NUMBER 1922 SUMMER 2019 Table of Contents Lincoln Lore is a publication of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana Harold Holzer An Interview Regarding his New Book Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French...... page 3

Mark B. Pohlad The Woman Who Found Lincoln At Gettysburg: Josephine Cobb of the National Archives...... page 7

Frank J. Williams Edwin McMasters Stanton...... page 11 Susannah Koerber Lincoln, Emancipation, and Civil Rights...... page 14 Jay Winik Interview...... page 16 Accessing Lincoln Lore’s Archive Kate Masur Interview on They Knew Lincoln...... page 20 Ed Breen 200 Years Ago...... page 26 Visit www.FriendsoftheLincolnCollection.com/ lore-archive

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Lincoln Lore® 2019 LINCOLN FORUM ISSN 0162-8615 Speakers include: Gary Gallagher, Elizabeth Unless otherwise indicated, all images are held by Varon, Joan Waugh, and Jonathan White the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection (LFFC). November 16-18, 2019 Gettysburg, PA Member Discount For more information, visit Members of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of www.LincolnForum.org Indiana receive a discount for books published by Southern Illinois University Press. To order, contact CHicago Distribution Center at: On the Cover 1.800.621.2736 Phone 1.800.621.8476 Fax Order online at www.SIUPress.com Proclamation of Emancipation [calligraphic print], 1930s. To see more items from the collection, see “Lincoln, Use promotional code FLC25 to receive a 25% Emancipation and Civil Rights” on pages 14-15. 2 discountSUMMER on your2019 order. An Interview with Harold Holzer regarding his new book, Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French

Sara Gabbard

Henry Clay, OC-0498 [“As one of the foremost living authorities different ways, often from others. In “Meadowlark,” the onetime second on Abraham Lincoln, Harold Holzer has this case, my friends at Chesterwood, studio French built across the road for long straddled the crossroads of history French’s home and studio in Stock- more privacy and more outdoor light. and art with his own inimitable brand bridge, MA, came to me and com- of scholarship. Not surprisingly, in this missioned the book. So it was writ- SG: Please describe Chesterwood. grandly illustrated and beautifully writ- ten under the aegis of the National ten biography, he proves to be the ideal Trust for Historic Preservation, which HH: In its present state—a nation- guide to the life of Daniel Chester French, owns the French property in the Berk- al trust site open to the public in the who transmuted Abraham Lincoln and shires, but left completely to me in warm months—it is a beautifully re- other historical figures into monumental terms of research and interpretation. stored home, artist’s studio, barn gal- sculptures of surpassing beauty, poetry, lery and gardens—looking very much and inspiration. This book will surely I began at the literal beginning—at as if DCF is still in residence. The great rank as the authoritative life of a man the Chapin Library at nearby Williams architect Henry Bacon—who later cre- whose creations in stone and bronze College, repository of French’s orig- ated the Lincoln Memorial—designed have become inseparable parts of our inal papers, to read the bird-watch- both the house and studio building, historical memory.” Ron Chernow] ing diary the future artist kept as a and there is a stately harmony be- teenager—which included an entry tween the two nearby structures. The Sara Gabbard: While I have read on the day Lincoln died (alas, with- home lets in summer breezes and most of your books, I wasn’t sure out mentioning the assassination combines luxury with a rustic bow about undertaking Monument Man at all). Concurrently I turned on the to the environment—beautiful views because the topic is so vast, and I visual experience—the remarkably everywhere, functionality together am woefully uninformed on it. De- vivid plaster models in the Chester- with striking design touches, much of ciding to “soldier on” after reading wood collection, the heroic statues in it collected and installed by French, Ron Chernow’s description of the Washington, Boston, and New York, who loved to haunt local flea markets. book, I am delighted to know more and the house and studio themselves. The studio is designed not only as a about this remarkable man. When I was reminded again why Mr. and workshop but a showplace—a site did you first realize that this story Mrs. French loved the Stockbridge where French could not only roll up should be told? How did you begin place—it is a truly magnificent setting, his sleeves (figuratively, of course— such a massive undertaking? a pedestal waiting for a monument as he was quite formal even with his they once described Capitol Hill—in hands in a vat of clay) and work but Harold Holzer: I wish I could say I French’s case, as it turned out, many also entertain and impress poten- thought of the project myself, but monuments. During one research tial clients and patrons; it’s filled not book inspiration comes in so many spree we even got to reside in the only with eclectic furniture and décor

