Chapter XXIX (1)

The Last of Earth--Events of the Last Day of Lincoln's Life--The
Last Cabinet Meeting--The Last Drive with Mrs. Lincoln--Incidents
of the Afternoon--Riddance to Jacob Thompson--A Final Act of
Pardon--The Fatal Evening--The Visit to the Theatre--The Assassin's
Shot--A Scene of Horror--Particulars of the Crime--The Dying
President--A Nation's Grief--Funeral Obsequies--The Return to
Illinois--At Rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

It is something to be ever gratefully remembered, that the last day of Lincoln's life was filled with sunshine. His cares and burdens slipped from him like a garment, and his spirit was filled with a blessed and benignant peace.

On the morning of that fatal Friday, the 14th day of April, the President had a long conversation at breakfast with his son Robert, then a member of Grant's staff, who had just arrived from the front with additional particulars of Lee's surrender, of which event he had been a witness. The President listened with close attention to the interesting recital; then, taking up a portrait of General Lee, which his son had brought him, he placed it on the table before him, where he scanned it long and thoughtfully. Presently he said: "It is a good face. It is the face of a noble, brave man. I am glad that the war is over at last." Looking upon Robert, he continued: "Well, my son, you have returned safely from the front. The war is now closed, and we will soon live in peace with the brave men who have been fighting against us. I trust that the era of good feeling has returned, and that henceforth we shall live in harmony together."

After breakfast the President received Speaker Colfax, spending an hour or more in discussing his plans regarding the adjustment of matters in the South. This was followed by an interview with Hon. John P. Hale, the newly appointed Minister to Spain, and by calls of congratulation from members of Congress and old friends from Illinois. Afterwards he took a short drive with General Grant, who had just come to the city to consult regarding the disbandment of the army and the parole of prisoners. The people were wild with enthusiasm, and wherever the President and General Grant appeared they were greeted with cheers, the clapping of hands, waving of handkerchiefs, and every possible demonstration of delight.

At the Cabinet meeting held at noon the President was accompanied by General Grant. The meeting is thus described by one who was present, Secretary Welles: "Congratulations were interchanged, and earnest inquiry was made whether any information had been received from General Sherman. General Grant, who was invited to remain, said he was expecting hourly to hear from Sherman, and had a good deal of anxiety on the subject. The President remarked that the news would come soon and come favorably, he had no doubt, for he had last night his usual dream which had preceded nearly every important event of the war. I inquired the particulars of this remarkable dream. He said it was in my department--it related to the water; that he seemed to be in a singular and indescribable vessel, but always the same, and that he was moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore; that he had had this singular dream preceding the firing on Sumter, the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, Wilmington, etc. General Grant remarked, with some emphasis and asperity, that Stone River was no victory--that a few such victories would have ruined the country, and he knew of no important results from it. The President said that perhaps he should not altogether agree with him, but whatever might be the facts his singular dream preceded that fight. Victory did not always follow his dream, but the event and results were important. He had no doubt that a battle had taken place or was about being fought, 'and Johnston will be beaten, for I had this strange dream again last night. It must relate to Sherman; my thoughts are in that direction, and _I know of no other very important event which is likely just now to occur_.'" "Great events," adds Mr. Welles in his Diary, "did indeed follow; for within a few hours the good and gentle as well as truly great man who narrated his dream closed forever his earthly career."

After the Cabinet meeting the President took a drive with Mrs. Lincoln, expressing a wish that no one should accompany them. His heart was filled with a solemn joy, which awoke memories of the past to mingle with hopes for the future; and in this subdued moment he desired to be alone with the one who stood nearest to him in human relationship. In the course of their talk together, he said: "Mary, we have had a hard time of it since we came to Washington; but the war is over, and with God's blessing we may hope for four years of peace and happiness, and then we will go back to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in quiet." He spoke, says Mr. Arnold, "of his old Springfield home; and recollections of his early days, his little brown cottage, the law office, the court room, the green bag for his briefs and law papers, his adventures when riding the circuit, came thronging back to him. The tension under which he had for so long been kept was removed, and he was like a boy out of school. 'We have laid by,' said he to his wife, 'some money, and during this term we will try and save up more, but shall not have enough to support us. We will go back to Illinois, and I will open a law office at Springfield or Chicago, and practise law, and at least do enough to help give us a livelihood.' Such were the dreams, the day-dreams of Lincoln, on the last day of his earthly life."

Mr. Neill, the President's private secretary, states that between three and four o'clock of this day he had occasion to seek the President to procure his signature to a paper. "I found," says Mr. Neill, "that he had retired to the private parlor of the house for lunch. While I was looking over the papers on his table, to see if I could find the desired commission, he came back, eating an apple. I told him what I was looking for, and as I talked he placed his hand upon the bell-pull. I said: 'For whom are you going to ring?' Placing his hand upon my coat, he spoke but two words: 'Andrew Johnson.' 'Then,' I said, 'I will come in again.' As I was leaving the room, the Vice-President had been ushered in, and the President advanced and took him by the hand."

Charles A. Dana, the Assistant Secretary of War, says that his last recollections of President Lincoln are indelibly associated with the seditious Jacob Thompson. "Late in the afternoon," says Mr. Dana, "a despatch was received at the War Department from the provost marshal of Portland, Maine, saying that he had received information that Jacob Thompson would arrive in Portland during that night, in order to take there the Canadian steamer which was to sail for Liverpool. On reading this despatch to Mr. Stanton, the latter said, 'Order him to be arrested--but no; you had better take it over to the President.' I found Mr. Lincoln in the inner room of his business office at the White House, with his coat off, washing his hands preparatory to a drive. 'Hello,' said he, 'what is it?' Listening to the despatch, he asked, 'What does Stanton say?' 'He thinks he ought to be arrested,' I replied. 'Well,' he continued, drawling his words, 'I rather guess not. When you have an elephant on your hands, and he wants to run away, better let him run.'"

