Team of Rivals

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

  Lincoln asked George Harding…“of the three”: Charles F. Benjamin, quoted in Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, p. 136.

  Ellen…“objected to his acceptance”: Wolcott, “Edwin M. Stanton,” p. 153.

  diminish the lifestyle of the Stanton family: Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, p. 137.

  “long by noble deeds”: SPC to EMS, January 9, 1848, reel 6, Chase Papers.

  He accepted the post…“swamped at once”: Wolcott, “Edwin M. Stanton,” p. 154.

  “Strange”…no one but Seward: Entry for January 13, 1862, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 226.

  Welles heard…“Lincoln’s confidence”: Welles, “Narrative of Events,” AHR (1926), p. 488; Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 234 (quote).

  Welles had never even met Stanton: Welles diary, Vol. I (1960 edn.), p. 54.

  Stanton’s nomination…he would arrange a meeting: Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, Vol. I (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1907), p. 230.

  After a lengthy…“the negro question”: William Pitt Fessenden, quoted in ibid., p. 231.

  “Not only was…the real cause”: WHS to home, January 15, 1862, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 46.

  the House Committee…rotten food: NYT, February 6, 1862.

  “resolved to advise…unsound provisions”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 1, 1862.

  “highly injurious to the public service”: House resolution of April 30, 1862, quoted in AL, “To the Senate and House of Representatives,” May 26, 1862, in CW, V, p. 243.

  He wrote a long public letter…“was committed”: AL, “To the Senate and House of Representatives,” May 26, 1862, in ibid., p. 243.

  “one of the most intimate…personal friends”: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. V, p. 130.

  Most other men…“incur responsibility”: Simon Cameron to AL, June 26, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

  “an entirely new régime”…removed many of Cameron’s people: NYT, January 23, 1862.

  The day after…“she never did”: EMS, quoted in Boston Daily Evening Transcript, January 7, 1870.

  “As his carriage…to their stations”: Charles F. Benjamin, “Recollections of Secretary Edwin M. Stanton,” Century 33 (March 1887), p. 761.

  “fluent without…and large-hearted”: Entry for January 29, 1862, Diary of George Templeton Strong, Vol. III, p. 203.

  “Persons at a distance…Congress speak it”: NYT, January 25, 1862.

  Instead of the traditional…an evening ball: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, pp. 95–96; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

  some five hundred invitations: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

  “sought…their invitations”: JGN to TB, February 6, 1862, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

  Marine Band…midnight supper: Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 116, 119.

  white satin gown…“in better style”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 101.

  “much attached…ever known”: Entry for February 20, 1862, Taft diary.

  built a cabin…troops on the shore: Entry for January 11, 1862, Taft diary (quote); Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 177.

  performances in the attic: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, pp. 102, 106.

  the pony…favorite pastime: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 98; entries for January 26 and 27, 1862, Taft diary.

  weather conditions in January: See January 1862 entries in Taft diary.

  “There is a good deal…in the City”: Entry for January 8, 1862, Taft diary.

  “a dreadful eruption…expected to live”: EMS to Oella Wright, March 24, 1862, in Wolcott, “Edwin M. Stanton,” p. 155.

  “burning fever…ulcerated” throat: FAS to LW, February 2, 1862, reel 119, Seward Papers.

  Seward left Washington: WHS to AL, February 6, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

  Nettie Chase…contracted scarlet fever: SPC to KCS, January 10, 1862, reel 18, Chase Papers.

  Mary thought it best…been sent out: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 100.

  “the dean…medical community”: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 209.

  “in no immediate…an early recovery”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 100.

  The carriages…received their guests: Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 115–18; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

  “exquisite taste…a Grecian knot behind”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

  At midnight…including General McClellan: “Lincoln’s First Levee,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 11 (October 1918), p. 389; Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 119–20 (quote).

  “The brilliance…the suffering boy”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 102.

