973.7L63 Lincoln Society of 
 EL6388L Peekskill (New York), 
 
 Lincoln in Peekskill. 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
LINCOLN IN PEEKSKILL 
 
 The Lincoln Exedra 
 
 The Lincoln Memorial in Books 
 
 Exercises at the dedication of The Lincoln 
 Memorial in Peekskill, October 6, 1 925, in 
 commemoration of the visit of Abraham 
 Lincoln to Peekskill, February 19, 1 86 1 . 
 
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THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL WAS DEDICATED 
 
 The Lincoln Exedra on South Street 
 
 The dedication of the Lincoln 
 Memorial and the unveiling of the tab- 
 let upon it, took place in the presence 
 of a large audience assembled in front 
 of the exedra on South street over- 
 looking the Hudson, on Tuesday after- 
 noon, October 6, 1925, beginning at 
 quarter past two o'clock. 
 
 Chester A. Smith, President of the 
 Lincoln Society, presided over the 
 exercises whic'h 'began with a medley 
 of national airs by the Peeksklll High 
 School orchestra, led by Miss M. Viola 
 Willis. The final air was the Star 
 Spangled Banner. 
 
 President Smith said: 
 
 "We will be led in prayer by Dr. S. 
 Willis McFadden, president of the 
 Peekskill Preachers' Association." 
 
 Rev. Dr. McFadden offered the fol- 
 lowing invocation : 
 
 "Our Lord, our God, we look unto 
 Thee thanking Thee for our numerous 
 blessings, for life and for this great 
 land with (its institutions, its liberty 
 and all those things which have come 
 unto us through the gate of the nation. 
 We look unto Thee and acknowledge 
 
 Thee as our God and the one that hath 
 brought unto us all these privileges 
 and responsibilities. We come unto 
 Thee in these institutions and we 
 thank Thee for the vision and for the 
 principles which originated them. 
 
 We thank Thee for all our great 
 forebears and as Thou hast been with 
 them, we look unto Thee and pray that 
 Thou wilt be with their sons. 
 
 As we come this afternoon to unveil 
 this memorial in honor of that great 
 liberator and leader of men, we wish 
 to thlank Thee for the part that he has 
 played; for his example to the nation; 
 and so we pray, that as this memorial 
 is dedicated to that great spirit it may 
 remind us of him, of that great man 
 who knew Thee and who knew tne 
 power which Thou dost manifest. 
 Help us to realize, our Lord, our God, 
 that all things are with Thee and that 
 Thou dost lead great causes and crown 
 them. 
 
 Bless us and lead us. Bless those 
 who are in authority; our president, 
 his body of counselors and all those 
 who are associated with him in lead- 
 ing this great land. Bless our own 
 
commonwealth and governor. Be our 
 counselor and help us realize as citi- 
 zens and as leaders .that we live in a 
 land that our Lord careth for and that 
 his eyes are upon it even unto the end. 
 Bless us now in the exercises of the 
 afternoon and may those who rest by 
 this memorial come to realize the 
 
 Rev. Dr. S. Willis McFadden 
 
 charity, the wisdom and the greatness 
 of that leader to whom it is dedicated 
 in the name of the Father, Son and 
 Holy Spirit." 
 
 Welcome by President Smith 
 
 (President Smith then spoke as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "I welcome you today on behalf of 
 the Lincoln Society in Peekskill to 
 these dedication exercises. 
 
 We are grateful for the presence of 
 these representatives of our various 
 patriotic and civic organizations ; for 
 these (speakers who shall address us: 
 for the faculty and students of our 
 High school and its orchestra; for all 
 these friends and citizens. 
 
 We dedicate today this memorial to 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, the greatest per- 
 sonality our world has seen since 
 Jesus. We recall the honor he paid 
 our village when on that momentous 
 journey from Springfield to Washing- 
 ton to assume the .presidency he 
 stopped here for a few brief minutes, 
 February 19, 1861. 
 
 February 12, 1921, sixty years after 
 that event, John Smith, Jr., one of 
 Lincoln's soldiers and a former pres- 
 ident of the Lincoln Society, presented 
 to the Society this plot of land as the 
 site of a Lincoln Memorial. The late 
 Homer Anderson, likewise a veteran 
 of the Civil War, and a former presi- 
 dent of the Society, who was very 
 much interested in the idea of a mem- 
 orial, was appointed, at a meeting of 
 the Board of Directoris on March 1, 
 1925, as a special committee to present 
 to the Board at its next meeting plans 
 for a memorial, but before the time 
 for that meeting had arrived his sud- 
 den death had ensued. He had, how- 
 ever, spoken to Gilbert H. Anderson, 
 the architect, about the matter, and as 
 the latter had kindly offered to con- 
 tribute his services in drawing the 
 plans, I asked him to do so. They 
 were drawn and later presented to the 
 Board of Directors of the Society and 
 approved, the Board deciding to have 
 the Memorial erected if the money for 
 the same could be procured. Victor C. 
 Anderson, the artist, painted a very 
 beautiful picture of the proposed 
 memorial and of the view of 'Peekskill 
 bay and the Highlands from this site, 
 and this proved a great aid in pre- 
 senting the matter to those friends 
 who became subscribers and thus 
 made possible the memorial. 
 
 Contributors to Exedra Fund 
 
 There were twelve $250 subscrip- 
 tions: 
 
 Coleridge W. Hart and Mrs. Sara W. 
 Hart, Meilvin R. Horton, Cornelius A. 
 Pugsley, Chester A. Smith, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Frank IN. Clinton in memory of 
 Allan L. Sutton; Martin Nilsson, 
 Enoch J. Tompkins, Mrs. Enoch J. 
 Tompkins, George W. Buchanan, 
 Chauncey M. Depew, Louis Ettlinger, 
 Thomas Nelson, Jr. 
 
 There was one $200 subscription: 
 
 Grenci & Ellis. 
 
 There were eight $100 subscriptions: 
 
 Charles E. Howard, Benjamin F. 
 
McCabe, Woman's Relief Corps, Sons 
 of Vetera.n<s, William H. Stevens. Wil- 
 liam Church Osborn, James Dempsey, 
 Dr. John A. Smith and Major Fred A. 
 Smith. 
 
 There was one $75 subscriber : 
 
 A. S. Reiiza. 
 
 There was one $50 subscriber: 
 
 A friend. 
 
 There were 12 $25 subscriptions: 
 
 Dr. A. E. Phin; Mrs. Emma Drum; 
 Fred J. Bohlmann; Woman's Chris- 
 tian Temperance Union; Dr. Moses 
 Scuccimarra; Charles E. Winslow; 
 Joseph Testa; William Belknap; John 
 Towart Jr.; Mrs. Homer Anderson and 
 Miss Sonora Anderson; The Rotary 
 Club; the Colored citizens of Peeks- 
 kill (by Mr. and Mrs. Egbert Green, 
 Samuel Halstead, James Hankins, 
 Fred Rivers, Edward Lewis, Walter 
 Jackson, Clinton Aray, Weldon Fields, 
 Harry Tapley, James Taylor, Sylvester 
 Stevenson, John Coleman, Reliable 
 Catering Co., Peekskill Dry Cleaning 
 Company.) 
 
 There were three $10 subscriptions: 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic, Aux- 
 iliary No. 41, Sons of Veterans, Fred 
 Christopher. 
 
 There were three $5 subscriptions: 
 
 Elbert H. Bagley, A friend, A. W. A. 
 Stevens. 
 
 Victor C. Anderson presented the 
 painting with the understanding that 
 it he sold and the money received 
 therefrom he his contribution to the 
 fund. It will 'shortly toe sent to Mr. 
 Enoch J. Tompkins, in Florida, who 
 has purchased it under this condition, 
 the price to be fixed by the artist. 
 
 The total cost of the IMeimoTial was 
 $4,380. 
 
 It could not have been built for this 
 amount, however, if the following 
 persons had not made the following 
 contributions : 
 
 Reynolds & Chase, surveyors, sur- 
 veyed the property and made an ele- 
 vation map without charge. 
 
 Gilbert H. Anderson, architect, 
 drew the plans and specification's and 
 superintended the work without 
 charge. 
 
 Greinci & Ellis, owners of the Mohe- 
 gan granite quarry, furnished and set 
 up the granite at cost. 
 
 A. S. Renza, who did the foundation 
 and concrete work, did some of that 
 Work at less than actual cost. 
 
 Miss Evelyn IW. Smith, president of 
 the Amawalk Nurseries, contributed 
 and planted without charge these fine 
 trees and shriito'bery. 
 