During the afternoon the President signed a pardon for a soldier sentenced to be shot for desertion; remarking, as he did so, "Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than under ground." He also approved an application for the discharge, on taking the oath of allegiance, of a Southern prisoner, on whose petition he wrote, "_Let it be done_." This act of mercy was his last official order.

It had been decided early in the day that the President and Mrs. Lincoln would attend Ford's Theatre in the evening, to witness the play of "The American Cousin." Lincoln had invited General Grant to accompany his party to the theatre, saying that the people would expect to see him and should not be disappointed. But the General had declined, as Mrs. Grant was anxious to start that afternoon to visit their children, who were at school in Burlington, New Jersey.

As the hour approached for leaving for the theatre, the President was engaged in a conversation with two friends--Speaker Colfax and Hon. George Ashmun of Massachusetts. The business on which they had met not being concluded, the President gave Mr. Ashmun a card on which he had written these words: "Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come in at 9 A.M. to-morrow--A. Lincoln." He then turned to Mr. Colfax, saying, "You are going with Mrs. Lincoln and me to the theatre, I hope." Mr. Colfax pleaded other engagements, when Lincoln remarked: "Mr. Sumner has the gavel of the Confederate Congress, which he got at Richmond to hand to the Secretary of War. But I insisted then that he must give it to you; and you tell him for me to hand it over." He then rose, but seemed reluctant to go, expressing a half-determination to delay a while longer. It was undoubtedly to avoid disappointing the audience, to whom his presence had been promised, that he went to the play-house that night. At the door he stopped and said to Speaker Colfax, who was about to leave for the Pacific coast, "Colfax, do not forget to tell the people in the mining regions, as you pass through, what I told you this morning about the development when peace comes. I will telegraph you at San Francisco."

It was nine o'clock when the Presidential party reached the theatre. The place was crowded; "many ladies in rich and gay costumes, officers in their uniforms, many well-known citizens, young folks, the usual clusters of gaslights, the usual magnetism of so many people, cheerful, with perfumes, music of violins and flutes--and over all, and saturating all, that vast, vague wonder, Victory, the Nation's victory, the triumph of the Union, filling the air, the thought, the sense, with exhilaration more than all perfumes." As the President entered he was greeted with tremendous cheers, to which he responded with genial courtesy. The box reserved for him, at the right of the stage, a little above the floor, was draped and festooned with flags. As the party were seated, the daughter of Senator Harris of New York occupied the corner nearest the stage; next her was Mrs. Lincoln; and behind them sat the President and Major Rathbone, the former being nearest the door.

In his quiet chair he sate,
Pure of malice or guile,
Stainless of fear or hate;
And there played a pleasant smile
On the rough and careworn face,--
For his heart was all the while
On means of mercy and grace.

The brave old flag drooped o'er him,--
A fold in the hard hand lay;
He looked perchance on the play,--
But the scene was a shadow before him,
For his thoughts were far away.

It was half-past ten o'clock, and the audience was absorbed in the progress of the play, when suddenly a pistol shot, loud and sharp, rang through the theatre. All eyes were instantly directed toward the President's box, whence the report proceeded. A moment later, the figure of a man, holding a smoking pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other, appeared at the front of the President's box, and sprang to the stage, some eight or ten feet below, shouting as he did so, "_Sic semper tyrannis!_" He fell as he struck the stage; but quickly recovering himself, sprang through the side-wings and escaped from the theatre by a rear door.

At the moment of the assassination a single actor, Mr. Hawk, was on the stage. In his account of the tragical event he says: "When I heard the shot fired, I turned, looked up at the President's box, heard the man exclaim, '_Sic semper tyrannis_!' saw him jump from the box, seize the flag on the staff, and drop to the stage. He slipped when he struck the stage, but got upon his feet in a moment, brandished a large knife, crying, 'The South shall be free,' turned his face in the direction where I stood, and I recognized him as John Wilkes Booth. He ran towards me, and I, seeing the knife, thought I was the one he was after, and ran off the stage and up a flight of stairs. He made his escape out of a door directly in the rear of the theatre, mounted a horse, and rode off. The above all occurred in the space of a quarter of a minute, and at the time I did not know the President was shot."

Scarcely had the horror-stricken audience witnessed the leap and flight of the asassin when a woman's shriek pierced through the theatre, recalling all eyes to the President's box. The scene that ensued is described with singular vividness by the poet Walt Whitman, who was present: "A moment's hush--a scream--the cry of murder--Mrs. Lincoln leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks and lips, with involuntary cry, pointing to the retreating figure, '_He has killed the President!_' And still a moment's strange, incredulous suspense--and then the deluge!--then that mixture of horror, noises, uncertainty--(the sound, somewhere back, of a horse's hoofs clattering with speed)--the people burst through chairs and railing, and break them up--that noise adds to the queerness of the scene--there is inextricable confusion and terror--women faint--feeble persons fall and are trampled on--many cries of agony are heard--the broad stage suddenly fills to suffocation with a dense and motley crowd, like some horrible carnival--the audience rush generally upon it--at least the strong men do--the actors and actresses are there in their play costumes and painted faces, with mortal fright showing through the rouge--some trembling, some in tears--the screams and calls, confused talk--redoubled, trebled--two or three manage to pass up water from the stage to the President's box--others try to clamber up. Amidst all this, a party of soldiers, two hundred or more, hearing what is done, suddenly appear; they storm the house, inflamed with fury, literally charging the audience with fixed bayonets, muskets, and pistols, shouting, 'Clear out! clear out!'.... And in the midst of that pandemonium of senseless haste--the infuriated soldiers, the audience, the stage, its actors and actresses, its paints and spangles and gaslights,--the life blood from those veins, the best and sweetest of the land, drips slowly down, and death's ooze already begins its little bubbles on the lips."

