Lincoln

by David Herbert Donald

  434 “he is over-confident”: Noah Brooks, Washington in Lincoln’s Time (New York: Century Co., 1895), p. 52.

  434 “to the main object”: CW, 6:164–165.

  434 “all of your men”: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel, eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (New York: Century Co., 1890), 3:155.

  434 “of intuitive sagacity”: Welles, Diary, 1:265.

  434 “not a repulse”: New York Herald, Apr. 19, 1863.

  435 “complaints of you”: CW, 6:186.

  435 “where is Stoneman?”: CW, 6:197.

  435 “to get facts”: Welles, Diary, 1:291.

  436 “the country say!”: Brooks, Washington in Lincoln’s Time, pp. 57–58.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM

  Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), is a brilliant study of the rhetoric and ideas of the Gettysburg Address. There is also useful information in William E. Barton, Lincoln at Gettysburg: What He Intended to Say; What He Said; What He Was Reported to Have Said; What He Wished He Had Said (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1930), and in Louis A. Warren, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Declaration: “A New Birth of Freedom” (Fort Wayne, Ind.: Lincoln National Life Foundation, 1964).

  437 “smash the crockery”: New York Herald, June 4, 1863.

  437 “prolong the war”: E. M. Stanton to L. C. Turner, Sept. 19, 1863, Stanton MSS, LC.

  437 “die for it”: Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1863.

  438 “act of the war”: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1913), 1:372.

  438 “with the situation”: Day by Day, 3:183; Chicago Tribune, May 11, 1863.

  438 “cool, clear and satisfied”: Virginia Woodbury Fox, Diary, May 7,1863, Levi Woodbury MSS, LC.

  438 “army [was] unshaken”: New York Tribune, May 9, 1863.

  438 “General Hooker twice”: New York Herald, June 1, 1863.

  438 “the recent one”: CW, 6:201.

  438 “kick the other”: CW, 6:249.

  439 “true objective point”: CW, 6:257.

  439 “as I may be”: CW, 6:201, 281.

  439 “he is an expert”: Welles, Diary, 1:364.

  439 “General-in-Chief”: Ibid., 1:320.

  439 “Commanding the Army”: CW, 6:628.

  440 “as regards myself”: Welles, Diary, 1:333.

  440 “lose his chance”: Ibid., 1:344.

  440 “try it again”. Freeman Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960), p. 119.

  440 “to obey them”: CW, 6:282.

  441 “strengthening the government”: Browning, Diary, 1:631.

  441 “the government overthrown”: Browning, Diary, 1:630.

  441 “and institutions rest”: Welles, Diary, 1:322.

  441 “the whole world”: Robert Garth Scott, ed., Fallen Leaves: The Civil War Letters of Major Henry Livermore Abbott (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991), p. 216.

  441 in a drawer: Sandburg, 2:308.

  442 “and Federal Constitutions”: The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1863 (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1871), 799–800.

  442 “into their notions”: T. J. Barnett to Samuel L. M. Barlow, May 18, 1863, Barlow MSS, HEH.

  442 to the subject: Sandburg, 2:308.

  442 “a strong paper”: Welles, Diary, 1:323.

  443 “his healthful life”: CW, 6:260–269.

  443 than a “Despot”: T.J. Barnett to Samuel L. M. Barlow, June 10, 1863, Barlow MSS, HEH.

  443 “the whole land”: John W. Forney to AL, June 14, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  443 “best state Papers”: E. D. Morgan to AL, June 15, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  443 “than a victory”: William A. Hall to AL, June 15, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  443 “in this state”: Roscoe Conkling to AL, June 16, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  444 “they richly merit”: David Tod to AL, June 14, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  444 “provided and supported”: CW, 6:300–306.

  445 “a family doctor”: Scott, Fallen Leaves, p. 189.

  445 “thing from Grant?”: CW, 6:210, 233.

  445 “brilliant in the world”: CW, 6:230.

  446 “Johnston against Grant”: CW, 6:236.

  446 “’Tad’s’ pistol away”: CW, 6:256, 10:187.

