CHAPTER TEN: AN ACCIDENTAL INSTRUMENT
Phillip Shaw Paludan, The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), chaps. 2–3, offers an excellent, succinct account of Lincoln between his election and the firing on Fort Sumter.
William E. Baringer, A House Dividing: Lincoln as President Elect (Springfield, Ill: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1945), is a spirited account that, like Harry J. Carman and Reinhard H. Luthin, Lincoln and the Patronage (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), deals extensively with the problems of selecting a cabinet.
Lincoln’s policy toward secession and the steps he took in the Sumter crisis have been repeatedly examined by careful scholars. The basic studies are David M. Potter, Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1942 [and see also the preface to the 1962 paperback edition]); J. G. Randall, Lincoln the President: Springfield to Gettysburg (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1945); Kenneth M. Stampp, And the War Came: The North and the Secession Crisis, 1860–1861 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1950); and Richard N. Current, Lincoln and the First Shot (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1963). I have offered some evaluation of this controversial literature in notes at the end of the present chapter.
258 loss for words: Henry Villard’s dispatches to the New York Herald give a vivid, day-by-day account of Lincoln’s activities. Some of them have been collected in Henry Villard, Lincoln on the Eve of ’61: A Journalist’s Story, ed. Harold G. Villard and Oswald Garrison Villard (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941).
258 “wear standing collars”: “True Republicans” to AL, Oct. 12, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
258 “begin it now?”: CW, 4:129–130.
258 “puttin’ on (h)airs”: Charles Hamilton and Lloyd Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose (Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1985), p. 67.
259 the youngest presidents: James K. Polk and Franklin Pierce were slightly younger. So were John Tyler and Millard Fillmore, but they were elected Vice President.
259 to his face: Memoirs of Henry Villard, Journalist and Financier, 1835–1900 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1904), 1:143.
259 “em a little”: Lincoln had used this story as early as 1848. CW, 1:487.
259 Kentucky or Indiana: Lincoln made no claim that most of the stories he told were original, and many of his jokes were hundreds of years old. Reports that he told “obscene” or “smutty” stories are hard to verify. Many of these accounts came from political enemies and others from witnesses like Herndon who had no sense of humor. Lincoln’s more raunchy stories rarely dealt with sexual innuendo; they usually related to bodily functions, like farting, which members of this Victorian generation considered “dirty.” The ribald and Rabelaisian stories that old-timers in Menard County recounted to me some forty years ago were clearly folk-say that made little pretense to authenticity. For Herndon’s views, see “‘The Coming Rude Storms’ of Lincoln Writings: William H. Herndon and the Lincoln Legend,” JISHS 71 (Feb. 1978): 66–70. Randall, Lincoln the President, 3:59–82, offers a balanced statement. P. M. Zall, Abe Lincoln Laughing. Humorous Anecdotes from Original Sources by and about Abraham Lincoln (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), attempts to establish a canon of authentic Lincoln stories.
259 “a satisfactory answer”: Segal, Conversations, p. 89.
260 “of fraternal feeling”: CW, 4:142–143.
260 “Private and confidential”: CW, 4:139–140.
260 “the most dangerous point”: CW, 4:170.
260 any public statement: Thurlow Weed to AL, Nov. 7, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
260 “wolfe [sic] traps”: Joseph Medill to O. M. Hatch, Nov. 16, 1860, Hatch MSS, ISHL.
260 “I find it”: Donn Piatt, Memories of the Men Who Saved the Union (Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1887), pp. 33–34.
260 “of buckeye wood”: John G. Nicolay, memorandum, Nov. 5, 1860, Nicolay MSS, LC.
261 “under any administration”: CW, 4:141.
261 “’be given them’ “: CW, 4:146. Cf. Luke 11:29: “They seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given.”
261 “may have encouraged”: CW, 4:142.
261 in the South: Robert W. Johannsen, Lincoln, the South, and Slavery: The Political Dimension (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991), p. 120.
261 M. Blair / Welles: Undated card [Nov. 7, 1860], #6495c, Lincoln MSS, LC. Cf. the long account in Gideon Welles to Isaac N. Arnold, Nov. 27, 1871, MS in Chicago Historical Society (copy in Allan Nevins MSS, HEH), which, however, contains some errors.
262 “was to occupy”: Harriet A. Weed, Autobiography of Thurlow Weed (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin &Co., 1883), p. 606.
262 “balanced and ballasted”: Ibid., p. 610.
262 “in the highest degree”: Day by Day, 2:298.
262 “in the Senate”: Baringer, A House Dividing, p. 85.
263 “with clean hands”: Lyman Trumbull to AL, Dec. 2, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
263 “in the case”: CW, 4:148.
263 “much self distrust”: W. H. Seward to AL, Dec. 28, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
263 “difference between them?”: CW, 4:150.
263 “white crows”: Weed, Autobiography, p. 606.
263 Gilmer’s candidacy died: For an excellent account of this episode see Daniel W. Crofts, “A Reluctant Unionist: John A. Gilmer and Lincoln’s Cabinet,” Civil War History 24 (Sept. 1978): 225–249.