  “Those who were here…others have not”: JGN to TB, February 6, 1862, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

  “frivolity, hilarity…within plain sight”: Jeffersonian Democrat, reprinted in The Liberator, February 28, 1862.

  “a brilliant spectacle”: Star, February 6, 1862.

  “our fair ‘Republican Queen’…of beauty”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 22, 1862.

  General Ulysses S. Grant: On Ulysess S. Grant’s careers prior to the Civil War, see chapters 2–5 of William S. McFeely, Grant: A Biography (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1982).

  Grant understood…an important mission: Ibid., pp. 96–97.

  “to take and hold Fort Henry”: H. W. Halleck to USG, January 30, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 121.

  Grant and Foote…Fort Donelson: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 396; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. V, pp. 120–22.

  “Fort Henry is ours…on the 8th”: USG to H. W. Halleck, February 6, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 124.

  Though a severe rainstorm: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant (New York: C. L. Webster, 1885; New York: Modern Library, 1999), p. 152.

  “plain brother…a presentiment”: USG to Mary Grant, February 9, 1862, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Vol. IV: January 8–March 31, 1862, ed. John Y. Simon (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972), p. 180.

  Buckner, proposed a cease-fire…“can be accepted”: USG to Simon B. Buckner, February 16, 1862, enclosure 3 of USG to G. W. Cullum, February 16, 1862, in OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 161.

  Buckner…taken prisoner: USG to General G. W. Cullum, February 16, 1862, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. VII, p. 159.

  More than a thousand troops: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 401.

  “a most bloody…brought through”: Captain L. D. Waddell to William Coventry H. Wadell, quoted in NYT, February 26, 1862.

  Hundred-gun salutes: NYT, February 18, 1862.

  “quite wild with Excitement”: Entry for February 15, 1862, Taft diary.

  “the gallery rose…enthusiastic cheers”: NYT, February 18, 1862.

  to illuminate the capital’s public buildings…Washington’s birthday: NYH, February 21, 1862.

  promoting him to major general: Entry for February 17, 1862, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 95.

  Lincoln had been following: Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. I, p. 462.

  “I have come among you…fellow-citizen”: USG, “Proclamation, to the Citizens of Paducah!” September 6, 1861, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Vol. II: April–September 1861, ed. John Y. Simon (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969), p. 194.

  “Grant had taken the field”…items to the front: Isaac N. Arnold, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Chicago: Jansen, McClurg, & Co., 1885), p. 281.

  Fort Donelson’s capture…capture of New Orleans: For more on events from the surrender of Fort Donelson to the capture of New Orleans, see McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 402–20.

  It is believed that both boys…typhoid fever: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 208: Seale, The President’s House, Vol. I, p. 379.

 
Willie was affected…more severely: MTL to Julia Ann Sprigg, May 29, 1862, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 128; Milton H. Shutes, “Mortality of the Five Lincoln Boys,” Lincoln Herald 57 (Spring– Summer 1955), p. 4.

  “grew weaker…shadow-like”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 98.

  symptoms of his illness: “Typhus, Typhoid, and Relapsing Fevers,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XXIII, ed. Day Otis Kellogg (30 vols., New York and Chicago: The Werner Company, 1898), pp. 678–79.

  “almost wore…with watching”: Benjamin B. French to Henry F. French, February 27, 1862, reel 5, Papers of Benjamin B. French Family, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress [hereafter French Family Papers, DLC].

  She canceled the customary: Unknown Washington newspaper, quoted in Helm, The True Story of Mary, p. 197.

  “pretty much all his attention”: JGN to TB, February 11, 1862, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

  Willie would call for…“tenderly to bed”: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, pp. 199–200.

  celebratory illuminations were canceled: Entry for February 23, 1862, in French, Witness to the Young Republic, p. 388; Benjamin B. French to Henry F. French, February 27, 1862, reel 5, French Family Papers, DLC.

  “the President…of their affliction”: Star, February 18, 1862.