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 3 AN INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD HOLZER

And finally, when Dan returned to his the Emerson statuary and the memo- hometown after studies abroad, he rial to the Civil War Melvin brothers in produced a fine bust of old Bronson the local cemetery: Mourning Victory, Alcott. So he was very much involved a masterpiece. We regret that we ha- with the entire Alcott clan for sure. ven’t—yet—made it to Lincoln, Ne- braska (though a fine replica stands at Ralph Waldo Emerson: Emerson Chesterwood). We had one of our best was an early DCF champion—helping outings checking out the works closest him secure his first major commis- to home—the New York City statuary sion, for the Minute Man, without sub- from the Bronx (at the Hall of Fame) to jecting him to a formal competition— Columbia (Alma Mater) to the Hunt Me- openly favoring and encouraging the morial opposite the Frick Museum, to hometown boy even when his first the massive Custom House Continents proposed design failed to win approv- on the southern tip of Manhattan— al. Of course Dan wasn’t offered a fee not to mention the works across the for it, just expenses, so he more than bridge in Brooklyn. I trusted my mem- repaid their confidence by producing ory about John Harvard in the Harvard an icon. Emerson of course appeared Yard since out older daughter went to at its 1875 dedication—so the families school there and we encountered him remained close. Later, when DCF fin- many, many times. Happily, the col- ished an unrewarding post-Florence lections at my own professional alma stint as a government-paid (per diem!) mater—the Metropolitan Museum— John C. Johanesen, oil painting of Daniel Chester French, 1925 (Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA) sculptor in Washington, he returned boast wonderful bronze models, and to Concord and decided to sculpt Em- marble versions of his works, plus his from his Concord days and from erson from life. The result was one of last great statue, Memory—along with abroad, it not only includes a teeming his greatest achievements, and one of an obscure gem, a plaque dedicated workroom still filled with the tools of the best portrait busts ever created in to the Met’s onetime curator of arms the trade; it is connected to a lovely the 19th century. DCF later produced and armor, who advised French on his porch where I can just imagine this a larger seated statue for the Concord Washington Irving memorial (which canny artist-entrepreneur wining, Library. So their associations ran deep. of course we visited in Westchester). dining, wooing, and impressing his visitors. Just spectacular and well Theodore Roosevelt: TR bared his SG: Please describe the dedication worth a visit. The docents, by the famous teeth at DCF one day at the of the Lincoln Memorial on Memori- way, are extraordinarily welcoming White House—and both Mr. and al Day (May 30) in 1922. and well-informed. And so many of Mrs. French were smitten. TR want- French’s plaster models are on display ed French to help him organize a fine HH: It was one of the most anoma- it’s a rare encounter with creativity. arts commission that could take hold lous, indefensible public ceremonies of developing the Washington Mall in American history—worse in a way SG: What was French’s relation- and other public spaces in the cap- than the sometimes overtly racist ded- ship with the following: ital. French would later serve as its ications of many Confederate Memori- chair when Taft became President. als, because this great work was, after HH: Unfortunately, DCF never sculpted all, dedicated to the savior of the Union The Alcott family: Of course as a that great face of Roosevelt’s—a loss and the author of the Emancipation resident of Concord, Massachusetts, to art and history alike. But French Proclamation. The 1922 Lincoln Memo- Dan knew all the Alcotts well: they was loyal enough to remain a TR sup- rial dedication was not only segregat- were local royalty. May (the model for porter even when his fellow Trustees ed, but roughly so: African Americans “Amy” in Little Women) was Dan’s first at the Metropolitan Museum of Art— were rousted out of the seats they had art teacher; the young man’s father like J. P. Morgan—denounced him. held from early morning and forced turned to her and asked if she might by mounted police to backless bench- frankly assess the boy’s talent—so SG: What were the various sites es at the rear of the crowd. Some un- he’d know whether to encourage Dan which you and Edith visited during derstandably left rather than endure to pursue sculpture as a career. May your research for this book? the insult. The African-American Press endorsed the idea and Dan was liber- condemned what happened, even if the ated from MIT to devote his life to art. HH: We saw the replica of French’s mainstream press did not. And those In gratitude, he carried with him for Republic in Chicago (it once rivalled who endured the insults and remained the rest of his life, wherever he might the Statue of Liberty as a national em- on the scene did not even know that be working (Florence, Paris, New York, blem, but the original was not built to the day’s only speaker of color, Robert the Berkshires) the crude sculpting last; now the Obama Library is being Russa Moton of the Tuskegee Institute, tool May had once given him—his built near the replica. We revisited had to deliver a truncated speech. His first. Later, May’s famous sister Louisa the Lincoln Memorial many times, remarks were censored by the Harding May Alcott demanded a VIP seat at the checked out the Boston statues (like Administration because they included a dedication of Dan’s 1875 Minute Man Joe Hooker and the Millmore Memo- paragraph warning that the Memorial in Concord—and stormed off in a huff rial), then had a wonderful two days would be a “hollow mockery” if Lincoln’s when no space could be found for her. in Concord looking at early works like unfinished work on race remained- in