264 “other man’s hundred”: George S. Boutwell, Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1902), 1:275.
264 “statesman to look”: Carl Schurz, The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (New York: McClure Co., 1907), 2:34.
264 “place if offered”: J. W. Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (New-York: D. Appleton & Co., 1874), p. 201; Robert B. Warden, An Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co., 1874), p. 365.
264 for the navy: The definitive biography is John Niven, Gideon Welles: Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973).
265 of Attorney General: Bates, Diary, pp. 164–165.
265 “go for you”: David Davis to AL, Nov. 19, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
265 “he had supposed”: Weed, Autobiography, p. 605.
265 “now or never”: For an account of this choice, see Carman and Luthin, Lincoln and the Patronage, pp. 29–33.
265 those of Pennsylvania: Both Carman and Luthin, Lincoln and the Patronage, and Baringer, A House Dividing, offer very full accounts of the Cameron imbroglio, on which I have relied heavily.
265 before the nomination: Joseph Casey to Leonard Swett, Nov. 27,1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
266 “thing nominated you”: Leonard Swett to AL, Nov. 30, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
266 “as a party”: Carman and Luthin, Lincoln and the Patronage, pp. 28–29.
266 “into the cabinet”: CW, 4:169–170.
267 “Pennsylvania, and elsewhere”. CW, 4:171.
267 “of the place”: CW, 4:174.
268 forced it to retreat: For a detailed account of these developments, see Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln, vol. 2, Prologue to Civil War, 1859–1861 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), chaps. 11–12.
268 “a constitutional right”: New York Herald, Jan. 28, 1861.
268 not oppose it: CW, 4:270.
268 “suits them better”, CW, 1:438.
269 “of physical power”: For a thorough analysis, see Thomas J. Pressly, “Bullets and Ballots: Lincoln and the ‘Right of Revolution,’” American Historical Review 67 (Apr. 1962): 647–662.
269 “the essence of anarchy”: CW, 4:268.
269 “dissolution or dismemberment”: Nicolay and Hay, 3:248.
269 “as it is”: CW, 4:154.
269 political beliefs rested: After the Civil War, Alexander H. Stephens wrote that Lincoln’s devotion to the Union rose to the sublimit
y of religious mysticism, and his phrase has often been echoed by historians. See esp. Edmund Wilson’s brilliant essay on Lincoln in Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 99–130. But in reviewing a draft of the present book, Mark E. Neely, Jr., pointed out that Stephens’s phrase was intended not as praise of Lincoln but as criticism of an unrealistic belief. There was, Neely suggests, little that was mystical in Lincoln’s thinking about the Union, which he valued for realistic, tough-minded reasons.
269 “our friends South”: Lyman Trumbull to AL, Dec. 14, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC. See also Potter, Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis, chap. 5.
269 should be repealed: CW, 4:156–157.
269 “were hedged against”: CW, 4:183
270 “any time hereafter”: CW, 4:149–150.
270 “principle in it”: Harry E. Pratt, ed., Concerning Mr. Lincoln: In Which Abraham Lincoln Is Pictured as He Appeared to Letter Writers of His Time (Springfield, Ill: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1944), p. 42.
270 “up his mind”: WHH, Mrs. Lincoln’s Denial, and What She Says, broadside dated Jan. 12, 1874, Massachusetts Historical Society.
270 “he is stubborn”: William Jayne to Lyman Trumbull, Jan. 21, 1861, Trumbull MSS, LC.
270 the President-elect: Thomas D. Jones, Memories of Lincoln (New York: Press of the Pioneers, 1934), pp. 7–8.
270 “was ever delivered”: WHH to Jesse W. Weik, Jan. 1, 1886, HWC.
270 criticism of friends: Ida M. Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1909), 1:403–404.
270 “an ambitious little woman”: Annie Dickson’s postscript on William M. Dickson to AL, May 21, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC.
271 “she can be”: Pratt, Concerning Mr. Lincoln, p. 32.
271 suspected social slights: Jones, Memories of Lincoln, pp. 12—13.
271 “by iron hoops”: Milton H. Shutes, Lincoln’s Emotional Life (Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., 1957), p. 128.
271 deserved special treatment: Randall, Mary Lincoln, pp. 191–193.
271 “talent and experience”: Villard and Villard, Lincoln on the Eve of ’61, p. 50.
271 “hurt pretty bad”: Charles H. Coleman, Abraham Lincoln and Coles County, Illinois (New Brunswick, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1955), pp. 198–199.
271 “each other again”: WHH, interview with Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, Sept. 9, 1865, HWC; A. H. Chapman to WHH, Oct. 8, 1865, ibid. For a detailed account of this visit, see Coleman, Lincoln and Coles County, pp. 191–210.
272 “of the area”: Day by Day, 3:9.
272 “to New York”: New York Herald, Feb. 16, 1861.
272 left for Washington: Day by Day, p. 10; Pratt, Personal Finances, p. 123.
