LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 and 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/furtherlightonliOOstar 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 Stretched like a thread through this little volume will be found references to 
 the majority of the scores of individuals, government departments and officials, 
 historical societies, public libraries, publishers, etc., who have assisted in every way 
 to assemble the data used in preparing this work, and whose many courtesies are 
 hereby gratefully acknowledged. And while I feel that an enumeration would 
 unnecessarily tire the reader, yet I desire to make special mention of those who 
 have so kindly contributed the illustrative matter, without which the opus would 
 have Been incomplete. 
 
 These latter include Mrs. Mary Saunders Harrison, of Omaha, Neb. ; Mr. 
 John Gribbel, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. William H. Seward, 3rd, of Auburn, 
 N. Y. ; Mr. Sherwood Rollins, of Boston, Mass.; Mr. Emanuel Hertz, of New 
 York City; Mr. William Selby, of Elkton, Md.; Mr. Thomas F. Madigan, auto- 
 graph dealer of New York City; Dr. Louis A. Warren, Director of the Lincoln 
 Historical Research Foundation, and Mr. Ross McCulloch, of Fort Wayne, Ind. ; 
 and the Library of Congress, the Adjutant General's Office of the War Depart- 
 ment, Col. U. S. Grant, 3rd, Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks, and 
 Mr. Lewis G. Reynolds, Custodian Lincoln Museum, all of Washington, D. C. 
 
"Lincoln's Last Autograph." Undoubtedly the 
 last paper to which the martyr President affixed 
 his signature. — Courtesy of Library of Congress. 
 
wtts &iiBS&a* 'M^jpyi^* »fc*»iy*i^*« tMh^pggtM ithiypprti >iiBjBg*M iiteMtfM Bfe^B 
 
 Further Light 
 
 ON 
 
 Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 A Study of the Attendant Circumstances 
 Being the third 0/ a series of Monographs 
 
 by 
 
 JOHN W. STARR, Jr. 
 
 Author of "Lincoln '8 Last Day," 
 "New Light on Lincoln's Last Day," btc. 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 Privately Printed 
 1930 
 
 I 
 
 
 i*w"" 
 
Edition of sixty numbered and signed copies. 
 
 COPYRIGHT I93O 
 
 John W. Starr, jr. 
 

 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 In the preparation of this monograph I have been reminded many times of 
 a statement made by a reviewer of "Lincoln's Last Day," that "the author has 
 secured a few new grains of wheat by sifting many bushels of chaff." In the pro- 
 cess of assembling data for the present work, literally hundreds of letters have been 
 exchanged with the hope of gathering some new memoranda, and the results have 
 often seemed inversely meagre. And notwithstanding the fact that all likely leads 
 have been followed up from various angles, I am satisfied that there are to be had 
 additional data if one knew where to go. That last day of President Lincoln's life 
 was an extremely busy one. And in contra-distinction to a remark once made to 
 me by the late Judd Stewart, to whom I had shown the first draft of the original 
 manuscript on the subject, that he did not see that so many incidents couldi have 
 transpired, it has been a source of wonder to me why more of those who called at 
 the Executive Mansion did not leave for posterity some account of their interviews, 
 and those who have done so more detailed narratives. Contemporary accounts tell 
 us that, after the morning call of Schuyler Colfax, the President "had an interview 
 with Mr. Hale, Minister to Spain, and several Senators and Representatives." 
 Why was Hale silent, and who were these members of Congress? 
 
 Colfax has told of his important morning and evening interviews; we can 
 visualize and appraise that last Cabinet meeting; we know some of the details of 
 the afternoon drive; and can reconstruct the events of the evening prior to leaving 
 for the theatre. But why the relative silence as to the afternoon transaction of 
 business in the Executive offices? L. E. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury, re- 
 counts that "I left Washington on the afternoon of April 14th. * * * * I went to 
 the Executive Mansion to take leave of the President. So many were waiting, the 
 President seemed so much occupied with pressing business, that I came away with- 
 out sending in my card." And there is corroborative evidence of this press of 
 business from other sources. Why the paucity of first-hand authentic data? I 
 know that Nicolay and Hay state that Lincoln "denied himself generally to the 
 throng of visitors, admitting only a few friends," but all the evidence I have tends 
 to show the reverse to have been the case. Lincoln "closed shop" early that after- 
 noon, but the time preceding was crowded with incident. 
 
 Why do we not have, somewhere, an account of the doings of the Chief Ex- 
 ecutive that day, by some member of his official family? On this day, of all days, 
 why did not the versatile John Hay, probably the only one in a position to do so, 
 leave his recollections of the movements of his Chief that Good Friday? We do 
 not hear from him, nor of him, until after the President was shot. Pendel, the 
 doorkeeper, says that after hearing the news he informed Robert Lincoln, who said, 
 
"Go and call Major Hay." "Major," said Pendel, "Captain Lincoln wants to see 
 you at once. The President has been shot." 
 
 Hay, says Pendel, "was a handsome young man with a bloom on his cheeks 
 just like that of a beautiful young lady. When I told him the news, he turned 
 deathly pale, the color entirely leaving his cheeks. He said to me, 'Don't allow 
 anybody to enter the house.' I said, 'Very good, Major, nobody shall come in.' And 
 thereupon Robert Lincoln and John Hay left immediately for the theatre." 
 
 As stated by Dr. Barton in his biography, a copy of the John Hay diary, 
 proper names being represented by initials only, is on file in the Library of Con- 
 gress. But Dr. Martin, Acting Chief of the Division of Manuscripts, reports that 
 no reference is found therein as to President Lincoln's or John Hay's actions that 
 day, a large gap appearing in the diary at that period, and neither does the library 
 contain any relevant Lincoln or Hay data. 
 
 And as further stated by Dr. Barton, "the Massachusetts Historical Society 
 has an even more precious document, a photostatic copy of the original of Hay's 
 diary, which was made for 'Thayer's Life of John Hay,' " access to which may be 
 obtained only by special permission. 
 
 This permission I secured through the kindness of Mrs. James Wadsworth, 
 Jr., daughter of John Hay, and a later report by Mr. Julius H. Tuttle, Librarian, 
 but confirmed the findings of the Congressional Library. "Our photostat copy of 
 the John Hay diary," says Mr. Tuttle, "does not have any entries between Decem- 
 ber 1 8, 1864, and September 25, 1866." And furthermore, Mrs. Wadsworth in- 
 forms me that she has no knowledge of any of her father's papers which would 
 throw any light on the subject, and that she does not remember even hearing her 
 father speak of President Lincoln's last day. 
 
 Miss Helen Nicolay, daughter of Secretary Nicolay, states that "my father 
 was not in Washington at the time of Mr. Lincoln's death. He had been away on 
 a short trip to Cuba and saw the shipping at half-mast as he approached land. That 
 was his first intimation of the tragedy, which was of course a terrible shock to him 
 as well as a deep personal sorrow." And she adds she cannot account for the hia- 
 tus in the Hay diary. 
 
 "Sometime before Mr. Lincoln's assassination," continues Miss Nicolay, "it 
 had been arranged that with the beginning of the new term my father should go 
 to Paris as American Consul, and John Hay enter the diplomatic service in the same 
 city as Secretary of Legation. 
 
 "It was quite natural that after four such strenuous years in Washington, the 
 two young men should desire fresh scenes and new experiences; and Mr. Lincoln 
 was the last man to insist upon keeping them at his side. 
 
"We must not forget that at the time the plan was made Mr. Lincoln's new 
 term seemed likely to be happy and comparatively easy. Mercifully, the horror of 
 the assassination and the difficulties of reconstruction were alike hidden from mor- 
 tal eyes." 
 
 William O. Stoddard, the third of the secretarial triumverate, who handled 
 the President's mail and signed the land patents, has left on record many interest- 
 ing accounts of the Lincoln administration. However, in 1864 he had been suc- 
 ceeded by Edward D. Neill, whose sole contribution to Lincoln literature seems to 
 have been his address on "Reminiscences of the Last Year of President Lincoln's 
 Life," delivered many years ago before the Minnesota Commandery of the Mili- 
 tary Order of the Loyal Legion. His daughter, Miss Minnesota Neill, who still 
 survives, is unable to add anything to what her father said upon that occasion. I 
 append what Chaplain Neill said in connection with the subject under investigation: 
 
 "The last interview I had with him (Lincoln) was between three and four 
 o'clock of the last afternoon of his earthly life. A Colonel of a Vermont regiment, 
 who had been on a furlough during his absence from the Army of the Potomac, had 
 been made a Brigadier-General. Upon his return he stopped at the War Depart- 
 ment for his commission, and was told that it had been sent over to the President 
 for his signature. Coming to the President's house, he told the doorkeeper of the 
 office the occasion of his visit, and he was brought to me. That afternoon there had 
 been a Cabinet meeting, and an interview with General Grant, and I went to see the 
 President, and found that he had retired to the private part of the house for a 
 lunch. While I was looking over the papers on his table to see if I could find the 
 desired commission, he came back, eating an apple. I told him for what I was look- 
 ing, and as I talked he placed his hand on the bell-pull, when I said, 'For whom are 
 you going to ring?' Placing his hand upon my coat, he spoke but two words, — 
 'Andrew Johnson.' Then I said, 'I will come in again.' As I was leaving the room 
 the Vice-President had been ushered, and the President advanced and took him by 
 the hand. * * * 
 
 "On Saturday, Slade, the messenger, came to me and said he was very un- 
 happy, and asked me if I had noticed as I crossed the hall to the President's room 
 on Friday afternoon that he was listening to the Vice-President, and nodding as- 
 sent as he conversed. I told him I had observed him. He then said, 'It is what I 
 said to Mr. Johnson that makes me feel miserable.' The Vice-President had ex- 
 pressed his respect for Mr. Lincoln, but said he thought if he were President he 
 would not make it too easy for the rebels, and Slade, having African blood in his 
 veins had nodded assent, and expressed the wish that at some future day he might 
 be President." 
 
 JOHN W. STARR, JR. 
 Millersburg, Pa. 
 December 31, 1929. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 I President Lincoln's Daily Routine 1 1 
 
 II The Tales that Grow With the Telling 16 
 
 III The Mysterious Van Alen Letter 19 
 
 IV Lincoln's Forgotten Michigan Caller 22 
 
 V Lincoln and John P. Hale 26 
 
 VI The Two Kellogg Appointments 35 
 
 VII Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 40 
 
 VIII Lincoln's Cabinet and What They Have Said 50 
 
 IX Lincoln and the New British Minister 56 
 
 X His Last Recorded Story 62 
 
 XI Lincoln's Last Acts of Clemency 66 
 
 XII The Slave Dealer's Pardon 70 
 
 XIII Lincoln and the Mystifying Figure of James W. Singleton 72 
 
 XIV The Afternoon Drive 86 
 
 XV The Lincoln Carriage and the Lincoln Coachman 91 
 
 XVI The Story of the President and the Sculptress 95 
 
 XVII Lincoln's Pre-Dinner Callers 97 
 
 XVIII His Last Literary Relaxation 101 
 
 XIX The Frasier Chronicle of the Missing Autograph 105 
 
 XX "Lincoln's Last Official Act" 108 
 
 XXI A Forgotten Idaho Endorsement 112 
 
 XXII Lincoln's Last Writing 116 
 
 XXIII "And they all with one consent began to make excuse" 127 
 
 XXIV A Leaf From the Browning Diary 129 
 
 XXV The Feast Which Was Not 132 
 
 XXVI Miscellany and Allied Data . . 135 
 
 XXVII A Recollection of John H. Surratt Fifty Years After 140 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Lincoln's Last Writing Frontispiece 
 
 Note to Attorney General Speed, dated April 13, 1865 35 
 
 The William Pitt Kellogg Commission 39 
 
 Endorsement on Creswell petition, April 14, 1865 42 
 
 Endorsement on Herron petition, April 14, 1865 46 
 
 Last call for Cabinet meeting, April 14, 1865 51 
 
 Endorsement on unknown petition, April 14, 1865 67 
 
 The Singleton pass 75 
 
 Endorsement dated March 18, 1865 — so-called "Last Official Act" no 
 
 Endorsement on Wallace letter, April 14, 1865 112 
 
 Note to Secretary Stanton, April 14, 1865 120 
 
 Pass to Richmond and Petersburg — undated, but probably written April 
 
 14, 1865 121 
 
 Commission of Governor Saunders 123 
 
 Letter to Secretary McCulloch, April 13, 1865 138 
 
s 
 
 President Lincoln^ Daily Routine 
 
 EVERAL of the attaches of the White House during the Lincoln administra- 
 tion, have left on record their testimony as to President Lincoln's daily habits 
 during his residence there. 
 
 Secretary Hay has given us what is probably the best account. Writing in 
 1 89 1 he stated that "the President rose early, as his sleep was light and capricious. 
 In the summer, when he lived at the Soldiers' Home, he would take his frugal 
 breakfast and ride into town in time to be at his desk at eight o'clock. He began 
 to receive visitors nominally at ten o'clock, but long before that hour struck the 
 doors were besieged by anxious crowds, through whom the people of importance, 
 senators and members of Congress, elbowed their way after the fashion which 
 still survives. On days when the Cabinet met, Tuesdays and Fridays, the hour of 
 noon closed the interviews of the morning. On other days it was the President's 
 custom, at about that hour, to order the doors to be opened and all who were wait- 
 ing to be admitted. * * * 
 
 "At luncheon time he had literally to run the gauntlet through the crowds who 
 filled the corridors between his office and the rooms at the west end of the house 
 occupied by the family. 
 
 "The afternoon wore away in much the same manner as the morning; late 
 in the day he usually drove out for an hour's airing; at six he dined. * * * His 
 breakfast was an egg and a cup of coffee; at luncheon he rarely took more than a 
 biscuit and a glass of milk, a plate of fruit in its season; at dinner he ate sparingly 
 of one or two courses. * * * 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln's life was almost devoid of recreation. He sometimes went to 
 the theatre, and was particularly fond of a play of Shakespeare well acted. * * * 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln spent most of his evenings in his office, though occasionally he 
 remained in the drawing-room after dinner, conversing with visitors or listening to 
 music, for which he had an especial liking. * * * In his office he was not often suf- 
 fered to be alone; he frequently passed the evening there with a few friends in 
 frank and free conversation. * * * 
 
 "Where only one or two were present he was fond of reading aloud. He 
 passed many of the summer evenings in this way when occupying his cottage at 
 the Soldiers' home." 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Secretary Stoddard testified that Lincoln "was an early riser, and was apt to 
 be at his toil before the humblest clerk on the national pay-rolls had eaten his 
 breakfast. That of the Chief Magistrate was very frequently brought to him in 
 his office that he might lose no time, for now, as always, from his log-house cradle, 
 he was a hard student." At another place the same writer, using the present tense, 
 said that "he was always an early riser, and it is a good habit to have in these over- 
 worked times. He is apt to come striding along the hall at farm hours, as if he 
 were in haste to get here and finish something left over from last evening, or attend 
 to some crisis which came in the night, before the daily procession of visitors can 
 set in." And he makes particular mention of "the large room where he worked 
 through all the days and half through all the nights." And Arnold, Lincoln's old 
 Illinois friend, in speaking of his office said, "here in this plain room, Mr. Lincoln 
 spent most of his time while President. * * * Here, day after day, often from 
 early morning to late at night, Lincoln sat, listened, talked and decided." 
 
 In the volume prepared by Miss Nicolay from her father's papers, she states 
 in connection with the Presidential drives, that they "could hardly be called diver- 
 sion, since his objective point was apt to be one of the earthworks which circled 
 Washington, or one of the military hospitals;" that "his day began early, and 
 ended only when physical weariness drove him to his bed. Frequently at night 
 he could not sleep, and rose to wander from room to room." Also, "one of his 
 wearisome and unavoidable tasks was signing commissions sent over every day from 
 the War and Navy Departments. Every appointment and promotion in the regu- 
 lar army, as well as many in the volunteer service, necessitated a new commission. 
 These, made out on heavy parchment, very oiled and hard to write upon, would 
 be placed on his desk in piles six or eight inches high, and he would sit working 
 away at them with the patient industry of a laborer sawing wood." 
 
 William H. Crook, one of the personal bodyguards at the time of the assas- 
 sination, within recent years has recalled that "the daily life of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Lincoln usually commenced at eight o'clock, and immediately upon dressing the 
 President would go into the library, where he would sit in his favorite chair in the 
 middle of the room and read a chapter or two of his Bible. * * * 
 
 "At about eight-thirty he would join Mrs. Lincoln and little Tad in the small 
 unpretentious dining-room for breakfast, where a plain but sufficiently hearty meal 
 was served by two waiters who were white men. * * * There was little formality 
 about the meal; the President loved to joke with his wife and son, and for the 
 time being put aside the cares of his great office and his anxiety for the country. 
 As soon as breakfast was over, the President would go to his office and commence 
 the ceaseless toil of his busy day. 
 
 [12] 
 
President Lincoln's Daily Routine 
 
 "So great was the pressure on the President's time and thought that he had 
 little chance for pleasure and recreation, except for an occasional horseback ride 
 to the Soldiers' Home. * * * When the President and his wife went to the theatre, 
 they would step into a carriage at the White House and drive directly to their 
 destination. * * * On arriving in front of the playhouse Burke, the big, burly Irish 
 coachman, would pull up his horses, and the footman, Charley Forbes, would swing 
 down to the sidewalk and open the carriage, whereupon Mrs. Lincoln and the 
 President would step out, being met at once by a body-guard whose business it was 
 to be on hand when they arrived. 
 
 "Without any ostentation or display whatever the President and Mrs. Lincoln, 
 followed by the body-guard, and led by an usher, would quietly walk into the box 
 which had been reserved for them, and as they did so the audience would rise and 
 stand in silence until the President acknowledged this mark of respect with a digni- 
 fied bow, in which recognition Mrs. Lincoln joined by a graceful inclination of her 
 head. They would then seat themselves in the box and the audience would seat it- 
 self throughout the house. * * * At the conclusion of the play, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Lincoln and their guard would retire from the box, and quietly leave the theatre. 
 Such of the audience as were in the aisles simply made way for them. They would 
 then step into their carriage, Forbes would close the door and regain his seat beside 
 Burke, who would speak to his horses and away the carriage would roll toward the 
 White House as a score of carriages were rolling in other directions from the 
 theatre. * * * 
 
 "Mrs. Lincoln and the President usually attended the morning service in Dr. 
 Gurley's Church. * * Sometimes they would drive there, but frequently they would 
 walk, accompanied by a guard. * * * 
 
 "During the time that I was serving as personal body-guard to Lincoln, he 
 and Mrs. Lincoln usually dined at seven o'clock in the evening — a leisurely meal, 
 well cooked, well chosen, with special reference to the President's dislike of elabor- 
 ate dishes and 'frills' in general. 
 
 "After dinner, at about eight o'clock, the President would rise from the table 
 and go at once to the War Department to get the latest news from the front, ex- 
 cept on Thursday evenings, when he waited until the regular levee had been held. 
 * * * Lincoln usually was able to return to his wife, waiting in the living room for 
 him, by eleven o'clock or a little later, and he would tell her the news from the 
 front. They would discuss the battles, the retreats, the victories, the defeats, * * * 
 and although they generally finished this concluding part of their daily program 
 shortly after midnight, yet sometimes it was quite late when they could do so and 
 retire. 
 
 [ 13] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "As he went upstairs and entered his own room, Lincoln's last act was to turn 
 to the guard on duty in the corridor, and wish him good-night. Then he would 
 enter his room, and close the door." 
 
 There was one important part of the daily routine, however, which Hay and 
 some of the other writers failed to mention — his regular visits to the War Depart- 
 ment. David Homer Bates, one of that little coterie of telegraphers in the War 
 Department, once stated that "during the Civil War the President spent more of 
 his waking hours in the War Department telegraph office than in any other place, 
 except the White House. * * * During the last four years of Lincoln's national 
 career, even until the day before its tragic ending, the writer was fortunate in be- 
 ing able to see him and talk with him daily, and usually several times a day; for 
 he visited the War Department telegraph office morning, afternoon, and evening, 
 to receive the latest news from the armies at the front. His tall, homely form could 
 be seen crossing the well-shaded lawn between the White House and the War De- 
 partment day after day with unvaried regularity. * * * He seldom failed to come 
 over late in the evening before retiring, and sometimes he would stay all night in 
 the War Department." 
 
 In referring to the Good Friday under investigation, Nicolay and Hay make 
 the statement truthfully that "the day was one of unusual enjoyment to Mr. 
 Lincoln," and then add what I have previously quoted, that "he denied himself 
 generally to the throng of visitors, admitting only a few friends." Certainly with 
 the early transaction of business; the unusually long time spent at the breakfast 
 table; the two visits to the War Department; the morning interviews with the 
 political leaders; the lengthy Cabinet meeting; the long drive; the hour's chat 
 preceding dinner; the preparations for attending the theatre and the evening con- 
 ferences of an hour's duration, there necessarily would not have been as much time 
 left to attend to the "peepul's" business as ordinarily, but the testimony is all against 
 such a statement. It should be borne in mind that these same authorities also state 
 that "Grant had arrived that morning in Washington and immediately proceeded to 
 the Executive Mansion, where he met the Cabinet," an error as we know, Grant 
 having arrived in the city the day before. 
 
 Herewith is appended President Lincoln's probable itinerary for April 14th, 
 1865: 
 
 7 :oo A. M. Arose 
 
 7 130 A. M. to 8 A. M. Transacts business in office — dispatches notes to 
 
 General Grant and Acting Secretary of State 
 Seward; answers letter to Van Alen, etc. 
 
 [14] 
 
President Lincoln's Daily Routine 
 
 8 A. M. to 9 A.M. Breakfast; Robert home from front. 
 
 9 A. M. to io A. M. Interview with Colfax, Cole and Howard. 
 
 io A. M. to 10:30 A. M. Interviews with Creswell, Hale, Senators and Rep- 
 resentatives; also Yates and Kellogg, and prob- 
 ably Singleton. 
 
 10:30 A. M. to 1 1 A. M. Visit to War Department — three minute walk each 
 
 way. 
 
 11 A. M. to 1 =30 P. M. Cabinet meeting, General Grant present. 
 
 1 =30 P. M. to 2 P.M. Light luncheon; at close sees Neill, Secretary. 
 
 2 P. M. to 3 P. M. In office; just before leaving sees Dana. 
 
 3 P. M. to 5 P. M. Drive with Mrs. Lincoln and Tad. 
 
 5 P. M. to 6 P. M. Relaxation in office with Illinois friends. 
 
 6 P. M. to 6:30 P. M. Dinner; Brooks calls at close. 
 6:30 P. M. to 7 P. M. Trip to War Department. 
 
 7 P. M. to 7 130 P. M. Preparing for theatre. 
 
 7 130 P. M. to 8 .-30 P. M. Interview with Colfax and Ashmun, etc. 
 
 [I5l 
 
Tales That Grow With The Telling 
 
 IN the preparation of this study I have come across many data of an erroneous 
 and conflicting nature, good examples of the manner in which a great deal of 
 "history" is made. Many writers have done future historians an injustice by 
 writing into the accounts hearsay evidence, gossip, and what not, without taking the 
 pains to examine the testimony or make an impartial and thorough study. Wield- 
 ing a facile pen seems to have been their forte and no time has been devoted to 
 serious research work. 
 
 Attention was directed in the first volume of this series, to a few of the more 
 glaring errors and inconsistencies which have crept into even the works regarded 
 as standard, but here I wish to call attention to a few instances in which the same 
 authority contradicted himself at various times. 
 
 In David Homer Bates' Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, appearing in 1907, 
 he gives an excerpt from an address delivered by Charles A. Tinker, one of the 
 telegraph operators in the War Department, on October 1 ith of the previous year, 
 before the annual banquet of the Military Telegraph Corps at Washington, D. C, 
 in which Mr. Tinker stated that he "had the pleasure of hearing what in all prob- 
 ability was the last anecdote ever told by Mr. Lincoln in the telegraph office, early 
 on the morning of April 13, 1865, the day before his assassination." 
 
 Mr. Bates' little volume of Lincoln Stories published in 1926 a few months 
 after his death, contained the same anecdote but prefaced thus: "The last story 
 told in the telegraph office vouched for by Cipher-Operator Tinker is as follows: 
 'On April 14, 1865, the day Lincoln was shot, he came to the telegraph office while 
 I was transmitting a cipher dispatch,' " etc. 
 
 Here are two discrepancies in dates; but this is not all. Here is what Tinker 
 said during the course of his remarks at the unveiling of a painting of Lincoln at 
 the Lincoln Club of Brooklyn, on February 12, 1907, as given in his Simple 
 Tribute, transcribed for me by the Dean of us all, and my friend of long stand- 
 ing, Mr. Joseph B. Oakleaf , from the copy in his collection : 
 
 "The last time I saw Mr. Lincoln alive was in the afternoon of April nth, 
 1865, three days previous to his assassination. He made a brief visit to the office 
 about five o'clock and after reading the dispatches was reminded of a story which 
 he told, and to illustrate its finale gathered his coat tails under his arms and with 
 
 [ 16] 
 
Tales That Grow With The Telling 
 
 long strides passed out of the office laughing loudly and leaving me convulsed by 
 the amusing story and his ludicrous performance. That evening I was taken ill 
 and was not able to return to the office again for duty until the morning of the fif- 
 teenth, when he had died by the bullet of the assassin." 
 
 This latter account is undoubtedly correct; it bears the earmarks of authen- 
 ticity. It was the only one of the three reported for publication under his super- 
 vision. I gather that the Washington story was taken from a newspaper report, 
 while the later Bates' account was culled apparently from his own recollections of 
 Tinker's story. But when the Tinker address in Brooklyn was prepared for pub- 
 lication, care would be taken undoubtedly to insure its accuracy. Tinker kept a 
 diary during the war, and a reference to it would give the exact date as well as 
 mention of his subsequent illness. 
 
 With reference to Bates, I am curious as to what became of the manuscript 
 of a Lincoln volume he was working on in 191 2; it has never been published. At 
 that time, at his request, I had forwarded for his examination a draft of my original 
 Last Day volume, and in returning it he made mention of another book he was 
 compiling, on The Closing Days of Lincoln's Life, From the Peace Conference to 
 the Assassination. 
 
 In the early years of this century, George P. Floyd, who claimed to have kept 
 a hostelry in Quincy, 111., at the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, was the 
 author of a series of Lincoln articles appearing in various publications, all of which 
 contained practically the same subject matter. I have three in my files. Both 
 through residents of Quincy, and the publishers of the various periodicals, I have 
 tried to locate either Mr. Floyd or some member of his family, but without result. 
 
 About 1900 — I do not have the exact date — the Philadelphia Inquirer pub- 
 lished an article by Mr. Floyd headed Unpublished Stories of Abraham Lincoln, 
 which closes with this excerpt: "On April 25, 1865, while in Montgomery, (Ala.), 
 I received a personal letter from Mr. Lincoln requesting me to attend to a little 
 matter between Mrs. Lincoln and her brother, which I did. That letter is dated 
 April 14, 1865. That night at 10 o'clock President Lincoln fell by the assassin's 
 hand." 
 
 The Kansas City Star for July 12, 1905, contained an article which was, in 
 the main, a condensation of his former paper, on Lincoln's Rum Sweat, but 
 making no mention of this letter. However, McClure's Magazine for January, 
 1908, carried still another monograph from the pen of Mr. Floyd, similarly titled 
 as the last, with this closing paragraph : 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln's wife was Miss Mary Todd of Kentucky. Her brother, 
 
 [ 17] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Thomas Todd, lived in Alabama during the war. In April 1865, while I was 
 at Montgomery, Alabama, I received a personal letter from Mr. Lincoln requesting 
 me to attend to a little matter concerning Mrs. Lincoln and her brother, which I 
 did. That letter was dated at Washington, D. C, April 10, 1865. Four days 
 later Lincoln was assassinated." 
 
 I believe the latter account to be correct. Writing an article for a magazine 
 of the standing of McClure's with its long line of Lincoln research and the ap- 
 proach of the Lincoln centenary, would render accuracy of statement more neces- 
 sary, and I am inclined to think it would have been in order to take a look at this 
 letter to refresh the writer's memory, which would show him to have been in error 
 in his former statement. 
 
 [18] 
 
The Mysterious Van Alen Letter 
 
 THERE is a mystery, as well as a lack of any authentic data, concerning the 
 alleged "Van Alen" letter which President Lincoln is stated to have written 
 April 14th, 1865, in response to a communication from "General Van Alen," 
 who, as Oldroyd says in his history of the assassination, had written Mr. Lincoln 
 asking him "not to expose his life unnecessarily, as he had done at Richmond, and 
 assuring him of the earnest desire of all his countrymen to close the war he had so 
 successfully conducted." Oldroyd refers to it as "probably his last letter." But was 
 it? Thayer in his Pioneer Home to the White House places the time of writing 
 as the morning. Is this true? In point of fact, was it written at all? 
 
 The two volume edition of Nicolay and Hay's Complete Works, published 
 by the Century Co. in 1894, contains no reference to it; nothing dated after April 
 1 2th appears therein. But the enlarged twelve volume set of the Gettysburg 
 edition, issued in 1905, does. Volume eleven includes a letter "to General Van 
 Alen" as follows: 
 
 Washington, April 14, 1865 
 
 My dear Sir: I intend to adopt the advice of my friends and use due pre- 
 caution. * * * I thank you for the assurance you give me that I shall be supported 
 by conservative men like yourself, in the efforts I may make to restore the Union, 
 so as to make it, to use your language, a Union of hearts and hands as well as of 
 States. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 A footnote states that "General Van Alen wrote Lincoln, requesting him, for 
 the sake of his friends and the nation, to guard his life and not expose it to assas- 
 sination as he had by going to Richmond. The above reply was written on the 
 very day Lincoln was assassinated. Its discovery is due to the enthusiastic re- 
 search of Mr. Gilbert A. Tracy, of Putnam, Conn." 
 
 This letter appears verbatim with above, including the marks indicating de- 
 letion, in the National Edition of the Writings of Lincoln, edited by Arthur 
 Brooks Lapsley, published in 1906, a footnote indicating it was taken from the 
 Sunday Morning Chronicle, April 23, 1865. 
 
 [ 19] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Now there is no doubt that Mr. Tracy was an enthusiastic research worker, 
 but why did this alleged letter apparently remain hidden so long, when references 
 had been made not once, but many times, by contemporary newspapers and earlier 
 writers? 
 
 I have come across it in the New York Post for April 21st, 1865; possibly 
 it was copied in many journals of the period. Morris' Memorial Record, pub- 
 lished in 1865, contains the letter, and Shea's Lincoln Memorial, of the same 
 year, makes mention of it; Thayer's Pioneer Home, already referred to, pub- 
 lished in 1882, makes similar reference, and Oldroyd's work, issued in 1901, in- 
 cludes it. 
 
 Mr. Tracy, editor of the volume of Uncollected Writings of Lincoln, pub- 
 lished in 19 1 7, is now dead, but his daughter, Mary Clemmer Tracy, of Passaic, 
 N. J., very kindly gave ear to my importunities. Her final report follows: 
 
 "My father died in April 19 18. I have a dim recollection of his mention 
 of that letter many years ago. When I went through father's papers after his 
 death I did not find any copies of letters except those in the volume he edited. 
 That portion of his library which was not disposed of in accordance with his will 
 is still at Putnam, Conn. I went through practically all of my father's papers 
 there without result so far as answering your query is concerned. I think there is 
 a possibility that the letter to which you refer was published in some newspaper 
 about the time of Lincoln's assassination." 
 
 With reference to the addressee, we find that there was no unanimity among 
 the earlier writers as to who he was, and usually no first name was given. Shea 
 and Morris called him "Gen. Van Alen," the latter spelling it with two "l's", while 
 Thayer referred to him as "Gen. Owen Allen of New York;" Oldroyd refers 
 to the individual as "General James H. Van Alen of New York." 
 
 Assuming the latter to be correct, for a man with the prominence which he 
 undoubtedly possessed at one time, biographical and historical works are singularly 
 silent. I have examined many reference works and cyclopedias in the State 
 Library at Harrisburg, and could find no reference whatever to a General Van Alen. 
 And this examination included the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Biography 
 of New York, a mammoth set of six volumes, issued from 1878 to 1890 — mark 
 the dates of publication. 
 
 The New York City Library advises me that "Our genealogy division reports 
 that nothing has been found about General Van Alen or his descendants. They 
 are not mentioned in the Van Alen genealogy." 
 
 [20] 
 
The Mysterious Van Alen Letter 
 
 Mr. Wyer, Director of the New York State Library at Albany, is of the 
 opinion that the individual referred to was "Brigadier General James H. Van 
 Alen, at one time General Hooker's Chief of Staff, and formerly Colonel of the 
 Third New York Cavalry. His home was in New York City. He died at sea 
 in 1886 and a newspaper account says that he left a son, desperately ill, and three 
 grandchildren." 
 
 Neither the State Adjutant General's Office in Albany, the Adjutant General's 
 Office in Washington, nor the Bureau of Pensions is able to furnish any clues as to 
 where any living descendants of General Van Alen might be, the latter stating that 
 "the records in the Bureau fail to show the name of General James H. Van Alen, 
 who served during the Civil War, either as a pensioner or as an applicant for 
 pension." 
 
 One or two leads furnished by Mr. Wyer I have tried to follow to a conclusion, 
 and in this I have had the cooperation of my friend Mr. Charles T. White, of the 
 New York Herald Tribune, but to no avail. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that some 
 day the truth of the story may be arrived at. But in the absence of sufficient veri- 
 fication I believe we should for the time lay aside this pleasing little incident, al- 
 though I am not inclined to believe that it will go eventually into the discard of the 
 Lincoln "Ananias" stories and statements. 
 
 [21] 
 
Lincoln^ Forgotten Michigan Caller 
 
 HON. Schuyler Colfax, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, was both 
 the first and last caller which President Lincoln had that day. While eating 
 breakfast Lincoln heard that Colfax was in the Executive Mansion, and 
 sent word to him that he would see him immediately in the reception room. Ac- 
 cording to Hon. Cornelius Cole, then Member of Congress from California, he 
 accompanied the Speaker. 
 
 And it was Colfax, together with George M. Ashmun, who was with him 
 when he and Mrs. Lincoln left for the theatre that evening. Both of these inter- 
 views I have dealt with in my former monograph. 
 
