Leonard Swett told this eminently characteristic story:
“I remember one day being in his room when Lincoln was sitting at his
table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a pleasant talk
he turned quite abruptly and said: ‘Get out of the way, Swett; to-morrow
is butcher-day, and I must go through these papers and see if I cannot
find some excuse to let these poor fellows off.’
“The pile of papers he had were the records of courts-martial of men who
on the following day were to be shot.”
“THE BAD BIRD AND THE MUDSILL.”
It took quite a long time, as well as the lives of thousands of men, to
say nothing of the cost in money, to take Richmond, the Capital City of
the Confederacy. In this cartoon, taken from “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated
Newspaper,” of February 21, 1863, Jeff Davis is sitting upon the
Secession eggs in the “Richmond” nest, smiling down upon President
Lincoln, who is up to his waist in the Mud of Difficulties.
The President finally waded through the morass, in which he had become
immersed, got to the tree, climbed its trunk, reached the limb, upon
which the “bad bird” had built its nest, threw the mother out, destroyed
the eggs of Secession and then took the nest away with him, leaving the
“bad bird” without any home at all.
The “bad bird” had its laugh first, but the last laugh belonged to the
“mudsill,” as the cartoonist was pleased to call the President of the
United States. It is true that the President got his clothes and hat all
covered with mud, but as the job was a dirty one, as well as one that
had to be done, the President didn’t care. He was able to get another
suit of clothes, as well as another hat, but the “bad bird” couldn’t,
and didn’t, get another nest.
The laugh was on the “bad bird” after all.