois friend named Simpson, whom he welcomed with a genuine Sangamon County 7 98 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. shake, which resulted in bursting his white-kid glove with an audible sound. Then raising his brawny hand up before him, looking at it with an indescribable ex- pression, he said, — while the whole procession was checked, witnessing this scene, — " Well, my old friend, this is a general bustiiication. You and I were never intended to wear these things. If they were stronger they might do well enough to keep out the cold, but they are a failure to shake hands with between old friends like us. Stand aside, Captain, and I'll see you shortly." The procession then advanced. Simpson stood aside, and after the unwelcome pageantry was ter- minated, he rejoined his old Illinois friend in familiar intercourse. Mr. Lincoln was always delighted to see his Western friends, and always gave them a cordial welcome ; and when the proprieties justified it, he met them on the old familiar footing, entertaining them with anecdotes in unrestrained, free-and-easy conversation. He never spoke of himself as President, — always referred to his office as " this place ; " would often say to an old friend, " Call me Lincoln : * Mr. President ' is entirely too formal for us." Shortly after the first inauguration, an old and respected friend accompanied by his wife visited Washington, and as a matter of course paid their respects to the President and his family, having been on intimate social terms with them for many years. It was proposed that at a certain time Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln should call at the hotel where they were stopping and HIS SIMPLICITY. 99 take them out for a ride in the Presidential carriage, — a gorgeous and grandly caparisoned coach, the like of which the visitors had seldom seen before that time. As close as the intimacy was, the two men had never seen each other with gloves on in their lives, except as a protection from the cold. Both gentlemen, realizing the propriety of their use in the changed condition of things, discussed the matter with their respective wives, who decided that gloves were the proper things. Mr. Lincoln reluctantly yielded to this decree, and placed his in his pocket, to be used or not according to circum- stances. On arriving at the hotel he found his friend, who doubtless had yielded to his wife's persuasion, gloved in the most approved style. The friend, taking in the situation, was hardly seated in the carriage when he began to take off the clinging kids ; and at the same time Mr. Lincoln began to draw his on, — seeing which they both burst into a hearty laugh, when Mr. Lincoln exclaimed, " Oh, why should the spirit of mortals be proud?" Then he added, "I suppose it is polite to wear these things, but it is positively uncomfortable for me to do so. Let us put them in our pockets ; that is the best place for them, and we shall be able to act more like folks in our bare hands." After this the ride was as enjoyable as any one they had ever taken in early days in a lumber wagon over the prairies of Illinois. An instance showing that the deserving low-born com- manded Mr. Lincoln's respect and consideration as well as the high-born and distinguished, may be found in lOO RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. what he said on one occasion to an Austrian count during the rebellion. The Austrian minister to this government introduced to the President a count, subject of the Austrian government, who was desirous of obtain- ing a position in the American army. Being introduced by the accredited minister of Austria, he required no further recommendation to secure the appointment ; but fearing that his importance might not be fully appreciated by the republican President, the count was particular in impressing the fact upon him that he bore that title, and that his family was ancient and highly respectable. Mr. Lincoln listened with attention, until this unneces- sary commendation was mentioned ; then, with a merry twinkle in his eye, he tapped the aristocratic sprig of hereditary nobility on the shoulder in the most fatherly way, as if the gentleman had made a confession of some unfortunate circumstance connected with his lineage, for which he was in no way responsible, saying, " Never mind, you shall be treated with just as much considera- tion for all that. I will see to it that your bearing a title sha'n't hurt you." CHAPTER VI. HIS TENDERNESS. MR. LINCOLN was one of the bravest men that ever lived, and one of the gentlest. The in- stances in his earlier career in which he put his life in peril to prevent injury to another are very numerous. I have often thought that his interposition in behalf of the friendless Indian who wandered into camp during the Black Hawk war and was about to be murdered by the troops, was an act of chivalry unsurpassed in the whole story of knighthood. So in the rough days of Gentryville and New Salem, he was always on the side of the weak and the undefended ; always daring against the bully; always brave and tender; always invoking peace and good-will, except where they could be had only by dishonor. He could not endure to witness the needless suffering even of a brute. When riding once with a company of young ladies and gentlemen, dressed up in his best, he sprang from his horse and released a pig which was fast in a fence and squealing in pain, because, as he said in his homely way, the misery of the poor pig was more than he could bear. Hon. I. N. Arnold tells of an incident in the early days of Mr. Lincoln's practice at the Springfield bar. I02 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. He was coming home from a neighboring county seat, with a party of lawyers, riding two by two along a country lane, Lincoln and a comrade brought up the rear, and when the others stopped to water their horses his comrade came up alone. "Where is Lincoln? " was the inquiry. " Oh," replied the friend, " when I saw him last he had caught two young birds which the wind had blown out of their nest, and was hunting up the nest to put them back into it." How instinctively Mr. Lincoln turned from the delib- erate, though lawful and necessary, shedding of blood during the war is well known. His Secretaries of War, his Judge-Advocate General, and generals in the field, were often put to their wits' end to maintain the disci- pline of the army against this constant softness of the President's good heart. * Upward of twenty deserters were sentenced at one time to be shot. The warrants for their execution were sent to Mr. Lincoln for his approval ; but he refused to sign them. The commanding general to whose corps the condemned men belonged was indignant. He hurried to Washington. Mr. Lincoln had listened to moving petitions for mercy from humane persons who, like himself, were shocked at the idea of the cold- blooded execution of more than a score of misguided men. His resolution was fixed, but his rule was to see every man who had business with him. The irate commander, therefore, was admitted into Mr. Lincoln's private office. With soldierly bluntness he told the HIS TENDERNESS. IO3 President that mercy to the few was cruelty to the many ; that Executive clemency in such a case would be a blow at military discipline ; and that unless the condemned men were made examples of, the army itself would be in danger. "General," said Mr. Lincoln, "there are too many weeping widows in the