It appears that Booth, the assassin, had long been plotting the murder of the President, and was awaiting a favorable moment for its execution. He had visited the theatre at half-past eleven on the morning of the 14th, and learned that a box had been taken for the President that evening. He engaged a fleet horse for a saddle-ride in the afternoon, and left it at a convenient place. In the evening he rode to the theatre, and, leaving the animal in charge of an accomplice, entered the house. Making his way to the door of the President's box, and taking a small Derringer pistol in one hand and a double-edged dagger in the other, he thrust his arm into the entrance, where the President, sitting in an arm-chair, presented to his view the back and side of his head. A flash, a sharp report, a puff of smoke, and the fatal bullet had entered the President's brain.

Major Rathbone, who occupied a seat in the President's box, testifies that he was sitting with his back toward the door, when he heard the discharge of a pistol behind him, and looking around saw through the smoke a man between the door and the President. Major Rathbone instantly sprang toward him and seized him; the man wrested himself from his grasp, and made a violent thrust at the Major's breast with a large knife. The Major parried the blow by striking it up, and received a wound in his left arm. The man rushed to the front of the box, and the Major endeavored to seize him again, but only caught his clothes as he was leaping over the railing of the box. Major Rathbone then turned to the President. His position was not changed; his head was slightly bent forward, and his eyes were closed.

As soon as the surgeons who had been summoned completed their hasty examination, the unconscious form of the President was borne from the theatre to a house across the street, and laid upon his death-bed. Around him were gathered Surgeon-General Barnes, Vice-President Johnson, Senator Sumner, Secretaries Stanton and Welles, Generals Halleck and Meigs, Attorney-General Speed, Postmaster-General Dennison, Mr. McCulloch, Speaker Colfax, and other intimate friends who had been hastily summoned. Mrs. Lincoln sat in an adjoining room, prostrate and overwhelmed, with her son Robert. The examination of the surgeons had left no room for hope. The watchers remained through the night by the bedside of the stricken man, who showed no signs of consciousness; and a little after seven o'clock in the morning--Saturday the 15th of April--he breathed his last.

A vivid account of the death-bed scene, together with particulars of the attacks upon Secretary Seward and his son Frederick a half-hour later than the attack upon the President, is furnished in the contemporaneous record of Secretary Welles, a singularly cool observer and clear narrator. "I had retired to bed about half-past ten on the evening of the 14th of April," writes Mr. Welles, "and was just getting asleep when Mrs. Welles, my wife, said some one was at our door.... I arose at once and raised a window, when my messenger, James Smith, called to me that Mr. Lincoln, the President, had been shot; and said Secretary Seward and his son, Assistant Secretary Frederick Seward, were assassinated.... I immediately dressed myself, and, against the earnest remonstrance and appeals of my wife, went directly to Mr. Seward's, whose residence was on the east side of the square, mine being on the north.... Entering the house, I found the lower hall and office full of persons, and among them most of the foreign legations, all anxiously inquiring what truth there was in the horrible rumors afloat.... At the head of the first stairs I met the elder Mrs. Seward, who was scarcely able to speak, but desired me to proceed up to Mr. Seward's room.... As I entered, I met Miss Fanny Seward, with whom I exchanged a single word, and proceeded to the foot of the bed. Dr. Verdi, and, I think, two others, were there. The bed was saturated with blood. The Secretary was lying on his back, the upper part of his head covered by a cloth, which extended down over his eyes. His mouth was open, the lower jaw dropping down. I exchanged a few whispered words with Dr. Verdi. Secretary Stanton, who came after but almost simultaneously with me, made inquiries in a louder tone till admonished by a word from one of the physicians. We almost immediately withdrew and went into the adjoining front room, where lay Frederick Seward. His eyes were open, but he did not move them, nor a limb, nor did he speak. Doctor White, who was in attendance, told me he was unconscious and more dangerously injured than his father.... As we descended the stairs, I asked Stanton what he had heard in regard to the President that was reliable. He said the President was shot at Ford's Theatre, that he had seen a man who was present and witnessed the occurrence. I said I would go immediately to the White House. Stanton told me the President was not there but was at the theatre. 'Then,' said I, 'let us go immediately there.' ... The President had been carried across the street from the theatre, to the house of a Mr. Peterson. We entered by ascending a flight of steps above the basement and passing through a long hall to the rear, where the President lay extended on a bed, breathing heavily. Several surgeons were present, at least six, I should think more. Among them I was glad to observe Dr. Hall, who, however, soon left. I inquired of Dr. H., as I entered, the true condition of the President. He replied the President was dead to all intents, although he might live three hours or perhaps longer.... The giant sufferer lay extended diagonally across the bed, which was not long enough for him. He had been stripped of his clothes. His large arms, which were occasionally exposed, were of a size which one would scarce have expected from his spare appearance. His slow, full respiration lifted the clothes with each breath that he took. His features were calm and striking. I had never seen them appear to better advantage than for the first hour, perhaps, that I was there. After that, his right eye began to swell and that part of his face became discolored ... Senator Sumner was there, I think, when I entered. If not, he came in soon after, as did Speaker Colfax, Mr. Secretary McCulloch, and the other members of the Cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Seward. A double guard was stationed at the door and on the sidewalk, to repress the crowd, which was of course highly excited and anxious. The room was small and overcrowded. The surgeons and members of the Cabinet were as many as should have been in the room, but there were many more, and the hall and other rooms in the front or main house were full. One of these rooms was occupied by Mrs. Lincoln and her attendants, with Miss Harris. Mrs. Dixon and Mrs. Kinney came to her about twelve o'clock. About once an hour Mrs. Lincoln would repair to the bedside of her dying husband and with lamentations and tears remain until overcome by emotion.... A door which opened upon a porch or gallery, and also the windows, were kept open for fresh air. The night was dark, cloudy, and damp, and about six it began to rain. I remained in the room until then without sitting or leaving it, when, there being a vacant chair which some one left at the foot of the bed, I occupied it for nearly two hours, listening to the heavy groans, and witnessing the wasting life of the good and great man who was expiring before me.... A little before seven in the morning I re-entered the room where the dying President was rapidly drawing near the closing moments. His wife soon after made her last visit to him. The death-struggle had begun. Robert, his son, stood with several others at the head of the bed. The respiration of the President became suspended at intervals, and at last entirely ceased at twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock."