 The Peekskill Lighting and Railroad 
 Company through its superintendent, 
 Charlies Le Clair, removed the light- 
 ing wires which came over the Memor- 
 ial and placed them beyond it to the 
 north. 
 
 Bucher and Rotoinson contributed 
 soil for filling in the ground atoout the 
 trees. 
 
 Thanks Contributors 
 
 I cannot find words to express ade- 
 quately my appreciation of the gener- 
 osity of these ipublic spirited people, 
 who by their money contributions and 
 
 Chester A. Smith 
 
 otherwise have made possible this 
 memorial and this another improve- 
 ment to our village. I can only say to 
 them both personally and on behalf of 
 the Lincoln Society: We thank you 
 and trust that the memorial Which you 
 have made it possible for us to erect 
 meets with your approval. 
 
 iMy friends, it is to me a very splen- 
 did thing which we have toeew able to 
 do with the help of these generous 
 contributors: to set up this granite 
 exedra, this artistic and useful memor- 
 
ial to Lincoln, in this beautiful and 
 commanding place in our village. 
 And yet I would that we might do even 
 a greater thing: that we might put 
 into practice in our personal and 
 community life Lincoln's ideals: Lin- 
 coln's honesty, faith, moral courage; 
 Lincoln's hatred of the liquor traffic 
 and his love of total abstinence; Lin- 
 coln's 'belief in law and in law en- 
 forcement; Lin coin's respect and con- 
 sideration for other creeds and races 
 than our own. This, after all, is the 
 most effective way in which we can 
 honor the memory of Lincoln. 
 
 I trust that this memorial may in- 
 spire us and those who shall come 
 after us to pay this continuing and 
 greater tribute to his memory. 
 
 It is in this spirit that we turn over 
 the Memorial to the care and custody 
 of the village of (Peeks kill. 
 
 We are very glad to have present 
 with us upon this occasion to bring 
 the greetings of the village our village 
 president, who is also a director and 
 ex-president of the Lincoln Society, 
 and who has contributed much to its 
 success. IFor many years as Chairman 
 of the Speakers' committee he has 
 helped bring to us as speakers at our 
 annual dinners some of the distin- 
 guished men of the state and nation. 
 I present to you our Village President 
 Hon. James K. Apgar, who will pre- 
 sent to us the greetings of the village 
 of Peekskill." 
 
 President Apgrar's Address 
 
 President Apgar spoke as follows: 
 
 "Mr. Smith, members of the Lincoln 
 Society, invited guests, and citizens Of 
 Peekskill: This is a most interesting 
 ceremony, made so by an unusual 
 event; the kind of an event that would 
 not be taking place here today had it 
 not been for the individual efforts of 
 one of our citizens, who conceived the 
 idea, formulated the plans, raised the 
 money and put the plans into execu- 
 tion. It is a splendid piece of work 
 and I congratulate and commend the 
 efforts of this man, who belongs to the 
 younger generation of Peekskill — the 
 President of the Lincoln Society, Ches- 
 ter A. Smith. 
 
 Prom every point of the compass 
 where we have assembled today there 
 is something interesting to me and it 
 stead of Gen. James W. Ousted, whose 
 memory will never fade; and last, but 
 
 by no means least, the home of John 
 Smith, one-time president of the Lin- 
 coln .Society and donor of this prop- 
 erty; all of this in sight of the old 
 presents itself as a picture something 
 like this: 
 
 "Facing the east, I observe the one- 
 time residence of Hon. Owen T. Coffin; 
 next, the one-time residence of Hon. 
 James W. Husted, our representative 
 in the Legislature and a very efficient 
 Congressman; the next, the old home- 
 
 James X. Apgar 
 
 homestead of that very distinguished 
 and eminent citizen, the Hon. Chaun- 
 cey M. Depew. 
 
 "Looking to the north, over this val- 
 ley of Industry, Sit. Mary's and St. 
 Gabriel's school, one of the finest in- 
 stitutions of learning in this state. 
 
 "To the south, the 'Franciscan Con- 
 vent and St. Joseph Home; another 
 wonderful institution, where boys and 
 girls iare properly housed, clothed and 
 fed. A little village within itself; I 
 might say, with its band of music, its 
 fire department and its military or- 
 ganization. And when they leave that 
 institution they know something about 
 the Constitution of the State of New 
 York; they know something about the 
 Constitution of the United States, and 
 they are good American citizens. 
 
 "And to the west, across beautiful 
 
 6 
 
Peekskill Bay, Dunderberg Mountain, 
 unsurpassed in its grandeur at any 
 point along the Hudson river. 
 
 "To the northwest, Anthony's Nose, 
 the State Camp of Instruction, Anns- 
 ville Creek Which Hendriek Hudson 
 thought was the end of the Hudson 
 river, and Iona Island, once dear to 
 many Peeks'killers as a pleasure re- 
 sort, but which now is a United States 
 arsenal. And as you approach that 
 •beautiful bend in the Hudson, before 
 •reaching West Point Military Acade- 
 my, while you cannot see it alii can 
 visualize it, the wonderful (Peekskill 
 Bear Mountain Bridge, the legislation 
 of which was made possible by Sena- 
 tor Mastick, who introduced the bill 
 and passed it. All can visualize this 
 great structure connecting two great 
 highways on either side of the river. 
 
 "That is the .picture which presents 
 itself to me and amid these surround- 
 ings, Mr. Smith, and in the presence 
 of this assemblage, I take great pleas- 
 ure as President of the [Village in ac- 
 cepting the custodianship of this work 
 which you have presented to the Vil- 
 lage today." 
 
 President Smith then continued: 
 
 We are thankful to have still living 
 among us some of the men who fought 
 under Lincoln in the Civil War. We 
 are honored to have present with us 
 upon this occasion some members of 
 the Grand Army of the Republic. Their 
 greetings will be presented to us by 
 the Past Commander of Abram Vos- 
 burg'h Post, Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic, Henry S. Free, whom it is my high 
 honor now to present to you. 
 
 H. S. Free Saw Lincoln Here 
 
 Mr. Free spoke as follows: 
 "Mr. President, in response to your 
 very cordial invitation in the name of 
 the Lincoln Society to the Grand 
 Army of the Republic to witness the 
 unveiling by the Lincoln Society of a 
 memorial to our brave President and 
 Commander, Abraham Lincoln, I rep- 
 resent here simply a remnant of that 
 great army of men who when the re- 
 bels were in arms went forth to battle 
 and if needs be suffer the supreme 
 sacrifice in defense of the flag. 
 
 I may add also that of all the volun- 
 teers who Went forth from within the 
 close limits of our community, I stand 
 here, by the favor of a kind provi- 
 
 dence, one of the very few that re- 
 main. 
 
 Mr. President, It is my purpose now 
 to be brief. I have in mind some 
 items of interest that occurred under 
 my personal supervision or oversight. 
 In the month of February 18'61, it was 
 proclaimed throughout the land that 
 the president elect would make his 
 journey from Springfield to Washing- 
 ton by way of the (New York and Hud- 
 son River Railroad, that the presiden- 
 tial train would stop at Peekskill and 
 that the president would deliver a 
 speech. Upon the day that the train 
 
 Henry S. Free 
 
 was to arrive in Peekskill, the people 
 began to gather. Some of them had 
 come to town before the day had ar- 
 rived. It was a group Very different 
 in appearance from what we have 
 here today. There were men of the 
 professions ; there were farmers, mer- 
 chants, clothiers, 'manufacturers, me- 
 chanics. Th'ere were shop men and 
 laboring men, copperheads and cold 
 fe'et, and there was also a sprinkling 
 here and there of the opposite sex. 
 It was a motley crowd, come to see 
 and hear what Abraham Lincoln, the 
 abolition president, had to say. 
 The train arrived in due time about 
 
2 p. m. It stopped (approximately one 
 hundred feet this side of the Hudson 
 avenue crossing. The locomotive was 
 detached from the train and passed 
 down the track and in a few moments 
 the president-elect appeared, a man 
 of tall sinewy form and smiling face. 
 I had a standing place about one hun- 
 dred feet from the platform of the car. 
 Hie stood upon the platform with the 
 Hon. William iNels'on at his left. He 
 began to speak and, oh, how I wish 
 memory had served me so that I might 
 repeat the words that he uttered. As 
 the speech was finished the crowd 
 (gradually disappeared. The locomo- 
 tive was attached to the train and it 
 continued on its way. As I watched 
 it going, I wondered how hard that 
 man would hit the shackles that had 
 held a race in bondage. 
 