 However, it has been my privilege recently to examine the original manu- 
 script of Colfax's lecture on Lincoln which he delivered in various parts of the 
 country in the seventies. First prepared about ten years after the close of the war 
 it immediately became famous and in great demand, but never have I seen it, or any 
 part of it, in print. One incident was particularly interesting. 
 
 Towards the close of his lecture Colfax said: "In his (Lincoln's) last con- 
 versation, the very day of his murder, with Hon. W. A. Howard, of Grand Rapids, 
 Mich., and myself, he announced his merciful intention towards the rebel leaders, 
 whom he said he intended, to quote his own phrase and pronunciation, 'to skeen 
 out of the country/ rather than to exact any penalty for their treasonable misdeeds; 
 adding, however, with prophetic emphasis, 'they have so poisoned the public mind 
 of their followers, that I fear there can be no restored love of the Union South, 
 while they are there.' " 
 
 This information was new to me at the time, but I have since found mention of 
 it in O. J. Hollister's Life of Colfax published in 1886. The biographer was 
 the husband of Colfax's half-sister and had access to the Colfax papers. According 
 to Hollister, Howard entered the room during the morning interview while 
 Lincoln had gone out for some papers, and was present during the remainder of 
 the time Colfax was there. Yet I cannot refrain from remarking, in view of the 
 oft repeated and well known views of the liberal Lincoln, that the concluding part 
 of the quotation attributed to him by the Speaker of the House, was in part 
 colored by his own views. Undoubtedly Lincoln would have liked the deposed 
 southern leaders to be "skeered" away, or the vexatious problem disposed of in 
 
 [22] 
 
Lincoln's Forgotten Michigan Caller 
 
 some other unofficial manner, yet he had no place in his great heart for any sort 
 of malicious thoughts. 
 
 The name of William A. Howard of Michigan is practically unknown to 
 our present generation, yet at one time it was of prominence in his adopted state. 
 From Dr. George N. Fuller, of the Michigan Historical Commission, Mr. George 
 B. Catlin, Librarian of the Detroit News, Mr. C. M. Burton, of the Burton Ab- 
 stract and Tile Co., Detroit, and Mr. W. R. Shelby, formerly Vice-President of the 
 Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway Co., I have secured the following information 
 relative to Mr. Howard: 
 
 He was born in Vermont in 1813, of poor parents, and his early life was a 
 continuous struggle. In early youth he emigrated to Albion, N. Y., where he 
 learned the trade of a cabinet maker. At the age of nineteen he attended an 
 academy at Wyoming, N. Y., and then entered Middlebury College, where he 
 graduated in 1835. After teaching school in Genesee County for several years, 
 in 1840 he went to Detroit where he commenced reading law while tutoring in 
 mathematics in a branch of the State University. From 1842, when he was ad- 
 mitted to the bar, until 1854 he was in active legal practice, interesting himself in 
 local politics. After serving as City Attorney and City Treasurer he entered na- 
 tional politics, representing his district at Washington as Congressman from 1855 
 to 1 86 1, and taking a leading part in the legislative proceedings. In the latter 
 year he was appointed Postmaster at Detroit by President Lincoln, serving for 
 over five years, when he was removed by President Johnson, and in 1869 declined 
 the post of Minister to China. Later locating at Yankton, Dakota, he was ap- 
 pointed territorial Governor in 1878, and died in Washington, D. C, two years 
 later. 
 
 Mr. Howard was a man of many and varied activities. While making 
 his home in Detroit he engaged in various business enterprises; was Land Com- 
 missioner for several railroads; delegate to three National Republican Conventions, 
 Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee from i860 to 1866, and for 
 several years a member of the National Republican Committee. 
 
 He was married to the daughter of Matthew W. Burchard, of Detroit, who 
 lived to the ripe old age of 101 years, and who thought so much of his son-in-law 
 that when he built a hotel at Griswold and Congress Streets, N. E., he named it 
 the Howard House. 
 
 Says Mr. Catlin: "Mr. Howard was a noted orator and a powerful campaign- 
 er. He was genial, of fine character, and very popular." And Mr. Shelby testifies 
 
 [23] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 that "I knew Mr. Howard intimately, both in a business way and as a neighbor. 
 Like Lincoln, he could relate a story or incident impressively." 
 
 In trying to run down the occasion of the visit of Mr. Howard to Washington 
 in April 1865, I have encountered difficulties. While all of the parties approached 
 are willing enough to furnish what information they may possess, it is meagre 
 indeed. 
 
 Both Mr. Howard's son and son-in-law are living. The former, Mr. James 
 B. Howard, states that "my father never in my presence, that I remember, spoke 
 of his being in Washington on the day of President Lincoln's assassination, but I 
 heard it spoken of repeatedly by others in the family about as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Howard had been in Washington some time previous to the fatal day, 
 on government business, particulars of which I never heard, had arranged to return 
 to Detroit on that day, called on Mr. Lincoln to say 'good-bye,' and was invited 
 to attend him to the theatre that evening, but begged to be excused because all his 
 arrangements for departure on that evening's train were made, and in due time took 
 the train and started for home. 
 
 "The train had not gone very far, Harrisburg I think, when news of the 
 tragedy overtook it, and he returned to Washington on the first available train. 
 
 "I know there was something said about the interviews with President Lincoln 
 which father had while in Washington at this time, and got the impression that 
 they were regarded as important, but never got the details and was too young, if 
 I did, to understand their importance." 
 
 Mr. Thomas J. O'Brien, who married a daughter of Mr. Howard, has 
 served his country at various diplomatic posts in Europe and Asia. It was he 
 who secured the statement from Mr. James Howard and adds that "he probably 
 heard the story directly from his father, because it is practically the same state of 
 facts which Mr. William A. Howard told me. Indeed he may have heard it at 
 the same time, as they both were residents of my house at the time." 
 
 It will be recalled that Howard was serving as Postmaster at Detroit at the 
 time. An inquiry directed to the Department at Washington, asking if there were 
 on file any data which would explain Howard's presence in Washington in connec- 
 tion with his governmental position, elicited the information that "the papers in 
 connection with happenings in the Post Office at Detroit during the time Mr. 
 Howard served as Postmaster have long since been destroyed." 
 
 "When I am confronted with a query like yours," says Mr. Catlin of the 
 
 [24] 
 
Lincoln's Forgotten Michigan Caller 
 
 Detroit News, "I am always reminded of the faults of the newspapers of other 
 days. They seemed to have no idea of news values and regarded local news as not 
 worth printing, assuming that everybody would know all about local news. I would 
 presume that Howard's call to Washington for conference with President Lincoln 
 was with regard to an appointment to some foreign mission — but that is mere guess- 
 work. He was so able a man and had done such brilliant work on the stump in 
 two Lincoln campaigns, that I suspect that Mr. Lincoln thought the postoffice at 
 Detroit was but a poor recognition of his service and merit. If such were the 
 case, of course the interview would have been private and confidential, without 
 figuring in any press reports. Lincoln was still engaged in framing up his impor- 
 tant appointments when he was assassinated." 
 
 [25] 
 
Lincoln and John P. Hale 
 
 AN examination of the files of various newspapers of the period reveals that 
 many of them, a few days after the assassination, contained a brief stereo- 
 typed account of the movements of the late President the day he was shot, 
 evidently emanating from the same source. Referring to the forenoon, after 
 mentioning the interview with Colfax, the article continues: "afterward he had 
 an interview with Mr. Hale, Minister to Spain, and several Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives." Many of the memorial and biographical volumes called forth by Booth's 
 deed followed closely the article above referred to. 
 
 It seems strange that few, if any, of the National legislators have given to 
 posterity their recollections of these morning interviews, in view of the fact that they 
 would have been of more than passing interest. 
 
 But more than passing strange is the fact that John P. Hale, of Maine, 
 usually so loquacious, should in this instance have proven so taciturn. Was it 
 because the far-seeing President, knowing his new Minister's prophensity, should 
 have given him some needed and friendly counsel, such as he had once given a new 
 military commander, the dashing "Joe" Hooker? Or was it because in a few 
 short hours Minister Hale should find his daughter's name bandied about, not 
 only by the garrulous Mrs. Grundies of the period, but also by reputable news- 
 papers, as they coupled her name together with the brillant actor whose crime had 
 shocked the civilized world? 
 
 I have exhausted all available means I know of, to try to gain some knowledge 
 of any written or verbal mention Hale may have made concerning this inter- 
 view, but without success. The New Hampshire Historical Society has examined 
 the John P. Hale papers now deposited with the society, but can find nothing 
 relevant to the subject; the Library of Congress makes a like report after looking 
 through both the Hale and Chandler papers in its Manuscript Division : William 
 E. Chandler, Cabinet Member and Senator, was a son-in-law of Hale. And several 
 descendants whom I was able to locate know nothing as to the interview. 
 
 John P. Hale was born in Rochester, N. H., in 1806; admitted to the bar 
 in 1830, he almost immediately plunged into politics. From 1843 t0 x ^45 ne re P' 
 resented his state in the National House of Representatives, and from 1847 t0 1 853 
 served as United States Senator. Here he distinguished himself as "the first 
 
 [26] 
 
Lincoln and John P. Hale 
 
 zealous opponent of slavery in that body," and in 1852 was nominated by the Free- 
 Soil party as its candidate for President. Although a hundred and fifty thousand 
 votes were polled, the ticket was not strong enough to get a single electoral vote. 
 But from 1855 to 1865 he again served as United States Senator, and from 1865 
 to 1869 as Minister to Spain. The latter appointment, by President Lincoln, was 
 what in modern parlance would have been termed taking care of a "lame duck." 
 At the time of the appointment Lincoln had known Hale for almost two decades, 
 dating back to the time he served his single term in Congress, when he undoubtedly 
 knew the aggressive Democratic anti-slavery Senator from Maine, at least by sight 
 and reputation. 
 
 Singularly enough, in 1892 a volume containing Addresses Commemorative 
 of Abraham Lincoln and John P. Hale Delivered by Daniel Hall, of Dover, N. 
 H., was published in Concord. Here, if anywhere, should be found some men- 
 tion of the relations of these two men; but although over a hundred pages are de- 
 voted to the two addresses, one hunts in vain for the least coupling of their names. 
 
 Col. Hall says in referring to the appointment of Hale as Minister to Spain, 
 that "this was a service suited neither to his temper, his taste, nor his capacity. He 
 had cultivated no drawing room arts, he knew nothing of the assiduities of ante- 
 chambers; he was incapable of intrigue or flattery; he was as free from servility as 
 from arrogance; he had not merely a speculative liking for, but he was a practical 
 exemplification of, democratic principles. The oratorical temperament which he 
 possessed in so high a degree, harmonizes not with the cunning or even the unsleep- 
 ing and tireless discretion of diplomacy, whose methods were foreign to the guileless 
 frankness of that noble nature. * * * In his new position abroad, his ignorance of the 
 language of the country, and the amiability of his character, involved him temporar- 
 ily in the toils of an adventurer. * * * I have examined the whole case and 
 others of more authority than I, and I aver that the evidence against John P. Hale 
 of any conscious dereliction of duty, anywhere, or at any time, is lighter and more 
 unsubstantial than the summer zephyrs that float among these tree-tops over our 
 heads; and that, according to all the canons of evidence in such inquiries, in that 
 blameless life, public and private, there was nothing in the face of which he might 
 not hold his head erect before the bar of God!" 
 
 It is not surprising, however, that with Col. Hall's conclusions Secretary 
 Welles, of the navy, would not agree, for the doughty Hale was for long a "thorn 
 in the flesh" of the New England Secretary. 
 
 His diary teems with uncharitable — albeit probably deserved from a personal 
 standpoint — references to this "lazy, noisy, harlequin, demagogue and Senatorial 
 
 [27] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 buffoon!" But I cannot go quite so far as Mr. John T. Morse, Jr., who in his intro- 
 ductory preface to the Welles diary, says that if after reading it, "in the improbable 
 event that there are any persons who will care to object to the erasure of Mr. Hale's 
 name from the roll of the country's great men, certainly ample provocation is now 
 given to them for making themselves heard." 
 
 Hale was Chairman of the Naval Committee in the Senate, and as such came 
 often into violent conflict with the Naval Secretary. Writing in July 1863, Welles 
 says that "in the entire period of my administration of the Navy Department, I 
 have never received aid, encouragement, or assistance of any kind whatever from 
 the Chairman of the Naval Committee of the Senate, but constant, pointed op- 
 position, embarrassment, and petty annoyance." 
 
 In January 1864 Welles notes in connection with a visit of the elder Blair 
 and Governor Dennison to the Executive Mansion, that "it seems some conversa- 
 tion took place in regard to Senator Hale's strange course towards the Navy De- 
 partment. * * * The President said it was to him unaccountable, except in one 
 way, and that did no credit to Hale's integrity. It was unpleasant to think a 
 Senator made use of his place to spite a Department because it would not permit 
 him to use its patronage for his private benefit." 
 
 One of the strange things about the course which Welles states that Hale 
 pursued toward him, is the fact that the latter constantly claimed that he had im- 
 plicit confidence in Welles himself, but none in the Assistant Secretary, Fox, and 
 other subordinates and officers. 
 
 Secretary Hay records that on election day, November 8, 1864, the night of 
 the oyster supper — which will be recounted hereinafter — when the returns showed 
 that Hale and Henry Winter Davis had been defeated for reelection, Fox said 
 that "retribution had overtaken two fellows that have been specially malignant 
 to us." But Lincoln only said, "You have more of that feeling of personal re- 
 sentment than I. Perhaps I may have too little of it, but I never thought it paid. 
 A man has not time to spend half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack 
 me, I never remember the past against him." 
 
 On January 28, 1865, Welles notes that "today J. P. Hale had a tirade on 
 the Department. * * * The poor fellow is having his last rant and ravings against 
 the Navy Department." Three days later he says that "John P. Hale is giving his 
 last venomous rants against the Navy Department." On February 7th he states "J. 
 P. Hale is, as usual, loud-mouthed and insolent in the Senate — belying, perverting, 
 misstating, and misrepresenting the Navy Department. The poor fellow has but 
 a few more days in the Senate, and is making the most of them for his hate." 
 
 [28] 
 
Lincoln and John P. Hale 
 
 On Tuesday, March 7th, after stating that the Cabinet meeting was interest- 
 ing and the topics miscellaneous, one of them being Andy Johnson's late "infirm- 
 ity" at the inaugural, Welles says: "The Spanish mission being vacant, it was asked 
 if any of the number wished it. * * * This mission is a sort of plaything in the 
 hands of Seward. The truth is, there is little utility in these legations near the 
 governments of foreign potentates, but they are convenient places for favorites 
 or troublesome fellows who are to be sent away." 
 
 Four days later Welles notes that "Hale has been nominated and confirmed 
 as Minister to Spain, a position for which he is eminently unfit. This is Seward's 
 doings, the President assenting. But others are also in fault. I am told by Seward, 
 who is conscious it is an improper appointment, that a majority of the Union 
 Senators recommended him for the French mission, for which they know he has 
 no qualifications, address, nor proper sense to fill. Some of the Senators protested 
 against his receiving the mission to France, but Seward says they acquiesced in his 
 going to Spain. I am satisfied that Seward is playing a game with this old hack. 
 Hale has been getting pay from the War Department for various jobs, and S. 
 thinks he is an abolition leader." 
 
 On March 14th, says Welles, the President "was some indisposed and in 
 bed, but not seriously ill. The members met in his bedroom. * * * John P. Hale's 
 appointment to Spain was brought up. Seward tried to gloss it over, wanted 
 Hale to call and see me and make friends with Fox. Hale promised he would, 
 and Seward thought he might get a passage out in a government vessel." 
 
 Coming down to 1869, we find that under date of February 2nd, when the 
 trouble alluded to by Col. Hall was being noised about, Welles writes of a letter 
 written by Hale, published in the papers, attacking Seward. Welles says that 
 Hale "probably does S. injustice, but I could not forbear telling Seward that he 
 deserved all the good things Hale might say of him. Seward said he was unfor- 
 tunate in some of his appointments, — alluding to Hale and Nicolay, Consul at 
 Paris, whom the President inclines to displace." (Why did Seward include 
 Lincoln's former secretary) ? Welles then goes on at some length to give Seward 
 his opinion of Hale, saying that "I did not regret that he was manifesting his true 
 character towards the Secretary of State. Seward did not deny, but admitted, that 
 Hale was his selection. When the appointment was made, he put in on Mr. 
 Lincoln, but I never doubted who was the author of that appointment." 
 
 Six weeks later Welles notes "John P. Hale, the worthless and worse than 
 worthless Minister to Spain, is continued, and Perry, the efficient Secretary of Le- 
 gation, is dismissed, provided the Senate concurs." 
 
 [29] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 And as a fitting finale to his opinions of Hale, on April 15th Welles writes: 
 "Hale is charged with having prostituted his office as Minister to smuggling. The 
 subject is undergoing investigation by the Spanish government," concluding un- 
 grammatically that "villainy and baseness ultimately gets its reward." 
 
 I cannot entirely agree with Mr. Welles. Enemy of the Secretary though 
 Hale may have been, there have been other estimates by his contemporaries which 
 do not tally in the least with those of the Connecticut statesman, although he un- 
 doubtedly had cause for complaint. Hale would appear to have been continually 
 hounding him for personal reasons. 
 
 There were others close to Lincoln also, who have revealed Hale as an 
 enemy of the administration. Lamon has recounted how upon one occasion during 
 his Marshalship at Washington, probably early in 1862, his execution of the ex- 
 isting laws ran afoul of the views of certain members of Congress. President 
 Lincoln commented upon the adverse criticism and told Lamon that it was not 
 the Marshal the critics were aiming at so much as he himself, and added, "as 
 our friend Senator Hale, the other day, said in the Senate, 'we must not strike 
 too high or too low, but we must strike between wind and water; the marshal is 
 the man to hit.' " 
 
 Hale entered the Senate as a Democrat — an anti-slavery Democrat. Hannibal 
 Hamlin's grandson and biographer says that when Hamlin entered Congress, John 
 P. Hale was "one of the few avowed Abolitionists of that period, a man whose 
 witty and caustic tongue the slavery men feared, while they could not help liking 
 the frankness, honesty and geniality of the man — chief of the anti-slavery Demo- 
 crats and Whigs." And in referring to the personnel of the Senate when Hamlin 
 entered it in 1848, the same biographer stated that "in John P. Hale, brilliant and 
 whole-souled, the anti-slavery party had a devoted champion who had stood vir- 
 tually alone until Mr. Hamlin entered the Senate." It should be noted, however, 
 that when Hale came back to the Senate in 1855, he was elected as a Republican. 
 
 "Sunset" Cox, one of the northern Democrats of the period, testified that 
 "John P. Hale was a man of abundant wit and juciest humor." 
 
 James G. Blaine, in his Twenty Years in Congress, has many references 
 to Senator Hale, and says that it was "in recognition of Mr. Hale's ability and 
 long faithful public service, Mr. Lincoln nominated him to the Spanish mission." 
 Blaine refers to him back in the time when he entered the House as "among the 
 most conspicuous Democrats of the North;" and further says that when Wade 
 of Ohio and Sumner of Massachusetts entered the Senate in 185 1, "their joint 
 
 [30] 
 
Lincoln and John P. Hale 
 
 coming * * * was a powerful reinforcement to Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase and Mr. 
 Hale, who represented the distinctively anti-slavery sentiment in the Senate." 
 
 The veteran journalist, Ben Perley Poore, in his Thirty Years in the Na- 
 tional Metropolis, paid many tributes to Hale. "John P. Hale," said Poore, 
 "was a prominent figure in the Senate, and never failed to command attention. 
 The keen shafts of the Southerners, aimed at him, fell harmlessly at his feet, and 
 his wonderful good nature disarmed malicious opposition. Those who felt that he 
 had gone far astray in his political opinions, did not accuse him of selfish motives, 
 sordid purposes, or degraded intrigues. His was the 'chasseur' style of oratory — 
 now skirmishing on the outskirts of an opponent's position, then rallying on some 
 strange point, pouring in a rattling fire, standing firm against a charge, and ever 
 displaying a perfect independence of action and a disregard of partisan drill." 
 
 Poore tells us how that as the Southern States began to secede and their rep- 
 resentatives left Washington, Senator Clingman of North Carolina, one of the 
 last to leave, compared the seceders to the "ten tribes of Israel." 
 
 "Ten tribes did go out from the Kingdom of Israel," said Hale, that "genial 
 hard-hitter" according to Poore, "but the ark of the living God remained with the 
 tribe of Judah," which brought down the galleries. 
 
 Yet in view of the strong anti-slavery record of Hale, it should be noted that 
 Senator Browning entered in his diary under date of January 9, 1863, that that 
 night he went to the White House and found Senator Hale there. Before leaving 
 the President said that he wanted to make the two Senators a speech and talked 
 at some length upon the effect his preliminary proclamation of emancipation had 
 had upon the country; the following day Browning met Hale and the latter 
 said "he was now satisfied that we had made a great mistake upon the slavery 
 question, and that it would have been better both for the cause of the Country, 
 and of emancipation in (sic) nothing had been said in regard to the negro since 
 the war commenced." And this from a man who had long been in the forefront 
 in pushing abolition ! 
 
 I am rather inclined to think that the "pitiless publicity" which followed the 
 mad act of John Wilkes Booth was probably responsible for closing the flood- 
 gates of Hale's verbosity, for almost immediately any personal or patriotic feeling 
 of regret at the assassination, must have been submerged in seeing the fair name of 
 his daughter heralded to the four winds of heaven in connection with the brilliant 
 actor gone wrong. As a matter of fact, the young lady in question, Miss Bessie 
 Hale, afterward married a gentleman from New York state. 
 
 [31] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Mrs. Babcock, in one of her latest Lincoln volumes of fiction, Booth and 
 the Spirit of Lincoln, treats of this tragic tale, but in order to arrive at a proper 
 perspective of the situation one must turn to contemporary newspaper files. 
 
 The Albany (N. Y.) Evening Journal, in the issue for Monday, April 24, 
 1865, said that "the unhappy lady, the daughter of a New England Senator, to 
 whom Booth was affianced, is plunged in profoundest grief, but with womanly 
 fidelity is slow to believe him guilty of this appalling crime, and asks with touch- 
 ing pathos for evidence of his innocence." 
 
 The issue of even date of the New York Evening Post contained the follow- 
 ing, copied from a Boston paper: 
 
 Boston, April 21, 1865 
 
 The Boston Advertiser says: "We are happy to give place to the following 
 note from a gentleman who is entirely competent to give an opinion, and hope it 
 will be copied wherever the original mis-statement has been published. 
 
 'To the Editor of the 
 Boston Daily Advertiser :- 
 
 In your paper of this morning you give a dispatch from Cincinnati, stating 
 that J. Wilkes Booth was to have been married soon to a daughter of Senator 
 Hale. There is no truth in the statement nor the slightest foundation for it; and 
 I would request that in justice to Senator Hale and his family you will give this 
 the same publicity you have the statement.' " 
 
 Later the New York World, with its strong anti-administration bias, it being 
 one of the two New York papers suppressed for two days during the war on ac- 
 count of the publication of a forged proclamation, in the issue for Friday, May 
 5th, contained the following article, evidently published with malicious glee: 
 
 "Some Strictures on Washington Society. — (Washington Correspondence, 
 Springfield Republican). — The story that has gained such wide circulation that 
 Booth was engaged to be married to Senator Hale's daughter is fully denied here. 
 I hear there is positive evidence, however, of its truth, but this evidence is in private 
 letters which cannot be used. 
 
 "It cannot be denied that Booth was very intimate with wives and daughters 
 of prominent Republican Senators and Representatives at the National Hotel last 
 winter. They must have known that he was not only a secessionist but a gamester 
 and whoremonger. Such was his general reputation, but because he was handsome 
 
 [32] 
 
Lincoln and John P. Hale 
 
 and could spout Shakespeare by the hour, these ladies permitted intimacies that 
 have carried them with the infamous assassin into the newspapers. 
 
 "All I can say is, served them right; good enough for them. When our 
 women, married and unmarried, are so coarse and reckless and so wicked that they 
 like to dally with temptation, that they rather enjoy intimacies with scoundrels, 
 let them take the consequences. They are none the worse for being found out. 
 
 "This may seem harsh judgment, but the abominations of 'high society,' not 
 only here but in other cities of our land, are infamous, and some of the dreadful 
 events of the time may be judgments for this class of vice." 
 
 As a matter of fact, both Booth and the family of Senator Hale were board- 
 ing at the National Hotel. And if the statements of some witnesses are to be 
 credited, the fascinating young actor had the entree to high society. A writer friend 
 of mine who has accumulated a vast amount of data in connection with the assas- 
 sination of Abraham Lincoln, has furnished me with a copy of an unpublished 
 letter alleged to have been written by the mother of Booth and addressed to him 
 at Ford's Theatre, postmarked March 13, 1865. I here submit it for what it 
 is worth. After a few introductory remarks the lady writes : 
 
 "The secret you have told me is not exactly a secret, as Edwin was told by 
 someone you were paying great attention to a young lady in Washington. Now, 
 my dear boy, I cannot advise you how to act. You have so often been dead in 
 love, and this may prove like the others, not of any lasting impression. 
 
 "You are aware that the woman you make your wife you must love and re- 
 spect beyond all others, for marriage is an act that cannot be recalled without 
 misery if otherwise entered unto, which you are well aware of. To be united to 
 a woman that you only think you love is not the thing. You are old enough and 
 have seen so much of the world to know all this — only a young man in love does not 
 stop to reflect, and like a child with a new toy only craves the possession of it. 
 
 "Think and reflect, and if the lady in question is all you desire, I see no cause 
 why you should not try to secure her. Her father I see has his appointment. Would 
 he give his consent? You can but ask. Just be well assured she is really and truly 
 devoted to you. Then obtain his consent. 
 
 "You know in my partial eyes you are a fit match for any woman, no matter 
 who she may be, but some fathers may have higher notions. God grant if it is to 
 be so it will be a source of happiness to you both." 
 
 It will be noted that while no names are given, the alleged Mrs. Booth states 
 
 [33] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 that she has seen that the father of the lady in question has "his appointment." 
 The issue of the New York Times for March nth, two days previous to the writ- 
 ing of the letter, contained a dispatch from Washington dated the ioth which 
 says that "Senator Hale, who today was appointed Minister to Spain, was a candi- 
 date for the French mission. The President, it is said, does not intend to make 
 any appointment at present to the latter place." 
 
 While I believe that Booth and Miss Hale were acquaintances — possibly on 
 a friendly footing — I am not prepared to say that this had broadened into an en- 
 gagement. The gentleman who gave me the letter says that the stories afloat 
 at the time may have been inspired by the idea of giving Booth a social standing 
 to which he was not entitled. 
 
 Senator Hale was among those present when Chief Justice Chase admin- 
 istered the oath of office to Andrew Johnson in the Kirkwood House the morning 
 of April 15th. 
 
 [34] 
 
The Two Kellogg Appointments 
 
 THERE is on file today in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, 
 a note from President Lincoln addressed to the Attorney General, dated 
 April 13, 1865, requesting that he be sent a commission appointing "William 
 Kellogg to be Judge in Nebraska in place of W. P. Kellogg resigned." 
 
 &L 4L 
 
 '^sU^e^A 
 
 Axj^) fctLD a/it /j. /?£> 
 
 j~ 
 
 
 Vl^t.L*-^yf-L-trr*— 
 
 ?i^~t&. a/U /j. /&-£*- 
 
 e-oV % 
 
 <y>^>~>^ /fir fliriXzj^ /^^t^ 
 
 Note from President Lincoln to Attorney General Speed, requesting commission be issued 
 appointing William Kellogg as Chief Justice of the Territory of Nebraska, dated April 13, 
 1865. — Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 
 
 The first published account of this document appeared simultaneously in 
 various newspapers of the country shortly after Lincoln's birthday in 1923, and 
 incidentally in connection with a lengthy article of a more general nature. Accord- 
 ing to the account Harry Daugherty, then Attorney General of the United States, 
 had made an accidental discovery of "rare State documents, long hidden among 
 musty bundles of ancient papers in the possession of the Department of Justice." 
 
 These documents ran as far back as the year previous to the establishment of 
 that Department. Many interesting papers and incidents are given in the article, 
 but only with the one mentioned above are we concerned. 
 
 After quoting the letter from Lincoln, a facsimile of which accompanied 
 
 [35] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 the story, it was stated that "the endorsements on the back of the letter show that 
 the appointment was that of a Chief Justice for the territory of Nebraska. The 
 'W. P. Kellogg' who resigned and the 'William Kellogg' appointed were one and 
 the same person. Mr. Kellogg was appointed Chief Justice of Nebraska by 
 Lincoln in 1 86 1 but was granted leave of absence to raise a regiment and partici- 
 pate in the war. He resigned as Chief Justice in 1865 and was reappointed, as the 
 autograph letter indicates, as 'William Kellogg.' " 
 
 However, as will appear later, I was aware that (W)illiam (P)itt Kellogg 
 had, on April 13, 1865, been appointed Collector of the Port of New Orleans. 
 
 An inquiry for the purpose of straightening out this obvious anomaly, direct- 
 ed to the Department of Justice, elicited the information that the records of Presi- 
 dential appointments in that branch of the government prior to 1888 were filed in 
 the State Department. I was advised by the latter that "the records indicate that 
 William Pitt Kellogg of Illinois was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of Nebraska Territory on March 27, 1861, upon confirmation by the Senate. 
 On April 17, 1865, Judge Kellogg was reappointed (recess appointment) and was 
 confirmed on January 15, 1866." 
 
 But this did not reconcile the conflicting statements. Moreover, when Mr. 
 Paul M. Angle, secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Association of Springfield, 111., 
 showed me the manuscript of a forthcoming volume of uncollected Lincoln letters, 
 the last item of which is the note referred to, and I had mentioned the subject, he 
 stated that undoubtedly the W. P. Kellogg who had resigned and the William 
 Kellogg who was appointed were two different individuals. In addition, a reference 
 to the document in question did not bear out the implication that the endorsement 
 disclosed W. P. Kellogg and William Kellogg as being "one and the same person" 
 as will be seen from the facsimile reproduced herein. Furthermore, biographical 
 reference works clearly showed that two Kelloggs were involved in the communi- 
 cation from the Chief Executive. 
 
 All of these factors were brought to the attention of the State Department, 
 together with my own views, and after much correspondence and further research, 
 in which both Dr. Tyler Dennett, Historical Adviser of the Department of State, 
 and Mr. Edward C. Wynne, Acting Historical Adviser, took a personal interest, 
 the report was finally made that the conclusion that W. P. Kellogg and William 
 Kellogg were two different persons was obviously correct. Moreover, I was informed 
 that "the Department records show that William Kellogg of Illinois was ap- 
 pointed Minister Resident at Guatemala on April 21, 1864, and that he declined 
 the appointment. The records also show that he was appointed Consul at Val- 
 
 [36] 
 
Two Kellogg Appointments 
 
 paraiso, Chile, April 3, 1865, and likewise declined the appointment. It also 
 appears from the records that he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of Nebraska Territory on April 17, 1865." 
 
 Both of these Kelloggs had interesting political careers. William, born in 
 Ohio in 1 8 14, settled in Illinois in 1837. He served in the state legislature from 
 1849 to I ^50, and was Judge of the Circuit Court from 1853 t0 1856. From 
 1857 to 1863 he was a Member of Congress and according to the National Cyclo- 
 paedia of American Biography was a "close friend and associate of President 
 Lincoln." So it is no cause for wonderment that the administration wished to give 
 him a good berth, as evidenced from the State Department records. 
 
 William Pitt Kellogg was born in Vermont in 1831. He, too, emigrated 
 to Illinois and in i860 was the state's delegate to the convention that nominated 
 Lincoln for President, afterward serving as Presidential elector. 
 
 Appointed by President Lincoln as Chief Justice of Nebraska, at the outbreak 
 of the war he returned to Illinois and raised a regiment of cavalry. After taking 
 part in several prominent battles, ill health compelled his retirement, and he re- 
 sumed his duties in Nebraska until January 1863, when he returned to active 
 military duty. 
 
 Hon. Richard Yates, Congressman from Illinois and a son of the War 
 Governor of that name, in an address on "Lincoln" delivered in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives on Lincoln's birthday in 1921, gave an interesting anecdote related by 
 W. P. Kellogg shortly before his death. 
 
 "On the morning of the day of the (Lincoln) assassination," said Yates, 
 "a visit to the White House was paid by Yates (the elder), then a Senator, and 
 another Illinoisan, who had been a presidential elector, and later a Federal Judge, 
 and later a Colonel of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry. Yates said: 'Mr President, 
 here is the man you want.' The President said: 'That's so, he'll do,' and added, 
 'I am going to send you, Kellogg, to New Orleans, to be United States Collector 
 of the Port — you will have 2000 employes under you, all northerners, because 
 substantially all southerners are disfranchised; but I want you to make love to those 
 people down there.' It is of interest to record that at this interview the President, 
 for some reason, said, 'I want this commission issued now,' and did not rest until 
 the commission was delivered — sent over by the Secretary of the Treasury — and 
 the two Illinoisans walked out with the last commission ever signed by Lincoln. 
 That night they sojourned at the old National Hotel — room 1 2 — and Yates, who 
 had been at the theatre, rushed in, very pale and shouted, 'Oh, Kellogg, the Presi- 
 dent has been shot.' 
 
 [37] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "And," continued Yates, "Kellogg said to me, 'So we walked the streets all 
 night, a hundred thousand men — never went to bed at all — and in the morning I 
 stood across the street and watched them carry out the body of Abraham Lincoln, 
 with his last commission warm against my heart.' " 
 
 My collector friend, Mr. James W. Bollinger, of Davenport, Iowa, is much 
 interested in this story of the Kellogg commission. His mother was a cousin of 
 William Pitt Kellogg and many times in her lifetime Mr. Bollinger has heard her 
 tell the story of Lincoln having made this appointment in the afternoon before he 
 was shot. But where is the commission now? 
 
 Mr. Yates has no knowledge of its present whereabouts and neither has the 
 executor of the Kellogg estate, to whom he referred me. 
 
