THE ANTIETAM EPISODE.--LINCOLN'S LOVE OF SONG.
In the autumn of 1862 I chanced to be associated with Mr. Lincoln in a
transaction which, though innocent and commonplace in itself, was blown
by rumor and surmise into a revolting and deplorable scandal. A
conjectural lie, although mean, misshapen, and very small at its birth,
grew at length into a tempest of defamation, whose last echoes were not
heard until its noble victim had yielded his life to a form of
assassination only a trifle more deadly.
Mr. Lincoln was painted as the prime mover in a scene of fiendish levity
more atrocious than the world had ever witnessed since human nature was
shamed and degraded by the capers of Nero and Commodus. I refer to what
is known as the Antietam song-singing; and I propose to show that the
popular construction put upon that incident was wholly destitute of
truth.
Mr. Lincoln persistently declined to read the harsh comments of the
newspaper press and the fierce mouthings of platform orators; and under
his advice I as persistently refused to make any public statement
concerning that ill-judged affair. He believed with Sir Walter Scott,
that, if a cause of action is good, it needs no vindication from the
actor's motives; if bad, it can derive none. When I suggested to him
that the slander ought to be refuted,--that a word from him would
silence his defamers,--Mr. Lincoln replied with great earnestness: "No,
Hill; there has already been too much said about this falsehood. Let the
thing alone. If I have not established character enough to give the lie
to this charge, I can only say that I am mistaken in my own estimate of
myself. In politics, every man must skin his own skunk. These fellows
are welcome to the hide of this one. Its body has already given forth
its unsavory odor."
The newspapers and the stump-speakers went on "stuffing the ears of men
with false reports" until the fall of 1864, when I showed to Mr. Lincoln
a letter, of which the following is a copy. It is a fair sample of
hundreds of letters received by me about that time, the Antietam
incident being then discussed with increased virulence and new
accessions of false coloring.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10, 1864.
WARD H. LAMON:
_Dear Sir_,--Enclosed is an extract from the New York "World" of
Sept. 9, 1864:--
"ONE OF MR. LINCOLN'S JOKES.--The second verse of our campaign song
published on this page was probably suggested by an incident which
occurred on the battle-field of Antietam a few days after the
fight. While the President was driving over the field in an
ambulance, accompanied by Marshal Lamon, General McClellan, and
another officer, heavy details of men were engaged in the task of
burying the dead. The ambulance had just reached the neighborhood
of the old stone bridge, where the dead were piled highest, when
Mr. Lincoln, suddenly slapping Marshal Lamon on the knee,
exclaimed: 'Come, Lamon, give us that song about Picayune Butler;
McClellan has never heard it.' 'Not now, if you please,' said
General McClellan, with a shudder; 'I would prefer to hear it some
other place and time.'"
This story has been repeated in the New York "World" almost daily
for the last three months. Until now it would have been useless to
demand its authority. By this article it limits the inquiry to
three persons as its authority,--Marshal Lamon, another officer,
and General McClellan. That it is a damaging story, if believed,
cannot be disputed. That it is believed by some, or that they
pretend to believe it, is evident by the accompanying verse from
the doggerel, in which allusion is made to it:--
"Abe may crack his jolly jokes
O'er bloody fields of stricken battle,
While yet the ebbing life-tide smokes
From men that die like butchered cattle;
He, ere yet the guns grow cold,
To pimps and pets may crack his stories," etc.
I wish to ask you, sir, in behalf of others as well as myself,
whether any such occurrence took place; or if it did not take
place, please to state who that "other officer" was, if there was
any such, in the ambulance in which the President "was driving over
the field [of Antietam] whilst details of men were engaged in the
task of burying the dead." You will confer a great favor by an
immediate reply.
Most respectfully your obedient servant,
A. J. PERKINS.
Along with the above I submitted to Mr. Lincoln my own draft of what I
conceived to be a suitable reply. The brutal directness and falsity of
the "World's" charge, and the still more brutal and insulting character
of the doggerel with which it was garnished, impelled me to season my
reply to Mr. Perkins's letter with a large infusion of "vinegar and
gall." After carefully reading both letters, Mr. Lincoln shook his head.
"No, Lamon," said he, "I would not publish this reply; it is too
belligerent in tone for so grave a matter. There is a heap of
'cussedness' mixed up with your usual amiability, and you are at times
too fond of a fight. If I were you, I would simply state the facts as
they were. I would give the statement as you have here, without the
pepper and salt. Let me try my hand at it." He then took up a pen and
wrote the following. It was to be copied by me and forwarded to Mr.
Perkins as my refutation of the slander.