272 “had ever happened”: This repeats, almost verbatim, the account I gave in Lincoln’s Herndon, pp. 146–147.
273 see Lincoln off: Victor Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey to Greatness: A Factual Account of the Twelve-Day Inaugural Trip (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1960), is a detailed account on which the following pages rely heavily.
273 “sufficiently to commence”: Pratt, Concerning Mr. Lincoln, p. 50.
273 an affectionate farewell: CW, 4:190.
274 “second class city”: New York Herald, Feb. 14,1861.
274 “very interesting countenance”: CW, 4:206.
274 “of the bargain”: CW, 4:218.
274 “means ill looking”: New York Herald, Feb. 14, 1861; Rutherford B. Hayes to Laura Piatt, Feb. 13, 1861, Hayes MSS, Hayes Presidential Center (courtesy Prof. Ari A. Hoogenboom).
274 “of a century”: CW, 4:198.
274 “good-looking ladies”: CW, 4:206.
274 a big kiss: CW, 4:219.
274 “to water himself”: CW, 4:204.
275 “not want to”: CW, 4:218.
275 “short of it!”: CW, 4:242.
275 someone else: Ruth Painter Randall, Lincoln’s Sons (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1955), p. 90.
275 harm was done: John S. Goff, Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in His Own Right (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969), pp. 36–38.
275 “the glorious flag”: CW, 4:192.
275 “merit of mine”: CW, 4:208–209.
275 “I should say”: CW, 4:193.
275 “have a name”: CW, 4:226, 204.
276 “and growing whiskers”: Randall, Lincoln the President, 1:292.
276 “in my esteem”: Strong, Diary, p. 100.
276 “by designing politicians”: CW, 4:211.
276 “is all artificial”: CW, 4:216.
276 “time is artificial”: CW, 4:238.
276 “not deciding anything”: CW, 4:195–196.
277 “stand by it”: CW, 4:220. In the source the words are in full capitals.
277 “of this Union”: CW, 4:233.
277 “foot down firmly”: CW, 4:237.
277 passed through Baltimore: This account of the Baltimore plot is based on the following sources: Norma B. Cuthbert, ed., Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 1861 (San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1949), which publishes documents from the Pinkerton records; Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial History of the Civil War (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, Publishers, 1866), 1:279–281, which gives Lincoln’s own version; John W. Forney, Anecdotes of Public Men (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1873), 1:248–256, which offers Felton’s narrative; WHH, interview with Norman B. Judd, [1866], HWC; Allan Pinkerton to WHH, Aug. 23, 1866, HWC; and Ward Hill Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847–1865, ed. Dorothy Lamon Teillard (Washington, D.C.: 1911), pp. 40–46.
277 “in doing so”: Allan Pinkerton to WHH, Aug. 23, 1866, HWC.
277 “to surrender it”: CW, 4:240.
278 “piece of cowardice”: WHH, interview with Norman B. Judd, [1866], HWC.
278 “out Judd’s plan”: Lamon, Recollections, p. 42.
278 “at his absence”: Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, p. 13.
278 “a brainless egotistical fool”: Ibid., p. xx.
278 “that on me”: Ibid., p. 82.
279 remarkable course: Herbert Mitgang, ed., Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971), p. 230.
279 “on his Administration”: Strong, Diary, p. 102.
279 “risk was necessary”: Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, p. xvi.
279 the first day: This account of Lincoln’s schedule is based on Lincoln Day by Day, 3:21–22.
279 “natural, and agreeable”: Frederick W. Seward, Seward at Washington... 1846–1861 (New York: Derby & Miller, 1891), p. 511.
279 “peculiarly pleasant”: Robert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 841.
280 “where it may”: Baringer, A House Dividing, p. 307.
280 “other the more”: CW, 4:246–247.
280 “without moral grace”: Baringer, A House Dividing, p. 313.
280 “himself laughs uproariously”: New York Evening Post, Mar. 3, 1861; J. W. Schulte Nordholt, “The Civil War Letters of the Dutch Ambassador,” JISHS 54 (Winter 1961): 361.
280 “man Douglas is!”: George Fort Milton, The Eve of Conflict: Stephen A. Douglas and the Needless War (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934), p. 545.
281 eleven favored Chase: CW, 4:248.
281 by his appearance: My portrait of Seward is drawn from Charles Francis Adams, 1835–1915: An Autobiography (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916), pp. 57, 79; The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918), p. 104; and William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South (Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham, 1863), pp. 34–35.
281 “if he would”: Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln, 2:452.
281 “adjustment afterwards”: Frederick J. Blue, Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1987), p. 135.
282 “he, Seward, remained”: Welles, Diary, 2:391.
282 “withdraw that consent”: CW, 4:273.
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sp; 282 “the first trick”: Nicolay and Hay, 3:371.
282 “at the top”: Ibid., 370.
282 “the experiment successful”: Seward, Seward at Washington, p. 518.
282 to the Capitol: For a colorful description of the inauguration, see Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941), pp. 42–45.
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