U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

October 2013

GPO

 Civil

 War

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Introduction 2

GPO & Swampoodle 3-6

Lincoln & Defrees 7-10

Lincoln’s Visit 11

Emancipation Proclamation 11-14

Company F & Company G 15-16

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 17

GPO

 Civil

 War

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On the day that 

Abraham Lincoln 

was inaugurated 

President, March 4, 1861, the 

United States Government 

Printing Office opened its 

doors on H Street at North 

Capitol Street in Northwest 

Washington. The area was 

farmland gradually giving way 

to roads and buildings. Nearby 

Tiber Creek overflowed in 

wet weather, creating swamp 

and puddles, giving the 

neighborhood its nickname, 

“Swampoodle.”

Avisitor approaching 

GPO first caught 

sight of the tall 

chimney of the engine house 

where a 40-horsepower steam 

engine supplied heat and 

power for the office. Also on 

the site were a machine shop, 

stable, and warehouses where 

some 40,000 reams of paper 

came and went each year. 

Introduct i o n

The main building had been designed by Edward Clark, Architect of 

the Capitol, in 1856, and had opened for business as the printing 

establishment of Cornelius Wendell, printer for the Senate, in 

November, 1857. Wendell’s was the largest and best equipped printing plant 

in Washington, and one of the largest in the country.

G P O & Swa m p ood l e

Swampoodle in 1861 was a seedy, chaotic shanty town that had grown 

up over the preceding decade as Irish immigrant laborers streamed into 

Washington. Its main drag was Jackson Alley, with a reputation for 

lawlessness and squalor almost unequalled in the city, a reputed “no-go” zone 

for the police. GPO formed the western boundary of Swampoodle, and drew 

many of its workers from its alleys and shanties.
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On the first floor was a wetting room, where paper was dampened prior 

to printing, and a huge hydraulic press for pressing the damp sheets. 

In the ink room, pigments, oil, and varnish were blended and ink 

rollers were stored. The press room commanded the greatest attention, with 

23 Adams bed-and-platen presses and 3 Napier cylinder presses, all powered 

by steam, tossing off as many as 100,000 sheets in a single day.

The bulk of the second floor was occupied by the composing room, a 

spacious hall with 60 windows for natural light and gas fixtures for 

evenings and work on cloudy days. There were 93 double stands of 

type and all the other tools of the trade: composing sticks, imposing stones, 

galleys, and many thousands of pounds of metal type.

On the second 

floor, the visitor 

found the office 

of the Superintendent of 

Public Printing. A walnut 

bookcase caught the eye 

with its examples of fine 

work such as the Annual 

Message of the President to 

Congress, Annual Report 

of the Regents of the 

Smithsonian Institution, 

and others. Adjoining this 

sanctum was the business 

office, and nearby the 

proofreading room, where 

copy was carefully scanned 

to eliminate errors.
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The third floor 

was devoted to 

the bindery. In a 

large folding room 150 

women were seated at 

tables where they rapidly 

folded printed sheets by 

hand. Elsewhere were 

two powerful cutting 

machines for trimming 

the edges of books, 

shears for cutting book 

board, gas burners for 

heating gilding tools, 

and many other tools. 

Adjoining this was the 

ruling room, where pale 

blue and red lines were 

applied to pages for the 

many blank record books 

used throughout the 

Government.

The fourth floor was 

a large store room for 

printed sheets and books 

waiting to be bound.

Over all of this presided 

the newly appointed 

Superintendent of 

Public Printing, John D. 

Defrees, described as, “a 

plainly dressed, quiet 

mannered man; a printer 

by trade.” Defrees was, 

in fact, far more than 

a quiet, unassuming 

bureaucrat.

L I NCO L N & DE F REE S

Born on November 8, 1810, in Sparta, Tennessee, John Dougherty 

Defrees was the son of a farmer hostile to slavery. The family moved in 

1818 to Piqua, Ohio, and in 1824 John was apprenticed to a printer. At 

17 he began working as a journeyman printer in Xenia and Cincinnati, Ohio, 

and later in Louisville, Kentucky. At 21 he and his brother Joseph established 

a newspaper in South Bend, Indiana. Two years later he sold his interest in 

the paper, was admitted to the bar by the Indiana Supreme Court, and began 

to practice law. After being elected a state senator, he helped obtain a charter 

for a small academy on St. Mary’s Lake that would grow into the University 

of Notre Dame.

State of Indiana
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I

n 1854, Defrees’ purchased the Indiana State Journal in Indianapolis and 

gained a reputation as the most caustic, brilliant, and fearless political 

editor in the west. He was active in the liberal wing of the Whig party, 

and later, the Republican party. Many Republicans, including Abraham 

Lincoln, sought his advice and political support.