 In his journey to Washington and 
 at the time of his inauguration with 
 what did he meet? What was there 
 that confronted him? Washington 
 was a hot 'bed of Southern sympathiz- 
 ers. The army of the United States 
 was unorganized and neglected. There 
 was a navy of ninety vessels of all 
 sorts, sizes and conditions. Only 
 forty-two of them were in commission 
 and they were scattered, you might 
 say, to the four corners of the earth, 
 to Asiatic, African, European and Pa- 
 cific stations; all scattered purposely 
 by the preceding imbecile administra- 
 tion. It would take from six weeks 
 to six months to put the balance of 
 the navy into condition. 
 
 Those were some of the things that 
 confronted 'President Lincoln as he 
 entered upon his duties as Chief Mag- 
 istrate of this nation. For four long 
 years he watched and waited, labored 
 and prayed for a restored union and 
 when he lay motionless and cold in 
 death he had made possible the uni- 
 ted nation and had made a beginning 
 toward that prosperity and progress 
 which we see manifested everywhere 
 about us today on land and sea and in 
 the air, toward all the great things 
 that promote education, inventions, 
 science, [literature and art, all those 
 thing's Which Wave come to a free and 
 united peoiple. 
 
 Mr. President, in closing, let me 
 say in behalf of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, that we extend to you 
 and through you to the people of 
 
 Peek skill, our hearty appreciation of 
 the work you have accomplished." 
 
 In presenting the next speaker the 
 presiding officer said: 
 
 One of the great accomplishments 
 of the Civil War, as Mr. Free has sug- 
 gested to us, was the freeing of the 
 race which up to that time in Ameri- 
 ca had been held in slavery. We 
 thought it fitting upon this occasion 
 to have the greetings of that race pre- 
 sented by one of its members, and we 
 asked Clifford W. Hankins, a graduate 
 of our Drum Hill High school, a grad- 
 uate of Hampton College, standing 
 second in a class of one hundred and 
 twenty-five, mow hoi ding a responsi- 
 ble position with the Penn school in 
 South Carolina, to do so. But he is 
 unable to be with us, having assumed 
 his duties in the school some three 
 weeks ago. I have therefore asked his 
 'brother, James W. Hankins, to take 
 his place and he will now speak to us. 
 Hankins Lauds Lincoln 
 
 Mr. Hankins spoke as follows: 
 
 "It is a great privilege on behalf of 
 the race to which I belong to pay 
 
 JAMES W. HANKINS 
 
 tribute upon this occasion to Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 He is enshrined in our hearts in a 
 
 8 
 
peculiar way. He believed in us when 
 many others did not. 
 
 We do not forget that it was he who 
 signed the Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion. We do not forget, too, that his 
 act was also ratified by the people of 
 America by an amendment to the con- 
 stitution, making perpetual what he 
 had done. 
 
 Our people have tried to show their 
 appreciation of freedom by being 
 worthy of it, by being good citizens, 
 by obeying the law, by learning how 
 to do useful work. 
 
 How well they have succeeded I 
 thing it would be better to let others 
 say. 
 
 We want to go on to learn more ; to 
 progress further; and to do our part 
 in working together with all those 
 who are trying to make America a bet- 
 ter country and the world a better 
 world. 
 
 I may say that my people in Peeks- 
 kill appreciate the kindly spirit which 
 the people of Peekskill have always 
 shown toward us. You have shown 
 the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 We are glad that this memorial has 
 been erected to him in PeekskilOL" 
 
 Turning to Mr. Hankins, the presid- 
 ing officer remarked : 
 
 "I may say to this young man who 
 has just spoken to us: No race has 
 made such great progress in such a 
 short time as has your race. What a 
 wonderful justification that is of Lin- 
 coln." 
 
 "One of the most important results 
 of an occasion of this kind is that it 
 brings the present generation of young 
 people into a more intimate touch 
 with the great events of the past. We 
 are very glad to have present with us 
 this afternoon, the members of our 
 Peekskill High school. The program 
 would not be complete without a greet- 
 ing from them. One of their number 
 has been chosen to present that greet- 
 ing , John Naylor Gisb, who will now 
 address us." 
 
 Greetings from the High School 
 
 Mr. Gish spoke as follows: 
 "It is with great pleasure that the 
 Peekskill High school accepts the in- 
 vitation to contribute its mite to these 
 ceremonies which mark the establish- 
 ment in Peekskill of a visible token of 
 
 love and esteem for that great Ameri- 
 can, Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Tn the hearts of the people he is al- 
 ready enshrined. Tn dedicating this 
 simple, yet beautiful, exedra we are 
 but offering, as it were, a permanent 
 abode where the spirit of Abraham 
 Lincoln may have an abiding place in 
 Peekskill, ever reminding us of the 
 sturdy strength and plain virtues he 
 exemplified, of duty straightforwardly 
 performed "with malice toward none 
 and charity for all." 
 
 iHis work is done, but Abraham Lin- 
 coln still lives and will live on, an in- 
 spiration to all lovers of peace and 
 liberty. 
 
 JOHN N. GISH 
 
 In the yeans to come untold multi- 
 tudes as they pass this memorial will 
 think — if only for a moment — of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, and go on their way re- 
 freshed and uplifted." 
 
 Continuing, the presiding officer 
 said : 
 
 "I am very sure that you, Mr. Free, 
 and you other members of the Grand 
 Army must be glad to know, after lis- 
 tening to that speech, that we have 
 such fine young men of the new gener- 
 ation to carry on your work." 
 
"We have another intimate touch 
 with that past which we are recalling 
 today. We have with ms upon the plat- 
 form, a lady who was present at that 
 famous Republican convention in Chi- 
 cago, in I860, which nominated Mr. 
 Lincoln for IP resident, Mrs. Gertrude 
 Windsor, wiho haslived in Peekskill for 
 several years. We are highly honored 
 to 'have her present with us. I want 
 to present her to you that you may see 
 heir and that you may greet her. 
 
 (Mrs. Windsor then rose and bowed 
 while the audience rose and applaud- 
 ed.) 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew Writes 
 
 We had hoped to have present with 
 us upon this occasion our fellow 
 townsman, former 'United States Sen- 
 ator Chauncey M. Depew, who was 
 present with Mr. Lincoln upon that 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew 
 
 occasion we celebrate today. I think 
 if we had completed our Memorial the 
 first week in September, as we hoped 
 to do, we might have had that honor. 
 But while he is not able to he here, he 
 has 1 sent us a letter of greeting and it 
 will be read at this time by his friend, 
 Geo. E. Briggs, a former President of 
 the Lincoln Society." 
 
 The letter as read follows: 
 
 New York, Sept. 22, 1925. 
 My dear Mr. President: 
 
 I cordially congratulate you on the 
 completion of the (fine memorial com- 
 memorating President Lincoln's stop- 
 ping at Peekskill on 'his way to his 
 first inauguration. It is a fine record 
 for the Society, and a tribute to your 
 initiative and enthusiasm. 
 
 iFromi my automobile the other day, 
 I looked on the site of the monument 
 and the wonderful view, I do mot know 
 of anything anywhere which presents 
 such a panorama of (beauty as the view 
 of the Hudson and the historical 
 mountains surrounding the bay. 
 
 I recall a's if it were yesterday, the 
 day of Mir. Lincoln's brief stopping at 
 our depot. The demands upon him 
 from eVery city, village and hamlet to 
 stop over on his way to Wasihington, 
 were so numerous that it was very 
 difficult for him, his comanititee or the 
 railway companies to make selections. 
 One of the -few was our village. The 
 depot was then at the foot Of Center 
 street, and it was surrounded toy a 
 large open space. 
 
 The fact that the President's train 
 would stop at Peekskill was widely 
 known. The curiosity to see Mr. Lin- 
 coln was so great that the entire pop- 
 ulation, or all who could leave home, 
 came, from as far back as the Con- 
 necticut border — friendly or hostile, 
 they alll came to the depot. 
 
 Business in the village was practi- 
 cally suspended while tlhe train was 
 expected. The movement of the train 
 was surrounded with unusual condi- 
 tions. The assassination of the Presi- 
 dent was threatened, as waJs the 
 wrecking of itlhe train on which he was 
 a passenger. 
 