The news of the President's assassination flashed rapidly over the country, everywhere causing the greatest consternation and grief. The revulsion from the joy which had filled all loyal hearts at the prospects of peace was sudden and profound. All business ceased, and gave way to mourning and lamentation. The flags, so lately unfurled in exultation, were now dropped at half-mast, and emblems of sorrow were hung from every door and window. Men walked with a dejected air. They gathered together in groups in the street, and spoke of the murder of the President as of a personal calamity. The nation's heart was smitten sorely, and signs of woe were in every face and movement.

A scene which transpired in Philadelphia, the morning after the murder, reflects the picture presented in every city and town in the United States. "We had taken our seats," says the delineator, "in the early car to ride down town, men and boys going to work. The morning papers had come up from town as usual, and the men unrolled them to read as the car started. The eye fell on the black border and ominous column-lines. Before we could speak, a good Quaker at the head of the car broke out in horror: 'My God! What's this? _Lincoln is assassinated._' The driver stopped the car, and came in to hear the awful tidings. There stood the car, mid-street, as the heavy news was read in the gray dawn of that ill-fated day. Men bowed their faces in their hands, and on the straw-covered floor hot tears fell fast. Silently the driver took the bells from his horses, and we started like a hearse cityward. What a changed city since the day before! Then all was joy over the end of the war; now we were plunged in a deeper gulf of woe. The sun rose on a city smitten and weeping. All traffic stood still; the icy hand of death lay flat on the heart of commerce, and it gave not a throb. Men stood by their open stores saying, with hands on each other's shoulders, 'Our President is dead.' Over and over, in a dazed way, they said the fateful syllables, as if the bullet that tore through the weary brain at Washington had palsied the nation. The mute news-boy on the corner said never a word as he handed to the speechless buyers the damp sheets from the press; only he brushed, with unwashed hand, the tears from his dirty cheeks. Groups stood listening on the pavement with faces to the earth, while one, in choking voice, read the telegrams; then with a look they departed in unworded woe, each cursing bitterly in his breast the 'deep damnation of his taking off.' Mill operatives, clerks, workers, school children, all came home, the faltering voice of the teacher telling the wondering children to 'go home, there will be no school to-day.' The housewife looked up amazed to see husband and children coming home so soon. The father's face frightened her and she cried, 'What is wrong, husband?' He could not speak the news, but the wee girl with the school-books said, 'Mamma, they've killed the President.' Ere noon every house wore crape; it was as if there lay a dead son in every home. For hours a sad group hung around the bulletins, hoping against hope; then, when the last hope died, turned sullenly homeward, saying, 'When all was won, and all was done, then to strike him down!' The flags in the harbor fell to half-mast; the streets were rivers of inky streamers; from door-knobs floated crape; and even the unbelled car-horses seemed to draw the black-robed cars more quietly than before."

On Saturday the remains were borne to the White House, where they were embalmed and placed on a grand catafalque in the East Room. Little "Tad" was overcome with grief. All day Saturday he was inconsolable, but on Sunday morning the sun rose bright and beautiful and into his childish heart came the thought that all was well with his father. He said to a gentleman who called upon Mrs. Lincoln, "Do you think, sir, that my father has gone to heaven?" "I have not a doubt of it," was the reply. "Then," said the little fellow in broken voice, "I am glad he has gone there, for he was never happy after he came here. This was not a good place for him!" Tuesday the White House was thrown open to admit friends who desired to look upon the still form as it lay in death. Wednesday, the 19th, the funeral services took place. Mrs. Lincoln was too ill to be present; but her two sons sat near the coffin in the East Room. Next in order were ranged Andrew Johnson (now President) and the members of the Cabinet, and after them the foreign representatives, the chief men of the nation, and a large body of mourning citizens. The services were conducted jointly by the Rev. Dr. Hall, Bishop Simpson, Dr. Gray, and the Rev. Dr. Gurley, the latter delivering the discourse. At two o'clock the funeral cortege started for the Capitol, where the remains were to lie in state until the following morning. The procession was long and imposing. "There were no truer mourners," says Secretary Welles, "than the poor colored people who crowded the streets, joined the procession, and exhibited their woe, bewailing the loss of him whom they regarded as a benefactor and father. Women as well as men, with their little children, thronged the streets, sorrow and trouble and distress depicted on their countenances and in their bearing. The vacant holiday expression had given way to real grief." The body was borne into the rotunda, amidst funeral dirges and military salutes; and the religious exercises of the occasion were concluded. A guard was stationed near the coffin, and the public were again admitted to take their farewell of the dead. While these obsequies were being performed at Washington, similar ceremonies were observed in every part of the country. It had been decided to convey the remains of Lincoln to the home which he left four years before with such solemn and affectionate words of parting. The funeral train left Washington on the 21st. Its passage through the principal Eastern States and cities of the Union was a most mournful and impressive spectacle. The heavily craped train, its sombre engine swathed in black, moved through the land like an eclipse. At every point vast crowds assembled to gain a tearful glimpse as it sped past.

Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities,
Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the
violets peep'd from the ground, spotting the
gray debris,
Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes,
passing the endless grass,
Passing the yellow-spear'd wheat, every grain from
its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen,
Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the
orchards,
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
Night and day journeys a coffin.