  “as if they did…So the doctors say”: Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times, p. 66.

  on Thursday, February 20, Willie died: Entry for February 20, 1862, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 96.

  “Well, Nicolay…actually gone!”: Entry for February 20, 1862, notebook, February–March 1862, container 1, Nicolay Papers.

  “buried his head…ofher old age”: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, pp. 103, 104.

  She took to her bed…ease her grief: Rebecca R. Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Rebecca R. Pomroy Letters, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College [hereafter Pomroy Letters].

  He sent his carriage to the Brownings…Tad’s bedside: Entries for February 20 and 21, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 530.

  He asked…Mary Jane, to sit with the boy: Niven, Gideon Welles, pp. 442–43.

  Julia Bates…also watched over him: Entry for February 22, 1862, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 236.

  Lincoln turned to Dorothea Dix: Anna L. Boyden, Echoes from Hospital and White House: A Record of Mrs. Rebecca R. Pomroy’s Experience in War-times (Boston: D. Lothrop & Co., 1884), p. 52.

  a powerful woman…“out of fashion”: Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Stranger and Traveler: The Story of Dorothea Dix, American Reformer (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), p. 256.

  Dix chose Rebecca Pomroy…“turn right in”: Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Pomroy Letters.

  Willie’s body lay…“Oh, why is it?”: AL, quoted in Boyden, Echoes from Hospital and White House, pp. 54–56 (quotes pp. 54, 56).

  Tad would awaken…gown and slippers: Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Pomroy Letters.

  Lincoln drove with Browning to Oak Hill Cemetery: Entry for February 23, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 531.

  The funeral service…in the East Room: National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., February 25, 1862; Star, February 24, 1862.

  “keep the boys…in the casket”: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 200.

  “He lay with his eyes…for the evening”: Nathaniel Parker Willis, quoted in Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 108.

  “no spectator”…the East Room service: Entry for March 2, 1862, in French, Witness to the Young Republic, p. 389.

  Congress had adjourned: Star, February 24, 1862; National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., February 25, 1862; entry for February 24, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 531.

  a frightful storm arose: Benjamin B. French to Henry F. French, February 27, 1862, reel 5, French Family Papers, DLC; Star, February 25, 1862.

  stormy weather…the grave: William G. Greene interview, May 30, 1865, in HI, p. 21.

  Mary found it difficult to endure: Elizabeth Todd Edwards to Julia Edwards Baker, quoted in Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 287.

  She never invited them back to the White House: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 200.

  In her talks with Mrs. Pomroy…her own family: Boyden, Echoes from Hospital and White House, pp. 58–59.

  she should surrender to God’s will: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 214.

  “to try us…is not with us”: MTL to Julia Ann Sprigg, May 29, 1862, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 128.

  speculating that God…“of little else”: MTL to Hannah Shearer, November 20, 1864, in ibid., p. 189.

  “foresaken…so lovely a child”: MTL to Mrs. Charles Eames, July 26, 1862, in ibid., p. 131.

  “far happier…when on earth”: MTL to Mary Jane Welles, February 21, 1863, in ibid., p. 147.

  “Death…blessed transition”: MTL to CS, July 4, 1865, in ibid., p. 256.

  “where there are…no more tears shed”: MTL to Mary Jane Welles, July 11, 1865, in ibid., p. 257.

  Through Elizabeth Keckley…celebrated medium: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 219.

  the “veil…the ‘loved & lost’”: MTL to CS, July 4, 1865, in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 256.

  “the spirits of the dead…have become alive”: Princess Felix Salm-Salm, Ten Years of My Life (Detroit: Belford Bros., 1877), pp. 59, 60.

  “offered tangible…power of sympathy”: Robert S. Cox, Body and Soul: A Sympathetic History of American Spiritualism (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2003), p. 85.

  “an altered woman”…look at his picture: Keckley, Behind the Scenes, p. 116.

  She sent all his toys…was laid out: Ibid., pp. 116–17; Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 210, 213.

  On the Thursday…his terrible grief: Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times, p. 67.