 The program of the day was to 'be a 
 brief welcome and then a short speech 
 from the Presidlent. The Hon. William 
 Nelson, who had been a 'Colleague of 
 Mr. Lincoln in Congress, was selected 
 to welcome him on behalf of the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 Upon arrival Mr. (Lincoln immed- 
 iately camie out of his car and stepped 
 on a flat car which was the reception 
 platform. The applause was brief, be- 
 cause everybody was anxious. The 
 dominant sentiment was intense curi- 
 osity. 
 
 10 
 
It is difficult for us, sixty-five years 
 afterwards, to visualize the conditions 
 prevailing at the time. Our village 
 had, compared with the present, a 
 small population. In its general char- 
 acteristics it had changed little from 
 Revolutionary times. It had grown 
 slowly, and the addition to its popula- 
 tion came mainly from the surround- 
 ing neighborhood. 
 
 While the people enjoyed general 
 comfort, very few could 'be called rich. 
 Acquaintance was universal, every- 
 body knew each other and all about 
 each other. Churchgoing was univer- 
 sal, and that led to gatherings at Sun- 
 day service. The meeting of the peo- 
 ple 'before and after 'service, the pray- 
 er meetings and Sunday school created 
 a remarkable community intimacy. 
 
 The election of IMr. Lincoln had not 
 been anticipated 'by the people who 
 feared an outbreak of Civil War. Lin- 
 coln himself was very little known, 
 and the people were not so familiar- 
 
 GEO. E. BRICfGS 
 
 ized with him as with his rival, Wil- 
 liam H. Seward, and other well known 
 national statesmen. A large majority 
 of our village was hostile to Mr. Lin- 
 coln, and fearful of the results of his 
 election. The events which followed 
 
 •so rapidly w'ere so dramatic and tragic 
 as to overshadow the event at the de- 
 pot. 
 
 I do not know of anyone now living 
 who was in that crowd. It makes one 
 feel lonesome to recall those who have 
 passed away. I stood on the platform 
 near Mr. Nelson and knew personally 
 almost everyone in the surrounding 
 crowd. They were merchants, clergy- 
 men, lawyers 1 , farmeris and workers in 
 tihe iron foundry. I could easily have 
 called most of them 'by nam'e. They 
 are all gone. 
 
 Not only this village, but the whole 
 country and the world are now paying 
 tribute to and honoring Abraham Lin- 
 coln. With Washington he has be- 
 come one of the great leaders of hu- 
 manity for all times. It is eminently 
 fitting and proiper that this spot, which 
 overlooks and embraces the scene of 
 his visit to our village, should be ded- 
 icated and consecrated to his memory, 
 as one of the few ip laces in. our coun- 
 try which wiere personally associated 
 with him. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 CIHAtTNOEY IM. DEPEW. 
 To CHESTER A. SMITH, ESQ., 
 President Lincoln Society. 
 
 After the reading of the letter Pres- 
 ident 'Smith introduced Thomas Nel- 
 son, Jr., in these words: 
 
 "'How fitting it is that we should 
 have with us today the grandson of 
 the man who introduced Lincoln to 
 Peekskill in 1861, and I ami very glad 
 that he is here. He is a former Presi- 
 dent of our village, who hasi always 
 supported me in every progressive 
 movement I have undertaken in 
 Peekskill, and he will now speak to 
 us: Thomas Nelson, Jr., grandson of 
 Hon. William Nelson, who introduced 
 Mr. Lincoln when he stopped in 
 Peekskill, February 19, 1861." 
 
 Thomas Nelson's Address 
 
 Mr. Nelson spoke as follows: 
 "Mr. President, ladies and gentle- 
 men, fellow citizen®: It has been the 
 custom of nations from time immem- 
 orial to erect monuments in commem- 
 oration of great 'events Which have 
 happened in their midst. This monu- 
 ment is not only a imon undent to the 
 great Lincoln, a momumient to a great 
 
 11 
 
man, but it also serves a useful pur- 
 pose in allowing the pedestrian ar- 
 riving here on his way to itihie village 
 to sit here for a few moments of rest 
 and reflection upon this ibrtoad granite 
 seat. It would indeed be a man with- 
 out imagination who could seat him- 
 self upon this seat and look out over 
 this 'beautiful bay without having 
 brougb.it to his mind thou gluts of the 
 great events that have occurred in 
 this locality. 
 
 iLet us name a few of these events. 
 Mr. Apgar was a little wrong, I think, 
 about 'Henry Hudson mistaking Anns- 
 ville creek for the end of the Hudson 
 r'iver. It was a Dutchman named 
 
 Thomas Nelson 
 
 Jan Peck, who some years after Hud- 
 son discovered the rtive-r, sailed 
 up Annsville creek and (established 
 trading relations with a friendly tribe 
 of Indians with whom he found it 
 profitable to deal, those Indians prob- 
 ably being a branch of the same tribe 
 that sold Manhattan Island for $24. 
 And from that circumstance the creek 
 got the name of Peck's Kill, and this 
 name being later applied to the town 
 which began in this valley is the ori- 
 gin of the name of our village, Peeks- 
 kill. 
 
 At Stony Point to the south was 
 fought one of the dramatic battles of 
 the Revolution. At Tarrytown Andre 
 was captured by John Paulding, a na- 
 tive of Peekskill. Tappan Sea and 
 Sleepy Hollow were made famous by 
 the pen of Washing ton Irving. It was 
 farther north in the Catskills that Rip 
 Van Winkle, as related by the same 
 author, drank the potion that led to 
 his famous sleep of twenty years, the 
 first case of sleeping sickness on re- 
 cord. And Rip Van Winkle is not the 
 only one in this valley who has been 
 afflicted with such a disease. 
 
 Washington had his headquarters in 
 Peekskill at one time. And on the 
 spot which this memorial overlooks 
 Lincoln stopped in 1861. 
 
 What a happy thought it was, Mr. 
 Chairman, to set up a memorial to 
 Lincoln at this place. What famous 
 places we can look upon from here 
 and what wonderful scenery. 
 
 But it is an impressive scene in 
 which we are now taking part. What 
 wonderful things these youngsters 
 who are here and who have many 
 years yet to live will witness. In what 
 great events they may take part we 
 do not know. What future leaders 
 may come out of those before us! 
 
 Let us hope that the things they 
 have seen here today may be an inspi- 
 ration to them and may be an encour- 
 agement to them to be worthy of these 
 great men of whom we are reminded 
 by these historic places all about us." 
 
 Mr. Bates Writes Letter 
 
 Following ex-President Nelson's re- 
 marks, Mr. Smith said: 
 
 "We had invited to be present to- 
 day David Homer Bates, who was 
 manager and cipher operator of the 
 War Department Telegraph Office dur- 
 ing the Civil War, and who saw 
 President Lincoln almost daily during 
 that time. But unfortunately the con- 
 dition of his health would not permit 
 his presence here. He has, however, 
 sent his address upon the subject 
 upon which he was asked to speak 
 and it will now be read by Geo. E. 
 Briggs." 
 
 Mr. Briggs stepped to the reading 
 desk: 
 
 Looking at his chronometer, he 
 said to Mr. (Smith that the hour was 
 
 12 
 
growing late, the air and wind chilly, 
 there was much more on the program 
 to be carried out and suggested the 
 reading of the letter be omitted as it 
 was very long. The President accept- 
 ed the recommendation. 
 
 Mr. Bates' letter is as follows: 
 
 Fort Sumter's fateful signals had 
 not ceased to reverberate over the 
 hills and valleys of the north when the 
 electric telegraph flashed a message 
 from Washington calling for operator's 
 for service in defense of the Union. 
 This dispatch was dated April 22, 1861, 
 and signed by Andrew Carnegie, who 
 had just been appointed by Simon 
 Cameron, Secretary of War, as Assist- 
 ant General Manager of Military Rail- 
 roads and Telegraph. 
 
 In compliance with that telegram 
 my superintendent, David McCargo, 
 selected four operators to proceed to 
 the Capitol at once. Ail of the quar- 
 tette except myself are long since 
 dead. We reached Washington, April 
 25, 1861, and reported for duty at the 
 War Department, where I first met 
 Lincoln. The telegraph office was lo- 
 cated in the old War Department 
 building (toTn down in 1879 to make 
 room for the present larger State and 
 War Department building). It ad- 
 joined Secretary Cameron's room, and 
 as we entered we could see three men, 
 all of them tall, one very massive, 
 President Lincoln, Secretary Cameron 
 and General Winfield Scott — old "Fuss 
 and Feathers." I was first assigned to 
 duty at the navy yard under Captain, 
 afterwards Admiral Dahlgren, but a 
 month later was transferred to the 
 War Department, where I remained 
 for over five years except for several 
 weeks in June 1864, when I was on 
 duty at General Grant's Headquarters, 
 City Point, Va. 
 