 "I have often heard," says Mr. Edward J. Stellwagen, President of the Union 
 Trust Company at Washington, D. C, "the late Governor William Pitt Kellogg, 
 who was my close personal friend, say that his commission as collector of the Port 
 of New Orleans was the last commission signed by President Lincoln. 
 
 "All of his effects passed through our hands as his executor, but the commission 
 in which you are interested was not among them." 
 
 The Treasury Department at Washington makes the following report : 
 "According to the records of this office William Pitt Kellogg was given a 
 
 temporary commission as Collector of the Port of New Orleans April 13, 1865. 
 
 This commission was made permanent February 8, 1866." 
 
 According to the account given by Mr. Kellogg himself, the commission was 
 received by President Lincoln the morning of the 14th, at which time it was pre- 
 sumably signed by the President. And if we are inclined also to credit the story 
 of the Saunder's commission hereinafter referred to — and we have no reason to 
 doubt its correctness — the latter must have been signed after Saunders' departure 
 from Washington the afternoon of the 14th. Therefore, on this hypothesis, the 
 Kellogg commission must have antedated that of Saunders by several hours at 
 least. 
 
 With reference to the date of appointment, it should be stated that it was a not 
 uncommon practice for the Departments to issue commissions on a certain date 
 which were not presented to the President for his signature until a day or two later. 
 From which it will readily be seen that it is quite probable that President Lincoln 
 signed the Kellogg commission on April 14th. 
 
 [38] 
 
Two Kellogg Appointments 
 
 The later life of W. P. Kellogg is of interest. After he went to Louisiana 
 he speedily rose to political position in that state. He represented it in the United 
 States Senate from 1868 to 1871. From 1868 to 1877 the political condition of 
 Louisiana was quite turbulent: in January 1872 two rival legislatures convened, 
 and a year later two Governors were inaugurated, Kellogg and McEnery. Both 
 administrations continued to operate, independently of each other, for some time, 
 when the administration at Washington took a hand and recognized the Kellogg 
 regime. Kellogg served as Governor until 1876 and the following year he was 
 again elected Senator, holding this position until 1883, after which he served a term 
 in the National House of Representatives. Kellogg was a delegate to every Na- 
 tional Republican Convention from 1868 to 1892. He died in 19 18. 
 
 NOTE : Since writing the above, Mr. Thomas F. Madigan, of New York City, 
 has issued his incomparable catalogue of Lincolniana, in which is listed "the 
 commission of William Pitt Kellogg as Collector of the Port of New Orleans." 
 Through the courtesy of Mr. Madigan a facsimile appears in this volume. 
 
 f nsibrnt of tbf Initfo $hin of Jmtnca 
 
 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING 
 
 JM0U) \l , &£>/, u/taxy e/tcao/ <W am/ canjUencc on. iC intyu/y, JJyenct, am/ JuaiAcn of /M/^l/?7L'cfcJtc€/c-aty~ 
 
 1 do appoint m*%ffu>U^rti4ujt^fr 
 
 am/ Oo a<a&uzt an/ rm^owP Am to tzteutt aW /<*$/ ■«&' dut M of /{at offco occou/fna to /aw, ana' to liavt am/ to /oi/ tC\a,d c/fict. 
 
 u*U a// «& yid, am/ cmo&mtnt, tmnaonto &fa/ty afftdamiy, ant, /,m. <& oatd /jXCvOa/^SI,(^Kjt€€traaP. 
 
 Jauy ttfe /t/caMt of ttt IPOaoaiBasrB W tram HSraaaiB Btfiiuaa foP tlfo IW £oy, am/ a-,/./ t& tm/ of (So next tumon- of Ofe tfinai* 
 of t& tf/mta/ dfiata, am/ mi /rnaefi 
 
 In tralinumg n%rtof, ef tax* ca-otd tiftoe J&tou to <£ mad, (EPalonJ, ana' t/, dfea/ o/ Itl, t§Tie*«~y 
 ^efiatimmt of t& QAiUcJ dftata to to tetounto a/fact/ 
 
 ®lDfn am/er> mu nam/, at ttf, etVV •? WA«KI»Q?CfO, aCc wiuiJ/j^hXlL/ay ef tstA\^sCs 
 
 on t*c u£aP of ©ur ILorB one ttouiand efnt Attttdu*/ am/ &As¥ CC, '~fi/t/*ts ana' of 
 
 (Ac inuiMmu or m ONrrn statu or *nniu t/e cuylMj Tvwvfti/- 
 
 BY THE PRESIDENT 
 
 Commission appointing William Pitt Kellogg Collector of the Port of New Orleans, dated 
 April 13, 1865, but probably signed by President Lincoln the day of the assassination. — Cour- 
 tesy of Mr. Thomas F. Madigan, famous autograph dealer of New York City. 
 
 [39] 
 
u 
 
 Lincoln^ Maryland Visitors 
 
 P to the present time two distinguished Marylanders have been recorded as 
 having had interviews with President Lincoln the day he was assassinated, 
 but to these must now be added a third. 
 
 Dr. Andrew S. Draper, the educator, in an article headed Lincoln's Parable, 
 which appeared in Harper's Weekly for October 26, 1907, gave an account of 
 Hon. John A. J. Creswell's conference with Lincoln the morning of the 14th, which 
 Creswell had related to him twenty years before. However, a similar account, but 
 not as circumstantial, had appeared in Lamon's Recollections of Abraham Lincoln 
 edited by his daughter, published in 1895. 
 
 According to the story, Creswell called on the President in the interest of a 
 friend, who, enlisting in the Confederate army, had been captured and held as a 
 prisoner. 
 
 He found Lincoln in good spirits at the near approach of the cessation of all 
 hostilities and quite willing to endorse his "affidavit" in favor of the imprisoned 
 soldier, and listened with interest to the President's humorous story of a "Maying" 
 party out in Illinois to illustrate his point that "you fellows will get one man after 
 another out of the business until Jefferson Davis and I will be the only ones left on 
 the island." 
 
 "Then," said Creswell, "he took my affidavit, and wrote a brief word upon it, 
 something like 'Do this. A. L.' and gave it to me. I carried it over to the War 
 office, and, after the usual fuss got the order issued. Then I went out into Mary- 
 land to attend to some business through the day, and got back into the city late at 
 night to find everything in an uproar over the assassination." 
 
 Creswell was a notable son of Maryland. He served as Assistant Adjutant 
 General of the state from 1862 to 1863, and as Congressman from 1863 to 1864; 
 and, according to the Librarian of the Maryland Historical Society, "having dis- 
 tinguished himself as an earnest friend of the Union, was elected as a Republican to 
 the United States Senate in March 1865, to fill the unexpired term of Thomas H. 
 Hicks." He later served as Postmaster General from 1869 to 1874 in the Cabinet 
 of Grant, and died in 1891. 
 
 A careful study of the incident as reported by Dr. Draper reveals many dis- 
 crepancies, but I am convinced that in the main the story is correct. 
 
 [40] 
 
Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 
 
 To begin with, in the article appearing in Harper's the caller's name is spelled 
 wrongly. Draper wrote it "Cresswell," whereas it was spelled "Creswell," both in 
 other published accounts and according to his own signature, specimens of which 
 I have examined. 
 
 Then again, Draper makes it appear that the prisoner was "a good friend, 
 a collegemate ; there are not many men who will not do what they can for a college- 
 mate," Creswell said. Creswell was a graduate of Dickinson College, at Carlisle, 
 Pa., and from evidence which appears later, the name of the individual in which he 
 was interested was Benjamin F. Twilley, but Dr. Sellers, the present Dean, informs 
 me that while "General Cresswell was a member of the college class of 1848, the 
 name of Twilley does not occur in the class roll. Indeed, there is no record of any 
 student by the name of Twilley as ever having been a student at Dickinson College. 
 * * * Of course, it might be that name is omitted from our records through error; 
 or it might be that the boy attended the 'Grammar School' connected with the col- 
 lege, or the 'Classes in Law.' " Therefore, we must conclude that, taken in a literal 
 sense at least, there is no evidence that Creswell and Twilley were college classmates. 
 
 Then too, Creswell is made to recall that President Lincoln in his enthusiasm 
 showed him a telegram received from General Sherman assuring "the President 
 of the culmination in the Carolinas." 
 
 This is obviously an error. The faithful Welles, in his account of the Cabinet 
 meeting held after the Creswell interview, states that special inquiry was made 
 whether "any information had been received from Sherman." None of those pres- 
 ent had heard anything, and General Grant said that he was "hourly expecting 
 word." And it was this remark of Grant which induced the President to say 
 that "word would come, and come favorably," thereupon narrating his famous 
 dream of the night before "which had preceded nearly every important event of 
 the war," in which he seemed to be in the same "singular and indescribable vessel 
 moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore." Welles further 
 states that Stanton, "who makes it a point to be late," had not arrived yet, but as 
 no mention is made of any further news when the iron "Mars" came, we must 
 naturally conclude that he had nothing to offer on the subject. 
 
 But if any additional corroboration of the non-arrival of news from Sherman 
 is necessary, it can be found by referring to Serial No. 97 of the Official Rebellion 
 Records. At 7 P. M. April 15th, the day following the assassination, in the course 
 of a telegram to General Sheridan, Grant states from Washington that "Sherman 
 expected to occupy Raleigh on the 13th, but does not say which way the enemy is 
 moving. I hope to hear from him almost any hour, and will inform you when I do." 
 
 [41] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Almost immediately thereafter word must have been received from the miss- 
 ing Sherman, for a half hour later Grant forwarded to Sheridan for his information 
 the following message received from Raleigh, N. C, dated the 13th: 
 
 "General U. S. Grant: I entered Raleigh this morning. Johnston has re- 
 treated westward. I shall move to Asheville and Salisbury or Charlotte. I hope 
 Sheridan is coming this way with his cavalry. If I can bring Johnston to a stand 
 can soon fix him. The people here had not heard of the surrender of Lee, and 
 hardly credit it. All well. W. T. Sherman." 
 
 The contemporary military telegraph service at that time must have been most 
 uncertain, for as an interesting aside it might be noted that on April 16th Grant re- 
 layed to Sheridan a message from Sherman dated the 12th, acknowledging receipt 
 of the news of the surrender of Lee, and which evidently had just been received 
 at Washington. 
 
 We should not criticise too severely either Dr. Draper or Gen. Creswell. It 
 is but another evidence that everything which has come down to us by word of 
 mouth should be scrutinized carefully before accepting as absolute truth. It should 
 be remembered that Dr. Draper stated he had heard the story from Creswell twenty 
 years before he published it, which in turn would be twenty-two years after the 
 incident itself occurred. But Creswell's memory was right as to the date of the 
 interview. 
 
 Mr. William Selby, administrator of the Creswell estate, and now living at 
 Creswell Hall, Elkton, Md., at the writer's suggestion made a thorough examina- 
 tion of the papers left by Creswell, and after weeks of searching brought to light 
 the long lost document. 
 
 The long-lost Lincoln endorsement on the Creswell petition, dated April 14, 1865. — Cour- 
 tesy of Wm. Selby, executor of the Creswell estate, and Emanuel Hertz, Esq., present owner 
 of the document. 
 
 [42] 
 
Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 
 
 It is in the form of a letter written by a captured Confederate soldier to one 
 of his relatives, accompanying two other communications from the prisoner ad- 
 dressed to Creswell himself, requesting the latter's "assistance" in obtaining his 
 freedom on taking the oath of allegience and hoping he "will Respond to my feeble 
 request." On the back, of this letter was Creswell's endorsement: "I respectfully 
 ask that the within named Benj. F. Twilley be discharged on the usual terms," and 
 beneath this the President had written: "Let it be done. A. Lincoln." The date 
 is April 14, 1865. 
 
 And it was done. The War Department at Washington informs me that 
 there are on file records pertaining to two Benjamin F. Twilleys, or two distinct 
 records of one Benjamin F. Twilley, whichever may be correct. 
 
 In 1 86 1 a Benjamin F. Twilley enlisted in a company of Virginia Infantry 
 which was soon disbanded; in February 1862 he enlisted as a Corporal in another 
 Virginian Infantry Company and was discharged June 10, 1862, "per Special 
 Order 84 of General Mahone." So much for this case. 
 
 * 
 
 "The records also show," states the Department, "that one Benjamin F. 
 Twilley, Corporal, Company G, 2nd Maryland Infantry, Confederate States Army, 
 enlisted September n, 1862; was captured August 19, 1864, and was released 
 May 14, 1865. No further record of him has been found. 
 
 "No record has been found to show that President Lincoln issued a pardon 
 in the case of either of these men." Presumably Twilley took the required oath 
 of allegiance and secured his freedom. The original document located by Mr. 
 Selby is now in the possession of my friend Emanuel Hertz, of New York City, 
 that indefatigable Lincoln enthusiast and collector. 
 
 The second prominent Maryland caller of whom we have record was the then 
 Governor of the state. Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, of New York, in a sermon 
 preached April 30, 1865, stated that on the afternoon of April 14th the Governor 
 of Maryland called with a friend to pay his respects. They found the President 
 in a very cheerful frame of mind over the state of the country, and at the close of 
 the interview one of them asked for a small favor for a friend. "Anything now 
 to make the people happy," said Lincoln as he wrote the necessary order. 
 
 Augustus Williamson Bradford was the War Governor of Maryland, serv- 
 ing from 1 861 to 1866. From his son, Mr. Samuel W. Bradford, of Bel Air, I 
 have been given many interesting facts in connection with his public career. 
 
 Governor Bradford was born in Bel Air in 1806, and admitted to the bar at 
 
 [43] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 the age of twenty-one. Five years later he removed to Baltimore, where the bal- 
 ance of his life — except for an interim of another residence of six years in the 
 town of his birth — was spent. A Whig in politics, he was one of the state electors 
 in the campaign of 1844, and the defeat of Henry Clay so disheartened him that 
 he lost all interest in politics until i860. However, in 1845 Governor Pratt ap- 
 pointed him Clerk of the Baltimore County Court, which position he filled in a 
 highly creditable manner. 
 
 In February, 1861, he served as one of the Maryland delegates to the ill- 
 fated Peace Conference in Washington. At the approach of hostilities he so dis- 
 tinguished himself as an ardent supporter of the Union that on the first ballot he 
 was nominated for Governor by the newly organized Union party and was elected 
 by an overwhelming majority. During his term of office he labored diligently for 
 the restoration of the union and in 1864 the state abolished slavery by constitutional 
 enactment. As Chief Executive of one of the Border States, Governor Bradford 
 was placed in a trying position. At one time, during a raid by Confederate soldiers, 
 his home near Baltimore was burned to the ground. When the farrwus Governors' 
 Meeting was held in Altoona, Pa., in September 1862, Bradford was chosen to 
 preside. 
 
 He was appointed Surveyor of the Port of Baltimore by President Johnson in 
 1867, and in 1874 President Grant offered him the position of Appraiser in the 
 Baltimore Customs House, which was conscientiously turned down on the grounds 
 of inexperience. Governor Bradford died in 188 1. 
 
 Mr. Bradford has furnished me with an interesting story in connection with 
 the reelection of President Lincoln, which for many years remained unknown. Its 
 first appearance, according to my informant, was in Matthew Page Andrews' 
 History of Maryland published some months ago, having been brought to his 
 attention by Mr. Bradford. 
 
 "My father was so intimately connected with the incident that it may be of 
 interest to you," says Mr. Bradford. "Horace Greeley and other prominent editors 
 of the New York press had not endorsed the reelection of Mr. Lincoln. On Sep- 
 tember 2, 1864, a joint letter marked 'Private and Personal' and signed by Horace 
 Greeley, Parke Goodwin and Theodore Tilton, editors respectively of the New York 
 Tribune, the Evening Post and the Independent, was addressed to my father asking 
 his views as to the wisdom of reelecting Mr. Lincoln as President. My father at 
 once replied, advocating Mr. Lincoln's reelection and stating that if he 'could not 
 be elected no one can.' On September 6th Horace Greeley came out boldly for 
 Mr. Lincoln in the Tribune. 
 
 [44] 
 
Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 
 
 "I have, among my papers in the Maryland Historical Society, that original 
 letter and also a copy of my father's reply, written in his own handwriting and left 
 within the letter by him." 
 
 Concerning the alleged interview, however, Mr. Bradford is unable to add 
 anything definite to the statement of Rev. Thompson, although he has some recol- 
 lection of the event. 
 
 "I was but a young boy between eight and nine years of age when Mr. Lincoln 
 was killed," he says. "I remember distinctly the next morning, when my first 
 knowledge of his having been shot filled my boyish mind with horror. I was told 
 about it when I came down to breakfast, by other members of the family. My 
 father had received a telegram notifying him of the assassination early in the morn- 
 ing before he had arisen. 
 
 "I was too young, of course, to retain in memory all the details which may 
 have been told at the time. Whether my father had been with Mr. Lincoln on the 
 day he was shot, I do not know, but I do remember that comment was made in the 
 family that morning that Mr. Lincoln should have been shot so shortly after my 
 father had seen him : whether he saw Mr. Lincoln on the day of the shooting or 
 the day before, I do not know — I should be very glad to know definitely about it." 
 
 Mr. Bradford informs me that he finds nothing among his father's papers 
 relative to the incident, and the Maryland Historical Society which has the re- 
 mainder of his literary effects, has never come across any statement pertaining to it. 
 
 The telegram referred to was presented by Mr. Bradford to an autograph 
 collector in New York City, now deceased, and a further search reveals that after 
 his death the collection was sold at auction and the present whereabouts of the 
 telegram cannot be ascertained. 
 
 We now come to the third caller. Mr. John Gribbel, of Philadelphia, owner 
 of the famous Singleton pass, referred to hereinafter, has in his collection another 
 interesting document of which little or no mention has been made. 
 
 This is a letter dated Washington City, April 13, 1865, addressed to Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, "Hon. Sir," and signed "S. D. Herron," requesting "executive clem- 
 ency" for a younger brother, and bearing the endorsement of the President, April 
 14, 1865. 
 
 According to the communication the writer was "a member of the East Balto. 
 Conf., M. E. Church; is now, and always has been, a thorough friend of the 
 government during its recent struggle for national supremacy and now exults with 
 
 [45] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 yourself in common with all loyal people in the recent triumphs and the present 
 prospect of peace and national unity throughout the land." 
 
 He pleads in behalf "of a youthful brother now confined as a rebel prisoner 
 of war and dangerously ill in the hospital at Camp Chase, Ohio. The clemency of 
 your excellency has heretofore been solicited in behalf of this case but lest you 
 may have forgotten the facts thereof I beg leave briefly to rehearse them. He left 
 his native state August, 1862, and joined the rebels in Va. He was captured by 
 General Crooks in Hampshire County, W. Va., in August, 1864. He has been 
 desirous, even anxious to take the oath of allegience since December, 1864. In 
 January, 1865, he wrote a candid and modest memorial to your excellency which 
 was signed by Union gentlemen of his native place and put in the hands of Hon. 
 E. H. Webster, M. C, to be presented to you in order to secure his release. * * * 
 Of what became of that memorial and of Hon. E. H. Webster's agency in connec- 
 tion with it I know not. Since it was forwarded to him said prisoner has been 
 removed to the prison hospital for medical attention and a letter from him earnestly 
 soliciting interference in his behalf informs me that he is ill with chronic diarrhoea, 
 is scarcely able to walk at all, and cannot possibly endure it beyond a short time in 
 his confinement * * * The prisoner's name is Geo. S. Herron, Co. C, 1 Md. 
 Cavalry." 
 
 This endorsement follows the signature of Mr. Herron: "Let this prisoner 
 be discharged on taking the oath of Dec. 8, 1863. 
 
 April 14, 1865. A. Lincoln." 
 
 && ZjtiS /foster- Ji- 
 
 crt*s 
 
 /&3 
 
 ^k^ 'fo- 
 
 Endorsement of President Lincoln, dated April 
 14, 1865, on petition of S. D. Herron, requesting 
 executive clemency for his brother, George S. Her- 
 ron, a Confederate prisoner. — Courtesy of Mr. 
 John Gribbel, owner of document. 
 
 [46] 
 
Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 
 
 The present Secretary of the American Methodist Historical Society informs 
 me that "Rev. S. D. Herron was not a member of the Baltimore Conference of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church:" apparently he was not interested sufficiently to 
 delve deeper into the matter, as I later suggested; but be that as it may, the War 
 Department has a full record of the Confederate soldier, George S. Herron. 
 
 "The records show," states the Adjutant General, "that George S. Herron, 
 private, Company C, ist Battalion, Maryland Cavalry, Confederate States Army, 
 which subsequently became Company C, ist Maryland Cavalry, C. S. A., enlisted 
 October n, 1862, at Winchester for three years. He was taken prisoner at Moor- 
 field, Hardy Co., Va., August 7, 1864. Union prisoner of war records show that 
 he was captured August 7, 1864; was received at Camp Chase, Ohio, August 12, 
 1864, and was released April 20, 1865, by order of the Commissary General of 
 Prisoners, dated April 17, 1865." 
 
 Hon. E. H. Webster was another distinguished son of Maryland. 
 
 The Librarian of the Maryland Historical Society sums up the salient points in 
 his career as follows: "Edwin H. Webster was born in Churchville, Harford 
 County, Maryland, March 31st, 1829, and died at Bel Air, Harford County, 
 Maryland, April 24th, 1893. He was elected Representative in 1859, of the 2nd 
 Congressional District of Maryland, comprising Kent, Cecil, Carroll and Harford 
 Counties. Reelected in 1861 and while a member of Congress, he declined several 
 commissions as Brigadier General, but in 1862 he recruited the Seventh Regiment 
 Maryland Volunteers and went to the front as its Colonel. He was again reelected 
 in 1863 and resigned his military command. When Lincoln was assassinated, he 
 had in his pocket a list of appointments ready for announcement the following 
 day, among them being Colonel Webster's name as Collector of Customs of the 
 Port of Baltimore. He was appointed, however, by President Johnson and resigned 
 his seat in Congress." 
 
 This latter information, interesting if true, Librarian Fickus informs me ap- 
 pears in a reference work dealing with the Counties of Harford and Cecil, and 
 presumably was taken from the Baltimore Sun for April 25, 1893, tne day after 
 Webster's death. 
 
 All that the Treasury Department is able to report is that "Edwin H. Webster 
 was given a temporary commission as Collector at the Port of Baltimore, Md., 
 July 18, 1865; the commission was made permanent February 19, 1866." 
 
 A search for the present whereabouts of the belongings of President Lincoln 
 found in his pocket or a verification of the statement made above has accomplished 
 nothing. 
 
 [47] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Mr. Lewis G. Reynolds, present Custodian of the old Oldroyd Collection in 
 Washington, states that "certain things found in the President's box after the 
 tragedy were first taken charge of by the Police Department but are now in the 
 custody of the Adjutant General." The Adjutant General referred me to the 
 Judge Advocate General, who reports that "there is no record in this office of any 
 such paper." 
 
 "Private papers which may have been in the President's pocket, "says Mr. 
 Reynolds, "would not likely be among these articles. Is it not probable that they 
 were taken in charge by the family? The papers you mention may be in that chest 
 which Robert T. Lincoln has left in trust with the Library of Congress — not to be 
 opened until twenty-five years after his death." 
 
 I mentioned to Mr. Bradford the possibility of Col. Webster being the friend 
 who accompanied his father to the Executive Mansion, and he believes it well 
 within the realm of probability. 
 
 "Col. Webster and my father," says Mr. Bradford, "were firm friends — soci- 
 ally and politically. Col. Webster was born a few miles from Bel Air, and my 
 father was born in Bel Air. Col. Webster lived nearly all his life in Bel Air, and 
 my father lived the early part of his life in Bel Air, and then moved to Baltimore. 
 If it is true that my father saw Mr. Lincoln on the day in question, it is most 
 likely that he and Col. Webster saw him in behalf of the Confederate prisoner, 
 and then after Col. Webster left, my father remained to urge the appointment of 
 his friend to the collectorship of the Port of Baltimore — very natural that he should 
 do so." 
 
 Through the courtesy of Mr. Bradford I was enabled to get in touch with 
 the descendants of Col. Webster, two of whose daughters are still living. A com- 
 munication from a son of one of the latter gives all that they are able to contribute 
 to the subject. 
 
 "My mother tells me that there has always been a tradition in the family," 
 says Dr. Harrison of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, "that grandfather was 
 with Mr. Lincoln the morning of the assassination, and also that the memorandum 
 of his appointment as Collector of the Port of Baltimore, if not the commission 
 itself, was on Lincoln's person at the time of the assassination. 
 
 "Grandfather had been a very close and devoted friend of Mr. Lincoln, and 
 he was so affected by the calamity that there was not much discussion of details in 
 the family. Mrs. Hunter, Col. Webster's eldest daughter, however, concurs in her 
 recollections of the above impressions. 
 
 [48] 
 
Lincoln's Maryland Visitors 
 
 "My mother informs me that my grandfather applied for quite a number of 
 pardons, and that Mr. Lincoln was always most lenient in his treatment of them. 
 Also, that due to the fact of grandfather having many friends in the Confederate 
 army, a number of the pardons requested were for Confederates." 
 
 The endorsement on the Herron petition is in three different hand-writings, 
 the signature only being the President's. From specimens of the chirography of 
 John Hay, as well as for other reasons which will appear later, I am sure that his 
 was the hand which wrote the body of the endorsement. Who penned the date? 
 
 Mr. Bradford has sent me for examination the note book which his father 
 carried when he spoke as a Greeley elector in 1872; and Mr. Selby has forwarded 
 a letter of Col. Webster which he found among the papers of Gen. Creswell. 
 These have been examined and compared with the date as written on the endorse- 
 ment and it is my belief that it was penned by Col. Webster himself; it is clearly 
 not the writing of Governor Bradford. The similarity between the Webster letter 
 and the date appearing on the endorsement is most pronounced. 
 
 NOTE : At the autograph sale held by the American Art Association — Anderson 
 Galleries Inc., on February 25th and 26th, 1930, the Creswell petition is listed 
 under the caption "Probably the Last Pardon Signed by Lincoln Written the Day 
 of His Assassination." 
 
 49 
 
Lincoln^ Cabinet and What They 
 
 Have Said 
 
 AT the time of the assassination of President Lincoln his Cabinet consisted of 
 William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of State; Hugh McCulloch, 
 of Indiana, Secretary of the Treasury; Edwin M. Stanton, of Pennsylva- 
 nia, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; 
 William Dennison, of Ohio, Postmaster General; James Speed, of Kentucky, At- 
 torney General; and John P. Usher, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior. An 
 interesting fact in connection with the last named member is that at this time Presi- 
 dent Lincoln had on file the resignation of Secretary Usher tendered to him in 
 March, to take effect May 15 th, and his successor had already been determined 
 upon. The latter, Senator James Harlan, of Iowa, accordingly took his seat in 
 the Cabinet of President Johnson, serving until July 1866. Senator Cullom, of 
 Illinois, is authority for the statement that Harlan secured the appointment at the 
 suggestion of Bishop Simpson of the Methodist Church, who subsequently delivered 
 the funeral oration at the obsequies of President Lincoln in Springfield. In 1868, 
 Robert Lincoln, the President's eldest son, married a daughter of Senator Harlan. 
 
 With the exception of two of these Cabinet heads, we are again confronted 
 with a dearth of reminiscence by the participants. Fortunately the heads of two 
 departments, Welles of the Navy, and Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of 
 State, who represented that branch of the government on account of the serious 
 illness of his father, have put on record good first hand evidence of what transpired 
 there. Primarily are we indebted to the former, who in his diary and an article 
 in the Galaxy Magazine for April 1872, has given his recollections very fully, and 
 the latter has published several good briefer accounts. Welles does not mention 
 whether all the members of the Cabinet were in attendance or not, but Seward 
 refers to McCulloch, Stanton, Welles, Dennison, Speed and himself as being pres- 
 ent, making no mention of Usher. Of course it is well known that General Grant 
 was present. 
 
 By the remaining Cabinet officials but little has been said. McCulloch in his 
 massive Men and Measures of Half a Century, has in two instances touched 
 upon it; Stanton in his official capacity had occasion several times to refer to it 
 
 [50] 
 
Lincoln's Cabinet and What They Have Said 
 
 'Xttxii'm <Sfltawsian, 
 
 
 &H-. 
 
 ^j£^W, £-^y-£^iZ& /^~£j?j> flrt^^ZS /^rc^C^ 
 
 Last call issued by President Lincoln for a Cabinet meeting, written 
 the early morning of April 14th. — Courtesy of William H. Seward, 3d, 
 Esq., nephew of Hon. Frederick W. Seward. 
 
 briefly, and an account of Lincoln's premonitory dream given to the English author 
 Charles Dickens by the War Secretary in 1868 was in turn passed on to an English 
 friend; and Speed, whose attention had been called to the Dickens' account by 
 Joseph H. Barrett, disposed of the subject in a single paragraph. Dennison, ap- 
 parently, said nothing, and neither did Usher. 
 
 Welles' and Seward's accounts will not be considered here; that has been 
 done before. 
 
 Reverting to McCulloch, as previously stated two references are given in his 
 volume published in 1888: once in referring to Lincoln's "unbeknownst" story, 
 considered later; and again in connection with paying off the discharged soldiers. 
 
 "I never saw Mr. Lincoln so cheerful and happy as he was on the day of his 
 death, 1 ' McCulloch said, bearing out the testimony of others. "The burden which 
 had been weighing upon him for four long years, and which he had borne with 
 heroic fortitude, had been lifted; the war had been practically ended; the Union 
 was safe. The weary look which his face had so long worn, and which could be 
 observed by those who knew him well, even when he was telling humorous stories, 
 
 [5i] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 had disappeared. It was bright and cheerful. As he took me by the hand when 
 I was about to leave the White House, he said: 'We must look to you, Mr. Secre- 
 tary, for the money to pay off the soldiers.' 'I shall look to the people,' I replied; 
 'they have not failed us thus far; and I don't think they will now.' A few hours 
 after I saw him unconscious and dying." 
 
 Secretary McCulloch contributed a paper in Rice's volume of Lincoln reminis- 
 cences published in 1885, but which contained no relevant data. 
 
 According to the Official Rebellion Records, Stanton, on April 15, 1865, dur- 
 ing the course of a report to Major-General Dix, of New York, referred to the 
 Cabinet meeting thus: 
 
 "The subject of the state of the country and the prospects of speedy peace 
 was discussed. The President was very cheerful and hopeful; spoke very kindly 
 of General Lee and others of the Confederacy, and the establishment of govern- 
 ment in Virginia." 
 
 Also under same date, in making a report to Charles Francis Adams, Minis- 
 ter to England, concerning the activities of the conspirators, he said: 
 
 "Yesterday the President called a Cabinet meeting, at which General Grant 
 was present. He was more cheerful and happy than I had ever seen, rejoiced at 
 the near prospect of firm and durable peace at home and abroad, manifested in 
 marked degree the kindness and humanity of his disposition, and the tender and 
 forgiving spirit that so eminently distinguished him." 
 
 George C. Gorham's biography of Stanton states that on May 18, 1867, 
 Stanton in the course of his testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the House 
 of Representatives, stated that on April 14, 1865, "there was a Cabinet meeting at 
 which all of the Cabinet except Mr. Seward were present;" that "General Grant 
 made a report of the condition of the country as he conceived that it was;" and that 
 "the subject of reconstruction was discussed at considerable length," Stanton, at 
 Lincoln's request, reading a draft of a mode he had prepared whereby "the author- 
 ity and laws of the United States should be re-established and governments recog- 
 nized in the rebel states under the federal authority without any necessity what- 
 ever for the intervention of rebel organizations or rebel aid." But Gorham also 
 adds that "the Cabinet adjourned without any definite action." 
 
 Surely it might have been expected that Speed, the Attorney General, and a 
 brother of Lincoln's most intimate friend, would have left on record some interest- 
 ing data in connection with his superior and the last Cabinet meeting, but here 
 again we are disappointed. 
 
 [52] 
 
Lincoln's Cabinet and What They Have Said 
 
 Barrett, in his Lincoln and His Presidency, quotes from a letter he received 
 from Speed twenty years after the event, in which he said that "I cannot attempt to 
 give in better words than Mr. Dickens an account of that Cabinet meeting, although 
 it made an indelible impression upon my memory. Even after the lapse of so many 
 years the picture can be recalled to my mind's eye as clearly as though the circum- 
 stances occurred but yesterday; and I fondly cling to the memory of Mr. Lincoln's 
 personal appearance as I saw him that day, with cleanly shaved face, well brushed 
 clothing, and neatly combed hair and whiskers. In fact, the contrast was so great 
 as to cause each member of the Cabinet to remark it. I well remember that Mr. 
 Stanton said to me as we went down the stairs together: 'Didn't our chief look 
 grand today?' " 
 
 James Speed, a grandson of the elder, at the present time editor of a Southern 
 agricultural journal, in 19 14 wrote a volume on James Speed: A Personality, 
 which was privately printed, depicting him "as he appeared to his own intimate 
 family and to his most intimate friends; * * * as he revealed himself in his letters 
 to his mother, to his wife, and to his close relatives." 
 
 Here, if anywhere, should be found something relative to the subject under 
 discussion. But again a paucity of material confronts us. All that is said concern- 
 ing the assassination period is included in two brief letters, one to his mother and 
 the other to his brother, dated April 16th and 17th, in both of which he briefly 
 speaks of the death of the President, "who was the greatest and best man I ever 
 knew." 
 
 And James Speed, the younger, informs me that "in going over grandfather's 
 letters I was disappointed at not finding any letter which he had written at that 
 critical moment in American history" bearing on the subject. 
 
 William Dennison, the "War Governor" of Ohio, and chairman of the Re- 
 publican National Convention in 1864, had served as Postmaster General since 
 September 24th of that year. He seems to have been a secretive sort of individual. 
 Mr. Galbreath, of the Ohio State Historical Society, who made an extensive in- 
 vestigation at my request, reported that "we have made diligent search in the news- 
 papers of the state for some interview with him or estimate on the life and charac- 
 ter of Abraham Lincoln. We have failed to find a single expression from him in 
 regard to the President in whose Cabinet he served." 
 