  446 “and expressive mouth”: Silas W. Burt, “Lincoln on His Own Story-Telling, Century Magazine 73 (Feb. 1907): 501.

  446 “with profoundest gratitude”: CW, 6:314.

  446 “it is great!”: Welles, Diary, 1:364.

  446 “whipped them myself”: CW, 6:329.

  447 “go to waste”: Nicolay and Hay, 7:278–279; CW, 6:318.

  447 “because of it”. CW, 6:327–328.

  447 “an active pursuit”: Meade, Meade, 2:132, 311–312.

  447 “a true man”: CW, 6:341.

  447 “didn’t sack Phil-del”: CW, 10:194.

  448 “by her fall”: CW, 6:314. See also Randall, Mary Lincoln, pp. 324–325; Katherine Helm, The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1928), p. 250.

  448 “he was not”: Welles, Diary, 1:370.

  448 “can conveniently handle”: Sandburg, 2:368.

  449 “of poor ‘Nanny’”: CW, 6:371–372.

  449 “I do not”: Chase, Diary, p. 192.

  449 “are not mentioned”: Bates, Diary, p. 302.

  449 “known to all”: Gideon Welles to My Dear Sir, Aug. 23, 1863, Welles MSS, HEH.

  449 “end of the war”: T. J. Barnett to Samuel L. M. Barlow, July 27, 1863, Barlow MSS, HEH.

  449 “is no cavil”: Hay, Diary, p. 76.

  450 “glaringly unjust”: CW, 6:370.

  450 called “a sockdolager”: Hay, Diary, p. 78.

  450 a test in the courts: CW, 6:369–370.

  450 “not lose time”: CW, 6:391.

  451 “the utmost fidelity”: CW, 6:444–449. I believe that the editors of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln erred in assigning the tentative date of September 14 to this manuscript, thinking that it was related to the proclamation of that date suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln’s argument deals less with habeas corpus than with the constitutionality and fairness of the conscription act. The date, August 15, 1863, tentatively assigned the document by Nicolay and Hay seems more plausible.

  451 problems in Missouri: Affairs in Missouri were so complex that only a brief summary can be attempted here. For a thoughtful modern account of Missouri problems, see William E. Gienapp, “Abraham Lincoln and the Border States,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 13 (1992): 13–46. Michael Fellman, Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), is a richly detailed study.

  451 “for political influence”: CW, 6:36.

  451 “his secret sympathies”: CW, 6:20, 33–34.

  452 “by my authority”: CW, 7:86.

  452 “a great deal more”: CW, 6:516.

  452 “are set Zionwards”: Hay, Diary, pp. 108, 135.

  452 “so mean to do”: CW, 6:178.

  453 “to your reason”: CW, 6:218.

  453 “praised by the other”: CW, 6:234.

  453 “of a polecat”: Joseph Medill to AL, Oct. 3, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  453 “make Missouri free”: Browning, Diary, 1:611–612.

  453 “of immediate emancipation”: New York Herald, June 12, 1863.

  453 “vested interest therein”: Hay, Diary, p. 73.

  453 “pettifogging, piddling politician”: William E. Parrish, Turbulent Partnership: Missouri and the Union, 1861–1865 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1963), p. 160.

  453 “wagon or not”: Nicolay and Hay, 8:214.

  454 “what to forbear”: CW, 6:499–504.

  454 “friends in Missouri”: Edward Bates to AL, Oct. 22, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.


  454 “plowed round them”: Chicago Tribune, Oct. 30, 1863.

  454 “inspire the South”: T. J. Barnett to Samuel L. M. Barlow, Sept. 14, 1863, Barlow MSS, HEH.

  454 defeat of the Democrats: William B. Hesseltine, Lincoln and the War Governors (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), pp. 319–339, offers a full account of these elections.

  455 “of President Lincoln”: S. P. Chase to Jay Cooke, Sept. 4, 1863, Chase MSS.

  455 “he was chosen”: Welles, Diary, 1:470.