United States now. For God's sake don't ask me to add to the number; for, I tell you plainly, / w ^^, County of Washington, f Robert Strong, a citizen of said County and District, being duly sworn, says that he was a policeman at the Capi- tol on the day of the second inauguration of President Lin- coln, and was stationed at the east door of the rotunda, with Commissioner B. B. French, at the time the President, ac- companied by the judges and others, passed out to the plat- form where the ceremonies of inauguration were about to begin, when a man in a very determined and excited manner broke through the line of policemen which had been formed to keep the crowd out. Lieutenant Westfall immediately seized the stranger, and a considerable scuffle ensued. The stranger seemed determined to get to the platform where the President and his party were, but Lieutenant Westfall called for assistance. The Commissioner closed the door, or had it closed, and the intruder was finally thrust from the passage leading to the platform which was reserved for the Presi- dent's party. After the President was assassinated, the PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 273 singular conduct of this stranger on that day was frequently talked of by the policemen who observed it. Lieutenant Westfall procured a photograph of the assassin Booth soon after the death of the President, and showed it to Commis- sioner French in my presence and in the presence of several other policemen, and asked him if he had ever met that man. The commissioner examined it attentively and said : "Yes, I would know that face among ten thousand. That is the man you had a scuffle with on inauguration day. That is the same man." Affiant also recognized the photograph. Lieutenant Westfall then said : " This is the picture of J. Wilkes Booth." Major French exclaimed : " My God ! what a fearful risk we ran that day ! " Robert Strong. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of March, 1876. James A. Tait, [seal] Notary Public. From this sworn statement it will be seen that Booth's plan was one of phenomenal audacity. So frenzied was the homicide that he determined to take the President's life at the inevitable sacrifice of his own ; for nothing can be more certain than that the murder of Mr. Lincoln on that public occasion, in the presence of a vast con- course of admiring citizens, would have been instantly avenged. The infuriated populace would have torn the assassin to pieces, and this the desperate man doubtless knew. It is a curious fact, that, although Mr. Lincoln believed that his career would be cut short by violence, he was incorrigibly skeptical as to the agency in the expected tragedy, with one solitary exception. Elderly residents t8 274 RECOLLECTIOXS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. i of Washington will remember one G^rowski, a Polish exile, as many believed. He was an accomplished lin- guist, a revolutionist by nature, restless, revengeful, and of a fiery and ungovernable temper. He had been employed in the State Department as a translator, I believe, but had quarrelled with Mr. Seward and was discharged. This caused him to pursue Lincoln, Seward, and Sumner with bitter hatred. The curious will find in a published diary of his a fantastic classification of his enemies. The President he rated as *' third-class," according to his estimate of statesmanlike qualities. From this man Gurowski, and from him alone, Mr. Lincoln really apprehended danger by a violent assault, although he knew not what the sense of fear was like. Mr. Lincoln more than once said to me : " So far as my personal safety is concerned, Gurowski is the only man who has given me a serious thought of a personal nature. From the known disposition of the man, he is dangerous wherever he may be. I have sometimes thought that he might try to take my life. It would be just like him to do such a thing." The following letter was written one night when I was much annoyed at what seemed to me Mr. Lincoln's carelessness in this matter : — Washington, D. C. Dec. lo, 1864, 1.30 o'clock, a. m. Hon. A . Lincoln r Sir, — I rep;re: that you do not appreciate what I have repeatedly said to you in regard to the proper police arrange- noents connected with your household and your own personal PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 2/5 safety. You are in danger. I have nothing to ask, and I flatter myself that you will at least believe that I am honest. If, however, you have been impressed differently, do me and the country the justice to dispose at once of all suspected officers, and accept my resignation of the marshalship, which is hereby tendered. I will give you further reasons which have impelled me to this course. To-night, as you have \y done on several previous occasions, you went unattended to the theatre. When I say unattended, I mean that you went alone with Charles Sumner and a foreign minister, neither of whom could defend himself against an assault from any able- bodied woman in this city. And you know, or ought to know, that your life is sought after, and will be taken unless you and your friends are cautious ; for you have many ene- mies within our lines. You certainly know that I have pro- vided men at your mansion to perform all necessary police duty, and I am always ready myself to perform any duty that will properly conduce to your interest or your safety. God knows that I am unselfish in this matter ; and I do think that I have played low comedy long enough, and at my time of life I think I ought at least to attempt to play star engagements. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant. Ward H. Lamon. Mr. Lincoln had in his great heart no place for un-' charitableness or suspicion ; which accounts for his singular indifference to the numberless cautions so earn- estly and persistently pressed upon him by friends who knew the danger to which he was hourly exposed. He had a sublime faith in human nature ; and in that faith he lived until the fatal moment when the nations of the 2^6 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. earth were startled by a tragedy whose mournful conse^ quences no man can measure. An unwonted interest attaches to the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, not alone from the peculiarly dramatic incidents by which it was attended, but also from the controlling influence he would unquestionably have ex- erted, if his life had been spared, in modifying and facilitating the solution of perhaps the greatest social and political problem of modern times. This problem, after being committed to the solemn arbitrament of the sword, and passing through its ordeal, had now reached an ulterior stage of development which demanded, in the council chamber, the exercise of even higher admin- istrative qualities than those which had hitherto directed its general conduct in the field. These attributes, it was generally recognized and conceded, were possessed by Mr. Lincoln in a pre-eminent degree. To a constancy of purpose and tenacity of will, of which conspicuous evidence had been presented in the final triumph of the Union cause, he united a conciliatory disposition, and the gentleness, sensibility, and simplicity of a child. Frequent reference has already been made to the humane and generous promptings of Mr. Lincoln's great soul, in all the varied relations of his life, as well private as official, and to instances of patriotism and of self-sacri- fice