President Lincoln’s Characteristics--His Love of Humour--His
Stories--Pithy Sayings--Repartees--His Dignity.
Whatever the defects of Lincoln’s character were, it may be doubted
whether there was ever so great a man who was, on the whole, so good.
Compared to his better qualities, these faults were as nothing; yet
they came forth so boldly, owing to the natural candour and manliness
on which they grew, that, to petty minds, they obscured what was grand
and beautiful. It has been very truly said, that he was the most
remarkable product of the remarkable possibilities of American life.
Born to extreme poverty, and with fewer opportunities for culture than
are open to any British peasant, he succeeded, by sheer perseverance
and determination, in making himself a land-surveyor, a lawyer, a
politician, and a President. And it is not less evident that even his
honesty was the result of _will_, though his kind-heartedness came by
nature. What was most remarkable in him was his thorough Republicanism.
He was so completely inspired with a sense that the opinions and
interests common to the community are right, that to his mind common
sense assumed its deepest meaning as a rule of the highest justice.
When the whole land was a storm of warring elements, and in the
strife between States’ Rights and National Supremacy all precedents
were forgotten and every man made his own law, then Abraham Lincoln,
watching events, and guided by what he felt was really the sense of the
people, sometimes leading, but always following when he could, achieved
Emancipation, and brought a tremendous civil war to a quiet end.
Abraham Lincoln was remarkably free from jealousy or personal hatred.
His honesty in all things, great or small, was most exemplary. In
appointing men, he was more guided by the interests of the country or
their fitness than by any other consideration, and avoided favouritism
to such an extent that it was once said, in reference to him, that
honesty was undoubtedly good policy, but it was hard that an American
citizen should be excluded from office because he had, unfortunately,
at some time been a friend of the President. Owing to this principle,
he was often accused of ingratitude, heartlessness, or indifference.
Mr. Lincoln had a quick perception of character, and liked to give
men credit for what they understood. Once, when his opinion was
asked as to politics, he said, “You must ask Raymond about that;
in politics, he is my lieutenant-general.”[35] The manner in which
Lincoln became gradually appreciated was well expressed in the London
“Saturday Review,” after his death, when it said that, “during the
arduous experience of four years, Mr. Lincoln constantly rose in
general estimation by calmness of temper, by an intuitively logical
appreciation of the character of the conflict, and by undisputed
sincerity.”
Mr. Lincoln was habitually very melancholy, and, as is often the case,
sought for a proper balance of mind in the humour of which he had such
a rare appreciation. When he had a great duty on hand, he would prepare
his mind for it by reading “something funny.” As I write this, I am
kindly supplied with an admirable illustration by Mr. Bret Harte. One
evening the President, who had summoned his Cabinet at a most critical
juncture, instead of proceeding to any business, passed half-an-hour in
reading to them the comic papers of Orpheus C. Kerr (office-seeker),
which had just appeared. But at last, when more than one gentleman
was little less than offended at such levity, Mr. Lincoln rose, laid
aside the book, and, with a most serious air, as of one who has brought
his mind to a great point, produced and read the slips containing the
Proclamation of Emancipation, and this he did with an earnestness and
feeling which were electric, moving his auditors as they had seldom
been moved. By far the best work of humour produced during the war, if
it be not indeed the best work of purely American humour ever written,
was the Petroleum V. Nasby papers. F. B. Carpenter relates that, on
the Saturday before the President left Washington to go to Richmond,
he had a most wearisome day, followed by an interview with several
callers on business of great importance. Pushing everything aside, he
said--“Have you seen the ‘Nasby Papers’?” “No, I have not,” was the
answer; “what are they?” “There is a chap out in Ohio,” returned the
President, “who has been writing a series of letters in the newspapers
over the signature of Petroleum V. Nasby. Some one sent me a collection
of them the other day. I am going to write to Petroleum to come down
here, and I intend to tell him, if he will communicate his talent to
me, I will swap places with him.” Thereupon he arose, went to a drawer
in his desk, and taking out the letters, he sat down and read one to
the company, finding in their enjoyment of it the temporary excitement
and relief which another man would have found in a glass of wine. The
moment he ceased, the book was thrown aside, his countenance relapsed
into its habitual serious expression, and business was entered upon
with the utmost earnestness. The author of these “Nasby Papers” was
David R. Locke. After Mr. Lincoln’s death, two comic works, both
well thumbed, indicating that they had been much read, were found in
his desk. One was the “Nasby Letters,” and the other “The Book of
Copperheads,” written and illustrated by myself and my brother, the
late Henry P. Leland. This was kindly lent to me by Mr. M’Pherson,
Clerk of the House of Representatives, that I might see how thoroughly
Mr. Lincoln had read it. Both of these works were satires on that party
in the North which sympathised with the South.
