428     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
pressing  his  belief  that  the  opportunity  of  the  nation 
to  rid  itself  of  slavery  had  arrived,  Mr.  Lincoln  asked 
how  he  thought  they  might  avail  themselves  of  it. 
Channing  suggested  emancipation,  with  compensation 
for  the  slaves.  The  President  said  he  had  for  years 
been  in  favor  of  that  plan.  When  the  President  turned 
to  me,  I  asked  whether  we  might  not  look  to  him  as 
the  coming  deliverer  of  the  nation  from  its  one  great 
evil?  What  would  not  that  man  achieve  for  mankind 
who  should  free  America  from  slavery?  He  said,  *  Per 
haps  we  may  be  better  able  to  do  something  in  that 
direction  after  a  while  than  we  are  now.'  I  said: 
6  Mr.  President,  do  you  believe  the  masses  of  the 
American  people  would  hail  you  as  their  deliverer  if, 
at  the  end  of  this  war,  the  Union  should  be  surviving 
and  slavery  still  in  it?  '  *  Yes,  if  they  were  to  see  that 
slavery  was  on  the  down  hill.'  I  ventured  to  say: 
'  Our  fathers  compromised  with  slavery  because  they 
thought  it  on  the  down  hill;  hence  war  to-day.'  The 
President  said :  4 1  think  the  country  grows  in  this 
direction  daily,  and  I  am  not  without  hope  that  some 
thing  of  the  desire  of  you  and  your  friends  may  be 
accomplished.  When  the  hour  comes  for  dealing  with 
slavery,  /  trust  I  shall  be  willing  to  do  my  duty,  though 
it  costs  my  life.  And,  gentlemen,  lives  will  be  lost.' 
These  last  words  were  said  with  a  smile,  yet  with  a 
sad  and  weary  tone.  During  the  conversation  Mr. 
Lincoln  recurred  several  times  to  Channing's  sugges 
tion  of  pecuniary  compensation  for  emancipated  slaves, 
and  professed  profound  sympathy  with  the  Southerners 
who,  by  no  fault  of  their  own,  had  become  socially  and 
commercially  bound  up  with  their  peculiar  institution. 
Being  a  Virginian  myself,  with  many  dear  relatives  and 
beloved  companions  of  my  youth  in  the  Confederate 
ranks,  I  responded  warmly  to  his  kindly  sentiments 
toward  the  South,  albeit  feeling  more  angry  than  he
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     429 
seemed  to  be  against  the  institution  preying  upon  the 
land  like  a  ghoul.  I  forget  whether  it  was  on  this 
occasion  or  on  a  subsequent  one  when  I  was  present 
that  he  said,  in  parting:  *  We  shall  need  all  the  anti- 
slavery  feeling  in  the  country,  and  more;  you  can  go 
home  and  try  to  bring  the  people  to  your  views;  and 
you  may  say  anything  you  like  about  me,  if  that  will 
help.  Don't  spare  me ! '  This  was  said  with  some 
laughter,  but  still  in  earnest." 
One  of  the  severest  opponents  of  President  Lincoln's 
policy  regarding  slavery  was  Horace  Greeley.  He 
criticized  Lincoln  freely  in  the  New  York  "  Tribune," 
of  which  he  was  editor,  and  said  many  harsh  and  bitter 
things  of  the  administration.  Lincoln  took  the  abuse 
good-naturedly,  saying  on  one  occasion :  "  It  reminds 
me  of  the  big  fellow  whose  little  wife  was  wont  to  beat 
him  over  the  head  without  resistance.  When  remon 
strated  with,  the  man  said,  '  Let  her  alone.  It  don't 
hurt  me,  and  it  does  her  a  power  of  good.' ' 
In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Greeley  published  a  letter  in 
the  New  York  "  Tribune,"  headed  "  The  prayer  of 
twenty  millions  of  people,"  in  which  he  urged  the 
President,  with  extreme  emphasis,  to  delay  the  act  of 
emancipation  no  longer.  Lincoln  answered  the  vehe 
ment  entreaty  in  the  following  calm,  firm,  and  explicit 
words : 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON, 
Friday,  Aug.  22,  1862. 
HON.  HORACE  GREELEY. 
DEAR  SIR:  I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th  in 
stant,  addressed  to  myself,  through  the  New  York 
Tribune. 
If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assumptions  of 
fact,  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not  now 
and  here  controvert  them.  If  there  be  any  inferences 
which  I  believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not  now  and
430     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
here  argue  against  them.  If  there  be  perceptible  in  it 
an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it,  in  defer 
ence  to  an  old  friend  whose  heart  I  have  always  sup 
posed  to  be  right. 
As  to  the  policy  I  "  seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you  say, 
I  have  not  meant  to  leave  anyone  in  doubt.  I  would 
save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  in  the  shortest  way 
under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner  the  national  au 
thority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union  will  be 
—  the  Union  as  it  was.  If  there  be  those  who  would 
not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time 
save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be 
those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could 
at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with 
them.  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and 
not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save 
the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it. 
And  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would 
do  it.  And  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some,  and  leav 
ing  others  alone,  I  would  do  that. 
What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do 
because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union ;  and  what 
I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would 
help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  be 
lieve  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause;  and  shall  do 
more  whenever  I  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause. 
I  shall  try  to  correct  errors,  when  shown  to  be  errors ; 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views,  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear 
to  be  true  views. 
I  have  here  stated  my  purpose,  according  to  my  view 
of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft- 
expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men  everywhere  could 
be  free.  Yrmr<? rs>  A.  LINCOLN. 
Mr.  Greeley  being  dissatisfied  with  Lincoln's  explana 
tion,  and  the  "  Tribune  "  still  teeming  with  complaints 
and  criticisms  of  the  administration,  Lincoln  requested 
Mr.  Greeley  to  come  to  Washington  and  make  known  in
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     431 
person  his  complaints,  to  the  end  that  they  might  be 
obviated  if  possible.  The  editor  of  the  "  Tribune  " 
came.  Lincoln  said :  "  You  complain  of  me.  What 
have  I  done,  or  omitted  to  do,  which  has  provoked  the 
hostility  of  the  'Tribune'?"  The  reply  was,  "You 
should  issue  a  proclamation  abolishing  slavery."  Lin 
coln  answered :  "  Suppose  I  do  that.  There  are  now 
twenty  thousand  of  our  muskets  on  the  shoulders  of 
Kentuckians,  who  are  bravely  fighting  our  battles. 
Every  one  of  them  will  be  thrown  down  or  carried  over 
to  the  rebels."  The  reply  was :  "  Let  them  do  it.  The 
cause  of  the  Union  will  be  stronger  if  Kentucky  should 
secede  with  the  rest  than  it  is  now."  Lincoln  answered, 
"  Oh,  I  can't  think  that." 
It  is  evident  that  these  solicitations  and  counsellings 
from  outside  persons  were  unnecessary  and  idle.  Lin 
coln's  far-seeing  and  practical  mind  had  already 
grasped,  more  surely  than  had  his  would-be  advisers, 
the  ultimate  wisdom  and  justice  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves.  But  he  was  resolved  to  do  nothing  rashly. 
He  would  wait  till  the  time  was  ripe,  and  then  abolish 
slavery  on  grounds  that  would  be  approved  throughout 
the  world:  he  would  destroy  slavery  as  a  necessary  step 
to  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  In  the  first  year  of 
the  war  he  had  said  to  a  Southern  Unionist,  who  warned 
him  against  meddling  with  slavery,  "  You  must  not  ex 
pect  me  to  give  up  this  Government  without  playing 
my  last  card."  This  "  last  card  "  was  undoubtedly  the 
freeing  of  the  slaves ;  and  when  the  time  came,  Lincoln 
played  it  unhesitatingly  and  triumphantly.  How 
strong  a  card  it  was  may  be  judged  by  a  statement 
made  in  Congress  by  Mr.  Ashmore,  a  Representative 
from  South  Carolina,  who  said  shortly  before  the  war : 
"  The  South  can  sustain  more  men  in  the  field  than 
the  North  can.  Her  four  millions  of  slaves  alone  will 
enable  her  to  support  an  army  of  half  a  million."  This
432     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
view  makes  the  issue  plain.  If  the  South  could  main 
tain  armies  in  the  field  supported,  or  partly  supported, 
by  slave  labor,  it  was  as  much  the  right  and  the  duty 
of  the  Government  to  destroy  that  support  as  to  de 
stroy  an  establishment  for  the  manufacture  of  arms 
or  munitions  of  war  for  the  Southern  armies.  The 
logic  of  events  had  demonstrated  the  necessity  and 
justice  of  the  measure,  and  Lincoln  now  had  with  him 
a  Cabinet  practically  united  in  its  favor.  The  case 
was  well  stated  by  Secretary  Welles  —  perhaps  the 
most  cool-headed  and  conservative  member  of  Lincoln's 
Cabinet  —  at  a  Cabinet  meeting  held  six  or  eight  weeks 
after  the  Emancipation  measure  had  been  brought  for 
ward  by  the  President.  Mr.  Welles,  as  he  relates  in 
his  Diary,  pointed  out  "  the  strong  exercise  of  power  " 
involved  in  the  proposal,  and  denied  the  power  of  the 
Executive  to  take  such  a  step  under  ordinary  condi 
tions.  "But,"  said  Mr.  Welles,  "the  Rebels  them 
selves  had  invoked  war  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  had 
appealed  to  arms,  and  must  abide  the  consequences." 
Mr.  Welles  admitted  that  it  was  "  an  extreme  exercise 
of  war  powers"  which  he  believed  justifiable  "under 
the  circumstances,  and  in  view  of  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  the  magnitude  of  the  contest.  The  slaves 
were  now  an  element  of  strength  to  the  Rebels  —  were 
laborers,  producers,  and  army  attendants;  they  were 
considered  as  property  by  the  Rebels,  and  if  property 
they  were  subject  to  confiscation;  if  not  property,  but 
persons  residing  in  the  insurrectionary  region,  we 
should  invite  them  as  well  as  the  whites  to  unite  with 
us  in  putting  down  the  Rebellion."  This  view  was  in 
the  main  concurred  in  by  the  Cabinet  members  present, 
and  greatly  heartened  the  President  in  his  course.  On 
the  22d  of  September,  1862,  he  issued  what  is  known 
as  the  "  Preliminary  Proclamation."  The  text  of  this 
momentous  document  is  as  follows:
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     433 
I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  thereof,  do  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  here 
after,  as  heretofore,  the  war  will  be  prosecuted  for  the 
object  of  practically  restoring  the  constitutional  rela 
tions  between  the  United  States  and  each  of  the  States 
and  the  people  thereof,  in  which  States  that  relation  is 
or  may  be  suspended  or  disturbed. 
That  it  is  my  purpose,  upon  the  next  meeting  of 
Congress,  to  again  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  prac 
tical  measure  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free  ac 
ceptance  or  rejection  of  all  slave  States,  so  called,  the 
people  whereof  may  not  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  and  which  States  may  then  have  volun- 
"tarily  adopted,  or  thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt, 
immediate  or  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery  within 
their  respective  limits;  and  that  the  effort  to  colonize 
persons  of  African  descent,  with  their  consent,  upon 
this  continent  or  elsewhere,  with  the  previously  obtained 
consent  of  the  governments  existing  there,  will  be 
continued. 
That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State  or  designated 
part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  re 
bellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then,  thence 
forward,  and  forever  FREE  ;  and  the  Executive  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and 
naval  authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the 
freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to 
repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts 
they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 
That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  and 
parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  re 
spectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States;  and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people 
thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be,  in  good  faith,  represented 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  members
434     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the 
qualified  voters  of  such  State  shall  have  participated, 
shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testimony, 
be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  State,  and  the 
people  thereof,  are  not  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States. 
That  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act  of  Congress 
entitled  "  An  act  to  make  an  additional  article  of  war," 
approved  March  13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the  words 
and  figures  following: 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assem 
bled,  That  hereafter  the  following  shall  be  promulgated  as 
an  additional  article  of  war,  for  the  government  of  the  army 
of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  obeyed  and  observed  as 
such. 
ARTICLE.  - —  All  officers  or  persons  in  the  military  or 
naval  service  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited  from  em 
ploying  any  of  the  forces  under  their  respective  commands 
for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives  from  service  or  labor 
who  may  have  escaped  from  any  persons  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due,  and  any  officer  who 
shall  be  found  guilty  by  a  court-martial  of  violating  this 
article  shall  be  dismissed  from  the  service. 
SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act  shall 
take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 
Also  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  an  act  en 
titled  "  An  act  to  suppress  insurrection,  to  punish 
treason  and  rebellion,  to  seize  and  confiscate  property 
of  rebels,  and  for  other  purposes,"  approved  July  17, 
1862,  and  which  sections  are  in  the  words  and  figures 
following : 
SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  slaves  of 
persons  who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion  against 
the  government  of  the  United  States  or  who  shall  in  any 
way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escaping  from  such  persons 
and  taking  refuge  within  the  lines  of  the  army;  and  all 
slaves  captured  from  such  persons  or  deserted  by  them,  and 
coming  under  the  control  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States;  and  all  slaves  of  such  persons  found  on  [or]  being
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     435 
within  any  place  occupied  by  rebel  forces,  and  afterwards 
occupied  by  the  forces  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
deemed  captives  of  war,  and  shall  be  forever  free  of  their 
servitude,  and  not  again  held  as  slaves. 
SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  slave,  es 
caping  into  any  State,  Territory,  or  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  from  any  other  State,  shall  be  delivered  up,  or  in  any 
way  impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty,  except  for  crime, 
or  some  offense  against  the  laws,  unless  the  person  claim 
ing  said  fugitive  shall  first  make  oath  that  the  person  to 
whom  the  labor  or  service  of  such  fugitive  is  alleged  to  be 
due  is  his  lawful  owner,  and  has  not  borne  arms  against 
the  United  States  in  the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any  way 
given  aid  and  comfort  thereto ;  and  no  person  engaged  in 
the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  shall, 
under  any  pretense  whatever,  assume  to  decide  on  the 
validity  of  the  claim  of  any  person  to  the  service  or  labor 
of  any  other  person,  or  surrender  up  any  such  person  to 
the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being  dismissed  from  the  service. 
And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  and  order  all  persons 
engaged  in  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  to  observe,  obey,  and  enforce,  within  their  re 
spective  spheres  of  service,  the  act  and  sections  above 
recited. 
And  the  Executive  will  in  due  time  recommend  that 
all  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  shall  have  re 
mained  loyal  thereto  throughout  the  rebellion,  shall 
(upon  the  restoration  of  the  constitutional  relation  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  their  respective  States  and 
people,  if  that  relation  shall  have  been  suspended  or 
disturbed)  be  compensated  for  all  losses  by  acts  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  loss  of  slaves. 
In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 
Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  Inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 
By  the  President:     ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State.
436     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Lincoln's  own  account  of  this  proclamation,  and  of 
the  steps  that  led  to  it,  is  given  as  reported  by  Mr. 
F.  B.  Carpenter.  "  It  had,"  said  Lincoln,  "  got  to  be 
midsummer,  1862.  Things  had  gone  on  from  bad  to 
worse,  until  I  felt  that  we  had  reached  the  end  of  our 
rope  on  the  plan  of  operations  we  had  been  pursuing; 
that  we  must  change  our  tactics  and  play  our  last 
card,  or  lose  the  game.  I  now  determined  upon  the 
adoption  of  the  emancipation  policy;  and,  without 
consultation  with,  or  the  knowledge  of,  the  Cabinet, 
I  prepared  the  original  draft  of  the  proclamation,  and, 
after  much  anxious  thought,  called  a  Cabinet  meeting 
upon  the  subject.  This  was  the  last  of  July,  or  the 
first  part  of  the  month  of  August,  1862.  This  Cabinet 
meeting  took  place,  I  think,  upon  a  Saturday.  All 
were  present  excepting  Mr.  Blair,  the  Postmaster- 
general,  who  was  absent  at  the  opening  of  the  discus 
sion,  but  came  in  subsequently.  I  said  to  the  Cabinet 
that  I  had  resolved  upon  this  step,  and  had  called 
them  together,  not  to  ask  their  advice,  but  to  lay  the 
subject-matter  of  a  proclamation  before  them;  sug 
gestions  as  to  which  would  be  in  order,  after  they  had 
heard  it  read.  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  in  error  when  he 
informed  you  that  it  excited  no  comment,  excepting  on 
the  part  of  Secretary  Seward.  Various  suggestions 
were  offered.  Secretary  Chase  wished  the  language 
stronger  in  reference  to  the  arming  of  the  blacks. 
Mr.  Blair,  after  he  came  in,  deprecated  the  policy,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  cost  the  administration  the 
fall  elections.  Nothing,  however,  was  offered  that  I 
had  not  already  fully  anticipated  and  settled  in  my 
own  mind,  until  Secretary  Seward  spoke.  He  said  in 
substance :  •*  Mr.  President,  I  approve  of  the  proclama 
tion,  but  I  question  the  expediency  of  its  issue  at  this 
juncture.  The  depression  of  the  public  mind,  conse 
quent  upon  our  repeated  reverses,  is  so  great  that  I
EVERY-DAY   LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     437 
fear  the  effect  of  so  important  a  step.  It  may  be  viewed 
as  the  last  measure  of  an  exhausted  government,  a  cry 
for  help;  the  government  stretching  forth  its  hands 
to  Ethiopia,  instead  of  Ethiopia  stretching  forth  her 
hands  to  the  government.'  '  His  idea,'  said  the  Presi 
dent,  '  was  that  it  would  be  considered  our  last  shriek 
on  the  retreat.'  (This  was  his  precise  expression.) 
'  Now,'  continued  Mr.  Seward,  '  while  I  approve  the 
measure,  I  suggest,  sir,  that  you  postpone  its  issue 
until  you  can  give  it  to  the  country  supported  by 
military  success,  instead  of  issuing  it,  as  would  be  the 
case  now,  upon  the  greatest  disasters  of  the  war ! ' 
Lincoln  continued :  "  The  wisdom  of  the  view  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  struck  me  with  very  great  force. 
It  was  an  aspect  of  the  case  that,  in  all  my  thought 
upon  the  subject,  I  had  entirely  overlooked.  The  result 
was  that  I  put  the  draft  of  the  proclamation  aside, 
waiting  for  a  victory.  From  time  to  time  I  added  or 
changed  a  line,  touching  it  up  here  and  there,  anxiously 
waiting  the  progress  of  events.  Well,  the  next  news  we 
had  was  of  Pope's  disaster  at  Bull  Run.  Things  looked 
darker  than  ever.  Finally,  came  the  week  of  the  battle 
of  Antietam.  I  determined  to  wait  no  longer.1  The 
news  came,  I  think,  on  Wednesday,  that  the  advantage 
was  on  our  side.  I  was  then  staying  at  the  Soldiers' 
Home  (three  miles  out  of  Washington).  Here  I  fin 
ished  writing  the  second  draft  of  the  preliminary  proc 
lamation;  came  up  on  Saturday;  called  the  Cabinet 
together  to  hear  it ;  and  it  was  published  the  following 
Monday." 
1  Hon.  George  S.  Bout  well  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  Satur 
day  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."
438     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Another  interesting  incident  occurred  at  this  Cabinet 
meeting  in  connection  with  Secretary  Seward.  The 
President  had  written  the  important  part  of  the  procla 
mation  in  these  words :  "  That  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves 
within  any  State  or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the 
people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever 
FREE;  and  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authority 
thereof,  will  recognize  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and 
will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any 
of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual 
freedom."  "  When  I  finished  reading  this  paragraph," 
remarked  Lincoln,  "  Mr.  Seward  stopped  me,  and  said, 
'  I  think,  Mr.  President,  that  you  should  insert  after 
the  word  "  recognize  "  "  and  maintain."  I  replied 
that  I  had  already  fully  considered  the  import  of  that 
expression  in  this  connection,  but  I  had  not  introduced 
it,  because  it  was  not  my  way  to  promise  what  I  was 
not  entirely  sure  that  I  could  perform,  and  I  was  not 
prepared  to  say  that  I  thought  we  were  exactly  able 
to  maintain  this.  But  Seward  insisted  that  we  ought 
to  take  this  ground,  and  the  words  finally  went  in." 
The  special  Cabinet  meeting  to  which  Lincoln  here 
refers  was  one  of  uncommon  interest  even  in  that  day 
of  heroic  things.  An  account  of  it  is  given  by  Secre 
tary  Welles,  who  was  present.  "  At  the  Cabinet  meet 
ing  of  September  22,"  says  Mr.  Welles  in  his  Diary, 
"  the  special  subject  was  the  Proclamation  for  emanci 
pating  the  slaves  after  a  certain  date,  in  States  that 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion.  For  several  weeks  the  sub 
ject  has  been  suspended,  but  the  President  says  never 
lost  sight  of.  In  taking  up  the  Proclamation,  the 
President  stated  that  the  question  was  finally  decided,
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     439 
the  act  and  the  consequences  were  his,  but  that  he  felt 
it  due  to  us  to  make  us  acquainted  with  the  fact  and  to 
invite  criticism  on  the  paper  which  he  had  prepared. 
There  were,  he  had  found,  not  unexpectedly,  some  dif 
ferences  in  the  Cabinet,  but  he  had,  after  ascertaining 
in  his  own  way  the  views  of  each  and  all,  individually 
and  collectively,  formed  his  own  conclusions  and  made 
his  own  decisions.  In  the  course  of  the  discussion  on 
this  paper,  which  was  long,  earnest,  and,  on  the  general 
principle  involved,  harmonious,  he  remarked  that  he 
had  made  a  vow,  a  covenant,  that  if  God  gave  us  the 
victory  in  the  approaching  battle,  he  would  consider  it 
an  indication  of  Divine  will,  and  that  it  was  his  duty 
to  move  forward  in  the  cause  of  emancipation.  It 
might  be  thought  strange,  he  said,  that  he  had  in  this 
way  submitted  the  disposal  of  important  matters  when 
the  way  was  not  clear  to  his  mind  what  he  should  do. 
God  had  decided  his  questions  in  favor  of  the  slaves. 
He  was  satisfied  it  was  right;  and  he  was  confirmed 
and  strengthened  in  his  action  by  the  vow  and  the 
results.  His  mind  was  fixed,  his  decision  made,  but  he 
wished  his  paper  announcing  his  course  to  be  as  correct 
in  terms  as  it  could  be  made  without  any  change  in  his 
determination.  He  read  the  document.  One  or  two 
unimportant  amendments  suggested  by  Seward  were 
approved.  It  was  then  handed  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  publish  to-morrow." 
The  discussion  of  Emancipation  brought  up  at  once 
the  problem  of  what  should  be  done  with  the  freed 
negroes.  The  very  next  day  after  the  preliminary 
proclamation  was  issued  (September  23,  1862),  the 
President  presented  the  matter  to  the  assembled  Cabi 
net.  Deportation  was  considered,  and  some  of  those 
present  urged  that  this  should  be  compulsory.  The 
President,  however,  would  not  consider  this ;  the  emi 
gration  of  the  negroes,  he  said,  must  be  voluntary,  and
440     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
without  expense  to  themselves.  It  was  proposed  to 
deport  the  freedmen  to  Costa  Rica,  where  a  large 
tract  of  land  (known  as  the  Chiriqui  Grant)  had  been 
obtained  from  the  government  of  Central  America. 