 I have been in touch with several of the descendants of Governor Dennison; 
 of his ten children, but one, a daughter, survives. Practically all memoranda and 
 data left by Dennison are now in the custody of a grandson who informs me that so 
 
 I 53] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 far as he knows his grandfather kept no diary and adds that "I do not believe he 
 was very systematic about keeping letters or records. I know I have tried to ob- 
 tain information regarding his family and mother has told me that he never seemed 
 to be interested in genealogy or keeping records in any way." However, Mr. Clark 
 the grandson, has given me one interesting piece of information, in that he makes 
 mention of a reason or excuse given by Dennison for not accompanying President 
 Lincoln to the theatre that night, which was different from any of the others ad- 
 vanced by those who have made similar claims. 
 
 "I understood from mother," says Mr. Clark, "that President Lincoln invited 
 my grandfather to attend the theatre with him and sit in his box the night of the 
 assassination, but he declined the invitation as it was Good Friday night." 
 
 In January 1924, Mr. Stan. V. Henkels, auctioneer of Philadelphia, disposed 
 of the papers of Gideon Welles, listing among them a letter from Governor Den- 
 nison to Welles dated March 25, 1874, just after the appearance of the latter's 
 Lincoln and Seward, complimenting him on the volume and explaining how in- 
 competent Charles Francis Adams, whose address on Seward had aroused Welles' 
 ire, was to write a memoir of Lincoln. "Mr. Lincoln was a rude, unlettered man, 
 of patriotic impulses," wrote Dennison as quoted by Henkels, "who needed for an 
 intelligent discharge of his executive duties, the constant aid of an experienced and 
 educated man, as he regarded Mr. Seward to be." And this, apparently, is all that 
 we shall learn of William Dennison's estimate of Abraham Lincoln! 
 
 In passing it is interesting to note an entry which Welles made in his diary in 
 January 1864. He says that he had a call from Dennison and the elder Blair, and 
 that they "were full of the Presidency." Apparently they were sounding out Welles 
 as to his stand with regard to a second term for Lincoln, but the old Navy Lord 
 stated that "his convictions are and have been that it is best to re-elect the President, 
 and if I mistake not this is the public opinion." And as the callers had just come 
 from the White House, one cannot but wonder whether the astute Mr. Lincoln 
 was not trying to "feel out" Mr. Welles. 
 
 We now come to the remaining member of the Cabinet. There are two sons 
 of Secretary Usher still living, the elder being in poor health. The other, now 
 seventy-seven years of age, is Vice-President of a Texas bank. 
 
 "In December 1864 I was twelve years old, "says the latter, Mr. Linton J. 
 Usher. "We lived on F Street, Attorney General Bates two doors to the east, 
 and Mr. Wendle, Public Printer, two to the west; Ward Lamon lived across the 
 street. 
 
 [54] 
 
Lincoln's Cabinet and What They Have Said 
 
 "My mother and my two brothers, John and Samuel, left for Indiana on the 
 evening train. My father went as far as the Relay House, where we changed cars 
 for the through train over the B. & O., he returning to Washington. Learning of 
 the assassination he drove from the depot to Mr. Lincoln's bedside and was with 
 him when he died. Mrs. Wendle told him the night of the assassination two men on 
 horseback came to our house, and made such a fuss trying to get in, she went out 
 and told them the family had left Washington that evening. In talking to my 
 father years afterward, he said the assassination had so many ramifications, it was 
 hard to tell whom it might involve and where it would end and it would do no 
 good, just harm, and as a long and bloody civil war was drawing to a close it was 
 best to let the country quiet down." 
 
 Like McCulloch, Usher contributed a paper to Rice's volume in which no 
 mention was made either to the Cabinet meeting or the assassination. Recently the 
 Union Pacific Railroad Company has issued a pamphlet containing an address on 
 "President Lincoln's Cabinet" by Secretary Usher in 1887, m which he makes the 
 statement that "after Mr. Lincoln was assassinated and after Mr. Seward returned 
 to the Department of State, I called upon him, and he said that if he had been able 
 to be out * * * Mr. Lincoln would not have gone to the theatre that night. It 
 seems that he knew of or anticipated some design or plot against the President." 
 
 [55 
 
Lincoln and the New British Minister 
 
 IN 1865 the American News Company of New York City, at the suggestion of 
 Dr. Francis Lieber, published a worth-while volume entitled "The Martyr's 
 Monument. Being the Patriotism and Political Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, 
 as exhibited in his speeches, messages, orders and proclamations, from the presi- 
 dential canvass of i860 until his assassination." And the publishers chose for the 
 editor of this volume Dr. Lieber himself, referring in the prefatory notice to "the 
 distinguished gentleman whose name it bears." 
 
 What interests us particularly in this volume are the concluding data. 
 
 After referring to the fact that Lincoln, "on the next day but one after 
 the reception of the news of General Lee's surrender, April nth, issued the fol- 
 lowing proclamation, in which he announced to foreign powers that if they con- 
 tinued any longer to place the national vessels of this Republic on the same footing 
 with rebel cruisers, their own vessels would be reduced to the same level in our 
 ports," and giving the Proclamation itself, the volume concludes with an article 
 entitled Reception of the British Minister. 
 
 "Three days after issuing the foregoing proclamation Mr. Lincoln was no 
 more," said Dr. Lieber. "No public act or speech of his marked the brief interval. 
 But on the very eve of his violent death he wrote one paper which exhibited the can- 
 dor, the wisdom, and the kindness of his soul in a notable manner, and which 
 showed that the proclamation which was the last to which he signed his name was 
 instituted by no petty spite, no desire to humiliate, no wish to provoke hostile feel- 
 ing. Lord Lyons had resigned, and Sir Frederick Bruce had been sent to represent 
 the British Government at Washington. He was about to present his credentials; 
 his reception for the purpose of presenting his letters was to have taken place on 
 Saturday, April 15th, and Mr. Lincoln, having received an intimation of what 
 Sir Frederick would say on that occasion, wrote out on the afternoon of the 14th 
 his proposed reply. He never made it. The British Minister did not present his 
 credentials until some days after Mr. Lincoln's death. The speech which the 
 President made in reply impressed the whole country and Europe by its dignity, its 
 good sense, its candor, and its generosity. There is the highest authority for saying 
 that this speech is the one written by Mr. Lincoln, and that being found in his port- 
 folio, it was wisely adopted, with its writer's policy, by Mr. Johnson, and read to 
 
 [56] 
 
Lincoln and the New British Minister 
 
 the British Minister by a secretary. Thus Mr. Lincoln actually stretched out his 
 hand from beyond the grave to guide the course of the Republic which he had done 
 so much to save, and by his services to which he earned his crown of martyrdom., 
 The reply in question here follows: 
 
 " 'Sir Frederick A. W. Bruce — Sir : — The cordial and friendly sentiments 
 which you have expressed on the part of Her Britannic Majesty give me great 
 pleasure. Great Britain and the United States, by the extended and varied forms 
 of commerce between them, the contiguity of positions of their possessions, and the 
 similarity of their language and laws, are drawn into contrast and intimate inter- 
 course at the same time. They are from the same causes exposed to frequent occa- 
 sions of misunderstanding, only to be averted by mutual forbearance. So eagerly 
 are the people of the two countries engaged throughout almost the whole world in 
 the pursuit of similar commercial enterprises, accompanied by natural rivalries and 
 jealousies, that at first sight it would almost seem that the two Governments must 
 be enemies or at best, cold and calculating friends. So devoted are the two nations 
 throughout all their domain, and even in their most remote territorial and colonial 
 possessions, to the principles of civil rights and constitutional liberty, that, on the 
 other hand, the superficial observer might erroneously count upon a continued con- 
 cert of action and sympathy, amounting to an alliance between them. Each is 
 charged with the development of the progress and liberty of a considerable portion 
 of the human race. Each, in its sphere, is subject to difficulties and trials, not par- 
 ticipated in by the other. The interest of civilization and of humanity require that 
 the two should be friends. I have always known and accepted it as a fact, honor- 
 able to both countries, that the Queen of England is a sincere and honest well- 
 wisher to the United States. I have been equally frank and explicit in the opinion 
 that the friendship of the United States toward Great Britain is enjoined by all 
 the considerations of interest and of sentiment affecting the character of both. 
 You will therefore be accepted as a minister friendly and well-disposed to the main- 
 tenance of peace and the honor of both countries. You will find myself and all my 
 associates acting in accordance with the same enlightened policy and consistent senti- 
 ments; and so I am sure that it will not occur in your case that either yourself or 
 this Government will ever have cause to regret that such an important relationship 
 existed at such a crisis.' 
 
 "A few hours after writing this brief speech, Abraham Lincoln received the 
 bullet of his assassin, and never spoke again. His last act was an endeavor to 
 soothe the resentment of his countrymen against a nation whose governing classes 
 had seized a time of sore trial to treat this country with arrogant contempt, and to 
 impress upon that nation the necessity of mutual respect and mutual forbearance if 
 
 [57] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 they desired the continuation of friendly relations between the two countries. The 
 reader of the foregoing pages will already have thought that such was a fitting 
 close of Mr. Lincoln's career." 
 
 Now who was this writer who "spoke as one having authority," and who 
 contemporaneously made a set of definite statements to the effect that the speech 
 to Sir Frederick Bruce supposedly composed by President Johnson, was in reality the 
 product of Abraham Lincoln's brain? 
 
 From a reference to many of the authentic biographical dictionaries and ency- 
 clopedias it would certainly seem that Dr. Lieber, who was a personage of high 
 intelligence and integrity, should have been in a position to know whereof he spoke. 
 
 Dr. Lieber was born in Berlin in 1800 and at the age of fifteen served in the 
 army of Marshal Blucher, taking part in the battle of Waterloo. Pursuing his 
 studies in Germany, on account of his liberal political views he was exiled before 
 attaining his majority, and after participating in the Greek War for independence 
 settled for a time in Rome. Returning to Berlin in 1823 he was seized by the 
 Prussian authorities and thrown into prison. Released through high political in- 
 fluence he again left Germany, this time to return no more. After spending a year 
 in London he came to America in 1827 and at the first opportunity took out his 
 naturalization papers. 
 
 Here he found his congenial habitat. From this time on until his death in 
 1872 he gave the best of his undoubted great talents to his adopted country. 
 
 Settling in Boston, for five years he busied himself in the preparation of a 
 thirteen volume Encyclopedia Americana, intended as a supplement to the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica. In 1832 he took up his residence in New York, but a year later 
 removed to Philadelphia in order to prepare a plan of education for the newly 
 founded Girard College. 
 
 From 1835 t0 1856 Dr. Lieber served as Professor of History and Political 
 Economy in South Carolina College, at Columbia, S. C. In the latter year he re- 
 signed to go to Columbia College, New York City, to fill a similar chair there, 
 and in addition also held down the Department of Political Science in the Law 
 School connected with the same institution. These posittons he held up to the time 
 of his death which occurred in October 1872. 
 
 Lieber was, as the Britannica has well said, "a distinguished publicist and 
 writer on political science." He wielded a facile pen, and the versality of his 
 attainments is shown by a reference to the many works and pamphlets which ema- 
 
 [58] 
 
Lincoln and The New British Minister 
 
 nated from his brain. The writer in the Britannica chronicling his career says with 
 reference to his writings, that "they are all written with as much ease and purity 
 of idiom as if English had been his native tongue, a fact not more remarkable 
 than that he, a German, should have become the great American teacher of the 
 philosophy of Anglican political science." 
 
 The same reference work says that "during the great war for the preservation 
 of the Union from 1861 to 1865, Lieber rendered services of great value to the 
 government of his adopted country, and was frequently consulted by the Secretary 
 of War. He was one of the first to point out by his pen the madness of secession, 
 and was ever active in supporting the government and upholding the Union. He 
 prepared, upon the requisition of the President, the Code of War for the Govern- 
 ment of the Armies of the United States in the Field, which was adopted and pro- 
 mulgated by the government in General Orders No. 100 of the War Department. 
 This code has been characterized by many European publicists as a masterpiece." 
 
 Jameson's Dictionary of United States History says of Lieber that "he 
 ardently upheld the Union during the Civil War, and was often consulted by the 
 executive." The National Cyclopedia of American Biography says that Lieber 
 was frequently called to Washington for consultation with the Secretary of War, 
 and that the Code above referred to was specially ordered by President Lincoln for 
 circulation in the general orders of the War Department. 
 
 During the war Lieber was President of the Loyal Publication Society, New 
 York, and wrote several of the best pamphlets published upholding the Union 
 cause. 
 
 And Allibone's Dictionary of Authors well says that "America indeed owes 
 a large debt of gratitude to Lieber; for we speak advisedly when we say that 
 few men, living or dead, have directly and instrumentally — orally and through the 
 press — instructed so many of our countrymen in the laws of science, the principles 
 of philosophy, the canons of ethics, and the institutions of politics and political 
 economy." 
 
 Surely here is an individual whose assertions, ordinarily, should be accepted 
 without question. But in this instance, in view of several facts at hand, a further 
 investigation is necessary. 
 
 Frank B. Carpenter, who has written so interestingly of Lincoln, has related 
 an amusing anecdote in connection with his statement that "it is not generally 
 known that the speech always made by the President, upon the presentation of a 
 foreign minister, is carefully written for him by the Secretary of State. 
 
 [59] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "A clerk in the department, ignorant of this custom," said Carpenter, "was 
 one day sent to the White House by Mr. Seward, with the speech to be delivered 
 upon such an occasion. Mr. Lincoln was writing at his desk, as the clerk entered — 
 a half dozen Senators and Representatives occupying the sofas and chairs. Unable 
 to disguise a feeling of delicacy, in the discharge of such an errand, the young man 
 approached, and in a low voice said to the President: 'The Secretary has sent the 
 speech you are to make today to the Swiss Minister.' Mr. Lincoln laid down his 
 pen, and, taking the manuscript, said in a loud tone: 'Oh, this is a speech Mr. 
 Seward has written for me, is it? I guess I will try it before these gentlemen, and 
 see how it goes.' Thereupon he proceeded to read it, in a waggish manner, re- 
 marking as he concluded, with sly humor: 'There, I like that. It has the merit 
 of originality.' " 
 
 Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of State, as previously stated has 
 left on record his recollections of the last Cabinet meeting. 
 
 In his Seward at Washington 1861-18J2, and Reminiscences of a War-Time 
 Statesman and Diplomat, as well as the article entitled Lincoln's Last Hours ap- 
 pearing in the Lincoln Centennial issue of Leslie's Weekly, he has detailed the con- 
 versation which took place between President Lincoln and himself at the close of 
 the meeting, and the accounts are substantially the same. I append the one given in 
 the volume of Reminiscences as being the more detailed: 
 
 "I said, 'Mr. President, we have a new British Minister, Sir Frederick Bruce. 
 He has arrived in Washington, and is awaiting presentation. At what time will 
 it be convenient for you to receive him?' 
 
 "He paused a moment in thought, and replied: 
 
 " 'Tomorrow at two o'clock.' 
 
 " 'In the Blue Room, I suppose?' 
 
 " 'Yes, in the Blue Room,' and then added with a smile: 
 
 " 'Don't forget to send up the speeches beforehand. I would like to look 
 them over.' 
 
 "l promised to do so, and then took my leave. — I never saw him afterwards." 
 
 This conversation would bear out the statement of Carpenter — the italics are 
 mine. Lincoln specifically asked to have the speeches sent up beforehand, indi- 
 cating that he wanted to familiarize himself with both what the new Minister had 
 to say as well as the speech to be made in reply, and not composed by himself. 
 
 The next query which arises, is naturally, who did prepare the speech which 
 Lincoln was to read? 
 
 [60] 
 
Lincoln and The New British Minister 
 
 Was it the Premier himself? No, he was incapacitated and then hovering 
 between life and death. His son has recorded that April 14th "was the ninth day 
 since the carriage accident; and Seward still lay helpless and suffering, his symp- 
 toms alternately inspiring hopes of recovery, or grave apprehensions that he could 
 not survive, * * * but every day, although unable to talk, he would intimate his 
 desire to be informed of current events." 
 
 Was it then his son, the Acting Secretary? Read what the Department of 
 State at Washington has given the writer with reference to the subject: 
 
 "No records have been found in the Department indicating the authorship of 
 the President's speech. In a case of this sort the usual procedure would be for 
 Sir Frederick Bruce, as a new Minister from Great Britain, to be presented first 
 at the Department of State when he would hand to the Secretary of State a copy of 
 the speech which he was to make when he presented his credentials to the President. 
 A date would be set for an audience with the President, and the Secretary of State 
 would usually prepare, or have prepared, the reply which the President would 
 make when the new Minister presented his credentials. Regardless of the author- 
 ship, therefore, there would be nothing unusual if President Johnson found the 
 text of the speech in Lincoln's portfolio, and delivered the speech without modi- 
 fication. 
 
 "It may be added that the presumption is very strongly in favor of the hypo- 
 thesis that the speech in question was written by William Hunter, Jr., then Chief 
 Clerk of the Department. The archives of the Department appear to indicate that 
 Mr. Frederick Seward, rarely, if ever, drafted documents of this character." 
 
 The records of the Department further disclose that "Sir Frederick Bruce 
 announced his arrival on April 10, 1865, and advised that he wished to call at the 
 Department to go to the White House on April 1 8th. In answer the Department 
 advised him that the President wished to receive him on April 20th, on which day 
 his credentials were presented." There is no record in the Department of the 
 intention of President Lincoln to receive Bruce on April 15th. 
 
 During that memorable night of terror in Washington, Frederick Seward was 
 grievously assaulted by the conspirator Payne, and the next day Hunter was ap- 
 pointed Acting Secretary. I have found an article headed "The New British Minis- 
 ter" in the American Presbyterian for May 4, 1865, which tells of the presentation 
 of Bruce to President Johnson, the former being introduced by Hunter. Both of 
 the speeches are given in full, the one attributed to Johnson being the same which 
 Lieber has included in his volume. 
 
 [61] 
 
His Last Recorded Story 
 
 COL. Ward H. Lamon and Dr. Andrew S. Draper have chronicled what was 
 undoubtedly the first "story" that President Lincoln told, on the morning 
 of the last day he was to live, which dealt humorously with the predicament 
 in which he would find himself in trying to allow Jefferson Davis to go unmolested, 
 having but two days before told an Alabama planter that he was disposed to deal 
 leniently with both the civil and military leaders of the Confederacy. And indeed 
 the whole evidence of the happenings at the close of his early career shows that 
 he was more than desirous of seeking some way out of the impending situation which 
 would permit the southern leaders to escape either the country, or the results of 
 their actions otherwise. 
 
 But the last story he told will probably never be known. Carpenter, the 
 artist, Pendel, the White House doorkeeper, and others have given what purported 
 to have been his last "little story" to Marshal Lamon just before the call of Colfax 
 and Ashmun, but as I have shown in a previous volume, this was manifestly im- 
 possible, as Lamon was not in Washington at the time. 
 
 Colfax himself, in one of his published accounts of those last hours, states 
 that that evening, after Lincoln had stepped into the "parlor," which according 
 to Pendel was the Red Room, "a general conversation of nearly forty minutes 
 ensued, of which the most striking feature was a satirical and severe commentary 
 on 'the tribe of claim agents,' which Mr. Lincoln illustrated with a story." 
 
 Nowhere else do I find any reference to the story, either in his eulogy or 
 lecture on Lincoln, and neither do any of his biographers make mention of it. 
 There is, or was, somewhere, a copy of the minutes which Colfax kept of his two 
 interviews, but this I have been unable to locate; and furthermore, the various 
 Historical Societies holding in custody Colfax's papers, letters and other data, are 
 unable to report any mention whatever of the interviews. Which brings us to the 
 conclusion that the last recorded story of the President was told at the Cabinet 
 meeting, and was in fact the famous "unbeknowst" anecdote. 
 
 This story seems to have been a general favorite of President Lincoln those 
 latter days, usually told in connection with his general idea to allow the southern 
 leaders to go unpunished. 
 
 [62] 
 
His Last Recorded Story 
 
 General Grant, in his memoirs published in 1886, gives it in connection with 
 the request of Governor Smith of Virginia to be allowed with a few others to 
 "leave the country and go abroad without interference." According to Grant he 
 showed the dispatch to Lincoln who was visiting him, but I am inclined to think 
 his memory was in error here. The Official Rebellion Records contain the dispatch 
 of Governor William Smith, dated Danville, Va., April nth 1865, but as the 
 President returned to Washington the evening of the 9th, he could not have been 
 shown the message. And the records further disclose that under the date of April 
 14th, General Grant sent from his Headquarters through General Meade a reply 
 to the effect that "at present I have no reply to make to the question propounded by 
 Mr. Smith. Should I have hereafter they will be forwarded by special messenger." 
 
 General Horace Porter, on Grant's staff in an article in the Century Maga- 
 zine for October 1885, says that the story was told in connection with a gentleman 
 "who had got a permit at Washington to visit the armies and had abused his privi- 
 leges by going around using seditious language and trying to stir up trouble among 
 the loyal Virginians in that section of the country." This I believe was the incident 
 to which Grant referred. 
 
 Unquestionably this anecdote was told Sherman. A. H. Stephens in his 
 War Between the States, quotes a newspaper account of a speech made by 
 General Sherman in Ohio shortly after the war, in which the story was given as 
 illustrating, with simple finesse, Lincoln's inclination to allow Jefferson Davis to 
 escape, although he dared not say so openly; and in his Memoirs published in 1875 
 Sherman corroborates the incident, placing it on March 29th at the famous confer- 
 ence aboard the River Queen, at which General Grant also was present. Chauncey 
 M. Depew, in the Lincoln Centennial issue of Leslie's Weekly, told the story as he 
 recalled hearing it from Sherman, but the ravages of time were in evidence here: 
 many of the details were at variance with the generally accepted anecdote. 
 
 Col. A. K. McClure, bearing testimony to Sherman's idea that Lincoln desired 
 that "Davis should escape 'unbeknown to him,' " testifies in Lincoln and Men of 
 War Times that the same subject came up when Governor Curtin, Colonel For- 
 ney, several others and himself were present. At this time, says McClure, Lincoln 
 "told the same story to illustrate the same point, obviously intending to convey 
 very clearly his wish that the southern leaders should escape from the land and 
 save him the grave complications which must follow their arrest." McClure pub- 
 lished this volume in 1892; fourteen years later in an article in World's Events 
 magazine, he stated that the incident occurred several months before the surrender 
 of Lee, but when it was also well understood that it was only a question of a short 
 
 [63] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 time when the Confederacy would be vanquished. It seems that Colonel Forney 
 and General Butler, who also was present, were both vehemently urging the execu- 
 tion of the southern leaders. 
 
 Carpenter in 1865 gave, the incident in connection with a query from a Cabinet 
 member as to whether Jacob Thompson, Confederate Governor of Mississippi 
 from 1862 to 1864, and sent to Canada as Confederate Commissioner in 1864, 
 should be allowed to slip through Maine in disguise, and embark from Portland. 
 And while all the evidence, including the story told by Dana, Assistant Secretary 
 of War, of the interview he had with President Lincoln the afternoon of the 14th, 
 tends to show that Lincoln in this case wished to "let the elephant run away" — the 
 elephant being Thompson — yet it is a strange fact that no mention can be found 
 in the Rebellion Records of any messages received from, or sent to, Portland in 
 connection with the incident. 
 
 Charles G. Leland's biography of Lincoln, which first saw the light in 1879, 
 states that Lincoln's "last story was a kindly excuse for letting one of the rebels 
 escape," the "rebel" in this case being Thompson. Leland narrates the incident as 
 occurring during an argument with Lincoln's "secretary," but as to which one he 
 referred, the reader is left in doubt. Surely not one of his private secretaries; I 
 gather it to have been Stanton. 
 
 Secretary Usher, of the Interior Department, in Rice's book of reminiscences 
 published in 1885, gives the incident as he recalled hearing it from Lincoln himself, 
 as he gave Usher an account of Grant having asked whether he "should try to 
 capture Jeff Davis, or let him escape the country if he would." Thus here we 
 have a third story of the setting which furnished Lincoln an excuse for telling the 
 anecdote to Grant. 
 
 Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury, gives a specific account of an 
 occasion upon which Lincoln told the "unbeknown" or "unbeknownst" incident, 
 which is my reason for its inclusion in this study. 
 
 "The question 'What shall be done to the Confederate leaders?' " he said 
 in his volume of recollections, "was referred to, but not discussed at Mr. Lincoln's 
 last meeting with his Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln merely remarked in his humorous man- 
 ner, 'I am a good deal like the Irishman who had joined a temperance society, but 
 thought that he might take a drink now and then if he drank unbeknown to himself. 
 A good many people think that all the big Confederates ought to be arrested and 
 tried as traitors. Perhaps they ought to be; but I should be right glad if they 
 would get out of the country unbeknown to me.' " 
 
 [64] 
 
His Last Recorded Story 
 
 This has the ring of truth, although others have narrated the Lincoln story 
 better. The question as to what should be done with the leaders of the fallen Con- 
 federacy was discussed at this meeting. Both Welles and Seward refer to the 
 question and Lincoln's willingness to "open the gates and let down the bars," and 
 what more natural than that their jocular Chief, in the best of spirits, should give 
 his official family the familiar story of the pledge-signing Irishman who liked to 
 take his "drop" "unbeknowst" to himself. 
 
 [65] 
 
Lincoln^ Last Acts of Clemency 
 
 ALTHOUGH the collapse of the Confederacy was a foregone conclusion on 
 that Good Friday of '65, and the Head of the administration was looking 
 forward to a readjustment and reconstruction in matters pertaining to the 
 southern states which had tried to leave the National fold, yet the harassed and 
 great-hearted President still had to give ear to appeals for mercy. His last day 
 on earth was no exception to the general rule. 
 
 Francis Fisher Browne, in the first edition of his biography published in 1886, 
 made these statements, which have been copied by later writers: 
 
 "During the afternoon the President signed a pardon for a soldier sentenced 
 to be shot for desertion; remarking as he did so, 'Well, I think the boy can do us 
 more good above ground than under ground.' He also approved an application 
 for the discharge, on taking the oath of allegiance, of a rebel prisoner, on whose 
 petition he wrote, 'Let it be done.' This act of mercy was his last official order." 
 
 I have never seen any evidence verifying the first statement, but it sounds 
 Lincolnesque enough to be true; the latter anecdote evidently refers to the petition 
 presented by Creswell, even though it may not have been his "last official order." 
 It should be noted, however, that the time of day does not dovetail with that given 
 by Creswell himself. 
 
 In other chapters I have discussed various pleas for clemency addressed to the 
 Chief Executive on "the happiest day of his life," as Mrs. Lincoln afterward said. 
 And undoubtedly there were others. 
 
 Just last February Mr. Emanuel Hertz announced that he had in his posses- 
 sion what he believed to be the last paper signed by Abraham Lincoln before 
 his assassination. A facsimile of this appeared in the souvenir issued by the 
 National Republican Club at the Annual Lincoln Dinner on February 12th and 
 also in one of Mr. Hertz's recent publications. Through his courtesy it is repro- 
 duced here. 
 
 In his statement for the Associated Press Mr. Hertz stated that the slip of 
 paper had but recently come into his possession, and according to the press report, 
 based the reason for his belief on the declaration "that Lincoln wrote his! other 
 pardons in entirety, but this apparently had been prepared by some one else and 
 
 [66] 
 
Last Acts of Clemency 
 
 signed in haste just as Lincoln was leaving for Ford's theatre, where he was 
 shot by John Wilkes Booth." Neither Mr. Hertz, nor Gabriel Wells, the New 
 York dealer from whom he purchased the item, was able to add any additional 
 information. I wish that the name of the prisoner, for whom the 1 endorsement 
 was written, could have been secured for further investigation. 
 
 Endorsement on unknown petition, dated 
 April 14, 1865, palpably written in haste, 
 and thereby furnishing grounds for state- 
 ment that it was probably last writing of 
 President Lincoln before leaving for theatre. 
 — Courtesy of Emanuel Hertz, Esq., owner 
 of document. 
 
 Dr. Barton in his Great Good Man, the biography for young people, 
 sheds considerable light upon the workings of the Amnesty Proclamation of 
 December 8, 1863, and President Lincoln's actions in connection therewith. 
 
 In the proclamation the President granted a full pardon "to all persons who 
 have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as here- 
 inafter excepted," upon taking an oath of allegiance to the United States govern- 
 ment. 
 
 According to Dr. Barton many thousand Confederate soldiers were released 
 upon taking the oath, but several hundred who applied for the amnesty, for reasons 
 best known to the Federal officers, were denied their freedom. 
 
 The conscientious Lincoln, with his love for justice, requested the papers in 
 the various cases and "painstakingly went over them, one by one, and in very 
 many cases that had been refused, he wrote with his own hand an endorsement * * * 
 'Let this man take the oath of December 8, 1863, and be discharged.' " 
 
 [67] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "Hard as President Lincoln had been working on these 'amnesty cases' 
 before the surrender of Lee," continues Dr. Barton, "he worked harder afterward. 
 Having some reason to fear that men who were in jail for disloyalty might, if 
 they remained there, come up before military courts that would not be so sympath- 
 etic as he, the President worked diligently to clear up the docket that remained., 
 The days immediately following the surrender were extremely busy days, made 
 more so by the business that accumulated while he was absent in Richmond. But he 
 found time as late as the twelfth to examine personally some of these cases and to 
 order a pardon wherever any reputable person recommended it. * * * Up to the 
 twelfth of April he wrote the endorsement in his own hand; but on the thirteenth he 
 found time to go hastily through a few more applications, and, in order that he 
 might work faster, he had John Hay write some slips, 'let this man take the oath 
 of December 8, 1863, and be discharged.' These the President signed and 
 attached them to as many applications as he had time to approve on the busy 
 thirteenth of April, the day before he was shot." In connection with this, Dr. 
 Barton informs me that at the present time he is delving deeply into the amnesty 
 subject and finding some interesting data, which he intends to publish. 
 
 Mrs. Wadsworth, the daughter of Secretary Hay, at my request has examined 
 the facsimiles of the endorsements in the cases of both Herron and the unnamed 
 individual whose indorsement is now owned by Mr. Hertz, and she bears out the 
 opinion of the present writer, that they were both written by her father; in the 
 former instance the endorsement was placed directly on the petition for release, 
 while in the latter undoubtedly one of the slips referred to by Dr. Barton was 
 used. 
 
 "I think there is no doubt whatever," says Mrs. Wadsworth, "that my father 
 wrote the body of the executive order on the Herron letter, and that President 
 Lincoln signed it, and the '1865' looks very much like my father's. The 'April' 
 is unfamiliar, also the '14.' In the Republican Club souvenir endorsement, I am 
 equally sure the body of it, and the date, were written by my father, and if it 
 were not accusing him of forgery, I would say he had even written the President's 
 name too. The 'A' is quite different from the usual Lincoln signatures, and looks 
 to me as though the writer started to make another letter, and then changed it to 
 the 'A', and the mistake in the first line — President for Prisoner — shows that my 
 father was writing in a great rush, and could easily have made the second mistake. 
 Of course I am not any sort of an authority on handwriting, but that would be 
 my opinion, even in 'a court of law.' " 
 
 My personal judgment would be that the Hertz document was written during 
 
 [68] 
 
Last Acts of Clemency 
 
 that crowded hour in the Executive offices, from 2 to 3 P. M., preceeding the 
 drive. 
 
 NOTE : Mr. Madigan's catalogue, referred to in the note to Chapter VI, 
 lists another example of executive clemency. Item number 72 covers Lincoln's 
 "authorization for the discharge of a seventeen-year-old youth from the army in 
 response to the appeal of the boy's mother, a widow of Richmond, Maine, 
 SIGNED BY THE GREAT PRESIDENT ON THE LAST TRAGIC DAY 
 OF HIS LIFE." It reads as follows : 
 
 "Let Thomas Geary be discharged from the service on refunding any bounty 
 received. 
 
 April 14, 1865. A. LINCOLN." 
 
 It is stated that "the four lines of the endorsement are in the handwriting 
 of Lincoln's private secretary, John Hay, * * * and is SIGNED BY 
 LINCOLN." 
 
 In the essay on Lincoln Autographs by Dr. Barton which serves as a 
 preface to the catalogue proper, Dr. Barton again refers to President Lincoln 
 "speeding up" the Amnesty cases the last few days of his life. 
 
 Herewith follows a report from the Adjutant General's Office in the War 
 Department relative to the Geary case : 
 
 "The records show that one Thomas Geary was enrolled and mustered into 
 service September 1, 1864, at Augusta, as a private of Company D, 31st Maine 
 Infantry, to serve for one year, and that he was mustered out with the company 
 and honorably discharged from the service as a private July 15, 1865, near 
 Alexandria, Virginia. His age is given as 18 years. 
 
 "Nothing has been found of record to indicate that the above named soldier 
 was discharged by President Lincoln's order. Special Orders No. 181, War 
 Department, A. G. O., dated April 22, 1865, issued by order of the President, con- 
 tains a paragraph for the boy's discharge provided he refunded all bounties which 
 he may have received, but nothing has been found to show that he was discharged 
 according to that order. As above stated, he is shown to have been mustered out 
 with his company on July 15, 1865." 
 
 [69] 
 
The Slave Dealers Pardon 
 
 THE January 1928 issue of the Illinois State Historical Society Journal, con- 
 tained an interesting article by Mr. J. T. Dorris, of the Eastern Kentucky 
 State Normal School and Teachers' College, on President Lincoln's Clemency. 
 Mr. Dorris has done some valuable historical research along the line of executive 
 clemency during the Lincoln and Johnson administrations, and is now engaged on 
 a larger work dealing with the same subject. 
 
 In his article referred to appears the statement that "on the last day of his 
 
 (Lincoln's) life he signed a pardon warrant for a man convicted of dealing in 
 
 slaves and sent it to the attorney general's office to be attested and executed." At 
 
 my request he gave his authority for the statement, which originally appeared 
 
 in the New York Herald for June 2, 1865. 
 
 According to the account, President Johnson had been given a pardon warrant 
 which Lincoln had "placed his signature * * * on the day on which he was 
 assassinated, and sent it to the attorney general's office to be attested and executed. 
 It arrived there too late to be attended to on that day. * * * This pardon signed 
 but not executed," was presented to President Johnson for his consideration, 
 as unfinished business. Upon examining the pardon and making inquiries, "he 
 had it cancelled, saying that no person ever engaged in that business would ever 
 get a pardon from him." 
 