Men of much reading, and with a varied knowledge of life, especially
if their minds have somewhat of critical culture, draw their materials
for illustration in conversation from many sources. Abraham Lincoln’s
education and reading were not such as to supply him with much unworn
or refined literary illustration, so he used such material as he
had--incidents and stories from the homely life of the West. I have
observed that, in Europe, Scotchmen approach most nearly to Americans
in this practical application of events and anecdotes. Lincoln excelled
in the art of putting things aptly and concisely, and, like many old
Romans, would place his whole argument in a brief droll narrative, the
point of which would render his whole meaning clear to the dullest
intellect. In their way, these were like the illustrated proverbs known
as fables. Menenius Agrippa and Lincoln would have been congenial
spirits. However coarse or humble the illustration might be, Mr.
Lincoln never failed to convince even the most practised diplomatists
or lawyers that he had a marvellous gift for grasping rapidly all the
details of a difficulty, and for reducing this knowledge to a practical
deduction, and, finally, for presenting the result in a concisely
humorous illustration which impressed it on the memory.
Mr. Lincoln was in a peculiar way an original thinker, without being
entirely an originator, as a creative genius is. His stories were
seldom or never his own inventions; hundreds of them were well known,
but, in the words of Dr. Thompson, “however common his ideas were
to other minds, however simple when stated, they bore the stamp of
individuality, and became in some way his own.” During his life, and
within a few months after his death, I made a large MS. collection of
Lincolniana. Few of the stories were altogether new, but most were
original in application. It is said that, being asked if a very stingy
neighbour of his was a man of _means_, Mr. Lincoln replied that he
ought to be, for he was about the _meanest_ man round there. This may
or may not be authentic, but it is eminently Lincolnian. So with the
jests of Tyll Eulenspiegel, or of any other great droll; he invariably
becomes the nucleus of a certain kind of humour.
Unconsciously, Abraham Lincoln became a great proverbialist. Scores of
his pithy sayings are current among the people. “In giving freedom
to the slave, we assure freedom to the free,” is the sum-total of
all the policy which urged Emancipation for the sake of the white
man. “This struggle of to-day is for a vast future also,” expressed
a great popular opinion. “We are making history rapidly,” was very
flattering to all who shared in the war. “If slavery is not wrong,
_nothing_ is wrong,” spoke the very extreme of conviction. The whole
people took his witty caution “not to swap horses in the middle of a
stream.” When it was always urged by the Democrats that emancipation
implied amalgamation, he answered--“I do not understand that because
I do not want a negro woman for a slave, I must necessarily want her
for a wife.” This popular Democratic shibboleth, “How would you like
your daughter to marry a negro?” was keenly satirised by Nasby. I have
myself known a Democratic procession in Philadelphia to contain a car
with a parcel of girls dressed in white, and the motto, “Fathers,
protect us from Black Husbands.” To which the Republican banner simply
replied, “_Our_ Daughters do not want to marry Black Husbands.”