Lincoln  favored  this  in  a  general  way.  He  "  thought 
it  essential  to  provide  an  asylum  for  a  race  which  we 
had  emancipated  but  which  could  never  be  recognized 
or  admitted  to  be  our  equals,"  says  Mr.  Welles.  But 
there  was  some  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of  the  title 
to  the  Costa  Rica  lands,  and  the  matter  was  dropped. 
In  his  second  annual  message  to  Congress,  trans 
mitted  to  that  body  in  December,  1862,  Lincoln 
touched,  in  conclusion,  upon  the  great  subject  of 
Emancipation,  in  these  words  of  deep  import: 
I  do  not  forget  the  gravity  which  should  character 
ize  a  paper  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  nation  by 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation.  Nor  do  I  forget 
that  some  of  you  are  my  seniors,  nor  that  many  of 
you  have  more  experience  than  I  in  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs.  Yet  I  trust  that  in  view  of  the  great 
responsibility  resting  upon  me,  you  will  s  perceive  no 
want  of  respect  to  yourselves  in  any  undue  earnestness 
I  may  seem  to  display.  .  .  .  The  dogmas  of  the  quiet 
past  are  inadequate  to  the  stormy  present.  The  occa 
sion  is  piled  high  with  difficulty,  and  we  must  rise  with 
the  occasion.  As  our  case  is  new,  so  we  must  think 
anew  and  act  anew. 
Fellow  citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history.  We  of 
this  Congress  and  this  administration  will  be  remem 
bered  in  spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal  significance, 
or  insignificance,  can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The 
fiery  trial  through  which  we  pass  will  light  us  down, 
in  honor  or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  generation.  We  say 
we  are  for  the  Union.  The  world  will  not  forget  that 
we  say  this.  We  know  how  to  save  the  Union.  The 
world  knows  we  do  know  how  to  save  it.  We  —  even 
we  here  —  hold  the  power  and  bear  the  responsibility.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     441 
In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the 
free  —  honorable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we 
preserve.  We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly  lose,  the  last 
best  hope  of  earth.  Other  means  may  succeed,  this 
could  not  fail.  The  way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous, 
just  —  a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  forever 
applaud,  and  God  must  forever  bless. 
An  immense  concourse  attended  the  reception  at  the 
White  House  on  the  first  day  of  1863,  and  the  Presi 
dent  stood  for  several  hours  shaking  hands  with  the 
endless  train  of  men  and  women  who  pressed  forward 
to  greet  him.  The  exhausting  ceremonial  being  ended, 
the  proclamation  which  finally  and  forever  abrogated 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  was 
handed  to  him  for  his  signature.  "  Mr.  Seward,"  re 
marked  the  President,  "  I  have  been  shaking  hands  all 
day,  and  my  right  hand  is  almost  paralyzed.  If  my 
name  ever  gets  into  history,  it  will  be  for  this  act,  and 
my  whole  soul  is  in  it.  If  my  hand  trembles  when  I 
sign  the  proclamation,  those  who  examine  the  document 
hereafter  will  say  I  hesitated."  Then,  resting  his  arm 
a  moment,  he  turned  to  the  table,  took  up  the  pen,  and 
slowly  and  firmly  wrote,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  He 
smiled  as,  handing  the  paper  to  Mr.  Seward,  he  said, 
"That  will  do."  A  few  hours  after,  he  remarked: 
"  The  signature  looks  a  little  tremulous,  for  my  hand 
was  tired;  but  my  resolution  was  firm.  I  told  them 
in  September  that  if  they  did  not  return  to  their  alle 
giance  I  would  strike  at  this  pillar  of  their  strength. 
And  now  the  promise  shall  be  kept,  and  not  one  word 
of  it  will  I  ever  recall." 
The  text  of  the  great  Emancipation  Proclamation  is 
as  follows: 
Whereas,  on  the  22d  day  of  September,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,
442     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  containing,  among  other  things,  the  fol 
lowing,  to-wit : 
That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  per 
sons  held  as  slaves  within  any  States  or  designated  part 
of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward  and 
forever  free;  and  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof, 
will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons, 
and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any 
of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual 
freedom. 
That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  and  parts 
of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  respectively 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States;  and 
the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that 
day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections 
wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  State 
shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong 
countervailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence 
that  such  State,  and  the  people  thereof,  are  not  then  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States. 
Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against 
the  authority  and  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  suppressing 
said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
three,  and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do, 
publicly  proclaimed  for  the  full  period  of  one  hundred 
days,  from  the  day  first  above  mentioned,  order  and 
designate  as  the  States  and  parts  of  States  wherein 
the  people  thereof  respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     443 
against  the  United  States,  the  following,  to-wit :  Arkan 
sas,  Texas,  Louisiana  (except  the  parishes  of  St.  Ber 
nard,  Plaquemines,  Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles, 
St.  James,  Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  La- 
fourche,  Ste.  Marie,  St.  Martin,  and  Orleans,  including 
the  city  of  New  Orleans),  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and 
Virginia  (except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as 
West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkeley, 
Accomac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Prin 
cess  Anne,  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of  Norfolk 
and  Portsmouth),  and  which  excepted  parts  are  for  the 
present  left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation  were  not 
issued. 
And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  said  designated  States  and  parts  of 
States  are  and  henceforward  shall  be  FREE;  and  that 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  includ 
ing  the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will 
recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons. 
And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to 
be  free  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary 
self-defense;  and  I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all 
cases  when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable 
wages. 
And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such  per 
sons,  of  suitable  condition,  will  be  received  into  the 
armed  service  of  the  United  States  to  garrison  forts, 
positions,  stations,  and  other  places,  and  to  man  ves 
sels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 
And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of 
justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military 
necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  man 
kind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God. 
In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  name, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 
Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this 'first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight
444     EVERY-DAY   LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 
By  the  President:     ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 
It  is  stated  that  Lincoln  gave  the  most  earnest  study 
to  the  composition  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
He  realized,  as  he  afterwards  said,  that  the  proclama 
tion  was  the  central  act  of  his  administration  and  the 
great  event  .of  the  nineteenth  century.  When  the 
document  was  completed  a  printed  copy  of  it  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  each  member  of  the  Cabinet,  and  criti 
cisms  and  suggestions  were  invited.  Mr.  Chase  re 
marked  :  "  This  paper  is  of  the  utmost  importance, 
greater  than  any  state  paper  ever  made  by  this  Gov 
ernment.  A  paper  of  so  much  importance,  and  in 
volving  the  liberties  of  so  many  people,  ought,  I  think, 
to  make  some  reference  to  Deity.  I  do  not  observe 
anything  of  the  kind  in  it."  Lincoln  said :  "  No,  I 
overlooked  it.  Some  reference  to  Deity  must  be  in 
serted.  Mr.  Chase,  won't  you  make  a  draft  of  what 
you  think  ought  to  be  inserted?  "  Mr.  Chase  promised 
to  do  so,  and  at  the  next  meeting  presented  the  fol 
lowing  :  "  And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be 
an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon 
military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment 
of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God." 
When  Lincoln  read  the  paragraph,  Mr.  Chase  said: 
"  You  may  not  approve  it,  but  I  thought  this,  or  some 
thing  like  it,  would  be  appropriate."  Lincoln  replied : 
"  I  do  approve  it ;  it  cannot  be  bettered,  and  I  will 
adopt  it  in  the  very  words  you  have  written." 
To  a  large  concourse  of  people  who,  two  days  after 
the  proclamation  was  issued,  assembled  before  the 
White  Hous,e,  with  music,  the  President  said :  "  What 
I  did,  I  did  after  a  very  full  deliberation,  and  under
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     445 
a  heavy  and  solemn  sense  of  responsibility.  I  can  only 
trust  in  God  I  have  made  no  mistake."  That  he  real 
ized  to  the  full  the  gravity  of  the  step  before  taking  it 
is  shown  again  in  an  incident  related  by  Hon.  John 
Covode,  who,  calling  on  the  President  a  few  days  before 
the  issue  of  the  final  proclamation,  found  him  walking 
his  room  in  considerable  agitation.  Reference  being 
made  to  the  forthcoming  proclamation,  Lincoln  said 
with  great  earnestness :  "  I  have  studied  that  matter 
well;  my  mind  is  made  up  —  it  must  be  done.  I  am 
driven  to  it.  There  is  to  me  no  other  way  out  of  our 
troubles.  But  although  my  duty  is  plain,  it  is  in 
some  respects  painful,  and  I  trust  the  people  will 
understand  that  I  act  not  in  anger  but  in  expectation 
of  a  greater  good." 
Mr.  Ben.  Perley  Poore  makes  the  interesting  state 
ment  that  "  Mr.  Lincoln  carefully  put  away  the  pen 
which  he  had  used  in  signing  the  document,  for  Mr. 
Sumner,  who  had  promised  it  to  his  friend,  George 
Livermore,  of  Cambridge,  the  author  of  an  interesting 
work  on  slavery.  It  was  a  steel  pen  with  a  wooden 
handle,  the  end  of  which  had  been  gnawed  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  —  a  habit  that  he  had  when  composing  any 
thing  that  required  thought." 
In  response  to  a  request  of  the  ladies  in  charge  of 
the  Northwestern  Fair  for  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
which  was  held  in  Chicago  in  the  autumn  of  1863, 
Lincoln  conveyed  to  them  the  original  draft  of  the 
proclamation ;  saying,  in  his  note  of  presentation,  "  I 
had  some  desire  to  retain  the  paper;  but  if  it  shall 
contribute  to  the  relief  or  comfort  of  the  soldiers, 
that  will  be  better."  The  document  was  purchased  at 
the  Fair  by  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Bryan,  and  given  by  him 
to  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.  It  perished  in  the 
great  fire  of  October,  1871. 
More  than  a  year  after  the  issue  of  the  Emancipa-
446     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
tion  Proclamation,  Lincoln,  in  writing  to  a  prominent 
Kentucky  Unionist,  gave  a  synopsis  of  his  views  and 
course  regarding  slavery,  which  is  so  clear  in  statement, 
and  so  forceful  and  convincing  in  logic,  that  a  place 
must  be  given  it  in  this  chapter. 
I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong, 
nothing  is  wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not 
so  think  and  feel;  and  yet  I  have  never  understood 
that  the  Presidency  conferred  upon  me  an  unrestricted 
right  to  act  officially  upon  this  judgment  and  feeling. 
It  was  in  the  oath  I  took  that  I  would,  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States.  I  could  not  take  the  office 
without  taking  the  oath.  Nor  was  it  my  view  that  I 
might  take  an  oath  to  get  power,  and  break  the  oath 
in  using  the  power.  I  understood,  too,  that  in  ordinary 
civil  administration  this  oath  even  forbade  me  to  prac 
tically  indulge  my  primary  abstract  judgment  on  the 
moral  question  of  slavery.  I  had  publicly  declared 
this  many  times  and  in  many  ways.  And  I  aver  that, 
to  this  day,  I  have  done  no  official  act  in  mere  deference 
to  my  abstract  judgment  and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did 
understand,  however,  that  my  oath  to  preserve  the  Con 
stitution  to  the  best  of  my  ability  imposed  upon  me  the 
duty  of  preserving,  by  every  indispensable  means,  that 
Government  —  that  Nation  of  which  that  Constitution 
was  the  organic  law.  Was  it  possible  to  lose  the  nation 
and  yet  preserve  the  Constitution?  By  general  law, 
life  and  limb  must  be  protected ;  yet  often  a  limb  must 
be  amputated  to  save  a  life;  but  a  life  is  never  wisely 
given  to  save  a  limb.  I  felt  that  measures,  otherwise 
unconstitutional,  might  become  lawful,  by  becoming  in 
dispensable  to  the  preservation  of  the  Constitution, 
through  the  preservation  of  the  nation.  Right  or 
wrong,  I  assumed  this  ground,  and  now  avow  it.  I 
could  not  feel  that,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had 
even  tried  to  preserve  the  Constitution,  if,  to  save 
slavery,  or  any  minor  matter,  I  should  permit  the
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     447 
wreck  of  government,  country,  and  constitution,  alto 
gether.  When,  early  in  the  war,  General  Fremont  at 
tempted  military  emancipation,  I  forbade  it,  because  I 
did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable  necessity.  When 
a  little  later,  General  Cameron,  then  Secretary  of  War, 
suggested  the  arming  of  the  blacks,  I  objected,  because 
I  did  not  yet  think  it  an  indispensable  necessity.  When, 
still  later,  General  Hunter  attempted  military  emanci 
pation,  I  again  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think 
the  indispensable  necessity  had  come.  When,  in  March 
and  May  and  July,  1862,  I  made  earnest  and  successive 
appeals  to  the  border  States  to  favor  compensated 
emancipation,  I  believed  the  indispensable  necessity 
for  military  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks  would 
come,  unless  averted  by  that  measure.  They  declined 
the  proposition;  and  I  was,  in  my  best  judgment, 
driven  to  the  alternative  of  either  surrendering  the 
Union,  and  with  it  the  Constitution,  or  of  laying  strong 
hand  upon  the  colored  element.  I  chose  the  latter. 
In  choosing  it,  I  hoped  for  greater  gain  than  loss ;  but 
of  this  I  was  not  entirely  confident.  More  than  a  year 
of  trial  now  shows  no  loss  by  it  in  our  foreign  relations, 
none  in  our  home  popular  sentiment,  none  in  our  white 
military  force,  no  loss  by  it  anyhow  or  anywhere.  On 
the  contrary,  it  shows  a  gain  of  quite  a  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  soldiers,  seamen,  and  laborers.  These 
are  palpable  facts,  about  which,  as  facts,  there  can  be 
no  cavilling.  We  have  the  men;  and  as  we  could  not 
have  had  them  without  the  measure. 
And  now  let  any  Union  man  who  complains  of  the 
measure,  test  himself  by  writing  down  in  one  line  that 
he  is  for  subduing  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms ;  and 
in  the  next,  that  he  is  for  taking  three  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  men  from  the  Union  side,  and  placing 
them  where  they  would  be  but  for  the  measure  he  con 
demns.  If  he  cannot  face  his  case  so  stated,  it  is  only 
because  he  cannot  face  the  truth. 
I  attempt  no  compliment  to  my  own  sagacity.  I 
claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess  plainly
448     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
that  events  have  controlled  me.  Now,  at  the  end  of 
three  years'  struggle,  the  nation's  condition  is  not  what 
either  party  or  any  man  devised  or  expected.  God 
alone  can  claim  it.  Whither  it  is  tending  seems  plain. 
If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and 
wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the 
South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that 
wrong,  impartial  history  will  find  therein  new  causes 
to  attest  and  revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God. 
Yours  truly,        A^  LlNCOLN.
CHAPTER    XXH 
President  and  People  —  Society  at  the  White  House  in  1862-3  —  The 
President's  Informal  Receptions  —  A  Variety  of  Callers  —  Charac 
teristic  Traits  of  Lincoln  —  His  Ability  to  Say  No  when  Necessary 
—  Would  not  Countenance  Injustice  —  Good  Sense  and  Tact  in 
Settling  Quarrels  —  His  Shrewd  Knowledge  of  Men  —  Getting  Rid 
of  Bores  —  Loyalty  to  his  Friends  —  Views  of  his  Own  Position  — 
"Attorney  for  the   People"  —  Desire   that  they  Should   Under 
stand  him  —  His  Practical  Kindness  —  A  Badly  Scared  Petitioner 
—  Telling  a   Story   to  Relieve   Bad   News  —  A  Breaking   Heart 
beneath  the  Smiles  —  His  Deeply  Religious  Nature  —  The  Changes 
Wrought  by  Grief. 
IN  
a  work  which  is  not  intended  to  cover  fully  the 
events  of  a  great  historic  period,  but  rather  to  trace 
out  the  life  of  a  single  individual  connected  with  that 
period,  much  must  be  included  which,  although  not 
possessing  special  historical  significance,  cannot  be  over 
looked  in  a  personal  study  of  the  subject  of  the  biog 
raphy.  Lincoln's  life  as  President  was  by  no  means 
made  up  of  Cabinet  meetings,  official  messages  and 
proclamations,  or  reviews  of  armies ;  interspersed  with 
these  conspicuous  acts  was  a  multitude  of  less  heroic 
but  scarcely  less  interesting  details,  with  incidents  and 
experiences  humorous  or  sad,  but  all,  even  the  most 
trivial,  being  expressions  of  the  life  and  character  of 
the  man  whom  we  are  seeking  to  portray. 
"  Society,"  as  now  understood  at  the  national  capi 
tal,  had  but  little  existence  during  the  war.  At  the 
White  House  there  were  the  usual  President's  recep 
tions,  which  were  quite  public  in  character  and  were 
largely  attended.  Aside  from  these  democratic  gather 
ings  there  was  little  enough  of  gaiety.  The  feeling 
that  prevailed  is  shown  by  an  incident  that  occurred
450     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
during  the  winter  of  1862-3,  when  a  good  deal  of 
clamor  was  raised  over  a  party  given  by  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
at  which,  it  was  asserted,  dancing  was  indulged  in; 
and  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  severely  censured  for  what  was 
regarded  as  inexcusable  frivolity.  Hon.  A.  G.  Riddle, 
who  was  present  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  states 
positively  that  there  was  no  dancing;  the  party  was 
a  quiet  one,  intended  only  to  relieve  the  rather  dull 
and  formal  receptions.  But  the  President  was  pained 
by  the  rumors  that  "  fashionable  balls  "  were  per 
mitted  at  the  White  House  in  war-time ;  and  the  party 
was  not  repeated. 
It  was  the  custom  of  President  Lincoln  to  open, 
twice  a  week,  the  doors  of  his  office  in  the  Executive 
Mansion  for  the  admission  of  all  visitors  who  might 
wish  to  speak  with  him.  These  brief  interviews,  quite 
devoid  of  ceremony,  seemed  to  reveal  the  man  in  his 
true  character,  and  to  set  forth  the  salient  traits  that 
fitted  him  for  his  great  position,  and  endeared  him 
so  greatly  to  the  popular  heart.  They  showed  how 
easily  accessible  he  was  to  all  classes  of  citizens,  how 
readily  he  could  adapt  himself  to  people  of  any  station 
or  degree,  how  deep  and  true  were  his  human  sympa 
thies,  how  quickly  and  keenly  he  could  discriminate 
character,  and  how  heartily  he  detested  meanness  and 
all  unworthy  acts  and  appliances  to  compass  a  selfish 
or  sordid  end.  On  these  occasions,  as  may  well  be 
imagined,  many  curious  incidents  occurred.  Lincoln 
was  usually  clad  "  in  a  black  broadcloth  suit,  nothing 
in  his  dress  betokening  disregard  of  conventionality, 
save  perhaps  his  neat  cloth  slippers,  which  were  doubt 
less  worn  for  comfort.  He  was  seated  beside  a  plain 
cloth-covered  table,  in  a  commodious  arm-chair."  As 
each  visitor  approached  the  President  he  was  greeted 
with  an  encouraging  nod  and  smile,  and  a  few  moments 
were  cordially  given  him  in  which  to  state  the  object
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     451 
of  the  visit;  the  President  listening  with  the  most  re 
spectful  and  patient  attention,  and  deciding  each  case 
with  tact,  sympathy,  and  good  humor.  "  His  Yes," 
says  Mr.  Riddle,  "  was  most  gracious  and  satisfactory ; 
his  No,  when  reached,  was  often  spoken  by  the  peti 
tioner,  and  left  only  a  soothed  disappointment.  He 
saw  the  point  of  a  case  unerringly.  He  had  a  con 
fidence  in  the  homely  views  and  speech  of  the  common 
people,  with  whom  his  heart  and  sympathies  ever  were." 
At  these  informal  meetings  with  people  who  usually 
wanted  some  favor  from  him,  no  case  was  too  trivial 
to  receive  his  attention.  Taking  advantage  of  the  op 
portunity,  there  came  one  day,  says  Mr.  C.  Van  Sant- 
voord,  "  a  sturdy,  honest-looking  German  soldier,  minus 
a  leg,  who  hobbled  up  to  the  President  on  crutches. 
In  consideration  of  his  disabled  condition,  he  wanted 
some  situation  about  Washington,  the  duties  of  which 
he  might  be  able  to  discharge ;  and  he  had  come  to  the 
President,  hoping  that  he  would  provide  the  desired 
situation  for  him.  On  being  interrogated  as  to  how 
he  had  lost  his  leg,  he  answered  that  it  was  the  effect 
of  a  wound  received  in  battle,  mentioning  the  time  and 
the  place.  '  Let  me  look  at  your  papers,'  said  Mr. 
Lincoln.  The  man  replied  that  he  had  none,  and  that 
he  supposed  his  word  would  be  sufficient.  '  What !  ' 
exclaimed  the  President,  '  no  papers,  no  credentials, 
nothing  to  show  how  you  lost  your  leg!  How  am  I 
to  know  that  you  did  not  lose  it  by  a  trap  after  get 
ting  into  somebody's  orchard?  '  This  was  spoken  with 
a  droll  expression  which  amused  the  bystanders,  all 
except  the  applicant,  who  with  a  very  solemn  visage 
earnestly  protested  the  truth  of  his  statement,  mutter 
ing  something  about  the  reasons  for  not  being  able 
to  produce  his  papers.  '  Well,  well,'  said  the  President, 
'  it  is  a  little  risky  for  an  army  man  to  be  wandering 
around  without  papers  to  show  where  he  belongs  and
452     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
what  he  is,  but  I  will  see  what  can  be  done  for  you.' 
And  taking  a  blank  card  from  a  little  pile  of  similar 
blanks  on  the  table,  he  wrote  some  lines  upon  it,  ad 
dressed  it,  and  handing  it  to  the  man  bade  him  deliver 
it  to  a  certain  quartermaster,  who  would  attend  to  his 
case." 
The  President  could,  however,  be  emphatic  and  even 
severe  when  necessary  on  such  occasions.  One  day,  we 
are  told,  "  he  was  approached  by  a  man  apparently 
sixty  years  of  age,  with  dress  and  manner  which  showed 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  usages  of  good  society, 
whose  whole  exterior,  indeed,  would  have  favorably  im 
pressed  people  who  form  opinions  from  appearances. 
The  object  of  his  visit  was  to  solicit  aid  in  some  com 
mission  project,  for  the  success  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln's 
favor  was  regarded  as  essential.  The  President  heard 
him  patiently,  but  demurred  against  being  connected 
with  or  countenancing  the  affair,  suggesting  mildly  that 
the  applicant  would  better  set  up  an  office  of  the  kind 
described,  and  run  it  in  his  own  way  and  at  his  own 
risk.  The  man  pleaded  his  advanced  years  and  ob 
scurity  as  a  reason  for  not  attempting  this,  but  said 
if  the  President  would  only  let  him  use  his  name  to 
advertise  and  recommend  the  enterprise,  he  would  then, 
he  thought,  need  nothing  more.  At  this  the  eyes  of 
the  President  flashed  with  sudden  indignation,  and  his 
whole  aspect  and  manner  underwent  a  portentous 
change.  '  No ! '  he  broke  forth,  with  startling  vehe 
mence,  springing  from  his  seat  under  the  impulse  of 
his  emotion.  '  No !  I  '11  have  nothing  to  do  with  this 
business,  nor  with  any  man  who  comes  to  me  with  such 
degrading  propositions.  What!  Do  you  take  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  be  a  commission 
broker?  You  have  come  to  the  wrong  place;  and  for 
you  and  every  one  who  comes  for  such  purposes,  there 
is  the  door ! '  The  man's  face  blanched  as  he  cowered
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     453 
and  slunk  away  confounded,  without  uttering  a  word. 