 After commenting on the "conclusive evidence" that there would be some 
 difference in the use of the pardoning power between the two Presidents, the 
 paper went on to state that the prisoner had been convicted of slavedealing seven 
 or eight years earlier, and given a sentence of twenty years; and that certain 
 Boston politicians had been instrumental in securing the pardon from President 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Mr. Dorris informed me that the papers in the case should be on file in either 
 the Department of State or of Justice, and that in the former are complete records 
 of all the Presidents' pardons from Washington down to the present time. How- 
 ever, the Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice advised that the record 
 would probably be found in the State Department, which has the records of the 
 pardons granted during the year stated; yet there was no pardon granted in this 
 case, according to the newspaper report. 
 
 [70] 
 
The Slave Dealer's Pardon 
 
 The Chief Clerk of the State Department reported that in order to furnish 
 the information desired, it would be necessary to have the name of the prisoner 
 in whose behalf the pardon was recommended, and this of course is impossible 
 as no name was mentioned in the newspaper account. 
 
 Further in pursuance of the quest, my friend Dr. Carman, of Washington, 
 called at the Department of Justice and made an examination of the dockets 
 covering the period in question. He reported finding nothing in "Book B," but 
 located the following which he submitted as relevant testimony: 
 
 Book A. Page 562, No. 431. 
 
 Zeno Kelley. Fitting out a slaver. Mass. (Massachusetts). 
 
 Oct. 1863. 4 years. Sentence and date not given. 
 
 Filed Oct. 24, 1864. New papers filed March 3, 1865. Pardon same day. 
 
 Pardon suspended. Pardon finally on rec. Atty. Gen. Nov. 10, 1866. 
 
 "The charge, the locality, the suspended pardon," says Dr. Carman, "make 
 me think this is the case referred to in the Herald, and newspaper accounts 
 are generally not accurate. 
 
 "Pardons at this date, at least the warrants, were signed by the Secretary 
 of State, but nothing could be found there without the name." 
 
 Mr. Dorris, whose interest has been aroused, proposes when he has oppor- 
 tunity to fully investigate the records in both the Departments and to advise me 
 of the results. His ultimate conclusion will be awaited with interest. 
 
 [71 ] 
 
Lincoln and the Mystifying Figure of 
 James W. Singleton 
 
 DESPITE the tons of printed matter — the formidable array of authentic, so 
 considered, and the greater volume of doubtful or spurious data — the deeper 
 I delve into Lincoln lore the more firmly convinced am I that we have, in 
 some respects at least, but skimmed the surface of the Lincoln theme. In recent 
 years Dr. Barton, Miss Tarbell and other students have performed herculean 
 tasks; Mr. Hertz has been insistently, and rightly so, dinning into our ears the 
 obvious fact that certain channels which have been neglected should be explored; 
 some of the State historical societies have been ably assisting; and the Lincoln 
 National Life Insurance Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has established a 
 Research Foundation, with Dr. Warren in charge, and all of these agencies are 
 materially helping us to a better knowledge and more complete understanding of 
 Abraham Lincoln. Yet as I have conned a goodly percentage of these publications, 
 and have conversed of things Lincolnian with kindred spirits, I am appalled at 
 the illimitable and inexhaustible fountain that still remains practically untouched. 
 It has been my experience, time and again, while investigating a certain phase of 
 the many-faceted Lincoln, to discover other lines of thought in unexpected and 
 unsuspected places. 
 
 For instance, consider the matter of Lincoln's relations with certain more 
 or less hitherto neglected individuals. 
 
 I have in mind particularly Robert Dale Owen, writer, diplomat and spirit- 
 ualist, a son of the founder of the communist colony at New Harmony, Ind. ; 
 Paschal B. Randolph, whose name I venture to say will be unknown to practically 
 all readers of this brochure, said to have been a nephew of the noted John 
 Randolph, "of Roanoke," and who dedicated his book Preadamlte Man, 
 published in 1863, so it is stated, to his "personal friend and the friend of mam 
 kind, Abraham Lincoln;" Dr. Francis Lieber, mentioned before; Archbishop John 
 Hughes, of New York and the Roman Catholic hierarchy; Charles O'Connor, 
 of the same faith, counsel for Jefferson Davis and destroyer of the Tweed ring, 
 Confederate sympathizer and yet said to have been consulted by the Lincoln 
 administration upon at least two important occasions. 
 
 [72] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 A comprehensive inquiry covering the "Emissaries," self-appointed and other- 
 wise, of President Lincoln, extending from James B. Merwin, James F. Jaquess, 
 Francis P. Blair and the individual considered in this chapter, to John Hay, Ward 
 H. Lamon, Thomas A. Scott and Archbishop Hughes, should prove to be both 
 profitable and interesting: no superficial examination — an arrival at the truth 
 one way or the other. 
 
 And now emerges from the mists of the sixties the dim and mystical figure 
 of James W. Singleton, of Lincoln's own state. And while I cannot go into the 
 matter as deeply as I should like, nor as far as such an investigation should go, yet 
 I propose here to give what data are available at the present time. 
 
 The New York Times for February 12, 1928, contained an article written 
 by Mr. Matthew Page Andrews, editor and writer, of Baltimore, headed "Single- 
 ton Emerges as Lincoln's Lost Friend." Sub-titles state that the account, based 
 on papers in possession of the Singleton family, reveals their confidential relations, 
 one of the last official acts of President Lincoln being the issuance of a pass per- 
 mitting Singleton to visit Richmond on a mission of reconciliation to the defeated 
 Confederacy. 
 
 "The last known writing of Abraham Lincoln concerning affairs of state," 
 said Mr. Andrews in his opening paragraph, "is the holograph pass issued to 
 James Washington Singleton. * * * As fate would have it, however, within 
 thirty-six hours after it had been written the Singleton mission, with all that it 
 involved, was but a scrap of paper." 
 
 On April 1 6th Singleton wrote his wife, then living in Quincy, 111., expressing 
 his deep personal sorrow for the assassination of his friend, with whom his inter- 
 course for the past six months had been "so free, frequent and confidential that I 
 was fully advised of all his plans, and thoroughly persuaded of the honesty of his 
 heart and the wisdom of his humane intentions. I was well informed of all his 
 views as to the future — they were so liberal and conservative that I was filled with 
 joy at the prospect of a united country. His loss is irreparable. There is no 
 living man to take his place who could carry the same strength of mind and good- 
 ness of heart with the administration of our national affairs." 
 
 Singleton added that he thought he would be probably one of the committee 
 to accompany the body back to Illinois; but in this he was in error. The "back- 
 stair" radical political boys held their memorable secret caucus and seized the 
 existing national situation, as our politically minded do, to get a firm grip on affairs, 
 and Singleton returned to Illinois alone. 
 
 [73] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "Who, then, it may be asked," said Andrews, "was this strangely forgotten 
 Presidential agent of reconciliation? Briefly, Singleton was neighbor, friend; at 
 times, the political associate of Lincoln; yet, now and again, openly a dissident in 
 respect to party or government policies." 
 
 Singleton was born in Virginia in 1811, and marrying a Kentucky cousin 
 of Mrs. Lincoln, emigrated to Illinois. Discarding his first profession, the practice 
 of medicine, he took up law and was soon "riding the circuit" with those attorneys 
 of early Illinois with whom students are familiar. 
 
 He became a Whig, yet as Andrew says, "agreed continuously with neither 
 the Little Giant nor the Rail Splitter." He was a man of independent action. 
 
 At the outbreak of hostilities Governor Yates offered him a Brigadier-General- 
 ship of Volunteers but this was declined on the ground that conflict would have been 
 avoided but for the machinations of political "war hawks." 
 
 During the war Singleton was found continuously harassing the administration, 
 Lincoln telling him at one time that "they are appealing to me on all hands to 
 have you arrested, but while I regret your belief and your speeches, I think you 
 have the right to make them, and I have said to outsiders that if I could stand 
 it, they could." Yet Singleton refused to follow McClellan, the Democratic 
 standard-bearer in 1864, and was told by the President that in so doing he had done 
 more than any one else to insure his reelection. Singleton always claimed that he 
 did not oppose Lincoln personally, but his "administration" — a distinction in view 
 of the times, to my way of thinking, without an appreciable difference. 
 
 Andrews makes the statement that Singleton was chiefly responsible for the 
 Hampton Roads conference, a fact hitherto ignored, and adds that the Confederate 
 authorities had the same complete confidence in Singleton which President Lincoln 
 had, and that "in his efforts to promote peace he became the medium for informal 
 exchanges between Generals Grant and Lee." 
 
 "As the day of Lee's surrender approached," says Andrews in conclusion, 
 "Singleton was in Washington awaiting the end of the war, and preparing, under 
 Lincoln, for peace and reconstruction. Marshal Lamon had temporarily become 
 the President's personal representative in Richmond; and it now appears that 
 Lamon sent from Virginia disturbing reports that the Presidential plans were 
 being hampered. 
 
 "Thus, after the Cabinet meeting of April 14, Singleton again conferred with 
 the Executive in Lincoln's final interview on affairs of public importance. In 
 
 [74] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 discussing the news from Richmond the President asserted he could not do every- 
 thing at once, as martial law was still in force. At the same time he authorized 
 General Singleton quietly to inform the Southerners that the assurances of Execu- 
 tive protection for the reassembling of the Legislature and the consequent restor- 
 ation of Virginia would be redeemed. Since it happened that J. P. Usher was 
 present, the latter agreed to accompany Singleton on his mission. As Secretary of 
 the Interior, Usher's presence would give to the proceedings an atmosphere of 
 official sanction. 
 
 "Apparently, this discussion caused Lincoln to be unusually late in arriving 
 at the theatre; which suggests the thought that had General Singleton detained 
 the President still further the latter must have missed his rendezvous with death." 
 
 The pass, mention of which was made in a former monograph, reads as 
 follows : 
 
 "Allow Gen. Singleton to pass to Richmond & return. 
 
 April 13, 1865. A. LINCOLN." 
 
 This pass is now located in the collection of a Philadelphia collector, to 
 whose courtesy I am indebted for the reproduction appearing in this volume, as 
 well as the loan of the newspaper clippings which accompanied it at the sale at 
 which it was purchased. 
 
 '1, /n>& 
 
 Mvu 
 
 The famous "Singleton" pass, dated April 13, 
 1865, and probably the last pass of this nature 
 signed by President Lincoln. — Courtesy of Mr. 
 John Gribbel, present owner of pass. 
 
 Referring to the clippings, the first exhibit is obviously taken from an old 
 newspaper, as shown by the style of type: I would say about thirty or thirty-five 
 years ago. 
 
 At that time the pass was in the possession of a daughter. The article 
 
 [75] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 mentions several facts given more fully by Andrews, and then goes on to say that 
 in addition to the pass, President Lincoln had handed Singleton a letter stating 
 that if Virginia or any of the other southern states would recognize the authority 
 of the United States and elect Senators and Representatives, such members would be 
 entitled to take their seats. 
 
 Singleton asked what reply he should make if he were asked how his promise 
 could consistently stand alongside of the Emancipation Proclamation. 
 
 "Singleton," said Lincoln, "I have explained, and will now say again, that I 
 have issued that proclamation, and if it have any legal effect I have no power to 
 recall it. If it have not any legal effect, it is of no consequence. I would not take 
 it back if I could and I could not if I would. 
 
 "My duty is simply to enforce the laws. I want to see these states and all 
 these people come back and submit to the Constitution, and then my duty is done. 
 I am the executive part of the government; and when I have enforced the laws 
 the other Departments will relieve me of all responsibility." 
 
 In his interview the following day he restated his position, that he "would 
 favor the return of Virginia into the Union with her government intact, and the 
 same applied for the rest of the seceded states!" 
 
 "Mr. Usher, Secretary of the Interior," concludes the article, "was present 
 at this interview, and was to accompany General Singleton to Richmond. They 
 took leave of the President and went out together. 
 
 "Later in the evening, going to join Governor Yates of Illinois and other 
 friends, with whom they were to make a party for supper, they were met on the 
 threshold with flying rumors of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln at Ford's Theatre." 
 
 The second clipping, evidently of later issue, is briefer, and mentions the fact 
 that at that time the pass was in the possession of Capt. J. E. Barr, "noted anti- 
 quary and collector of Lancaster and Philadelphia," and was being held by his 
 brother, C. H. Barr, bookseller, pending negotiations for its sale. 
 
 At the present time the pass still reposes in the gold case made for it by 
 Singleton, and it is claimed that the gold entering into its construction cost $125. 
 
 I have had an interesting correspondence with Mr. Andrews concerning James 
 W. Singleton and his mission. Many controversial points have been discussed in 
 a friendly manner. I have also corresponded with Prof. Pease, one of the editors 
 of the Browning diary, with the view to obtaining his reactions to the Browning 
 entries pertaining to Singleton. 
 
 [76] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 In a footnote to the published portions of the diary, the editors give this 
 resume of Singleton in connection with an entry under date of August 12, 1850: 
 "Sent Pinkham's boy back with the buggy & came on to Rushville with Col. Single- 
 ton in his carriage :" 
 
 "James W. Singleton, 1811-1892. Practiced law, medicine, railroad promo- 
 tion, and politics; 1844, brigadier-general of Illinois militia; took a prominent 
 part in the Mormon War; said to have arrested Brigham Young and kept him saw- 
 ing wood all night. A Whig who turned Democrat on the Nebraska issue, and was 
 notoriously engaged during the Civil War on various peace overtures to the Confed- 
 eracy. He was associated with Browning in 1 864-1 865 in a speculative attempt 
 to run southern produce out of the Confederacy through Grant's lines. Resided 
 1833 to 1852 at Mt. Sterling, Illinois; afterwards at Quincy. Quincy Whig, Feb- 
 ruary 4, 1 86 1, varies from some of above dates." 
 
 Another footnote, later on, states that Singleton, "being associated with the 
 anti-war Democrats, was denounced as a 'copperhead.' His brother, O. R. 
 Singleton, was a member of the Confederate Congress." 
 
 Prof. Pease, in his introduction, commenting on the "lame-duck" lobbying 
 done by Browning and his associates after his term of Senator had expired in 1863, 
 says that "Browning's perceptions were soon blunted enough to seek to make a 
 profit out of the blood of the men who were fighting for the Union. James W. 
 Singleton was an old Whig party associate of Lincoln and Browning who had 
 parted from them in 1854, going ultimately to the Democrats. He had been active 
 for some time as a self-constituted negotiator with the Confederacy. About the 
 beginning of 1865 he proposed to Browning to secure permission from the Presi- 
 dent for buying southern produce with greenbacks, passing it through the Union 
 lines and selling it in the North at a hugh profit. * * * He salved his conscience with 
 the fact that Lincoln believed that sending greenbacks into the Confederacy would 
 tend to bring the rebel states back into the Union. He failed to see that to do 
 so was to allow the Confederates to get their bulky raw materials out in exchange 
 for credits which would enable them to purchase the valuable drugs, supplies, etc., 
 of so little bulk that smuggling them in was a slight affair." 
 
 Turning to the diary itself, we find that in December 1863 Browning notes that 
 he and Singleton were enroute from Quincy to Washington, purpose not stated. 
 
 Under date of November 24, 1864, occurrs the first entry in which we are 
 interested : 
 
 "Thanksgiving day — Gen'l Singleton called this morning. Told me he had 
 
 [77] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 just come from Canada where he had an interview with Clay & Tucker, the Rebel 
 Commissioners, and was here to see the President in regard to negotiations for peace 
 upon the basis of the Union, and thought the people of the seceded states would 
 return if an amnesty was offered, and slavery let alone," Singleton stated that he had 
 a long interview with Lincoln before the election and had been assured that after 
 the election was over he "would be willing to grant peace with an amnesty, and re- 
 storation of the Union, leaving slavery to abide the decisions of judicial tribunals," 
 and Singleton added that now he was going to see Lincoln again upon the subject, 
 showing Browning a letter from Judge Peck acting as "go between" for Singleton 
 in which Peck recounted his conversation with the President. 
 
 Two days later Browning notes that he had again seen Singleton, who stated 
 that he had not as yet seen Lincoln, but had received a message from him saying 
 "that slavery should not stand in the way of an adjustment, and that he intended 
 to say so in his message — that he would determine after the meeting of Congress 
 whether he would send commissioners to Richmond, and that if he concluded to 
 do so he would send him, Singleton." 
 
 Browning has no further reference to Singleton and his "peace" scheme until 
 a month later, when the ebullient altruism of the twain had changed apparently to 
 a sordid mercenariness; and steps were taken on Christmas eve to set the proper 
 forces in motion. 
 
 "In the evening," says Browning, on December 24th, "went to the President 
 and had an interview with him about letting General Singleton go to Richmond for 
 the purpose of purchasing Cotton &c. Submitted to him for consideration a written 
 proposition. If it succeeds quite a number of gentlemen, including Senator Morgan 
 of N. Y. — Mr. Coxe now of Canada, Judge Hughes of the court of claims, and 
 myself." The anticipated result is left to the imagination of posterity. 
 
 "During the evening," continues Browning, substantiating the claim of Single- 
 ton as given in Andrews' account, "the President showed me all the correspondence 
 between him and Greely in regard to the negotiations in July last with Clay and 
 Tucker, and assured me that he had been misrepresented, and misunderstood and 
 that he had never entertained the purpose of making the abolition of slavery a 
 condition precedent to the termination of the war, and the restoration of the Union." 
 
 Three days later Browning notes that the "President sent for me and I went 
 there. He wished to talk to me about Singleton going through the lines to buy 
 cotton &c." 
 
 The published portion of the diary ends with the close of 1864, but Prof. 
 
 [78] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 Pease informs me that "the diary from January to April, 1865, contains repeated 
 references to Singleton and his scheme of communication with the Confederates." 
 The relevant passages from the entries for the last three days of Lincoln's life are 
 as follows: 
 
 "Wednesday April 12, 1865 * * * also got his (Lincoln's) promise before 
 leaving that he would see Singleton, and give him a pass to go to General Grant. 
 This is perhaps the best that could be done * * * 
 
 "Thursday, April 13, 1865 * * * at Treasury Department this morning about 
 Singleton's business * * * 
 
 "Friday, April 14 * * * At Treasury Department about Singleton's business. 
 
 Apparently this "business" of Singleton was uppermost in Browning's mind. 
 
 In view of the fact that the claim had been made that Singleton's motive in 
 acting as a pacific emissary to the Confederates had been the object of his mission, 
 I propounded a series of queries to Prof. Pease, asking whether, by virtue of his 
 study of the diary, it was his opinion that Singleton may have been actuated large- 
 ly by his desire for a peaceful solution to the reconstruction problem. 
 
 "I certainly think," said Prof. Pease in his reply, "the most important motive 
 in the mind of Browning as Singleton's associate was to make money for himself; 
 but I don't know of any evidence on the basis of which one could expressly deny 
 to either Browning or Singleton, as a secondary motive, the desire of being of some 
 public service. I think, however, it would not be unfair to say in the case of both 
 men, the motive was probably quite secondary." 
 
 The published Official Rebellion Records contain some pertinent testimony 
 on the subject, obviously with reference to an earlier journey of Singleton to 
 Virginia. 
 
 On the morning of March 8, 1865, General Grant from City Point addressed 
 two telegrams to Secretary Stanton, manifestly related to each other. 
 
 The one informed the Secretary that while the flow of supplies to the Con- 
 federates by way of Norfolk had been stopped, he had information to the effect 
 that "large amounts" were still going by way of the Blackwater. He believed 
 these were going on Treasury permits, but respectfully recommended "that orders 
 be sent to the Army and Navy everywhere to stop all supplies going to the interior, 
 and annulling all permits for such trade heretofore given." 
 
 [79] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 The other was more specific and to the point: 
 
 "I believe General Singleton should be ordered to return from Richmond, 
 and all permits he may have should be revoked. Our friends in Richmond, and 
 we have many of them there, send word that tobacco is being exchanged on the 
 Potomac for bacon, and they believe Singleton to be at the bottom of it. I am 
 also of the opinion that all permits issued to Judge Hughes should be cancelled. 
 I think the same of all other permits heretofore granted. But in the case of 
 Singleton and Judge Hughes, I believe there is a deep laid plan for making millions, 
 and they will sacrifice every interest of the country to succeed. I do not know 
 Hughes personally, never having seen him but once, but the conviction here ex- 
 pressed is forced upon me." 
 
 That same night Stanton replied at 9 130 P. M., and as may be imagined, said 
 that "Military necessity is paramount to every other consideration * * * and 
 * * * every one who procures a trade permit or pass to go through the line 
 * * * does it impliedly subject to your sanction," 
 
 And at 1 1 130 P. M. President Lincoln himself took the reins. 
 
 "Your two dispatches to the Secretary of War * * * have been laid before 
 me by him," said he to Grant. "As to Singleton and Hughes I think they are 
 not in Richmond by any authority, unless it be from you. I remember nothing from 
 me which could aid them in getting there except a letter to you as follows, to wit : 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, February 7, 1865. 
 Lieutenant-General Grant, 
 City Point, Va. 
 
 General Singleton, who bears you this, claims that he already has arrangements 
 made, if you consent, to bring a large amount of Southern produce through your 
 lines. For its bearing on our finances I would be glad for this to be done, if it 
 can be without injuriously disturbing your military operations or supplying the 
 enemy. I wish you to be judge and master on these points. 
 
 Please see and hear him fully, and decide whether anything, and, if any- 
 thing, what can be done in the premises. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 A. LINCOLN. 
 
 [80] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 "I believe I gave Hughes a card putting him with Singleton on the same 
 letter. However this may be, I now authorize you to get Singleton and Hughes 
 away from Richmond if you choose and can. I also authorize you by an order, or 
 in what form you choose, to suspend all operations on the Treasury trade permits 
 in all places southeastward of the Alleghenies. * * * " 
 
 The following day Grant replied to Stanton, in part as follows : 
 
 "My views about the operations of Mr. Singleton and Judge Hughes are 
 merely suspicions, based upon what is said in Richmond of the object of Singleton's 
 visit, and of the trade that is actually carried on. I recognize the importance of 
 getting out Southern products if it can be done without furnishing anything 
 that will aid in support of the rebellion. I told Mr. Singleton that if the proposi- 
 tion was made I would agree that all Southern products should be brought to 
 any of the ports held by us, the Government receiving one-third, and the balance 
 should be stored and protected for the benefit of the owner at the end of the war; 
 that under no circumstances would I approve of supplies of any kind going in 
 payment. * * * Judge Hughes * * * I do not judge * * * to be worse than 
 other men, but all who engage in trade promising such large rewards * * *work 
 themselves up to believe that the small assistance they can give to the rebellion 
 will not be felt. * * * I will also notify General Singleton that no agreement 
 made by him would be regarded as binding upon military authorities without 
 the approval of the President is obtained." 
 
 In connection with this project of Singleton, I was interested to note in a 
 recent catalogue of one of the leading New York second-hand book stores, mention 
 of a pamphlet issued in 1870 containing the brief prepared by the attorney for the 
 appellants in a case heard at the June Term of the Alabama Supreme Court. This 
 note of explanation followed: 
 
 "A cotton case involving trading between North and South during the civil 
 war. The cotton was owned in Alabama and was sold to an Agent from Illinois. 
 To pass the lines, the latter had the following note signed by Lincoln 'Allow the 
 bearer, James W. Singleton, to pass our lines with any southern products and to 
 go to any of our trading posts there to be subject to the regulations of the Treasury. 
 January 5th, 1865. ' " 
 
 Evidently Singleton, in connection with his pacific intent, also had an eye to 
 promoting his own fortunes, for here is direct evidence that previous to the con- 
 templated trip in April, he had made at least two pilgrimages to the south with the 
 idea of pecuniary gain, as evidenced by the passes secured from the President. 
 
 [81] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 This is one side of the story. In all fairness the other should also be sub- 
 mitted, and in this instance no one is in a better position to do so than Mr. Andrews 
 himself, who, although a strong partizan of Singleton, yet has had access to the 
 literary effects of the General and is also on terms of friendship with both the 
 latter's daughter and secretary, who are still living. What is appended is culled 
 from various of his letters, his statements often being the result of my calling his 
 attention to apparent discrepancies between his and other accounts. 
 
 "Frankly," said Mr. Andrews, "I am not capable of arguing, if such be 
 necessary, the matter of the time of Singleton's last interview with Lincoln. I 
 gathered these statements from General Singleton's daughter, Mrs. Osburn, and his 
 secretary who is still living. With regard to our present discussion Mrs. Osburn 
 writes that 'I could not, of course, "swear" to the fact of my father's visit to Mr. 
 Lincoln just as he was about to leave for the theatre, but I am almost ready to do 
 so. I have too often heard him tell it, and it has never been challenged by men 
 prominent in the various departments of the government. I too often was sent 
 to my mother who was "custodian" to bring the pass to be shown to "celebrities," 
 and I, just a little child not appreciating the value to future historians of the 
 story, stood and listened until the "treasure" was handed back to me to carry to 
 my mother. I especially remember the visit of General Sherman and his staff to 
 Boscabel (General Singleton's famous home at Quincy, 111.) and the interest with 
 which they listened to and accepted the belief of my father that it was the last 
 pass signed by Mr. Lincoln. * * * I don't feel this last short interview with Mr. 
 Lincoln could be called a conference — that had gone before. 
 
 " 'One more comment in regard to my father's being in company with Govern- 
 or Yates when he heard the news of the assassination. He met and had dinner 
 (or "supper" as he called it) with him after leaving the White House. "Supper" 
 would indicate more than dinner — in that day when late dinners were not so uni- 
 versal a custom — in regard to the hour of leaving the White House.' 
 
 "Secretary Usher," continued Mr. Andrews, "had promised to accompany 
 Singleton to Richmond the following day, according to the Singleton papers, but 
 this intention on the part of Usher was expressed incidently and accidently from an 
 incidental or accidental meeting; and, as I gathered it, Secretary Usher came upon 
 Lincoln and Singleton while they were conferring together. 
 
 "As I remember the Singleton papers, Singleton met Yates immediately after 
 the interview with Lincoln at the White House and went out to dinner with him; 
 or else he left the White House looking for Yates to go to the proposed dinner, 
 and while looking for him, heard the news of the assassination. I cannot recall the 
 
 [82] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 matter exactly, but this general idea may afford the evidence that would show 
 Singleton had been to the White House on the afternoon or evening. 
 
 "It must be remembered that history, as written, has thrown into obscurity 
 a great many things of value. The bitterness of the period prevented a great many 
 things from being announced which Lincoln had in view, and one of these things 
 was the extraordinary secret communications he had with Singleton. To be known 
 to be dealing with a 'rebel' sympathizer, and therefore presumably a traitor (in 
 the eyes of professional patriots in particular and fanatical partisans in general), 
 would have been disastrous to Lincoln's great purpose. 
 
 "I consider this a possibility : Lincoln was carrying out, through Singleton, 
 an especially important mission with regard to the restoration of the state of 
 Virginia into the Union according to the Presidential idea. It may be that 
 Singleton had access to the White House in unusual, if not unique fashion, for 
 the purpose of this mission. The Singleton papers show he was a marked or a 
 watched man by the Radicals. The latter regarded him as distinctly dangerous 
 to their plans for the vindictive destruction, rather than the real construction, of the 
 southern states. The story of Singleton's connection with Lincoln could well 
 produce a lost chapter in the history of the war and its immediate consequences, 
 if it would not, indeed, furnish a great deal of material for a reinterpretation of 
 Lincoln's views as to the American principle of State rights, outside, of course, 
 of the alleged right of secession or nullification. Until the story of Singleton 
 is out into the Lincoln record, the Lincoln record I think will be incomplete. So 
 I judge from the papers I have examined. 
 
 "Lincoln did not want it known, I believe, that Singleton was going to 
 Richmond, or wanted as little known as possible under the circumstances. I 
 believe his interviews with Lincoln were in the nature of a personal secret service. 
 The evidence is indubitable or incontrovertible that he played an important role 
 as the only person within reach who had the confidence of both sides in the Civil' 
 War controversy. Mrs. Osburn writes 'I remember so well the conversations 
 between my father and mother when they talked of Mr. Lincoln. It indicated 
 a closeness and familiarity with Mr. Lincoln that few men have since given 
 evidence of having enjoyed.' 
 
 "With reference to the cotton transactions, that is the one thing that I did not 
 quite understand in the Singleton story. It was the only thing that seemed to be 
 a reflection of any sort upon Singleton's single-hearted purpose to restore unity, 
 reconciliation and peace, and yet the matter was explained to me by Mrs. Osburn 
 
 [83] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 as something different from what it looks on the face of it. As I recall it, it was a 
 desire to help both sides to restore commercial relations and there was nothing 
 doubtful about the undertaking, except in so far perhaps that it conflicted with the 
 Grant-Sherman-Sheridan idea that the South should be made a desert and no 
 trade whatever or amelioration of conditions allowed until the war was over. As 
 for the pass having something to do with this business project, I feel pretty certain 
 that this was not the case, althought I did find in the Singleton papers reference to 
 the cotton scheme at an earlier date, which I recall was blocked by Grant. 
 
 "I have gone over the cotton matter with Mrs. Osburn, and all the evidence 
 I have is contrary to the supposition that Singleton was engaged in anything 
 reprehensibly selfish or was actuated in any way by sinister or questionable motives. 
 If there was any such element it would have been brought out in the Congressional 
 campaigns in which Singleton subsequently participated as a successful candidate for 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 "Here is another point of importance, I think: General Singleton as I 
 understand it, had started negotiations about the cotton before the plans evolved 
 for the trips to Richmond. I don't believe he even brought the subject up in 
 any way with anybody when he went to Virginia as a personal representative of 
 President Lincoln. 
 
 "Then this thought would naturally arise: how could he have been trusted 
 on this mission by President Lincoln were he engaged in something doubtful at 
 the time? In other words, if Singleton were engaged in a cotton deal of doubtful 
 propriety, Lincoln was in a sense particeps criminis, because he must have known 
 the steps Grant had taken with the possibility of ending cotton trading. The cotton 
 business came up first, I believe, and then the diplomatic mission set in. They 
 are two distant episodes. 
 
 "Mrs. Osburn has found in the Singleton papers references to the cotton 
 transactions in connection with Judge Hughes and Senator Voorhees, stating that 
 her father 'was induced by these gentlemen to "go in" with them and buy some 
 cotton from which he hoped to realize something that he might turn back as a 
 personal gift to his suffering people when he could honorably do so.' These are 
 the words of Mrs. Singleton as reported to me by Mrs. Osburn, who also recalls 
 the statement made by the late Senator Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, to her 
 mother that 'the United States government certainly should have paid General 
 Singleton for cotton burned during the war.' But General Singleton did not enter 
 his claim because he felt certain that his action would be misconstrued. 
 
 [84] 
 
Lincoln and James W. Singleton 
 
 "Mrs. Osburn has requested me to undertake the preparation of a volume 
 based upon the papers in her possession and other related data, but I do not know 
 whether this opportunity will come to me or not. 
 
 "I think in this matter," concludes Mr. Andrews startingly, "that you will 
 have to be prepared to be thoroughly open-minded to things that are entirely 
 new — prepared for almost any revelations in this respect." 
 
 I have presented the evidence so far available concerning the perplexing 
 Singleton ; the reader must form his or her own conclusions. It seems clear to me 
 that at some time on April 14th Singleton must have seen Lincoln, but as to whether 
 it was the morning or afternoon I am undecided; certainly it was not the evening. 
 
 For further data, unless some enterprising investigator goes into the matter 
 more deeply, we must await the appearance of both the second volume of the 
 Browning diary and the prospective volume from the pen of Mr. Andrews, and I 
 hope that the latter gentleman may see his way clear to undertake the project. 
 
 [85] 
 
I 
 
 The Afternoon Drive 
 
 N the second volume of this series a study of the afternoon drive which President 
 Lincoln took that April day was taken up, and I do not propose to discuss again 
 the data presented at that time. 
 
 Shortly after its appearance my friend Dr. L. D. Carman, of Washington, 
 D. C, conceived the idea of investigating the movements of "Lincoln's Body 
 Guard," the Union Light Guard of Ohio, which acted as a cavalry escort to 
 President Lincoln from December 1863 until his death. 
 
 He thereupon visited the War Department, but his search there showed 
 "that the record of events of that company for April 1865 was blank, and the com- 
 pany morning reports showed nothing. All that was shown was that this organiza- 
 tion was stationed in Washington at that time. Properly kept, the absent record 
 would have contained just what we desired." 
 
 At least two members of this independent cavalry company have left their 
 recollections of the service performed in permanent form, but a reference to both 
 discloses nothing relative to the subject. Robert McBride, company clerk, makes 
 no mention of the drive, but states in connection with the tragedy at Ford's 
 Theatre, that "I have frequently been asked, where was Mr. Lincoln's escort 
 on the night of his assassination? Why were they not with him and why did not 
 they protect him? The answer is — because of respect for Mr. Lincoln's wishes." 
 
 And Mr. Smith Stimmel, who is still living, devotes his last chapter to 
 "Lincoln's Assassination," but beyond a statement that "the fourteenth day of April 
 was warm, calm and beautiful, an ideal spring day," his account contains nothing 
 pertinent. He does state however, that the members of the company had retired 
 reasonably early that night, "for we were all tired," when they were awakened with 
 the report of the assassination of both Lincoln and Seward. He also makes mention 
 of the fact that he has been asked frequently where the bodyguard was that night, 
 and in reply has stated that "I have to say that President Lincoln flatly refused to 
 have a military guard with him when he went to places of entertainment or to 
 church in the city." 
 
 Dr. Carman furnished me with the names and addresses of nine survivors 
 
 [86] 
 
The Afternoon Drive 
 
 of the company, to whom I wrote, replies being received from six. But curiously 
 enough, none of them was able to give me any information. 
 
 Dr. George C. Ashmun, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, states that "I regret 
 to say that I was not in Washington April 14th, 1865, but in my native town, 
 Tallmage, Ohio, on a leave of absence." Ephraim Adamson, of Moweaqua, 111., 
 says "I cannot give you the information you ask for, as I was in the office of the 
 Quartermaster the day Lincoln was shot." Frank P. Lutz, of Pueblo, Colorado, 
 says he is very sorry that he cannot answer my query; "our escort ended," he 
 said, "November 1864, when the Lincolns moved in from the cottage at the 
 Soldiers' Home, and we were not used in town. The one exception to this was one 
 evening when the escort was sent to guard the President home from an outlying 
 church where he had gone to hear Bishop Simpson. At the time of the assassination 
 I was on duty as a clerk of a General Court-Martial." 
 