4 SUMMER 2019 HAROLD HOLZER

complete. To think that aged Con- setts on July 3, 1775—and French pro- which there are dozens and dozens), federate veterans—wearing the old vided the requisite drama by showing we counted 82 public, outdoor works uniforms they had once worn to fight the general holding his sword high. by French from coast to coast (includ- to destroy the Union and preserve Dan was on hand on July 3, 1900 for ing your institution’s home state, Indi- slavery—got places of honor while the the dedication in Paris. John Philip ana—Beneficence in Muncie), along first African-American Rhodes scholar Sousa, no less, performed the French with two in France. French is literally was forced from his seat! It was not and American national anthems—so really all over the map, a major pres- America’s finest moment of enshrin- it was a very big deal indeed, as were ence on the American landscape. ing Lincoln memory. Fortunately, if many statue dedications at the time. belatedly, when the great opera sing- Two interesting tidbits: the commis- SG: Other than the Lincoln Memo- er Marian Anderson concertized there sion came from the Daughters of the rial, which statues did you find: 17 years later on Easter Sunday 1939 American Revolution, the same orga- most artistic? most touching? most (after being barred from the DAR hall), nization that would later prevent the unexpected? most “eloquent” in the trajectory of the Lincoln Memorial African-American star Marian Ander- the stories they told? turned 180-degrees—and what had son from singing at its Washington been a magnificent statue dedicated at hall—thus “forcing” her to sing at the HH: For artistry I’d emphasize Mourn- a miserable ceremony became the tal- Lincoln Memorial, forever transform- ing Victory, for one—with its winged ismanic icon for American aspiration. ing its iconic status. Second, French angel bowed in mourning for the Indeed, for the last four score years may have sculpted General Wash- Melvin brothers who died during the it has been the symbolic backdrop ington for this great work, but not Civil War. For emotion I’d cite Death for heroes striving to finish Lincoln’s his horse. By then, French assigned Stays the Hand of the Sculptor in Bos- unfinished work, just as Moton had all the “horse work” to a collaborator ton’s Evergreen Cemetery—a daring hoped. Dr. King and countless Amer- named Edward Clark Potter. One of and deeply touching tribute to one of ican presidents followed Anderson the key things to remember about French’s rivals, Martin Milmore, who here, and launched new movements DCF as an artistic genius is that he died young. French took a huge risk for change in its symbolic shadow. knew what he was good at and where in combining portraiture with sym- he was weaker. He felt he didn’t do bolism, showing the angel of death SG: What were the circumstances animals as well or enthusiastically as literally seizing Milmore’s mallet as he surrounding George Washington’s others, so he farmed that work out. works on a sculpture of the Sphinx. statue in Paris? He did the riders—and some magnifi- Somehow he pulled it all off and cre- cent ones, including Ulysses S. Grant. ated a masterpiece. Among the sur- prises is the Washington Irving me- SG: How many morial that shows the author in front French works of art of relief portraits of two of his famous are displayed in the fictional characters, Boabdil and Rip United States? Van Winkle; and also French’s final great work, Memory, a nude woman Not counting HH: splayed before the viewer, check- works in Museums (of ing herself out with a mirror!—pret-

CAPTION, 0000000

Chesterwood, the French residence at Stockbridge, MA, 1922. Photograph by Ambrose Swasey (Chesterwood Archives, Chapin Library, Williams College)