Abraham Lincoln was always moderate in argument. Once, when Judge
Douglas attempted to parry an argument by impeaching the veracity of a
senator whom Mr. Lincoln had quoted, he answered that the question was
not one of veracity, but simply one of argument. He said--“Euclid, by
a course of reasoning, proves that all the angles in a triangle are
equal to two right angles; now, would you undertake to disprove that
assertion by calling Euclid a liar?”
“I never did invent anything original--I am only a _retail dealer_,”
is very characteristic of Mr. Lincoln. He was speaking of the stories
credited to him, and yet the modesty of the remark, coupled with the
droll distinction between original wholesale manufacturers and retail
dealers, is both original and quaint.
Mr. Lincoln was very ingenious in finding reasons for being merciful.
On one occasion, a young soldier who had shown himself very brave
in war, and had been severely wounded, after a time deserted. Being
re-captured, he was under sentence of death, and President Lincoln was
of course petitioned for his pardon. It was a difficult case; the young
man deserved to die, and desertion was sadly injuring the army. The
President mused solemnly, until a happy thought struck him. “Did you
say he was once badly wounded?” he asked of the applicant for a pardon.
“He was.” “Then, as the Scripture says that in the shedding of blood is
the remission of sins, I guess we’ll have to let him off this time.”
When Mr. Lincoln was grossly and foolishly flattered, as happened
once in the case of a gushing “interviewer,” who naïvely put his own
punishment into print, he could quiz the flatterer with great ingenuity
by apparently falling into the victim’s humour. When only moderately
praised, he retorted gently. Once, when a gentleman complimented him
on having no vices, such as drinking or smoking, “That is a doubtful
compliment,” answered Mr. Lincoln. “I recollect once being outside a
stage-coach in Illinois, when a man offered me a cigar. I told him
I had no vices. He said nothing, but smoked for some time, and then
growled out, ‘It’s my opinion that people who have no vices have plaguy
few virtues.’”
President Lincoln was not merely obliging or condescending in allowing
every one to see him; in his simple Republicanism, he believed that
the people who had made him President had a right to talk to him.
One day a friend found him half-amused, half-irritated. “You met an
old lady as you entered,” he said. “Well, she wanted me to give her
an order for stopping the pay of a Treasury clerk who owes her a
board-bill of seventy dollars.” His visitor expressed surprise that he
did not adopt the usual military plan, under which every application
to see the general commanding had to be filtered through a sieve of
officers, who allowed no one to take up the chief’s time except those
who had business of sufficient importance. “Ah yes,” the President
replied, “such things may do very well for you military people, with
your arbitrary rule. But the office of a President is a very different
one, and the affair is very different. For myself, I feel, though the
tax on my time is heavy, that no hours of my day are better employed
than those which thus bring me again into direct contact with the
people. All serves to renew in me a clearer and more vivid image of
that great popular assemblage out of which I sprung, and to which, at
the end of two years, I must return.” To such an extreme did he carry
this, and such weariness did it cause him, that, at the end of four
years, he who had been one of the strongest men living, was no longer
strong or vigorous. But he always had a good-natured story, even for
his tormentors. Once, when a Kentucky farmer wanted him at a critical
period of the Emancipation question to exert himself and turn the
whole machinery of government to aid him in recovering two slaves,
President Lincoln said this reminded him of Jack Chase, the captain of
a western steamboat. It is a terrible thing to steer a boat down the
roaring rapids, where the mistake of an inch may cause wreck, and it
requires the extreme attention of the pilot. One day, when the boat was
plunging and wallowing along the boiling current, and Jack at the wheel
was using all care to keep in the perilous channel, a boy pulled his
coat-tail and cried, “Say, Mister Captain! I wish you’d stop your boat
a minute. _I’ve lost my apple overboard._”
In self-conscious “deportment,” Mr. Lincoln was utterly deficient; in
true unconscious _dignity_, he was unsurpassed. He would sit down on
the stone-coping outside the White House to write on his card the
directions by which a poor man might be relieved from his sorrow,
looking as he did so as if he were sitting on the pavement; or he
would actually lie down on the grass beside a common soldier, and go
over his papers with him, while his carriage waited, and great men
gathered around; but no man ever dared to be impertinent, or unduly
familiar with him. Once an insolent officer accused him to his face of
injustice, and he arose, lifted the man by the collar, and carried him
out, kicking. But this is, I believe, the only story extant of any one
having treated him with insolence.