The  President's  wrath  subsided  as  speedily  as  it  had 
risen." 
Another  example  of  Lincoln's  power  to  dispose  sum 
marily  of  people  who  tried  his  patience  too  far  is  given 
by  Secretary  Welles,  who  records  that  a  Mrs.  White 
—  a  sister  or  half-sister  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  —  made  her 
self  so  obnoxious  as  a  Southern  sympathizer  in  Wash 
ington  in  1864,  that  the  President  sent  her  word  that 
"  if  she  did  not  leave  forthwith  she  might  expect  to 
find  herself  within  twenty-four  hours  in  the  Old  Capitol 
Prison." 
With  all  his  kindness  and  desire  to  do  what  was 
asked  of  him,  Lincoln  could  not  be  persuaded  to  con 
sent  to  anything  which  he  felt  to  be  distinctly  wrong, 
regardless  of  any  unfavorable  consequences  which  his 
refusal  might  bring  upon  himself.  When  the  members 
of  Congress  from  Minnesota,  late  in  1862,  called  on 
him  in  a  body  to  urge  him  to  order  the  execution  of 
three  hundred  Indian  prisoners,  captured  in  their  State 
and  charged  with  great  atrocities,  he  positively  refused, 
although  realizing  that  it  might  cost  him  the  support 
of  those  members  of  the  House,  which  he  greatly  needed 
at  that  time. 
"  The  President  is  always  disposed  to  mitigate 
punishments  and  grant  favors,"  says  a  member  of  his 
Cabinet.  "  As  a  matter  of  duty  and  friendship,  I  one 
day  mentioned  to  him  the  case  of  Laura  Jones,  a  young 
lady  residing  in  Richmond  and  there  engaged  to  be  mar 
ried,  who  came  up  three  years  ago  to  attend  her  sick 
mother  and  had  been  unable  to  pass  through  the  lines 
and  return.  A  touching  appeal  was  made  by  the  poor 
girl,  who  truly  says  her  youth  is  passing.  The  Presi 
dent  at  once  said  he  would  give  her  a  pass.  I  told 
him  her  sympathies  were  with  the  secessionists.  But 
he  said  he  would  let  her  go;  the  war  had  depopulated
454     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
the  country  and  prevented  marriages  enough,  and  if 
he  could  do  a  kindness  of  this  sort  he  would  do  it." 
Another  applicant  for  a  pass  through  the  lines  was 
less  fortunate  than  the  one  just  noted.  One  day,  in  the 
spring  of  1862,  a  gentleman  from  some  Northern 
city  entered  Lincoln's  private  office,  and  earnestly  re 
quested  a  pass  to  Richmond.  "  A  pass  to  Richmond !  " 
exclaimed  the  President.  "Why,  my  dear  sir,  if  I 
should  give  you  one  it  would  do  you  no  good.  You 
may  think  it  very  strange,  but  there  's  a  lot  of  fellows 
between  here  and  Richmond  who  either  can't  read  or 
are  prejudiced  against  every  man  who  totes  a  pass 
from  me.  I  have  given  McClellan  and  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  others  passes  to  Richmond,  and  not 
a  single  one  of  'em  has  got  there  yet!" 
Lincoln  sometimes  had  a  very  effective  way  of  deal 
ing  with  men  who  asked  troublesome  or  improper  ques 
tions.  A  visitor  once  asked  him  how  many  men  the 
rebels  had  in  the  field.  The  President  replied,  very 
seriously,  "  Twelve  hundred  thousand,  according  to  the 
best  authority."  The  interrogator  blanched  in  the  face, 
and  ejaculated,  "Good  heavens!"  "Yes,  sir,  twelve 
hundred  thousand  —  no  doubt  of  it.  You  see,  all  of 
our  generals,  when  they  get  whipped,  say  the  enemy 
outnumbered  them  from  three  or  five  to  one,  and  I  must 
believe  them.  We  have  four  hundred  thousand  men  in 
the  field,  and  three  times  four  makes  twelve.  Don't 
you  see  it?  " 
Among  the  many  illustrations  of  the  sturdy  sense 
and  firmness  of  Lincoln's  character,  the  following  should 
be  recorded:  During  the  early  part  of  1863  the  Union 
men  in  Missouri  were  divided  into  two  factions,  which 
waged  a  bitter  controversy  with  each  other.  General 
Curtis,  commander  of  the  military  district  comprising 
Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Arkansas,  was  at  the  head  of 
one  faction,  while  Governor  Gamble  led  the  other.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     455 
Their  differences  were  a  source  of  great  embarrassment 
to  the  Government  at  Washington,  and  of  harm  to  the 
Union  cause.  The  President  was  in  constant  receipt 
of  remonstrances  and  protests  from  the  contesting  par 
ties,  to  one  of  which  he  made  the  following  curt  reply : 
Y1our  despatch  of  to-day  is  just  received.  It  is  very 
painful  to  me  that  you  in  Missouri  cannot,  or  will  not, 
settle  your  factional  quarrel  among  yourselves.  I  have 
been  tormented  with  it  beyond  endurance,  for  months, 
by  both  sides.  Neither  side  pays  the  least  respect  td 
my  appeals  to  reason.  I  am  now  compelled  to  take 
hold  of  the  case.  A.  LINCOLN. 
The  President  promptly  followed  up  this  warning  by 
removing  General  Curtis,  and  appointing  in  his  place 
General  Schofield,  to  whom  he  soon  after  addressed  the 
following  letter : 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON, 
May  27,  1863. 
GENERAL  J.  M.  SCHOFIELD. 
DEAR  SIR  :  Having  removed  General  Curtis  and  as 
signed  you  to  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the 
Missouri,  I  think  it  may  be  of  some  advantage  to  me 
to  state  to  you  why  I  did  it.  I  did  not  remove  Gen 
eral  Curtis  because  of  my  full  conviction  that  he  had 
done  wrong  by  commission  or  omission.  I  did  it  be 
cause  of  a  conviction  in  my  mind  that  the  Union  men 
of  Missouri,  constituting,  when  united,  a  vast  majority 
of  the  people,  have  entered  into  a  pestilent,  factious 
quarrel  among  themselves  ;  General  Curtis,  perhaps  not 
of  choice,  being  the  head  of  one  faction,  and  Governor 
Gamble  that  of  the  other.  After  months  of  labor  to 
reconcile  the  difficulty,  it  seemed  to  grow  worse  and 
worse,  until  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  break  it  up  somehow, 
and  as  I  could  not  remove  Governor  Gamble,  I  had 
to  remove  General  Curtis.  Now  that  you  are  in  the 
position,  I  wish  you  to  undo  nothing  merely  because
456     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
General  Curtis  or  Governor  Gamble  did  it,  but  to  ex 
ercise  your  own  judgment,  and  do  right  for  the  public 
interest.  Let  your  military  measures  be  strong  enough 
to  repel  the  invaders  and  keep  the  peace,  and  not  so 
strong  as  to  unnecessarily  harass  and  persecute  the 
people.  It  is  a  difficult  role,  and  so  much  greater  will 
be  the  honor  if  you  perform  it  well.  If  both  factions, 
or  neither,  shall  abuse  you,  you  will  probably  be  about 
right.  Beware  of  being  assailed  by  one  and  praised 
by  the  other. 
Yours  truly,         A.  LINCOLN. 
Firm  and  unyielding  as  he  was  when  necessity  com 
pelled  him  to  be,  Lincoln  was  by  nature  a  peace-maker, 
and  was  ever  anxious  that  personal  differences  be  ad 
justed  happily.  In  his  efforts  to  this  end  he  never 
failed  to  show  tact  and  shrewdness,  and  would  if  neces 
sary  sacrifice  his  own"  preferences  in  the  interests  of 
peace  and  harmony.  A  characteristic  instance  of  the 
exercise  of  these  traits  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
Missouri  troubles  just  referred  to.  General  Schofield's 
course  in  command  of  his  department  proved  satisfac 
tory,  and  he  had  been  nominated  for  a  Major-General's 
commission.  He  was,  however,  a  somewhat  conservative 
man,  and  in  spite  of  his  efforts  to  carry  out  the  Presi 
dent's  injunctions  of  impartiality,  he  had  given  offense 
to  certain  Missouri  radicals,  who  now  opposed  his  pro 
motion,  and  were  able  to  exert  sufficient  influence  in 
the  Senate  to  prevent  the  confirmation  of  his  appoint 
ment  as  a  Major-General.  The  Missouri  delegation 
appealed  to  the  more  radical  Senators,  and  the  nomi 
nation  was  "  hung  up  "  for  about  six  weeks.  Lincoln 
was  very  desirous  that  it  should  be  confirmed,  and  the 
Missouri  Congressmen  were  equally  bent  on  its  defeat. 
In  this  dilemma,  Lincoln  sent  for  Senator  Zack  Chand 
ler  of  Michigan,  and  proposed  a  compromise.  "  Gen 
eral  Rosecrans,"  said  he,  "  has  a  great  many  friends ;
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     457 
he  fought  the  battle  of  Stone  River  and  won  a  brilliant 
victory,  and  his  advocates  begin  to  grumble  about  his 
treatment.  Now,  I  will  tell  you  what  I  have  been 
thinking  about.  If  you  will  confirm  Schofield  in  the 
Senate,  I  will  remove  him  from  the  command  in  Mis 
souri  and  send  him  down  to  Sherman.  That  will  satisfy 
the  radicals.  Then  I  will  send  Rosecrans  to  Missouri, 
and  that  will  please  the  latter's  friends.  In  this  way 
the  whole  thing  can  be  harmonized."  As  soon  as  the 
Senate  grasped  the  plan  of  the  President  there  was  no 
longer  any  opposition  to  the  confirmation  of  Schofield. 
He  was  sent  to  join  Sherman  in  the  South,  Rosecrans 
was  appointed  to  the  command  in  Missouri,  and  every 
thing  worked  harmoniously  and  pleasantly  as  the  Presi 
dent  had  predicted  and  desired. 
Secretary  Welles  remarks  that  "  the  President  was  a 
much  more  shrewd  and  accurate  observer  of  the  char 
acteristics  of  men  —  better  and  more  correctly  formed 
an  estimate  of  their  power  and  capabilities  —  than  the 
Secretary  of  State  or  most  others.  Those  in  the  public 
service  he  closely  scanned,  but  was  deliberate  in  forming 
a  conclusion  adverse  to  any  one  he  had  appointed.  In 
giving  or  withdrawing  confidence  he  was  discriminating 
and  just  in  his  final  decision,  careful  never  to  wound 
unnecessarily  the  sensibilities  of  any  of  their  infirmi 
ties,  always  ready  to  praise,  but  nevertheless  firm  and 
resolute  in  discharging  the  to  him  always  painful  duty 
of  censure,  reproof,  or  dismissal."  As  an  instance  of 
this  sure  judgment  of  the  abilities  and  characters  of 
men,  Mr.  Welles  gives  an  anecdote  relating  to  the  naval 
movement  under  Admiral  Du  Pont,  against  Charleston, 
S.  C.  "  One  day,"  says  Mr.  Welles,  "  the  President 
said  to  me  that  he  had  but  slight  expectation  that  we 
should  have  any  great  success  from  Du  Pont.  '  He, 
as  well  as  McClellan,'  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  hesitates  — 
has  ih#  slows.  McClellan  always  wanted  more  regi-
458     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
ments ;  Du  Pont  is  everlastingly  asking  for  more  gun 
boats  —  more  iron-clads.  He  will  do  nothing  with  any. 
He  has  intelligence  and  system  and  will  maintain  a 
good  blockade.  You  did  well  in  selecting  him  for  that 
command,  but  he  will  never  take  Sumter  or  get  to 
Charleston.  He  is  no  Farragut,  though  unquestion 
ably  a  good  routine  officer,  who  obeys  orders  and  in  a 
general  way  carries  out  his  instructions.'  "  The  out 
come  of  events  proved  the  soundness  of  Lincoln's 
judgment. 
Loyalty  to  his  friends  was  always  a  strong  trait  of 
Lincoln's  character.  It  was  put  to  the  proof  daily 
during  his  life  in  Washington.  Mr.  Gurdon  S.  Hub- 
bard,  in  a  brief  but  interesting  memorial,  relates  one 
or  two  interviews  held  with  the  President,  in  which  the 
simplicity  of  his  character  and  his  fidelity  to  old  friend 
ships  appear  very  conspicuously.  Mr.  Hubbard's  ac 
quaintance  with  Lincoln  was  of  long  standing.  "  I 
called  on  him  in  Washington  the  year  of  his  inaugura 
tion,"  says  Mr.  Hubbard,  "  and  was  alone  with  him 
for  an  hour  or  more.  I  found  him  greatly  changed, 
his  countenance  bearing  an  expression  of  great  mental 
anxiety.  The  whole  topic  of  our  conversation  was  the 
war,  which  affected  him  deeply.  .  .  .  Two  years  after, 
I  again  visited  Washington,  and  went  to  the  White 
House  to  pay  my  respects,  in  company  with  my  friend 
Thomas  L.  Forrest.  It  was  Saturday ;  and,  as  usual, 
about  six  o'clock  the  band  from  the  navy-yard  appeared 
and  began  to  play.  The  President,  with  Adjutant- 
General  Thomas,  was  seated  on  the  balcony.  The 
crowd  was  great,  marching  compactly  past  the  Presi 
dent,  the  men  raising  their  hats  in  salutation.  As  my 
friend  and  myself  passed  he  said  to  me,  '  The  President 
seems  to  notice  you  —  turn  toward  him.'  *  No,'  I  said, 
6  I  don't  care  to  be  recognized.'  At  that  instant  Mr. 
Lincoln  started  from  his  seat,  advancing  quickly  to  the
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     459 
iron  railing,  and  leaning  over,  beckoning  with  his  long 
arm,  called :  '  Hubbard  !  Hubbard !  come  here  ! '  I 
left  the  ranks  and  ascended  the  stone  steps  to  the  gate 
of  the  balcony,  which  was  locked,  General  Thomas  say 
ing,  '  Wait  a  moment,  I  will  get  the  key.'  '  Never 
mind,  General,'  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  Hubbard  is  used 
to  jumping  —  he  can  scale  that  fence.'  I  climbed  over, 
and  for  about  an  hour  we  conversed  and  watched  the 
large  crowd,  the  rebel  flag  being  in  sight  on  Arlington 
Heights.  This  was  the  last  time  I  ever  saw  his  face 
in  life." 
It  was  noted  by  those  about  Lincoln  during  his  resi 
dence  at  the  White  House  that  he  usually  avoided 
speaking  of  himself  as  President  or  making  any  refer 
ence  to  the  office  which  he  held.  He  used  some  such 
roundabout  phrase  as  "  since  I  came  into  this  place," 
instead  of  saying  "  since  I  became  President."  The 
war  he  usually  spoke  of  as  "  this  great  trouble,"  and  he 
almost  never  alluded  to  the  enemy  as  "  Confederates  " 
or  "  the  Confederate  Government."  He  had  an  uncon 
querable  reluctance  to  appear  to  lead  public  opinion, 
and  often  spoke  of  himself  as  the  "  attorney  for  the 
people."  Once,  however,  when  a  Senator  was  urging 
on  him  a  certain  course  which  the  President  was  not 
disposed  to  pursue,  the  Senator  said,  "  You  say  you 
are  the  people's  attorney.  Now,  you  will  admit  that 
this  course  would  be  most  popular."  "  But  I  am  not 
going  to  let  my  client  manage  the  case  against  my 
judgment,"  Lincoln  replied  quickly.  "  As  long  as  I 
am  attorney  for  the  people  I  shall  manage  the  case  to 
the  best  of  my  ability.  They  will  have  a  chance  to 
put  me  out  by  and  by  if  my  management  is  not 
satisfactory." 
The  President  was  so  tormented  by  visitors  seeking 
interviews  for  every  sort  of  frivolous  and  impertinent 
matter,  that  he  resorted  sometimes,  in  desperation,  to
460     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
curious  and  effective  inventions  to  rid  himself  of  the 
intolerable  nuisance.  At  one  time,  when  he  was  im 
portuned  by  some  influential  people  to  interfere  to 
prevent  the  punishment  of  certain  persons  convicted  of 
fraudulent  dealings  with  the  government  —  a  class  of 
cases  too  common  at  that  time  —  the  President  wrote 
Secretary  Welles  that  he  desired  to  see  the  records  of 
the  case  before  it  was  disposed  of.  Upon  Mr.  Welles 
calling  upon  him  with  the  desired  information,  the  Presi 
dent  said,  as  if  by  way  of  apology,  "  There  was  no 
way  to  get  rid  of  the  crowd  that  was  upon  me  but  by 
sending  you  a  note."  On  another  occasion,  when  he 
had  been  quite  ill,  and  therefore  less  inclined  than  usual 
to  listen  to  these  bores,  one  of  them  had  just  seated 
himself  for  a  long  visit,  when  the  President's  physician 
happened  to  enter  the  room,  and  Lincoln  said,  holding 
out  his  hands,  "Doctor,  what  are  these  blotches?" 
"  That 's  varioloid,  or  mild  small-pox,"  said  the  doctor. 
"  They  're  all  over  me.  It  is  contagious,  I  believe," 
said  Lincoln.  "  Very  contagious,  indeed !  "  replied  the 
doctor.  "  Well,  I  can't  stop,  Mr.  Lincoln ;  I  just  called 
to  see  how  you  were,"  said  the  visitor.  "  Oh,  don't 
be  in  a  hurry,  sir !  "  placidly  remarked  the  Executive. 
"  Thank  you,  sir ;  I  '11  call  again,"  replied  the  visitor, 
executing  a  masterly  retreat  from  the  White  House. 
"  Some  people,"  said  the  President,  looking  after  him, 
"  said  they  could  not  take  very  well  to  my  proclama 
tion ;  but  now,  I  am  happy  to  say,  I  have  something 
that  everybody  can  take" 
Among  the  innumerable  nuisances  and  "  cranks  "  who 
called  on  Lincoln  at  the  White  House,  were  the  many 
who  sought  to  win  his  favor  by  claiming  to  have 
been  the  first  to  suggest  his  nomination  as  President. 
One  of  these  claimants,  who  was  the  editor  of  a  weekly 
paper  published  in  a  little  village  in  Missouri,  called 
one  day,  and  was  admitted  to  Lincoln's  presence.  He
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     461 
at  once  began  explaining  that  he  was  the  man  who 
first  suggested  Lincoln's  name  for  the  Presidency,  and 
pulling  from  his  pocket  an  old,  worn,  defaced  copy  of 
his  paper,  exhibited  to  the  President  an  item  on  the 
subject.  "  Do  you  really  think,"  said  Lincoln,  "  that 
announcement  was  the  occasion  of  my  nomination?  " 
"  Certainly,"  said  the  editor,  "  the  suggestion  was  so 
opportune  that  it  was  at  once  taken  up  by  other  papers, 
and  the  result  was  your  nomination  and  election." 
"  Ah,  well,"  said  Lincoln,  with  a  sigh,  and  assuming  a 
rather  gloomy  countenance,  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you  and 
to  know  this;  but  you  will  have  to  excuse  me,  I  am 
just  going  to  the  War  Department  to  see  Mr.  Stanton." 
"  Well,"  said  the  editor,  "  I  will  walk  over  with  you." 
The  President,  with  that  apt  good  nature  so  charac 
teristic  of  him,  took  up  his  hat  and  said,  "  Come  along." 
When  they  reached  the  door  of  the  Secretary's  office, 
Mr.  Lincoln  turned  to  his  companion  and  said,  "  I 
shall  have  to  see  Mr.  Stanton  alone,  and  you  must 
excuse  me,"  and  taking  him  by  the  hand  he  continued, 
"  Good-bye.  I  hope  you  will  feel  perfectly  easy  about 
having  nominated  me;  don't  be  troubled  about  it;  / 
forgive  you" 
A  gentleman  who,  after  the  dreadful  disaster  at 
Fredericksburg,  called  at  the  White  House  with  news 
direct  from  the  front,  says  that  Lincoln  appeared  so 
overwhelmed  with  grief  that  he  was  led  to  remark,  "  I 
heartily  wish  I  might  be  a  welcome  messenger  of  good 
news  instead,  —  that  I  could  tell  you  how  to  conquer 
or  get  rid  of  these  rebellious  States."  Looking  up 
quickly,  with  a  marked  change  of  expression,  Lincoln 
said :  "  That  reminds  me  of  two  boys  in  Illinois  who 
took  a  short  cut  across  an  orchard,  and  did  not  be 
come  aware  of  the  presence  of  a  vicious  dog  until  it 
was  too  late  to  reach  either  fence.  One  was  spry 
enough  to  escape  the  attack  by  climbing  a  tree;  but
462     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
the  other  started  around  the  tree,  with  the  dog  in  hot 
pursuit,  until  by  making  smaller  circles  than  it  was 
possible  for  his  pursuer  to  make,  he  gained  sufficiently 
to  grasp  the  dog's  tail,  and  held  with  desperate  grip 
until  nearly  exhausted,  when  he  hailed  his  companion 
and  called  to  him  to  come  down.  'What  for?'  said 
the  boy.  4 1  want  you  to  help  me  let  this  dog  go.'  If 
I  could  only  let  them  go !  "  said  the  President,  in  con 
clusion  ;  "  but  that  is  the  trouble.  I  am  compelled  to 
hold  on  to  them  and  make  them  stay." 
In  speaking  of  Lincoln's  fortitude  under  his  trials 
and  sufferings,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  wrote: 
"  Although  we  believe  he  has  never  made  any  religious 
profession,  we  see  evidence  that  in  passing  through  this 
dreadful  national  crisis  he  has  been  forced  by  the  very 
anguish  of  the  struggle  to  look  upward,  where  any 
rational  creature  must  look  for  support.  No  man  has 
suffered  more  and  deeper,  albeit  with  a  dry,  weary, 
patient  pain,  that  seemed  to  some  like  insensibility. 
'  Whichever  way  it  ends,'  he  said  to  the  writer,  fi  I  have 
the  impression  that  I  sha'n't  last  long  after  it 's  over.' 
After  the  dreadful  repulse  of  Fredericksburg,  his  heavy 
eyes  and  worn  and  weary  air  told  how  our  reverses 
wore  upon  him ;  and  yet  there  was  a  never-failing  fund 
of  patience  at  bottom  that  sometimes  rose  to  the  sur 
face  in  some  droll,  quaint  saying  or  story,  that  forced 
a  laugh  even  from  himself." 