HH: For one thing it was the first major work French undertook in his brand-new studio at Chesterwood. The stucco walls were still drying when he got a strapping young local boy to pose. Also his first major work overseas. The equestrian was meant to show Washington at the moment he assumed command of the Conti- nental Army at Cambridge, Massachu- The new Chesterwood studio looking toward north entrance, 1914. Photograph by James Tarbox Beals (Frances Loeb Library, Harvard University Graduate School of Design)

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 5 AN INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD HOLZER

ty daring then, and now. And HH: It’s a puzzling sto- among the most eloquent is the ry. French originally Gallaudet Memorial in Washing- wanted his friend Robert ton, showing the great educator Underwood Johnson of of the hearing-impaired giving Century Magazine to do hope to a youngster. Remem- the epigraph. Johnson ber, you asked me to omit Lin- coln—but the standing figure had edited Battles and in Nebraska and the enthroned Leaders of the Civil War colossus in New York offer all but otherwise was a cu- of the above—artistry, emotion, rious choice to be what and eloquence that speaks to French called “my poet us as powerfully today as when laureate.” He was best these works of art were unveiled. known as an editor, not a writer. For some rea- SG: Who made the decision to son, it didn’t pan out; build the Lincoln Memorial? maybe Johnson’s first How was it funded? How long draft got rejected—may- did construction take? be he lost interest—we HH: In a way, the decision was just don’t know (or at made in 1865, right after Lincoln least I could not find the died. But it just took 50 years for answer). In any event, Congress to get its act together; French turned to yet an- yes, there was dysfunctional- other unlikely candidate: ity then, too. Finally, President the New York Tribune’s Taft turned to the new National art critic, a fellow named Commission on Fine Arts (which Royal Cortissoz, who French chaired until he sensed the potential conflict, won the had been very generous commission for the statue, and in praise of French. He Harold Holzer and Judy Collins after performing composed an epigraph finally quit!) and organized a new at Chesterwood, 2017. Photo by Edith Holzer. Lincoln Memorial Commission. Con- before he was even gress finally appropriated the money, Bronx—another perfect choice. The asked to do so. And French loved the final result was everything one had $75,000 to start, and work began on result. Like the sculptor, Cortissoz hoped—both grand yet somehow in- the building around 1911. The statue was a traditionalist who didn’t much actually got installed in 1920, but for timate, and extraordinarily harmoni- ous with its setting. Can anyone today care for modern and abstract art. some reason the formal dedication The words today qualify almost as was delayed almost two years; some imagine it looking anything other than American scripture, but in its day they blamed our focus on post-World War it looks? Yet things could have gone I recovery, but that seems a bit of a wrong half a dozen times—for ex- were roundly criticized. The man who stretch. It’s extraordinary that no for- ample, some influential men wanted succeeded French as head of the Na- to build the Memorial at the Capitol, mal competition was ever staged for tional Commission of Fine Arts called or at the Soldiers’ Home. When the such a mammoth government-funded the epigraph “poor, cheap, sentimen- influential Congressman “Uncle Joe” project. The powers-that-be named tal, erroneous, disfiguring.” Now it Cannon rejected the western fringe of Henry Bacon as architect after reject- seems to capture and enhance the Potomac Park because he judged it a ing just one other designer; and Bacon “god damned swamp.” He threatened mood magnificently—at least for me. turned immediately to his longtime to place it instead at Arlington—in If only it had mentioned emancipation partner French even after a campaign the old Confederacy! Swampy or not, as well as union—that unfortunate to save money by commissioning a it ended up where it was almost or- omission constitutes its one short- reproduction of the 1887 Chicago dained to be—at the western edge of statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, coming. We have to remember that the Mall—thanks in large part to the Abraham Lincoln: The Man. Fortunate- the Lincoln Memorial was designed to urging of Secretary of State John Hay, ly, every subsequent decision worked promote sectional reconciliation, not Lincoln’s own former White House out beautifully. Bacon insisted on a racial reconciliation. Thanks to those secretary, who thought the site should Greek-style temple. French rejected who staged their protests there, how- be remote—but not too remote. the idea of a standing Lincoln, chose ever, its power to inspire racial heal- marble over bronze, and once he saw SG: Who wrote the words in- ing is what it is now best known for. the interior atrium for himself, insist- scribed in the Memorial? ed on making the statue 19-feet high Harold Holzer is Jonathan F. Fanton Di- instead of the originally proposed IN THIS TEMPLE rector of Roosevelt House Public Policy 12. Then DCF hired a family of Ital- AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE ian immigrant stonecutters to en- Institute at Hunter College. His book FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION Monument Man: The Life & Art of Dan- large and carve the behemoth in the THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN iel Chester French was published by IS ENSHRINED FOREVER 6 SUMMER 2019 Princeton Architectural Press in 2019. The Woman Who Found Lincoln at Gettysburg:ALLEN GUELZO Josephine Cobb of the National Archives