Hunting popularity by means of petty benevolence is so usual with
professional politicians, that many may suspect that Lincoln was not
unselfish in his acts of kindness. But I myself know of one instance of
charity exercised by him, which was certainly most disinterested. One
night, a poor old man, whose little farm had been laid waste during the
war, and who had come to Washington, hoping that Government would repay
his loss, found himself penniless in the streets of the capital. A
person whom I know very well saw him accost the President, who listened
to his story, and then, writing something on a piece of paper, gave
it to him, and with it a ten-dollar note. The President went his way,
and my acquaintance going up to the old man, who was deeply moved,
asked him what was the matter. “I thank God,” said the old man, using
a quaint American phrase, “that there are some _white_ people[36] in
this town. I’ve been tryin’ to get somebody to listen to me, and nobody
would, because I’m a poor foolish old body. But just now a stranger
listened to all my story, and give me this here.” He said this, showing
the money and the paper, which contained a request to Secretary Stanton
to have the old man’s claim investigated at once, and, if just,
promptly satisfied. When it is remembered that Lincoln went into office
and out of it a poor man, or at least a very poor man for one in his
position, his frequent acts of charity appear doubly creditable.
Whatever may be said of Lincoln, he was always simply and truly _a good
man_. He was a good father to his children, and a good President to the
people, whom he loved as if they had been his children. America and the
rest of the world have had many great rulers, but never one who, like
Lincoln, was so much one of the people, or who was so sympathetic in
their sorrows and trials.
APPENDIX.
[FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, AUGUST 16, 1867.]
HIS LECTURE AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE IN 1860.
_To the Editor of The Evening Post_:
In October, 1859, Messrs. Joseph H. Richards, J. M. Pettingill, and
S. W. Tubbs called on me at the office of the Ohio State Agency, 25
William Street, and requested me to write to the Hon. Thomas Corwin
of Ohio, and the Hon. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, and invite them to
lecture in a course of lectures these young gentlemen proposed for the
winter in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.
I wrote the letters as requested, and offered as compensation for
each lecture, as I was authorized, the sum of $200. The proposition
to lecture was accepted by Messrs. Corwin and Lincoln. Mr. Corwin
delivered his lecture in Plymouth Church, as he was on his way to
Washington to attend Congress; Mr. Lincoln could not lecture until
late in the season, and the proposition was agreed to by the gentlemen
named, and accepted by Mr. Lincoln, as the following letter will show:
“DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, _November 13, 1859_.
“JAMES A. BRIGGS, ESQ.
“DEAR SIR: Yours of the 1st inst., closing with my
proposition for compromise, was duly received. I will be on
hand, and in due time will notify you of the exact day. I
believe, after all, I shall make a political speech of it. You
have no objection?
“I would like to know in advance, whether I am also to speak in
New York.
“Very, very glad your election went right.
“Yours truly,
“A. LINCOLN.
“P.S.--I am here at court, but my address is still at
Springfield, Ill.”
In due time Mr. Lincoln wrote me that he would deliver the lecture,
a political one, on the evening of the 27th of February, 1860. This
was rather late in the season for a lecture, and the young gentlemen
who were responsible were doubtful about its success, as the expenses
were large. It was stipulated that the lecture was to be in Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn; I requested and urged that the lecture should be
delivered at the Cooper Institute. They were fearful it would not pay
expenses--$350. I thought it would.