In 1860, after decades of waste and abuse in contracting for printing, 

Congress opted for reform in the shape of its own printing establishment and 

created GPO by joint resolution. They purchased the Wendell plant in late 

1860 for $135,000. Defrees, who had worked diligently on Lincoln’s behalf in 

Indiana, wrote to the new President on March 7, 1861, asking to be appointed 

Superintendent of Public Printing. Lincoln appointed him on March 23.

Defrees served through the Civil War years as GPO was launched on the 

mission Congress had directed. In his annual report for 1861, he noted 

savings of $60,000 for the first half–year alone, compared with charges under 

the previous system.

Defrees’ stature as friend and advisor to Lincoln is clear. Lincoln’s papers 

in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress contain many 

letters from Defrees offering advice, introducing people of significance, and 

conducting business. 

One particular 

document 

illustrates the 

close relationship between 

Defrees, GPO, and Lincoln: 

the message to Congress 

that Lincoln delivered on 

July 4, 1861, detailing the 

executive actions taken in 

the early weeks of the Civil 

War and setting forth his 

views on the aims of the war. 

While researching 

this message recently, 

Dr. Michelle Krowl, 

Manuscripts Specialist at 

the Library of Congress, 

looked at multiple drafts in 

longhand and set in type.

In an era before typewriters, 

copiers, or computers, it 

would have been a regular 

feature of GPO’s work to 

set presidential documents 

in type and make proof 

copies to be returned to the 

President for his further 

revision. 

Dr. Krowl noted names penciled in the margins of one particular draft 

and contacted GPO to inquire about the significance. By consulting 

the Superintendent’s annual report for 1861, which lists the names of 

all 350 or so GPO employees, it was possible to verify that the names 

and marks indicate “takes” for GPO compositors. Then, as now, copy 

arriving at GPO for composing into type was sliced into pieces, called 

“takes,” to be worked by multiple compositors simultaneously, especially 

critical because all type was set by hand. The head deskman in the 

Composing Division would mark and assign takes to the compositors, 

assuring that the composed galleys of type were subsequently 

assembled in the proper order for the production of a proof.

Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress

Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress

Defree’s letter to 

Lincoln, seeking 

appointment as 

Superintendent 

of Public Printing

A page from a 

printed draft of 

Lincoln’s July 4, 

1861 address 

to Congress.
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The July, 1861 message makes clear that Defrees’ role was, from the outset of 

his term, more than an appointee held at arm’s length. Subsequent drafts of 

the message show his role as advisor and editor.

On October 24, 1863, Lincoln visited GPO. Newspaper reports tell us that he 

toured the plant and spoke briefly to the employees. 

Defrees later reported that “A poor girl in the employment of the GPO 

had a brother impressed into the rebel service, [who] was taken prisoner 

by our forces. He desired to take the oath of allegiance, and to be liberated. 

She sought an interview with the President who wrote a note asking me to 

inquire into the facts, which I did, and the young man was liberated on the 

President’s order.”

In a long history of important documents, the single document with perhaps 

the greatest significance was the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln’s “preliminary” proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862, 

as a general order of the War Department. Historian John Hope 

Franklin describes the scene:

“The historic meeting of the Cabinet was hardly over on September 22, 

1862, before the printing and distribution of the preliminary Proclamation 

had begun. That afternoon and evening the employees of the Government 

Printing Office worked late and prepared copies for distribution to the press 

and government agencies. [Secretary of State] Seward ... ordered copies 

that were to go ... to the numerous diplomatic posts of the United States in 

foreign countries.”

Dr. Krowl relates that Lincoln 

was an inveterate note-maker, 

often scratching ideas or 

fragments of noble prose on scraps of 

paper or in “miscellaneous notebooks” 

for later use. He liked to “cut and paste” 

these scraps, and drafts of his writings 

frequently feature scraps of text set in 

type alongside scratched “miscellaneous” 

notes all pasted on a sheet with further 

text interpolated in longhand.

Historian Douglas Wilson, in his book 

Lincoln’s Sword, relates that Defrees 

worked closely with Lincoln and “... 

regularly removed a large proportion 

of Lincoln’s freely bestowed commas.” 

In many cases Lincoln would accept 

these edits; in others he would not and 

would add even more commas. Wilson 

points out that, although grammatically 

unconventional, Lincoln’s punctuation 

points to “his basic sense of language,” 

which is spoken cadences. The commas 

provide notation for the pauses and 

breaks that would have sounded right to 

Lincoln’s ear.

In this message, Lincoln and Defrees had a further disagreement 

over the use of the term “sugar-coated” to describe the spin put 

on the rebellion by secessionists. Defrees told the President the 

expression was “undignified” and proposed an alternative.

“Defrees,” Lincoln is reported by biographer Francis B. Carpenter 

to have said, “the word expresses precisely my idea ... the time 

will never come in this country when the people won’t know what 

‘sugar-coated’ means!” The word stood and is part of the success 

of the message.

The final setting of type resulting from the manuscript in the 

Library’s collection would have been used to produce sufficient 

copies for submission to the Clerk of the House and Secretary of 

the Senate.