Mark B. Pohlad Cobb estimated that the image was probably exposed around noon when the president and his cortege arrived For nearly ninety years there were A crowd can be seen very deep in the on the speaker’s platform, still three no known photographs of Abraham background; it is so dense that no in- hours before his own “few appropri- Lincoln at Gettysburg. That changed dividual can be distinguished in it. But ate remarks.” Given the position of dramatically in 1952 when the intrepid Cobb intuited that it might have valu- his head and shoulders, he appears Washington, D.C., archivist Josephine able information to offer. The tallest to be taking his seat. Cobb identified Cobb (1906-86) went searching—and flag, she reasoned, might mark the lo- Lincoln’s bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, found him. She enlarged a mislabeled cation of a speaker’s platform, a prom- directly to Lincoln’s right, along with glass plate negative until she identified ising place to search for dignitaries. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Cur- Lincoln’s face in the crowd. The War She enlarged the image repeatedly— tin, the official host of the event, seen Department had purchased the image some twenty times––until she could in great clarity at the far right. Other as part of a collection from Mathew make out the bare-headed, downcast, observers have recognized Major Gen- Brady in 1875; the army moved the bearded face of Abraham Lincoln. eral Robert C. Schenck on Lincoln’s left group to the National Archives in 1941 Cobb had not only found the war-wea- and Edward Everett in the upper right, where it came under Cobb’s purview. ry president in the photo, she had also hands on hips and perhaps looking Its historical significance had gone un- found the first known photograph of around (because his face is thorough- recognized for ninety years, and it may the dedication at the Soldiers’ Ceme- ly blurred). Lincoln’s secretaries, John have remained so today. Her discovery tery at Gettysburg on November 19, Nicolay and John Hay, are here too. So is the closest thing we have to an actu- 1863. Within hours of when the expo- well known is the enlargement show- al visual record of the Gettysburg Ad- sure was made, Lincoln would speak ing Lincoln’s face that many viewers dress––one of Lincoln’s, this country’s, the most famous piece of oratory in are genuinely shocked to see the orig- and democracy’s finest moments. American history—273 words that re- inal photograph from which it came. defined the war and the meaning of Even when the two images are seen In the image, a group of boys are mill- freedom in this country. side-by-side, it is not immediately ob- ing about casually in the foreground. vious how they relate to each other.

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 7 JOSEPHINE COBB OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