In order to relieve Messrs. Richards, Pettingill, and Tubbs of all
responsibility, I called upon some of the officers of “The Young Men’s
Republican Union,” and proposed that they should take Mr. Lincoln,
and that the lecture should be delivered under their auspices. They
respectfully declined.
I next called upon Mr. Simeon Draper, then president of “The Draper
Republican Union Club of New York,” and proposed to him that his
“Union” take Mr. Lincoln and the lecture, and assume the responsibility
of the expenses. Mr. Draper and his friends declined, and Mr. Lincoln
was left on the hands of “the original Jacobs.”
After considerable discussion, it was agreed on the part of the young
gentlemen that the lecture should be delivered in the Cooper Institute,
if I would agree to share one-fourth of the expenses, if the sale of
the tickets (25 cents) for the lecture did not meet the outlay. To
this I assented, and the lecture was advertised to be delivered in the
Cooper Institute, on the evening of the 27th of February.
Mr. Lincoln read the notice of the lecture in the papers, and, without
any knowledge of the arrangement, was somewhat surprised to learn
that he was first to make his appearance before a New York audience,
instead of a Plymouth Church audience. A notice of the proposed lecture
appeared in the New York papers, and the _Times_ spoke of him “as a
lawyer who had some local reputation in Illinois.”
At my personal solicitation MR. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT presided
as chairman of the meeting, and introduced Mr. Lincoln for the first
time to a New York audience.
The lecture was a wonderful success; it has become a part of the
history of the country. Its remarkable ability was everywhere
acknowledged, and after the 27th of February the name of Mr. Lincoln
was a familiar one to all the people of the East. After Mr. Lincoln
closed his lecture, Mr. David Dudley Field, Mr. James W. Nye, Mr.
Horace Greeley, and myself were called out by the audience and made
short speeches. I remember of saying then, “One of three gentlemen
will be our standard-bearer in the presidential contest of this year:
the distinguished Senator of New York, Mr. Seward; the late able and
accomplished Governor of Ohio, Mr. Chase; or the ‘Unknown Knight’ who
entered the political lists against the Bois Guilbert of Democracy on
the prairies of Illinois in 1858, and unhorsed him--Abraham Lincoln.”
Some friends joked me after the meeting as not being a “good prophet.”
The lecture was over--all the expenses were paid, and I was handed by
the gentlemen interested the sum of $4.25 as my share of the profits,
as they would have called on me if there had been a deficiency in the
receipts to meet the expenses.
Immediately after the lecture, Mr. Lincoln went to Exeter, N. H., to
visit his son Robert, then at school there, and I sent him a check for
$200. Mr. Tubbs informed me a few weeks ago that after the check was
paid at the Park Bank he tore it up; but that he would give $200 for
the check if it could be restored with the endorsement of “A. Lincoln,”
as it was made payable to the order of Mr. Lincoln.
After the return of Mr. Lincoln to New York from the East, where he
had made several speeches, he said to me, “I have seen what all the
New York papers said about that thing of mine in the Cooper Institute,
with the exception of the New York _Evening Post_, and I would like to
know what Mr. Bryant thought of it;” and he then added, “It is worth a
visit from Springfield, Illinois, to New York to make the acquaintance
of such a man as WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.” At Mr. Lincoln’s
request, I sent him a copy of the _Evening Post_ with a notice of his
lecture.
On returning from Mr. Beecher’s Church, on Sunday, in company with
Mr. Lincoln, as we were passing the post-office, I remarked to him,
“Mr. Lincoln, I wish you would take particular notice of what a dark
and dismal place we have here for a post-office, and I do it for this
reason: I think your chance for being the next President is equal
to that of any man in the country. When you are President will you
recommend an appropriation of a million of dollars for a suitable
location for a post-office in this city?” With a significant gesture
Mr. Lincoln remarked, “I will make a note of that.”
