The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln
Page 34
39. Noah Brooks, Mr. Lincoln's Washington: The Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks (South Brunswick, NJ: Thomas Yoseloff, 1966), p. 443.
40. Timothy Noah, “Our American Cousin Revisited,” Slate, February 11, 2009, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2009/02/our_american_cousin_revisited.html.
41. Richard Byrne, “Our American Cousin: A Sort of Defense (Revised),” Balkans via Bohemia (blog), February 13, 2009, http://richbyrne.blogspot.com/2015/04/our-american-cousin-sort-of-defense.html.
42. George S. Bryan, The Great American Myth (New York: Carrick & Evans, 1940), p. 176.
43. Ruth Painter Randall, Mary Lincoln: Portrait of a Marriage (Boston: Little, Brown, 1953), p. 382.
44. Annie F. F. Wright, “The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” Magazine of History, February 1909. In the confusion immediately following the assassination, people gave conflicting accounts of what they had seen and heard. Most biographies agree that John Wilkes Booth shouted “Sic semper tyrannis,” which is also the state motto of Virginia. Booth claimed that he said the phrase just after shooting the president, not after he jumped onto the stage.
45. Ibid.
46. “The Autopsy of President Lincoln,” in Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body, US National Library of Medicine, last updated June 5, 2014, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/galleries/cases/lincoln.html.
47. Dr. Blaine Houmes, who has studied Lincoln's assassination from a medical standpoint, states, “Today if you treat someone with an injury like Lincoln had, despite all of our advances, despite all of our equipment, despite all the drugs we're able to give, and the procedures available, if you look in the medical literature, the fatality rate is still 100 percent.” Blaine Houmes, “A Doctor's View of the Lincoln Assassination,” interview with Abraham Lincoln Online, 2018, http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/medical.htm.
48. Ibid.
49. Marquis Adolphe de Chambrun, Impressions of Lincoln and the Civil War: A Foreigner's Account (New York: Random House, 1952), pp. 95–96.
50. Ibid., p. 96.
51. US War Department, ed., The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1891), series 1, vol. 46, part 3, pp. 744–45.
52. The description of General and Mrs. Grant receiving the news of Lincoln's assassination is from Dent Grant, Personal Memoirs, p. 156.
53. Ibid.
54. Official Records, p. 756.
55. Porter, Campaigning with Grant, p. 499.
56. Dent Grant, Personal Memoirs, p. 157.
57. “The Assassination: The Murderous Assault upon Mr. Seward,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 18, 1865, p. 1.
58. The description of Gideon Welles visiting Secretary Seward and President Lincoln after the attacks upon them is from Welles, Diary, vol. 2, pp. 284–87. Frederick Seward recovered fully and later became a member of the New York State Assembly.
April 15, 1865, Saturday: A New World
1. Blaine Houmes, “A Doctor's View of the Lincoln Assassination,” interview with Abraham Lincoln Online, 2018, http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/medical.htm.
2. David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 598.
3. Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles: Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, vol. 2 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), p. 288.
4. Ibid.
5. John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, vol. 10 (New York: Century, 1890), p. 302.
6. “Special Cabinet Meeting,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 15, 1865, p. 2.
7. Welles, Diary, p. 288.
8. “The New President,” New York Times, April 17, 1865, p. 1.
9. Welles, Diary, p. 290.
10. Ibid.
11. “New President,” New York Times, April 17, 1865. The complete text of Andrew Johnson's speech was printed in the New York Times, and can be found in the appendix.
12. Marquis Adolphe de Chambrun, Impressions of Lincoln and the Civil War: A Foreigner's Account (New York: Random House, 1952), p. 103.
13. Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant (Secaucus, NJ: Blue and Grey, 1984), p. 501.
14. Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant: Two Volumes in One (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1894), p. 641.
15. “Awful Event: President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin,” New York Times, April 15, 1865, p. 1.
16. Atlas & Argus (Albany, NY), April 17, 1865.
17. Deuteronomy 34:4.
18. “Our Great Affliction,” Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1865, p. 1.