"The President has known me intimately for nearly twenty years, and
has often heard me sing little ditties. The battle of Antietam was
fought on the 17th day of September, 1862. On the first day of
October, just two weeks after the battle, the President, with some
others including myself, started from Washington to visit the Army,
reaching Harper's Ferry at noon of that day. In a short while
General McClellan came from his headquarters near the
battle-ground, joined the President, and with him reviewed the
troops at Bolivar Heights that afternoon, and at night returned to
his headquarters, leaving the President at Harper's Ferry. On the
morning of the second the President, with General Sumner, reviewed
the troops respectively at Loudon Heights and Maryland Heights, and
at about noon started to General McClellan's headquarters, reaching
there only in time to see very little before night. On the morning
of the third all started on a review of the third corps and the
cavalry, in the vicinity of the Antietam battle-ground. After
getting through with General Burnside's corps, at the suggestion of
General McClellan he and the President left their horses to be led,
and went into an ambulance or ambulances to go to General Fitz John
Porter's corps, which was two or three miles distant. I am not sure
whether the President and General McClellan were in the same
ambulance, or in different ones; but myself and some others were in
the same with the President. On the way, and on no part of the
battle-ground, and on what suggestions I do not remember, the
President asked me to sing the little sad song that follows, which
he had often heard me sing, and had always seemed to like very
much. I sang it. After it was over, some one of the party (I do not
think it was the President) asked me to sing something else; and I
sang two or three little comic things, of which 'Picayune Butler'
was one. Porter's corps was reached and reviewed; then the
battle-ground was passed over, and the most noted parts examined;
then, in succession, the cavalry and Franklin's corps were
reviewed, and the President and party returned to General
McClellan's headquarters at the end of a very hard, hot, and dusty
day's work. Next day, the 4th, the President and General McClellan
visited such of the wounded as still remained in the vicinity,
including the now lamented General Richardson; then proceeded to
and examined the South-Mountain battle-ground, at which point they
parted,--General McClellan returning to his camp, and the President
returning to Washington, seeing, on the way, General Hartsoff, who
lay wounded at Frederick Town.
"This is the whole story of the singing and its surroundings.
Neither General McClellan nor any one else made any objections to
the singing; the place was not on the battle-field; the time was
sixteen days after the battle; no dead body was seen during the
whole time the President was absent from Washington, nor even a
grave that had not been rained on since it was made."
[Illustration: Hand written letter quoted above page 1]
[Illustration: Hand written letter quoted above page 2]
This perfectly truthful statement was written by Mr. Lincoln about the
12th of September, 1864, less than two years after the occurrence of the
events therein described. It was done slowly, and with great
deliberation and care. The statement, however, was never made public.
Mr. Lincoln said to me: "You know, Hill, that this is the truth and the
whole truth about that affair; but I dislike to appear as an apologist
for an act of my own which I know was right. Keep this paper, and we
will see about it." The momentous and all-engrossing events of the war
caused the Antietam episode to be forgotten by the President for a time;
the statement was not given to the press, but has remained in my
possession until this day.
Mark how simple the explanation is! Mr. Lincoln did not ask me to sing
"Picayune Butler." No song was sung on the battle-field. The singing
occurred on the way from Burnside's corps to Fitz John Porter's corps,
some distance from the battle-ground, and sixteen days after the battle.
Moreover, Mr. Lincoln had said to me, "Lamon, sing one of your little
sad songs,"--and thereby hangs a tale which is well worth the telling,
as it illustrates a striking phase of Mr. Lincoln's character which has
never been fully revealed.
I knew well what Mr. Lincoln meant by "the little sad songs." The
sentiment that prompted him to call for such a song had its history,
and one of deep and touching interest to me. One "little sad song"--a
simple ballad entitled "Twenty Years Ago"--was, above all others, his
favorite. He had no special fondness for operatic music; he loved simple
ballads and ditties, such as the common people sing, whether of the
comic or pathetic kind; but no one in the list touched his great heart
as did the song of "Twenty Years Ago." Many a time, in the old days of
our familiar friendship on the Illinois circuit, and often at the White
House when he and I were alone, have I seen him in tears while I was
rendering, in my poor way, that homely melody. The late Judge David
Davis, the Hon. Leonard Swett, and Judge Corydon Beckwith were equally
partial to the same ballad. Often have I seen those great men overcome
by the peculiar charm they seemed to find in the sentiment and melody of
that simple song. The following verses seemed to affect Mr. Lincoln more
deeply than any of the others:--
"I've wandered to the village, Tom; I've sat beneath the tree
Upon the schoolhouse play-ground, that sheltered you and me:
But none were left to greet me, Tom, and few were left to know
Who played with us upon the green, some twenty years ago.
"Near by the spring, upon the elm you know I cut your name,--
Your sweetheart's just beneath it, Tom; and you did mine the same.
Some heartless wretch has peeled the bark,--'twas dying sure but slow,
Just as _she_ died whose name you cut, some twenty years ago.
"My lids have long been dry, Tom, but tears came to my eyes;
I thought of her I loved so well, those early broken ties:
I visited the old churchyard, and took some flowers to strew
Upon the graves of these we loved, some twenty years ago."
This is the song Mr. Lincoln called for, and the one I sang to him in
the vicinity of Antietam. He was at the time weary and sad. As I well
knew it would, the song only deepened his sadness. I then did what I had
done many times before: I startled him from his melancholy by striking
up a comic air, singing also a snatch from "Picayune Butler," which
broke the spell of "the little sad song," and restored somewhat his
accustomed easy humor. It was not the first time I had pushed
hilarity--simulated though it was--to an extreme for his sake. I had
often recalled him from a pit of melancholy into which he was prone to
descend, by a jest, a comic song, or a provoking sally of a startling
kind; and Mr. Lincoln always thanked me afterward for my well-timed
rudeness "of kind intent."