almost unparalleled in the annals of history. With a more enlarged experience of the violence of party passion and of internecine strife, and of the ex- cesses to which they sometimes unhappily lead, it seems PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 2 J J almost incredible that the apprehensions of danger to Mr. Lincoln should have been shared by so few, when one thinks of the simplicity of his domestic habits, the facilities at all times afforded for a near approach to his presence, and the entire absence of all safeguards for the protection of his person, save the watchfulness of one or two of his most immediate friends ; and this, too, at a period of such unprecedented party excitement and sec- tional strife and animosity. But the truth is, the crime of assassination was so abhorrent to the genius of Anglo- Saxon civilization, so foreign to the spirit and practice of our republican institutions, that little danger was appre- hended of an outrage against society at large, the recol- lection of which even now suffices to tinge with a blush of shame the cheek of every true American, whether of Northern or of Southern birth. In 1880, after the nomination of General Garfield for President, General Grant visited Boulder, Col., where I was at that time residing. We had a long conversation on the assassination of Mr. Lincoln ; and he told me that about the period of the surrender of General Lee no sub- ject gave him deeper concern than the personal safety of the President. He stated that while no special cause ex- isted for this apprehension, as the war was manifestly and inevitably drawing to a conclusion, he had been harassed by almost constant fears and anxieties for Mr. Lincoln's life. "I learned," said he, "that your own apprehen- sions were excited from the very outbreak of the war ; in fact, before war was declared. It seems unaccountable to 278 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. me now, in reviewing the situation, that more persons were not so impressed. I was aware, during all the latter part of the war, of your own fears, and of what you had done and were doing for his safety and protection." I read a communication addressed to the " St. Louis Democrat," in July, 1886, by Mr. R. C. Laverty, Gene- ral Grant's telegraph operator, in which he states that at the time of the surrender, " General Grant reported every day regularly to Washington, and was in constant communication at that time with the capital, because he was extremely anxious about the personal safety of the President." Upon the assassination of Mr. Lincoln being com- municated to General Grant he exclaimed : " This is the darkest day of my life ! I do not know what it means. Here was the Rebellion put down in the field, and it is reasserting itself in the gutter. We had fought it as war, we have now to fight it as murder." Con- tinuing his observations he said : " I was busy sending off orders to stop recruiting and the purchase of supplies, and to muster out the army. Mr. Lincoln had promised to go to the theatre that evening and wanted me to accompany him. While I was with the President a note was received by me from Mrs. Grant, saying that she was desirous of leaving Washington on the same evening on a visit to her daughter at Burlington. Some inci- dents of a trivial character had influenced this determi- nation, and she decided to leave by an evening 'train. 1 PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 279 was not disinclined to meet her wishes, not caring par- ticularly to go to the theatre. I therefore made my excuses to the President, and at the hour determined upon we left home for the railway station. As we were driving along Pennsylvania Avenue, a horseman rode rapidly past us at a gallop, and wheeling his horse, rode back, peering into our carriage as he again passed us. Mrs. Grant, with a perceptible shade of concern in her voice and manner, remarked to me : ' That is the very man who sat near us at lunch to-day with some others, and tried to overhear our conversation. He was so rude, you remember, as to cause us to leave the dining- room. Here he is again, riding after us ! ' For myself I thought it was only idle curiosity, but learned afterward that the horseman was Booth. It seemed that I was also to have been attacked, and Mrs. Grant's sudden deter- mination to leave Washington deranged the plan. Only a few days afterwards I received an anonymous letter stating that the writer had been detailed to assassinate me ; that he rode in my train as far as Havre de Grace, and as my car was locked he failed to get in. He now thanked God he had so failed. I remember very well that the conductor locked our car door ; but how far the letter was genuine I am unable to say. I was advised of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln in passing through Phila- delphia, and immediately returned to Washington by a special train." When the dreadful tragedy occurred I was out of the city, having gone to Richmond two days before on busi- 280 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ness for Mr. Lincoln connected with the call of a con- vention for reconstruction, about which there had arisen some complications. I have preserved the pass Mr. Lincoln gave me to go through to Richmond, of which the following is a fac-simile : — ^'^ This was perhaps the last passport ever written oi authorized by Abraham Lincoln. On the eve of my departure I urged upon Mr. Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, to persuade Mr. Lincoln to exercise extreme caution, and to go out as little as pos- sible while I was absent. Mr. Usher went with me to see Mr. Lincoln ; and when about to leave, I asked him if he would make me a promise. He asked what it was, and said that he thought he could venture to say he would. I wanted him to promise me that he would not go out after night while I was gone, particularly to the theatre. He turned to Mr. Usher and said : — " Usher, this boy is a monomaniac on the subject of my safety. I can hear him or hear of his being around, PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 28 1 at all times of the night, to prevent somebody from mur- dering me. He thinks I shall be killed ; and we think he is going crazy." He then added : "What does any one want to assassinate me for ? If any one wants to do so, he can do it any day or night, if he is ready to give his life for mine. It is nonsense." Mr. Usher then said : " Mr. Lincoln, it is well to listen and give heed to Lamon. He is thrown among people that give him opportunities to know more about such matters than we can know." I then renewed my request, standing with my hat in my hand, ready to start. " Well," said Mr. Lincoln, " I promise to do the best I can towards it." He then shook me cordially by the hand, and said, " Good-bye. God bless you. Hill ! " This was the last time I ever saw my friend. APRIL 14 1\ /TR. LINCOLN, accompanied by his wife, Miss Har- "^ "** ris and Maj. Rathbone, of Albany, New York, was occupying a box at Ford's Theatre, in the city of Wash- ington. The play was " Our American Cousin," with the elder Sothem in the principal role. Mr. Lincoln was en- joying it greatly. Lee had surrendered on the 9th; on the 13th the war was everywhere regarded as ended, and upon that day Secretary Stanton had telegraphed to Gen. Dix, Governor of New York, requesting him to stop the draft. Sothern as Lord Du?idreary was at his best. Lincoln was delighted. The lines which care and responsibility had so deeply graven on his brow, were now scarcely>isible. His people had just passed through the greatest civil war known in the history of nations and he had become well convinced that now, the cause of strife being destroyed, the government over which he was ruling would be made stronger, greater and better by the crucial test through which it has passed. Before leaving for the theatre he had pronounced it the hap- piest day of his life. He looked, indeed, as if he now fully realized the consummation of the long cherished and fondest aspiration of his heart. He was at length the undisputed Chief Magistrate of a confederation of States, PLOTS AND ASSASSINATION. 