  455 “prosecution of this war”: Nicolay and Hay, 7:378.

  456 “their old bearings”: Hay, Diary, p. 77.

  456 the Davis government: For details on these abortive negotiations, see Welles, Diary, 1:358–363.

  456 “commenced in Illinois”: Conkling to AL, Aug. 21, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  456 “it very slowly”: CW, 6:414.

  457 “thanks to all”: CW, 6:406–410.

  457 “with the greatest enthusiasm”: James C. Conkling to AL, Sept. 4, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  457 “an historic document”: Wilson to AL, Sept. 3, 1863; Sumner to Lincoln, Sept. 7, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  457 “honest Abraham Lincoln”: New York Times, Sept. 7,1863.

  457 “God bless Old Abe!”: Chicago Tribune, Sept. 3, 1863.

  457 “before it comes”: Hay, Diary, p. 92.

  457 “hit on the head”: Ibid., p. 106.

  458 “in five days”: Chase, Diary, pp. 201–203.

  458 “beyond all hopes”: James W. Grimes to AL, Oct. 14, 1863; James M. Scovel to AL, Oct. 11, 1863; Salmon P. Chase to AL, Oct. 14, 1863, all in Lincoln MSS, LC.

  458 “against the Democracy”: W. H. Hurlbut to Samuel L. M. Barlow, Sept. 11, 1863, Barlow MSS, HEH.

  458 “our wonderful majority”: Israel Washburn to AL, Sept. 15, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  459 “honesty, have won”: Chicago Tribune, Nov. 3, 1863.

  459 “numerous cousins”: CW, 6:537.

  459 “worthy of the occasion”: CW, 6:319–320.

  460 “conditions of Peace”: Greeley to John G. Nicolay, June 14,1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  460 “will be crushed”: Forbes to AL, Sept. 8, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC

  460 “a few appropriate remarks”: David Wills to AL, Nov. 2, 1863, Lincoln MSS, LC.

  460 for this reason: Frank L. Klement, “Ward H. Lamon and the Dedication of the Soldiers’ Cemetery at Gettysburg,” Civil War History 31 (Dec. 1985): 293–308.

  460 on November 19: Of the many studies of the Gettysburg Address, Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, is by far the best; it largely supersedes William E. Barton, Lincoln at Gettysburg (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1930). Louis A. Warren, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Declaration: “A New Birth of Freedom” (Fort Wayne, Ind.: Lincoln National Life Foundation, 1964), contains much valuable information. Also useful is F. Lauriston Bullard, “A Few Appropriate Remarks”: Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (Harrogate, Tenn.: Lincoln Memorial University, 1944). Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln at Gettysburg (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1983), is an excellent pictorial history.

  461 “here be dedicated”: David C. Mearns and Lloyd A. Dunlap, eds., Long Remembered: Facsimiles of the Five Versions of the Gettysburg Address in the Handwriting of Abraham Lincoln (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1963), reproduces all the known copies in Lincoln’s own hand. Except where otherwise identified, all quotations in the following pages are taken from what is known as the Bliss copy, which represents Lincoln’s final revision of the address.

  461 half of his address: John G. Nicolay, “Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” Century Magazine 47 (Feb. 1894): 597.

  461 write it all out: There has been an immense amount of inconsequential controversy over just when and where Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address—at the White House, on the train going to the ceremonies, on the night before the dedication at Wills’s house, on the morning of the ceremony. Compare the interminable and inconclusive discussions of this topic with the almost total neglect of significant questions like why Lincoln accepted this invitation and what he hoped to accomplish with his speech.

  461 “all the people”: Barton, Lincoln at Gettysburg, pp. 132, 135. Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, pp. 105–120, shows similarities between Parker and Lincoln, not just in words but in ideas—especially in ideas about the Declaration of Independence.

  461 an hourglass form: James Hurt, “All the Living and the Dead: Lincoln’s Imagery,” American Literature 52 (Nov. 1980): 351–380, offers an insightful analysis of the form and imagery of the Gettysburg Address.