On going up Broadway with Mr. Lincoln in the evening, from the Astor
House, to hear the Rev. Dr. E. H. Chapin, he said to me, “When I was
East several gentlemen made about the same remarks to me that you did
to-day about the Presidency; they thought my chances were about equal
to the best.”
JAMES A. BRIGGS.
N.B.--The writers of Mr. Lincoln’s Biography have things considerably
mixed about Mr. Lincoln going to the Five Points Mission School, at
the Five Points, in New York, that he found his way there alone, etc.,
etc. Mr. Lincoln went there in the afternoon with his old friend
Hiram Barney, Esq., and after Mr. B. had informed Mr. Barlow, the
Superintendent, who the stranger with him was, Mr. Barlow requested
Mr. Lincoln to speak to the children, which he did. I met Mr. Lincoln
at Mr. Barney’s at tea, just after this pleasant, and to him strange,
visit at the Five Points Mission School.
J. A. B.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Lamon, c. i. p. 1.
[2] Addressed to J. W. Fell, March, 1872.
[3] Lamon, p. 7.
[4] In 1865, I saw many companies and a few regiments “mustered out” in
Nashville, Tennessee. In the most intelligent companies, only one man
in eight or nine could sign his name. Fewer still could read.--C. G. L.
[5] J. G. Holland, p. 22.
[6] J. G. Holland, “Life of Lincoln,” p. 28. The children probably
slept on the earth. The writer has seen a man, owning hundreds of
acres of rich bottom land, living in a log-hut, nearly such as is here
described. There was only a single stool, an iron pot, a knife, and a
gun in the cabin, but no bedstead, the occupant and his wife sleeping
in two cavities in the dirt-floor. Such had been their home for years.
[7] Lamon, vol. i., pp. 31 and 40. Abraham’s father is said by
Dennis Hanks (from whom Mr. Herndon, Lamon’s authority, derived much
information) to have loved his son, but it is certain that, at the same
time, he treated him very cruelly. Hanks admits that he had several
times seen little Abraham knocked headlong from the fence by his
father, while civilly answering questions put by travellers as to their
way.
[8] W. H. Herndon, who was for many years the law-partner of Abraham
Lincoln, in a letter to me, written not long after the murder of his
old friend, earnestly asserted his opinion that the late President was
a greater man than General Washington, founding his opinion on the
greater difficulties which he subdued.--C. G. L.
[9] “Abraham’s poverty of books was the wealth of his life.”--J. G.
HOLLAND.
[10] Lamon, p. 54.
[11] Holland and Lamon.
[12] _Vide_ Ripley and Dana’s “Cyclopædia;” also, article from the
Boston “Commercial Advertiser,” cited by Lamon.
[13] Raymond, “Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln,” p. 25.
[14] Mr. Lincoln “spoke forgetfully” on this occasion. Owing to the
drunkenness and insubordination of his men, which he could not help,
he was once obliged to carry a wooden sword for two days.--Lamon, p.
104. On a previous occasion, he had been under arrest, and was deprived
of _his sword_ for one day, for firing a pistol within ten steps of
camp.--_Ibid._, p. 103.
[15] Holland, p. 53.
[16] Holland passes over the wisdom or unwisdom of these measures
without comment. According to Ford (“History of Illinois”) and Lamon,
the whole state was by them “simply bought up and bribed to support the
most senseless and disastrous policy which ever crippled the energies
of a growing country.” It is certain that, in any country where the
internal resources are enormous and the inhabitants intelligent,
enterprising, and poor, such legislation will always find favour.
[17] His biographies abound in proof of this. “He believed that a man,
in order to effect anything, should work through organisations of
men.”--Holland, p. 92. It is very difficult for any one not brought
up in the United States to realise the degree to which this idea can
influence men, and determine their whole moral nature.
[18] It is a matter of regret that, when Lincoln, long after, went to
see his idol and ideal, he was greatly disappointed in him.--Holland,
p. 95. Lamon denies this visit, but does not disprove it.