The  care  and  sorrow  which  Lincoln  was  called  upon 
to  endure  in  the  responsibilities  of  his  high  position 
graved  their  melancholy  marks  on  each  feature  of  his 
face.  He  was  a  changed  man.  A  pathetic  picture  of 
his  appearance  at  this  time  is  given  by  his  old  friend, 
Noah  Brooks,  whose  description  of  him  as  he  appeared 
in  1856,  on  the  stump  in  Ogle  County,  has  already  been 
given  a  place  in  these  pages.  "  I  did  not  see  Lincoln 
again,"  says  Mr.  Brooks,  "  until  1862,  when  I  went  to
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     463 
Washington  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  from  Cali 
fornia.  When  Lincoln  was  on  the  stump  in  1856,  his 
face,  though  naturally  sallow,  had  a  rosy  flush.  His 
eyes  were  full  and  bright,  and  he  was  in  the  fulness 
of  health  and  vigor.  I  shall  never  forget  the  shock 
which  the  sight  of  him  gave  me  six  years  later  in  1862, 
I  took  it  for  granted  that  he  had  forgotten  the  young 
man  whom  he  had  met  five  or  six  times  during  the 
Fremont  and  Dayton  Campaign.  He  was  now  Presi 
dent,  and  was,  like  Brutus,  '  vexed  with  many  cares.' 
The  change  which  a  few  years  had  made  was  simply 
appalling.  His  whiskers  had  grown  and  had  given 
additional  cadaverousness  to  his  face  as  it  appeared 
to  me.  The  light  seemed  to  have  gone  out  of  his  eyes, 
which  were  sunken  far  under  his  enormous  brows.  But 
there  was  over  his  whole  face  an  expression  of  sadness, 
and  a  far-away  look  in  the  eyes,  which  were  utterly 
unlike  the  Lincoln  of  other  days.  I  was  intensely  dis 
appointed.  I  confess  that  I  was  so  pained  that  I 
could  almost  have  shed  tears."
CHAPTER   XXIII 
Lincoln's  Home-life  in  the  White  House  —  Comfort  in  the  Companion 
ship  of  his  Youngest  Son  — "Little  Tad"  the  Bright  Spot  in  the 
White  House  —  The  President  and  his  Little  Boy  Reviewing  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  —  Various  Phases  of  Lincoln's  Character— 
His  Literary  Tastes  —  Fondness  for  Poetry  and  Music  —  His  Re 
markable  Memory  —  Not  a  Latin  Scholar  —  Never  Read  a  Novel 
—  Solace  in  Theatrical  Representation  —  Anecdotes  of  Booth  and 
McCullough — Methods  of  Literary  Work — Lincoln  as  an  Orator — 
Caution  in  Impromptu  Speeches  —  His  Literary  Style  —  Manage 
ment  of  his  Private  Correspondence  —  Knowledge  of  Woodcraft  — 
Trees  and  Human  Character  —  Exchanging  Views  with  Professor 
Agassiz  —  Magnanimity  toward  Opponents  —  Righteous  Indigna 
tion  —  Lincoln's  Religious  Nature. 
OF  the  two  sons  left  to  Lincoln  after  the  death 
of  Willie  in  1862,  Robert,  the  older,  was  a  stu 
dent  in  Harvard  College  until  appointed  to  service  on 
the  staff  of  General  Grant;  and  "Little  Tad,"  or 
Thomas,  the  youngest,  was  the  only  one  remaining  in 
the  White  House  during  the  last  hard  years.  He  was 
ten  years  old  in  1863,  a  bright  and  lovable  child,  with 
whom  his  father  was  associated  in  constant  and  affec 
tionate  companionship.  The  boy  was  much  with  him 
in  his  walks  and  journeys  about  Washington,  and  even 
in  his  visits  to  the  army  in  the  field.  The  father  would 
often  gain  a  brief  respite  from  his  heavy  cares  by 
sharing  in  the  sports  and  frolics  of  the  light-hearted 
boy,  who  was  a  general  favorite  at  the  White  House, 
where  he  was  free  to  go  and  come  at  will.  No  matter 
who  was  with  the  President,  or  how  intently  he  might 
be  absorbed,  little  Tad  was  always  welcome.  "  It  was 
an  impressive  and  affecting  sight,"  says  Mr.  Carpenter, 
an  inmate  of  the  White  House  for  several  months,  "  to 
see  the  burdened  President  lost  for  the  time  being  in
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     465 
the  affectionate  parent,  as  he  would  take  the  little  fel 
low  in  his  arms  upon  the  withdrawal  of  visitors,  and 
caress  him  with  all  the  fondness  of  a  mother  for  the 
babe  upon  her  bosom."  Hon.  W.  D.  Kelley,  a  member 
of  Congress  at  that  time,  says :  "  I  think  no  father 
ever  loved  his  children  more  fondly  than  he.  The 
President  never  seemed  grander  in  my  sight  than  when, 
stealing  upon  him  in  the  evening,  I  would  find  him  with 
a  book  open  before  him,  with  little  Tad  beside  him. 
There  were,  of  course,  a  great  many  curious  books 
sent  to  him,  and  it  seemed  to  be  one  of  the  special 
delights  of  his  life  to  open  those  books  at  a  time 
when  his  boy  could  stand  beside  him,  and  they  could 
talk  as  he  turned  over  the  pages,  the  father  thus 
giving  to  the  son  a  portion  of  that  care  and  attention 
of  which  he  was  ordinarily  deprived  by  the  heavy 
duties  pressing  upon  him."  Tad  lived  to  be  eighteen 
years  old,  dying  in  Chicago  in  1871.  It  was  well  said 
of  him  that  he  "  gave  to  the  sad  and  solemn  White 
House  the -only  comic  relief  it  knew." 
When  President  Lincoln  visited  General  Hooker's 
headquarters  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  just  be 
fore  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  little  Tad  went  with 
him,  and  rode  with  his  father  and  General  Hooker 
through  the  grand  reviews  that  were  held.  "  Over  hill 
and  dale,"  says  a  member  of  the  Presidential  party, 
"  dashed  the  brilliant  cavalcade  of  the  General-in-Chief, 
surrounded  by  a  company  of  officers  in  gay  attire  and 
sparkling  with  gold  lace,  the  party  being  escorted  by 
the  Philadelphia  Lancers,  a  showy  troop  of  soldiers. 
In  the  midst,  or  at  the  head,  rose  and  fell,  as  the 
horses  galloped  afar,  the  form  of  Lincoln,  conspicu 
ous  by  his  height  and  his  tall  black  hat.  And  ever  on 
the  flanks  of  the  hurrying  column  flew,  like  a  flag  or 
banneret,  Tad's  little  gray  riding-cloak.  The  soldiers 
soon  learned  of  Tad's  presence  in  the  army,  and  wher-
466     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
ever  he  went  on  horseback  he  easily  divided  the  honors 
with  his  father.  The  men  cheered  and  shouted  and 
waved  their  hats  when  they  saw  the  dear  face  and  tall 
figure  of  the  good  President,  then  the  best-beloved  man 
in  the  world ;  but  to  these  men  of  war,  far  away  from 
home  and  children,  the  sight  of  that  fresh-faced  and 
laughing  boy  seemed  an  inspiration.  They  cheered 
like  mad." 
There  were  various  phases  of  Lincoln's  character,  as 
manifested  during  his  life  in  the  White  House,  that 
afford  material  for  an  interesting  study.  It  has  been 
said  of  him  that  he  lacked  imagination.  This  was  cer 
tainly  not  one  of  the  faculties  of  his  mind  which  had 
been  largely  cultivated.  He  relied  more  upon  the  exer 
cise  of  reason  and  logic,  in  all  his  intellectual  processes, 
than  upon  fancy  or  imagination.  Still,  there  are  often 
striking  figures  of  speech  to  be  met  with  in  his  writings, 
and  he  had  a  great  fondness  for  poetry  and  music.  He 
had  studied  Shakespeare  diligently  in  his  youth,  and 
portions  of  the  plays  he  repeated  with  singular  ac 
curacy.  He  had  a  special  liking  for  the  minor  poems 
of  Thomas  Hood  and  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  Dr. 
Holmes,  writing  in  July,  1885,  says  that  of  all  the 
tributes  received  by  him,  the  one  of  which  he  was  most 
proud  was  from  "  good  Abraham  Lincoln,"  who  had 
a  great  liking  for  the  poem  of  "  The  Last  Leaf,"  and 
"  repeated  it  from  memory  to  Governor  Andrew,  as  the 
Governor  himself  told  me."  Mr.  Arnold  says :  "  He 
had  a  great  love  for  poetry  and  eloquence,  and  his 
taste  and  judgment  were  excellent.  Next  to  Shake 
speare  among  the  poets,  his  favorite  was  Burns.  There 
was  a  lecture  of  his  upon  Burns  full  of  favorite  quo 
tations  and  sound  criticisms."  His  musical  tastes,  says 
Mr.  Brooks,  who  knew  him  well,  "  were  simple  and  un 
cultivated,  his  choice  being  old  airs,  songs,  and  ballads, 
among  which  the  plaintive  Scotch  songs  were  best
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     467 
liked.  '  Annie  Laurie,5  '  Mary  of  Argyle,'  and  espe 
cially  '  Auld  Robin  Gray,'  never  lost  their  charm  for 
him;  and  all  songs  which  had  for  their  theme  the 
rapid  flight  of  time,  decay,  the  recollections  of  early 
days,  were  sure  to  make  a  deep  impression.  The  song 
which  he  liked  best,  above  all  others,  was  one  called 
'  Twenty  Years  Ago  '  —  a  simple  air,  the  words  to 
which  are  supposed  to  be  uttered  by  a  man  who  re 
visits  the  playground  of  his  youth.  I  remember  that 
one  night  at  the  White  House,  when  a  few  ladies  were 
with  the  family,  singing  at  the  piano-forte,  he  asked  for 
a  little  song  in  which  the  writer  describes  his  sensations 
rwhen  revisiting  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood,  dwelling 
mournfully  on  the  vanished  joys  and  the  delightful 
associations  of  forty  years  ago.  It  is  not  likely  that 
there  was  much  in  Lincoln's  lost  youth  that  he  would 
wish  to  recall ;  but  there  was  a  certain  melancholy  and 
half-morbid  strain  in  that  song  which  struck  a  respon 
sive  chord  in  his  heart.  The  lines  sank  into  his  memory, 
and  I  remember  that  he  quoted  them,  as  if  to  himself, 
long  afterward." 
Lincoln's  memory  was  extraordinarily  retentive,  and 
he  seemed,  without  conscious  effort,  to  have  stored  in 
his  mind  almost  every  whimsical  or  ludicrous  narrative 
which  he  had  read  or  heard.  "  On  several  occasions," 
says  Mr.  Brooks,  "  I  have  held  in  my  hand  a  printed 
slip  while  he  was  repeating  its  contents  to  somebody 
else,  and  the  precision  with  which  he  delivered  every 
word  was  marvellous."  He  was  fond  of  the  writings 
of  "Orpheus  C.  Kerr  "  and  "Petroleum  V.  Nasby," 
who  were  famous  humorists  at  the  time  of  the  Civil 
War;  and  he  amused  himself  and  others  in  the  darkest 
hours  by  quoting  passages  from  these  now  forgotten 
authors.  Nasby's  letter  from  "  Wingert's  Corners, 
Ohio,"  on  the  threatening  prospects  of  a  migration  of 
the  negroes  from  the  South,  and  the  President's  "  evi-
468     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
dent  intenshun  of  colonizin'  on  'em  in  the  North,"  he 
especially  relished.  After  rehearsing  a  portion  of  this 
letter  to  his  guests  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  one  evening, 
a  sedate  New  England  gentleman  expressed  surprise 
that  he  could  find  time  for  memorizing  such  things. 
"  Oh,"  said  Lincoln,  "  I  don't.  If  I  like  a  thing,  it 
just  sticks  after  once  reading  it  or  hearing  it."  He 
once  recited  a  long  and  doleful  ballad,  something  like 
"  Vilikins  and  his  Dinah,"  the  production  of  a  rural 
Kentucky  bard,  and  when  he  had  finished  he  added  with 
a  laugh,  "  I  don't  believe  I  have  thought  of  that  before 
for  forty  years."  Mr.  Arnold  testifies  that  "  although 
his  reading  was  not  extensive,  yet  his  memory  was  so 
retentive  and  so  ready  that  in  history,  poetry,  and  in 
general  literature,  few  if  any  marked  any  deficiency. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  powers  of  his  memory,  may  be 
related  the  following:  A  gentleman  called  at  the  White 
House  one  day,  and  introduced  to  him  two  officers 
serving  in  the  army,  one  a  Swede  and  the  other  a 
Norwegian.  Immediately  he  repeated,  to  their  delight, 
a  poem  of  some  eight  or  ten  verses  descriptive  of  Scan 
dinavian  scenery,  and  an  old  Norse  legend.  He  said 
he  had  read  the  poem  in  a  newspaper  some  years  be 
fore,  and  liked  it,  but  it  had  passed  out  of  his  memory 
until  their  visit  had  recalled  it.  The  two  books  which 
he  read  most  were  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare.  With 
these  he  was  perfectly  familiar.  From  the  Bible,  as 
has  before  been  stated,  he  quoted  frequently,  and  he 
read  it  daily,  while  Shakespeare  was  his  constant  com 
panion.  He  took  a  copy  with  him  almost  always  when 
travelling,  and  read  it  at  leisure  moments." 
Lincoln  was  never  ashamed  to  confess  the  deficiencies 
in  his  early  education.  A  distinguished  party,  com 
prising  George  Thompson,  the  English  anti-slavery 
orator,  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  Oliver  Johnson,  and 
Hon.  Lewis  Clephane,  once  called  upon  him,  and  during
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     469 
the  conversation  Mr.  Pierpont  turned  to  Mr.  Thompson 
and  repeated  a  Latin  quotation  from  the  classics.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  leaning  forward  in  his  chair,  looked  from  one 
to  the  other  inquiringly,  and  then  remarked,  with  a 
smile,  "  Which,  I  suppose  you  are  both  aware,  /  do 
not  understand." 
While  Edwin  Forrest  was  playing  an  engagement  at 
Ford's  Theatre,  Mr.  Carpenter  spoke  to  the  President 
one  day  of  the  actor's  fine  interpretation  of  the  char 
acter  of  Richelieu,  and  advised  him  to  witness  the 
performance.  "Who  wrote  the  play?"  asked  the 
President  of  Mr.  Carpenter.  "  Bulwer,"  was  the  reply. 
"  Ah !  "  he  rejoined ;  "  well,  I  knew  Bulwer  wrote  novels, 
but  I  did  not  know  he  was  a  play-writer  also.  It  may 
seem  somewhat  strange  to  say,"  he  continued,  "  but 
/  never  read  an  entire  novel  in  my  life.  I  once  com 
menced  '  Ivanhoe,'  but  never  finished  it." 
Among  the  few  diversions  which  Lincoln  allowed 
himself  in  Washington  was  an  occasional  visit  to  the 
theater  to  witness  a  representation  of  some  good  play 
by  a  favorite  actor.  He  felt  the  necessity  of  some 
relaxation  from  the  terrible  strain  of  anxiety  and  care ; 
and  while  seated  behind  the  screen  in  a  box  at  the 
theatre  he  was  secure  from  the  everlasting  impor 
tunities  of  politicians  and  office-seekers.  He  could  for 
get  himself  and  his  problems  while  watching  the 
scenes  on  the  mimic  stage  before  him.  He  enjoyed 
the  renditions  of  Booth  with  great  zest;  yet  after 
witnessing  "  The  Merchant  of  Venice  "  he  remarked 
on  the  way  home :  "  It  was  a  good  performance, 
but  I  had  a  thousand  times  rather  read  it  at  home, 
if  it  were  not  for  Booth's  playing.  A  farce  or 
a  comedy  is  best  played;  a  tragedy  is  best  read 
at  home."  He  was  much  pleased  one  night  with  Mr. 
McCullough's  delineation  of  the  character  of  "  Edgar," 
which  the  actor  played  in  support  of  Edwin  Forrest's
470     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
"  Lear."  He  wished  to  convey  his  approval  to  the 
young  actor,  and  asked  Mr.  Brooks,  his  companion  at 
the  moment,  with  characteristic  simplicity,  "  Do  you 
suppose  he  would  come  to  the  box  if  we  sent  word?  " 
Mr.  McCullough  was  summoned,  and,  standing  at  the 
door  of  the  box  in  his  stage  attire,  received  the  thanks 
of  the  President,  accompanied  with  words  of  discrimi 
nating  praise  for  the  excellence  of  his  delineation. 
With  his  keen  sense  of  humor,  Lincoln  appreciated 
to  the  utmost  the  inimitable  presentation  of  "  Falstaff  " 
by  a  well-known  actor  of  the  time.  His  desire  to  ac 
cord  praise  wherever  it  was  merited  led  him  to  express 
his  admiration  in  a  note  to  the  actor.  An  interchange 
of  slight  civilities  followed,  ending  at  last  in  a  singular 
situation.  Entering  the  President's  office  late  one  even 
ing,  Mr.  Brooks  noticed  the  actor  sitting  in  the  wait 
ing-room.  Lincoln  inquired  anxiously  if  there  were 
anyone  outside.  On  being  told,  he  said,  half  sadly, 
almost  desperately,  "  Oh,  I  can't  see  him ;  I  can't  see 
him !  I  was  in  hopes  he  had  gone  away."  Then  he 
added,  "  Now,  this  illustrates  the  difficulty  of  having 
pleasant  friends  in  this  place.  You  know  I  liked  him 
as  an  actor,  and  that  I  wrote  to  tell  him  so.  He  sent 
me  a  book,  and  there  I  thought  the  matter  would  end. 
He  is  a  master  of  his  place  in  the  profession,  I  sup 
pose,  and  well  fixed  in  it.  But  just  because  we  had 
a  little  friendly  correspondence,  such  as  any  two  men 
might  have,  he  wants  something.  What  do  you  sup 
pose  he  wants?  "  I  could  not  guess,  and  Lincoln  added, 
"  Well,  he  wants  to  be  consul  at  London.  Oh,  dear !  " 
Lincoln  was  not  a  ready  writer,  and  when  preparing 
documents  or  speeches  of  special  importance  he  altered 
and  elaborated  his  sentences  with  patient  care.  His 
public  utterances  were  so  widely  reported  and  so  merci 
lessly  discussed  that  he  acquired  caution  in  expressing 
himself  without  due  preparation.  It  is  stated,  on  what
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     471 
seems  sufficient  authority,  that  his  Gettysburg  speech, 
brief  and  simple  as  it  is,  was  rewritten  many  times 
before  it  finally  met  his  approval.  He  began  also  to 
be  guarded  in  responding  to  demands  for  impromptu 
speeches,  which  were  constantly  being  called  for.  Mr. 
Brooks  relates  that  "  once,  being  notified  that  he  was 
to  be  serenaded,  just  after  some  notable  military  or 
political  event,  he  asked  me  to  come  to  dinner,  '  so  as 
to  be  on  hand  and  see  the  fun  afterward,'  as  he  said. 
He  excused  himself  as  soon  as  we  had  dined,  and  while 
the  bands  were  playing,  the  crowds  cheering  and  the 
rockets  bursting  outside  the  house,  he  made  his  re 
appearance  in  the  parlor  with  a  roll  of  manuscript  in 
his  hand.  Perhaps  noticing  a  look  of  surprise  on  my 
face,  he  said,  '  I  know  what  you  are  thinking  about. 
You  think  it  mighty  queer  that  an  old  stump-speaker 
like  myself  should  not  be  able  to  address  a  crowd  like 
this  outside  without  a  written  speech.  But  you  must 
remember  that  in  a  certain  way  I  am  talking  to  the 
country,  and  I  have  to  be  mighty  careful.  Now,  the 
last  time  I  made  an  off-hand  speech,  in  answer  to  a 
serenade,  I  used  the  phrase,  as  applied  to  the  rebels, 
"  turned  tail  and  ran."  Some  very  nice  Boston  folks,  I 
am  grieved  to  hear,  were  very  much  outraged  by  that 
phrase,  which  they  thought  improper.  So  I  resolved  to 
make  no  more  impromptu  speeches  if  I  could  help  it.' ' 
In  all  Lincoln's  writings,  even  his  most  important 
state  papers,  his  chief  desire  was  to  make  himself 
clearly  understood  by  the  common  reader.  He  had  a 
great  aversion  to  what  he  called  "  machine  writing," 
and  used  the  fewest  words  possible  to  express  his  mean 
ing.  He  never  hesitated  to  employ  a  homely  expression 
when  it  suited  his  purpose.  In  his  first  message  the 
phrase  "  sugar-coated  "  occurred ;  and  when  it  was 
printed,  Mr.  Defrees,  the  Public  Printer,  being  on 
familiar  terms  with  the  President,  ventured  an  ob-
472     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
jection  to  the  phrase  —  suggesting  that  Lincoln  was 
not  now  preparing  a  campaign  document  or  delivering 
a  stump  speech  in  Illinois,  but  constructing  an  impor 
tant  state  paper  that  would  go  down  historically  to  all 
coming  time ;  and  that  therefore  he  did  not  consider 
the  phrase  "  sugar-coated  "  as  entirely  a  becoming  and 
dignified  one.  "  Well,  Defrees,"  replied  Lincoln,  good- 
naturedly,  "  if  you  think  the  time  will  ever  come 
when  the  people  will  not  understand  what  '  sugar- 
coated '  means,  I'll  alter  it;  otherwise,  I  think  I'll 
let  it  go." 
On  the  same  subject,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
says :  "  Our  own  politicians  were  somewhat  shocked 
with  his  state  papers  at  first.  '  Why  not  let  us  make 
them  a  little  more  conventional,  and  file  them  to  a 
classical  pattern  ?  '  '  No,'  was  his  reply,  *  I  shall  write 
them  myself.  The  people  will  understand  them.9  6  But 
this  or  that  form  of  expression  is  not  elegant,  not 
classical.'  *  The  people  will  understand  it/  has  been 
his  invariable  reply.  And  whatever  may  be  said  of  his 
state  papers  as  compared  with  the  classic  standards, 
it  has  been  a  fact  that  they  have  always  been  won 
derfully  well  understood  by  the  people,  and  that  since 
the  time  of  Washington  the  state  papers  of  no  Presi 
dent  have  more  controlled  the  popular  mind.  One  rea 
son  for  this  is  that  they  have  been  informal  and  undiplo 
matic.  They  have  more  resembled  a  father's  talk  to 
his  children  than  a  state  paper.  They  have  had  that 
relish  and  smack  of  the  soil  that  appeal  to  the  simple 
human  heart  and  head,  which  is  a  greater  power  in 
writing  than  the  most  artful  devices  of  rhetoric.  Lin 
coln  might  well  say  with  the  apostle,  '  But  though  I  be 
rude  in  speech,  yet  not  in  knowledge,  but  we  have  been 
thoroughly  made  manifest  among  you  in  all  things.' 
His  rejection  of  what  is  called  *  fine  writing '  was  as 
deliberate  as  St.  Paul's,  and  for  the  same  reason  —
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     473 
because  he  felt  that  he  was  speaking  on  a  subject 
which  must  be  made  clear  to  the  lowest  intellect,  though 
it  should  fail  to  captivate  the  highest.  But  we  say  of 
Lincoln's  writing,  that  for  all  true  manly  purposes 
there  are  passages  in  his  state  papers  that  could  not 
be  better  put;  they  are  absolutely  perfect.  They  are 
brief,  condensed,  intense,  and  with  a  power  of  insight 
and  expression  which  make  them  worthy  to  be  inscribed 
in  letters  of  gold." 