 At that time the executive mansion 
 was not as now connected by tele- 
 graph, and all the President's tele- 
 grams were handled in the War De- 
 partment telegraph office. 
 
 From that time until April 14, 1865, 
 the day he was shot by Booth, I met 
 Lincoln every day and many nights, 
 for he visited the telegraph office daily 
 anxious to receive the latest news 
 from the front. He conversed freely 
 with the cipher operators and at in- 
 tervals told his inimitable stories. 
 
 Many of the dispatches were in ci- 
 pher, and some times because of tel- 
 egraphic errors it was extremely dif- 
 ficult to unravel the apparently mean- 
 ingless jargon. Lincoln's interest 
 and anxiety at such periods were very 
 great, especially when the dispatches 
 referred to a battle. Chairles A. Dana, 
 long editor of the New York Sun, had 
 'been assigned to the duty of visiting 
 Grant's headquarters in Mississippi, 
 and afterwards in Tennessee, and his 
 telegraphic reports were generally 
 veTy full, and always of great interest. 
 Mr. (Lincoln looked forward eagerly 
 to Mr. Dana's accounts of the various 
 engagements with the eneony. The 
 
 DAVID HOMER BATES 
 
 latter 's strong virile manner of ex- 
 pressing himself on important ques^ 
 tions is well known, and, as the dis- 
 patches were audibly read by Mr. 
 Lincoln, possibly merited criticism 
 were softened in the reading by side 
 remarks. It was his haibit to read 
 aloud, and to bring his listeners into 
 the current of his thoughts by ques- 
 tion or suggestion. 
 
 In our cipher code there were sev- 
 eral words, each translated "Jefferson 
 Davis." Other words stood for "Rob- 
 ert E. Lee," and so on. Whenever Mr. 
 
 13 
 
Lincoln came to these names he would 
 ■shorten or transform them into some- 
 thing else — for instance, "Jeffy D.", 
 "Bobby Lee," etc., so that there seemed 
 to go out from him at such time, and 
 indeed on many occasions, a gentle 
 influence. He seemed to be thinking 
 of the leadens of the rebellion as way- 
 ward sons rather than as traitorous 
 brethren. 
 
 Once, not more than sixty days be- 
 fore his death, he came initio the tele- 
 graph office with a photograph of him- 
 self, which had been addressed to his 
 wife and sent through the mail. The 
 sender added to the picture a rope, 
 which passed around the neck and 
 then upward, tautly drawn, as indicat- 
 ing his hellish desire. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln remarked that it had 
 caused Mrs. Lincoln some anxiety 
 which he did not share, although he 
 added some words of regret that any 
 human 'being could be <so devoid of 
 feeling as thus to wound an innocent 
 woman. He said that he received 
 many eommuniicationsi of similar char- 
 acter and had come to give them only 
 a passing thought. 
 
 "With malice toward none, and 
 charity for all" — "The judgments of 
 the Lord are true and righteous." 
 These words taken from Lincoln's sec- 
 ond inaugural, March 4, 1865, so well 
 illustrate his loving nature and his 
 trust in God that I am led to speak 
 particularly of those characteristics, 
 and to add my humble tribute to his 
 memory. 
 
 If love be the fulfilling of the law, 
 then in my opinion, Abraham Lincoln 
 was the nearly perfect example of his 
 generation. I do not speak of his be- 
 lief in a (Divine Being, nor in the 
 Christian faith, although his manifold 
 utterances on the subject of slavery 
 alone shall ever proclaim to the 
 thinking world the fact that at the 
 very root of his spiritual nature he 
 held sacred the teachings of Christ 
 and his practice, as his words when 
 stripped of a certain rudeness inci- 
 dent to his early surroundings in life 
 exemplified those teachings. But I 
 refer to that period of his career dur- 
 ing which, if ever, the inborn and in- 
 bred kindliness of his nature was 
 taxed to the utmost by the treason of 
 many of his former political acquaint- 
 ances, includling some of the northern 
 
 copperheads, and the blind impatience 
 of those wiho seemed to think the Civil 
 War 'should be carried on according to 
 their own narrow selfish views. What- 
 ever may have been his thoughts re- 
 specting his enemies and their efforts 
 to sting and crush him, his truly no- 
 ble heart in its outward expressions 
 exhibited only love, charity and be- 
 nevolence. 
 
 (Lincoln is sometimes called the 
 story-teller of the White House, but 
 not all of the so-called Lincoln stories 
 were his, a few were probably original 
 but the many bear his name only be- 
 cause he retold them and many more 
 because he happened to be present 
 when they were repeated by others. 
 
 GHir Francis Burmand, long editor of 
 Punch, in an address at Chester, Eng- 
 land, years 1 ago, said in substance that 
 many witticisms which were supposed 
 to be original at the time of publica- 
 tion in Punch had been copied in other 
 journals, and after wandering all over 
 Europe and America, the old jokes 
 sadly (battered and disguised, were 
 often brought back to Mr. Punch, who 
 was expected to welcome as disting- 
 uished foreigners, the children of his 
 own creation or of which he was a 
 godfather. Sir Francis added that 
 Punch kept a joke index to which, in 
 such cases, they often referred only 
 to discover the "fly in the amber." 
 
 In the abstract, this principle of the 
 antiquity of jokes is correct. The only 
 one of Lincoln's witticisms which I do 
 not recall having seen in print will 
 illustrate this point. 
 
 In the War Department telegraph 
 office, adjoining one of the cipher op- 
 erator's desks, there was at one time 
 an old fashioned hair- cloth lounge on 
 which the 'President some times re- 
 clined while waiting for news from 
 the front. On one occasion he was seen 
 to get up from the old lounge and 
 flick from his coat the small brown 
 insect known to entomologists as be- 
 longing to the species "dimex dectu- 
 larius," in common language a bed 
 bug. As he did 1 sO he looked around 
 with his usual smile when emitting 
 humor and said, "Well, I have always 
 had a great fondness for that did set- 
 tee, but now that it has become a 
 little buggy I shall have to give it 
 up." 
 
 14 
 
Abraham (Lincoln, termed by James 
 Russell Lowell, "that brave fore-see- 
 ing man, sagacious, patient, dreading 
 praise not Iblame," how we admire 
 your high-born aim's, your Christ-like 
 moods, your calm, courageous spirit, 
 ever hopeful, even wnen battles were 
 lost, and ever merciful, even when 
 treason seemed to foe triumphant. To 
 you, Oh Saviour of our foeloved coun- 
 try; these visions of eternal right and 
 justice between man and man, and of 
 certain victory of right over wrong, 
 these far-off visions, unseen by others 
 except a few souls of kindred mould 
 with you were sublime verities as in- 
 deed they later came to be to most or 
 all of your countrymen. 
 
 During those last four years of Lin- 
 coln's national career even until the 
 day of its tragic ending I was fortu- 
 nate in being permitted to see him 
 and talk with him daily, for he came 
 to the War Department telegraph of- 
 fice morning, afternoon and evening, 
 to receive the latest news from the 
 armies at the front. His tall, homely 
 form could foe seen crossing the well 
 shaded lawn between the White House 
 and the War (Department, day after 
 day, with unvaried regularity. Many 
 times he remained till midnight, and 
 on several occasions all night. 
 
 I was too young at that time to 
 form a matured, intelligent opinion 
 of his character, fout I find entered in 
 my war diary under date of April 15, 
 1865, the day of his death, the follow- 
 ing from James 3:7, Which is the best 
 expression in a few words of what I 
 then esteemed him to be: "\Fir;st pure, 
 then peaceable, gentle and easy to foe 
 entreated, full of mercy and good 
 fruits, without partiality and without 
 hypocrisy." 
 
 A careful study of his published 
 speeches and writings, and a perusal 
 of many of his biographies since that 
 record was made have only served to 
 confirm my youthful estimate of his 
 simple and altogether lovely charac- 
 ter, whidh has now fo'ecome the object 
 of wonder and admiration of the civil- 
 ized world, combining with its innate 
 gentleness, a marvelous tact in the 
 handling of mien and in the settlement 
 of complex question's of national and 
 international importance, a faculty of 
 leading public opinion into broader 
 channels and thus aiding in the for- 
 
 mation of righteous judgments a skill- 
 ful control of current events, an abil- 
 ity to gather up useful fruits and ton- 
 ing them (for more effective service to 
 his country and mankind, a boundless 
 charity for and deep sympathy with 
 the suffering and oppressed. 
 