 Mr. Stimmel himself says that "I do not know anything about that drive. 
 I was a member of Lincoln's mounted bodyguard at that time, but some three or 
 four weeks previous I had been given a detail of six men and assigned to duty at 
 Gen. Hancock's headquarters in the city of Washington. * * * After the Presi- 
 dent's assassination there was so much excitement and confusion that I do not 
 remember hearing anything about his taking a drive that afternoon." 
 
 Oscar A. Spencer, of Circleville, Ohio, writes that "I cannot positively answer 
 your question as to Mr. Lincoln on the 14th of April, 1865, as I was on detail 
 during the entire day, and did not get back to barracks until 6 P. M. The employes 
 at the Navy Yard and Arsenal, and the sailors from the monitors and ships in the 
 harbor, were celebrating the surrender of Lee's army with a parade on the Avenue. 
 Washington was full of people. If the President was out riding I think a detail 
 from the company escorted him about the city and were with him all day." 
 
 Our last exhibit is from the sole survivor of the four enlisted colored cooks, 
 William Davis, of Charleston, W. Va. His contribution is interesting but not 
 enlightening nor authentic. Says Mr. Davis: "President Lincoln went to Richmond 
 after it was evacuated and returned to Washington April 10th. I am satisfied 
 he did not leave the White House until the night he was assassinated. Our 
 company never accompanied him on any of his walks about the city; he was a fearless 
 man." 
 
 Both the Executive Department of the State of Ohio and the Ohio Historical 
 Society were unable to throw any light on the movements of the Seventh Indepen- 
 dent Company of Ohio volunteers at the time of the assassination. 
 
 [87] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Balked in my efforts to secure a line on the movements of the President 
 through the cavalry escort, my next thought was to try to get in touch with the 
 survivors of the naval men on board the monitor Montauk at that time, which 
 vessel it will be remembered President Lincoln was alleged to have visited. 
 
 The Superintendent of the Navy Yard informed me that at the time referred 
 to there were twelve officers assigned to the Montauk, all of whom were then (1928) 
 either dead or out of the service, as their names did not appear in the current 
 issue of the Navy Directory. And the Bureau of Navigation stated that an 
 examination of the muster roll showed that "all of the enlisted men about whom 
 correspondence has been had are dead except Barney Shanahan and it is not 
 known at this Bureau whether or not he is living." It was further stated that in 
 1909 the Chaplain of a Grand Army Post in New York State had written concerning 
 Mr. Shanahan, but inquiries directed to this Post by the present writer remained 
 unanswered. 
 
 The Evening Star, of Washington, D. C, for March 18, 1927, contained 
 an account of an aged woman, then ninety years of age, who claimed to have 
 seen according to a reporter, "on a Good Friday afternoon sixty-two years ago 
 a tall, gaunt man ride down the muddy road which was the Pennsylvania Avenue 
 of 1865." She "stood on her porch at 323 Pennsylvania Avenue, Southeast, and 
 watched his passing, for he was the President of the United States." The article 
 further stated that as she recalled the incident, the President was accompanied by 
 Mrs. Lincoln and Secretary Chase — the latter an obvious error. 
 
 About a year later, at my suggestion, Dr. Carman interviewed the lady, and 
 reported that he found her "in good mental and physical condition, and then in 
 her ninety-first year." She informed Dr. Carman that "she would be willing to 
 swear that on the afternoon Lincoln was killed, he passed the house, late in the 
 afternoon, about five o'clock, going west, which would be toward the White House." 
 She stated at this time that Mrs. Lincoln was not in the carriage, but Secretary 
 Chase and his daughter Kate were, and that the carriage was an open one, with no 
 cavalry escort. 
 
 Dr. Carman said that Mrs. Coleman was "a lively old lady, who was very 
 polite," but opined that "the witness is not unreliable but her memory is." 
 
 Nevertheless, I am rather inclined to believe that the elderly lady may have 
 seen President Lincoln's carriage that afternoon, the fatality happening to its 
 distinguished occupant later in the day fixing the incident firmly in her mind; the 
 passing of the years, however, dimming her recollections of the attending cir- 
 
 [88] 
 
The Afternoon Drive 
 
 cumstances. It goes without saying that "Secretary" Chase and his daughter 
 were not in the carriage; her earlier reminiscence of Mrs. Lincoln would have been 
 correct. 
 
 Some time since I had an interesting interview with Colonel Manuel Hererra 
 de Hora, now of New York City, a gentleman seventy-eight years old, but possessed 
 of a clear and remarkable memory. 
 
 Colonel De Hora stated that in the seventies he was engaged in promoting 
 certain American projects in South American countries. 
 
 While in Buenos Aires he was a member of a social club at which Americans 
 were wont to gather, and learned to know rather intimately the American Consul, 
 Baker, whose wife "Ann Todd Baker," was said to have been Abraham Lincoln's 
 favorite niece. 
 
 Among other interesting pieces of information Col. de Hora stated that he 
 had from Mrs. Baker's own lips her recollections of the day of the Lincoln assass- 
 ination. According to him, Mrs. Baker said that at that time she was visiting 
 the White House, and the members of the household wondered what had become 
 of the Lincoln carriage as its occupants stayed so long on their drive. When the 
 party returned the President was smiling and laughing and Mrs. Lincoln said that 
 it was the best drive they had ever taken together. It was his recollection that 
 Mrs. Baker said the Lincolns had driven across the "river," whatever they may 
 have meant. It was the impression of some present at the interview that by "river" 
 Mrs. Baker may have meant the branch of the Potomac south of the Navy Yard, 
 although others thought that the itinerary probably carried the party across the 
 Anacostia, the east branch of the Potomac, after leaving the Navy Yard. 
 
 However, the aged gentleman's memory was at fault, at least in some instances, 
 although there was evidently some foundation for his story. 
 
 According to the Department of State at Washington, Edwin L. Baker was 
 appointed Consul at Buenos Aires on January 8, 1874, and served from June 1st 
 of that year until July 8, 1897. 
 
 But his wife was Julia Edwards Baker, who was a daughter of Ninian W. 
 Edwards and Elizabeth Todd Edwards, the latter being a sister of Mary Todd 
 Lincoln. Therefore, while Baker's wife was a niece of President Lincoln, her 
 maiden name was not Ann Todd but Julia Edwards. There was an Ann Todd 
 in the family, but she was a sister of Mary Todd and married C. M. Smith, a 
 merchant of Springfield. These facts I have from Miss Osborne, of the Illinois 
 State Historical Society. 
 
 [89] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 And her testimony is borne out by Mrs. Mary Edwards Brown of Springfield, 
 111., whose father was a brother of Julia Edwards Baker. She further adds that her 
 aunt "was at the White House at the time of the first inaugural, and I think later, 
 but she was not there at the time of his death. * * * Mary Wallace, another 
 niece of Mrs. Lincoln, married John Pope Baker, a brother of Edwin L. Baker. 
 She also made a visit to the White House, but was not there at the time of his 
 death." 
 
 Possibly Col. de Hora heard the account of the drive from the lips of Edwin 
 L. Baker's wife, Julia Edwards Baker, she in turn having heard her aunt Ann Todd 
 Smith recount it as she had it from her sister, the wife of President Lincoln. 
 
 Maunsell B. Field, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, in his Memories 
 of Many Men, stated that on the afternoon of April 13th, 1865, "I was driving 
 alone on the Fourteenth Street road in the direction of the Soldiers' Home. 
 Presently I heard a clatter behind me, and, looking out of the carriage window, 
 I saw Mr. Lincoln approaching on horseback, followed by the usual cavalry 
 escort. He soon came up to me, and, while he rode for some time at my side, we 
 conversed together upon different subjects. I noticed that he was in one of those 
 moods when 'melancholy seemed to be dripping from him,' and his eye had that 
 expression of profound weariness and sadness which I never saw in any other 
 human eye. After a while he put spurs to his horse and hurried on, and he and 
 his followers were soon lost to view." 
 
 It is my opinion that while the President on horseback was accompanied 
 by his cavalry escort the afternoon of the 13th, the Lincoln carriage twenty-four 
 hours later was unattended. There is no direct evidence to that effect, but neither 
 is there to the contrary. I am of the opinion that when Lincoln told his wife "I 
 prefer to ride by ourselves today," he was referring not only to other possible 
 occupants of the carriage but a bodyguard as well. You will recall his facetious 
 remark about the clanking of their spurs interfering with his thinking. 
 
 [90] 
 
The Lincoln Carriage and the Lincoln 
 
 Coachman 
 
 A FEW months ago, while in the benevolent custody of Mr. Herbert Wells Fay, 
 the estimable gentleman in charge of the Lincoln Tomb at Springfield, I 
 observed in the Memorial Hall a photograph with the intriguing endorsement 
 "The coach in which Lincoln took his last ride, and his coachman, Joseph Christian." 
 Parenthetically, it may be remarked that at the present writing, so I am told by Mr. 
 Fay, this wonderful collection of Lincolniana is stored in a barn ! This is due to 
 the fact that the Tomb is to be reconstructed and the Memorial Hall eliminated. 
 May we who are interested do what we can to see that this collection is eventually 
 safely and fittingly housed. 
 
 Now if this labelling is true, the statements are interesting. But is it? Mr. 
 Fay himself is able to give me nothing definite. 
 
 As it is much the easier to dispose of the latter statement we will consider it 
 first. 
 
 In 1928 Prof. Rexford Newcomb, of the University of Illinois, compiled a 
 volume which he called In the Lincoln Country, which filled a long-felt want, 
 "something entirely new in Lincolniana," as the publishers state. Profusely il- 
 lustrated, and "following the trail of the Lincoln shrines in Kentucky, Indiana, 
 Illinois and other States," it is an invaluable handbook for the traveler interested 
 in the Lincoln landmarks. 
 
 In one of the last chapters Prof. Newcomb states that "Joseph Christian, 
 the coachman who drove the President's party to Ford's Theatre upon that fatal 
 Good Friday of 1865, died recently. The old carriage which he drove upon that 
 occasion is preserved in the collection of historic vehicles owned by the Studebaker 
 Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, through whose courtesy the photograph here- 
 with shown was procured." 
 
 Prof. Newcomb and I have had some sizable correspondence over this para- 
 graph. He is as anxious as I to prove the truth or falsity of these statements which 
 he based upon presumably trustworthy information. 
 
 "With regard to the coach," he says, "I will say that I have long known that 
 
 [91] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 the reputed Lincoln coach was in the possession of the Studebakers ; in fact, Mr. 
 Clement Studebaker, Sr., was a great admirer of Mr. Lincoln, and participated 
 in a number of movements to make secure the name of Lincoln in the annals of 
 American history. His conversance with the facts surrounding the carriage I had 
 always taken to mean that it was actually the carriage in which our distinguished 
 President rode to Ford's Theatre on that eventful night." 
 
 Concerning the coachman story, his account was based upon a press clipping 
 sent him by a correspondent about the time he was preparing his volume. The 
 article reported the death of Christian and apparently it was a well known fact 
 in the community in which he died that he had driven the Lincoln party to Ford's. 
 Prof. Newcomb has a vast amount of Lincoln data stored, but up to the present 
 time has been unable to locate the news item referred to. 
 
 However, I have in my files a magazine article pertinent to the subject. It 
 appeared in McC lure's Magazine for December 1923, was headed The Lincoln 
 I Knew by Joseph Christian, in collaboration with Test Dalton and E. Albert 
 Apple, and sub-titled "Lincoln's Valet-Coachman Reveals Unchronicled Episodes 
 of Civil War Days." Mr. Christian was the "Valet-Coachman" and obviously 
 the "collaborators" were Messrs. Dalton and Apple, and a pretty job they made 
 of it. While it has a strong personal appeal, makes interesting reading, and many of 
 the averred glimpses of Lincoln sound Lincolnesque enough to be true, yet a 
 cursory reading by any well-informed reader will readily disclose many unpardonable 
 errors typical of much of our modern hodgepodge writing. What with the im- 
 probable situations, the anachronisms, the improper spelling of proper names, etc., 
 I am surprised that it "got by" a magazine of the standing of McClure's. 
 
 Yet in one important statement, if that be needed in view of the testimony of 
 Coachman Burke at the Surratt trial referred to hereinafter, the literary trio ef- 
 fectively dispose of the statement that the Lincoln coachman the night of the 
 assassination was Joseph Christian. About a month before the President was shot 
 Christian left his service and did not see him again until his body lay in state in the 
 White House; yet even in this connection an impossible story is told of Christian 
 and the assassin Booth having a drink of liquor in a Baltimore hostelry the afternoon 
 of the assassination. 
 
 As an example of the glaring inaccuracies infesting the article, the claim was 
 made that shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War Christian had enlisted in 
 the Second U. S. Dragoons under Colonel Robert E. Lee at Fort Carney. I asked 
 the War Department for whatever record they may have had as to such an alleged 
 
 [92] 
 
The Lincoln Carriage and Coachman 
 
 enlistment, and the report was made that "Colonel Robert E. Lee, 2nd U. S. 
 Dragoons, is not shown to have been at Fort Kearney at any time. It has not been 
 found possible to identify any military record in the Civil War for Joseph Christian 
 either as a Volunteer or Regular Army Soldier." 
 
 Turning to the Studebakers and the carriage, I learned that while the manage- 
 ment is very willing to help run down the story yet the admission is regretfully 
 made that there is on file no "data nor history of the carriage or coachman" aside 
 from the original bill of sale, showing it to have been purchased from the Lincoln 
 family by a Dr. Brewer of Westfield, N. Y., "an intimate friend of the family" — 
 as to the latter statement we shall soon see — reading as follows: 
 
 Washington, D. C, May 11, 1865. Received of Col. E. R. Goodwich, 
 Mil. St., Agt. of N. Y. one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars in payment of open 
 Barouche, with one set of double harness, the property of the late President of 
 the United States, Abraham Lincoln, being purchased by Dr. F. B. Brewer, West- 
 held, New York. 
 
 (Signed) Robert T. Lincoln. 
 
 I have been in communication with a son of Dr. Brewer, who says that there 
 is no ground whatever for the statement that his father was an intimate friend 
 of Lincoln, as he "would have certainly have heard it mentioned," which he did not. 
 
 "My father, Dr. Brewer, held the position of State Agent in the Hospital 
 Service," says Mr. Francis B. Brewer. "He happened to be in Washington at 
 the time of the President's death, and being desirous of some souvenir of Lincoln, 
 he purchased the barouche of the deceased, which bore his monogram on the doors 
 of both sides. It was made by Brewster of New York, and was a very comfortable 
 vehicle. We did not use it very much, as it was very heavy, and required a 
 heavier span of horses than we had at the time. My father sold it to the Stude- 
 bakers in trade and cash. I do not know about the President's use of the carriage 
 at any time." 
 
 From the photo it is rather difficult to obtain a proper conception of the 
 seating arrangement of the vehicle, but explanations from Mr. Brewer and Prof. 
 Newcomb make it clear that the Lincoln party of four could easily have ridden 
 in the carriage on the drive to the theatre. 
 
 There were two seats, facing each other, each of which was wide enough to 
 accommodate three persons. The seat proper was at the rear of the vehicle, and this 
 can readily be seen in the picture. 
 
 [93 J 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 The flatlike surface extending across the body of the front of the carriage 
 was the front seat, and as Prof. Newcomb says "the photo would almost seem to 
 indicate that there was no seat here." Mr. Brewer states that this seat "had a cover 
 which was raised when the seat was in use. The cover was the back of the seat 
 when raised, and was upholstered on the under side. When the seat was not in 
 use the cover was usually put down to keep the seat clean." 
 
 The perspective of the driver's seat is also deceptive. The seat is much 
 wider than it appears and would hold two persons; according to Miss Clara 
 Laughlin both a coachman and a footman were on the driver's seat when the theatre 
 party left the White House. But is the seat shown on the photograph the one 
 attached when the Lincoln family used it? 
 
 "My father did not like the original coachman's seat," says Mr. Brewer, "and 
 so had another one made and put in its place, not quite so high. But the original 
 seat came here with the carriage and was stored in our barn. I think the Stude- 
 bakers got the original seat with the carriage and I have no doubt that they restored 
 it to its place." As to this latter supposition the Studebakers again reply that they 
 "have no authentic information in regard to the coachman's seat." Prof. Newcomb 
 is of the opinion that the seat now attached is the original. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln has told of the afternoon drive being taken in "the open carri- 
 age," and it may have been that the theatre party used the same type of conveyance; 
 the conclusion, therefore, is that this carriage may have been the one used for the 
 drive to Ford's. But the allegation that Joseph Christian was the driver may be 
 safely laid aside as a pleasing little fiction. 
 
 [94] 
 
The Story of the President and 
 the Sculptress 
 
 EVERY once in a while a very pretty story goes the rounds of the press and 
 other publications to the effect that the afternoon of the day President Lin- 
 coln was assassinated he gave his last sitting to the gifted Wisconsin sculp- 
 tress, Vinnie Ream, whose statue of our First American stands today in the rotunda 
 of the Capitol at Washington — a story which obviously could not have been true. 
 1 have several of these scattered notices in my files. 
 
 Mrs. Babcock's Lincoln's Mary and the Babies, published in 1929, contains 
 the alleged incident, and the latest account is to be found in an entertaining article 
 appearing in the February 1930, issue of the Woman's World Magazine. The 
 article is written by Freeman H. Hubbard, of Brooklyn, and headed The Wisconsin 
 Girl who Sculptured Lincoln. 
 
 According to Mr. Hubbard, Vinnie Ream, through a friendly Congressman, 
 in November 1864 secured Lincoln's consent to give her a half hour's sitting each 
 day in order to gratify her wish to sculpture the nation's President. She was then 
 but sixteen years of age and for the next four or five months, or until the time of 
 his assassination, it was the daily custom for the kindly disposed President to relax 
 and allow the little sculptress to model his features. 
 
 "Fate decreed," says Mr. Hubbard, "that the bust was not to be completed 
 during his (Lincoln's) lifetime. The final sitting was on the afternoon of April 
 14, 1865. Mr. Lincoln chatted with Vinnie as usual, little realizing she was the 
 last person with whom he was to engage in informal conversation this side of the 
 River Jordan!" 
 
 Some time after the assassination, when she had overcome her grief for the 
 death of one whom she had loved, Miss Ream completed the bust which was pro- 
 nounced a remarkable likeness by those who had known the subject. 
 
 And so when a Lincoln memorial was authorized by Congress and Vinnie 
 Ream had entered the list of competitors, she was awarded the commission in 1866, 
 being "the first of her sex to receive a commission for sculpture from the United 
 States Government." 
 
 [95] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 From thence her fame was secure. The products of her hands, famous mas- 
 terpieces, are scattered all over the country. When she died in 19 14, she left be- 
 hind her an unfinished piece of work, " 'Sequoyah,' a life-sized figure representing 
 the state of Oklahoma, which was completed after her death and placed in Statuary 
 Hall of the Capitol at Washington." 
 
 In 1878 Vinnie Ream married Lieut. Richard L. Hoxie, now a retired general 
 of the United States Army. About two and a half years after her death General 
 Hoxie married again, and Mr. Hubbard tells me it was from the second wife of 
 this army officer that he obtained most of his information. 
 
 I, too, have found Mrs. Hoxie willing to cooperate, and she has made it clear 
 as to how the story gained currency. 
 
 Vinnie Ream Hoxie and the present Mrs. Hoxie were firm friends. It was 
 the former's request that the latter prepare an authentic biography of her, and for 
 this purpose turned over a vast amount of data. However, due to the impaired 
 health of Mrs. Hoxie and the general, the work has been delayed. 
 
 "General Hoxie's acquaintance with Vinnie did not begin until after the com- 
 pletion and dedication of the Lincoln statue," writes Mrs. Hoxie, "but he held the 
 opinion that the last sitting was the day of the assassination, and I wrote several 
 articles in response to requests, shortly after my marriage about two and a half years 
 after Vinnie died, giving that version of the subject. However, I felt there might 
 be some doubt regarding it, as I had not had a personal statement from Vinnie 
 which I could recall upon the subject. She died rather suddenly after asking me to 
 write her biography, and before I secured from her all the facts I wished to have. 
 
 "Vinnie's sister-in-law, the widow of Vinnie's only brother, Robert L. Ream, 
 was living about the time I wrote the articles, and I had her come to me for a long 
 visit and we carefully went over all the leading events connected with Vinnie's life 
 and art work. Mrs. Ream was living with her husband's family during the Civil 
 War and for several years after so had definite knowledge and a clear memory re- 
 garding details. She told me that Vinnie did not go to the White House the day of 
 the assassination, because she considered the bust finished, so far as Mr. Lincoln's 
 sittings were concerned, and did not wish to trouble him more than necessary, and 
 also, that she happened to be having a patron coming to her own studio that after- 
 noon whom it was imperative that she must see. I have never corrected the earlier 
 error because it seemed best to ignore it, and no one has ever called attention to it 
 but yourself." 
 
 [96] 
 
Lincoln's Pre-dinner Callers 
 
 AMONG the visitors whom Abraham Lincoln saw that Good Friday were 
 several of his old Illinois friends. Isaac N. Arnold, his tried and true friend 
 from Chicago, was one of the very last. Just as the President was stepping 
 into his carriage, he saw Arnold, and said: "Excuse me now. I am going to the 
 theatre. Come and see me in the morning." 
 
 In addition, there were evidently two interviews with prominent Illinoisans, 
 one in the morning and one following the drive, which in various published ac- 
 counts have become confused. This, I believe, was due to various contemporary 
 accounts. 
 
 Shea's Lincoln Memorial says that "in the afternoon the President had a long 
 and pleasant interview with Governor Oglesby, Senator Yates, and other leading 
 citizens of his state;" and Morris' Memorial Record gives the same verbatim. 
 Frank B. Crosby's biography says that "in the afternoon a long and pleasant con- 
 versation was held with eminent citizens from Illinois;" while Dr. Brockett's ac- 
 count tallies with Shea and Morris. Apparently these were all plagiarised from 
 the contemporary newspaper accounts already referred to. 
 
 Herndon in his True Story of a Great Life goes a step further. In a seven 
 and a half page quoted account of the last day and the assassination (his authority 
 not given) he says that Lincoln "spent the afternoon with Governor Oglesby, Sena- 
 tor Yates, and other friends from Illinois." Arnold said that after the conference 
 with Colfax in the morning "followed a happy meeting and exchange of congratula- 
 tions with a party of Ulionois friends." Oldroyd stated that "in the afternoon 
 the President had a pleasant interview with Governor Richard Oglesby and Sena- 
 tor Yates of Illinois, and other prominent persons." While Brand Whitlock, after 
 referring to the drive, said that Lincoln "drove back to the White House in the 
 waning afternoon, and, seeing some old friends from Illinois on the lawn, he called 
 to them. Richard Oglesby was among them, and they went to the President's 
 office, where he read to them some book of humor, — John Phoenix, perhaps, — and 
 laughed and loitered, and was late to dinner." 
 
 Fortunately, from trustworthy accounts, it is possible to arrive at the facts 
 concerning the Illinois callers. 
 
 [97 J 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 In an earlier chapter I have quoted from William Pitt Kellogg to the effect 
 that he in company with Senator Yates called on President Lincoln in the morning, 
 and the evidence as to the afternoon callers is even more authoritative. 
 
 Miss Tarbell, from whom Whitlock evidently took his story, says in her 
 biography : 
 
 "It was late in the afternoon when he (Lincoln) returned from his drive, and 
 as he left his carriage he saw going across the lawn toward the Treasury a group 
 of friends, among them Richard Oglesby, then Governor of Illinois. 'Come back, 
 boys, come back,' he shouted. The party turned, joined the President on the por- 
 tico, and went up to his office with him. 
 
 " 'How long we remained there I do not remember,' says Governor Oglesby. 
 'Lincoln got to reading some humorous book; I think it was by John Phoenix. 
 They kept sending for him to come to dinner. He promised each time to go, but 
 would continue reading the book. Finally he got a sort of peremptory order that 
 he must come to dinner at once. It was explained to me by the old man at the door 
 that they were going to have dinner and then go to the theatre.' " 
 
 Here is direct evidence of a kind, and more nearly approaches the truth; yet 
 in two statements — as to the "group of friends" and the book Lincoln read from — 
 there are errors. 
 
 Luckily there has been preserved though in brief form what actually did occur. 
 
 The Century Magazine for April 1896, contained a communication from 
 Edwin C. Haynie, containing what purported to be a passage from the diary of 
 General Isham N. Haynie, of Springfield, Illinois, under date of April 14, 1865, 
 in which it was stated that between five and six o'clock that afternoon he and 
 General Oglesby were entertained by the President in his reception room. From a 
 grandson of General Haynie I have secured a photostat of the original entry, 
 which reads as follows : 
 
 "We then proceeded to the White House. Mr. Lincoln was not in — but 
 just as we were going away — his carriage with himself, wife and Tad drove up — 
 the President called us back — we went up into his reception room — and had a 
 pleasant humorous hour with him — he read four chapters of Petroleum V. Nasby's 
 book — and continued reading until he was called to dinner at about 6 P. M. and 
 we left him." 
 
 This is direct and contemporaneous evidence that Oglesby and Haynie were 
 the only two members of the alleged "group" of Illinois friends who saw him that 
 late afternoon. 
 
 [98] 
 
Pre-Dinner Callers 
 
 Mr. Donald P. Haynie, from whom I received the copy of the diary entry, 
 says that his grandfather, General Haynie, and Governor Oglesby had gone to 
 Washington to see and interest the Senators and Representatives of Illinois in a 
 military college which they contemplated founding at Champagne, Illinois, and 
 which in later years became the Illinois University. That part of the entry for 
 April 14th which preceded the one quoted above mentions the two having called 
 on Mrs. Grant, who showed them the gold medal presented her husband by the 
 government, and then on Mr. Stanton. And Mr. Haynie has on file data left by 
 his father which state that in the interview with the President, Lincoln invited his 
 callers "to go to the theatre with him, but as there was a meeting of Illinois con- 
 gressmen at Willard's Hotel, they had to go to that." 
 
 These visitors at the White House were both distinguished citizens of their 
 state. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Haynie Tracy, a daughter of the General, has furnished these 
 facts in connection with her father: "Graduate and valedictorian of Louisville 
 University Law School; served in Mexican War; enlisted as Colonel in Civil War 
 at Camp Butler, 111., 48th Illinois; in '62 was engaged in reconnoissance under 
 General Grant and was at Fort Henry under General Lew Wallace. The 48th 
 was the first regiment to form a line of battle in Tennessee. Commanded brigade 
 at Fort Donelson; promoted to Brigadier-General 1862; engaged in battle also 
 at Shiloh where he was severely wounded; engaged in battle of Corinth. After 
 the war was Adj. Gen. of State. Was at Lincoln's bedside when he died and es- 
 corted the body to Chicago and Springfield. Often entertained Lincoln at his 
 colonial brick residence in Springfield; the house still standing — a splendid example 
 of Colonial architecture." 
 
 Mrs. Tracy further interestingly writes of her reminiscences: "I was a baby 
 when Lincoln was assassinated, being born not long before that event, but I remem- 
 ber Mrs. Lincoln whom my mother knew — remember her tiny lace parasol which 
 she carried when she drove in her Victoria. My mother and Mr. John Bunn of 
 Springfield, neither now living, have given me many details of parties and balls 
 of those days both before and after Mr. Lincoln was President. As I grew to 
 womanhood I lived in that Lincoln atmosphere peculiar to his home town and still 
 existent." 
 
 The daughter of Governor Oglesby, Mrs. Felicite Oglesby Cenci Bolognetti, 
 of Elkhart, Illinois, communicates this information relative to her father: 
 
 Like Haynie, Oglesby served in the Mexican War. Made Colonel of the 8th 
 
 [99] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Illinois Volunteers, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was rapidly promoted. 
 He commanded a brigade at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and was so severely 
 wounded at the second battle of Corinth that the physicians announced he could 
 not recover. Promoted to Brigadier-General his wound so interferred with his 
 movements in the field that he was finally forced to leave the active service. Per- 
 mitted by Stanton to resign in 1864 in order to accept the Republican gubernatorial 
 nomination, in the fall he was elected Governor, serving from 1864 to 1869 and 
 again in 1872. From 1873 to 1879 he served as United States Senator and from 
 1884 to 1888 was again Governor of the state. 
 
 From his induction into office in 1864 he was active in carrying out war meas- 
 ures in support of the government, "and at the close of the war he visited the troops 
 in the field. After a long tour he reached Washington the afternoon of April 14th, 
 1865, just in time to be there at the consummation of the work of the assassin 
 Booth. He stayed with the President during the night of his death, and accom- 
 panied the remains on the long tour made by the funeral cortege on its way to 
 Springfield." 
 
 "I remember my father saying," continues Mrs. Bolognetti, "that he made 
 speeches at the stations where the funeral train stopped, weeping as he spoke. * * * 
 My father told us that he had been invited to the President's box that night at the 
 theatre." 
 
 In volume XLVI, part III, of the Official Rebellion Records I have come 
 across the following telegram dated Springfield, 111., April 3, 1865, addressed to 
 Hon. E. M. Stanton: 
 
 "A thousand thanks for your dispatch of last night. I start for Washington 
 tomorrow. 
 
 R. J. OGLESBY." 
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
His Last Literary Relaxation 
 
 Abraham Lincoln's penchant for the humorous productions of certain con- 
 temporary writers is well known. The style may not have been elegant, but if the 
 scribe could "put across" his ideas in a manner that appealed to Lincoln, he had 
 gained a disciple who was one hundred per cent. 
 
 Secretary Chase has recorded in his diary that the President before presenting 
 his Proclamation of Emancipation at the special Cabinet meeting held September 
 22, 1862, took up his copy of Artemus ward: His Book and read therefrom The 
 High-Handed Outrage at Utica, a brief chapter of less than two pages. Dr. 
 Conwell in Why Lincoln Laughed refers at some length to President Lincoln and 
 Charles Farrar Browne — who use the pen-name of Artemus Ward — and the rela- 
 tions existing between them. "No visitor at the White House seemed more wel- 
 come than Ward during Lincoln's administration," said Conwell, and he further 
 stated that Lincoln thought "the most downright comical thing that had ever been 
 put before the public" was Ward's "Show." 
 
 The evening of November 8, 1864, the day of his reelection, President Lincoln 
 spent in the War Department with some chosen friends, and the conservative Welles 
 who was there noted in his diary that "we remained until past one in the morning." 
 Brooks, the correspondent, was also present and refers to the poor telegraph service, 
 a rain storm interfering with the transmission of news over the wires. Hay, too, 
 has left his recollections of this memorable evening, with the "Tycoon," his Chief, 
 telling stories and shoveling out the fried oysters "awkwardly and hospitably" at 
 the midnight supper, and later making an impromptu speech "from the window with 
 rather unusual dignity and effect" to a band which serenaded the party about half- 
 past two in the morning. "Neptune," as Lincoln facetiously called Welles, who 
 had retired about one o'clock, missed this later little by-play. 
 
 But neither Welles, Brooks nor Hay made mention of another incident which 
 Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, has recorded. 
 
 Dana states that early in the evening there came a lull in the returns and the 
 President called him to his side. 
 
 "Dana," he said, "have you ever read any of the writings of Petroleum V. 
 Nasby?" 
 
 [ 101] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "No, sir," was the reply. "I have only looked at some of them, and they 
 seemed to be quite funny." 
 
 "Well," said Lincoln, "let me read you a specimen." 
 
 He then pulled out "a thin yellow-covered pamphlet from his breast pocket," 
 said Dana, "and began to read aloud. Mr. Stanton viewed these proceedings with 
 great impatience, as I could see, but Mr. Lincoln paid no attention to that. He 
 would read a page or a story, pause to consider a new election telegram, and then 
 open the book again and go ahead with a new passage. Finally Mr. Chase came 
 in, and presently somebody else, and then the reading was interrupted. Mr. Stanton 
 went to the door and beckoned me into the next room. I shall never forget the 
 fire of his indignation at what seemed to him to be mere nonsense." 
 
 David Ross Locke, the humorist and satirist who wrote under the name of 
 Petroleum V. Nasby, after an editorial and publishing career began his "Nasby" 
 papers in 1861. Immediately they took the popular fancy and a biographical 
 sketch states that "President Lincoln is reported to have said that, next to a dis- 
 patch announcing a Union victory, he read a Nasby letter with most pleasure." 
 Locke, like Browne, was a welcome guest at the Executive Mansion and is authority 
 for the statement that the Nasby letters were read by the President regularly. Said 
 Locke: "he kept a pamphlet in his table, and it was his wont to read them on all 
 occasions to his visitors, no matter who they might be, or what their business 
 was." Of course this statement was overdrawn, but there is no doubt that on many 
 occasions this happened. Naturally his auditors were not always edified, for Locke 
 himself said that Lincoln "seriously offended many of the great men of the Repub- 
 lican party in this way." 
 
 Carpenter, the artist, narrates that one evening when a gathering of political 
 dignitaries was assembled in his office for the purpose of having the President go 
 over a formidable array of documents, and Lincoln was "literally worn out from 
 an unusual pressure of office-seekers," he found a temporary relaxation in reading 
 one of Nasby's effusions after which he laid the pamphlet aside and attended to the 
 serious business before him. 
 
 And Noah Brooks, the correspondent previously referred to, who had the 
 entree to the White House, refers to the productions of Nasby and similar writings 
 as "tickling Lincoln's fancy," and Lincoln's aptitude for recalling some of them 
 verbatim without any particular effort. One summer evening when Brooks accom- 
 panied the Lincoln family to their summer quarters at the Soldiers' Home, a party 
 of visitors called, and the condition of the freed negroes in the border states came 
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
Last Literary Relaxation 
 
 up. Standing by the fireplace, Lincoln recited from memory an entire Nasby letter 
 travesting the subject, with great relish. 
 
 There are in the Pennsylvania State Library at Harrisburg five productions of 
 Locke, the earliest of which, called The Nasby Papers, published in Indianapolis in 
 1864, is undoubtedly the little pamphlet from which he read the night of his re- 
 election as well as the late afternoon preceeding his assassination. Haynie testifies 
 that in the latter instance four chapters were read. 
 