Hon.  William  J.  Bryan,  certainly  a  competent  judge 
of  oratory,  says  of  Lincoln  as  an  orator :  "  Brevity 
is  the  soul  of  wit,  and  a  part  of  Lincoln's  reputation 
for  wit  lies  in  his  ability  to  condense  a  great  deal  into 
a  few  words.  He  was  epigrammatic.  His  Gettysburg 
speech  is  the  world's  model  in  eloquence,  elegance,  and 
condensation.  He  was  apt  in  illustration  —  no  one 
more  so.  A  simple  story  or  simile  drawn  from  every 
day  life  flashed  before  his  hearers  the  argument  that 
he  wanted  to  present.  He  made  frequent  use  of 
Bible  language,  and  of  illustrations  drawn  from 
Holy  Writ.  It  is  said  that  when  he  was  preparing 
his  Springfield  speech  of  1858  he  spent  hours  in 
trying  to  find  language  that  would  express  the 
central  idea  —  that  a  republic  could  not  permanently 
endure  part  free  and  part  slave.  Finally  a  Bible 
passage  flashed  through  his  mind,  and  he  exclaimed, 
'  I  have  found  it  —  a  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand.9  Probably  no  other  Bible  passage  ever 
exerted  as  much  influence  as  this  one  in  the  settlement 
of  a  great  controversy." 
Lincoln  was  a  tireless  worker,  and  delegated  no 
duties  to  others  which  he  could  perform  himself.  His 
health  seemed  to  bear  the  strain  of  his  terrible  bur 
dens  wonderfully  well.  There  are  but  few  references 
anywhere  to  his  being  incapacitated  by  illness.  One 
such  reference  occurs  in  Welles's  Diary,  dated  March
474     EVERY-DAY   LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
14,  1865:  "The  President  was  somewhat  indisposed, 
but  not  seriously  ill.  The  members  [of  the  Cabinet] 
met  in  his  bedroom."  His  correspondence  was  exten 
sive  and  burdensome,  and  as  a  rule  he  wrote  his  most 
important  letters  with  his  own  hand,  frequently  going 
to  the  trouble  of  taking  copies,  which  were  filed  with 
careful  order  in  a  cabinet,  the  interior  of  which  was 
divided  into  pigeon-holes.  These  pigeon-holes,  as  Mr. 
Brooks  tells  us,  "  were  lettered  in  alphabetical  order, 
but  a  few  were  devoted  to  individuals.  Horace  Greeley 
had  a  pigeon-hole  by  himself;  so  did  each  of  several 
generals  who  wrote  often  to  him.  One  compartment, 
labelled  '  W.  &  W.,'  excited  much  curiosity,  but  I 
never  asked  what  it  meant,  and  one  night,  being  sent  to 
the  cabinet  for  a  letter  which  the  President  wanted, 
he  said,  *  I  see  you  looking  at  my  "  W.  &  W."  Can 
you  guess  what  that  stands  for?  '  Of  course  it  was 
useless  to  guess.  '  Well,'  said  he,  with  a  roguish  twin 
kle  of  the  eye,  '  that  's  Weed  and  Wood  —  Thurlow 
and  Fernandy.'  Then  he  added,  with  an  indescribable 
chuckle,  '  That  's  a  pair  of  'em.'  When  asked  why  he 
did  not  have  a  letter-book  and  copying-press,  he  said, 
6  A  letter-book  might  be  easily  stolen  and  carried  off, 
but  that  stock  of  filed  letters  would  be  a  bach-load.'  ' 
A  lady  who  once  rode  with  Lincoln,  in  the  Presi 
dential  carriage,  to  the  Soldiers'  Home,  gives  some 
interesting  details  concerning  his  knowledge  of  wood 
craft.  "  Around  the  '  Home,'  "  says  this  lady,  "  grows 
every  variety  of  tree,  particularly  of  the  evergreen 
class.  Their  branches  brushed  into  the  carriage  as  we 
passed  along,  and  left  with  us  that  pleasant  woodsy 
smell  belonging  to  fresh  leaves.  One  of  the  ladies, 
catching  a  bit  of  green  from  one  of  these  intruding 
branches,  said  it  was  cedar,  and  another  thought  it 
spruce.  '  Let  me  discourse  on  a  theme  I  understand,' 
said  the  President.  '  I  know  all  about  trees,  by  right  of
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     475 
being  a  backwoodsman.  I  '11  show  you  the  difference 
between  spruce,  pine,  and  cedar,  and  this  shred  of  green, 
which  is  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but  a  kind  of  illegiti 
mate  cypress.'  He  then  proceeded  to  gather  specimens 
of  each,  and  explain  the  distinctive  formation  of  foliage 
belonging  to  every  species.  '  Trees,'  he  said,  '  are  as 
deceptive  in  their  likeness  to  one  another  as  are  cer 
tain  classes  of  men,  amongst  whom  none  but  a  physiog 
nomist's  eye  can  detect  dissimilar  moral  features  until 
events  have  developed  them.  Do  you  know  it  would  be 
a  good  thing  if  in  all  the  schools  proposed  and  carried 
out  by  the  improvement  of  modern  thinkers,  we  could 
have  a  school  of  events?  '  '  A  school  of  events?  '  re 
peated  the  lady  addressed.  *  Yes,'  he  continued,  '  since 
it  is  only  by  that  active  development  that  character 
and  ability  can  be  tested.  Understand  me,  I  now  mean 
men,  not  trees;  they  can  be  tried,  and  an  analysis  of 
their  strength  obtained  less  expensive  to  life  and  hu 
man  interests  than  man's.  What  I  say  now  is  a  mere 
whim,  you  know;  but  when  I  speak  of  a  school  of 
events,  I  mean  one  in  which,  before  entering  real  life, 
students  might  pass  through  the  mimic  vicissitudes  and 
situations  that  are  necessary  to  bring  out  their  powers 
and  mark  the  calibre  to  which  they  are  assigned.  Thus, 
one  could  select  from  the  graduates  an  invincible  sol 
dier,  equal  to  any  position,  with  no  such  word  as  fail ; 
a  martyr  to  right,  ready  to  give  up  life  in  the  cause; 
a  politician  too  cunning  to  be  outwitted;  and  so  on. 
These  things  have  all  to  be  tried,,  and  their  sometime 
failure  creates  confusion  as  well  as  disappointment. 
There  is  no  more  dangerous  or  expensive  analysis  than 
that  which  consists  of  trying  a  man.'  ' 
Among  Lincoln's  callers  one  Sunday  evening,  was 
the  distinguished  scientist  Louis  Agassiz.  The  two 
men  were  somewhat  alike  in  their  simple,  shy,  and 
unpretending  nature,  and  at  first  felt  their  way  with
476     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
each  other  like  two  bashful  schoolboys.  Lincoln  be 
gan  conversation  by  saying  to  Agassiz,  "  I  never  knew 
how  to  pronounce  your  name  properly ;  won't  you  give 
me  a  little  lesson  at  that,  please?  "  Then  he  asked 
if  the  name  were  of  French  or  Swiss  derivation,  to 
which  the  Professor  replied  that  it  was  partly  of  each. 
That  led  to  a  discussion  of  different  languages,  the 
President  speaking  several  words  in  different  languages 
which  had  the  same  root  as  similar  words  in  our  own 
tongue;  then  he  illustrated  that  by  one  or  two  anec 
dotes.  But  he  soon  returned  to  his  gentle  cross-exami 
nation  of  Agassiz,  and  found  out  how  the  Professor 
studied,  how  he  composed,  and  how  he  delivered  his  lec 
tures  ;  how  he  found  different  tastes  in  his  audiences  in 
different  portions  of  the  country.  When  afterwards 
asked  why  he  put  such  questions  to  his  learned  visitor, 
he  said,  "  Why,  what  we  got  from  him  is  n't  printed 
in  the  books;  the  other  things  are."  But  Lincoln  did 
not  do  all  the  questioning.  In  his  turn,  Agassiz  asked 
Lincoln  if  he  had  ever  engaged  in  lecturing.  Lincoln 
gave  the  outline  of  a  lecture,  which  he  had  partly  writ 
ten  years  before,  to  show  the  origin  of  inventions  and 
prove  that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.  "  I 
think  I  can  show,"  said  he,  "  at  least,  in  a  fanciful  way, 
that  all  the  modern  inventions  were  known  centuries 
ago."  Agassiz  begged  that  Lincoln  would  finish  the 
lecture  sometime.  Lincoln  replied  that  he  had  the 
manuscript  somewhere  in  his  papers,  "  and,"  said  he, 
"  when  I  get  out  of  this  place,  I  '11  finish  it  up,  perhaps." 
So  great  was  Lincoln's  magnanimity,  and  so  keen  his 
sense  of  justice,  that  he  never  allowed  personal  con- 
sideratidns  to  influence  his  official  acts.  It  is  probably 
true  that  it  was  easy  for  him  to  forgive  an  injury; 
but  he  was  incapable  of  using  his  position  as  President 
to  gratify  his  private  resentments.  It  was  once  repre 
sented  to  him  that  a  recent  appointee  to  an  important
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     477 
office  had  been  bitterly  opposed  to  him  politically.  "  I 
suppose,"  said  he,  "  the  Judge  did  behave  pretty  ugly ; 
but  that  would  n't  make  him  any  less  fit  for  this  place, 
and  I  have  a  Scriptural  authority  for  appointing 
him.  You  recollect  that  while  the  Lord  on  Mount 
Sinai  was  getting  out  a  commission  for  Aaron,  that 
same  Aaron  was  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  making 
a  false  god,  a  golden  calf,  for  the  people  to  worship; 
yet  Aaron  got  his  commission,  you  know."  At  another 
time,  when  remonstrated  with  upon  the  appointment 
to  place  of  one  of  his  former  opponents,  he  said :  "  No 
body  will  deny  that  he  is  a  first-rate  man  for  the  place, 
and  I  am  bound  to  see  that  his  opposition  to  me  per 
sonally  shall  not  interfere  with  my  giving  the  people 
a  good  officer."  And  on  another  similar  occasion,  when 
remonstrated  with  by  members  of  his  Cabinet,  he  said: 
"  Oh,  I  can't  afford  to  punish  every  person  who  has 
seen  fit  to  oppose  my  election.  We  want  a  competent 
man  in  this  office,  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  could  per 
form  the  duties  better  than  the  one  proposed." 
With  all  his  self-abnegation,  Lincoln  could  be  stern 
when  the  occasion  warranted  it.  As  an  illustration  the 
following  incident  is  related:  An  officer  who  had  been 
cashiered  from  the  service,  forced  himself  several  times 
into  Lincoln's  presence,  to  plead  for  a  reversal  of  his 
sentence.  Each  time  he  read  a  long  argument  attempt 
ing  to  prove  that  he  had  received  unjust  treatment. 
The  President  listened  to  him  patiently ;  but  the  facts, 
on  their  most  favorable  showing,  did  not  seem  to  him 
to  sanction  his  interference.  In  the  last  interview,  the 
man  became  angry,  and  turning  abruptly  said :  "  Well, 
Mr.  President,  I  see  you  are  determined  not  to  do  me 
justice!"  This  was  too  much,  even  for  the  long- 
suffering  Lincoln.  Manifesting,  however,  no  more  feel 
ing  than  that  indicated  by  a  slight  compression  of  the 
lips,  he  quietly  arose,  laid  down  a  package  of  papers
478     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
he  held  in  his  hands,  and  then,  suddenly  seizing  the  dis 
graced  officer  by  the  coat  collar,  he  marched  him  forci 
bly  to  the  door,  saying,  as  he  ejected  him  into  the 
passage,  "  Sir,  I  give  you  fair  warning  never  to  show 
yourself  in  this  room  again.  I  can  bear  censure,  but 
not  insult !  "  In  a  whining  tone  the  man  begged  for 
his  papers,  which  he  had  dropped.  "  Begone,  sir,"  said 
the  President,  "  your  papers  will  be  sent  to  you.  I 
wish  never  to  see  your  face  again !  " 
Much  has  been  said  about  Lincoln's  views  on  re 
ligion.  Like  many  other  great  men,  he  was  not  what 
might  technically  be  called  a  Christian.  He  was  a  re 
ligious  man  in  spirit  and  by  nature;  yet  he  never 
joined  a  church.  Mrs.  Lincoln  says  that  he  had  no 
religious  faith,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  word, 
but  that  religion  was  a  sort  of  poetry  in  his  nature. 
"  Twice  during  his  life,"  she  said,  "  he  seemed  especially 
to  think  about  it.  Once  was  when  our  boy  Willie  died. 
Once  —  and  this  time  he  thought  of  it  more  deeply  — 
was  when  he  went  to  Gettysburg."  But  whatever  his 
inner  thoughts  may  have  been,  no  man  on  earth  had  a 
firmer  faith  in  Providence  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  Per 
haps  he  did  not  himself  know  just  where  he  stood.  He 
believed  in  God  —  in  immortality.  He  did  not  believe 
in  eternal  punishment,  but  was  confident  of  rest  and 
peace  after  this  life  was  over.  He  may  not  have  felt 
certain  of  the  divine  origin  of  all  parts  of  the  Bible, 
but  he  valued  its  precepts,  and  his  whole  life  gave  evi 
dence  of  faith  in  a  higher  power  than  that  of  man. 
Mr.  Nicolay,  his  secretary,  testifies  that  "  his  nature 
was  deeply  religious,  but  he  belonged  to  no  denomina 
tion;  he  had  faith  in  the  eternal  justice  and  boundless 
mercy  of  Providence,  and  made  the  Golden  Rule  of 
Christ  his  practical  creed."  And  Dr.  Phillips  Brooks, 
in  an  eloquent  and  expressive  passage,  calls  him  "  Shep 
herd  of  the  people  —  that  old  name  that  the  best  rulers
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     479 
ever  craved.  What  ruler  ever  won  it  like  this  President 
of  ours?  He  fed  us  faithfully  and  truly.  He  fed  us 
with  counsel  when  we  were  in  doubt,  with  inspiration 
when  we  sometimes  faltered,  with  caution  when  we  would 
be  rash,  with  calm,  clear,  trustful  cheerfulness  through 
many  an  hour  when  our  hearts  were  dark.  He  fed  hun 
gry  souls  all  over  the  country  with  sympathy  and  con 
solation.  He  spread  before  the  whole  land  feasts  of 
great  duty  and  devotion  and  patriotism  on  which  the 
land  grew  strong.  He  fed  us  with  solemn,  solid  truths. 
He  taught  us  the  sacredness  of  government,  the  wicked 
ness  of  treason.  He  made  our  souls  glad  and  vigorous 
with  the  love  of  Liberty  that  was  in  his.  He  showed 
us  how  to  love  truth,  and  yet  be  charitable ;  how  to 
hate  wrong  and  all  oppression,  and  yet  not  treasure 
one  personal  injury  or  insult.  He  fed  all  his  people, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  from  the  most  privileged 
down  to  the  most  enslaved.  '  He  fed  them  with  a  faith 
ful  and  true  heart.' "
CHAPTER  xxrv; 
Trials  of  the  Administration  in  1863  —  Hostility  to  War  Measures  — 
Lack  of  Confidence  at  the  North  —  Opposition  in  Congress  —  How 
Lincoln  felt  about  the  "Fire  in  the  Rear"  —  Criticisms  from  Vari 
ous  Quarters  —  Visit  of  "the  Boston  Set"  —  The  Government  on 
a  Tight-rope  —  The  Enlistment  of  Colored  Troops  —  Interview 
between  Lincoln  and  Frederick  Douglass  —  Reverses  in  the  Field 
—  Changes  of  Military  Leaders  —  From  Burnside  to  Hooker  — • 
Lincoln's  First  Meeting  with  "Fighting  Joe" — The  President's 
Solicitude  —  His  Warning  Letter  to  Hooker  —  His  Visit  to  the 
Rappahannock  —  Hooker's  Self-confidence  the  "Worst  Thing 
about  Him"  — The  Defeat  at  Chancellorsville  —  The  Failure  of 
our  Generals  —  "Wanted,  a  Man." 
IT  
is  impossible,  without  a  close  study  of  the  inner 
history  of  the  war  and  of  the  acts  of  the  adminis 
tration,  to  conceive  of  the  harassing  and  baffling  diffi 
culties  which  beset  President  Lincoln's  course  in  every 
direction,  and  of  the  jealous,  narrow,  and  bitter  oppo 
sition  which  his  more  important  measures  provoked. 
As  the  struggle  advanced  he  found  in  his  front  a  solid 
and  defiant  South,  behind  him  a  divided  and  distrustful 
North.  What  might  be  called  the  party  of  action  and 
of  extreme  measures  developed  a  sharp  hostility  to  the 
President.  He  would  not  go  fast  enough  to  suit  them ; 
they  thought  him  disposed  to  compromise.  They  began 
by  criticizing  his  policy,  and  his  methods  of  prosecuting 
the  war;  from  this  they  passed  rapidly  to  a  criticism 
of  the  President  himself.  In  the  affectionate  admira 
tion  felt  for  him  now,  people  have  forgotten  how  weak 
and  poor  and  craven  they  found  him  then.  So  far 
had  this  disapproval  and  hostility  gone,  that  early  in 
1863  we  find  Mr.  Greeley  searching  everywhere  for  a 
fitting  successor  to  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency  at  the
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     481 
next  term.  There  were  but  few  men  in  high  official 
station  in  Washington  who  at  that  time  unqualifiedly 
sustained  him.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  there 
were  but  two  members  who  could  make  themselves 
heard,  who  stood  actively  by  him.  This  matter,  long 
since  forgotten,  must  be  recalled  to  show  clearly  the 
President's  straits,  and  his  action  and  bearing  amidst 
his  difficulties.  It  should  be  remembered  that  party 
lines,  which  disappeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
were  again  clearly  drawn;  and  the  Democratic  wing 
of  Congress,  under  the  leadership  of  Vallandigham  of 
Ohio,  actively  opposed  many  of  the  necessary  measures 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  cry  had  already 
been  raised  in  Congress,  "  The  South  cannot  be  subju 
gated  " ;  and  every  fresh  disaster  to  the  national  arms 
was  hailed  as  proof  of  the  assertion. 
The  effect  of  this  abuse  and  opposition  was  exceed 
ingly  painful  to  Lincoln.  He  said :  "  I  have  been 
caused  more  anxiety,  I  have  passed  more  sleepless 
nights,  on  account  of  the  temper  and  attitude  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  the  North  regarding  the  suppres 
sion  of  the  rebellion  than  by  the  rebels  in  the  South.  I 
have  always  had  faith  that  our  armies  would  ultimately 
and  completely  triumph;  but  these  enemies  in  the 
North  cause  me  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  and  appre 
hension.  Can  it  be  that  there  are  opposing  opinions 
in  the  North  as  to  the  necessity  of  putting  down  this 
rebellion?  How  can  men  hesitate  a  moment  as  to  the 
duty  of  the  Government  to  restore  its  authority  in 
every  part  of  the  country?  It  is  incomprehensible  to 
me  that  men  living  in  their  quiet  homes  under  the  pro 
tection  of  laws,  in  possession  of  their  property,  can 
sympathize  with  and  give  aid  and  comfort  to  those 
who  are  doing  their  utmost  to  overthrow  that  Govern 
ment  which  makes  life  and  everything  they  possess 
valuable."
482     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
In  January,  1863,  a  party  of  distinguished  gentle 
men  from  Boston  visited  the  national  capital,  in  order 
to  confer  with  the  President  on  the  workings  of  the 
emancipation  policy.  They  made  the  visit  chiefly  at 
the  suggestion  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  who  during 
all  the  trying  years  of  the  war  never  lost  faith  in  Lin 
coln's  honesty  and  sense  of  justice.  Secretary  Stanton 
made  no  secret  of  his  opposition  to  these  gentlemen,  who 
were  spoken  of  rather  slightingly  as  "  that  Boston  set." 
The  "  Boston  set  "  were  uncompromising  abolitionists, 
and  nothing  would  satisfy  them  but  immediate  and 
aggressive  measures  for  enforcing  the  policy  of  emanci 
pation.  As  it  was  the  President's  instinct  to  feel  his 
way  slowly  in  pushing  on  the  great  measures  necessary 
to  the  safe  guidance  of  the  nation  in  its  perilous  crisis, 
they  were  naturally  dissatisfied  with  his  conservative 
methods  and  tendencies.  The  visitors  —  including 
Senator  Wilson,  Wendell  Phillips,  Francis  W.  Bird, 
Elizur  Wright,  J.  H.  Stephenson,  George  L.  Stearns, 
Oakes  Ames,  and  Moncure  D.  Conway  —  called  on  the 
President  one  Sunday  evening,  at  the  White  House. 
"  The  President  met  us,"  says  Mr.  Conway,  "  laugh 
ing  like  a  boy,  saying  that  in  the  morning  one  of  his 
children  had  come  to  inform  him  that  the  cat  had 
kittens,  and  now  another  had  just  announced  that  the 
dog  had  puppies,  and  the  White  House  was  in  a  de 
cidedly  sensational  state.  Some  of  our  party  looked 
a  little  glum  at  this  hilarity;  but  it  was  pathetic  to 
see  the  change  in  the  President's  face  when  he  presently 
resumed  his  burden  of  care.  We  were  introduced  by 
Senator  Wilson,  who  began  to  speak  of  us  severally, 
when  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  knew  perfectly  who  we  were, 
and  requested  us  to  be  seated.  Nothing  could  be  more 
gracious  than  his  manner,  or  more  simple.  The  con 
versation  was  introduced  by  Wendell  Phillips,  who, 
with  all  his  courtesy,  expressed  our  gratitude  and  joy
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     483 
at  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  and  asked  how 
it  seemed  to  be  working.  The  President  said  that  he 
had  not  expected  much  from  it  at  first,  and  conse 
quently  had  not  been  disappointed ;  he  had  hoped,  and 
still  hoped,  that  something  would  come  of  it  after 
awhile.  Phillips  then  alluded  to  the  deadly  hostility 
which  the  proclamation  had  naturally  excited  in  pro- 
slavery  quarters,  and  gently  hinted  that  the  Northern 
people,  now  generally  anti-slavery,  were  not  satisfied 
that  it  was  being  honestly  carried  out  by  all  of  the 
nation's  agents  and  Generals  in  the  South.  '  My  own 
impression,  Mr.  Phillips,'  said  the  President,  '  is  that 
the  masses  of  the  country  generally  are  dissatisfied 
chiefly  at  our  lack  of  military  successes.  Defeat  and 
failure  in  the  field  make  everything  seem  wrong.'  His 
face  was  now  clouded,  and  his  next  words  were  some 
what  bitter.  '  Most  of  us  here  present,'  he  said,  '  have 
been  nearly  all  our  lives  working  in  minorities,  and 
many  have  got  into  a  habit  of  being  dissatisfied.'  Sev 
eral  of  those  present  having  deprecated  this,  the  Presi 
dent  said,  '  At  any  rate,  it  has  been  very  rare  that  an 
opportunity  of  "  running "  this  administration  has 
been  lost.'  To  this  Mr.  Phillips  answered,  in  his 
sweetest  voice :  *  If  we  see  this  administration  earnestly 
working  to  free  the  country  from  slavery  and  its  re 
bellion,  we  will  show  you  how  we  can  "  run  "  it  into 
another  four  years  of  power.'  The  President's  good 
humor  was  restored  by  this,  and  he  said:  'Oh,  Mr. 