Coffin that passes through lanes and streets,
Through day and night with the great cloud darkening
the land,
With the pomp of the inloop'd flags, with the cities
draped in black,
With the show of the States themselves as of crape-veil'd
women standing,
With processions long and winding and the flambeaus
of the night,
With the countless torches lit, with the silent sea of
faces and the unbared heads,
With the waiting depot, the arriving coffin, and the
sombre faces,
With dirges through the night, with the thousand
voices rising strong and solemn,
With all the mournful voices of the dirges pour'd
around the coffin,
The dim-lit churches and the shuddering organs--
With the tolling, tolling bells' perpetual clang.

At the principal cities delays were made to enable the people to pay their tribute of respect to the remains of their beloved President. Through Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, the train passed to New York City, where a magnificent funeral was held; thence along the shore of the Hudson river to Albany, thence westward through the principal cities of New York, Ohio, and Northern Indiana, the cortege wended its solemn way, reaching, on the 1st of May, the city of Chicago. Here very extensive preparations for funeral obsequies had been made by the thousands who had known him in his life, and other thousands who had learned to love him and now mourned his death.

On the 3d of May the funeral train reached Springfield, where old friends and neighbors tenderly received the dust of their beloved dead. Funeral services were held, and for twenty-four hours the catafalque remained in the hall of the House, where thousands of tear-dimmed eyes gazed for the last time upon the familiar face. Then, on the morning of the 4th of May, a sorrowing procession escorted the remains to the beautiful grounds of Oak Ridge Cemetery, to rest at last from the care and tumult of a troubled life. To this hallowed spot have come the gray-haired soldiers of that stormy war, reverently to salute their great commander's tomb. Here shall long be paid the loving homage of the dusky race that he redeemed. And pilgrims from every land, who value human worth and human liberty, bring here their tributes of respect. And here, while the Government that he saved endures, shall throng his patriot countrymen, not idly to lament his loss, but to resolve _that from this honored dead they take increased devotion to that cause for which he gave the last full measure of devotion; that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth_.

NOTES

[A] The popular vote was as follows: Lincoln, 1,857,610; Douglas, 1,291,574; Breckenridge, 850,082; Bell, 646,124. Of the electoral votes, Lincoln had 180; Breckenridge, 72; Bell, 39; and Douglas, 12.

[B] On the very day of Lincoln's arrival in Washington, he said to some prominent men who had called upon him at his hotel, "As the country has placed me at the helm of the ship, I'll try to steer her through."

[C] This first call for troops was supplemented a month later (May 16) by a call for 42,034 volunteers for three years, for 22,114 officers and men for the regular army, and 18,000 seamen for the navy.

[D] Orpheus C. Kerr (_Office Seeker_) was the pseudonymn of Robert H. Newell, a popular humorist of the war period, who dealt particularly with the comic aspects of Washington and army life.

[E] Lincoln never lost his interest in exhibitions of physical strength, and involuntarily he always compared its possessor with himself. On one occasion--it was in 1859--he was asked to make an address at the State Fair of Wisconsin, which was held at Milwaukee. Among the attractions was a "strong man" who went through the usual performance of tossing iron balls and letting them roll back down his arms, lifting heavy weights, etc. Apparently Lincoln had never seen such a combination of strength and agility before. He was greatly interested. Every now and then he gave vent to the ejaculation, "By George! By George!" After the speech was over, Governor Hoyt introduced him to the athlete; and as Lincoln stood looking down at him from his great height, evidently pondering that one so small could be so strong, he suddenly gave utterance to one of his quaint speeches. "Why," he said, "I could lick salt off the top of your hat!"

[F] Hon. George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts stated Lincoln said to him personally: "When Lee came over the river, I made a resolution that if McClellan drove him back I would send the proclamation after him. The battle of Antietam was fought Wednesday, and until Saturday I could not find out whether we had gained a victory or lost a battle. It was then too late to issue the proclamation that day; and the fact is, I fixed it up a little on Sunday, and Monday I let them have it."

[G] The cause of General Hooker's seeming stupefaction at the critical point of the Chancellorsville battle has been much discussed but never satisfactorily explained. It has been thought that he was disabled by the shock of a cannon-ball striking a post or pillar of the house where he had his headquarters. An interesting entry in Welles's Diary, made soon after the battle, reflects somewhat the feeling at the time. "Sumner expresses an absolute want of confidence in Hooker; says he knows him to be a blasphemous wretch; that after crossing the Rappahannock and reaching Centreville, Hooker exultingly exclaimed, 'The enemy are in my power, and God Almighty cannot deprive me of them.' I have heard before of this, but not so direct and positive. The sudden paralysis that followed, when the army in the midst of a successful career was suddenly checked and commenced its retreat, has never been explained. Whiskey is said by Sumner to have done the work. The President said that if Hooker had been killed by the shot which knocked over the pillar that stunned him, we should have been successful."

[H] General T.R. Tannatt, a graduate of West Point in 1858, is now (1913) an active and honored citizen of Spokane, Washington.

[I] The criticism of Meade for not attacking Lee before he recrossed the Potomac is based on the assumption that the attack must be successful. On this point Meade's words to Halleck, written in reply to the latter's conciliatory letter of July 28, can hardly be ignored. "Had I attacked Lee the day I proposed to do so, and in the ignorance that then existed of his position, I have every reason to believe the attack would have been unsuccessful, and would have resulted disastrously. This opinion is founded on the judgment of a number of distinguished officers after inspecting Lee's vacated works and position. Among these officers I could name Generals Sedgwick, Wright, Slocum, Hays, Sykes, and others." In other words the attack which Meade has been so severely blamed for not making might have ended in reversing the results at Gettysburg, losing all we had gained at such terrible cost, placed Washington and other Northern cities in far more deadly peril, and changing the whole subsequent issues of the war.