L I NCO L N ’ s v isi t

EMANC I PAT I ON P ROC L AMAT I ONU.S. Senate

Handwritten draft 

of the July 4, 

1861, address 

showing pasted-in 

revisions, and a 

compositor’s name 

in the margin.

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

“First reading of 

the Emancipation 

Proclamation by 

President Lincoln” 

by Francis Bicknell 

Carpenter.
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The preliminary Proclamation was issued in “... general orders format, 

as an order of the Commander-in-Chief to the armed forces. Because 

he had direct control over the Army, the President thus made it 

unnecessary to go through Congress to activate the Proclamation.”

The final Proclamation, issued January 3, 1863, bore minor modifications. 

In December, 1862, perhaps in the course of preparing the final version, 

Superintendent Defrees wrote to Lincoln’s secretary John G. Nicolay, “Only a 

few events stand out prominently on the page of the history of each century... 

The proposed proclamation of the President will be that one of this century.”

Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress
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Ayear later, Defreees advised Lincoln further, “Now why not send a 

message to Congress recommending the passage of a joint resolution 

proposing an amendment to the Constitution forever prohibiting 

slavery in the States and territories?” Lincoln, through Nicolay, promptly 

replied, “Our own friends have this under consideration now, and will do as 

much without a resolution as with it.” As the war dragged on, 

Washington came under 

threat of Confederate attack 

by the forces of Gen. Jubal Early. 

Throughout much of the war GPO 

printers and binders had formed 

two militia companies, company F 

and company G, in the so-called 

“Interior Department Regiment.” 

Hours were set aside for drill and 

instruction and GPO was guarded 

at night.

On July 11, 1864, Early’s 

forces, approaching from 

the northwest, came 

within 5 miles of the Capitol and 

were engaged by Union forces at 

Fort Stevens, near the presentday Walter Reed Medical Center. 

COM PAN Y F & COM PAN Y G

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Lincoln and his secretaries, Nicolay and Hay, by Alexander Gardner, 1863

Gen. Jubal Early

Union troops at Fort Stevens in northwest Washington.
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Company F, the printers, marched to defensive positions across the Anacostia 

River, near Fort Stanton and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. When reinforcements 

from General Grant’s forces at Petersburg, Virginia, arrived a day later and 

helped repulse the attack, the GPO militiamen returned to their work in 

Swampoodle.

After the war, GPO continued its growth and expansion. The original 

building was enlarged in 1865, 1871, and 1879. The number of employees 

grew steadily, as did the production of public documents.

After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed 

a new Superintendent of Public Printing, the man who built the building 

purchased by Congress for GPO in 1860, Cornelius Wendell. He served 

only five months before the Senate replaced him with his predecessor, John 

Defrees, who then served until 1869.

The neighborhood surrounding GPO developed too, with many new 

houses and businesses in the years immediately after the war. John E. Hicks 

wrote: “The ‘glory’ that had been Swampoodle was flown, its most noted 

thoroughfare, Cabbage Alley, had vanished, and the Tiber, the stream that 

once overflowed the early Irish of Swampoodle, was controlled. The once 

turbulent section had become a quiet residential district where the clock on 

St. Aloysius tolled out the time of day ...”

A cknow l e d g ment s

The text for this booklet is based on articles originally written for the GPO 

newsletter Typeline in 1983-84, by GPO Agency Historian Daniel MacGilvray 

(retired).

Photographs are from the GPO photograph collection, unless otherwise credited.

The exhibit Lincoln and His Printers: GPO in the Civil War opened in October, 2013. 

The invaluable assistance of the following individuals and institutions made the 

exhibit possible:

Mr. John DeFerrari

Dr. Michelle Krowl

Mr. Marc Leepson

Ms. Tambra Johnson Reap

The Interpretive Programs Office of the Library of Congress

The Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress

C o l o p hon

The text of Lincoln and His Printers: GPO in the Civil War is set in AdobeTM 

Caslon Pro, a digital version of a classic typeface which bears the name of 

its designer, William Caslon (1692-1766). In the early 18th century, most 

English printers were using type cast in Holland. Caslon’s type, although clearly modeled on Dutch forms, is regarded as the first significant embodiment of 

English typography. Most of the type brought to Colonial America was “Old 

Style” or Caslon, and the first printing of the Declaration of Independence was set 

in it by John Dunlap of Philadelphia.

By the time of GPO’s founding in 1861, most book printing was being set in 

Caslon, and the first large purchases of type for the growing GPO were for 

large quantities of “Old Style.” This reliance on Calson, “almost superstitious” 

in the words of typographic scholar Beatrice Warde, continued until the era of 

hot metal typesetting began in the early 20th century. GPO’s largest single job 

ever, the massive 128-volume Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, printed 

between 1880 and 1900, was set in Caslon. 

Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The bridge over the Anacostia near the Washington Navy Yard, across which Company F marched.
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