 This is a pamphlet of sixty-four pages, five by eight and one-half inches. For 
 preservation it has been bound, but the original wrappers are still there, the color 
 being between a cream and a light brown. 
 
 The cover title is briefer than that on the title-page, the latter reading: THE 
 NASBY PAPERS. LETTERS AND SERMONS CONTAINING THE 
 VIEWS ON THE TOPICS OF THE DAY, OF PETROLEUM V. NASBY, 
 "PASTER UV THE CHURCH UV THE NOO DISPENSASHUN." INDI- 
 ANAPOLIS, IND.: C. O. PERRINE & CO., PUBLISHERS, 1864. 
 
 The DEDIKASHEN reads "To that Sterlin Patryot and unkorruptible chris- 
 chen gentleman, FERNANDYWOOD, uv Noo York: 
 
 "To that hi-toned man and wool-dyed Dimokrat, FRANKLIN PEERSE, uv 
 Noo Hampshire; 
 
 "To that long-suffrin but pashent Dimokrat, JESSE D. BRITE, uv Injeany, 
 whose highest recommendashun is that he wuz eckspelled from a Ablishin Senit, 
 but who wood hev resined hed ther ever bin a presedent fer a Dimokrat resinin; and 
 
 "To the grate VALLANDYGUM, uv Ohio, who went to the stake with a 
 kamness onparrallelled fer prinssiple, 
 
 "These book is respectfully dedikated, by 
 
 THE ORTHER. 
 
 Parsonage, Church uv the Noo Dispensashun, 
 Wingert's Corners, O., Aug. 1, 1864." 
 
 The Nasby papers consist largely of a series of letters, together with a few 
 speeches. The first paper, following a sort of introduction, is on Negro Emigration, 
 dated Washington, "Joon the 1st, '62," and the last is headed His Letter on Fre- 
 mont's Nomination, followed by a Sonnit Onto a Soljer — Frum a Dimmekratic Stan- 
 pint on the last page. 
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 The spelling is abominable and usually phonetic, unless the author forgets his 
 role, and hard reading for one accustomed to proper English, but there is an evi- 
 dence of a native wit and satirical humor which appealed to President Lincoln. 
 
 Writing ostensibly as a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, the author pans the ad- 
 ministration, the Abolitionists and the "tyrant Linkin;" "Hoorays" for "Gefferson 
 Davis" and the "draft resisters," and styles himself a "defender uv the rites uv the 
 South." 
 
 Under date of November ist, 1863, he "has an Interview with the President." 
 Addressing the latter at the beginning of the interview he "opened upon him delikit- 
 ly thus: 
 
 " 'Linkin, ez a Dimocrat, a free-born Dimocrat, who is prepared to die with 
 neetnis and dispatch, and on short notis, fer the inalienable rite uv free speech — 
 knoin also that you er a goriller, a feendish ape, a thirster after blud, I speek.' " 
 
 Nasby's manner of spelling varies at times; usually he and his kind are "Dim- 
 okrats," but again they are "Dimocrats," "Dimekrats," or "Dimecrats." At one 
 place he will speak of "Ablishnists;" a variant of the same word is spelled "Abolish- 
 nism;" the President is usually referred to as "Linkin," but once he apparently for- 
 got himself and wrote "Lincoln." His pet hobby, Vallandigham, is spelled differ- 
 ently: "Vandaldigum," "Vallandygum," "Valandigum," "Vanlandigum," "Val- 
 lancfigum." 
 
 In this pamphlet there are, in addition to the dedication and the closing sonnet, 
 thirty-six articles. They cover a variety of subjects: Vallandigham, the draft, 
 Nasby's own marriage, preaching, fasting, "changing his base," a spiritualistic 
 seance, a dream, Fremont's nomination, etc. 
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
The Frasier Chronicle of the 
 Missing Autograph 
 
 RECENTLY I discovered in a Lincoln Scrap Book compiled by Joseph Wal- 
 lace, Springfield, 111., in 1901, on file in the Illinois Historical Library of that 
 City, an article taken from a newspaper, name and date unknown, but ap- 
 parently about the year 1900, a circumstantial account of "the last thing that the 
 President (Lincoln) ever wrote." The item was evidently transcribed from another 
 paper. 
 
 According to the story, Mr. Robert L. Fraser, then a prominent insurance 
 man of Charleston, W. Va., in 1865 was an office boy in the National Theatre, at 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 As he recalled the incident, on April 14th of that year it was understood by 
 the management of the theatre that President Lincoln, having informally spoken 
 of an intention to attend, would be present for the performance that evening. 
 
 Between five and six o'clock C. D. Hess, one of the managers, sent young 
 Fraser to the White House with a formal invitation and a note of reminder. 
 
 When he arrived he looked about for Tad, whom he knew and liked, but 
 could not find him. However, he did see Mr. Lincoln who said that as Mrs. 
 Lincoln had made an engagement at Ford's he could not be present, and gave Fraser 
 a note to that effect to hand to Hess. 
 
 Fraser said that after the news of the assassination had gone over the city that 
 night, in the midst of the wild excitement which prevailed he looked through the 
 office scrap-basket and found parts of the torn envelope and note and "a ragged 
 bit with Lincoln's signature on it." As he stood in a crowd he pulled the torn por- 
 tion containing Lincoln's autograph from his pocket, and while examining it a 
 gentleman who happened to observe him offered $20.00 for the scrap and became 
 the owner. 
 
 "So far as I can find out," added Fraser, "that note was the last thing the 
 President ever wrote. I have read all the literature on the subject of the events 
 of that day that I could lay my hands on, and have found no mention of any later 
 writing by him." 
 
 The gentleman who told the story died about three years ago, but his widow, 
 a son and daughter survive. 
 
 [105] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Through the courtesy of the local Post Office officials at Charleston I have 
 gotten in touch with the remaining members of the family, but for some reason they 
 seem diffident about giving me the information I requested, although the daughter 
 writes that "my mother has father's own account of the last signature of Lincoln, 
 given to him on the night of the tragedy." At one time I thought I was on the 
 verge of securing a copy of this paper, but a prolonged silence has been my only 
 answer to repeated requests for "more light." 
 
 We are all familiar with the unreliability of newspaper accounts, and I should 
 much prefer to have heard what the gentleman himself who was interviewed had 
 to say on the subject. The only fact I did learn, which reflects no credit on the cor- 
 respondent, was that the name of the family is spelled "Frasier." 
 
 In view of this we can consider the known facts relevant to the subject in con- 
 nection with the published account only. 
 
 It is a fact that C. D. Hess was one of the managers of the National, or 
 "Grover's" as it was often called, his partner being Leonard Grover, as stated by 
 Frasier, as we must now call him. 
 
 Both Grover and the sister-in-law of Hess, M. Helen Palmes Moss, have 
 given in the Century Magazine for April 1909, very good accounts of President 
 Lincoln's interest in the theatre and the circumstances in connection with his non- 
 attendance that evening. The former's article has since been reprinted in pamphlet 
 form. 
 
 Grover, who was in New York that day, states that "Mr. Lincoln had reserved 
 a box at my theatre for that fatal night, * * * but sometime during the day Mrs. 
 Lincoln learned that Laura Keene was to have a benefit and a last appearance at 
 Ford's and she requested Mr. Lincoln to change his destination." 
 
 Hess' sister-in-law testifies that on April 14th "the two principal theatres, the 
 National * * * and Ford's, were vying with each other to secure the greatest 
 patronage for they had always been great rivals. A private box had been specially 
 decorated in each theatre with the hope of having the President and his family 
 occupy it." Booth, who the night before had learned that the National was extend- 
 ing an invitation to the President, called the morning of the 14th "to learn the 
 answer. * * * The messenger boy returned with a note written by Mrs. Lincoln, who 
 usually responded to the President's personal notes. In effect it said: He sends 
 his regrets that the invitation was not sent earlier, as he much preferred the Shake- 
 sperian play Wallack and Davenport were giving to the comedy of 'Our American 
 Cousin,' which was being played by Laura Keene at Ford's. Unfortunately he had 
 
 [106] 
 
Chronicle of the Missing Autograph 
 
 accepted the invitation from Ford's. Another time he would be glad to avail him- 
 self of an opportunity to hear them; but his son Tad and his tutor would be glad to 
 accept." 
 
 According to other data I have on hand, both the acceptance to the Ford offer 
 and the declination to the National were made the morning of the 14th, by Mrs. 
 Lincoln, who usually attended to such matters. If Mr. Frasier is quoted correctly 
 in the published account, he is in error both as to the time of day and the writer of 
 the note. And in lieu of any more definite information the matter must rest there. 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
"Lincoln^ Last Official Act" 
 
 MY studies of Lincoln are making me somewhat of an iconoclast. The longer 
 and deeper I delve into things Lincolnian, the more confirmed becomes my 
 belief that much of what has gone into the records concerning Abraham 
 Lincoln and which for years has been accepted as indubitable truths, should be 
 examined by present-day writers with microscopic care, in a fair, unbiased and 
 intelligent manner. And by the term iconoclast, I do not wish to place myself 
 in the same category with the contemporary debunking biographical ghouls who 
 pander to the prevailing sensational tastes of a part of our reading public; I am 
 speaking of the honest biographer who delves after the realities, but who does not 
 place an undue emphasis upon the peccadillos of his subject. 
 
 Dr. Barton and others have been doing yeoman service in blazing the way for 
 those who follow. Unfortunately, the time has long since past when many osten- 
 sible accounts and statements regarded as verities can be investigated. Even so, 
 in the preparation of the present brochure I have come across many indisputable 
 facts tending to completely disprove much that has been said before, and if I were 
 to compile a revised chronicle of the happenings of Lincoln's last day, while addi- 
 tional events more recently discovered would be included, others, by virtue of their 
 spuriousness or doubtfulness, would be either eliminated or revised. 
 
 Success Magazine, for April 1903, contained a circumstantial account of the 
 pardoning of a condemned Confederate soldier on the evening of April 14th, 1865, 
 headed as above. Two years previously, Silas G. Pratt in his volume Lincoln in 
 Story had given practically the same account, his preface stating that "no anecdote 
 is given which has not been carefully verified." And in 1906 Henry Llewellyn 
 Williams' Lincolnics contained the same narrative. Presumably these accounts 
 were all inspired by Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri, who it was alleged, 
 had secured the order for release, and who did not die until 19 13. 
 
 According to the story, Allmon and George Vaughan, brothers, were residing 
 in Canton, Mo., at the outbreak of the Civil War. The former entered the Union 
 army and the latter the Confederate. 
 
 After the battle of Shiloh, George Vaughan secretly visited his home in Canton, 
 and was captured and sentenced to death as a spy. His Unionist brother appealed 
 
 [ 108 1 
 
Last Official Act 
 
 to Senator Henderson who brought the matter to the attention of Stanton, but 
 the latter decided after investigation that the verdict should stand. Appealing 
 to Lincoln, Henderson was successful in having both a second and a third trial, 
 but in each instance the findings were the same. 
 
 On the afternoon of April 14th, 1865, Henderson called at the White House 
 and said that as the war was practically over a pardon would be in the interest 
 of peace and reconciliation, and to this Lincoln agreed. He told Henderson to 
 see Stanton and tell him Vaughan should be released. But Henderson found 
 Stanton obdurate, and that evening calling at the White House again he found 
 the President dressed for the theatre. Upon hearing of Stanton's action, Lincoln 
 shook, his head and seating himself at his desk, wrote an order for the unconditional 
 release of Vaughan. Thus, according to the published accounts, it was "the last 
 official act" of President Lincoln. 
 
 Senator Henderson's widow is still living in Washington, D. C, and, according 
 to the secretary of a state historical society, "one of the leading society patronesses" 
 of the city. She informs the writer that "I was not acquainted with Mr. Henderson 
 at the time of the Lincoln assassination, but as Mr. Henderson afterward talked 
 to me often of his frequent interviews with Mr. Lincoln and did not mention the 
 time of which you speak, I think the report could not have been true." 
 
 On the other hand, the traditions of the Vaughan family agree with the story 
 as published. George Vaughan's descendents are still living in Missouri. 
 
 ll 7 have heard my grandmother tell this story a number of times," says the 
 granddaughter of Vaughan, "and it is correct that Senator Henderson was the 
 one who secured the pardon for my grandfather, George E. Vaughan. As she 
 related it, President Lincoln was leaving for the theatre and took off his glove 
 to sign this pardon for Senator Henderson, * * * In our opinion, there is no 
 doubt but what the story told by Senator Henderson is correct." 
 
 Fortunately the truth of this incident can be arrived at. The records are to 
 be found in the War Department at Washington. The Adjutant General has 
 furnished me with a report from which the following pertinent excerpts are taken : 
 
 "The records of my office show that one George S. E. Vaughan, a citizen, was 
 captured October 17, 1863, by the Federal forces as a Confederate spy and that 
 he was sentenced to confinement for life: (he was not sentenced to be shot). His 
 sentence was mitigated to confinement during the war, and he was released on taking 
 the oath of amnesty April 19, 1865. The records also show that on March 18, 
 1865, application was made by Senator J. B. Henderson for the release of certain 
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 persons from confinement, among whom George S. E. Vaughan was one, and this 
 application was endorsed as follows : 
 
 "Let these men take the oath of Dec. 8, 1863, & be discharged. 
 
 March 18, 1865. A. Lincoln 
 
 "No record is found to show that President Lincoln issued a pardon in the 
 
 case. 
 
 In this instance, as in another mentioned in this volume, no pardon was 
 necessary or in order as the prisoner took the oath of amnesty. 
 
 Lincoln endorsement, dated March 18, 1865, on 
 petition of Senator Henderson, of Missouri, re- 
 questing release of George S. E. Vaughan and 
 twenty-nine others, on taking the Oath of Am- 
 nesty. This exercise of executive clemency has 
 been widely and erroneously published as "Lincoln's 
 Last Official Act." — Courtesy of Adjutant Gen- 
 eral's Office, War Department, Washington, D. C. 
 
 [no] 
 
Last Official Act 
 
 It is rather disappointing that a heart-story such as this should go into the 
 discard, yet there is no other alternative. Lincoln's endorsement was written 
 almost a month before the assassination, yet we can but conjecture what transpired 
 to postpone the taking of the oath of amnesty until April 19th. Was it possible^ 
 that something pertinent had arisen in the interim which required an interview 
 with the President April 14th? Granting this possibility, the facts of the case 
 as evidenced by the War Department records clearly disprove both the published 
 accounts and the Vaughan traditions. Senator Henderson, before his death, gave 
 Miss Tarbell an account of his success in securing the release of several classes} 
 of prisoners after the adjournment of Congress in March 1865, and the petition 
 concerning the name of Vaughan, was evidently one of these. There are twenty 
 names listed on the application for release tendered by Henderson wherein 
 Vaugfian's appears as the last. 
 
 [in] 
 
A Forgotten Idaho Endorsement 
 
 AS an example of the transitory nature of the contemporary popularity or 
 prominence of the vast majority of our political leaders, I have lately come 
 across a pertinent document bearing the endorsement of President Lincoln 
 under date of April 14, 1865, in which the names of three public men are involved, 
 all of them now practically forgotten. Then, too, the resultant official action for 
 many years has been regarded in some quarters as another "last official act" of 
 President Lincoln, although I have never seen the account in print. Fortunately, 
 this valuable paper is safely ensconced in the Congressional Library at Washington. 
 
 The body of the document is in the form of a letter addressed to President 
 Lincoln, dated April 12, 1865, and signed by "W. H. Wallace." Said Mr. Wallace: 
 
 "Sir: I would respectfully recommend Milton Kelley of Idaho for the posi- 
 tion of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Idaho, made 
 vacant by the resignation of Samuel C. Parks." 
 
 On the back our beloved Lincoln has written: "If it is definitely concluded 
 to accept Judge Park's resignation, as I understand it is, let the within named 
 appointment be made." 
 
 
 fL€ J'-/. /?(*,& 
 
 Endorsement of President Lincoln on letter ad- 
 dressed to him by Hon. Wm. H. Wallace concern- 
 ing appointment of Milton Kelly as Associate 
 Justice of Supreme Court of Idaho Territory, 
 dated April 14, 1865. — Courtesy of Library of 
 Congress. 
 
 [112] 
 
A Forgotten Idaho Endorsement 
 
 My courteous ally, Dr. Dennett of the State Department, readily furnished 
 whatever information relative to the careers of Messrs. Parks, Kelley and Wallace 
 the files of the department disclosed. 
 
 "It appears from the Department's records," says Dr. Dennett, "that Mr. 
 Samuel C. Parks of Illinois was appointed Associate Justice of the United States 
 for Idaho Territory by President Lincoln March 10, 1863. It further appears that 
 Judge Samuel Parks was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 Territory of Wyoming on January 1 1, 1878. 
 
 "Mr. Milton Kelley was given a recess appointment as Associate Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of Idaho Territory on April 17, 1865. This appointment was 
 confirmed on January 15, 1866. Judge Kelley was reappointed and confirmed to 
 this office on January 24, 1870. 
 
 "With reference to Mr. William H. Wallace the records of the Department 
 show that he was given a recess appointment as Governor of Washington Terri- 
 tory on April 9, 1861, the appointment being confirmed on July 16, 1861. On 1 
 August 7, 1 86 1, Mr. Wallace received another recess appointment as Governor 
 of Washington Territory. On March 10, 1863, he was appointed Governor of 
 Idaho Territory." 
 
 The certificate of appointment of Mr. Wallace as Governor of Idaho is in 
 the possession of Mr. Wilber Wallace, of Washington, D. C, a grandson of 
 William H. Wallace, from whom I learned the following salient points in connec- 
 tion with his grandfather's public career: 
 
 William Henderson Wallace was born in Troy, Ohio, in 191 1. Removing 
 to Indiana he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1837 he moved to 
 Iowa and became prominent in the politics of that Territory, serving in the 
 legislature, later being elected Speaker of the House. During the administration 
 of President Taylor he also held a federal office. 
 
 In 1853 he settled in Washington Territory, representing his district for 
 several terms in the legislature. 
 
 As stated by the State Department, he was appointed Governor in 1861, but 
 shortly thereafter was elected a delegate to the 37th Congress. Before the 
 expiration of his term the Territory of Idaho was formed and he was commissioned 
 the first Governor. But as in the former case, his new constituents wanted him 
 to represent them at Washington, and so he was accordingly elected the first dele- 
 gate from Idaho Territory to the 38th Congress. 
 
 [113] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 In 1862 he was qualified as attorney to practice before the United States 
 Supreme Court. After the Lincoln assassination he was one of the officials who 
 accompanied the body to Springfield and the silk, hat worn by him on this occasion 
 is preserved in an historical museum. 
 
 Mr. Wallace was prominent in Masonic circles for forty years. Having 
 originally become affiliated with the fraternity in Iowa, at the time of his death, 
 February 7, 1879, he was Master of the Blue Lodge at Steilacoom, Wash., 
 where he is buried. 
 
 It is necessary for our purpose to consider but one of the other characters 
 referred to in the Lincoln document : the gentleman who received the appointment. 
 
 It will have been noticed that both in the letter from Mr. Wallace and the 
 communication from the State Department, he is referred to as Milton "Kelley." 
 This latter spelling is in error; his direct descendants bear testimony to this fact. 
 
 "My grandfather's name has always been spelled 'Kelly,' " says Miss Florence 
 Bush, a granddaughter. "The records show it as far back as 1788, so that the 
 spelling 'Kelley' would have been erroneous." 
 
 And a grandson, Mr. Joseph Perrault, adds: "I cannot explain to you the 
 difference in spelling of grandfather's name. I myself was named after him, my 
 full name being Joseph Kelly Perrault. Years ago, however, I dropped the middle 
 name, but when it was used the second 'e' was not in Kelly." 
 
 These two grandchildren, both of whom live in Boise, Idaho, have furnished 
 me with the following data relative to Judge Kelly, who was another pjrominent 
 political light of the far west during the period of which I write: 
 
 Milton Kelly was born in Gates, near Syracuse, New York, in 18 18. When 
 a young man he migrated westward, settling first in Ohio and later in Wisconsin. 
 Here he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845, following which he 
 engaged in active practice until 1861 when he went to California. The next year 
 he removed to Oregon and shortly thereafter to Idaho. About this time the 
 Territory of Idaho was formed from the then Oregon Territory and Kelly was 
 elected a member of the first Territorial legislature which met in 1863, represent- 
 ing the County of Boise. At this period of its history Lewiston was the capital of 
 the territory. 
 
 As evidenced, at the recommendation of Wallace he was in April 1865 
 appointed Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court, and was assigned to the 
 First Judicial District, residing in Lewiston. 
 
 [114] 
 
A Forgotten Idaho Endorsement 
 
 He resigned from this position in 1870 and the following year removed to 
 Boise, where he purchased the Idaho Statesman, a semi-weekly paper, of which 
 he was owner, editor and publisher. 
 
 For almost twenty years he carried on its publication, but advancing years 
 caused him to sell his interest in 1889 and retire from all activities. The successor 
 company is still publishing the newspaper, which has graduated into the Idaho 
 Daily Statesman. Judge Kelly died in 1892. 
 
 There is a local tradition in the city of Boise to the effect that Kelly's appoint- 
 ment as Associate Justice was "one of the last — if not the last — official acts of 
 Lincoln's life," according to the Idaho Historical Society. And this belief is 
 concurred in by the descendants of Kelly. 
 
 "It is presumed by Judge Kelly's relatives, and we have been so told, that 
 this was the last official act of President Lincoln prior to his going to the Ford 
 Theatre," says Mr. Perrault. 
 
 This opinion is also voiced by Miss Bush, whose mother made a rather 
 extensive historical study of the Kelly family. She states that "my mother told 
 me that it was the last official act of Lincoln and that she had this information 
 from her father, Judge Kelly." 
 
 Whether his "last official act" or not, President Lincoln on April 14th certain- 
 ly set the wheels in motion for the appointment, but in whose presence we cannot 
 know for a certainty. Judge Kelly was in Idaho City at the time, and Wilber 
 Wallace, searching through his grandfather's papers, has failed to find any record 
 of him being in conference with the President on the day in question. He adds, 
 however, the significant and oft found statement, that "my grandmother told me 
 that she and grandfather were invited to that sad theatre party, but failed to go 
 as they had taken a long trip that day, and on returning were so tired out that 
 they decided not to go." My own opinion is that Mr. Wallace himself was the 
 individual who importuned President Lincoln either the forenoon or afternoon 
 of the day of the assassination. 
 
 [115] 
 
Lincoln^ Last Writing 
 
 IT seems to have been customary to designate every known piece of writing 
 done by Abraham Lincoln dated April 14th, and even April 13th, 1865 — to say 
 nothing of the Henderson endorsement of March 18th — as the "last" writing 
 done by the Martyr President. Many loose statements bearing an air of proba- 
 bility have been made in this connection, and undoubtedly in good faith, but likewise 
 with no knowledge of the various factors entering into the presupposition. When 
 subjected to the acid test, necessarily all but one must be relegated into the limbo 
 of the discredited Lincoln tales. I hope to establish here, for all time, the actual 
 last writing which our illustrious subject penned. 
 
 The Singleton pass has been variously termed "the last writing Lincoln did," 
 "the last document issued by him," and "the last pass he ever wrote;" the 
 McCulloch note has been described as the "last formal writing addressed to a 
 member of his Cabinet;" while the note to Attorney General Speed, likewise 
 dated the 13th, is "believed to have been the last official letter ever penned by him." 
 In addition, the Kellogg appointment to the Collectorship of the New Orleans 
 Port, described as "the last commission ever signed by Lincoln," and the Saunders 
 appointment to the Governorship of Nebraska Territory, the signing of which was 
 "probably the last official act of President Lincoln's life," were both issued and 
 dated the 13th; yet it is but just to say that in both instances the President may 
 have affixed his signature the following day. 
 
 The endorsement on the Herron petition is "presumed the last act of clemency 
 by the great and good man;" the Rollins note is stated in some quarters to have 
 been "Lincoln's last signature;" the paper now in the possession of Mr. Hertz is 
 believed "the last paper signed by Abraham Lincoln before his assassination;" 
 and the pass in the Oldroyd collection is said to have been "the last writing done 
 by President Lincoln with pen and ink." Of the two signatures which are not in 
 evidence, the note to Senator Stewart was dubbed "the last words Abraham Lincoln 
 ever wrote;" while the Frasier note is claimed to have been "the last thing the 
 President wrote." The note of admittance given to Ashmun bears the title of 
 "the last writing of Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 With all these conflicting claims for the "last" this, that or the other writing, 
 it would seem high time that some definite conclusion should be reached. And 
 
 [116] 
 
Lincoln's Last Writing 
 
 while it will be observed that all of these documents are not claimed to have been 
 the last "writing" of Lincoln, yet there are enough which have been to make it 
 confusing, and the inference in the other cases has usually been that such was also 
 the fact with relation to them. Several of these Lincoln papers have been 
 already considered, and the reader has drawn his own conclusions. The remainder 
 will be discussed here. 
 
 One of my scrap-books contains an article clipped from the Philadelphia 
 Public Ledger, during the year 1903 I believe, headed Lincoln' s Last Autograph, 
 a reprint from an Ohio paper, detailing an interview with Senator William M. 
 Stewart, of Nevada. It opens thus: 
 
 "In the ceremonies held in various cities in celebration of Lincoln's birthday 
 last week, says the Cincinnati Enquirer, it developed that no less than three auto- 
 graph letters are preserved, each alleged to contain Lincoln's last signature. All 
 of the letters are dated on the fateful 14th of April, when John Wilkes Booth 
 fired the shot which caused Columbia to mourn her first matyr President. 
 
 "All of these letters are, of course, very valuable mementoes, but, upon the 
 authority of no less a person than Senator William M. Stewart, of Nevada, 
 it may be asserted that none of them represents the last autograph of Lincoln. 
 Senator Stewart has made no controversial assertion about the matter, but a number 
 of politicians and newspaper men who heard the Senator from Nevada tell a story 
 in a Washington restaurant several years ago will be very ready to agree that 
 Lincoln's last autograph was unquestionably destroyed." 
 
 The article then goes on to give an account of the occasion which brought 
 forth the autograph, which differs in some details from that appearing in the 
 series A\ Senator of the Sixties — Personal Recollections of William M. Stewart, 
 of Nevada, edited by George Rothwell Brown, published in the Saturday Evening 
 Post in 1908, and afterward issued in book form. The phraseology of the note, 
 too, varies in the two accounts, but the thought is substantially the same. 
 
 According to the story, Stewart accompanied by a friend called at the White 
 House that evening, and presenting their cards to an usher, in a few minutes received 
 a penciled card from the President. 
 
 Stewart said that at the time he did not consider the note of importance and 
 immediately discarded it. As they left they noticed Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln preparing 
 to enter the carriage, and had a few moments' conversation with the President. 
 
 Following is the note as recorded in the Public Ledger, recalled by a reporter 
 several years after the relation of the incident: 
 
 [117] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "My Dear Stewart: We are just leaving for the theatre and I may not delay 
 our departure to have the pleasure of meeting your friend. I shall be most pleased 
 to see you both in the White House tomorrow morning. Yours, 
 
 Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 The later account, evidently written with more care and thought, gives the 
 note as follows : 
 
 "1 am engaged to go to the theatre with Mrs. Lincoln. It is the kind of an 
 engagement I never break. Come with your friend to-morrow at ten, and I shall 
 be glad to see you. 
 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 I have often speculated as to just what those three autograph "letters" were 
 which were referred to by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and have come to the conclusion 
 that they probably included: 
 
 First, a note penned to Secretary Stanton endorsing a petition presented by 
 Congressman Edward H. Rollins, of New Hampshire; 
 
 Secondly, a memorandum signed by the President at the request of two un- 
 named gentlemen who wanted to go to Richmond ; 
 
 And thirdly, a note given Hon. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, permitting 
 him and a friend to be admitted at nine o'clock the following morning. 
 
 All of these autographs are still carefully preserved today and through the 
 courtesy of the present holders are reproduced in facsimile in this volume. 
 
 The first is in the possession of a grandson of Hon. E. H. Rollins, who after- 
 wards became United States Senator, Mr. Sherwood Rollins, of Boston, Mass.; 
 the second is to be found in the old Oldroyd Lincoln Collection in Washington, 
 D. C. ; while the third is exhibited in the Manuscript Division of the Library of 
 Congress. 
 
 In a volume by James O. Lyford entitled Life of Edward H. Rollins: A 
 Political Biography, published by Dana Estes and Company of Boston in 1906, 
 appears this story: 
 
 "It is interesting to note that the last official signature of Abraham Lincoln 
 is in the possession of the Rollins family. About five o'clock on the afternoon of 
 April 14, 1865, Rollins called upon the President to secure his endorsement on a 
 petition from New Hampshire addressed to the Secretary of War. Lincoln had 
 
 [118] 
 
Lincoln's Last Writing 
 
 finished his day's business and left his office in the White House, going upstairs. 
 On receiving Rollins' card, he returned to meet him. Lincoln took the petition on 
 his knee and wrote his endorsement, dated it, and signed his name. As Rollins 
 took his departure, Lincoln gave orders to the doorkeeper to admit no one to the 
 White House. As Lincoln's assassination followed that evening, Rollins did not 
 present the petition, but kept it as a memento of the martyred President, forwarding 
 the request of his New Hampshire constituents in another way. A few years later 
 this petition was shown to Schuyler Colfax by Senator Rollins' son, Edward W. 
 Rollins, and the time and circumstances connected with the President's signature 
 related. Colfax said that it was undoubtedly Lincoln's last signature, as he 
 dined (?) with the President that night and after dinner escorted him to the 
 carriage which was to take him to the theatre. Colfax said that while he was at 
 the White House in the evening Lincoln performed no official act." 
 
 A communication from the present owner of the autograph gives practically 
 the same account, as it had been handed down to him. 
 
 The endorsement of President Lincoln appears on a communication issued 
 from the Executive Department, State of New Hampshire, and dated Concord, 
 March 29, 1865. 
 
 It is addressed to the two Senators and three Representatives in Congress from 
 New Hampshire, and reads as follows : 
 
 "Gentlemen: We desire to submit to you the enclosed communication which 
 has just been laid before us by the State Treasurer. We can vouch for the accuracy 
 of the statements which it contains in regard to the impoverished condition of the 
 state treasury and the utter impossibility of meeting the current wants of our state 
 by resort to a popular loan or the sale of our state bonds. We feel that we ought, 
 in this emergency, to receive from the General Government an instalment at 
 least on the amount due our state. No state has responded more promptly and 
 enthusiastically than New Hampshire to all the demands of the authorities at 
 Washington. It is mainly because our people are absorbing with such alacrity the 
 seven-thirty bonds that we are reduced to such financial straights. We ask from 
 the General Government only such sums as are absolutely and indispensably neces- 
 sary; and have every confidence that the representations which we make (if en- 
 dorsed by you and energetically pressed) will procure us the money which we need." 
 
 This communication was signed by J. A. Gilmore, Governor, and four mem- 
 bers of the Executive Council. 
 
 On the back of this petition Lincoln wrote : 
 
 [119] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "Hon. Secretary of War, please see and hear Hon. Mr. Rollins, & oblige 
 him if you consistently can. 
 
 April 14, 1865. A. Lincoln." 
 
 /GrffV/-. JS^cy^C^ erf Wfe</i&~*s 
 A**J Q^-cxf sKlm-s /Ww*- t ffh*r 
 
 Note from President Lincoln addressed to Secretary 
 Stanton, dated April 14, 1865. Another claimant for 
 "last writing" — a" natural error. Issued late in after- 
 noon of assassination. — Courtesy of Mr. Sherwood Rol- 
 lins, a grandson of Congressman Rollins. 
 
 The second autograph is framed, together with a lock of President Lincoln's 
 hair, and now hangs in the old house in which Lincoln died, bearing the follow" 
 ing notation : "This is the last writing done by President Lincoln with pen and ink. 
 It was written in answer to an application for a pass to Richmond a few moments 
 previous to leaving the Executive Mansion for Ford's Theatre on the night of the 
 assassination, 14th of April, 1865." 
 
 The note is as follows: 
 
 "No pass is necessary now to authorize anyone to go to & return from Peters- 
 burg & Richmond. People go & return just as they did before the war. 
 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 From Captain Osborn H. Oldroyd, former owner of the Oldroyd Lincoln 
 Collection located at 516 Tenth Street, N. W., opposite the old Ford's Theatre, 
 now owned by the government, and Mr. Lewis G. Reynolds, the present Custodian, 
 I have gathered the known facts in connection with this writing, and they are 
 largely conjectural. 
 
 [ 120 ] 
 
Lincoln's Last Writing 
 
 Another alleged "last writing" of President Lincoln, issued in lieu of 
 a pass to Petersburg and Richmond. Undated, but in all probability written 
 day of the assassination. — Courtesy of Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, Director Public 
 Buildings, and Mr. Lewis G. Reynolds, Director Lincoln (Oldroyd) Col- 
 lection, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The note bears no date. "There really was no reason for dating it," says 
 Mr. Reynolds. "It was not a pass, but an excuse or reason for not giving one. 
 None was necessary." 
 
 It is supposed to have been written about 8:15 P. M., "just as the President 
 and Mrs. Lincoln were about to leave for the theatre." Two Southerners, names 
 unknown, applied to President Lincoln for a pass to Richmond and Petersburg. 
 As he now deemed this unnecessary, he wrote the note in lieu of one, and handed 
 it to the men. Oldroyd refers to the President as being in consultation with Ash- 
 mun at the time, and Mrs. Lincoln waiting out in the carriage for her husband, 
 having twice sent a messenger for him to join her. But other trustworthy ac- 
 counts state that Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, Speaker Colfax and Mr. Ashmun left 
 the White House together. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds advances the theory that as the note "is not in Lincoln's even 
 handwriting, he probably held the card in his hand, or placed it on the top of his 
 hat, as he often did, and that accounts for the uneven writing," which surmise may 
 be correct. 
 