 All this, indeed, in spite of envy, 
 jealousy, malice and political and 
 personal hatred in the midst of the 
 greateist civil war of history. Surely 
 like the Saviour "he endured the con- 
 tradiction of sinners" and the mantle 
 of his charity covered not only the 
 down-trodden everywhere, but his 
 own and his country's 1 enemies 1 as 
 well, and if he could have spoken after 
 the fatal trail et entered his brain, he 
 would no doubt have said, "Father, 
 forgive them, they know not what they 
 do." 
 
 Then the interesting feature of the 
 afternoon took place, the unveiling of 
 the memorial. 'President Smith said : 
 
 "The Lincoln Memorial tablet will 
 now be unveiled foy Dr. A. D. Dunbar. 
 Dr. Dunbar is a former President of 
 the Lincoln (Society, and was, as you 
 know, for many years superintendent 
 of one of our pufolic s'chool systems, 
 and he too ib rings us into intimate 
 touch with 'Lincoln, having been a 
 classmate of Mr. Lincoln's son, Robert 
 T. [Lincoln, in Harvard College. I 
 take great pleasure in presenting Dr. 
 Dunlbar." 
 
 Dr. Dunbar Knew Lincoln's Son 
 
 iDr. Dunlbar spoke as follows: 
 "It was a surprise to me and it is 
 doutfotless a disappointment to you that 
 foy the enforced absence of our distin- 
 guished fellow townsman, Hon.Chaun- 
 cey M. Depew, the honor of unveiling 
 this memorial has been conferred upon 
 me. And for these reasons: 
 
 Rofoert T. Lincoln, son of the Pres- 
 ident, was a memfoer of class 1864, at 
 Harvard; I was in the class of 1866, 
 and during the two years from 1862, 
 when I entered, to 1864, when he 
 graduated, we formed an acquaint- 
 ance ship which was renewed twenty 
 years Hater when the Hon. Rofoert T. 
 Lincoln was (Secretary of War. Also 
 that I had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. 
 Lincoln in (Cambridge when her son 
 graduated. And for the further rea- 
 
 15 
 
son that I am the senior living Presi- 
 dent of the local Lincoln Society. 
 
 The history of our country abounds 
 in great names: Jefferson and Frank- 
 lin and Hamilton; Grant and Sher- 
 man and Sheridan; Webster and 
 Sumner and Seward; and many 
 others. The dimming influence of 
 time and the onrushing surge of cur- 
 rent events have obscured the mem- 
 ory of their names and their deeds; 
 but there are two names that survive 
 and which will shine with increasing 
 lustre as the years go by. They are 
 Washington, the beloved, the Father 
 of his country, and Lincoln, the pa- 
 
 Dr. A. D. Dunbar 
 
 tient, the courageous, the preserver 
 of the Union, making possible a migh- 
 ty nation. 
 
 But I shall leave to my friend, Sen- 
 ator 'Mastick, the development of this 
 theme. 
 
 Ail over this country and in foreign 
 lands Lincoln societies have been 
 formed, where annually the most dis- 
 tinguished and the most eloquent pay 
 tribute to Lincoln'® life and memory. 
 The Lincoln Society of Peekskill, 
 was organized in 1903, and annually 
 since that time, a meeting has been 
 
 held at which his services have been 
 recounted and his memory honored. 
 
 At one of these meetings, as you 
 have heard from the chairman, this 
 plot of ground was given to the So- 
 ciety by John iSmith, Jr., with his ex- 
 pressed wish that at some future time 
 a suitable memorial should be erect- 
 ed on this spot to Lincoln's memory. 
 
 And what spot could be more suit- 
 able or more appropriate? To the 
 north are the government reserva- 
 tion's of Iona Island and West Point; 
 to the south are Stony Point and Ver- 
 planck Point and the wide expanse of 
 Tappan Zee, all replete with memor- 
 able associations' of the 'Revolutionary 
 struggle. Just below is the old pas- 
 senger station where, from the plat- 
 form of a waiting train, then on his 
 way to Washington, there to assume 
 the arduous duties of the Presidency, 
 there to proclaim freedom to an en- 
 slaved race, there to achieve immor- 
 tality, Lincoln briefly addressed the 
 assembled citizens. 
 
 Today, Capt. John Smith's wish is 
 realized. By the lactivity and the en- 
 ergy of the President of the Lincoln 
 Society, Chester A. 'Smith, and 
 through the patriotic generosity of 
 friends the funds were pledged, the 
 exedra completed and the tablet has 
 been placed. 
 
 And now in behalf of the Lincoln 
 Society of Peekskill, I unveil the tab- 
 let, in the belief that to all here pres- 
 eit, to every passer by who shall 
 recognize the medallion, or read the 
 inscription, to all who shall sit and 
 resit within this circle, to ail wbo from 
 this parapet shall look out upon the 
 lordly Hudson and sense its associa- 
 tions, to all shall dome inspiration 
 for a more devoted patriotism, a keen- 
 er sense of civic duty and obligation, 
 inspiration for a better life and a 
 nob 1 er m an ho o d . ' ' 
 
 Then while the audience stood, Dr. 
 Dunbar pulled aside, ait exactly 3.27 
 p. m., the handsome silk flag which 
 had covered the bronze tablet. 
 
 When the audience had been again 
 seated, President Smith introducing 
 the orator of the day, said: 
 
 "We invited to deliver the principal 
 address this afternoon a citizen of 
 our own county, a man eminently 
 worthy because of his life and char- 
 
 16 
 
acter. to interpret Lincoln to us ui>on 
 this occasion; a man of culture, a 
 veteran of the World War, a Senator 
 of the State of New York, from our 
 own 26th district, Hon. Seabury C. 
 Mastick, of Pleasant voile, who will 
 now address us." 
 
 Senator Mastick's Address 
 
 iS'enator Masitick's address was in 
 full as follows: 
 
 Three score and four years ago, at 
 the Very threshhold of his greatness, 
 Abraham Lincoln spoke in this village 
 to our grandfathers. Three score 
 years ago Abraham Lincoln passed 
 into the great beyond. In that short 
 space of a little over four years he had 
 freed a race, saved a nation and, mak- 
 ing himself immortal, had taken his 
 eternal place among the stars. 
 
 His fame has increased with the 
 passing years until today his memory 
 is revered the world over and he is 
 looked upon by all nations as one of 
 the greatest characters in history. 
 
 Many pens have drawn his picture in 
 words of eulogy. Many tongues have 
 voiced his praise.. 
 
 "The color of the earth was ground in 
 
 him, the red earth, 
 The tang and odor of the primal 
 
 thing — 
 The rectitude and patience of the 
 
 rocks; 
 The gladness of the wind that shakes 
 
 the corn; 
 The courage of the bird that dares the 
 
 sea; 
 The justice of the rain that loves all 
 
 leaves; 
 The pity of the snow that hides all 
 
 scars ; 
 The loving kindness of the wayside 
 
 well; 
 The tolerance and equity of light 
 That gives as freely to the shrinking 
 
 weed 
 As to the great oak flaring to the 
 
 wind — 
 To the grave's low hill as to the Mat- 
 
 terhorn 
 That shoulders out the sky." 
 
 I would speak to you today of Lin- 
 coln — a man of courage. He was a 
 rnanysided man and his qualities have 
 been admired and discussed from all- 
 most every angle. Still I do not now 
 recall that his quality of courage has 
 
 been as much emphasized as other 
 qualities. His courage stands out so 
 commandingly in his actions and his 
 words that it is fitting to bring a few 
 of the instances to our attention, not 
 only that it may interest uts but that 
 we may be inspired from his example 
 to show courage ourselves in our lives 
 as citizens of this great country which 
 hie ipre served for us. 
 
 There are two kinds of courage, 
 moral and physical. Lincoln pos- 
 sessed both in high degree. Of his 
 moral courage I shall speak more at 
 length. Of his physical! courage, I 
 
 SEABURY C. MASTICK 
 
 shall cite a single instance which is 
 within the knowledge of my own fam- 
 ily. 
 