[J] A curious revelation of the estimate of General Halleck held by at least one member of the Cabinet, and of the relations between Halleck and the President, is found in Welles's Diary in the record of a rather free conversation with the President during the anxious period about the time of the battle of Gettysburg. Says Mr. Welles: "I stated I had observed the inertness if not the incapacity of the General-in-Chief, and had hoped that he [the President], who had better and more correct views, would issue peremptory orders. The President immediately softened his tone, and said, 'Halleck knows better than I what to do. He is a military man, has had a military education. I brought him here to give me military advice. His views and mine are widely different. It is better that I, who am not a military man, should defer to him, rather than he to me.' This," continues Mr. Welles, "is the President's error. His own convictions and conclusions are infinitely superior to Halleck's; even in military operations, more sensible and more correct always.... Halleck has no activity; never exhibits sagacity or foresight." And in another place in the same Diary we are given this singular picture by a Cabinet minister of the man who was at that moment the General-in-Chief of the Union armies and the military adviser of the President: "Halleck sits and smokes, and swears, and scratches his arm, but exhibits little military capacity or intelligence; is obfuscated, muddy, uncertain, stupid as to what is doing or to be done."

INDEX

_[The abbreviation "L.," as used in this index, refers in every case to the subject of this biography_.]

Abolitionists,
Bloomington convention, 165-169;
crusade against slavery, 244-245;
"Boston set" visits L., 482-484

Adams, Charles Francis, 343

Adams, John Quincy, 100, 549

Agassiz, Louis, visits L., 475-476

Alabama, secedes, 261

Allen, Robert, L's letter to, 59

Ames, Dr., 232

Ames, Oakes, 482

Anderson, Robert,
meetings with L., 39-40;
holds Fort Sumter, 262

Andrew, John A.,
mentioned, 234, 342, 466;
impression of L., 235

Anecdotes of L.,
Aaron's commission from the Lord, 477;
Abolitionist call for a convention, 165-166;
About his wealth, 216;
Actor who wanted consulship, 470;
Anderson and L's good memory, 39-40;
Anxiety during summer of 1864, 542-546;
Artemus Ward, reading of, 332-333;
Attorney for the people, 459;
Authenticity of, 32;
Baker rescued from opponents, 91;
"Biggest shuck and smallest nubbin," 556;
Birds restored to nest, 76;
Black Hawk War, 37, 38, 40;
Bob Lewis and the Mormon lands, 334-335;
Booth's acting, 469;
Bores, getting rid of, 460;
Breach of promise suit, 81-82;
Bread and butter dinner, 255;
Bullet-hole through L's hat, 541-542;
Burnside's brigadiers, promoted, 385;
Butterfield's son, appointment, 107;
"Cabinet a-sittin'," 330;
Call for additional troops "not a personal question," 537;
Cashiered officer, censured, 477-478;
Challenge to work in field for votes, 48;
"Charles I. lost his head," 556;
Chase's appointment as chief-justice, 550-551;
Client's fee divided with defendant, 128-129;
Cogdal note returned by L., 136;
Confederate soldiers greeting at Petersburg, 567-568;
Congress, first speech in, 101;
Credits of troops, Stanton overmatched, 376;
Coward, "If any man calls me coward let him test it," 38;
Darkey arithmetic, 357-358;
Dennis Hanks' recollections, 6-9;
Douglas reproved, 203;
Dreams significant, 583-584;
DuPont's slowness, 457-458;
Earning the first dollar, 17-18;
Editor who nominated L., 460-461;
Election clerk, first official act, 32;
Five Points Sunday School visit, 225-226;
Forced serenity deceptive, 542;
Free-soil party, prediction, 172-174;
Gavel of Confederate congress, 586-587;
Gettysburg battle, L's anxiety during, 499-500;
"Give and take" rule for office-seekers, 295-296;
Government on a tight rope, 484;
Grant accused of drunkenness, 524;
Grant invited to dinner, 520-521;
Grant's ability to manage the army, 526-527;
Grant's political aspirations, 523;
Greeley's criticism, 429;
Gunboat advice to New Yorkers, 338;
Herndon's convictions on slavery, 166-167;
Hooker's appointment, 487-488;
Hooker's self-confidence, 491-492;
Horsemanship tested by McClellan, 415-416;
Horses captured by guerillas, 399;
Horse-trading, 140;
Ignorance of Latin admitted, 468-469;
Impromptu speeches written, 471;
Inaugural message, loss of, 283;
Indian protected by L., 37;
Jack-knife given him because of ugliness, 83;
Jacob Thompson, proposed arrest, 585-586;
Jefferson Davis and the troublesome coon story, 580;
Johnnie Kongapod, 81;
Joseph Jefferson and his players, 79;
Kerr's papers enjoyed, 334;
Kindness to birds, 76;
Kindness to old colored woman, 128;
Kindness to old John Burns, 515;
Last drive with wife, 584-585;
Law cases refused on moral grounds, 137-138;
Lawsuits, gaining advantage in, 80-82;
Lee, attitude of L. toward, 582;
Lightning rod and Forquer, 56-57;
Logan and his shirt, 139-140;
"Long sword in a short scabbard," 566-567;
Loyalty to old friends, Hubbard, 458-459;
McClellan's body-guard, 417-418;
McClellan's fatigued horses, 416;
McClellan's pass to Richmond, 454;
McCormick reaper case, 173-175;
McCullough thanked by L., 469-470;
Major-generals and hard tack, 400;
Manners, first lesson, 13;
Measuring backs with Sumner, 336;
Measuring height with Ab McElrath, 274-275;
Measuring height with a Southerner, 247;
Measuring height with a young "Sucker," 254;
Meeting with Smoot, 29-30;
Mrs. White, southern sympathizer, 453;
"Monarch of all you survey," 47;
Name refused for commercial use, 452;
Negroes at White House reception, 552-553;
Negroes welcome their "Great Messiah," 569-571;
Noisy and boastful fighter, 189;
Office-seeker from Wisconsin repulsed, 353;
Office-seeker, unfit, 307;
Old sign, "Lincoln and Herndon," 264-265;
Old woman and the bread and milk, 255;
One-legged soldier, lack of credentials, 451-452;
Oratorical success discussed with Gulliver, 222-223;
Pardon for deserters, 397;
Pardon for young soldier, 396-397;
Pardoning prisoners of war, 578-580;
Pass given Laura Jones, Southerner, 453;
Paymaster, appointment, 377-378;
Philadelphia receives news of L's death, 594-596;
Pig rescued from a pit, 76-77;
Pigeon holes versus letter files, 474;
Powder sample, testing, 383-384;
Quaker demand for emancipation, 425-427;
Quakers sent home, 398;
Rail making, 230-231;
Reading Nasby during election returns, 548;
Rebel mail examined, 354-355;
Rebels number twelve hundred thousand, 454;
Revolutionary War defended, 77-78;
Sandwich Islands, commissioner, applicants, 339;
School of events, suggestion, 475;
Scott's request concerning wife's body, 408-410;
Scott "unable as a politician," 337;
Sherman and the officer, 328-329;
Sherman after Bull Run, 327-329;
Sherman's visit from Louisiana, 299;
Sitting for life-mask, 237-243;
Skunks, shooting, 373-374;
Slave girl sold, 147;
Slavery speech criticised by Long, 181-182;
Soldiers' humor, 399, 400;
"Something everybody can take," 460;
South Carolina lady's visit, 297-298;
Stanton calls L. a d----d fool, 378;
"Stoning Stephen," 204;
Storekeeper in New Salem, 43;
Strength, physical, 92-93;
Stump speech, first appearance, 41;
Sun doesn't set, 20;
Swapping horses mid stream, 535;
Sykes's yellow dog 525-526;
Tad and the scattered pages of L's speech, 575-576;
Tad's grief over death of father, 596;
"Taking the wind out of his sails," 88;
Talking against time, 80;
Taylor's fine clothes, 57-58;
Thrashing a bully, 28-29;
"To whom it may concern," 539;
Trousers requested by office-seeker,569;
Trust in God, 351-352;
Use of old-fashioned words, 139;
Used on adversaries, 86;
Verses written from memory, 356;
Vicksburg, joy of L., 501;
Wade's effort to remove Grant, 503;
Weem's life of Washington, 15;
Whigs all dead, 157;
Wood-craft knowledge, 474-475;
Wrestling match with Jack Armstrong, 28