1952. At that time, lection of 5,000 miscellaneous Mat- not even a century thew [sic] Brady photographs, Jose- had passed since phine Cobb of the National Archives in Lincoln’s assassina- Washington found one labeled ‘crowd tion. Incredibly, a of citizens, soldiers, etc.’ which she has couple of Civil War tentatively identified as showing the veterans were still Gettysburg ceremony.” The author alive. In fact, an continues, “The face of the bearded article about the man who may be Lincoln is slightly blurred making positive identification almost impossible.” In the announce- ments of Cobb’s discovery, her claims are invariably described as “tentative,” likely at her own insistence. But there is enough visual information in the detail to make it certain––Lincoln’s lo- cation in the crowd, the many glances directed at him, the long, thin face, the familiar hair pattern, and even his characteristically crooked tie. In the years since Cobb found Lincoln, no one has challenged her claim. Moreover, the glass plate it- self is broken; about a quarter Cobb’s find became even more well of the upper left side is gone, known after it appeared in Stefan Lo- giving it a roughly trapezoidal rant’s lavish picture book, Lincoln: A Pic- shape. It is possible the cam- ture Story of His Life in 1957. Through- eraman made a random shot out her career, she had frequently merely to get rid of a de- Crowd of citizens, soldiers, and etc. with Abraham Lincoln at helped Lorant with his projects. In Gettysburg, National Archives, 529085 fective plate. Cobb-like fashion, Lorant once en- larged a photograph of Lincoln’s Many people erroneously believe hundred-and-sixth birthday of a Union New York City funeral procession to that the detail shows Lincoln seating drummer boy appeared on the same find young Theodore Roosevelt - peer himself after he has already delivered front page of the newspaper where ing down from a window. A review of his famous speech. They claim that Cobb’s discovery was first announced. Lorant’s Lincoln: A Picture Story of His the photographer was caught short The year 1952 was a kind of annus mi- Life claimed that Cobb, in order to find because he thought he would have rabilis for Lincoln and photography. In Lincoln, had enlarged the negative enough time to capture the president that year the last picture of Lincoln 100 times, and Lorant 250 times in or- speaking. After all, the previous speak- “from the flesh”—a photograph of his der to reproduce it in his book. In the er, Edward Everett—a former Secre- body lying in state in an open coffin— 1960s and beyond, the image became tary of State, Harvard president, gov- was discovered by teenaged Ron Ri- so well known that viewers forgot that ernor, and congressman––had spoken etveld. As in Cobb’s case, he had also its discovery was actually someone’s for two hours. This narrative has cur- found Lincoln hiding in plain sight, in a achievement. rency because it corroborates the photograph he came across while pe- startling brevity of the Gettysburg Ad- rusing the cabinets and drawers of the Two years before unearthing the Get- dress, just a couple minutes or so. But Illinois State Historical Society. Finally, tysburg plate, Cobb brought to light since the detail of Lincoln comes from 1952 was also the year in which the another Civil War-era photograph con- a very distant crowd scene, where the photohistorian Helmut Gernsheim dis- taining a Lincoln look-alike. In 1950 president would be virtually invisible covered the oldest known photograph she became intrigued by an 1863 pho- anyway, it cannot be the case that the of all: Nicéphore Niépce’s View from the tograph labeled “Hanover Junction, photographer intended to take this Window at Le Gras, of 1827. Va.” But something seemed a bit off. picture during his speech. Apart from That town, she knew, is only twenty what the image shows, most perplex- On Lincoln’s birthday in 1953, a small, miles north of Richmond, well within ing of all has been determining who front-page article in the Gettysburg Confederate lines during the war. And took the picture in the first place. Re- Times announced Cobb’s discovery. noticing that the soldiers were wearing searchers disagree; many believe it to Soon the story would be reproduced Union uniforms, she reasoned that the have been Alexander Gardner, others in newspapers across the country. A image must instead have been taken David Bachrach, and still others an week later, Life magazine ran a small in Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. For anonymous Brady “operator.” story featuring Cobb’s detail of Lincoln many viewers, the 1863 date raised on the speaker’s platform. Its glib first the possibility that the tall, top-hatted It is difficult to imagine a time when we sentence ran, “Long lost photographs figure seen in it was Lincoln on his way did not possess the image of Lincoln at of Lincoln have a way of turning up to Gettysburg. It created a great deal Gettysburg, for Cobb made her discov- just in time for Lincoln’s birthday.” It of excitement in the Lincoln commu- ery a full sixty-seven years ago, in late then recounts how “going over a col- nity (recall that there were no known