 When the Confederate General 
 Early made his famous raid on Wash- 
 ington in July, 1864, my father-in-law 
 was one of the soldiers stationed in 
 the fortificationis of Font Stevens. 
 
 President Lincoln twice visited the 
 Fort and each time took a position in 
 full view of the enemy. Om one occa- 
 sion a man was killed very near him 
 and on the other a memoer of the 
 President's party was wounded in the 
 leg. In each case it was difficult to get 
 
 17 
 
Lincoln to yieild to the entreaties of 
 his friends and to retire to a less ex- 
 posed position. 
 
 As a young man he was famous for 
 his physical strength and his courage. 
 
 'Lincoln's moral courage is prover- 
 bial. 
 
 He was courageous enough not to 
 fear the truth. During his long life in 
 politics there were many occasions 
 when^ he was attacked by his enemies 
 with misrepresentation and innuendo. 
 His manner of meeting such charges 
 is well ilustrated hy a letter he wrote 
 in reply to such a charge at the very 
 'beginning of his career when he was 
 but 27 years of age. 
 
 Allen, Robert 
 New Salem, June 21, 1836 
 
 Dear Colonel: I am told that during 
 my absence last week you passed 
 through this place, and stated publicly 
 that you were in possession of a fact or 
 facts which, if known to the public, 
 would entirely destroy the prospects of 
 N. W. Edwards and myself at the en- 
 suing- election; but that, through favor 
 to us, you should forbear to divulge 
 them. No one has needed favors more 
 than I, and, generally, few have been 
 less unwilling to accept them; but in 
 this case favor to me would be injustice 
 to the public, and therefore I must beg 
 your pardon for declining it. That I 
 once had the confidence of the people of 
 Sangamon, is sufficiently evident; and if 
 I have since done anything, either by de- 
 sign or misadventure, which if known 
 would subject me to a forfeiture of that 
 confidence, he that knows of that thing, 
 and conceals it, is a traitor to his coun- 
 try's interest. 
 
 I find myself wholly unable to form 
 any conjecture of what fact or facts, 
 real or supposed, you spoke; but my 
 opinion of your veracity will not permit 
 me for a moment to doubt that you at 
 least believed what you said. I am flat- 
 tered with the personal regard you man- 
 ifested for me; but I do hope that on 
 more mature reflection, you will view 
 the public interest as a paramount con- 
 sideration, and therefore determine to 
 let the worst come. I here assure you 
 that the candid statement of facts on 
 your part, however low it may sink me, 
 shall never break the tie of personal 
 friendship between us. I wish an an- 
 swer to this, and you are at liberty to 
 publish both, if you choose. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 A. LINCOLN. 
 
 This s'am'e fearlessness of the truth 
 was illustrated again and again dur- 
 ing the civil war. No attempt to con- 
 ceal the facts about a campaign or a 
 battle could escape him. He wanted 
 to know and knowing he could act un- 
 derstandingly. He well knew that fear 
 
 is founded in ignorance and that wis- 
 dom to act came with knowledge. 
 
 He was courageous enough to admit 
 he was wrong when it was clear that 
 he was. 
 
 He was not a military man and yet 
 by virtue of his being President he 
 was the Commander-in-iChief of the 
 Army. As such he from time to time 
 criticized the plans of his generals and 
 made suggestions of his own. His was 
 the responsibility and his word was 
 law. Yet when convinced that he w'as 
 in error he quickly accepted what he 
 believed to be the wiser counsel even 
 going to the 'extent of writing General 
 Grant at one time after criticizing one 
 of his plans as a mi stake which after- 
 wards was a success: "I now wish to 
 make the personal acknowledgment 
 that you were right and I Was wrong." 
 
 And yet, having the responsibility, 
 he was courageous enough to accept it 
 and the full penalty of such acceptance 
 when necessity arose. 
 
 His Was the responsibility for the 
 selection of the generals in the field. 
 When he made a mistake he took the 
 full responsibility. When the general 
 made a success he gave the general all 
 the credit. His was the responsibility 
 for the emancipation proclamation — a 
 decision which at the time meant the 
 life or death of the nation. And his 
 was the responsibility of giving or 
 taking away life in the case of those 
 found guilty by court martial. And in 
 alii these instances he never shirked 
 his duty. His cheerful nature was 
 saddened. His warm heart was 
 chilled. His homely face took on lines 
 of care. But he never wavered from 
 the path he iset out to follow. 
 
 He was courageous enough to chal- 
 lenge the power of England. At the 
 very beginning of the war, scarcely a 
 month after his inaugration, he stated 
 the position of the Union in such clear, 
 unmistakaible and emphatic terms that 
 England and the world knew just what 
 to expect if they treated with the 
 South as a separate power. In his in- 
 structions to Charles Francis Adams, 
 his Minister to England, he said: 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington, April 10, 1861 
 First — The President has noticed, as 
 the whole American people have, with 
 much emotion, the expressions of good- 
 will and friendship towards the United 
 
 18 
 
States, and of concern for their present 
 embarrassments, which have been made 
 on apt occasions, by her Majesty and 
 her ministers. 
 
 You can make due acknowledgement 
 tor these manifestations, but at the 
 same time you will not rely on any mere 
 sympathies or national kindness. You 
 will make no admissions of weakness in 
 our Constitution, or of apprehension on 
 the part of the Government. You will 
 rather prove, as you easily can, by com- 
 paring the history of our country with 
 that of other States, that its Constitu- 
 tion and Government are really the 
 strongest and surest which have ever 
 been erected for the safety of any peo- 
 ple. You will in no case listen to any 
 suggestions of compromises by this 
 Government under foreign auspices, 
 with its discontented citizens. If, as the 
 President does not at all apprehend, you 
 shall unhappily find her Majesty's Gov- 
 ernment tolerating the application of 
 the so-called seceding States, or waver- 
 ing about it, you will not leave them to 
 suppose for a moment that they can 
 grant that application and remain 
 friends with the United States. You 
 may even assure them promptly, in that 
 case, that if they determine to recognize, 
 they may at the same time prepare to 
 enter into alliance with the enemies of 
 this republic. You alone will represent 
 your country at London, and you will 
 represent the whole of it there. When 
 you are asked to divide that duty with 
 others, diplomatic relations between the 
 Government of Great Britain and this 
 Government will be suspended, and will 
 remain so until it shall be seen which of 
 the two is most strongly intrenched in 
 the confidence of their respective na- 
 tions and of mankind. 
 
 There wasn't any doubt as to his at- 
 titude, was there? And this very po- 
 sition, taken at the beginning of the 
 war, kept England neutral and was a 
 great material factor in the winning 
 of the war. 
 
 He was courageous enough, at the 
 outset of his career to take the unpop- 
 ular side of a great controversy be- 
 cause 'he believed he Was right. He 
 was courageous enough to maintain 
 this position throughout his life and 
 he was courageous enough to put his 
 thought into deed and to set free a 
 race. Prom his earliest years he es- 
 poused the cause of freedom and op- 
 posed slavery. Slavery to him was 
 fundamentally wrong and admitted of 
 no palliation or argument. He be- 
 lieved in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence and in the Constitution and the 
 very idea of slavery was in his mind 
 repugnant to the spirit,, if not to the 
 letter, of those great documents. His 
 devotion to the Constitution, his ab- 
 horrence of slavery and his belief that 
 
 right and justice would prevail were 
 the mainsprings of his ilife. 
 
 And now he dwells in loving rever- 
 ence in our 'hearts. iWe call him 
 "Father Abraham." The nation has 
 ens'hrined his image in a wonderful 
 memorial in Washington. To enter 
 there into the presence of his spirit is 
 a benediction and a prayer. 
 
 We meet here today to recognize in 
 our humble way the debt we owe to 
 Abraham [Lincoln. We unveil this 
 memorial that it may be a lasting tes- 
 timony of our thankfulness that such 
 a man walked the earth. 
 
 The true patriot — the father of his 
 people — the saviour of his country — 
 the martyr to his ideals — the immortal 
 whose spirit broods over America to- 
 day and would guide us in justice, 
 honor and charity in our leadership of 
 the nations. 'Such was Abraham Lin- 
 coln whose name we delight to honor. 
 President Smith then said: 
 "My friends, we thank you all for 
 your presence upon this occasion. We 
 thank Senator Mas tick and these 
 other speakers for these splendid ad- 
 dresses, and all who in any way have 
 helped to make this occasion possi- 
 ble and to make it a success 1 . We will 
 conclude our exercises by singing 
 one verse of America." 
 
