“It was unfortunate that Johnson was not a wiser, abler, nobler man,” lamented one of Andrew Johnson's biographers.26 In other words, it was unfortunate that Johnson was not Abraham Lincoln, or at least was not more like the public's image of Abraham Lincoln. It was even more unfortunate that President Johnson did not have his predecessor's talents for persuasion, political manipulation, and deal making, which were the traits he needed in dealing with the Radicals. Wisdom and nobility may be commendable virtues, but Johnson would have been much better off if he possessed the much more practical assets of tact and diplomacy.
Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson did not have very much in common, much to Johnson's detriment. “The new president was different from the dead President, whom we missed every day,” noted William Crook, who served as bodyguard to both presidents. “He was short, while Mr. Lincoln was remarkably tall; he was burly, while Mr. Lincoln was gaunt.”27 But even more important than height and appearance was President Johnson's dissimilarity in personality with Abraham Lincoln. “He was a man who found it impossible to conciliate or temporize,” Crook went on to comment regarding Johnson. “Andrew Johnson's opinions and policies did not change…. It was inevitable, when other men were going in opposite ways, that there should be a collision.”28
But Abraham Lincoln never had to deal with the problems that Andrew Johnson had to face: citizenship for the freed slaves, voting rights for blacks, and all the other difficulties that were part of Reconstruction. About a year before his own assassination, President John F. Kennedy gave his opinion concerning President Lincoln and his place among the other US presidents. Being the head of state during wartime “made it easier for a President to achieve greatness,” President Kennedy said.29 And the fact that Lincoln had been killed while the war was still winding down, only five days after Appomattox, helped to enhance his reputation—he died at the height of his popularity. “But would Lincoln have been judged so great a President if he had lived long enough to face the almost insoluble problem of Reconstruction?”
Alexander Gardner's well-known portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which was taken in February 1865. Nearly four years of war had taken its toll on the president; many people remarked on how tired and drawn he looked. Image from the Library of Congress.
Inauguration day, March 4, 1865. President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Second Inaugural Address from the steps of the Capitol. The brevity of the speech, which lasted only six or seven minutes, surprised the audience. John Wilkes Booth is one of the onlookers in the crowd behind and to the left of the president, just under the sculpture in the center of the photo. Image from the Library of Congress.
Abraham Lincoln's copy of his Second Inaugural Address, with changes in his own handwriting. This is the copy he read to the public on Inauguration Day. Image from the Library of Congress.
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administers the oath of office after President Lincoln delivered his address. Image from the Library of Congress.
Secretary of State William H. Seward. Secretary Seward was seriously injured by one of John Wilkes Booth's co-conspirators, as was his son Francis. Both would survive, although Secretary Seward's face would bear the scars for the rest of his life. Image from the Library of Congress.
Although Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton worried about President Lincoln's safety, and feared an assassination attempt, the president tended to dismiss Secretary Stanton's concerns. Image from the Library of Congress.
Gideon Welles served as President Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy, but he did not agree with the president's proposed policy of leniency toward the Confederacy after the war. Image from the Library of Congress.
Mary Lincoln accompanied her husband to City Point, Virginia, in March, but her behavior became a source of embarrassment for both President Lincoln and herself. Image from the Library of Congress.
Tad Lincoln with his father. Tad and the president spent a good deal of time together; his son's presence helped take President Lincoln's mind off the pressures of Washington. Photo by Anthony Berger; image from the Library of Congress.
The waterfront of City Point, Virginia. City Point was the supply center for General Grant's army and was also the meeting place between General Grant and President Lincoln. Mary Lincoln was not comfortable at City Point, but her husband enjoyed getting away from Washington and its pressures. Image from the Library of Congress.
General Grant, along with his wife, Julia, and his son Jesse, in front of the general's cabin at City Point. Julia Grant did her best to get along with Mary Lincoln, in spite of the latter's erratic behavior. Image from Wikimedia Creative Commons.
The side-wheeler River Queen took the Lincolns and their party from Washington to City Point. Aboard the River Queen along with General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Porter, President Lincoln drew up plans for the prosecution of the war and the rebuilding of the South. Image from Wikipedia Creative Commons.
A line of federal wagons makes its way through Petersburg after Confederate troops abandoned the city. With the evacuation of Petersburg, federal soldiers could see that the end of the war was in sight. Photo John Reekie; image from the Library of Congress.
Abraham and Mary Lincoln with their two sons, Robert and Tad. Robert Lincoln was an officer on General Grant's staff. Lithograph by Currier and Ives; image from the Library of Congress.
The ruins of Richmond, Virginia, in April 1865. The Confederate capital was a devastated ruin of a city, ravaged by looters. Photo by Alexander Gardner; image from the Library of Congress.
Escorted by armed sailors and accompanied by his son Tad, President Lincoln walks through the streets of Richmond on April 4. His bodyguard, William H. Crook, thought it was nothing short of a miracle that no attempt was made on the president's life. Illustration by Thomas Nast; image from Wikimedia Creative Commons.
“Gen. Sheridan says ‘If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will surrender.’ Let the thing be pressed.” President Lincoln's famous communiqué of April 7 to General Grant. Under the president's message, General Grant wrote, “The original dispatch sent by Mr. Lincoln to me, April 7th 1865.” Image from the Library of Congress.