Antietam, battle of, 414, 437;
L's dream, 583

Appomattox, Lee's surrender at, 573

Armstrong, Hannah, 133-135

Armstrong, Hugh, 30

Armstrong, Jack, trial of strength, 28; early friend, 133

Armstrong, John, quoted, 178

Armstrong, William D., defended by L., 133-135

Arnold, Isaac N., quoted, 3, 14, 19, 31, 56, 59, 72, 150, 153, 185, 190, 205, 232, 244, 297-298, 299-301, 332-333, 422-423, 466-467, 468, 545, 584-585; interview with L., 422-423; mentioned, 237

Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 546

Ashley, Hon. James M., constitutional amendment introduced by, 554

Ashmore, Congressman, of South Carolina, quoted, 431

Ashmun, George, mentioned, 241-243, 586

Austin, G.L., quoted, 136

Baker, Edward D., mentioned, 74, 186;
refuses to defend slaves, 77;
Whig debater, 89;
personal and political friend of L., 91;
elected congressman, 97;
killed at Balls' Bluff, 131;
magnanimity of L. towards, 159;
introduced L. at inauguration, 284

Balch, George B., quoted, 21-23

Baltimore, republican convention at, 1864, 534

Bancroft, George, contrasted with L., 217;
quoted, 578

Banks, Nathaniel P., 501

Barnes, Surgeon-General, 591

Barrett, J.H., quoted, 23-24, 26

Bateman, Newton, quoted, 202-203, 245-247

Bates, Edward, candidate for president,231;
made attorney general, 293, 294;
characterized, 366;
visits army with L., 490;
resignation, 552

Beckwith, H.W., 81

Beecher, Henry Ward, abolition sermons read by L., 166;
invites L. to speak in his church, 214;
eloquent abolitionist, 245

Bell, John, nominated for president, 251

Bennett, John, impressions of L., 67-68

Bible, L's knowledge of, 118;
L. quotes from, 473;
L's opinion of, 478

Bigelow, John, quoted, 303-304, 345, 359-361, 363-364, 513, 514, 546-547

Bird, Francis, W., 482

Birney, Zachariah, L's school-master, 11

Bissell, William H., mentioned, 74-209

Bixby, Mrs., 397-398

Black Hawk War, L's military experience in, 35-40

Blaine, James G., compares Lincoln and Douglas, 183-185

Blair, F.P., attacks Chase, 533;
reprehended by L., 534

Blair, Montgomery, made postmaster general, 293-294;
arming of negroes deprecated by, 436;
residence fired, 536;
resignation, 551

Bloomington Convention, 165-169

Bonham, Jeriah, quoted, 180, 197, 203

Boone, Daniel, 2

Booneville, Ind., L. attends court, 9, 19

Booth, Edwin, L's enjoyment of his acting, 469

Booth, John Wilkes, assassination of L., 588-590

Boston delegation, conference with L., 482

Boutwell, George S., quoted, 437

Bowles, Samuel, quoted, 206

Brainard and Knott, quoted, 220

Breckenridge, John A., early influence on L., 9, 19

Breckenridge, John C, nominated for president, 250

Breese, Sidney, dignity, 84;
quoted, 141

Brewster, Father, 204

Bright, John, 357

Brooklyn, L's lecture trip, 214-215

Brooks, Senator, knocks down Sumner, 245;
quoted, 192

Brooks, Noah P., 470;
quoted, 171-173, 462-463, 466-467, 471, 474, 490, 491-492, 493, 543, 546;
describes L's last speech, 575-576