19. Margarita Spalding Gerry, comp. and ed., Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-Guard to President Lincoln (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1910), p. 68.
20. Ibid., pp. 73–74.
21. John S. Barnes, “With Lincoln from Washington to Richmond in 1865: II. The President Enters the Confederate Capital,” Appleton's Magazine 9, no. 6 (June 1907): 751.
22. Ibid.
23. Elisha Hunt Rhodes, All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), p. 223.
24. The description of General Chamberlain hearing the news of President Lincoln's death is from Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, The Passing of the Armies: An Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Based upon Personal Reminiscences of the Fifth Army Corps (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), pp. 210–13.
25. New York Tribune, April 17, 1865.
26. Walter Stahr, Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), p. 438.
27. The description of Jefferson Davis receiving the news of Lincoln's death is from Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, vol. 2 (Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1938), p. 550.
28. Beth G. Crabtree and James W. Patton, eds., “Journal of a Secesh Lady”: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, 1860–1866 (Raleigh, NC: Division of Archives and History, Dept. of Cultural Resources, 1979), p. 702.
29. “Mournful Intelligence: Assassination of President Lincoln,” Daily Standard (Raleigh, NC), April 18, 1865, p. 2.
30. “The Situation,” Texas Republican (Marshall, TX), April 28, 1865, p. 2.
31. “The Assassination of President Lincoln,” Tri-Weekly News (Winnsboro, SC), May 20, 1865, p. 1.
32. “Glorious News: Lincoln and Seward Assassinated,” Demopolis Herald (Alabama), April 19, 1865.
33. John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper, eds., “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me”: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), pp. 130–31.
34. Ibid., p. 154.
35. Ibid.
Epilogue: “The Loss This Country Has Suffered”
1. William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972, vol. 2 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973), p. 1384.
2. Marquis Adolphe de Chambrun, Impressions of Lincoln and the Civil War: A Foreigner's Account (New York: Random House, 1952), p. 105.
3. Ibid., p. 112.
4. Ibid., p. 106.
5. Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant: Two Volumes in One (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1894), p. 641.
6. Chambrun, Impressions of Lincoln, pp. 109, 111.
7. Albert Castel, The Presidency of Andrew Johnson (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1979), p. 20.
8. “Restoration: President Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation,” New York Times, May 30, 1865, p. 1.
The entire text of the proclamation was published in the New York Times and is included in the appendix.
9. Andrew Johnson, “Proclamation 135—Reorganizing a Constitutional Government in North Carolina,” Washington, DC, May 29, 1865, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=72403.
10. William Tecumseh Sherman, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, two vols. in one ed. (New York: Da Capo, 1984), vol. 2, p. 34
7.
11. Ibid., p. 349.
12. Grant, Personal Memoirs, p. 641.
13. US War Department, ed., The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1891), series 1, vol. 47, part 3, pp. 243–44.
14. Ibid.
15. Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant (Secaucus, NJ: Blue and Grey, 1984), p. 504.
16. Ibid.
17. “Sherman's Army—Gen. Sherman Negotiating with Gen. Johnston—His Actions Repudiated by the President and the Cabinet,” New York Times, April 24, 1865, p. 5.
18. Grant, Personal Memoirs, p. 644.
19. The description of General Chamberlain's memorial service for Lincoln is from Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, The Passing of the Armies: An Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Based upon Personal Reminiscences of the Fifth Army Corps (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), pp. 214–17.
20. Julia Dent Grant, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1975), p. 170.
21. Robert E. Lee Jr., comp., Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2004), p. 147.
22. J. William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man (Washington, DC: Neale Publishing, 1906), p. 390.
23. Castel, Presidency of Andrew Johnson, p. 111.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., p. 229.
27. Margarita Spalding Gerry, comp. and ed., Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook, Body-Guard to President Lincoln (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1910), p. 80.
28. Ibid., pp. 83–84.
29. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 675.