283 constituting the freest and most powerful commonwealth of modern times. At some part of the performance Sothern appeared on the stage with Miss Meridith, the heroine, on one arm and a wrap or shawl carelessly thrown over the other. The latter seats herself upon a garden lounge placed on the stage near the box occupied by the President on this occasion. Lord Dundreary retires a few paces distant from the rustic seat when Miss Meridith, glancing lan- guidly at his lordship, exclaims ; " Me lord, will you kindly throw my shawl over my shoulders — there appears to be a draught here." Sothern, at once complying with her request, advanced with the mincing step that immor- talized him ; and with a merry twinkle of the eye, and a significant glance directed at Mr. Lincoln, responded in the happy impromptu : " You are mistaken, Miss Mary, the draft has already been stopped by order of the Presi- dent ! " This sally caused Mr. Lincoln to laugh, as few except himself could laugh, and an outburst of merriment resounded from all parts of the house. It was Mr. Lin- coln's last laugh! Then Grreen Room. 1 <=D^t/»iuk dAe^ .,^€ui€^ s^ ^Ae 1 ssaeta^ssva toa?»ss«)»^ ^H 1 I (Dn. ■^sw'-moKBiMiEmm^jiLrw:^ ^ ■ 1 ^f^^r^Q^^tuX, ^36^. H a. < Head of Funeral Train " .» --'^- " Funeral Car that carried .Mr. Lincoln's Remains to Springfield" "Springfield, May 4th, 1S65 " NOTES. Note I, Page 20, line 21, after the word "war." Mr. Lincoln did not think money for its own sake a fit object of any man's ambition. Note 2. Page 24, line 2, after the word " Mexico." In a speech delivered in the House July 27, 1848, on General Politics, Mr. Lincoln said : " The declaration that we (the Whigs) have always opposed the Mexican War is true or false accordingly as one may understand the term * op- posing the war.' If to say * the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President ' be oppos- ing the war, then the Whigs have very generally opposed it. Whenever they have spoken at all, they have said this ; and they said it on what appeared good reasons to them : the marching an army into the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, frightening the inhabitants away, leaving their growing crops and other property to destruction to you may appear a perfectly amiable, peaceful, unprovoking procedure, but it does not appear so to us. Soto call such an act to us appears no other than a naked, impudent absurdity, and we speak of it accordingly. But if, when the war had begun and had become the cause of the country, the giving of our money and our blood, in common with yours, was support of the war, then it is not true that we have always opposed the war." On another occasion Mr. Lincoln said that the claim that the Mexican War was not aggressive reminded him of the farmer who asserted, " I ain't greedy 'bout land, I only just wants what jines mine-" 286 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN-. Note 3. Page 27, line 19, after the word " possession." Mr. Lincoln felt deeply the responsibility of his great trust; and he felt still more keenly the supposed impossibil- ity of administering the government for the sole benefit of an organization which had no existence in one-half of the Union. He was therefore willing, not only to appoint Demo- crats to office, but to appoint them to the very highest offices within his gift. At this time he thought very highly of Mr. Stephens of Georgia, and would gladly have taken him into his cabinet but for the fear that Georgia might secede, and take Mr. Stephens along with her. He commissioned Thurlow Weed to place a seat in the Cabinet at the disposal of Mr. Gilraoreof North Carolina ; but Mr. Gilmore, finding that his state was likely to secede, was reluctantly compelled to decline it. I had thought that Mr. Lincoln had author- ized his friend Mr. Speed to offer the Treasury Department to Mr. Guthrie of Kentucky. Mr. Speed writes of this in- cident in a letter to me dated June 24, 1872. In one instance I find a palpable mistake. It is in regard to a tender to Mr. Guthrie through me of a position in his Cabinet. The history of that transaction was about this: I met Mr. Lincoln by appointment in Chicago after his election but before he had gone to Washington. He seemed very anxious to avoid blood- shed and said that he would do almost anything saving the sacri- fice of personal honor and the dignity of the position to which he had been elevated to avoid war. He asked about Mr. Guthrie and spoke of him as a suitable man for Secretary of War. He asked very particularly as to his strength with the people and if I knew him well enough to say what would be his course in the event of war. I frankly gave my opinion as to what I thought would be his course — which is not necessary here to repeat. He requested me to see Mr. Guthrie. But by all means to be guarded and not to give any man the advantage of the tender of a Cabinet appointment to be declined by an insulting letter. I did see Mr. Guthrie and never tendered him any office for I was not authorized to do so. This is a very different thing from being authorized to tender an appointment. Yours truly J. F. Speed. NOTES. 287 When Mr. Lincoln was asked during conferences incident to making up his cabinet if it was just or wise to concede so many seats to the Democratic element of the Republican party he replied that as a Whig he thought he could afford to be liberal to a section of the Republican party without whose votes he could not have been elected. Note 4. Page 49, line 5, after the word " fealty." When Mr. Lincoln was being importuned to appoint to his Cabinet another man from Maryland rather than Mr. Blair, he said laughingly: "Maryland must, I think, be a good State to move from," and then told a story of a witness who on being asked his age replied, " Sixty." Being satis- fied that he was much older, the judge repeated the question, and en receiving the same answer, admonished the witness, saying that the Court knew him to be much older than sixty. " Oh," said the witness, "you're thinking about that fifteen years that I lived down on eastern shore of Maryland ; that was so much lost time and don't count." Note 5. Page 78, line 7, after the word " brute." That neither section had the monopoly of all the vir- tues reminds us of the conversation between General Butler and a gentleman from Georgia in 1861, when the latter said, " I do not believe there is an honest man in Massachusetts." After a moment's reflection he added : " I beg to assure you, Mr. Butler, I mean nothing personal." The General re- sponded : " I believe there are a great many honest men in Georgia ; but in saying so, sir, I too mean nothing personal." Note 6. Page 174, line 11, after the word "period." The words of Clark E. Carr are entitled to