Phillips,  I  have  ceased  to  have  any  personal  feeling  or 
expectation  in  that  matter  —  I  do  not  say  I  never  had 
any  —  so  abused  and  borne  upon  as  I  have  been.'  .  .  . 
On  taking  our  leave  we  expressed  to  the  President  our 
thanks  for  his  kindly  reception,  and  for  his  attention 
to  statements  of  which  some  were  naturally  not  wel 
come.  The  President  bowed  graciously  at  this,  and, 
after  saying  he  was  happy  to  have  met  gentlemen
484     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
known  to  him  by  distinguished  services,  if  not  person 
ally,  and  glad  to  listen  to  their  views,  added,  '  I  must 
bear  this  load  which  the  country  has  intrusted  to  me 
as  well  as  I  can,  and  do  the  best  I  can  with  it.'  " 
To  another  self-constituted  delegation  —  this  time 
from  the  West  —  who  called  at  the  White  House  one 
day,  excited  and  troubled  about  some  of  the  commis 
sions  or  omissions  of  the  administration,  the  President, 
after  hearing  them  patiently,  replied :  "  Gentlemen,  sup 
pose  all  the  property  you  were  worth  was  in  gold,  and 
you  had  put  it  in  the  hands  of  Blondin  to  carry  across 
the  Niagara  river  on  a  rope;  would  you  shake  the 
cable,  or  keep  shouting  out  to  him,  '  Blondin,  stand 
up  a  little  straighter !  —  Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more  — 
go  a  little  faster  —  lean  a  little  more  to  the  north  — 
lean  a  little  more  to  the  south  '?  No!  you  would  hold 
your  breath  as  well  as  your  tongue,  and  keep  your 
hands  off  until  he  was  safe  over.  The  Government  is 
carrying  an  immense  weight.  Untold  treasures  are  in 
their  hands.  They  are  doing  the  very  best  they  can. 
Don't  badger  them.  Keep  silence,  and  we  '11  get  you 
safe  across." 
In  1863  the  Government,  following  logically  the 
policy  of  the  Emancipation  act,  began  the  experiment 
of  introducing  colored  soldiers  into  our  armies.  This 
caused  not  only  intense  anger  at  the  South,  but  much 
doubt  and  dissatisfaction  at  the  North.  To  discuss 
some  of  the  practical  and  difficult  questions  growing 
out  of  this  measure,  Frederick  Douglass,  the  most  dis 
tinguished  representative  of  the  race  which  America 
had  so  long  held  in  chains,  was  presented  to  the  Presi 
dent.  The  account  of  the  conference,  given  by  Doug 
lass,  is  singularly  interesting.  He  says :  "  I  was  never 
more  quickly  or  more  completely  put  at  ease  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  man  than  in  that  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  He  was  seated,  when  I  entered,  in  a  low
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     485 
arm-chair,  with  his  feet  extended  on  the  floor,  sur 
rounded  by  a  large  number  of  documents  and  several 
busy  secretaries.  The  room  bore  the  marks  of  business, 
and  the  persons  in  it,  the  President  included,  appeared 
to  be  much  overworked  and  tired.  Long  lines  of  care 
were  already  deeply  written  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  brow, 
and  his  strong  face,  full  of  earnestness,  lighted  up  as 
soon  as  my  name  was  mentioned.  As  I  approached 
and  was  introduced  to  him,  he  arose  and  extended  his 
hand,  and  bade  me  welcome.  I  at  once  felt  myself  in 
the  presence  of  an  honest  man  —  one  whom  I  could 
love,  honor,  and  trust,  without  reserve  or  doubt.  Pro 
ceeding  to  tell  him  who  I  was  and  what  I  was  doing, 
he  promptly  but  kindly  stopped  me,  saying:  'I  know 
who  you  are,  Mr.  Douglass;  Mr.  Seward  has  told  me 
all  about  you.  Sit  down;  I  am  glad  to  see  you.'  I 
urged,  among  other  things,  the  necessity  of  granting 
the  colored  soldiers  equal  pay  and  promotion  with 
white  soldiers,  and  retaliation  for  colored  prisoners 
killed  by  the  enemy.  Mr.  Lincoln  admitted  the  justice 
of  my  demand  for  equal  pay  and  promotion  of  colored 
soldiers,  but  on  the  matter  of  retaliation  he  differed 
from  me  entirely.  I  shall  never  forget  the  benignant 
expression  of  his  face,  the  tearful  look  of  his  eye,  and 
the  quiver  in  his  voice,  when  he  deprecated  a  resort  to 
retaliatory  measures.  '  Once  begun,'  said  he,  '  I  do  not 
know  where  such  a  measure  would  stop.'  He  said  he 
could  not  take  men  out  and  kill  them  in  cold  blood 
for  what  was  done  by  others.  If  he  could  get  hold  of 
the  persons  who  were  guilty  of  killing  the  colored  pris 
oners  in  cold  blood,  the  case  would  be  different;  but 
he  could  not  kill  the  innocent  for  the  guilty.  After 
wards  we  discussed  the  means  most  desirable  to  be  em 
ployed  outside  the  army  to  induce  the  slaves  in  the 
rebel  States  to  come  within  the  Federal  lines.  The  in 
creasing  opposition  to  the  war  in  the  North,  and  the
486     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
mad  cry  against  it  because  it  was  being  made  an  aboli 
tion  war,  alarmed  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  made  him  appre 
hensive  that  a  peace  might  be  forced  upon  him  which 
would  leave  still  in  slavery  all  who  had  not  come  within 
our  lines.  What  he  wanted  was  to  make  his  proclama 
tion  as  effective  as  possible  in  the  event  of  such  a 
peace.  He  said,  in  a  regretful  tone,  '  The  slaves  are 
not  coming  into  our  lines  as  rapidly  and  numerously 
as  I  had  hoped.'  I  replied  that  the  slaveholders  knew 
how  to  keep  such  things  from  their  slaves,  and  probably 
very  few  knew  of  his  proclamation.  '  Well,'  he  said, 
'  I  want  you  to  set  about  devising  some  means  of 
making  them  acquainted  with  it,  and  for  bringing  them 
into  our  lines.'  What  he  said  showed  a  deeper  moral 
conviction  against  slavery  than  I  had  ever  seen  before 
in  anything  spoken  or  written  by  him.  I  listened  with 
the  deepest  interest  and  profoundest  satisfaction,  and, 
at  his  suggestion,  agreed  to  undertake  the  organizing 
of  a  band  of  scouts,  composed  of  colored  men,  whose 
business  should  be,  somewhat  after  the  original  plan  of 
John  Brown,  to  go  into  the  rebel  States  beyond  the 
lines  of  our  armies,  carry  the  news  of  emancipation, 
and  urge  the  slaves  to  come  within  our  boundaries." 
Frederick  Douglass  once  remarked  that  Lincoln  was 
one  of  the  few  white  men  he  ever  passed  an  hour  with 
who  failed  to  remind  him  in  some  way,  before  the  inter 
view  terminated,  that  he  was  a  negro.  "  He  always 
impressed  me  as  a  strong,  earnest  man,  having  no  time 
or  disposition  to  trifle;  grappling  with  all  his  might 
the  work  he  had  in  hand.  The  expression  of  his  face 
was  a  blending  of  suffering  with  patience  and  fortitude. 
Men  called  him  homely,  and  homely  he  was ;  but  it  was 
manifestly  a  human  homeliness.  His  eyes  had  in  them 
the  tenderness  of  motherhood,  and  his  mouth  and  other 
features  the  highest  perfection  of  a  genuine  manhood." 
As  though  the  political  difficulties  that  beset  Presi-
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     487 
dent  Lincoln  in  the  first  half  of  1863  were  not  dis 
couragement  enough,  they  were  attended  by  dishearten 
ing  reverses  to  our  arms.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
on  the  removal  of  General  McClellan  from  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  November,  1862,  Gen 
eral  Burnside  succeeded  him.  The  change  proved  an 
unfortunate  one.  General  Burnside  was  an  earnest  and 
gallant  soldier,  but  was  not  equal  to  the  vast  responsi 
bilities  of  his  new  position.  It  is  said,  to  his  credit, 
that  he  was  three  times  offered  the  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  three  times  he  declined. 
Finally  it  was  pressed  upon  him  by  positive  orders,  and 
he  could  no  longer,  without  insubordination,  refuse  it. 
In  addressing  General  Halleck,  after  his  appointment, 
he  said :  "  Had  I  been  asked  to  take  it,  I  should  have 
declined ;  but  being  ordered,  I  cheerfully  obey."  After 
his  fearful  defeat  at  Fredericksburg  (December  13, 
1862),  he  said:  "  The  fault  was  mine.  The  entire  re 
sponsibility  of  failure  must  rest  on  my  shoulders." 
By  his  manly  and  courageous  bearing,  and  the  strong 
sincerity  of  his  character,  he  retained  the  respect  and 
sympathy  of  the  President  and  of  the  country.  He 
immediately  retired  from  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  which,  under  his  brief  leadership,  had  fought 
the  most  bloody  and  disastrous  battle  in  its  history. 
General  Joseph  Hooker,  the  fourth  commander  of 
the  heroic  but  unfortunate  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was 
appointed  to  that  position  by  President  Lincoln  in 
January,  1863.  The  two  men  had  met  briefly  early  in 
the  war,  when  Hooker,  then  living  in  California,  has 
tened  to  Washington  to  offer  his  services  to  the  Gov 
ernment  ;  but  for  some  reason  General  Scott  disliked 
him,  and  his  offer  was  not  accepted.  After  some 
months,  Hooker,  giving  up  the  idea  of  getting  a  com 
mand,  decided  to  return  to  California;  but  before 
leaving  he  called  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  President.
488     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
He  was  introduced  as  "  Captain  Hooker."  The  Presi 
dent,  being  pressed  for  time,  was  about  to  dismiss  him 
with  a  few  civil  phrases ;  when,  to  his  surprise,  Hooker 
began  the  following  speech :  "  Mr.  President,  my  friend 
makes  a  mistake.  I  am  not  '  Captain  Hooker,'  but 
was  once  '  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hooker  '  of  the  regular 
army.  I  was  lately  a  farmer  in  California.  Since  the 
rebellion  broke  out  I  have  been  trying  to  get  into  the 
service;  but  I  find  I  am  not  wanted.  I  am  about  to 
return  home;  but  before  going,  I  was  anxious  to  pay 
my  respects  to  you,  and  to  express  my  wishes  for  your 
personal  welfare  and  success  in  quelling  this  rebellion. 
And  I  want  to  say  one  word  more.  I  was  at  Bull  Run 
the  other  day,  Mr.  President,  and  it  is  no  vanity  in  me 
to  say  I  am  a  d  d  sight  better  general  than  you  had 
on  that  field."  This  was  said,  not  in  the  tone  of  a  brag 
gart,  but  of  a  man  who  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about;  and,  as  the  President  afterward  said,  he  ap 
peared  at  that  moment  as  if  perfectly  able  to  make  good 
his  words.  Lincoln  seized  his  hand,  making  him  sit 
down,  and  began  an  extended  chat.  The  result  was 
that  Hooker  did  not  return  to  California,  but  in  a  few 
weeks  Captain  Hooker  was  Brigadier-General  Hooker. 
He  served  with  distinction  under  McClellan  in  the 
Peninsular  campaign  and  at  Antietam,  and  commanded 
the  right  wing  of  the  army  at  Fredericksburg.  He  had 
come  to  be  known  as  "  Fighting  Joe  Hooker,"  and  was 
generally  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and 
efficient  Generals  of  the  Union  army. 
Such  was  the  man  who,  in  one  of  the  darkest  hours 
of  the  Union  cause,  was  selected  to  lead  once  more  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  against  the  enemy.  This  army, 
since  its  defeat  at  Fredericksburg,  had  remained  dis 
organized  and  ineffective.  Its  new  commander,  unlike 
his  predecessor  Burnside,  was  full  of  confidence.  The 
President,  made  cautious  by  experience,  deemed  it  his
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     489 
duty  to  accompany  the  appointment  by  some  timely 
words  of  warning;  and  accordingly  he  addressed  to 
General  Hooker  the  following  frank,  manly,  and 
judicious  letter. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
January  26,  1863. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  HOOKER. 
GENERAL  :  —  I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course,  I  have  done  this 
upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be  sufficient  reasons ;  and 
yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know  that  there  are 
some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  satisfied 
with  you.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skilful 
soldier,  which  of  course  I  like.  I  also  believe  that 
you  do  not  mix  politics  with  your  profession,  in 
which  you  are  right.  You  have  confidence  in  yourself, 
which  is  a  valuable  if  not  indispensable  quality.  You 
are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds,  does 
good  rather  than  harm ;  but  I  think  that  during 
General  Burnside's  command  of  the  army  you  have 
taken  counsel  with  your  ambition,  and  thwarted  him 
as  much  as  you  could,  in  which  you  did  a  great 
wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  mostt  meritorious  and 
honorable  brother  officer.  I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently  saying  that  both  the 
army  and  the  Government  needed  a  dictator.  Of 
course,  it  was  not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I 
have  given  you  the  command.  Only  those  generals  who 
gain  success  can  be  dictators.  What  I  now  ask  from 
you  is  military  success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship. 
The  Government  will  support  you  to  the  utmost  of  its 
ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done 
and  will  do  for  all  commanders.  I  much  fear  that  the 
spirit  which  you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army, 
of  criticizing  their  commander  and  withholding  confi 
dence  from  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you.  I  shall  assist 
you,  as  far  as  I  can,  to  pull  it  down.  Neither  you  nor 
Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good
490     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it.  And 
now,  beware  of  rashness.  Beware  of  rashness;  but  with 
energy  and  sleepless  vigilance,  go  forward  and  give  us 
victories.  Yours  very  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 
In  all  Lincoln's  writings  there  are  few  things  finer 
than  this  letter.  In  its  candor  and  friendliness,  its 
simplicity  and  deep  wisdom,  and  its  clearness  of  ex 
pression,  it  is  almost  perfect ;  and  the  President's  deep 
solicitude  for  the  safety  of  the  army  and  anxiety  for 
its  success  give  a  pathetic  touch  to  the  closing  sen 
tences.  This  solicitude  found  partial  relief  in  a  per 
sonal  inspection  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  was 
made  in  April,  just  before  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville, 
and  occupied  five  or  six  days.  The  President  was  ac 
companied  by  Attorney-General  Bates,  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
his  son  Tad,  and  Mr.  Noah  P.  Brooks.  The  first  night 
out  was  spent  on  the  little  steamer  which  conveyed  the 
party  to  their  destination.  After  all  had  retired  to 
rest  except  the  anxious  President  and  one  or  two  others, 
Lincoln  gave  utterance  to  his  deep-seated  apprehen 
sions  in  the  whispered  query  to  his  friend,  "  How 
many  of  our  monitors  will  you  wager  are  at  the  bottom 
of  Charleston  Harbor?"  "I  essayed,"  writes  Mr. 
Brooks,  "  to  give  a  cheerful  view  of  the  Charleston 
situation.  But  he  would  not  be  encouraged.  He  then 
went  on  to  say  that  he  did  not  believe  that  an  attack 
by  water  on  Charleston  could  ever  possibly  succeed. 
He  talked  a  long  time  about  his  *  notions,'  as  he  called 
them ;  and  at  General  Halleck's  headquarters  next  day, 
the  first  inquiries  were  for  *  rebel  papers,'  which  were 
usually  brought  in  from  the  picket  lines.  These  he 
examined  with  great  anxiety,  hoping  that  he  might  find 
an  item  of  news  from  Charleston.  One  day,  having 
looked  all  over  a  Richmond  paper  several  times  with 
out  finding  a  paragraph  which  he  had  been  told  was  in
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     491 
it,  he  was  mightily  pleased  to  have  it  pointed  out  to 
him,  and  said,  '  It  is  plain  that  newspapers  are  made 
for  newspaper  men;  being  only  a  layman,  it  was  im 
possible  for  me  to  find  that.'  ' 
The  out-door  life,  the  constant  riding,  and  the  res 
pite  from  the  monstrous  burdens  at  the  capital,  ap 
peared  to  afford  mental  and  physical  benefit  to  the 
worn  President.  But  in  answer  to  a  remark  expressing 
this  conviction,  he  replied  sadly,  "  I  don't  know  about 
4  the  rest '  as  you  call  it.  I  suppose  it  is  good  for  the 
body.  But  the  tired  part  of  me  is  inside  and  out  of 
reach."  "  He  rode  a  great  deal,"  says  Mr.  Brooks, 
"  while  with  the  army,  always  preferring  the  saddle  to 
the  elegant  ambulance  which  had  been  provided  for 
him.  He  sat  his  horse  well,  but  he  rode  hard,  and 
during  his  stay  I  think  he  regularly  used  up  at  least  one 
horse  each  day.  Little  Tad  invariably  followed  in  his 
father's  train ;  and,  mounted  on  a  smaller  horse,  accom 
panied  by  an  orderly,  the  youngster  was  a  conspicuous 
figure,  as  his  gray  cloak  flew  in  the  wind  while  we  hung 
on  the  flanks  of  Hooker  and  his  generals." 
General  Hooker  was  now  planning  his  great  move 
ment  against  Richmond,  and  talked  freely  of  the  matter 
with  the  President.  In  the  course  of  a  conversation, 
Lincoln  casually  remarked,  "  If  you  get  to  Richmond, 
General."  But  Hooker  interrupted  him  with  —  "  Ex 
cuse  me,  Mr.  President,  but  there  is  no  '  if '  in  the  case. 
I  am  going  straight  to  Richmond,  if  I  live!  "  Later  in 
the  day,  Lincoln,  privately  referring  to  this  self-confi 
dence  of  the  General,  said  to  Mr.  Brooks,  rather  mourn 
fully,  "  It  is  about  the  worst  thing  I  have  seen  since  I 
have  been  down  here."  In  further  illustration  of 
Hooker's  confidence  in  himself,  Mr.  Brooks  says :  "  One 
night,  Hooker  and  I  being  alone  in  his  hut,  the  General 
standing  with  his  back  to  the  fireplace,  alert,  handsome, 
full  of  courage  and  confidence,  said  laughingly,  '  The
492     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
President  says  you  know  about  that  letter  he  wrote  me 
on  taking  command.'  I  acknowledged  that  the  Presi 
dent  had  read  it  to  me.  The  General  seemed  to  think 
that  the  advice  was  well-meant,  but  unnecessary.  Then 
he  added,  with  that  charming  assurance  which  became 
him  so  well,  *  After  I  have  been  to  Richmond,  I  am 
going  to  have  that  letter  printed.'  "  But  all  that  came 
of  Hooker's  confidence,  after  three  months  of  elaborate 
preparation,  was  a  grand  forward  movement  into  Vir 
ginia  and  another  bloody  and  humiliating  defeat  for 
the  heroic  but  unfortunate  army  under  his  command. 
The  first  of  May,  1863,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
under  Hooker  met  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
under  Lee  and  Jackson,  near  Chancellorsville,  Virginia. 
It  was  here  that  Jackson  executed  his  brilliant  and  suc 
cessful  flank  movement  around  the  Union  right,  en 
suring  a  victory  for  his  side  but  losing  his  own  life. 
After  a  contest  of  several  days,  involving  the  fruitless 
sacrifice  of  thousands  of  gallant  soldiers,  Hooker's 
army  fell  back  and  recrossed  the  Rappahannock.1 
The  news  of  this  fresh  disaster  was  an  almost  stun 
ning  shock  to  President  Lincoln.  During  the  progress 
of  the  battle  he  was  under  a  cruel  strain  of  anxiety 
1  The  cause  of  General  Hooker's  seeming  stupefaction  at  the  criti 
cal  point  of  the  Chancellorsville  battle  has  been  much  discussed  but 
never  satisfactorily  explained.  It  has  been  thought  that  he  was  dis 
abled  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  feel 
ing  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  Al 
mighty  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."
EVERY-DAY   LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     493 
and  suspense.  Secretary  Welles,  who  was  with  him  a 
part  of  the  time,  says:  "He  had  a  feverish  eagerness 
for  facts;  was  constantly  up  and  down,  for  nothing 
reliable  came  from  the  front."  Mr.  Noah  Brooks  re 
lates  that  in  company  with  an  old  friend  of  Lincoln's 
he  was  waiting  in  one  of  the  family  rooms  of  the  White 
House.  "  A  door  opened  and  Lincoln  appeared,  hold 
ing  an  open  telegram  in  his  hand.  The  sight  of  his 
face  and  figure  was  frightful.  He  seemed  stricken 
with  death.  Almost  tottering  to  a  chair,  he  sat  down ; 
and  then  I  mechanically  noticed  that  his  face  was  of 
the  same  color  as  the  wall  behind  him  —  not  pale,  not 
even  sallow,  but  gray,  like  ashes.  Extending  the  des 
patch  to  me,  he  said,  with  a  hollow,  far-off  voice, 
'  Read  it  —  news  from  the  army.'  The  telegram  was 
from  General  Butterfield,  I  think,  then  chief  of  staff 
to  Hooker.  It  was  very  brief,  simply  saying  that  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  had  '  safely  recrossed  the  Rappa- 
hannock,'  and  was  now  at  its  old  position  on  the  north 
bank  of  that  stream.  The  President's  friend,  Dr. 
Henry,  an  old  man  and  somewhat  impressionable,  burst 
into  tears,  —  not  so  much,  probably,  at  the  news  as 
on  account  of  its  effect  upon  Lincoln.  The  President 
regarded  the  old  man  for  an  instant  with  dry  eyes, 
and  said,  *  What  will  the  country  say?  Oh,  what  will 
the  country  say?  '  He  seemed  hungry  for  consolation 
and  cheer,  and  sat  a  little  while  talking  about  the  fail 
ure.  Yet  it  did  not  seem  that  he  was  disappointed  so 
much  for  himself,  but  that  he  thought  the  country 
would  be." 
Lincoln's  anxiety  regarding  the  effect  at  the  North 
of  these  repeated  reverses  was  not  without  sufficient 
cause.  Aside  from  those  who  were  positively  opposed 
to  the  war,  the  loyal  people  were  wearying  of  the  use 
less  slaughter,  the  unavailing  struggles,  of  the  gallant 
soldiers.  The  growing  distrust  of  the  capacity  of  their
494     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
military  leaders  was  also  keenly  felt.  The  feeling  of 
that  time  is  so  well  expressed  in  a  stirring  poem  en 
titled  "  Wanted,  a  Man,"  written  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Sted- 
man,  that  it  is  given  place  here.  It  has  an  additional 
personal  interest  connected  with  President  Lincoln  in 
the  fact  that  he  was  so  impressed  with  the  piece  that 
he  read  it  aloud  to  his  assembled  Cabinet. 
Back  from  the  trebly  crimsoned  field 
Terrible  words  are  thunder-tost; 
Full  of  the  wrath  that  will  not  yield, 
Full  of  revenge  for  battles  lost ! 
Hark  to  their  echo,  as  it  crost 
The  Capital,  making  faces  wan : 
End  this  murderous  holocaust; 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN  ! 
Give  us  a  man  of  God's  own  mould, 
Born  to  marshal  his  fellow-men; 
One  whose  fame  is  not  bought  and  sold 
At  the  stroke  of  a  politician's  pen; 
Give  us  the  man  of  thousands  ten, 
Fit  to  do  as  well  as  to  plan ; 
Give  us  a  rallying-cry,  and  then, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN  ! 