[19] Lamon, p. 275, says there can be no doubt that Mr. Lincoln _would_
have cheerfully made such a dishonourable and tricky agreement, but
inclines to think he did not. It is very doubtful whether the compact,
if it existed at all, was not made simply for the purpose of excluding
the Democrats.
[20] Holland, p. 82. A picayune is six cents, or 3d.
[21] There were no free schools in South Carolina until 1852, and it
was a serious crime to teach a negro to read.
[22] Arnold, “History of Lincoln,” p. 33.
[23] A law by which slaves who had escaped to free states were returned
to their owners. The writer, as a boy, has seen many cruel instances of
the manner in which the old slave law was carried out. But while great
pains were taken to hunt down and return slaves who had escaped to free
states, there was literally nothing done to return free coloured people
who had been inveigled or carried by force to the South, and there
sold as slaves. It was believed that, at one time, hardly a day passed
during which a free black was not thus entrapped from Pennsylvania. The
writer once knew, in Philadelphia, a boy of purely white blood, but
of dark complexion, who narrowly escaped being kidnapped by downright
violence, that he might be “sent South.” White children were commonly
terrified by parents or nurses with “the kidnappers,” who would black
their faces, and sell them. Even in the Northern cities, there were few
grown-up negro men who had not, at one time or another, been hunted by
the lower classes of whites through the streets in the most incredibly
barbarous manner.
[24] Arnold, p. 95.
[25] George Bancroft, “Oration on Lincoln,” pp. 13, 14.
[26] David R. Locke, who, under the name of Petroleum V. Nasby, wrote
political satires much admired by Mr. Lincoln.
[27] See Appendix.
[28] This honour had only been twice conferred before--once on
Washington, and once by brevet on General W. Scott.--Badeau’s “Life of
Grant.”
[29] Those who sympathised with the South were called Copperheads,
after the deadly and treacherous snake of that name common in the
Western and Southern United States.
[30] Sherman’s Report, 1865; also, Report of Secretary of War, 1865.
[31] Stephens’ Statement, Augusta, Georgia, “Chronicle,” June 17th,
1875. Quoted by Dr. Brockett, p. 579.
[32] It should be said that Meade, under Grant’s orders, was, however,
now one of Lee’s most vigorous pursuers.
[33] _Vide_ Frank Moore’s “Rebellion Record,” 1864-5--Rumours and
Incidents, p. 9.
[34] See “Trial and Sentence of Beal and Kennedy,” M’Pherson’s
“Political History,” pp. 552, 553.
[35] The late Henry J. Raymond, then editor of the New York Times.
[36] “White people”--civilised, decent, kind-hearted people.
INDEX.
Abolitionism, 49, 66, 122, 126, 168.
Alabama, 145, 196.
Anti-slavery protest, 48, 50, 51;
resolutions, 59.
Baldwin, John, the smith, 27.
Barbarities, 186.
Black regiment, charge of the, 161.
Black’s (Judge) decision, 93.
Blockade declared, 108.
Booth, his plans, 221;
antecedents, 223;
death, 229.
Border ruffians and outrages, 68, 69, 71.
Buchanan, President, 92.
Bull Run, 113, 114.
Burnside, General, 142.
Cabinet, treason in the, 92.
Chancellorsville, battle of, 148.
Chattanooga, battle of, 164.
Clay, Henry, 57.
Compromises of 1826 and 1850, 66.
Confederate organisation in Europe, 117;
agents in Canada, 197;
proposals, 205.
Conspiracies, suspected, 88.
Copperheads, 96, 179;
book of, 237.
Colonisation of slaves proposed, 123.
Cost of the war, 219.
Davis, Jefferson, President of Confederacy, 94, 109;
escape of, 217.
“Dred Scott” decision, 73.
Douglas, Stephen, 47, 67, 69, 70, 74, 77, 84, 110.