credit, for no one present had more at heart than he the success of these ceremonies — he being one of the original commissioners comprising the board that purchased this, the first ground set apart for a national cemetery for our soldiers. He was on the platform from which Mr. Lincoln spoke. He says in his 288 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " Lincoln at Gettysburg " that, " Before the great multitude of people could prepare themselves to listen intelligently, be- fore their thoughts had become sufficiently centred upon the speaker to take up his line of thought and follow him, he had finished and returned to his seat. So short a time [only about three minutes] was Mr. Lincoln before them that the people could scarcely believe their eyes when he disappeared from their view. They could not possibly in so short a time mentally grasp the ideas that were conveyed. Many persons said to me that they would have supposed that on such a great occasion the President would have made a speech. Every one thought he made only a very few " dedicatory remarks." Mr. Carr further says that the general impression was that the remarks consisted of " a dozen commonplace sentences scarcely one of which contained anything new, anything that when stated was not self-evident." Note 7. Page 199, last line, after the word "quality." While reading over some of the appealing telegrams sent to the War Department by General McClellan, Lin- coln said, " It seems to me that McClellan has been wander- ing around and has got lost. He 's been hollering for help ever since he went south — wants somebody to come to his deliverance and get him out of the place he 's got into. He reminds me of the story of a man out in Illinois, who, in company with a number of friends, visited the state peniten- tiary. They wandered all through the institution and saw everything, but just about the time to depart, this man be- came separated from his friends and could n't find his way out. At last he came across a convict who was looking out from between the bars of his cell door ; he hastily asked : " Say ! How do you get out of this place .'* " Note 8. Page 203, line 14, after the word "patriotism." Whether the act proved his wisdom or not, the result certainly sustained and justified his course; the proceeding NOTES, 289 at least exemplified his firmness and determination in des- perate emergencies. There is perhaps no act recorded in our history that demanded greater courage or more heroic treatment. In a conversation with me shortly after this Mr. Lincoln said, " Well, I suppose our victory at Antietam will condone my offence in reappointing McClellan. If the battle had gone against us poor McClellan (and I too) would be in a bad row of stumps." Had not the tide of success and victory turned in our favor about this time, there is little doubt that Mr. Lincoln would have been deposed and a military dictatorship erected upon the ruins of his administration. The victory at Antie- tam was, without doubt, the turning point for fame or for downfall in the career of Mr. Lincoln. Note 9. Page 208, line 3, after the word " McClellan." Washington, April 13, 18S8. My dear Marshal Lamon, — I received the proof sheet of your article enclosed in your note of the 8th, I have read it very carefully and I find the facts as stated are correct. Mr. F. P. Blair, Senior, told me the incident of conveying in person President Lincoln's letter to McClellan. ■ I liked McClellan, but I have always believed he was politically slaughtered in the house of his alleged friends. Yours truly, A. Pleasonton. Note 10. Page 219, last line, after the word " subject." At a cabinet meeting, the advisability of putting a motto on greenbacks similar to the "In God We Trust" on the silver coins was discussed and the President was asked what his view was. He replied, "if you are going to put a motto on the greenback, I would suggest that of Peter and John : ' Silver and gold we have not, but what we have we'll give you.' " 290 RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Note II. Page 235, line 25, after the word " God." John W. Crisfield served in Congress with Mr. Lincoln in 1847 and was a warm friend of Lincoln. Being elected again as Representative in 1861, he was in Congress when the proposition was made for gradual emancipation in the border states by paying the loyal owners for their slaves. Mr. Crisfield was on the committee that was to draft the reply to this proposition. When he was at the White House one day in July, 1862, Mr. Lincoln said : " Well, Crisfield, how are you getting along with your report, have you writ- ten it yet ? " Mr. Crisfield replied that he had not. Mr. Lin- coln — knowing that the Emancipation Proclamation was coming, in fact was then only two months away — said, *' You had better come to an agreement. Niggers will never be higher." Note 12. Page 275, line 5, after the word " fac-simile," Apropos of passes to Richmond once when a man called upon the President and solicited a pass to Richmond. Mr. Lincoln said : " Well, I would be very happy to oblige, if my passes were respected ; but the fact is, sir, I have, within the past two years, given passes to 250,000 men to go to Richmond and not one has got there yet." APPENDIX. LINCOLN IN A LAW CASE. TV T R. LINCOLN believed that : ''He who knows only his own side of a case knows little of that." The first illustration of his peculiar mental operations which led, him always to study the opposite side of every disputed question more exhaustively than his own, was on his first appearance before the Supreme Court of Illinois when he actually opened his argument by telling the court that after diligent search he had not found a single decision in favor of his case but several against it, which he then cited, and submitted his case. This may have been what Mr. Lincoln alluded to when he told Thurlow Weed that the people used to say, without disturbing his self- respect, that he was not lawyer enough to hurt him. The most important case Mr. Lincoln ever argued be- fore the Supreme Court was the celebrated case of the Illinois Central Railroad Company vs. McLean County. The case was argued twice before this tribunal ; one brief of which is among the forty pages of legal manu- script written by Mr. Lincoln in the writer's possession. 292 APPENDIX. While its four pages may have more historic value than a will case argued in the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, still the latter is chosen to illustrate the period of Mr. Lincoln's mature practice and to show his analytical methods, his original reasoning, and his keen sense of justice. The case is one wherein land has been left to three sons and a grandson and the personal estate to be divided among three daughters after the death of the widow. Mr. Lincoln is employed to defend the will against the three daughters and their husbands. The brief consists of fifteen pages of legal cap paper only four of which are here given. It is said that he wrote few papers, less perhaps than any other man at the bar ; therefore this memorandum in his own hand is also valuable as an example of the notes he so rarely made. LINCOLN IN A LA W CASE. 293 0!^' >^?v-v<>« / ^' ' 3 AJ. Iff 296 APPENDIX, One of the opposing attorneys in the case was Mr. Lincoln's former law partner, Judge Stephen T. Logan, who was the acknowledged leader of the Illinois Bar for many years and from whom Mr. Lincoln derived more benefit than from any other.f * This was evidently written twice by Mr. Lincoln for it seems to be the corrected page of one in the Collection of General Orendorff. This corrected page has not the first allegation found in the rough draft : " The widow of the testator is not a competent witness. 