 This act concluded the ceremonies 
 of the afternoon which occupied just 
 about one hour and a half. 
 
 Letters of regret were received 
 from honorary members, Senator 
 William T. Byrne; Congressman 
 J. Mayihew Wainwright; George 
 Haven Putnam, Rev. B. C. Warren, 
 Richard IB. Coon. Also from invited 
 guests, James B. Ford, Victor C. An- 
 derson, Dr. John A. Smith, Dr. George 
 P. Kunz, President of the American 
 Scenic and Historic Preservation So- 
 ciety. 
 
 In connection with the dedication, 
 Chester A. (Smith, President of the 
 Lincoln Society, wishes to thank 
 publicly Dunlap's Music Store for 
 furnishing the piano for the use of the 
 High School orchestra, the Peekskill 
 Transfer Company for transporting 
 the piano, the Highland Democrat for 
 printing the programs, William W. 
 Tears, for the use of his flags, Com- 
 missioner of Public Safety Clifton E. 
 Forbush for shutting off traffic on 
 South street during the exercises, 
 
 19 
 
which added so much to the success 
 of the occasion, and the police de- 
 partment and Chief Henry Burke for 
 co-operation, E. A. Bartle use of 
 chairs, McPhillips & Vaughey gift of 
 chairs. 
 
 The memorial is in the form of a 
 granite exedra, 18 feet in length, with 
 a radius of 9 feet, designed by Arch- 
 itect Gilbert H. Anderson. 
 
 The inscription on the tablet, made 
 
 by Tiffany, reads as follows : 
 
 This Memorial 
 
 Overlooking the Spot Where 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Spoke to Peekskill Citizens 
 
 February 19, 1861 
 
 Was Erected to His Memory in 1925 by 
 
 The Lincoln Society in Peekskill 
 
 with the 
 
 Contributions of Generous Friends 
 
 The site was presented in 1921 by 
 
 Captain John Smith, Jr., 
 President of the Society 1917-191S 
 
 Lincoln's Speech in Peekskill, 
 February 19, 1861 
 
 At Peekskill, in reply to a brief 
 
 address from Judge Nelson, he said: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: I have but a 
 moment to stand before you, to listen 
 to and return your kind greeting. I 
 thank you -for this reception and for 
 the pleasant manner in which it is 
 tendered Itb me, by our mutual friend. 
 I will say in a single sentence, in re- 
 gard to the difficulties that lie before 
 mi© and our beloved country, that if I 
 can only be as generously and unani- 
 mously sustained, as the demonstra- 
 tions I have witnessed indicate I 
 sh-aill be, I shall not fail; but without 
 your sustaining hands I am sure that 
 neither I, nor any other man, can 
 hope to surmount these difficulties. I 
 trust that in the course I shall pur- 
 sue I shall be sustained, not only by 
 the party that elected me, but by the 
 •patriotic people of the whole coun- 
 try. — From History of The Adminis- 
 tration of President Lincoln: includ- 
 ing his speeches, letters, addresses, 
 pro'clamiations and messages. By 
 Henry J. Raymond, New York, J. C 
 Derby . . . 1864. 
 
 The Site As It Looked Before the Memorial Was Erected 
 
 20 
 
The Lincoln Memorial in Books 
 
 Concurrent with the erection of the Lincoln Memorial in granite and 
 bronze there was established THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IN BOOKS. This 
 is now a fund of $1,000, the yearly income from which is used to purchase 
 books on Lincoln or kindred subjects for free circulation through the Field 
 Library, the public library of Peekskill, the Board of Trustees of the Library 
 having voted to accept all books so presented and to permit the same to be 
 suitably inscribed. 
 
 THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IN BOOKS was made possible by the gener- 
 osity of the following: Miss Agnes M. Sutton, Mrs. Mary B. Requa, Mrs. Melvin 
 R. Horton, and Mrs. Evelyn Armstrong, each of whom contributed $250, Miss 
 Sutton in memory of her father, the late James T. Sutton; Mrs. Requa in 
 memory of her husband, the late Amos C. Requa; Mrs. Horton in memory of 
 her father, the late Albert Chase; and Mrs. Armstrong in memory of her hus- 
 band, the late Henry L. Armstrong. 
 
 Books purchased with the income from these gifts and all subsequent 
 ones will be suitably inscribed. 
 
 THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IN BOOKS, providing for the free circula- 
 tion of Lincoln literature, offers a unique and effective method of presenting 
 Lincoln's life and ideals to each succeeding generation, at the same time 
 keeping alive the memory of worthy local citizens, and will in time give to 
 Peekskill a Lincoln collection which will be outstanding both as to size and 
 material. 
 
 Additions to THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IN BOOKS will be welcomed by 
 the Lincoln Society, which will accept designated gifts or bequests from indi- 
 viduals, or contributions from organizations, for that purpose. 
 
 JAMES T. SUTTON. Born in New York City, December 9, 1833. Became 
 a resident of Peekskill 1835. Conducted for many years the Peekskill Gas 
 Works, which his father had established. Member Peekskill Board of Water 
 Commissioners seventeen years. Its President for fourteen years. A large 
 factor in the development of Peekskill's water system. Suggested and instru- 
 mental in introducing Peekskill's sanitary sewer system. Instrumental in se- 
 curing the location of the State Camp of Military Instruction of the National 
 Guard at Peekskill. Member Peekskill Board of Park Commissioners four 
 years. Its President for three years. Member Board of Trustees of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church. Married May 8, 1851, Miss Mary E. Williams. Four 
 children: Arthur Gilbert Sutton, Minnie Letitia Sutton, Allan L. Sutton, Agnes 
 M. Sutton. Died February 25, 1904. 
 
 REV. AMOS C. REQUA. Born Yorktown, October 10, 1839. Prepared 
 for the Methodist ministry but ill health prevented his assuming the duties of 
 a traveling preacher. Local preacher. Devoted himself to religious work in 
 town of Yorktown. Became resident of Peekskill 1882, joining the First Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. Shortly thereafter became Superintendent of its 
 
 21 
 
Sunday School. This position he held for twenty years, devoting to it and to 
 the work of religious education and the training of the young people con- 
 nected with this large and growing church practically all his time, indepen- 
 dent means permitting him to do this without financial reward. Life member 
 Westchester County Bible Society. Its Treasurer for twenty years. Life 
 member American Bible Society. Married April 17, 1872, Miss Mary E. Day- 
 ton. Died April 22, 1922. 
 
 ALBERT CHASE. Born Furnace Woods, April 4, 1847. Became resi- 
 dent of Peekskill 1880. Merchant. A pioneer in the wholesaling of vegeta- 
 bles and farm products in the village. One of the organizers and charter 
 members of Bald Eagle Tribe, No. 264, Independent Order of Red Men. 
 Member First Methodist Episcopal Church. A steward of the church for many 
 years. Member Board of Trustees of the church. At one time Superintendent 
 of the Sunday School of the neighboring community of Florenceville. Mar- 
 ried September 23, 1864, Miss Cordelia Albina Ball. Eight children: William 
 H. Chase, Albert B. Chase, Edward Chase, Mrs. Melvin R. Horton, Mrs. Cor- 
 rella Van Horn, Harry St. Clair Chase, Lulu Chase, Loftus R. Chase. Several 
 years after the death of his wife, married Mrs. Elizabeth F. Pierce. Died May 
 24, 1923. 
 
 HENRY L. ARMSTRONG. Born Adams Corners, N. Y., March 23, 1843. 
 Became resident of Peekskill, 1871. Coal merchant. Trustee Peekskill, Sav- 
 ings Bank thirty years. Director Westchester County National Bank fifteen 
 years. Director Highland Democrat Company twenty-two years. Its Presi- 
 dent nineteen years. Member Peekskill Board of Park Commissioners twenty 
 years. Its President fifteen years. Superintendent Sunday School Tompkins 
 Corners Methodist Episcopal church. Member First Methodist Episcopal 
 church fifty-two years. Member of its Board of Trustees forty-seven years. 
 Also served at one time as Superintendent of the Sunday School. Married 
 June 23, 1886, Miss Margaret Fox Barmore. She died in 1908. Married Jan- 
 uary 29, 1910, Miss Evelyn Paulding Ward. Died February 9, 1925. 
 
 22 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA 
 
 973.7L63EL6388L com 
 
 LINCOLN IN PEEKSKIIL PEEKSKILL 
 
 3 0112 031811901