Ellsworth and Winthrop, death of, 112.
Enlistment of coloured troops, 133.
Exhaustive effects of Northern incursions, 185.
Farragut, Admiral, 194.
Fox River anecdote, 95.
Fremont, 73, 169.
Gettysburg, battle of, 150.
Gloom of 1864, 179.
Grant, “Unconditional Surrender,” 137;
daring march, 157;
succession of victories, 158;
last battle, 212;
chase of Lee, 215.
Greeley, Horace, 79.
Hanks, Nancy, 9, 12, 15.
Hood, General, 188.
Hooker, General, 187.
Hicks, Governor, and Maryland, 107, 108.
Jackson, death of General Stonewall, 149.
Johnston, Mrs., Lincoln’s second mother, 18-20.
Jones of Gentryville, 26.
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 67.
Kidnapping negroes (note), 67.
Lecompton Constitution, 74.
Lincoln, Mordecai and Abraham, 10.
Lincoln, Thomas, his character, 12;
his marriage, 15.
Lincoln, Abraham, his family, 9, 10;
birth and birth-place, 9;
grandfather killed by Indians, 11;
schools, 15;
migrations, 16, 30;
hereditary traits, 13;
poverty and privations, 17;
education, 20;
death of his mother, 18;
acts as ferry-man, 25;
characteristics and habits in youth, 21, 22, 23, 25;
physical strength, 26, 33;
early literary efforts, 27;
temperance, 26;
earns a dollar, 29;
personal appearance, 31;
first public speech, 31;
splitting rails, 31;
postmaster, 43;
Black Hawk Indian war--a captain--quells a mutiny, 35-38;
love affairs, 45, 54;
entrance into political life, 41;
becomes a merchant, and studies law, 42;
surveying studies, 43;
legal experiences, 61, 62, 63;
personal popularity, 57;
elected to legislature, 44, 45, 70;
removal to Springfield, and practice of law, 53;
generosity, 57;
enters Congress--first speech, 58;
Presidential candidate, 54;
declines nomination to the Senate, 70;
“house-divided-against-itself” speech, 75;
nomination for Presidency, 79, 80, 81, 82;
lectures in New York and England, 79, 80, 81;
elected President, 85;
address at Springfield, 89;
inaugural speech, 97;
first Cabinet, 100;
wise forbearance, 103;
his mercy, 172, 175;
second election, 199;
assassination, 225;
death, 227;
funeral procession, 231;
lying in state, 231;
interment, 232;
general summary of character, 233-244;
wit and humour, 240, 241, 242.
Long Nine, the, 46, 47.
Mason and Sliddell affair, 131.
M‘Clellan, General, 115;
apathy of, 140.
Merrimac, the, 141.
Mexican war, 59.
Mexico, the French in, 167.
Nasby, Petroleum V., 236.
Negroes, reception of, 204.
Pea Ridge, battle of, 138.
Port Hudson, surrender of, 162.
Privations in the South, 185.
Proclamation of April 15, 1861, 105.
Prosperity of the North, 180.
Quantrill’s guerillas, 170.
Rebellion, breaking out of, 91, 94;
progress of, 111.
Religion and irreligion, 55, 56.
Republican party, origin of, 72.
Richmond, fall of, 213.
Riot in New York, 165.
Sanitary fairs, 182.
Secession, 86, 87, 93.
Seward, W. A., refuses to meet the Rebel Commissioners, 102.
Sherman’s march, 188, 193.
Shiloh, battle of, 138.
Slavery--slave trade, 103;
argument against, 71;
slave party, 64, 65.
Sumter, fall of Fort, 104.
Surrender of Confederate forces, 216.
Tennessee, the campaign in, 163.
Todd, Mary, 55.
Union troops attacked, 106.
Virginia’s secession, 109, 115.
War, organisation of, 113.
Wilderness, battle of the, 192.
Wilmot’s proviso, 66.