11 Hump. 565." t Mr. Lincoln's first partner, John T. Stuart, enjoyed telling of his own arrival in Springfield in 1828 from Kentucky; how the next morning he was standing in front of the village store wonder- ing how to introduce himself to the community, when a well- dressed old gentleman approached him, who, interesting himself in his welfare, inquired after his history and business. " I am from Kentucky," answered Mr. Stuart, "and my profession is that of a lawyer, sir. What is the prospect here ? " Throwing back his head and closing his left eye the old gentleman reflected a mo- ment, then replied : " Young man, d slim chance for that kind of a combination here/* LINCOLN IN A LAW CASE. 2^y '.s'OT.i^v.^*^:^ ^^~»^ A^--?^>^ /l-2<»-x-._-^-Zi7a»-w -l '^ SUP'T. PUB. INSTRUCTION NEWTON BATEl>lAN.i v, o c 5 Presidential Electors. -3 | AT LARGE. | .^ U LEONARD SWETT , of McLean.' c -a JOHN M. PALMER of Macoupin. '^^ a DISTRICT. § o First A. C. FULLER of Boone. "5 ^ Spcond WM. B. PLATO „.ofKane. £ c/j Third LAWRENCE WELDON of De Witt «i „ Fourth WM. P. KELLOGG of Fulton. ^ ^ Fifth .J. STARK of Hancock. ^ -^ Sixth J. C. CONKL«NG of Sanpamon.j Seventh H. P. H. BllOMMELL of Coles. El>,'hth.:.......T. O. A\LKt(.. of Rnndolph. r£ >> Ninth JOHN OlNEY of Gallatin. r. "c o U FOR REPRESENTATIVE HARVEY HOGG FOR CLEKK of Circuii Court WM. M'CUL.I>OIIGH.| S FOR SHERIFF JOHN b. R«UTT. o FOR CORONER WM. MATHKWS. o ■ — U THE RAIL-SPLITTER. TT has been said that the term "rail-splitter" which became a leading feature of the campaign in i860 originated at the Chicago convention when Mr. Deland of Ohio, who seconded the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, said : *' I desire to second the nomination of a man who can split rails and maul Democrats." Mr. Delano not only seconded the nomination, but "seconded " the campaign "cry." Gov. Oglesby one week before at the State Convention at Decatur introduced into the assemblage John Hanks, who bore on his shoulder two small rails surmounted by a 304 APPENDIX. banner with this inscription : " Two rails from a lot made by Abraham Lincoln and John Hanks in the Sangamon Bottom in the year 1830." For six months Rail-splitter was heard everywhere and rails were to be seen on nearly everything, even on stationery. One of the Lincoln delegates said : " These rails represent the issue between labor free and labor slave, between democracy and aristocracy." The Democrats disliked to hear so much about " honest Old Abe," "the rail-splitter" the " flatboatman/' "the pioneer.'^ These cries had an ominous sound in their ears. Just after the State Convention which named Lincoln as first choice of the Republicans of Illinois, an old man, devoted to the principles of Democracy and much annoyed by the demonstration in progress, approached Mr. Lincoln and said, " So you *re Abe Lincoln ? '^ — " That *s my name, sir, " answered Mr. Lincoln. " They say you 're a self-made man, " said the Democrat. " Well, yes," said Lincoln, " what there is of me is self-made." — " Well, all I Ve got to say," observed the old man after a careful survey of the statesman before him, " is that it was a bad job." TEMPERANCE. ON the temperance question Mr. Lincoln has been quoted by the adherents of both sides. He had no taste for spirituous Hquors and when he took them it was a punishment to him, not an indulgence. In a tem- perance lecture delivered in 1842 Mr. Lincoln said: — *' In my judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe if we take habitual drunkards as a class their heads and their hearts will bear an advan- tageous comparison with those of any other class." None of his nearest associates ever saw Mr. Lincoln voluntarily call for a drink but many times they saw him take whiskey with a little sugar in it to avoid the appear- ance of discountenancing it to his friends. If he could have avoided it without giving offence he would gladly have done so. He was a conformist to the conventionali- ties of the surroundings in which he was placed. Whether Mr. Lincoln sold liquor by the dram over the counter of the grocery store kept by himself and Berry will forever remain an undetermined question. When 20 306 APPENDIX, Douglas revived the story in one of his debates, Mr. Lincoln replied that even if it were true, there was but little difference between them, for while he figured on one side of the counter Douglas figured on the other. Mr. Lincoln disliked sumptuary laws and would not prescribe by statute what other men should eat or drink. When the temperance men ran to the Legislature to in- voke the power of the state, his voice — the most elo- quent among them — was silent. He did not oppose them, but quietly withdrew from the cause and left others to manage it. In 1854 he was induced to join the order called Sons of Temperance, but never attended a single meeting after the one at which he was initiated. Judge Douglas once undertook to ridicule Mr. Lincoln on not drinking. "What, are you a temperance man?^' he inquired. " No," replied Lincoln, " I am not a tem- perance man but I am temperate in this, to wit ; I don't drink." He often used to say that drinking spirits was to him like thinking of spiritualism, he wanted to steer clear of both evils; by frequent indulgence he might acquire a dangerous taste for the spirit and land in a drunkard's grave ; by frequent thought of spiritualism he might become a confirmed believer in it and land in a lunatic asylum. In 1889 Miss Kate Field wrote W. H. Lamon saying : — Will you kindly settle a dispute about Lincoln? Lately in Pennsylvania I quoted Lincoln to strengthen my argument TEMPERANCE. 307 against Prohibition, and now the W. C. T. U. quote him for the other side. What is the truth ? ... As you are the best of authority on the subject of Abraham Lincoln, can you explain why he is quoted on the Prohibition side ? Did he at any time make speeches that could be construed with total abstinence ? To this Lamon replied : — You ask my recollection of Mr. Lincoln's views on the question of Temperance and Prohibition. I looked upon him as one of the safest temperance men I ever knew. He seemed on this subject, as he was on most others, unique in profession as well as in practice. He was neither what might be called a drinking man, a total abstainer, nor a Prohibitionist. My acquaintance with him commenced in 1847. He was then and afterwards a politician. He mixed much and well with the people. Believed what the people believed to be right was right. Society in Illinois at that early day was as crude as the country was uncultivated. People then were tenacious of their natural as well as their acquired rights and this state of things existed until Mr. Lincoln left the State to assume the duties of President. The people of Illinois firmly believed it was one of their inalienable rights to manufacture, sell, and drink whiskey as it was the sacred right of the southern man to rear, work, and whip his own nigger, — and woe be unto him who attempted to interfere with these rights — (as the sequel afterwards showed when Mr. Lincoln and his friends tried to prevent the southern man from whipping his own nigger in the territories). I heard Mr. Lincoln deliver several