No  leader  to  shirk  the  boasting  foe, 
And  to  march  and  countermarch  our  brave 
Till  they  fall  like  ghosts  in  the  marshes  low, 
And  swamp-grass  covers  each  nameless  grave; 
Nor  another,  whose  fatal  banners  wave 
Aye  in  Disaster's  shameful  van; 
Nor  another,  to  bluster,  and  lie,  and  rave,  — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN  ! 
Hearts  are  mourning  in  the  North, 
While  the  sister  rivers  seek  the  main, 
Red  with  our  life-blood  flowing  forth  — 
Who  shall  gather  it  up  again?
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     495 
Though  we  march  to  the  battle-plain 
Firmly  as  when  the  strife  began, 
Shall  all  our  offerings  be  in  vain?  — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN  ! 
Is  there  never  one  in  all  the  land, 
One  on  whose  might  the  Cause  may  lean? 
Are  all  the  common  ones  so  grand, 
And  all  the  titled  ones  so  mean? 
What  if  your  failure  may  have  been 
In  trying  to  make  good  bread  from  bran, 
From  worthless  metal  a  weapon  keen?  — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  find  us  a  MAN  ! 
O,  we  will  follow  him  to  the  death, 
Where  the  f oeman's  fiercest  columns  are ! 
O,  we  will  use  our  latest  breath, 
Cheering  for  every  sacred  star! 
His  to  marshal  us  high  and  far; 
Ours  to  battle,  as  patriots  can 
When  a  Hero  leads  the  Holy  War !  — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN  !
CHAPTER   XXV 
The  Battle-summer  of  1863  —  A  Turn  of  the  Tide  —  Lee's  Invasion  of 
Pennsylvania  —  A  Threatening  Crisis  —  Change  of  Union  Com 
manders  —  Meade  succeeds  Hooker  —  The  Battle  of  Gettysburg  — 
Lincoln's  Anxiety  during  the  Fight  —  The  Retreat  of  Lee  —  Union 
Victories  in  the  Southwest  —  The  Capture  of  Vicksburg  —  Lin 
coln's  Thanks  to  Grant  —  Returning  Cheerfulness  —  Congratula 
tions  to  the  Country  —  Improved  State  of  Feeling  at  the  North  — 
State  Elections  of  1863  — The  Administration  Sustained  —  Ded 
ication  of  the  National  Cemetery  at  Gettysburg  —  Lincoln's  Ad 
dress  —  Scenes  and  Incidents  at  the  Dedication  —  Meeting  with 
Old  John  Burns  —  Edward  Everett's  Impressions  of  Lincoln. 
MIDSUMMER  of  1863  brought  a  turn  in  the 
tide  of  military  affairs.  It  came  none  too  soon 
for  the  safety  of  the  nation.  The  repeated  reverses  to 
the  Union  arms  ending  with  the  shocking  disasters  at 
Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville — although  slightly 
relieved  by  the  costly  success  of  Stone  River  —  had 
seemed  to  throw  the  chances  of  war  in  favor  of  the 
South ;  and  the  Union  cause  was  at  the  crisis  of  its  fate. 
But  now  fortune  smiled  upon  the  North,  and  its  lost 
hope  and  lost  ground  were  regained  at  Gettysburg  and 
Vicksburg.  These  great  battles  are  justly  regarded 
as  marking  the  turning-point  of  the  war.  It  was  yet 
far  from  finished ;  there ,  remained  nearly  two  years  of 
desperate  fighting,  with  heroic  struggles  and  terrible 
sacrifice  of  life,  before  the  end  should  come.  But  from 
this  time  the  character  of  the  struggle  seemed  to 
change.  The  armies  of  the  South  fought,  not  less 
desperately,  but  more  on  the  defensive;  and  their  final 
overthrow  was  in  all  human  probability  chiefly  a  ques 
tion  of  time.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     497 
Emboldened  by  his  success  at  Chancellorsville  in 
May,  General  Lee  again  assumed  the  offensive,  and 
recrossed  the  Potomac  river  into  Maryland.  Late  in 
June  he  invaded  Pennsylvania,  and  occupied  a  position 
threatening  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington. 
The  situation  was  most  critical.  If  Lee  could  once 
more  beat  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  as  he  had  done 
so  many  times,  these  three  great  cities,  and  even  New 
York,  might  be  at  his  mercy.  The  feeling  in  Washing 
ton  is  reflected  in  entries  made  at  the  time  in  Mr. 
Welles's  Diary.  "  Something  of  a  panic  pervades  the 
city,"  says  Mr.  Welles.  "  Singular  rumors  reach  us 
of  Rebel  advances  into  Maryland.  It  is  said  they  have 
reached  Hagerstown,  and  some  of  them  have  penetrated 
as  far  as  Chambersburg  in  Pennsylvania.  .  .  .  The 
city  is  full  of  strange,  wild  rumors  of  Rebel  raids  in 
the  vicinity  and  of  trains  seized  in  sight  of  the  Capital. 
The  War  Department  is  wholly  unprepared  for  an 
irruption  here,  and  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  might  have  dashed 
into  the  city  to-day  [June  28]  with  impunity.  .  .  . 
I  have  a  panic  telegraph  from  Governor  Curtin  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  is  excitable  and  easily  alarmed,  en 
treating  that  guns  and  gunners  may  be  sent  from  the 
Navy  Yard  at  Philadelphia  to  Harrisburg  without 
delay.  ...  I  went  again,  at  a  late  hour,  to  the  War 
Department,  but  could  get  no  facts  or  intelligence 
from  the  Secretary.  All  was  vague,  opaque,  thick 
darkness.  I  really  think  Stanton  is  no  better  posted 
than  myself,  and  from  what  Stanton  says  am  afraid 
Hooker  does  not  comprehend  Lee's  intentions  nor 
know  how  to  counteract  them.  It  looks  to  me  as  if 
Lee  was  putting  forth  his  whole  energy  and  force 
in  one  great  and  desperate  struggle  which  shall  be 
decisive." 
Following  Lee,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under 
General  Hooker,  also  recrossed  the  Potomac,  and  pur-
498     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
sued  the  enemy  by  a  somewhat  parallel  route,  but  keep 
ing  carefully  between  him  and  Washington.  The  oc 
casion  was  one  calling  for  the  best  resources  of  a  great 
military  commander;  and  General  Hooker,  realizing 
his  unfitness  for  the  responsibility,  asked  to  be  relieved 
of  the  command.  Thus  was  thrown  upon  the  President 
the  hazardous  necessity  of  changing  commanders  upon 
the  very  eve  of  a  great  battle.  It  was  a  terrible  emer 
gency.  Even  the  stout-hearted  Stanton  was  appalled. 
He  afterward  stated  that  when  he  received  the  despatch 
from  Hooker,  asking  to  be  relieved,  his  heart  sank 
within  him,  and  he  was  more  depressed  than  at  any 
other  moment  of  the  war.  "  I  could  not  say,"  said  Mr. 
Stanton,  "  that  any  other  officer  knew  General  Hooker's 
plans,  or  the  position  even  of  the  various  divisions  of 
the  army.  I  sent  for  the  President  to  come  at  once 
to  the  War  Office.  It  was  in  the  evening,  but  the  Presi 
dent  soon  appeared.  I  handed  him  the  despatch.  As 
he  read  it  his  face  became  like  lead,  and  I  said,  '  What 
shall  be  done?'  He  replied  instantly,  'Accept  his 
resignation.' ' 
Immediately  an  order  was  sent  to  Maj  or-General 
George  G.  Meade,  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  the  corps 
commanders  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  appointing 
him  to  the  chief  command.  Meade  was  a  quiet,  un 
assuming  man,  very  unlike  Hooker.  Three  days  after 
assuming  command,  he  led  his  army  against  the 
Southern  host  at  Gettysburg,  where,  after  a  most 
bloody  and  memorable  battle  of  three  days'  duration 
(July  1,  2,  and  3,  1863),  was  won  the  first  decisive 
victory  in  the  history  of  the  gallant  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  Lee  retired,  with  disastrous  losses,  across 
the  Potomac  to  Virginia;  and  Washington  and  the 
North  breathed  free  again. 
Senator  Chandler  of  Michigan,  speaking  of  the  ter 
rible  strain  on  Lincoln  during  the  progress  of  the
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     499 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  said :  "  I  shall  never  forget  the 
painful  anxiety  of  those  few  days  when  the  fate  of 
the  nation  seemed  to  hang  in  the  balance ;  nor  the 
restless  solicitude  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  he  paced  up  and 
down  the  room,  reading  despatches,  soliloquizing,  and 
often  stopping  to  trace  the  position  of  the  contending 
armies  on  the  map  which  hung  on  the  wall;  nor  the 
relief  we  all  felt  when  the  fact  was  established  that 
victory,  though  gained  at  such  fearful  cost,  was  indeed 
on  the  side  of  the  Union." 
Amidst  the  murk  and  gloom  of  those  dark  days  in 
Washington,  when  the  suspense  was  breathless  and  the 
heart  of  the  nation  responded  in  muffled  beats  to  the 
dull  booming  of  the  cannon  of  Meade  and  Lee  at 
Gettysburg,  an  episode  occurred,  with  Lincoln  as  the 
central  figure,  which  reveals  perhaps  more  poignantly 
than  any  other  in  his  whole  career  the  depths  of  feel 
ing  in  that  tender  and  reverential  soul.  On  Sunday 
evening,  July  4,  —  the  fourth  day  of  that  terrible 
battle,  with  nothing  definite  yet  known  of  the  result,  — 
the  President  drove  out  in  a  carriage,  in  company  with 
two  daughters  of  Secretary  Stanton,  to  the  line  of 
defenses  near  Arlington.  It  was  toward  sundown ;  and 
a  brigade  of  troops  were  forming  in  position  for  an 
evening  parade  or  review.  The  commander  of  the  bri 
gade,  General  Tannatt,  recognizing  the  President  and 
his  party,  rode  up  to  the  carriage  and  invited  them  to 
witness  the  parade.  The  President  assented.  His  face 
was  drawn  and  haggard  in  its  expression  of  anxiety 
and  sorrow.  As  it  was  Sunday  evening,  some  of  the 
regimental  bands  played  familiar  religious  pieces.  The 
President,  hearing  them,  inquired  of  General  Tannatt 
if  any  of  his  bands  could  play  "  Lead  Kindly  Light." 
Then  in  a  low  voice  and  with  touching  accents  he  re 
peated,  as  if  to  himself,  the  familiar  lines  —  never  more 
expressive  or  appropriate  than  now,  —
500     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Lead,  kindly  light,  amid  the  encircling  gloom, 
Lead  thou  me  on. 
Keep  thou  my  feet;  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene,  —  one  step  enough  for  me. 
As  the  sweet  strains  of  the  familiar  hymn  floated  on 
the  evening  air,  Lincoln's  sad  face  became  sadder  still, 
and  tears  were  seen  coursing  down  his  cheeks.  What 
emotions  were  his,  who  can  tell,  as  he  thought  of  that 
great  battle-field  not  far  away,  its  issues  yet  unknown, 
its  ground  still  covered  with  dead  and  wounded  soldiers 
whose  heroic  deeds  —  to  use  his  noble  words  spoken  a 
few  months  later  on  that  historic  field  —  "  have  con 
secrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract." 
General  Tannatt,  who  knew  Lincoln  well  and  had 
spoken  with  him  many  times,  never  saw  him  again; 
and  his  view  of  that  tragic,  tear-wet  face  remains  to 
him  a  vivid  and  precious  memory.1 
While  the  eyes  of  the  nation  were  fastened  upon  the 
great  drama  being  enacted  near  the  capital,  events 
scarcely  less  momentous  were  occurring  in  the  South 
west.  The  campaign  against  Vicksburg,  the  great 
Confederate  stronghold  on  the  Mississippi  river,  had 
been  in  active  progress,  under  the  personal  command 
of  General  Grant,  for  several  months.  The  importance 
of  this  strategic  point  was  fully  understood  by  the 
enemy,  and  it  was  defended  most  stubbornly.  At  first 
Grant's  plans  proved  unsuccessful;  the  cutting  of 
canals  and  opening  of  bayous  failed  —  as  President 
Lincoln  had  expected  and  predicted.  But  these  failures 
only  served  to  develop  the  unsuspected  energy  of 
Grant's  character  and  the  extent  of  his  military  re 
sources.  He  boldly  changed  his  entire  plan  of  opera- 
1  General  T.  R.  Tannatt,  a  graduate  of  West  Point  in  1858,  is  now 
(1913)  an  active  and  honored  citizen  of  Spokane,  Washington.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     501 
tions,  abandoned  his  line  of  communication,  removed 
his  army  to  a  point  below  Vicksburg  and  attacked  the 
city  in  the  rear.  With  dogged  persistence  he  pressed 
forward,  gaining  point  by  point,  beating  off  General 
Johnston's  forces  on  one  side  and  driving  Pemberton 
before  him  into  Vicksburg;  until  finally,  by  the  aid 
of  Admiral  Porter's  gunboats  on  the  Mississippi,  he 
had  entirely  invested  the  city.  Gradually  and  per 
sistently  his  lines  closed  in,  pushed  forward  by  assault 
and  siege;  until  Vicksburg  accepted  its  doom,  and  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1863,  — the  day  of  Lee's  retreat  from 
Gettysburg,  —  the  city  and  garrison  surrendered  to 
the  victorious  Grant. 
Lincoln's  exuberant  joy  over  the  capture  of  Vicks 
burg  is  revealed  in  an  entry  made  at  the  time  in  Mr. 
Welles's  Diary.  "  I  was  handed  a  despatch  from  Ad 
miral  Porter,  communicating  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  on 
the  Fourth  of  July,"  says  Mr.  Welles.  "  I  immediately 
returned  to  the  Executive  Mansion.  The  President 
was  detailing  certain  points  relative  to  Grant's  move 
ments  on  the  map  to  Chase  and  two  or  three  others, 
when  I  gave  him  the  tidings.  Putting  down  the  map 
he  rose  at  once,  said  he  would  drop  these  topics,  and 
added,  '  I  myself  will  telegraph  this  news  to  General 
Meade.'  He  seized  his  hat,  but  suddenly  stopped,  his 
countenance  beaming  with  joy;  he  caught  my  hand, 
and  throwing  his  arm  around  me,  exclaimed,  '  What  can 
we  do  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  this  glorious 
intelligence?  He  is  always  giving  us  good  news.  I 
cannot,  in  words,  tell  you  my  joy  over  this  result.  It 
is  great,  Mr.  Welles,  it  is  great ! '  .  .  .  We  walked 
the  lawn  together.  '  This,'  said  he,  '  will  relieve  Banks. 
It  will  inspire  me.' ' 
The  Union  victories  at  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg 
caused  great  rejoicing  at  the  North,  and  gave  added 
zest  to  the  celebration  of  the  national  patriotic  holiday.
502     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
President  Lincoln,  mindful  of  the  "  almost  inestimable 
services,"  as  he  termed  them,  of  General  Grant,  and 
as  it  was  his  wont  to  do  in  such  circumstances,  made 
haste  to  acknowledge  his  own  and  the  country's  in 
debtedness  to  the  man  who  had  accomplished  a  great 
deed.  He  addressed  to  the  conqueror  of  Vicksburg 
the  following  letter: 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
July  13,  1863. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  GRANT. 
MY  DEAR  GENERAL  :  —  I  do  not  remember  that  you 
and  I  ever  met  personally.  I  write  this  now  as  a 
grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  almost  inestimable 
services  you  have  done  the  country.  I  write  to  say 
a  word  further.  When  you  first  reached  the  vicinity 
of  Vicksburg,  I  thought  you  should  do  what  you 
finally  did  —  march  the  troops  across  the  neck,  run 
the  batteries  with  the  transports,  and  thus  go  below; 
and  I  never  had  any  faith,  except  a  general  hope 
that  you  knew  better  than  I,  that  the  Yazoo  Pass 
expedition,  and  the  like,  could  succeed.  When  you  got 
below,  and  took  Port  Gibson,  Grand  Gulf,  and  vicinity, 
I  thought  you  should  go  down  the  river,  and  join  Gen 
eral  Banks,  and  when  you  turned  northward,  east  of  the 
Big  Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I  now  wish  to 
make  the  personal  acknowledgment  that  you  were  right 
and  I  was  wrong. 
Yours  truly,       A.  LINCOLN. 
An  officer  who  was  the  first  from  Grant's  army  to 
reach  Washington  after  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg,  has 
recorded  the  circumstances  of  his  interview  with  the 
President.  "  Mr.  Lincoln  received  me  very  cordially," 
says  this  officer,  "  and  drawing  a  chair  near  to  him 
self  and  motioning  me  to  be  seated  said,  ''Now  I  want 
to  hear  all  about  Vicksburg.'  I  gave  him  all  the  in 
formation  I  could,  though  he  appeared  to  be  remark-
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     503 
ably  well  posted  himself.  He  put  to  me  a  great  many 
questions  in  detail  touching  the  siege,  the  losses,  the 
morale  of  the  army,  its  sanitary  condition,  the  hospital 
service,  and  General  Grant.  Said  he :  'I  guess  I  was 
right  in  standing  by  Grant,  although  there  was  great 
pressure  made  after  Pittsburg  Landing  to  have  him 
removed.  I  thought  I  saw  enough  in  Grant  to  convince 
me  that  he  was  one  on  whom  the  country  could  de 
pend.  That  '  unconditional  surrender '  message  to 
Buckner  at  Donelson  suited  me.  It  indicated  the  spirit 
of  the  man." 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  before  the  capture  of 
Vicksburg  the  protracted  campaign  had  occasioned  no 
little  dissatisfaction  with  General  Grant ;  the  President 
had  been  importuned  to  remove  him,  and  had  much 
formidable  opposition  to  encounter  in  his  determina 
tion  to  stand  by  him.  Only  a  few  days  before  the 
capitulation  of  the  beleaguered  city,  Senator  Wade  of 
Ohio  —  "  Bluff  Ben  Wade,"  as  he  was  termed  —  called 
upon  the  President  and  urged  Grant's  dismissal;  to 
which  Lincoln  good-naturedly  replied,  "  Senator,  that 
reminds  me  of  a  story."  "Yes,  yes,"  rejoined 
Wade  petulantly,  "  that  is  the  way  it  is  with  you,  sir, 
all  story  —  story!  You  are  the  father  of  every  mili 
tary  blunder  that  has  been  made  during  the  war.  You 
are  on  your  road  to  h — 1,  sir,  with  this  Government, 
and  you  are  not  a  mile  off  this  minute."  Lincoln 
calmly  retorted,  "  Senator,  that  is  just  about  the  dis 
tance  from  here  to  the  Capitol,  is  it  not?"  The  ex 
asperated  Wade  grabbed  his  hat  and  rushed  angrily 
from  the  White  House. 
It  is  not  pleasant  to  record  that  the  cordial  and 
generous  congratulations  to  Grant  for  his  achieve 
ments  at  Vicksburg  were  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
rather  grudging  recognition  of  Meade's  much  more 
important  and  hard-won  victory  at  Gettysburg.  In
504     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
the  latter  case  the  despatches  from  Washington  took 
the  form  not  so  much  of  acknowledgments  of  what 
had  been  done  as  of  complaints  at  what  had  not  been 
done.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  President  dictated, 
or  even  authorized,  the  ill-timed  and  peevish  despatch 
sent  to  General  Meade  *  by  the  inopportune  Halleck, 
a  few  days  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  in  which  the 
victor  on  that  desperate  field  is  officially  informed  that 
"  the  escape  of  Lee's  army  has  created  great  dissatis 
faction  in  the  mind  of  the  President,  and  it  will  require 
an  active  and  energetic  pursuit  to  remove  the  impres 
sion  that  it  has  not  been  sufficiently  active  before." 
To  this  extraordinary  message  Meade  at  once  made 
a  simple  and  manly  rejoinder  in  which  he  said:  "  Hav 
ing  performed  my  duty  conscientiously  and  to  the  best 
of  my  ability,  the  censure  of  the  President,  as  con 
veyed  in  your  despatch,  is  in  my  judgment  so  unde 
served  that  I  feel  compelled  most  respectfully  to  ask 
to  be  immediately  relieved  from  the  command  of  this 
army."  Halleck  replied,  rather  ineptly,  that  his 
despatch  had  not  been  intended  as  a  censure,  but  as 
a  "  stimulus,"  and  was  not  regarded  as  a  sufficient 
cause  for  Meade's  request  to  be  relieved.  When  one 
thinks  of  the  ill-fortunes  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
1  The  criticism  of  Meade  for  not  attacking  Lee  before  he  recrossed 
the  Potomac  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  attack  must  be  suc 
cessful.  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.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     505 
under  previous  commanders,  and  of  the  unlikelihood 
of  finding  a  successor  to  Meade  as  capable  as  he  had 
shown  himself  to  be,  one  shudders  at  the  chances  of 
what  might  have  happened  had  another  change  of 
leaders  been  forced  upon  that  long-suffering  and  now 
victorious  army.  General  Meade  did  not  press  his 
resignation  after  Halleck's  conciliatory  telegrams,  and 
remained  in  immediate  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  until  the  close  of  the  war  —  Grant's  accession 
to  the  chief  command  of  all  the  armies  having  marked 
the  end  of  the  well-meant  but  often  ill-advised  and 
troublesome  interference  with  military  affairs  from 
Washington. 
Mr.  Isaac  R.  Pennypacker,  in  his  Life  of  General 
Meade,  speaks  of  Halleck  and  other  prominent  offi 
cials  in  Washington  in  these  terms :  "  Possessing  much 
of  the  skill  of  the  lawyer  and  disputant,  Halleck  was 
without  military  ability.  The  Secretary  of  War,  like 
many  other  men  who  exercise  vast  power,  was  not 
great  enough  to  refrain  from  the  use  of  his  authority 
in  matters  where  his  knowledge  and  experience  did  not 
qualify  him  to  form  the  soundest  views.  Acting  with 
these  military  authorities  were  men  like  Wade  and 
Chandler,  whose  patriotism  was  of  the  exuberant  kind, 
whose  judgment  in  military  affairs  was  without  value, 
but  whose  personal  energy  impelled  them  to  have  a 
controlling  hand,  if  possible,  in  the  conduct  of  the 
war." 
Lincoln's  dissatisfaction  with  General  Meade  after 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  due,  as  we  now  see,  to  his 
elation  over  the  splendid  victory  for  the  Union,  his 
intense  desire  for  further  and  overwhelming  successes, 
and  his  failure  (a  quite  natural  one)  to  realize  that 
what  might  seem  desirable  and  feasible  viewed  from 
Washington  might  look  very  different  to  the  practical 
and  experienced  men  actually  on  the  ground  and
506     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
familiar  as  he  could  not  be  with  all  the  factors  in  the 
situation.1  "  He  thought,"  wrote  General  Halleck  in 
an  explanatory  letter  sent  to  Meade  two  weeks  after  his 
despatch  of  censure,  "  that  Lee's  defeat  was  so  certain 
that  he  felt  no  little  impatience  at  his  unexpected  es 
cape."  Among  military  authorities,  such  a  retreat  as 
that  of  Lee  after  Gettysburg  is  hardly  regarded  as  an 
"  escape."  If  it  were,  then  great  must  be  the  fault  of 
Lee  as  a  general  in  allowing  the  defeated  armies  of 
Burnside  and  Hooker  to  "  escape  "  after  the  battles 
of  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  where  their 
repulse  was  much  worse  than  was  Lee's  at  Gettysburg. 
