Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865

Preface

THE reason for thinking that the public may be interested in my father's recollections of Mr. Lincoln, will be found in the following letter from Hon. J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior

during the war: —

Lawrence, Kansas, May 20, 1885.

Ward H. Lamoriy Esq.^ Denver^ Col.

Dear Sir, — There are now but few left who were intimately acquainted with Mr. Lincoln. I do not call to mind any one who was so much with him as yourself. You were his partner for years in the practice of law, his confidential friend during the time he was President. I venture to say there is now none living other than yourself in whom he so much confided, and to whom he gave free expression of his feeling towards others, his trials and troubles in conducting his great office. You were with him, I know, more than any other one. I think, in view of all the circumstances and of the growing interest which the rising generation takes in all that he did and said, you ought to take the time, if you can, to commit to writing your recollections of him, his sayings and doings, which were not necessarily committed to writing

Vi PREFACE.

and made public. Won't you do it? Can you not, through a series of articles to be published in some of the magazines, lay before the public a history of his inner life, so that the multitude may read and know much more of that wonderful man? Although I knew him quite well for many years, yet I am deeply interested in all that he said and did, and I am persuaded that the multitude of the people feel a like interest. Truly and sincerely yours, (Signed) J. P. Usher.

In compiling this little volume, I have taken as a foundation some anecdotal reminiscences already published in newspapers by my father, and have adt#ed to them from letters and manuscript left by him.

If the production seems fragmentary and lacking in purpose, the fault is due to the variety of sources from which I have selected the material. Some of it has been taken from serious manuscript which my father intended for a work of history, some from articles written in a lighter vein ; much has been gleaned from copies of letters which he wrote to friends, but most has been gathered from notes jotted down on a multitude of scraps scattered through a mass of miscellaneous material.

D. L.

Washington, D. C, March, 1895.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

TN deciding to bring out this book I have had in mind the many letters to my father from men of war times urging him to put in writing his recollections of Lincoln. Among them is one from Mr. Lincoln's friend, confidant, and adviser, A. IC. McClure, one of the most eminent of American journalists, founder and late editor of " The Philadelphia Times," of whom Mr. Lincoln said in 1864 that he had more brain power than any man he had ever known. Quoted by Leonard Swett, in the "North American Review," the letter is as follows : —

Philadelphia, Sept. i, 1891.

Hon. Ward H. Lamon^ Carlsbad^ Bohemia:

My dear old Friend, — .... I think it a great misfortune that you did not write the history of Lincoln's administration. It is much more needed from your pen than the volume you published some years ago, giving the history of his life. That straw has been thrashed over viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION,

and over again and you were not needed in that work ; but there are so few who had any knowledge of the inner workings of Mr. Lincoln's administration that I think you owe it to the proof of history to finish the work you began. and never knew anything about Mr. Lincoln. They knew the President in his routine duties and in his official ways, but the man Lincoln and his plans and methods were all Greek to them. They have made a history that is quite correct so far as data is concerned, but beyond that it is full of gross imperfections, especially when they attempt to speak of Mr. Lincoln's individual qualities and movements. Won't you consider the matter of writing another volume on Lincoln ? I sincerely hope that you will do so. Herndon covered about everything that is needed outside of confidential official circles in Washington. That he could not write as he knew nothing about it, and there is no one living who can perform that

task but yourself ....

Yours truly, (Signed) A. K. McClure.

I have been influenced also by a friend who is a great Lincoln scholar and who, impressed with the injustice done my father, has urged me for several years to reissue the book of " Recollections,*' add a sketch of his life and publish letters that show his standing during Lincoln's administration. I hesitated to do this, remembering the following words of Mr. Lincoln at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on his way to Washington : ** It is well known that the more a man speaks the less he is

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix

understood — the more he says one thing, the more

his adversaries contend he meant something else."

I am now yielding to these influences with the

hope that however much the book may suggest a

** patchwork quilt " and be permeated with Lamon

as well as Lincoln, it will yet appeal to those

readers who care for documentary evidence in

matters historical.

Dorothy Lamon Teillard.

Washington, D. C, April, 191 1.