  “That blow…never felt it before”: AL, quoted by Rev. Willets, in Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, pp. 187–88.

  Three months after…“my lost boy Willie”: AL, quoted in Le Grand B. Cannon, Personal Reminiscences of the Rebellion, 1861–1866. Black Heritage Library Collection (1895; Freeport, N.Y.: Books For Libraries Press, 1971), p. 174; the quotation from King John is in Act III, scene IV.

  Lincoln cherished mementos…and tell stories: Randall, Mary Lincoln, pp. 291–92.

  he invited Browning…important events: Entry for June 22, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 553.

  “the memory…you have known before”: AL to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862, in CW, VI, p. 17.

  CHAPTER 16: “HE WAS SIMPLY OUT-GENERALED”

  the “sad calamity…be left undone”: GBM to AL, February 22, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

  McClellan’s assurances…contentious meeting: Williams, Lincoln and the Radicals, pp. 77–84; Bruce Tap, “Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War (1861–1865),” in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War, ed. Heidler and Heidler, p. 1086.

  “that neither…defer to General McClellan”: George W. Julian, Political Recollections, 1840 to 1872 (Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co., 1884), p. 201.

  Bates strenuously objected…“commanders”: Entry for January 10, 1862, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, pp. 223–24.

  He borrowed General Halleck’s book: Entry for January 8, 1862, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 88.

  “he was thinking…himself”: Entry for January 12, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 523.

  “The bottom is out of the tub”: AL, quoted in Meigs, “General M. C. Meigs on the Conduct of the Civil War,” AHR 26 (1921), p. 292.

  The nearly bankrupt Treasury…meeting on the following day: Ibid.

  “can’t keep a…to Tadd”: GBM, quoted in ibid., p. 293.

  General War Order No. 1: AL, “President’s General War Order No. 1,” January 27, 1862, in CW, V, p. 111.

  Lincoln correctly believed…
at the same time: Entry for January 12, 1862, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 523.

  the Peninsula Campaign: See Stephen W. Sears, To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1992).

  proposed a different strategy…“superior force”: EMS to Heman Dyer, May 18, 1862, reel 3, Stanton Papers, DLC.

  it was feared that the Confederates: AL to GBM, February 3, 1862, Lincoln Papers. On McClellan’s plans see GBM to EMS, January 31, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

  Lincoln reluctantly…safe from attack: AL, “President’s General War Order No. 3,” March 8, 1862, in CW, V, p. 151.

  “there was no more”…grown disenchanted: EMS to Heman Dyer, May 18, 1862, reel 3, Stanton Papers, DLC.

  “while men are striving…must be stopped”: EMS to Charles A. Dana, January 24, 1862, quoted in Charles A. Dana, Recollections of the Civil War: With the Leaders at Washington and in the Field in the Sixties (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898), p. 5.

  Stanton’s remark…society: Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, pp. 125–26.

  “That will be…the waiting snub”: EMS, quoted in Albert E. H. Johnson, “Reminiscences of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 13 (1910), p. 73.

  delivered orders to transfer…“his humiliation”: Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, p. 216 (quote); Johnson, “Reminiscences of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton,” RCHS (1910), pp. 73–74.

  The Democratic press…“worthy of Punch”: EMS to Charles A. Dana, February 23, 1862, quoted in Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, p. 131.

  on the weekend of March 8…supplies, and weapons: Sears, George B. McClellan, pp. 163–64; Sears, To the Gates of Richmond, pp. 14, 16–17.

  “We shall be the…we have got one”: William P. Fessenden to family, March 15, 1862, quoted in Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, Vol. I, p. 261.

  “Anybody…must have somebody”: “Conversation with Vice President Wilson, Nov. 16, 1875,” container 10, Nicolay Papers.

  On March 11…Mountain Department: AL, “President’s War Order No. 3,” March 11, 1862, in CW, V, p. 155.

  “learned through the”…the result of the war: McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story, pp. 224–26.