The day of Lincoln’s second nomination for the Presidency he forgot
all about the Republican National Convention, sitting at Baltimore,
and wandered over to the War Department. While there, a telegram came
announcing the nomination of Johnson as Vice-President.
“What,” said Lincoln to the operator, “do they nominate a Vice-President
before they do a President?”
“Why,” replied the astonished official, “have you not heard of your own
nomination? It was sent to the White House two hours ago.”
“It is all right,” replied the President; “I shall probably find it on
my return.”
“THEM GILLITEENS.”
The illustrated newspapers of the United States and England had a good
deal of fun, not only with President Lincoln, but the latter’s Cabinet
officers and military commanders as well. It was said by these
funny publications that the President had set up a guillotine in his
“back-yard,” where all those who offended were beheaded with both
neatness, and despatch. “Harper’s Weekly” of January 3rd, 1863,
contained a cartoon labeled “Those Guillotines; a Little Incident at the
White House,” the personages figuring in the “incident” being Secretary
of War Stanton and a Union general who had been unfortunate enough to
lose a battle to the Confederates. Beneath the cartoon was the following
dialogue:
SERVANT: “If ye plase, sir, them Gilliteens has arrove.” MR. LINCOLN:
“All right, Michael. Now, gentlemen, will you be kind enough to step out
in the back-yard?”
The hair and whiskers of Secretary of War Stanton are ruffled and awry,
and his features are not calm and undisturbed, indicating that he has
an idea of what’s the matter in that back-yard; the countenance of the
officer in the rear of the Secretary of War wears rather an anxious, or
worried, look, and his hair isn’t combed smoothly, either.
President Lincoln’s frequent changes among army commanders--before
he found Grant, Sherman and Sheridan--afforded an opportunity the
caricaturists did not neglect, and some very clever cartoons were the
consequence.
“CONSIDER THE SYMPATHY OF LINCOLN.”
Consider the sympathy of Abraham Lincoln. Do you know the story of
William Scott, private? He was a boy from a Vermont farm.
There had been a long march, and the night succeeding it he had stood on
picket. The next day there had been another long march, and that night
William Scott had volunteered to stand guard in the place of a sick
comrade who had been drawn for the duty.
It was too much for William Scott. He was too tired. He had been found
sleeping on his beat.
The army was at Chain Bridge. It was in a dangerous neighborhood.
Discipline must be kept.
William Scott was apprehended, tried by court-martial, sentenced to
be shot. News of the case was carried to Lincoln. William Scott was a
prisoner in his tent, expecting to be shot next day.
But the flaps of his tent were parted, and Lincoln stood before him.
Scott said:
“The President was the kindest man I had ever seen; I knew him at once
by a Lincoln medal I had long worn.
“I was scared at first, for I had never before talked with a great man;
but Mr. Lincoln was so easy with me, so gentle, that I soon forgot my
fright.
“He asked me all about the people at home, the neighbors, the farm, and
where I went to school, and who my schoolmates were. Then he asked
me about mother and how she looked; and I was glad I could take her
photograph from my bosom and show it to him.
“He said how thankful I ought to be that my mother still lived, and how,
if he were in my place, he would try to make her a proud mother, and
never cause her a sorrow or a tear.
“I cannot remember it all, but every word was so kind.
“He had said nothing yet about that dreadful next morning; I thought it
must be that he was so kind-hearted that he didn’t like to speak of it.
“But why did he say so much about my mother, and my not causing her a
sorrow or a tear, when I knew that I must die the next morning?
“But I supposed that was something that would have to go unexplained;
and so I determined to brace up and tell him that I did not feel a bit
guilty, and ask him wouldn’t he fix it so that the firing party would
not be from our regiment.
“That was going to be the hardest of all--to die by the hands of my
comrades.
“Just as I was going to ask him this favor, he stood up, and he says to
me:
“‘My boy, stand up here and look me in the face.’
“I did as he bade me.
“‘My boy,’ he said, ‘you are not going to be shot to-morrow. I believe
you when you tell me that you could not keep awake.
“‘I am going to trust you, and send you back to your regiment.
“‘But I have been put to a good deal of trouble on your account.
“‘I have had to come up here from Washington when I have got a great
deal to do; and what I want to know is, how are you going to pay my
bill?’
“There was a big lump in my throat; I could scarcely speak. I had
expected to die, you see, and had kind of got used to thinking that way.
“To have it all changed in a minute! But I got it crowded down, and
managed to say:
“‘I am grateful, Mr. Lincoln! I hope I am as grateful as ever a man can
be to you for saving my life.
“‘But it comes upon me sudden and unexpected like. I didn’t lay out for
it at all; but there is some way to pay you, and I will find it after a
little.
“‘There is the bounty in the savings bank; I guess we could borrow some
money on the mortgage of the farm.’
“‘There was my pay was something, and if he would wait until pay-day
I was sure the boys would help; so I thought we could make it up if it
wasn’t more than five or six hundred dollars.
“‘But it is a great deal more than that,’ he said.
“Then I said I didn’t just see how, but I was sure I would find some
way--if I lived.
“Then Mr. Lincoln put his hands on my shoulders, and looked into my face
as if he was sorry, and said; “‘My boy, my bill is a very large one.
Your friends cannot pay it, nor your bounty, nor the farm, nor all your
comrades!
“‘There is only one man in all the world who can pay it, and his name is
William Scott!
“‘If from this day William Scott does his duty, so that, if I was there
when he comes to die, he can look me in the face as he does now, and
say, I have kept my promise, and I have done my duty as a soldier, then
my debt will be paid.
“‘Will you make that promise and try to keep it?”
The promise was given. Thenceforward there never was such a soldier as
William Scott.
This is the record of the end. It was after one of the awful battles of
the Peninsula. He was shot all to pieces. He said:
“Boys, I shall never see another battle. I supposed this would be my
last. I haven’t much to say.
“You all know what you can tell them at home about me.
“I have tried to do the right thing! If any of you ever have the chance
I wish you would tell President Lincoln that I have never forgotten the
kind words he said to me at the Chain Bridge; that I have tried to be a
good soldier and true to the flag; that I should have paid my whole
debt to him if I had lived; and that now, when I know that I am dying,
I think of his kind face, and thank him again, because he gave me the
chance to fall like a soldier in battle, and not like a coward, by the
hands of my comrades.”
What wonder that Secretary Stanton said, as he gazed upon the tall form
and kindly face as he lay there, smitten down by the assassin’s bullet,
“There lies the most perfect ruler of men who ever lived.”