This reminds me of one or two little rhythmic shots I often fired at him
in his melancholy moods, and it was a kind of nonsense that he always
keenly relished. One was a parody on "Life on the Ocean Wave."
Mr. Lincoln would always laugh immoderately when I sang this jingling
nonsense to him. It reminded him of the rude and often witty ballads
that had amused him in his boyhood days. He was fond of negro melodies,
and "The Blue-Tailed Fly" was a favorite. He often called for that
buzzing ballad when we were alone, and he wanted to throw off the weight
of public and private cares.
A comic song in the theatre always restored Mr. Lincoln's cheerful
good-humor. But while he had a great fondness for witty and
mirth-provoking ballads, our grand old patriotic airs and songs of the
tender and sentimental kind afforded him the deepest pleasure. "Ben
Bolt" was one of his favorite ballads; so was "The Sword of Bunker
Hill;" and he was always deeply moved by "The Lament of the Irish
Emigrant," especially the following touching lines:--
"I'm very lonely now, Mary,
For the poor make no new friends;
But, oh, they love the better still
The few our Father sends!
And you were all I had, Mary,
My blessing and my pride;
There's nothing left to care for now,
Since my poor Mary died."
Many examples can be given illustrative of this phase of Mr. Lincoln's
character,--the blending of the mirthful and the melancholy in his
singular love of music and verse. When he was seventeen years old, his
sister was married. The festivities of the occasion were made memorable
by a song entitled "Adam and Eve's Wedding Song," which many believed
was composed by Mr. Lincoln himself. The conceits embodied in the verses
were old before Mr. Lincoln was born; but there is some intrinsic as
well as extrinsic evidence to show that the doggerel itself was his.
ADAM AND EVE'S WEDDING SONG.
When Adam was created, he dwelt in Eden's shade,
As Moses has recorded; and soon an Eve was made.
Ten thousand times ten thousand
Of creatures swarmed around
Before a bride was formed,
And yet no mate was found.
The Lord then was not willing
The man should be alone,
But caused a sleep upon him,
And took from him a bone.
And closed the flesh in that place of;
And then he took the same,
And of it made a woman,
And brought her to the man.
Then Adam he rejoiced
To see his loving bride,--
A part of his own body,
The product of his side.
This woman was not taken
From Adam's feet, we see;
So he must not abuse her,
The meaning seems to be.
This woman was not taken
From Adam's head, we know;
To show she must not rule him,
'Tis evidently so.
This woman she was taken
From under Adam's arm;
So she must be protected
From injuries and harm.
But the lines which Mr. Lincoln liked best of all, and which were
repeated by him more often than any other, were--
"Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
Mr. Carpenter in his "Six Months at the White House" gives them in full
as follows:--
"Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
"The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around, and together be laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and the high,
Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie.
"The infant a mother attended and loved;
The mother that infant's affection who proved;
The husband that mother and infant who blest,--
Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.
"The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure, her triumphs are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and praised,
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.
"The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne,
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn,
The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.
"The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap,
The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep,
The beggar who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.
"The saint who enjoyed the communion of Heaven,
The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven,
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.
"So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed,
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes, even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.
"For we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the same sights our fathers have seen;
We drink the same stream, we view the same sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.
"The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink;
To the life we are clinging they also would cling,
But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.
"They loved, but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved, but no wail from their slumber will come;
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.
"They died,--ay, they died: we things that are now,
That walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
And make in their dwellings a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.
"Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other like surge upon surge.
"'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath,
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,--
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
These curiously sad lines were chosen by Mr. Lincoln when he was a very
young man to commemorate a grief which lay with continual heaviness on
his heart, but to which he could not otherwise allude,--the death of Ann
Rutledge, in whose grave Mr. Lincoln said that his heart lay buried. He
muttered these verses as he rambled through the woods; he was heard to
murmur them as he slipped into the village at nightfall; they came
unbidden to his lips in all places, and very often in his later life. In
the year of his nomination, he repeated them to some friends. When he
had finished them, he said "they sounded to him as much like true poetry
as anything that he had ever heard." The poem is now his; it is
imperishably associated with his memory and interwoven with the history
of his greatest sorrow. Mr. Lincoln's adoption of it has saved it from
oblivion, and translated it from the "poet's corner" of the country
newspaper to a place in the story of his own life.
But enough has been given to show that Mr. Lincoln was as incapable of
insulting the dead, in the manner credited to him in the Antietam
episode, as he was of committing mean and unmanly outrages upon the
living. If hypercritical and self-appointed judges are still disposed to
award blame for anything that happened on that occasion, let their
censure fall upon me, and not upon the memory of the illustrious dead,
who was guiltless of wrong and without the shadow of blame for the part
he bore in that misjudged affair. My own part in the incident, in the
light of the facts here given, needs no apology.