On April 12, 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrendered at Appomattox, stacking their weapons and laying down their cartridge boxes. President Lincoln was not present at the ceremony, but he had been looking forward to the moment for the past eleven months. Illustration by John R. Chapin; image from the Library of Congress.
John Wilkes Booth regarded Abraham Lincoln as the cause of all of the South's problems. He imagined that he would be performing a heroic act for the Confederacy by assassinating the president. Photo by Alexander Gardener; image from the Library of Congress.
A sketch of the interior of Ford's Theatre by artist Alfred Waud, showing the box where President and Mrs. Lincoln sat during the performance of Our American Cousin. Illustration by Alfred Waud; image from the Library of Congress.
An artist's rendition of John Wilkes Booth firing his derringer at President Lincoln on the night of April 14. Image from the Library of Congress.
Andrew Johnson was a War Democrat from Tennessee who was named President Lincoln's running mate as a political expedient. He did not have either the personality or the political talent of Abraham Lincoln. Image from the Library of Congress.
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO GENERAL GRANT ON HIS PROMOTION, AND GRANT'S REPLY
[see Introduction, note 4]
Executive MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 30, 1864.
Lieut.-Gen. Grant:
Not expecting to see you before the Spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this war, my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know, nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant; and pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints or constraints upon you. While I am very anxious that any great disaster, or capture of our men in great numbers, shall be avoided, I know that the
se points are less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine. If there be anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it.
And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you.
Yours, very truly.
A. LINCOLN.
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, CULPEPPER COURT-HOUSE, May 1, 1864.
THE PRESIDENT: Your very kind letter of yesterday is just received. The confidence you express for the future and satisfaction for the past in my military administration, is acknowledged with pride. It shall be my earnest endeavor that you and the country shall not be disappointed. From my first entrance into the volunteer service of the country to the present day, I have never had cause of complaint, have never expressed or implied a complaint against the Administration or the Secretary of War, for throwing any embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prosecuting what appeared to be my duty.
Indeed, since the promotion which placed me in command of all the armies, and in view of the great responsibility and importance of success, I have been astonished at the readiness which everything asked for has been yielded, without even an explanation being asked. Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you.
Very truly, your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-Gen.
LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
[see March 4, 1865, note 9]
[Fellow Countrymen:] At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the enerergies [sic] of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil-war. All dreaded it—all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissol[v]e the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.
Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
LINCOLN'S CONDITIONS FOR PEACE
[see April 5, 1865, note 3]
1. The restoration of the national authority throughout all the States.
2. No receding by the Executive of the United States on the slavery question, from the position assumed thereon, in the late Annual Message to Congress, and in preceding documents.
3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbanding of all force hostile to the government.
That all propositions coming from those now in hostility to the government; and not inconsistent with the foregoing, will be respectfully considered, and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality.
I now add that it seems useless for me to be more specific with those who will not say they are ready for the indispensable terms, even on conditions to be named by themselves. If there be any who are ready for those indispensable terms, on any conditions whatever, let them say so, and state their conditions, so that such conditions can be distinctly known, and considered.
It is further added that, the remission of confiscations being within the executive power, if the war be now further persisted in, by those opposing the government, the making of confiscated property at the least to bear the additional cost, will be insisted on; but that confiscations (except in cases of third party intervening interests) will be remitted to the people of any State which shall now promptly, and in good faith, withdraw its troops and other support, from further resistance to the government.
What is now said as to remission of confiscations has no reference to supposed property in slaves.
JEFFERSON DAVIS'S PROCLAMATION TO RALLY THE SOUTH TO KEEP FIGHTING
[see April 5, 1865, note 22]
The General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such movements of his troops as to uncover the capital. It would be unwise to conceal the moral and material injury to our cause resulting from its occupation by the enemy. It is equally unwise and unworthy of us to allow our energies to falter and our efforts to become relaxed under reverses, however calamitous they may be. For many months the largest and finest army of the Confederacy, under a leader whose presence inspires equal confidence in the troops and the people, has been greatly trammeled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over the approaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us, my countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses, how wretched has been the self-deception of those who have believed us less able to endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger with courage.
We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free.
Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fe
llow-countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia—noble State, whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious in all time to come—that Virginia, with the help of the people and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held and defended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory.
If, by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits or those of any other border State, we will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people resolved to be free.
Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, meet the foe with fresh defiance and with unconquered and unconquerable hearts.
Jefferson Davis
LINCOLN'S REMARKS AFTER APPOMATTOX, PART 1
[see April 10, 1865, note 13]
FELLOW CITIZENS: I am very greatly rejoiced to find that an occasion has occurred so pleasurable that the people cannot restrain themselves. I suppose that arrangements are being made for some sort of a formal demonstration, this, or perhaps, to-morrow night. If there should be such a demonstration, I, of course, will be called upon to respond, and I shall have nothing to say if you dribble it all out of me before. I see you have a band of music with you. I propose closing up this interview by the band performing a particular tune which I will name. Before this is done, however, I wish to mention one or two little circumstances connected with it. I have always thought “Dixie” one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it. I presented the question to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize. I now request the band to favor me with its performance.
The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln Page 29