 After Lincoln's death, so the story goes, one of the gentlemen on showing the 
 card at the White House obtained the lock of hair now attached to the card. Some 
 years later, when Oldroyd first began his collecting of Lincolniana, he was approach- 
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 ed by a party who had secured the card and lock of hair, and purchased them for 
 $35.00. He was unsuccessful in trying to secure the names of the two Southerners. 
 The individual from whom he bought the item "did not get their names." "I 
 asked the man to hunt up the two men but he could not find them," says Oldroyd. 
 
 Despite all this ambiguity, and although no date is given, I am satisfied that the 
 writing was done on April 14th. The preceding day President Lincoln had 
 given Singleton a pass to Richmond, evidently thinking it advisable then, although 
 this may have been largely on account of the mission, whatever it was, that 
 Singleton was engaged in. But on April 14th, with his heart full of kindliness 
 and his cup of joy filled to overflowing, he thought that "no pass is necessary 
 now." 
 
 Mr. Francis Wilson, in his recent John Wilkes Booth, states that this writing 
 disputes with the Ashmun card the honor of being the last autograph of Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 At this point, and before considering the Ashmun note, mention should be 
 made of the Saunders' appointment, concerning which strong claims have been 
 made, and quite naturally so. Indeed it may have been one of the three signatures, 
 of Abraham Lincoln to which the Enquirer reporter referred. 
 
 In Col. A. K. McClure's Abe Lincoln's Yarns and Stories appears this 
 anecdote headed Lincoln's Last Official Act: 
 
 "Probably the last official act of President Lincoln's life was the signing of 
 the commission reappointing Alvin Saunders Governor of Nebraska. 
 
 " 'I saw Mr. Lincoln regarding the matter,' said Governor Saunders, 'and he 
 told me to go home ; that he would attend to it all right. I left Washington on the 
 morning of the 14th, and while en route the news of the assassination on the evening, 
 of the same day reached me. I immediately wired back to find out what had 
 become of my commission, and was told that the room had not been opened. When 
 it was opened, the document was found lying on the desk. 
 
 " 'Mr. Lincoln signed it just before leaving for the theatre that fatal evening, 
 and left it lying there unfolded. 
 
 a < 
 
 'A note was found below the document as follows: "Rather a lengthy 
 commission, bestowing upon Mr. Alvin Saunders the official authority of Governor 
 of the territory of Nebraska." Then came Lincoln's signature, which, with one 
 exception, that of a penciled message on the back of a card sent up by a friend as. 
 Mr. Lincoln was dressing for the theatre, was the very last signature of the 
 martyred President.' " 
 
 [ 122] 
 
Lincoln's Last Writing 
 
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 18fi^ C h^ m iifc°/ Alvin Saunders as Territorial Governor of Nebraska, dated April 13, 
 1805 but alleged to have been signed by President Lincoln April 14th, and his "last officia 
 
 of g Mr« r R n£ h , e TT Pr ° b - ablllt 3, eS \ re tha / „ k was signed the da r of the assassinatfon.-Cou7tesy 
 of Mrs. Russel Harrison, daughter of Governor Saunders. J 
 
 [ 123 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 Alvin Saunders served the state of Nebraska well, both as Territorial Govern- 
 or from 1861 to 1867, and as United States Senator from 1877 to 1883. His 
 widow has but recently died, and a daughter survives him, Mrs. Russel Harrison, 
 of Omaha. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison states that "my father was a personal friend of Mr. Lincoln, 
 as was also my uncle Presley Saunders, who enlisted with Mr. Lincoln in the 
 Black Hawk War. Father was delegate to the convention that nominated Mr. 
 Lincoln and was appointed Governor of the Territory of Nebraska in 1861, and 
 reappointed four years later. He was in Washington and with the President the 
 day of his assassination, leaving him shortly before he attended the theatre to take 
 a train west. Mr. Lincoln told my father he did not care to go to the theatre 
 that evening, but that Secretary Stanton (?) was unable to attend and that the 
 audience would be disappointed if he did not go. Father heard of the assassination 
 while enroute home. When the President's desk was opened the next day father's 
 commission was found in it just as he had left it after signing." 
 
 It will be noted by referring to the facsimile of the commission that Governor 
 Saunders made this affirmation : 
 
 "The signature of President Lincoln attached to this commission, was evidently 
 the last official signature made by him — He signed it just before leaving for the 
 theatre, where he was assassinated, and left the commission on his desk without 
 stopping to fold it, and where it was found when the room was opened after 
 his death — These facts were communicated to me by one of the clerks. Alvin 
 Saunders." 
 
 By one of the "clerks," Saunders was evidently referring to one of Lincoln's 
 secretaries. The alleged note mentioned by McClure is not in evidence. 
 
 It will also be observed that the body of the document has been filled out by 
 another hand, probably an attache at the Department of State. It is also counter- 
 signed by William H. Seward, as Secretary of State. In addition it is dated the 
 thirteenth of April. 
 
 The Signature of Seward is without doubt his own, Dr. Tyler Dennett, of 
 the State Department, corroborating my own belief in this respect. When he affixed 
 his signature, we know not. He was, and had been incapacitated for over a week), 
 and was not to be in any condition for signing documents for some time to come. 
 
 "This signature of William H. Seward," says Dr. Dennett, "has been com- 
 pared with originals on file in the Department of State and has been found to 
 
 [124] 
 
Lincoln's Last Writing 
 
 agree with those of Secretary Seward. It is customary for this Department to 
 date its appointments on the day they are filled out and then send them to the 
 President for his signature. Thus it often happens that the President's signature 
 is affixed a day or two later. 
 
 "Alvin Saunders was appointed Territorial Governor of Nebraska on March 
 27, 1 86 1. On April 13, 1865, he was appointed by the President for a second term. 
 The wording of this appointment was 'during the pleasure of the President of the 
 United States, for the time being, and until the next session of the Senate of the 
 United States and no longer.' This wording is customary for appointments made 
 when Congress is not in session. On January 9, 1866, the Senate confirmed Mr. 
 Saunder's second appointment." 
 
 As in the case of the Kellogg commission, I have no doubt that Lincoln 
 signed the document the 14th of April, either in the afternoon or evening. It may 
 have been the latter. 
 
 The third piece of writing referred to in my proposition is now in the 
 possession of the Library of Congress, having been presented by the grandchildren 
 of George Ashmun. 
 
 It is in the form of a card, and this, together with a small photo of President 
 Lincoln and a note signed by Mr. Ashmun, is framed and bears the label "the last 
 writing of Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 The note penned by Lincoln, and familiar to many students, reads: 
 
 "Allow Mr. Ashmun & friend to come in at 9 A. M., tomorrow — 
 
 April 14, 1865. A. Lincoln" 
 
 Ashmun's endorsement is as follows: 
 
 "The above is the last autograph of President Lincoln. It was written & 
 given to me at half past 8 P. M. April 14, 1865, just as he & Mrs. Lincoln were 
 starting for the theatre where he was assassinated. 
 
 May 1, 1865. Geo. Ashmun" 
 
 This undoubtedly was the last writing of Abraham Lincoln. Ashmun, who 
 was with President Lincoln from approximately 7 =30 P. M. that evening until 
 the departure for the theatre, was certainly in a position to know, and he makes an 
 unqualified assertion to that effect, dated shortly after the event. 
 
 At the time of the assassination the story received a wide circulation in many 
 
 [ 125] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 of the newspapers, it being stated that the note was written on the President's knee 
 after entering the carriage. Mr. George Ashmun Morton, of New Haven, 
 Conn., a grandson of Mr. Ashmun, says that it was written on Lincoln's knee 
 "just as he was getting into the carriage." The difference is of little note. Mr. 
 Morton also states that Ashmun was prevented from joining the Lincoln party 
 by important governmental work. 
 
 The Tarbell biography and Francis Wilson's Booth contain facsimiles of this 
 note. It would have been more in the line of accuracy if others had carefully 
 examined the original. 
 
 The Gettysburg edition of the Nicolay and Hay Complete Works published 
 by the Tandy Co. in 1905, gives the note thus: 
 
 "Allow Mr. Ashmun and his friends to come in at 9 A. M. to-morrow." 
 
 The National edition of Lincoln's Writings edited by Arthur Brooks Lapsley, 
 published by Putnam's the same year, quotes it as reading: 
 
 "Allow Mr. Ashmer and friend to come in at 9 A. M. to-morrow." 
 
 The former was evidently included on hearsay evidence; the latter presumably 
 was taken from the note itself, but without verifying the name of the individual. 
 
 Holland stated in his biography in 1866 that the friend to be admitted was 
 Judge C. P. Daly of New York. Charles Patrick Daly was at one time Chief 
 Justice of the State and the National Cyclopedia of American Biography says 
 that during the war he was in frequent consultation with President Lincoln and 
 members of his Cabinet. 
 
 [ 126] 
 
"And They All With One Consent 
 Began to Make Excuse" 
 
 I HAVE been reminded of this passage of Scripture many times in going over the 
 reminiscences of those who were privileged to have had intercourse with Presi- 
 dent Lincoln that last day of his life. For in many instances, those acquaint- 
 ances or friends who had any kind of a chat, have recorded that the Chief Executive 
 importuned him or them to accompany himself and Mrs. Lincoln to the theatre 
 that evening, and one cannot help but reflect that if all those who made claim to 
 having been asked had accepted the invitation, what a galaxy of the great and 
 near great would have been there. It would have been necessary to commandeer 
 all of the boxes in the house, and surely the advertisement-seeking Mr. Ford 
 would have been satisfied. But what must have been the mingled feelings of the, 
 kind-hearted Lincoln as he heard the familiar rejoinder, "I pray thee have me 
 excused," to each and every open-hearted plea which he made alike to son, Army 
 Officer, Cabinet official, statesman and near statesman, as they saw him on various 
 errands that last Good Friday. 
 
 I am not censuring his callers; I am casting no reflections upon their 
 veracity; but I have often wondered whether Lincoln, a social being if ever there 
 was one, stopped for one brief moment in that crowded day to speculate or philo- 
 sophize upon his lack of success in getting a single congenial soul to accompany 
 him to the play-house. And by this statement I mean to cast no reflection on his 
 life-companion, who only now in some measure is coming into her own by our later 
 writers, and with whom he spent alone those brief, happy hours that afternoon; 
 nor on the two young people who were members of that theatre party at the re- 
 quest of Mrs. Lincoln herself. 
 
 Robert Lincoln, just home from the front, asked to be excused as he had not 
 slept in a bed for two weeks; General Grant declined on the grounds both of a pre- 
 arranged visit to their children in Burlington, N. J., and a disinclination to face a 
 demonstration in his honor; Eckert, the Telegraph Chief in the War Department, 
 had important work to do for Secretary Stanton that evening; Postmaster General 
 Dennison refused on religious grounds; Oglesby and Haynie had an engagement 
 with Stanton; Howard, of Michigan, had made arrangements to leave for Detroit 
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 on the evening train; the Wallaces were too fatigued as the result of a "long 
 trip" that day; Colfax pleaded other arrangements in view of his leaving for the 
 Pacific Coast the next morning; while Ashmun had other important business to 
 attend to. Brooks, the correspondent, who was to have succeeded Nicolay as sec- 
 retary, called after dinner and was told by the President that he "had had a 
 notion" of sending for him, but that Mrs. Lincoln had already made up the 
 party after the Grants had declined. 
 
 [ 128] 
 
A Leaf from the Browning Diary 
 
 IN 1925 the Illinois State Historical Society published the first volume of a 
 series of two containing The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, under 
 the editorship of Professors Theodore Calvin Pease and James G. Randall, of 
 the University of Illinois, and covering the years 1850 to 1864, inclusive. The 
 second volume is now in preparation. This diary has been hailed by Lincoln 
 students, and rightly so, as a new source of Lincoln knowledge. Dr. Barton, 
 in his biography published the same year, was allowed access to the diary and has 
 referred to it as "a remarkable document and a new and intimate source of knowl- 
 edge of Lincoln." 
 
 On March 29, 1923, Professor Pease delivered a lecture before the Chicago 
 Historical Society on The Diary of Orville H. Browning. In his prefatory 
 remarks he stated that it covers a period of thirty-one years, from 1850 to 1881, 
 although the years 1851, 1878 and 1879 are missing. Contained in twenty-five 
 small note books, the typed transcript requires 1400 legal cap pages. 
 
 In his lecture Professor Pease quotes from that part of the entry for April 
 14th, 1865, wherein Browning gives his observations of the effect that the passing 
 of his old friend would have upon the country. 
 
 Through the courtesy of Professor Pease and the Illinois Historical Society, 
 the owner of the manuscript, I have been furnished with a verbatim copy of the 
 entry for that day, and appended herewith will be found that portion which is re- 
 levant to our subject. 
 
 It should be noted that on this day Browning was "at Treasury Depart: about 
 Singletons business;" that at 3 P. M. he, together with Senator Stewart, called at 
 the Executive Mansion, to find the President "done receiving for the day;" that at 
 7 P. M. they both went back, Stewart presumably leaving on learning of the 
 President's intention to go to the theatre and Browning waiting "in his room" till 
 eight o'clock without seeing him. I judge this room to have been the President's 
 office on the second floor, facing south, and the second room from the south-east 
 corner of the Mansion. Browning states that Lincoln "was not up at his room after 
 dinner." However, the Lincoln suite was on the same floor to the west, and the 
 same side of the hall, where it must be presumed Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln prepared 
 for the theatre. Pendel, the doorkeeper, states in his Thirty-Six Years in the White 
 
 [ 129 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 House published thirty-seven years later, that "just previous to the time when 
 the President and Mrs. Lincoln were going to the theatre, George Ashmun, of 
 Massachusetts, called on Mrs. Lincoln, and I showed him into the Red Room, took 
 his card upstairs, and soon the President and Mrs. Lincoln, with Mr. Colfax, 
 then Speaker of the House, came downstairs and went into the Red Parlor, where 
 Mr. Ashmun was waiting." 
 
 Colfax, in his article written twenty-seven years after the incident, says that 
 at the morning interview the President had requested him to call at half past 
 seven that evening, and that a "few minutes before the time he had himself 
 suggested, Mr. Lincoln and his wife walked into the parlor. * * * Mr. Ashmun * * * 
 had stepped in to see him on business * * * ,and Mr. Lincoln greeted both of us 
 with more than his usual cordiality." 
 
 Miss Laughlin in one of her studies says that after dinner Colfax and Ashmun 
 "had a brief talk with the President in the library upstairs;" in another she states 
 that "these gentlemen were shown into one of the parlors and talked briefly with 
 the President." 
 
 But whether the President received his visitors above or below, Browning seems 
 to have been oblivious to what was going on about him, and with this thought I 
 am reminded of what Prof. Pease has said of the assassination of Lincoln: that 
 Browning records it "in detail without seeming to understand that one of the great 
 men of all time had passed from his touch." Certainly in some things the talented 
 Browning seemed rather slow of comprehension! 
 
 Senator Stewart has stated how he sent his card to the President and received 
 a note in return; Robert Lincoln, then just returned from the front, told Miss 
 Laughlin that his father stopped at the door of his bedroom which was over the 
 entrance, and therefore across the hall from the President's office, although two 
 or three rooms farther to the west; and whether Colfax was received on the 
 second floor as indicated by Pendel, or whether both the callers were received on 
 that floor or the one below, Browning should have noticed the stir incident to 
 the happenings. 
 
 The reader should also note Browning's statement that Marshal Lamon had 
 within the last two months informed him several times of the possibility of assas- 
 sination and the reference to "Bealle," which must have been John Y. Beall con- 
 cerning whom much has been written by certain writers, particularly those of a 
 strong anti-Lincoln slant. 
 
 Following is the entry: 
 
 [ 130] 
 
A Leaf from the Browning Diary 
 
 "Friday, April 14, at War Department and got passes for some refugee 
 Germans to return to their families in Richmond. At Treasury Depart : about 
 Singletons business. 
 
 At 3 P. M. went with Senator Stewart of Nevada to see the President, 
 but he was done receiving for the day, and we did not send in our cards. At 
 7 P. M. we went back to the Presidents. I went into his room and sat there 
 till 8 o'clock waiting for him, but he did not come. He was going to the 
 theatre and was not up at his room after dinner. 
 
 After 1 1 at night, and after Mrs. Browning and myself had retired, but 
 were not yet asleep, the bell rang — I went to the front window and looked 
 out, and found Judge Watts there who made the astounding announcement 
 that the President, Secretary Seward and Mr. F. W. Seward had just been 
 assassinated — the former at Ford's Theatre — the two latter at their residence — 
 the Secretary being in bed from the effects of recent injuries sustained by 
 being thrown from his carriage. We were overwhelmed with horror at this 
 shocking event. 
 
 I had been to the (sic) both the Presidents and Mr. Sewards since night, 
 only a few hours before, and it was hard to realize that such fearful tragedies 
 had been realized. The Marshal W. H. Lamon has several times within the 
 last two months told me that he believed the President would be assassinated, 
 but I had no fear whatever that such an event would occur. * * * I am at a 
 loss as to the class of persons who instigated the crime — whether it was the 
 rebel leaders * * * or the friends and accomplices of Bcalle (sic) who was 
 recently hung at New York. I am inclined to the latter opinion." 
 
 [131] 
 
A 
 
 The Feast Which Was Not 
 
 NEW and unusual tale of what was to have been the finale of that fatal April 
 14th appeared in a Washington paper on Lincoln's anniversary of last year, 
 from the pen of George M. Battey Jr. 
 
 "A midnight feast," said Mr. Battey in his opening remarks, "celebrating 
 the fall of Richmond, the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee and the end of the Civil 
 War was to have been held at the White House the night of Good Friday, April 
 14th, 1865. 
 
 "The Mansion had been appropriately set in order for the joyous occasion, 
 tempting viands were steaming on the great stove in the basement, and the hired 
 help, allowed to repair to their homes for a few hours, had been ordered to report 
 back about eleven o'clock to serve and attend the guests. 
 
 "This prandial affair was supposed to assemble congenial and diplomatic 
 spirits who might exercise a helpful influence upon the sensitive relations existing 
 between the North and the South, and thus aid in realizing the dream of President 
 Lincoln of a reunited country. 
 
 "The places at the table were never filled; the stove wood was reduced to ashes, 
 and the stew congealed in the kettle as White House attaches forsook their allotted 
 employments on hearing that Mr. Lincoln had been mortally shot. 
 
 "Instead of gathering at the appointed hour at the White House, the prospec- 
 tive guests went their several ways to guard their own households, to join in the 
 pursuit of the assassins or to augment that melancholy circle around Mr. Lincoln's 
 bed at the Peterson home. 
 
 "So far as the Writer is aware, the circumstances of a planned supper at the 
 White House on this memorial day is unwritten history. That such an event, 
 told to as many as six people, should have escaped the notice of biographers or 
 been obscured so long in any manner is almost beyond belief. Yet we know that 
 certain officials were uncommonly reticent concerning that last day, not only as 
 to their own whereabouts but as to any event connected with it; and, on the other 
 hand, a witness appears whose story in other particulars so neatly dovetails with 
 fact that it appears impossible to doubt his tale. In an hour of close questioning 
 this man relates so much that was common knowledge of the period that his con-> 
 
 [ I3 2 1 
 
The Feast which was not 
 
 tribution recommends itself to the category of stray fragments which have bobbed 
 up after some time to make the mosaic of Lincoln what it is today. 
 
 "Assuming it to be a fact that a party was scheduled for the White House 
 after the presentation of 'Our American Cousin' at Ford's, it may be thought of as 
 an occasion bringing together Cabinet ministers, generals and others to the number 
 of 25 (beyond which limit it could not well have remained secret 63 years), or it 
 may be conceived as a grouping of a handful of close personal friends of the 
 Lincoln's and even as a quiet compliment to the affianced pair who occupied the 
 presidential box with them that night — Maj. Henry R. Rathbone of Albany, N. Y., 
 and the United States Volunteers, and Miss Clara Harris, daughter of Senator 
 Harris of New York City." 
 
 Mr. Battey received his story from the lips of a colored gentleman of worthy 
 repute, then almost seventy-eight years of age, whose father, according to his own 
 account, was butler at the White House during the incumbency of Presidents 
 Buchanan, Lincoln and Johnson. Battey testified that his informant "is not a talka- 
 tive man, and he enjoys a reputation for veracity; further, his mind is perfectly 
 clear on the things he relates." 
 
 This individual, whose name was Brown, related many reminiscences of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln and his kindness and gave his own recollections of that eventful 
 night when his father had gone to the White House to assist at a supper and the 
 news came that the President had been shot at Ford's Theatre. He could not 
 state who had been invited, nor how many, explaining that he did not know as his 
 father was not the steward, and helped to wait on the table only in emergencies. 
 Furthermore, he did not know whether the guests were to come from the theatre 
 or elsewhere. 
 
 Some months after the article appeared I had a talk with Mr. Battey in his 
 "sanctum" in New York City. He said that in his own mind the story was 
 plausible, Brown being of a modest nature and bearing a reputation for truthful- 
 ness. He further stated that he believed one reason for its not being mentioned 
 at the time, was that the assassination drove all thoughts from the minds of men. 
 This latter view is in line with my own opinion, previously expressed, why more 
 relevant data were not brought forward at the time. However, until something of 
 a corroborative nature is forthcoming, we must take Mr. Brown's story cum granum 
 salts. 
 
 I throw this out as a suggested line for research: is there anything significant 
 in the as yet obfuscated story of the dinner or "supper" to which Yates, Singleton 
 and others were to have gone, which has been referred to hereinbefore? Admittedly 
 
 [ J 33 ] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 the status of this alleged dinner is conjectural, but if certain documents and papers 
 in the possession of the Singleton family are edited and published, as is contem- 
 plated, we can at least know whether they have any bearing on the subject of the 
 asseverated feast-to-be in the Executive Mansion. 
 
 [ 134] 
 
Miscellany and Allied Data 
 
 HAVE tried to secure a list of the White House attaches on the day of the 
 Lincoln assassination. The best I have been able to do was to obtain from 
 
 M. the General Accounting Office at Washington the names of the employes who 
 
 were on the pay rolls March 31st, 1865, as follows: 
 
 Private Secretary John G. Nicolay 
 
 Stewardess Mrs. Mary Ann Cuthbert 
 
 Messenger Thomas F. Pendel 
 
 Doorkeeper Edward Baurke 
 
 Assistant Doorkeeper Alphonso Donn 
 
 Furnace Keeper Thomas W. Cross 
 
 Watchman Thomas Stackpole 
 
 Watchman John K. Vernon 
 
 Naturally this list is incomplete. As an example, Stoddard the third of the 
 triumvirate of Private secretaries, has testified that Nicolay was the only "private 
 secretary" allowed by law, both Hay and himself being carried as Department 
 clerks and "assigned to duty" at the White House. And we look in vain for the 
 names of Charles Forbes, valet and footman; Elizabeth Keckly, the seamstress, 
 and others. 
 
 According to Pendel, who is not always accurate, he was serving as door- 
 keeper at this time, and in this instance he is corroborated by Crook, one of the 
 special bodyguards provided for President Lincoln by the Chief of Police in 
 November 1864. Furthermore, "Baurke," listed here as doorkeeper, was evidently 
 "Ned" Burke, the coachman. But a curious fact in connection with his name is 
 that at the trial of John H. Surratt it is given at Francis P. Burke. It is interest- 
 ing to know that at this time he testified that he drove the carriage of President 
 Lincoln to the theatre the night of the assassination, and noted nothing of par- 
 ticular interest after the party left the carriage, as he "felt tired" and "was rather 
 drowsy," as he "had been out all day." 
 
 Recently Mr. George H. Smyser, a Lincoln collector of Ridgefield, N. J., 
 presented me with two scrap books the contents of which were evidently assembled 
 
 [135] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 between the years 1900 and 19 10, and in one of them I came across an interesting 
 article. 
 
 It is in the form of a Lincoln anecdote related by the widow of Captain 
 Charles Clifford Morrison, Ordnance Corps, United States Army, who died on 
 Governors Island, New York Harbor, on May 13, 1894. 
 
 According to the account Morrison's boyish ambition had been to secure an 
 appointment at West Point, and as an older brother, Campbell Morrison, had re- 
 ceived an appointment from the Congressman of their home district at Cincinnati, 
 Clifford determined to appeal to President Lincoln. 
 
 In the spring of 1865, young Morrison, then sixteen years of age, carrying let- 
 ters of introduction secured an audience with the President and received a kindly re- 
 ception. 
 
 "Boy," said Lincoln, "do you realize that I have only ten appointments to give, 
 and that there are at least ten thousand applicants?" 
 
 However, the matter was adjusted to the satisfaction of Morrison, Lincoln 
 saying "You shall go ! I will make a note of it now." 
 
 A few days later came the tragedy. "Fortunately," concludes the article, 
 "among the papers on the President's desk was found the memorandum noting 
 that Charles C. Morrison of Cincinnati, Ohio, should have an early appointment at 
 West Point, and later it came to young Morrison from President Johnson." 
 
 The records of the Adjutant General's Office at Washington "show that 
 Charles Clifford Morrison was given an 'at large' appointment to the United States 
 Military Academy on July 1, 1867, and that his father, Mr. James C. Morrison, 
 gave his consent. Nothing is found of record relative to the events leading to the 
 appointment of Cadet Morrison." 
 
 But if the War Department has no record of the preliminaries the story looms 
 large in the family traditions. 
 
 Mrs. Florence Williams, of New York City, is a niece of Captain Morrison. 
 
 "I have often heard my mother, who was his sister, and but recently deceased, 
 tell the story about my uncle Charles Clifford Morrison," says Mrs. Williams. 
 "I am quite sure that it is authentic. I believe that the Morrisons were the first 
 brothers to be in West Point at the same time, and I know that Charles went to 
 President Lincoln to secure an appointment and that it was given him by President 
 Johnson after Lincoln was assassinated on account of a memorandum found among 
 his papers." 
 
 [136] 
 
Miscellany and Allied Data 
 
 Rather remarkable how these Lincoln appointments were left to accumulate 
 on his desk and in his pockets. We have knowledge of at least three : the Saun- 
 ders' commission, the Webster appointment, and now the Morrison memorandum. 
 Yet, for all we know to the contrary, all three incidents may be authentic. In view 
 of Saunders' notation, and the brief hiatus between the Lincoln assassination and 
 the appointment of Webster, I am rather inclined to believe the first two; and there 
 seems to be some ground for likewise giving credence to the third. 
 
 Dr. Louis A. Warren's bulletin of Lincoln Lore for July 8, 1929, contained 
 an interesting article headed Lincoln's Last Recommendation. 
 
 "What may prove to be the last appointment recommended by Lincoln has 
 come to light in an unpublished letter written to Hugh McCulloch on the day be- 
 fore Lincoln's assassination," said Dr. Warren. "This letter is probably the last 
 formal writing addressed to a member of his Cabinet." 
 
 The letter, which was reproduced through the courtesy of Mr. Ross McCul- 
 loch, a grandson of Secretary McCulloch, read as follows : 
 
 EXECUTIVE MANSION, 
 
 Washington, April 13, 1865. 
 Hon. Sec. of The Treasury, 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 The office of Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fifth Collection District 
 of California is vacant by the resignation of Charles Maltby. I would like to 
 oblige General Schenck by the appointment of his nephew, William C. S. Smith, 
 long a resident of the district, to fill the vacancy. I am satisfied that he is com- 
 petent, and of good character, and that his appointment will be satisfactory in the 
 District and State. Unless you know some valid objection, send me an appointment 
 for him. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 The appointment was made as requested. The Treasury Department advises 
 
 that "William C. S. Smith was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the 
 
 Fifth District of California, by a Temporary Commission dated April 13, 1865, 
 
 and entered on duty January 29, 1866. He was given a Permanent Commission 
 
 dated July 27, 1866, and served Until November 30, 1875." 
 
 [137] 
 
($}Xttntivt fHatttfion. 
 
 
 ffe**-~ lU^J^n far*s W*^n<r> />?n~^> A***4v 
 
 Letter of recommendation from President Lincoln addressed to Secre- 
 tary of Treasury, concerning appointment of successor to his old Illinois 
 friend, Charles Maltby, dated April 13, 1865.— Courtesy of Mr. Ross 
 McCulloch, son of Secretary McCulloch, and Dr. Louis A. Warren, Director 
 Lincoln Historical Research Foundation, Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 [138] 
 
Miscellany and Allied Data 
 
 Maltby, referred to in the letter, was an old friend of Lincoln, and according 
 to his own statement in his biography of Lincoln published in 1884 which is now 
 rarely offered for sale, he had "a personal acquaintance of thirty-five years" with 
 his subject. 
 
 However, this was not Lincoln's last communication to a member of his 
 Cabinet. Both the call for the Cabinet meeting and the note given Congressman 
 Rollins for the Secretary of War were written the day following. 
 
 139] 
 
A Recollection of John H. Surratt 
 Fifty Years After 
 
 ANY first hand information concerning the son of Mrs. Surratt, who was 
 hanged as one of the Lincoln conspirators, and the guilt or innocence of 
 whose son has been variously conjectured by different writers, is always 
 pertinent. 
 
 Last summer as I sat in the spacious library of my close personal friend Mr. 
 J. Friend Lodge, at his estate "Sunset," Bustleton, Philadelphia, Pa., whose col- 
 lection of Civil War literature and Lincolniana is worth any one's while to visit, 
 Mr. Lodge gave me some first hand information concerning Surratt as he came to 
 know him many years after the event of that Good Friday of '65, and the estimate 
 he formed of him at that time. Mr. Lodge is a discriminating student of human 
 nature and his story is well worth repeating here. 
 
 "My recollection of Surratt," said Mr. Lodge, "goes back to a period of 
 about fifteen or sixteen years ago. 
 
 "For many years Mrs. Lodge and I have been visiting friends in North Caro- 
 lina, where I have enjoyed quail shooting and wild turkey hunting, and in going 
 there we usually took the train to Baltimore, then down Chesapeake Bay to Nor- 
 folk, Va., by steamer, and from Portsmouth to our destination by rail. We in- 
 variably used the Baltimore Steam Packet Co., 'The Old Bay Line,' in going down 
 the bay. 
 
 "One day we were going south, and found ourselves in Baltimore at about 
 4:30 P. M. We went down to the dock and made our reservations for the trip 
 as usual. 
 
 "Mrs. Lodge wanted to do a little shopping in the city, and as I had two 
 heavy bags to carry, I didn't relish the prospect of carrying them along with us, 
 and looked about for a place where I might leave them for a little while. There 
 was a row of offices up on the second floor of the dock where we were, and I noticed 
 one that was marked 'Freight Auditor' or something to that effect, on the door. 
 
 "In response to my knock a voice within said 'Come in.' 
 
 "I did so, and there was but one occupant of the room, sitting at a desk on 
 the side farthest from the door. He smiled very pleasantly and asked my business, 
 
 [ 140] 
 
Recollection of John H. Surratt 
 
 which I quickly told him. He was very courteous and said I could leave my bags 
 right there in his office, but that I should be sure to call for them before six o'clock, 
 when his office would close. The boat sailed at six-thirty, I think. 
 
 "On our return visit to the dock that evening I claimed my baggage and 
 thanked him for his courtesy to us. We conversed pleasantly for perhaps five 
 minutes. 
 
 "I well recall the first time I met him. When I came out of his office after 
 leaving the baggage I said to Mrs. Lodge : 
 
 " 'Have you ever heard of John H. Surratt?' 
 
 " 'Why yes, certainly. He was mixed up in the Lincoln conspiracy,' she re- 
 plied. 
 
 ""'Well, I just met John H. Surratt in that office.' 
 
 " 'Perhaps you are mistaken. Surratt is probably in his grave long years 
 since.' 
 
 " 'No, I am not mistaken. I never saw the man before, but I have seen Sur- 
 ratt's picture many times, and except that his hair and moustache have turned 
 from raven black to gray, almost white, the features are the same. I'd stake my 
 life that I am not mistaken in my man, and that he is John H. Surratt.' 
 
 "When I got on the boat and looked over some of the steamship literature, 
 among the list of officials of the company I found the name of 'John H. Surrat, 
 Auditor Freight Receipts.' 
 
 "Upon my return home I wrote Mr. Surratt and thanked him for his courtesy 
 to us, and also asked him for his autograph on a card which I enclosed. He auto- 
 graphed the card for me, and wrote me a very courteous letter, too, saying that it 
 was an old established policy of 'The Old Bay Line' to afford every accommodation 
 and courtesy to its patrons, the traveling public, and that it was indeed a pleasure 
 for him to contribute, in even a small way, to the comfort and convenience of Mrs. 
 Lodge and myself. It always seemed rather odd to me that he would favor me 
 with his autograph, for I have been advised by friends in New York in the auto- 
 graph business, that he would not give his autograph to anyone, and that it could 
 not be had. 
 
 "I saw and spoke to him many times after that while on my way to and from 
 the south. He always seemed very courteous and pleasant with me; seemed to 
 want to do what he could for the convenience of the passengers on the line. I 
 understand that he has now been dead for some years. 
 
 [141] 
 
Further Light on Lincoln's Last Day 
 
 "What were my impressions of him? I met him many times, and he was 
 always the same, pleasant and agreeable, but I usually had to 'make the conserva- 
 tion.' He would always answer me very nicely and politely, but always there was 
 that 'reserve' — that is what I have termed it, but yet, it doesn't quite seem to me to 
 be the proper word to express my thought. He impressed me as a man that always, 
 under any and all circumstances, could be counted on to be in full control of himself. 
 I regarded him as an able, energetic and capable man in anything he might under- 
 take, and I believe he was. He was approximately six feet tall, and sparely built. 
 His forehead was very prominent, and his eyes deeply set. Whenever I met him 
 he was always modestly and neatly dressed. His manner of speech was well regu- 
 lated, and his tone of voice modulated and pleasing. 
 
 ir His face, I would say, was a hard one to read; by that I mean that there 
 was nothing on the surface to indicate what was transpiring back of those eyes. 
 There was nothing that was not agreeable, but just that quiet and dignified look 
 that would afford no indication, as I saw him, of what was in his mind. I suppose 
 nowadays we would hear the expression used, 'a poker face.' I mean no discourtesy 
 nor presumptuousness, not at all, but I know of no other way of expressing the 
 opinion that Mr. Surratt made upon me that evening, and which never changed so 
 long as I came into contact with him. My recollection is that he went with the 
 Baltimore Steam Packet Co. many years ago, and served them well for a long period 
 of years." 
 
 [ 142 ] 
 

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