8 SUMMER 2019 MARK B. POHLAD

images of Lincoln at Gettysburg before Cobb occupied positions at the Na- found Lincoln at Gettysburg, was the her enlargement-based discovery.) Ul- tional Archives for thirty-six years first detailed examination of the social timately, Cobb did not believe that it as a cataloger, specialist in Civil War and commercial realities that shaped was the president in the photograph, subjects, and later as Chief, or Ar- Brady’s career. Not sequestered in but not before she had conducted her chivist-in-Charge, of the Still Picture the stacks and archives, she was also own extensive research. In any case, Branch. Some of the earliest photo- doing field work with people from the carefully examining mislabeled pho- graphs accessioned by that depart- Civil War era. Cobb once interviewed tographs––then exercising extreme ment were of the Civil War, and it was octogenarian Lydia Mantle Fox who caution in making claims––would pre- this era that became her specialty. Her had known Brady personally and who pare her for her own positive identi- exhaustive research on Mathew Brady provided many details about Civil War- fication two years later of Lincoln at and Alexander Gardner, as well as on era Washington photography. Encoun- the Soldiers’ Cemetery in Gettysburg. photographs of Abraham Lincoln and ters like this were still possible in the Had Cobb lived into our own time, she Civil War photography more generally, 1950s, but it took an enterprising soul would have been intrigued with more made her well known, even legendary. to find and conduct them. Her interest recent examinations of Gettysburg ste- Over the course of decades, Cobb was in the field was consuming, an editori- reoscopic photos purporting to show a devoted contributor to professional al note in her article alerting the read- a top-hatted Lincoln on horseback. Re- and academic associations. A medal er that “Many years of research, much searchers of those images employ the recipient for her work on the Lincoln of it on her own time, have made her same principles of enlargement she Sesquicentennial in 1959, she was also an outstanding authority on Brady and had used so effectively in 1952. long a member of the distinguished his work.” Indeed, Cobb told a reporter Lincoln Group of the District of Colum- in 1951 that, even though she would Cobb’s background prepared her well bia and served as its president in 1970 prefer to devote her life to study- for her image-based research. She and 1971. ing Brady, “As it is, I have to chisel to grew up in South Portland, Maine, in get extra time to work on him, for as the eighteenth-century home of her Cobb looked like the consummate head of a section here I am constantly ancestors. Her father was a journalist professional—tall, thin, immaculate- called upon to fill out forms and beat who often wrote about the history of ly dressed, and tidily coiffed. Entirely people over the head for statistics.” the state; a grandfather had served engrossed in her work, it became part Among the many original insights she in the Union army. After high school, of her endearingly quirky personali- makes in this essay is one concern- Cobb earned a bachelor’s degree from ty. As a young scholar, Harold Holzer ing the chair in which Lincoln sits in Simmons College in 1931. She worked had a memorable experience with her Gardner’s portraits. Her discussion of in the rare books room of the Boston “eccentric side.” “Once,” he recalled, where such chairs were made, who Public Library and at the venerable “Miss Cobb pressed her forefinger to owned them, and where they could Massachusetts Historical Society. Her her lips as if to hush our conversation, be found, is contained in a single re- M.A. thesis from Boston University then slowly opened a drawer in her markable footnote. We also learn that, four years later recommended the es- old wooden desk, whispering: ‘I am go- among the presidential candidates in tablishment of a national research col- ing to show you a rare daguerreotype. the 1860 race, Brady favored Stephen lection before anything like it existed. If you can tell me who it portrays, I will A. Douglas over the rail-splitter candi- At American University in Washington, consider that you have graduated into date. D.C., she studied the relatively new a real student of Civil War photogra- field of archival sciences. When the phy.’ And then, almost conspiratorially, Likewise, Cobb’s superb biographical National Archives was established in she handed me a small plate, covered article “Alexander Gardner” was the 1936 and hiring only men, Cobb boldly completely in wax paper and secured most accurate and comprehensive ventured there and secured a position by an orange rubber band. ‘But I can’t study of the cameraman until the first as its first woman employee, “Assis- see it, I protested. It’s wrapped in wax book-length treatment three decades tant Archivist in the Photographic Ar- paper. May I remove it?’ ‘Of course not,’ later. It is still worth consulting for the chives and Research Division.” Among she snapped, snatching it back and re- photographs she reproduces, which her duties was cataloguing Freder- placing it in her drawer. ‘That would are startlingly contemporary looking, ick Hill Meserve’s collection with the make it too easy.’ So much for grad- and for the intriguing details of Gard- assistance of his daughter, Dorothy uating.” According to the conventions ner’s life and career she recounts. (1901-1979). It marked the beginning of the day, she was always officially These include how Gardner rescued of a long association with members of referred to as “Miss Josephine Cobb.” his fifteen-year-old son from the the renowned Kunhardt family. Over Holzer recalled that she affectionately boarding school in Confederate-con- time, the photographic department at signed her letters, “your friend, J. C.” trolled Emmitsburg, Maryland, just be- National Archives grew and improved, Acquaintances called her simply, “Jo.” fore the nearby battle at Gettysburg. including—crucially for Cobb’s Gettys- Or how, long after the war, Gardner burg discovery––its ability to enlarge Not merely a librarian, Cobb was and his wife dressed members of the images. She closely monitored these also an accomplished scholar in her Indian delegations to Washington in innovations while becoming intimate own right. Her publications and con- old, “smelly” costumes with beads and with the holdings. A sensitivity to pho- ference talks were meticulous and feathers because their attire had be- tographic media seemed to be in her exhaustive. Her groundbreaking arti- come too Americanized. DNA; her brother Allen was employed cle “Mathew B. Brady’s Photographic at the Eastman Kodak Company in Gallery in Washington,” on which she Cobb was deeply engaged in her topic, Rochester, New York. must have been at work when she but not a fanatic merely in love with