Contents

Letter from Ex-Secretary Usher, Letter from A. K. McClure.

Memoir of Ward H. Lamon.

Chapter 1. Early Acquaintance

Page

Prominent Features of Mr. Lincoln's Life written by himself 9

Purpose of Present Volume 13

Riding the Circuit 14

Introduction to Mr. Lincoln 14

Difference in Work in Illinois and in Virginia .15

Mr. Lincoln's Victory over Rev. Peter Cartwright .... 15

Lincoln Subject Enough for the People 16

Mr. Lincoln's Love of a Joke — Could "Contribute Nothing

to the End in View " 16

A Branch of Law Practice which Mr. Lincoln could not learn 17

Refusal to take Amount of Fee given in Scott Case ... 18

Mr. Lincoln tried before a Mock Tribunal 19

Low Charges for Professional Service 20

Amount of Property owned by Mn Lincoln when he took the

Oath as President of the United States 20

Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln 2i

Mrs. Lincoln's Prediction in 1847 that her. Husband would be

President 21

The Lincoln and Douglas Senatorial Campaign in 1858 . . 22

" Smelt no Royalty in our Carriage " 22

Mr. Lincoln denies that he voted against the Appropriation

for Supplies to Soldiers during Mexican War .... 23

Jostles the Muscular Democracy of a Friend 24

Political Letter of 1858 26

Prediction of Hon. J. G. Blaine regarding Lincoln and

Douglas 27

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter II. Journey From Springfield To Washington

Page

Time between Election and Departure for Washington . . 28

Mr. Lincoln's Farewell to his Friends in Springfield , .T", 30

At Indianapolis 32

Speeches made with the Object of saying Nothing . , , , y^

At Albany — Letter of Mr. Thurlow Weed 34

Loss of Inaugural Address 35

At Philadelphia — Detective and alleged Conspiracy to murder Mr. Lincoln 38

Plans for Safety 40

At Harrisburg 40

Col. Sumner's Opinion of the Plan to thwart Conspiracy . . 41 Selection of One Person to accompany Mr. Lincoln ... 42 At West Philadelphia — Careful Arrangements to avoid Discovery 43

At Baltimore — " It 's Four O'clock " 45

At Washington 45

Arrival at Hotel 46

CHAPTER IIL

INAUGURATION.

Formation of Cabinet and Administration Policy 48

Opposition to Mr. Chase 49

Alternative List of Cabinet Members 50

Politicians realize for the First Time the Indomitable Will of

Mr. Lincoln 51

Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase, Men of Opposite Principles . . 51

Mr. Seward not to be the real Head of the Administration . 52

Preparations for Inauguration 53

Introduction by Senator Baker 53

Impression made by Inaugural Address 54

Oath of Office Administered 54

The Call of the New York Delegation on the President . . 55

CONTENTS. XllI

Chapter IV. Gloomy Forebodings Of Coming Conflict

Page

Geographical Lines distinctly drawn 56

Behavior of the 36th Congress » * » SI

Letter of Hon. Joseph Holt on the " Impending Tragedy " . 58

South Carolina formally adopts the Ordinance of Secession 62

Southern Men's Opinion of Slavery 62

Mr. Lincoln imagines Himself in the Place of the Slave- Holder 65

Judge J. S. Black on Slavery as regarded by the Southern

Man d^

Emancipation a Question of Figures as well as Feeling . . 66

Mission to Charleston 68

" Bring back a Palmetto, if you can't bring Good News " . . 70

Why General Stephen A. Hurlbut went to Charleston ... 70 Visit to Mr. James L. Pettigrew — Peaceable Secession or

War Inevitable 71

"A great Goliath from the North" — "A Yankee Lincoln- Hireling " 72

Initiated into the great " Unpleasantness " 73

Interview with Governor Pickens — No Way out of Existing

Difficulties but to fight out 74

Passes written by Governor Pickens I^^l^

Interview with Major Anderson 75

Rope strong enough to hang a Lincoln-Hireling 76

Timely Presence of Hon. Lawrence Keith ....... 77

Extremes of Southern Character exemplified 77

Interview with the Postmaster of Charleston 78

Experience of General Hurlbut in Charleston 79