Aitken's Landing, Virginia, 102
Appomattox, Virginia, 11, 14, 200, 222, 224, 227, 239, 243, 248, 255, 266, 310, 312, 317
Argyll, Duchess of, 83–84
Arnold, Samuel, 62–64
Atzerodt, George, 62–64, 283, 302
Badeau, Adam, 101, 104
Barnes, John S., 74–75, 77–78, 85, 90, 93, 127, 160–61, 170, 171, 209, 210, 218
helps Lincoln plan City Point visit, 101, 104
attends military review, 108, 110
with Mary Lincoln aboard River Queen, 116–18
visits Petersburg, 162–65
visits Richmond, 170–71, 173
concerned with Lincoln's safety, 170, 171
learns of Lincoln's assassination, 295–96
Bat, USS, 74–75, 77–78, 85, 90, 95, 123, 183, 210, 218–19
Blair, Montgomery, 47–48
Booth, John Wilkes, 16, 21, 62–64, 265, 283, 293, 303
plans to abduct President Lincoln, 62–64
opinion of Lincoln, 64, 178–79
attends Lincoln's speech, 240–41
shoots President Lincoln, 278–79
writes letter explaining motives for assassination, 301–302
death of, 302
Bushrod, Nancy, 270–71
Campbell, John A., 175–77, 181–83, 187, 189–90, 244–45
Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence
informed of Lee's surrender, 223–34
comments on Confederate prisoners, 233
attends surrender ceremony of Army of Northern Virginia, 245–47
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 296–97
reaction of army to President Lincoln's assassination, 311
Chambrun, Marquis de, 184, 191, 198, 201
describes train ride with Lincoln, 202–203, 211
describes Lincoln's visit to Depot Field Hospital, 207–208
describes party aboard River Queen, 209, 219–20
describes Lincoln's return trip to Washington, 217–18
converses with Lincoln regarding future, 219–20
describes attitude of Washington toward Confederate prisoners, 230–31
visits Lincoln at White House, 238, 242
declines invitation to attend theater, 263
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 280–81
on Andrew Johnson's becoming president, 303–304
sees change for country after Lincoln's death, 304
Chase, Salmon P., 25, 30, 291
City Point, Virginia, 73–75, 77–82, 85–86, 89–91, 138, 189, 190, 207, 208, 265
Colfax, Schuyler, 37, 256, 274, 275
Crook, William, 65–66, 232–33, 253, 272, 316
travels to City Point with Lincoln, 85–87
arrives at City Point, 89
accompanies President Lincoln at Fort Stedman battlefield, 96
encounters “Mr. Smith” aboard River Queen, 132–33
comments on Lincoln's anxiety, 149, 156
receives word of Richmond's capture, 163
in Petersburg, 164–66
in Richmond with Lincoln, 170–77
considers Lincoln's stay at City Point, 215–16
describes Lincoln's return to Washington, 220–21
describes Lincoln's return to White House, 225–26
attends Lincoln's speech, 241
comments on celebrations in Washington, 253
hopeful that threat of assassination has ended, 254
alarmed by conversation with President Lincoln, 273–74
learns of assassination, 294–95
Custer, George A., 141–42
Davis, Jefferson, 16, 33, 75, 175, 182, 234–35
leaves Richmond, 173–74, 187–88
suspected of conspiring with assassins, 293, 298
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 298–99
Douglass, Frederick, 31–32
Ewell, General Richard “Baldy,” 192, 193, 195, 197
Fayetteville, North Carolina, 51, 54, 55–56, 57
Ford's Theatre, 11, 62, 63, 261, 263, 273, 275, 276, 278
Fort Stedman, 13, 94–95, 165
Fort Sumter, 119–20, 265–66
Fox, Gustavus, 75, 72–78
Gardner, Alexander, 29–30
Grant, Julia Dent, 113, 115–16, 129–30, 198–99, 202, 209, 258
meets President and Mrs. Lincoln at City Point, 90–91