temperance lectures. One evening in Danville, 111., he happened in at a temperance meeting, the " Old Washingtonian Society," I think, and was called on to make a speech. He got through it well, 308 APPENDIX. after which he and other members of the Bar who were present were invited to an entertainment at the house of Dr. Scott. Wine and cake were handed around. Mrs. Scott, in handing Mr. Lincoln a glass of homemade wine, said, " I hope you are not a teetotaler, Mr. Lincoln, if you are a tem- perance lecturer." "By no means, my dear madam," he re- plied ; ** for I do assure you (with a humorous smile) I am very fond of my ' Todd ' (a play upon his wife's maiden name). I by no means oppose the use of wine. I only regret that it is not more in universal use. I firmly believe if our people were to habitually drink wine, there would be little drunkenness in the country." In the conver- sation which afterward became general. Judge David Davis, Hon. Leonard Swett, and others present joining in the discus- sion, I recollect his making this remark : " I am an apostle of temperance only to the extent of coercing moderate indul- gence and prohibiting excesses by all the moral influences I can bring to bear." / LINCOLN'S SHREWDNESS. / "PERHAPS no act of Mr. Lincoln's administration •A. showed his political shrewdness more clearly than the permission he gave for the rebel legislature of Virginia to meet for the purpose of recalling the state troops from General Lee's Army. This permission was given in a note to General Weitzel. Mr. Lincoln told Governor Francis H. Pierpont that " its composition occupied five hours of intense mental activity." Governor Pierpont says he was the loyal Governor of Virginia at the time, and Mr. Lincoln deemed it necessary to say something to him about so extraordinary a measure as permitting the rebel legislature to assemble when a loyal legislature with a loyal governor was in existence and was recognized by the federal government." Mr. Lincoln's note to General Weit- zel read : — J /" It has been intimated to me that the gendemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of the rebellion may now desire to assemble at Richmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the general government. If they attempt it, give them permission and protection until, 3IO APPENDIX. if at all, they attempt some action hostile to the United States, in which case you will notify them, give them reasonable time to leave, and at the end of which time arrest any who remain. Allow Judge Campbell to see this, but do not make it public." To write this note occupied all Mr. Lincoln's time from 9 p. M. till 2 a. M. — ** five hours of uninterrupted stillness." Mr. Lincoln foresaw that an attempt would be made to construe his permission into a virtual recognition of the authority of the rebel legislature. He steered clear of this recognition by not speaking of them " as a legislature," but as, " the gentlemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of rebellion," and explained afterward when it was misconstrued, that he " did this on purpose to exclude the assumption that I was recognizing them as a rightful body. I dealt with them as men having power de facto to do a specific thing." LETTERS. Fairfield, Conn., Jan. 9, 1861. W. H. Lamon, Esq. ; Dear Sir, — Yours of December 26th duly received. Connecticut is death on secession. I regard it the duty of the Government to uphold its authority in the courts as effectually south as it has done north if it can, and to hold its forts and public grounds at whatever cost ard collect the revenue ditto. There is but one feeling here, I believe, though in the city of New York there are those who sustain her actions, that secession is disgraceful as well as ruinous on the part of South Carolina. I glory in Lincoln now for I feel that he is the most suitable man of our party for this terrible ordeal through which he has to pass. I rely with entire confidence upon his urbanity, gentleness, goodness, and ability to convince his enemies of his perfect uprightness as well as his firmness and courage. I do not expect him to be as warlike as Jackson, but I look for the calm courage befitting a Judge on the bench. With Lincoln as President and Scott as Lieutenant-General, I have no fears but the dignity of the Government will be sustained after the 4th of March. What is being done to protect Lincoln personally at Washington before and after Inauguration ? Is there not a propriety in some of his friends making it their especial business to escort him without even his knowing it.'* You know these Southern men better than I do. If there is propriety in such a thing, or need for it, rather, I would 3 1 2 APPENDIX. meet you at Washington when he goes on and stay with you while it is needed. Yours truly, Bronson Murray. Newark, Ohio, Feby. 14, 1861. Friend Lamon, — I concluded to drop you this note, on learning that you in company with our mutual friend Judge Davis were with the President Elect on his tour to the Seat of Government. I was led to this through fear of the failure of some correspondence to reach your eye, the drift of it was to secure the appointment of postmaster at this city for your humble servant. Now if you have not been bored to death already by friends who are your humble servants^ say a kind word for me. I have asked for the Post Office here for some good reasons. Poor enough to ask it and capable to fill it . . . and have my second papers for being Black Republican. I might add that the Citizens would not look upon my appointment as an overt act against this City. I was removed from the Post Office Dept. in 1855 for opposi- tion to Judge Douglas for removing the Missouri Compro- mise. ... I would beg to be remembered to Messrs. Lincoln and Davis. Wishing you all a pleasant trip, safe arrival and a smooth sea in the future Yours very truly, Jas. H. Smith. The following letter may be of interest as showing the impression made at a time when opinions of Mr. Lincoln were in the formative state. New York City, as a whole, was unfriendly to Lincoln. Written when Lincoln was in New York on his way to Washington. New York, Feby. 20, 1861, Dear Lamon, — I was glad today to recognize you ; and drop you a line instead of a call when you must be so weary. LETTERS. 313 Just before we met, my father and old Aid" Purdy (both wheel-horses in the Dem* party here) were canvassing matters politic. Purdy said he had seen Lincoln and liked the man ; said he was much better looking and a finer man than he expected to see ; and that he kept aloof from old politicians here and seemed to have a mind of his own. Old Judge Benson too (who was with us) is a Democrat and was equally pleased with Lincoln. He says Lincoln has an eye that shows power of mind and will, and he thinks he will carry us safely. I repeat these comments, because they came from behind the scenes of the popular apprehensions whence at present our friend Lincoln is excluded, and I feel sure he will be pleased to know how favorable an impression he makes. . . . Tell Lincoln to use his own judgment and be bold and firm. T\\Q people of all parties here are prepared to sustain him. But he may beware of all old politicians of both parties. Because he is a fresh man and an able one he was taken up. Let his freshness enter his policy also Your friend, Bronson Murray. Springfield, Feb. 22, 1861. Hill, — This is Dick Gilmer of Pike — he is to that neck of Woods what you or Dick Oglesby are to