Brooks, Phillips, quoted, 478-479

Bross, John A., 538

Bross, William, first meeting with L., 170;
interview with L., 265, 538-539

Brough, John, victorious governor of Ohio, 510;
effort to reconcile L. and Chase, 549

Brown, John, 485

Browne, Francis Fisher, biographical sketch, v-vii

Browning, O.H., mentioned, 74-186;
Whig debater, 89;
inaugural party, member of, 266, 275

Browning Robert, L's fondness for his poetry, 387

Bryan, Thomas B., purchases MS. of emancipation proclamation, 445

Bryan, William J., on L. as an orator, 473

Bryant, William Cullen,
presided over Cooper Institute meeting, 217;
abolitionist, 245;
favored L. for presidency, 247-248

Buchanan, James,
mentioned, 294, 295;
treachery during his administration, 261-262;
escorts L. to Capitol, 284-286;
characterized, 291;
escorts L. to White House, 292

Bull Run, battle of,
depression after, 326-437;
L's dream, 583,
second battle, 411

Bulwer-Lytton, mentioned, 469

Burns, John, 515

Burns, Robert, L's fondness for his poetry, 466

Burnside, Ambrose E.,
Fredericksburg repulse, 368,487,488;
victories in N.C., 385;
unpopularity, 404;
replaces McClellan, 417;
L's opinion of, 487

Bushnell, C.S., agent for Ericsson, 345, 346

Butler, William, L. boards with, in Springfield, 70

Butterfield, Daniel, 493

Butterfield, Justin,
mentioned, 74;
appointed commissioner of land office, 106;
son of, desires appointment, 107

Byron, Lord,
L's fondness for his poetry, 132;
quoted, 350

Cabinet,
L's political rivals chosen, 256;
L's non-partisan ideas, 256, 259;
makeup discussed with Weed, 257-259;
with Riddle, 275;
Banks considered, 283;
final appointments and how decided, 293;
changes during administration, 294;
meetings enlivened by stories, 336;
L's relations with, 363;
misconceptions of rights and duties, 364;
unfriendly feeling between members, 365;
earliest meetings informal, 365-366;
attitude toward the war, 366-367;
personal dissensions, 367-370;
Seward's removal demanded, 368;
Chase and Seward resignations, 368-370;
Stanton the master-mind, 370-371;
Cameron's relations with L., 371-373;
Stanton succeeds Cameron, 372-373;
Senators advise reconstruction of, 373-374;
Stanton's relations with L., 374-379;
opposes L's reinstatement of McClellan, 412-413;
attitude toward emancipation, 432;
preliminary proclamation discussed, L's own account, 436-438;
second draft discussed, 437-439, 444;
disposal of freedmen discussed, 439-440;
Chase finally disposed of, 549-550;
Blair succeeded by Dennison, 551;
Bates resigns, 552;
ignored by L., 555;
last meeting attended by L., 580-581, 583-584

Calhoun, John C,
mentioned, 186;
appoints L. deputy surveyor, 47;
democratic debater, 89;
congressman, 100

California, L.'s desire to live in, 549

Cameron, Simon,
mentioned, 506;
congressman, 100;
presidential candidate, 231;
cabinet possibility, 275;
secretary of war, 293, 294, 298;
retirement from the cabinet, 371-373;
advocates arming the blacks, 447

Campbell, Major, rescues fugitive slaves, 248

Campbell, John A., Southern peace commissioner, 555

Canada, rebel agents in, 352-353

Capital and labor. _See_ Labor and capital

Carpenter, Francis B.,
mentioned, 469;
quoted, 234, 436-437, 464-465, 544, 573

Cartwright, Peter, 99

Cass, Lewis, mentioned, 100;
ridiculed by L., 102-104

Caton, John Dean,
first meeting with L., 60-61;
opinion of L. as lawyer, 141-142;
fugitive slave decision, 248;
advice on war policy, 255-256

Chancellorsville, battle of, 492-494, 496-497, 506

Chandler, Zack,
aids L. in Schofield matter, 456;
quoted, 498-499;
lack of military judgment, 505

Channing, William Henry,
abolitionist, 245;
conversation with L. on slavery, 427-428

Chapman, Colonel, quoted, 263-264

Chapman, Mrs., 263;
quoted, 113

Charleston, L's opinion of situation, 490-491

Chase, Salmon P.,
mentioned, 185, 501, 548;
opposes Nebraska bill, 153;
presidential candidate, 231-233, 532;
logic of, 245;
cabinet possibility, 258-275, 371;
secretary of the treasury, 293, 294, 297;
rivalry with Seward, 366-370;
upholds Stanton, 368;
resignation and withdrawal, 369-370;
consulted about Stanton, 373;
opposes negro enlistment, 373;
visits Fortress Monroe with L., 386-392;
opinion of emancipation proclamation, 436;
contribution to emancipation proclamation, 444;
rupture with Lincoln, 532-534;
second resignation offered, 549;
accepted, 550;
appointed Chief Justice, 550-551;
quoted, 367

Chattanooga, Grant's success, 516

Chicago,
L. visits N.B. Judd, 117-118;
national republican convention, 231-237;
memorial on emancipation, 427;
Northwestern fair, 445;
funeral services for L., 598

Chicago Historical Society, owned emancipation proclamation MS., 445

Cincinnati,
L's first visit, 173-176;
L's second visit, 213;
visits on inaugural journey, 270-273;

City Point, visited by L., 562-566