attends military review, 103, 104–105, 107
learns of Lee's surrender, 224–25
remarks on celebrations in Washington, 253, 254
declines invitation to attend theater, 261–63
tells husband about disturbing incident, 264
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 281–82
opinion on clemency for South, 311
Grant, Ulysses S., 11–16, 19, 39, 43–45, 47–48, 57, 59, 67, 70–72, 84, 94–98, 99–100, 110–11, 129–32, 135–38, 141–43, 146, 169, 179, 180, 190, 194–92, 196, 197, 203–204, 207, 211–12, 215, 239, 245, 248, 254, 266, 315, 316
awarded gold medal, 43–44
and Oath of Allegiance, 49–51
fears that Lee will escape to North Carolina, 71, 75
invites President Lincoln to visit City Point, 73
accepts Robert Lincoln as member of his staff, 82
concerned with Lee's strategy, 84
attacked by Lee at Fort Stedman, 94–95
meets Sheridan at City Point, 100–101
confers with Lincoln aboard River Queen, 121–27
orders general assault, 147–48
and fighting on April 2, 152–55, 156–57
meets Lincoln in Petersburg, 161–62
receives word of Richmond's capture, 163
travels to General Meade's headquarters, 185–87
in pursuit of General Lee, 197
contacts Lee, 200–201, 212–13, 221
recalls Lincoln's visit to City Point, 216
receives Lee's offer to surrender, 222–23
informs Stanton of Lee's surrender, 224
offers generous surrender terms to Lee, 227
converses with Lee, 234–35
&nbs
p; confers with President Lincoln on reduction of army, 251–53
attends cabinet meeting on April 14, 256–60
declines Lincoln's invitation to attend theater, 261–63
has disturbing carriage ride, 264–65
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 281–82
advised of assassination attempt on himself, 282–83
on President Lincoln's death, 282, 293–94
meets with General Sherman, 308–10
Green, Duff, 177–78
Halleck, Henry W., 21, 43
Hamlin, Hannibal, 22–23, 53
Harris, Clara, 61, 275, 277, 279, 280–81
Hay, John, 26, 53–54, 61–62
Herold, David, 62–64, 302
Johnson, Andrew, 282, 301, 303–304, 309, 312, 317
at Lincoln's inauguration, 23–25
meets with President Lincoln, 268–70
informed of President Lincoln's death, 289–90
sworn in as president, 291–92
initially intends to punish South, 304–305
changes outlook toward South, 305–306
lacks Lincoln's diplomatic and political skills, 313–16
and Reconstruction Acts, 313–15
impeached and acquitted, 315–16
Johnston, Joseph E., 45, 54, 70, 204–205, 225–26, 230, 247–49, 256–57, 265–66, 294
offers suspension of hostilities, 306
meets with General Sherman, 306–308
Keckley, Elizabeth, 74, 85, 184, 191, 202, 203, 209, 237, 240
Keene, Laura, 263, 276, 278, 279
Kennedy, John F., 303, 317
Kennedy, Robert F., 303
Lamon, Ward, 19, 83, 249, 250
Lee, Robert E., 11–16, 19, 39, 45, 54, 67, 75, 84, 118, 121–27, 143, 169, 179, 180, 189, 191–92, 198, 199–201, 204–205, 207, 224, 225–27, 245, 255, 266, 293
approves black soldiers for Confederate army, 57–58
attacks Grant at Fort Stedman, 94–95
sends communiques to Jefferson Davis, 155–56
replies to Grant's letter, 201, 214, 221–23
did not understand Lincoln, 226–27
converses with Grant, 234–35
learns of President Lincoln's assassination, 299
writes letter to President Johnson, 312–13
Lincoln, Abraham, 11–17, 43–45, 47–48, 49, 61–62, 65–66, 74, 83–84, 99–100, 101, 113–15, 129–31, 132–33, 135, 141, 142–44, 145–46, 148–49, 151, 155–57, 159, 169, 179, 187, 188, 195, 196, 197, 198–99, 227, 235, 237–38, 243–45, 247, 251–53, 272, 274–75, 303–304, 311, 317