That  Lincoln's  first  feelings  of  disappointment  and 
dissatisfaction  with  General  Meade  were  greatly  modi 
fied  with  fuller  knowledge  of  the  actual  situation  after 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg  is  shown  by  a  remark  made 
by  him  to  Senator  Cameron,  referring  to  Meade :  "  Why 
should  we  censure  a  man  who  has  done  so  much  for  his 
1  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  imme 
diately  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."
EVERY-DAY   LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     507 
country  because  he  did  not  do  a  little  more?  "  And  if 
any  debt  of  recognition  or  of  gratitude  yet  remained 
due  from  him,  it  was  more  than  paid  a  few  months 
later  in  the  unsurpassed  tribute  at  Gettysburg  to  "  the 
brave  men,  living  and  dead,"  who  gained  the  victory 
on  that  hallowed  field. 
The  improved  condition  of  public  affairs,  and  the 
increasing  cheerfulness  of  the  President,  after  the  vic 
tories  at  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg,  are  exhibited  in 
a  letter  written  by  him  a  few  weeks  later  to  friends 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  who  had  urgently  invited  him 
to  attend  "  a  mass-meeting  of  Unconditional  Union 
men  "  at  his  old  home.  In  this  letter  he  took  occasion 
to  declare  his  sentiments  on  various  questions  para 
mount  at  the  time.  Among  these  was  the  subject  of 
a  compromise  with  the  South,  against  which  he  argued 
with  great  force  and  feeling.  Again,  he  defended  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  a  measure  to  which  many 
Union  men  were  still  unreconciled.  He  referred  also 
to  the  arming  of  the  negroes  as  a  just  and  wise  ex 
pedient;  finally  concluding  with  these  expressive  and 
felicitous  words: 
The  signs  look  better.  The  Father  of  Waters  again 
goes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  Thanks  to  the  great  North 
west  for  it ;  nor  yet  wholly  to  them.  Three  hundred 
miles  up  they  met  New  England,  Empire,  Keystone,  and 
Jersey,  hewing  their  way  right  and  left.  The  sunny 
South,  too,  in  more  colors  than  one,  also  lent  a  helping 
hand.  On  the  spot,  their  part  of  the  history  was 
jotted  down  in  black  and  white.  The  job  was  a  great 
national  one,  and  let  none  be  slighted  who  bore  an 
honorable  part  in  it.  And  while  those  who  have  cleared 
the  great  river  may  well  be  proud,  even  that  is  not  all. 
It  is  hard  to  say  that  anything  has  been  more  bravely 
and  well  done  than  at  Antietam,  Murfreesboro,  Gettys 
burg,  and  on  many  fields  of  less  note.  Nor  must  Uncle
508     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Sam's  web-feet  be  forgotten.  At  all  the  watery  mar 
gins  they  have  been  present,  not  only  on  the  deep  sea, 
the  broad  bay,  and  the  rapid  river,  but  also  up  the 
narrow,  muddy  bayou,  and  wherever  the  ground  was 
a  little  damp  they  have  been  and  made  their  tracks. 
Thanks  to  all.  For  the  great  Republic  —  for  the  prin 
ciple  it  lives  by  and  keeps  alive  —  for  man's  vast  future 
—  thanks  to  all.  Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as 
it  did.  I  hope  it  will  come  soon  and  come  to  stay; 
and  so  come  as  to  be  worth  the  keeping  in  all  future 
time.  It  will  then  have  been  proved  that  among  free 
men  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  from  the  ballot 
to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who  take  such  appeal  are 
sure  to  lose  their  case  and  pay  the  cost.  And  there  will 
be  some  black  men  who  can  remember  that,  with  silent 
tongue,  and  clinched  teeth,  and  steady  eye,  and  well- 
poised  bayonet,  they  have  helped  mankind  on  to  this 
great  consummation;  while  I  fear  there  will  be  some 
white  ones  unable  to  forget  that  with  malignant  heart 
and  deceitful  speech  they  have  striven  to  hinder  it. 
Still,  let  us  not  be  over-sanguine  of  a  speedy  final 
triumph.  Let  us  be  quite  sober.  Let  us  diligently 
apply  the  means,  never  doubting  that  a  just  God,  in 
His  own  good  time,  will  give  us  the  rightful  result. 
In  a  public  proclamation,  issued  October  3,  the 
President  gives  more  formal  expression  to  his  satis 
faction  and  gratitude,  and  calls  upon  the  loyal  people 
of  the  Union  to  unite  in  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the 
improved  prospects  of  the  country. 
The  year  that  is  drawing  toward  its  close  has  been 
filled  with  the  blessings  of  fruitful  fields  and  healthful 
skies.  To  these  bounties,  which  are  so  constantly  en 
joyed  that  we  are  « prone  to  forget  the  source  from 
which  they  come,  others  have  been  added  which  are  of 
so  extraordinary  a  nature  that  they  cannot  fail  to 
penetrate  and  soften  even  the  heart  which  is  habitually 
insensible  to  the  ever-watchful  providence  of  Almighty
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     509 
God.  In  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  of  unequalled  magni 
tude  and  severity,  which  has  sometimes  seemed  to  invite 
and  provoke  the  aggressions  of  foreign  states,  peace 
has  been  preserved  with  all  nations,  order  has  been 
maintained,  the  laws  have  been  respected  and  obeyed, 
and  harmony  has  prevailed  everywhere  except  in  the 
theatre  of  military  conflict,  while  that  theatre  has  been 
greatly  contracted  by  the  advancing  armies  and  navies 
of  the  Union.  The  needful  diversion  of  wealth  and 
strength  from  the  fields  of  peaceful  industry  to  the 
national  defense  has  not  arrested  the  plough,  the 
shuttle,  or  the  ship.  The  axe  has  enlarged  the  borders 
of  our  settlements,  and  the  mines,  as  well  of  iron  and 
coal  as  of  the  precious  metals,  have  yielded  even  more 
abundantly  than  heretofore.  Population  has  steadily 
increased,  notwithstanding  the  waste  that  has  been 
made  in  the  camp,  the  siege,  and  the  battle-field;  and 
the  country,  rejoicing  in  the  consciousness  of  aug 
mented  strength  and  vigor,  is  permitted  to  expect  a 
continuance  of  years  with  large  increase  of  freedom. 
No  human  counsel  hath  devised  nor  hath  any  mortal 
hand  worked  out  these  great  things.  They  are  the 
gracious  gifts  of  the  Most  High  God,  who,  while  deal 
ing  with  us  in  anger  for  our  sins,  hath  nevertheless  re 
membered  mercy.  It  has  seemed  to  me  fit  and  proper 
that  they  should  be  solemnly,  reverently,  and  gratefully 
acknowledged,  as  with  one  heart  and  voice,  by  the  whole 
American  people.  I  do,  therefore,  invite  my  fellow- 
citizens  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  and  also 
those  who  are  at  sea,  and  those  who  are  sojourning  in 
foreign  lands,  to  set  apart  and  observe  the  last  Thurs 
day  of  November  next  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and 
prayer  to  our  beneficent  Father,  who  dwelleth  in  the 
heavens.  And  I  recommend  to  them  that,  while  offering 
up  the  ascriptions  justly  due  to  Him  for  such  singular 
deliverances  and  blessings,  they  do  also,  with  humble 
penitence  for  our  national  perverseness  and  disobedi 
ence,  commend  to  His  tender  care  all  those  who  have 
become  widows,  orphans,  mourners,  or  sufferers  in  the
510     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
lamentable  civil  strife  in  which  we  are  unavoidably 
engaged,  and  fervently  implore  the  interposition  of  the 
Almighty  Hand  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  nation,  and 
to  restore  it,  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 
divine  purposes,  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  peace,  har 
mony,  tranquility,  and  union. 
The  brightening  prospects  of  the  Union  cause  quickly 
produced  a  better  state  of  feeling  at  the  North.  In 
the  fall  elections  of  1863,  every  State  except  New 
Jersey  gave  solid  majorities  on  the  Republican  side, 
thus  strengthening  the  administration  and  giving  the 
President  welcome  assurances  of  popular  approval. 
He  had  awaited  with  special  anxiety  the  returns  from 
Ohio,  where  the  contest  was  fraught  with  peculiar  sig 
nificance.  The  Democrats  had  chosen  for  their  can 
didate  the  notorious  peace-at-any-price  Vallandigham, 
against  whom  the  Republicans  had  placed  John  Brough 
of  Cleveland.  On  the  night  of  the  election,  about  ten 
o'clock,  a  message  clicked  on  the  wires  in  the  telegraph 
office  of  the  latter  city,  saying,  "  Where  is  John 
Brough?  A.  Lincoln."  Brough  was  at  hand,  and 
directly  the  electric  voice  inquired,  "  Brough,  about 
what  is  your  majority  now?  "  Brough  replied,  "  Over 
30,000."  Lincoln  requested  Brough  to  remain  at  the 
office  during  the  night.  A  little  past  midnight  the 
question  came  again  from  Lincoln,  "  Brough,  what  is 
your  majority  by  this  time?  "  Brough  replied,  "  Over 
50,000."  And  the  question  was  thus  repeated  and  an 
swered  several  times,  with  rapidly  increasing  majori 
ties,  till  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  question 
came  again,  "Brough,  what  is  your  majority  now?" 
The  latter  was  able  to  respond,  "  Over  100,000."  As 
soon  as  the  words  could  be  flashed  back  over  the  wire, 
there  came :  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest.  Ohio  has 
saved  the  Nation.  A.  Lincoln."
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     511 
The  day  after  the  election  in  Ohio  (October  14, 
1863)  Lincoln  said  to  Secretary  Welles  that  he  had 
felt  more  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  results  than  he  had 
in  1860  when  he  was  chosen  President.  He  could  not 
have  believed  four  years  ago,  he  said,  that  one  genuine 
American  would  or  could  be  induced  to  vote  for  such 
a  man  as  Vallandigham.  Yet  he  had  been  made  the 
candidate  of  a  large  party,  and  received  a  vote  that 
is  a  discredit  to  the  country.  Mr.  Welles  adds :  "  The 
President  showed  a  good  deal  of  emotion  as  he  dwelt 
on  this  subject." 
After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  a  portion  of  the 
ground  on  which  the  engagement  was  fought  was  pur 
chased  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  for  a  burial-place 
for  the  Union  soldiers  who  were  slain  in  that  bloody 
encounter.  The  tract  included  seventeen  and  a  half 
acres  adjoining  the  town  cemetery.  It  was  planned 
to  consecrate  the  ground  with  imposing  ceremonies,  in 
which  the  President,  accompanied  by  his  Cabinet  and 
a  large  body  of  the  military,  was  invited  to  assist. 
The  day  appointed  was  the  19th  of  November;  and 
the  chief  orator  selected  was  Massachusetts'  eloquent 
son,  Hon.  Edward  Everett.  Following  him  it  was 
expected  that  the  President  would  add  some  testimonials 
in  honor  of  the  dead. 
Lincoln  and  Everett  were  representatives  of  two 
contrasting  phases  of  American  civilization:  the  one, 
an  outgrowth  of  the  rough  pioneer  life  of  the  West; 
the  other,  the  product  of  the  highest  culture  of  the 
East.  They  had  met  for  the  first  time  on  this  memo 
rable  day.  Everett's  oration  was  a  finished  literary 
production.  Smooth,  euphonious,  and  elegant,  it  was 
delivered  with  the  silvery  tones  and  the  graceful  ges 
tures  of  a  trained  and  consummate  speaker.  When  he 
had  finished,  and  the  applause  that  greeted  him  had 
died  away,  the  multitude  called  vociferously  for  an
512     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
address  from  Lincoln.  With  an  unconscious  air,  the 
President  came  forward  at  the  call,  put  his  spectacles 
on  his  nose,  and  read,  in  a  quiet  voice  which  gradually 
warmed  with  feeling,  while  his  careworn  face  became 
radiant  with  the  light  of  genuine  emotion,  the  follow 
ing  brief  address: 
Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil 
war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con 
ceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  of 
those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might 
live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should 
do  this.  But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we 
cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The 
brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have 
consecrated  it,  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  de 
tract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor  long  remember 
what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did 
here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated 
here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to 
be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us, 
that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion 
to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation,  under  God, 
shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and  that  govern 
ment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth. 
The  simple  and  sublime  words  of  this  short  address 
shook  the  hearts  of  the  listeners,  and  before  the  first 
sentence  was  ended  they  were  under  the  spell  of  a 
mighty  magician.  They  stood  hushed,  awed,  and
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     513 
melted,  as  the  speaker  enforced  the  solemn  lesson  of 
the  hour,  and  brought  home  to  them,  in  plain  un 
varnished  terms,  the  duty  which  remained  for  them 
to  do  —  to  finish  the  work  which  the  dead  around 
them  had  given  their  lives  to  carry  on.  It  was  one 
of  the  briefest  of  the  many  speeches  with  which  Lincoln 
had  swayed  the  impulses  and  opinions  of  crowds  of  his 
fellow-men,  but  it  is  the  one  which  will  be  remembered 
above  all  others  as  hallowed  by  the  truest  and  loftiest 
inspiration.  As  the  final  sentence  ended,  amid  the 
tears  and  sobs  and  cheers  of  the  excited  throng,  the 
President  turned  to  Mr.  Everett,  and,  grasping  his 
hand,  exclaimed  with  sincerity,  "  I  congratulate  you 
on  your  success."  Mr.  Everett  responded  in  the  fervor 
of  his  emotion,  "  Ah,  Mr.  President,  how  gladly  would 
I  exchange  all  my  hundred  pages  to  have  been  the 
t  author  of  your  twenty  lines !  " 
Of  all  Lincoln's  public  utterances,  this  is  unquestion 
ably  the  most  remarkable.  The  oration,  brief  and  un 
pretending  as  it  is,  will  remain  a  classic  of  the  English 
language.  "  The  Westminster  Review,"  one  of  the  fore 
most  of  the  great  English  quarterlies,  said  of  it :  "  It 
has  but  one  equal,  in  that  pronounced  upon  those  who 
fell  in  the  first  year  of  the  Peloponnesian  War;  and 
in  one  respect  it  is  superior  to  that  great  speech.  It 
is  not  only  more  natural,  fuller  of  feeling,  more  touch 
ing  and  pathetic,  but  we  know  with  absolute  certainty 
that  it  was  really  delivered.  Nature  here  takes  prece 
dence  of  art  —  even  though  it  be  the  art  of 
Thucydides." 
"  An  illustration  of  the  difference  between  oratory 
and  inspiration  "  is  Mr.  John  Bigelow's  happy  char 
acterization  of  the  Gettysburg  address.  "  It  was," 
he  adds,  "  one  of  the  most  momentous  incidents  in  the 
history  of  the  Civil  War.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
anything  had  then,  or  has  since,  been  said  of  that
514     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
national  strife  conceived  upon  a  higher  and  wiser 
spiritual  plane.  ...  It  is  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the 
most  enduring  bit  of  eloquence  that  has  ever  been 
uttered  on  this  continent ;  and  yet  one  finds  in  it  none 
of  the  tricks  of  the  forum  or  the  stage,  nor  any  trace 
of  the  learning  of  the  scholar,  nor  the  need  of  it." 
Major  Harry  T.  Lee,  who  was  himself  a  partici 
pant  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  occupied  a  seat 
on  the  platform  at  the  dedication,  says  that  the  people 
listened  with  marked  attention  through  the  two  hours 
of  Everett's  noble  and  scholarly  oration;  but  that 
when  Lincoln  came  forward,  and  in  a  voice  burdened 
with  emotion  uttered  his  simple  and  touching  eulogy 
on  "  the  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled 
here,"  there  was  scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  the  whole  vast 
audience. 
Mr.  John  Russell  Young,  afterwards  U.  S.  Minister 
to  China,  was  present  at  the  Gettysburg  dedication, 
and  says :  "  I  sat  behind  Mr.  Lincoln  while  Mr.  Everett 
delivered  his  oration.  I  remember  the  great  orator 
had  a  way  of  raising  and  dropping  his  handkerchief 
as  he  spoke.  He  spoke  for  two  hours,  and  was  very 
impressive,  with  his  white  hair  and  venerable  figure. 
He  was  a  great  orator,  but  it  was  like  a  bit  of  Greek 
sculpture  —  beautiful,  but  cold  as  ice.  It  was  perfect 
art,  but  without  feeling.  The  art  and  beauty  of  it 
captured  your  imagination  and  judgment.  Mr.  Everett 
went  over  the  campaign  with  resonant,  clear,  splendid 
rhetoric.  There  was  not  a  word  or  a  sentence  or  a 
thought  that  could  be  corrected.  You  felt  that  every 
gesture  had  been  carefully  studied  out  beforehand.  It 
was  like  a  great  actor  playing  a  great  part.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Lincoln  rose,  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  platform,  took 
out  his  glasses,  and  put  them  on.  He  was  awkward. 
He  bowed  to  the  assemblage  in  his  homely  manner, 
and  took  out  of  his  coat  pocket  a  page  of  foolscap.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     515 
In  front  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  photographer  with  his 
camera,  endeavoring  to  take  a  picture  of  the  scene. 
We  all  supposed  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  make  rather 
a  long  speech  —  a  half-hour  at  least.  He  took  the 
single  sheet  of  foolscap,  held  it  almost  to  his  nose, 
and  in  his  high  tenor  voice,  without  the  least  attempt 
at  effect,  delivered  that  most  extraordinary  address 
which  belongs  to  the  classics  of  literature.  The  photog 
rapher  was  bustling  about,  preparing  to  take  the 
President's  picture  while  he  was  speaking,  but  Mr. 
Lincoln  finished  before  the  photographer  was  ready." 
It  is  stated  that  when  President  Lincoln  reached  the 
town  of  Gettysburg,  on  his  way  to  attend  the  exercises 
at  the  cemetery,  he  inquired  for  "  Old  John  Burns," 
the  hero  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  who  left  his  farm 
and  fought  with  the  Union  soldiers  upon  that  bloody 
field.  The  veteran  was  sent  for ;  and  on  his  arrival 
the  President  showed  him  marked  attention,  taking 
him  by  the  arm  and  walking  with  him  in  the  procession 
through  the  streets  to  the  cemetery. 
Edward  Everett,  who  was  associated  with  Lincoln 
during  these  two  or  three  days,  says  of  the  impression 
the  President  made  on  him :  "  I  recognized  in  the  Presi 
dent  a  full  measure  of  the  qualities  which  entitle  him 
to  the  personal  respect  of  the  people.  On  the  only 
social  occasion  on  which  I  ever  had  the  honor  to  be 
in  his  company,  viz.,  the  Commemoration  at  Gettys 
burg,  he  sat  at  the  table  of  my  friend  David  Willis, 
by  the  side  of  several  distinguished  persons,  foreigners 
and  Americans ;  and  in  gentlemanly  appearance,  man 
ners,  and  conversation,  he  was  the  peer  of  any  man 
at  the  table."
CHAPTER    XXVI 
Lincoln  and  Grant  —  Their  Personal  Relations  —  Grant's  Successes  at 
Chattanooga — Appointed  Lieutenant-general  —  Grant's  First  Visit 
to  Washington  —  His  Meeting  with  Lincoln  —  Lincoln's  First  Im 
pressions  of  Grant  —  The  First  "  General "  Lincoln  Had  Found  — 
"That  Presidential  Grub"  —  True  Version  of  the  Whiskey  Anecdote 
—  Lincoln  Tells  Grant  the  Story  of  Sykes's  Dog  — "We'd  Better 
Let  Mr.  Grant  Have  his  Own  Way  "  —  Grant's  Estimate  of  Lincoln. 
FROM  the  hour  of  Grant's  triumph  at  Vicksburg 
to  the  close  of  the  war,  Lincoln  never  withdrew 
his  confidence  from  the  quiet,  persistent,  unpretending 
man  who  led  our  armies  slowly  but  surely  along  the 
path  of  victory.  As  soon  as  the  campaign  at  Vicks 
burg  was  over,  Grant's  sphere  of  operations  was  en 
larged  by  his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  mili 
tary  division  of  the  Mississippi.  In  November  follow 
ing  he  fought  the  famous  battles  of  Chattanooga,  in 
cluding  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge ;  and, 
aided  by  his  efficient  corps  commanders,  Sherman, 
Thomas,  and  Hooker,  gained  a  succession  of  brilliant 
victories  for  the  Union  cause.  The  wisdom  of  Grant's 
policy  of  concentration  and  "  fighting  it  out  "  had  now 
become  apparent. 
President  Lincoln  had  watched  closely  the  progress 
of  these  events,  and  had  come  to  recognize  in  Grant 
the  master  spirit  of  the  war,  on  the  Northern  side. 
Accordingly  he  determined  to  give  him  general  com 
mand  of  all  the  Union  armies.  In  December,  1863,  a 
bill  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  by  Hon.  E.  B.  Wash- 
burne,  of  Illinois,  and  passed  both  houses  of  Congress, 
creating  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-General  in  the  army.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     517 
President  Lincoln  approved  the  act,  and  immediately 
nominated  Grant  for  the  position.  The  nomination 
was  confirmed;  and  on  the  17th  of  March,  1864,  Grant 
issued  his  first  order  as  Lieutenant-General,  assuming 
command  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  and  an 
nouncing  that  his  headquarters  would  be  in  the  field 
and  until  further  orders  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Of  this  army  he  shrewdly  remarked  that  it  seemed  to 
him  it  "  had  never  fought  its  battles  through."  He 
proposed,  first  of  all,  to  teach  that  army  "  not  to  be 
afraid  of  Lee."  "  I  had  known  him  personally,"  said 
Grant,  "  and  knew  that  he  was  mortal."  With  char 
acteristic  energy  he  formed  a  simple  but  comprehensive 
plan  of  operations  both  East  and  West ;  sending  Sher 
man  on  his  great  march  to  Atlanta  and  the  sea,  while 
he,  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  pushed  straight 
for  Richmond.  These  operations  were  vigorously 
urged,  and  when  they  were  ended  the  war  was  ended. 
It  was  but  little  more  than  a  year  from  the  date  of 
Grant's  commission  as  Lieutenant-General  till  he  re 
ceived  Lee's  surrender  at  Appomattox. 
Immediately  upon  Grant's  appointment  as  Lieuten 
ant-General,  he  was  summoned  to  Washington.  It  was 
his  first  visit  to  the  capital  since  the  war  began,  and 
he  was  a  stranger  to  nearly  everyone  from  the  President 
down.  He  arrived  in  the  city  on  the  8th  of  March 
(1864),  taking  quarters  at  Willard's  Hotel,  where, 
when  he  went  in  to  dinner,  none  knew  "  the  quiet,  rather 
stumpy-looking  man,  who  came  in  leading  a  little  boy 
— •  the  boy  who  had  ridden  by  his  father's  side  through 
all  the  campaign  of  Vicksburg."  But  soon  it  was 
whispered  about  who  was  in  the  room,  and  there  was 
a  loud  call  for  three  cheers  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  which 
were  given  with  a  will.  In  the  evening  General  Grant 
attended  a  reception  at  the  White  House,  passing  in 
with  the  throng  alone  and  unannounced.  The  quick