  461 Everett would say: Noah Brooks’s recollection (Washington in Lincoln’s Time [New York: Century Co., 1895], p. 285) that Lincoln had advance proofs of Everett’s speech on November 15 is unreliable. Everett’s address was not set in type until the late afternoon of November 14, and it would have been impossible for the President to have a copy the next day. David C. Mearns, “Unknown at This Address,” in Allan Nevins, ed., Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964), pp. 122–124.

  462 used five times: James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. viii.

  462 “obstetric analogies”: New York World, Nov. 27, 1863.

  462 power of the Declaration: Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, has most ably made this point.

  462 272 words: The word count of the Gettysburg Address depends on which of Lincoln’s autograph versions is used, whether hyphenated words are counted as one or two, and whether the title, the date, and, in some cases, Lincoln’s signature are counted. The present count is from the Bliss copy.

  463 “bury the dead”: James G. Smart, ed., A Radical View: The “Agate” Dispatches of Whitelaw Reid (Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1976), 2:151–152. The witticism was also credited to Thaddeus Stevens.

  463 black manservant: CW, 10:210–211.

  463 “beauty and goodness”: Allen Thorndike Rice, ed., Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln (New York: North American Review, 1888), p. 511.

  463 “nothing at all”: CW, 7:17.

  463 of Lincoln’s “pasquinades”: J. W. Schulte Nordholt, “The Civil War Letters of the Dutch Ambassador,” JISHS 54 (Winter 1961): 366–367.

  463 “the human race”: George E. Baker, ed., The Works of William H. Seward (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1884), 5:490.

  463 morning of the nineteenth: Frank L. Klement, “‘These Honored Dead’: David Wills and the Soldiers’ Cemetery at Gettysburg,” LH 74 (Fall 1972): 123–135, offers an excellent, detailed account of the dedication ceremonies.

  464 “was an oration”: Hay, Diary, p. 121.

  464 “as happens generally”: Edward Everett, Diary, Nov. 19,1863, Everett MSS, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  464 “his masterly effort”: Benjamin Brown French, Witness to the Young Republic, ed. Donald B. Cole and John J. McDonough (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1989), p. 435.

  465 interrupted by applause: For a collection of twenty-nine diverse and contradictory firsthand accounts, see Barton, Lincoln at Gettysburg, chap. 21. There has been an enormous amount of pen-swinging on these subjects, none of which has the slightest historical significance.

  465 “speech won’t scour!”: Ward Hill Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847–1865, ed. Dorothy Lamon Teillard (Washington, D.C.: 1911), p. 173. Lamon’s detailed account of the Gettysburg ceremonies (pp. 169–179) is highly unreliable, but the quoted sentence does sound like Lincoln.

  465 “as was ever spoken”: For newspaper reactions, see Barton, Lincoln at Gettysburg, chap. 16; LL, no. 1284 (Nov. 16,1953); Warren, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Declaration, pp. 145–146.

  465 “known as the Constitution”: New York World, Nov. 27, 1863.

  466 “‘are created equal’”: Herbert Mitgang, ed., Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971), pp. 359–361.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE GREATEST QUESTION EVER PRESENT
ED TO PRACTICAL STATESMANSHIP

  The best account of Lincoln’s reconstruction policy is Herman Belz’s Reconstructing the Union (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1969), but there is good material in two older studies: Charles H. McCarthy’s Lincoln’s Plan of Reconstruction (New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1901), and William B. Hesseltine, Lincoln’s Plan of Reconstruction (Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Confederate Publishing Co., 1960). On Lincoln’s campaign for renomination, I have relied heavily on William Frank Zornow, Lincoln and the Party Divided (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954). Excellent, but sometimes conflicting, accounts of reconstruction in Louisiana are Peyton McCrary, Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction: The Louisiana Experiment (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978); LaWanda Cox, Lincoln and Black Freedom: A Study in Presidential Leadership (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1981); and Ted Tunnell, Crucible of Reconstruction: War, Radicalism and Race in Louisiana, 1862–1867 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984).