this region of Country. , . . Do what you can consistently for him — and oblige Your friend, O. M. Hatch. Bloomington (III.), Feby. 25, 1861. Dear Hill, — Nothing of moment has occurred since your departure. Do write me immediately explaining the cause of your mysterious transit through Marj'land. 314 APPENDIX, Here let me say a word about Washington. It is the worst place in the world to judge correctly of anything. A ship might as well learn its bearings in the Norway Mael- strom, as for you people to undertake to judge anything cor- rectly upon your arrival there. You are the subject of every artful and selfish appliance. You breathe an air pregnant with panic. You have to decide before you can discover the secret springs of the action presented to you. There is but one rule and that is to stand by and adopt the judgment you formed before you arrived there. The atmosphere of Washington and the country are as unlike as the atmosphere of Greenland and the tropics. The country is moved and moves by its judgment — Washington by its artificial life. The country really knows nothing of Washington and Washington knows nothing of the country. Washington is drunk, the Country is sober and the appeal from your judgment there to your home judg" ment is simply an appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober. Please give these ideas in better language than I have done to Mr. Lincoln. I know his sound home judgment, the only thing I fear is the bewilderment of that city of rumors. I do ache to have him do well. Yours truly, Leonard Swett. Washington, March 2, 1861. Dear Sir, — I have received your request and shall take great pleasure to do what you wish in respect to Delaware. Very truly your friend, WiNFiELD Scott. Ward H. Lamon, Esq. Danville, III., March 5, 1861. Dear Hill, — Have just read Lincoln's inaugural. — It is just right and pleases us much. Not a word too much or LETTERS. 315 too little. He assumes the tone and temper of a statesman of the olden time. God bless him — and keep him safely to the end. — Are you coming home to see us ere you depart hence.-* You could unfold to us a chapter that would be spicy, rich and rare. We were at first disposed to regret Lincoln's hasty trip from Harrisburgh. But the action of the crowd at Balti- more convinces us that it was the most prudent course to pursue. . . . Very truly your friend, O. F. Harmon. On Board Steamer Warsaw, March 8, 1S61. Dear Lamon, — I got home a week ago. I have heard a good many things said pro and con about the new admin- istration, and as far as I have heard the mass of the people have confidence in Mr. Lincoln, and this applies to the people of the border slave states as well as the free states. But it is not worth while to disguise the fact that a large majority of the free states in the Northwest are opposed to Ultra measures and the people of the slave states are almost unanimous against coercion. Many appointments that have been made by the new administration were unfortunate. It must necessarily be so with all administrations, and Mr. Lincoln has had more than his share of trouble in making his selection. I fear that a majority of the Senators on our side care but little for his success further than it can con- tribute to their own glory, and they have had such men ap- pointed to office as they felt would serve their own purpose without any reference to Mr. Lincoln and but little for the party. . . . As far as I could see when at Washington, to have been an original friend of Mr. Lincoln was an unpardonable offence with Members of Congress. . . . I have the utmost confidence in the success of Mr. Lincoln 3l6 APPENDIX. but I do not expect his support to come from the radical element of our party. . . . Your true friend, Hawkins Taylor. Hon. W. H. Lamon. State of Illinois, Secretary's Office, . Springfield, March, i8, i86i. Ward H. Lamon: Dear Hill, — My brother is foolish enough to desire an office. — When you see him, and this, if he still insists that he has as good right to a place as anybody else, I want you to do for him, what you would for me. No more, no less — . . . Your friend, O. M. Hatch. March 19, 1861. My dear Colonel, — When I left Washington I handed to Judge Davis a letter setting forth what I wished him to do for me in Washington if it met his views. I desired to be detailed as acting Inspector General of the Army in place of Emory promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cavalry. This appointment needs only an order of the Secretary of War. Mr. Cameron promised Judge Davis to attend to it at once, but I presume he has overlooked it. Will you do me the favor to see Cameron on the subject ? He knows all about it and precisely what to do. I hope you are having a good time in Washington. I presume you are as you seem to have very much enjoyed the excitement along the road and in Washington. I shall always cherish a most pleasant remembrance of our journey LETTERS. 317 and of the agreeable acquaintances and friends I made on the road. Among the last I have rated you and Judge Davis with peculiar satisfaction and I hope you will always believe that I shall cherish the warmest personal regard for you. Very truly your friend, John Pope.' March 23, 1861. Dear Hill, — The public mind is prepared to hear of the evacuation of Sumter, but it is a great humiliation. Still if Mr. Lincoln gives the order you may swear that such is the public confidence in him it will be at once taken as a neces- sity of the situation. W. H. Hanna. Bloomington, III., March 30, 1861. Dear Hill, — I saw the "Telegraphic Announcement" of your prospective trip to Charleston before your kind and cordial letter was received. Yesterday, the " Telegraph " announced your return to Washington, which gratified us all. The papers represent you as quite a Lion. I have no doubt you bear your honors meekly. . . . I am anxious about the country. Are we to be divided as a nation ? The thought is terrible. I never entertained a question of your success in getting to and from Charleston. How do things look at Washington .? Are the appoint- ments satisfactory? No foreign appointments for the border slave states .'' Is this policy a wise one ? Off here it does not look so to me. Did Hawkins Taylor of Iowa get anything ? . . . Your friend, D. Davis. 3l8 APPENDIX. Urbana, Apr. 6, 1861. Dear Hill, — The Judge and I are now attending Court at this place, the only wreck of that troupe which was once the life and soul of professional life in this country. I see Judge McLean has departed this life. The question is who shall succeed to the ermin so worthily worn by him. Why should not David Davis who was so instrumental in giving position to him who now holds the matter in the hollow of his hand ? Dear Hill, if retribution, justice, and gratitude are to be respected, Lincoln can do nothing less than to tender the position to Judge Davis. I want you to suggest it to Lincoln. ... Of course you will. I know your noble nature too well to believe that you would not think of a suggestion of this kind as soon as myself. Write me. Yours, L. Weldon. Bloomington, Apr. 7, 1861. Dear Hill, — Why don't you write. Tell us something. By the way, since McLean's death the friends of Judge Davis think Lincoln ought to put him on Supreme Bench. Now I want you to find out when this appointment will be made. Also tell Lincoln that Judge Davis will be an applicant, so that he may not ignore the fact or act without that knowledge. I wish, too,jK