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 9 JOSEPHINE COBB OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

the medium. Proof of that is seen in of that term in relation to an archivist, Carl Sandburg. Replaying the type of the first line of another of her articles: one whose interests spanned a vast work she had done for the National “Photography’s part in the Civil War range of media and their intersection. Archives, Cobb now carefully curated was not significant to either military or Along these lines, at a 1962 Library of the photographs she herself owned, naval operations and it had no part at Congress symposium on “American composing a six-volume catalogue of all in the organization of the forces of Printmaking Before 1876: Fact, Fiction, her collection of daguerreotypes. She either North or South.” She was sober and Fantasy,” she spoke about how carefully labeled the 245 images and and realistic, which made her a good prints were often based on a range of had copy prints made of each. This in- judge of what represented a genuine photographic media and could there- timate archive was her final gift to the contribution to the field. Accordingly, fore be trusted as accurate represen- field. Cobb’s last few months were es- that same piece concludes with her tations. Indeed, Cobb read widely in pecially difficult, as she suffered from “List of Photographers and Their Assis- her field and held strong, informed Alzheimer’s. A nightmare for anyone, tants with Military Units,” some three opinions, as seen in her book reviews of course, the disease is perhaps es- hundred names, “most of whom have for American Archivist in the 1960s. pecially devastating for archivists who been forgotten despite their contri- About a new edition of Beaumont Ne- have dwelt in a world of order and de- bution to the views of the Civil War.” whall’s even-then classic survey of the tail. It is a breathtaking piece of historical medium, History of Photography, she Anyone else might have written a research and still indispensable to- claimed that he had omitted some fif- book or article about the discovery day. Nor was Cobb’s research limit- ty important photographers. Further- of Lincoln at Gettysburg, for such an ed to photography. Just as she found more, as she said, “Mr. Newhall writes achievement could launch or crown Lincoln’s face at Gettysburg, she did largely of the contributions made by a Lincoln scholar’s career. But it was the same for Gardner’s when she un- those of English-speaking countries, characteristic both of Cobb’s humility, covered a rare painted portrait of the giving less attention to the contribu- and perhaps her ethics as an archivist, “camera-shy” cameraman. She was tions by those who work and write in that this discovery was unselfishly giv- also particularly knowledgeable about other lands and tongues.” Here Cobb en to the field as simply more informa- Masonic history and its imagery, her leveled the kind of criticism that inclu- tion about an object under her care. Maine relatives being long-time mem- sive-minded humanities scholars only Considering her importance to Lincoln bers of the Order. Cobb even wrote began making thirty years later. scholarship, to Civil War studies, and the foundational essay on collect- to the history of American archives, it ing patriotic envelopes, a marvelous Beyond her own superb scholarship, is unimaginable that to date there is source of political graphics in the war her best work consisted of her day-to- not a single piece of scholarly writing era. In this article, she characteristical- day assistance to researchers for their on her. Nor are there any obituaries ly enlarges some examples, speaks at own projects. She was instrumental or appreciations to be found online. length about those that show Lincoln, in the books of many of the twentieth Sadly, she did not receive any acknowl- and explains papers and pigment century’s most important historians. edgement in the recent televised doc- composition in terms that would im- Searching her name on the Internet umentaries celebrating the sesqui- press a conservator. reveals countless publications by au- centennial of the Gettysburg Address, thors on Civil War-era photography, even though the image of Lincoln she Given this wide range of expertise in Abraham Lincoln, and the American found was often analyzed in detail. nineteenth-century visual culture, af- West, in which they acknowledge her ter 1962 Cobb’s title at the National assistance. Those who visited her in Surely, Josephine Cobb joins the ranks Archives had changed to “Specialist in room 14-N of the Archives Building of major Civil War-era photohistorians Iconography.” It was the first such use in Washington, D.C. (after 1959) were such as Frederick H. Meserve, Stefan genuinely helped along in their work. Lorant, Lloyd Ostendorf, Robert Taft, Later in her career, she even conduct- and the Kunhardts. She should also ed graduate seminars for future mu- be regarded as a pioneering historian seum directors and librarians. To be of American visual culture. In all, her sure, Cobb’s expertise and good judg- discovery of Lincoln at Gettysburg was ment suffuses the field even now. neither inevitable nor a matter of luck. It was the result of her years-long en- After retiring from the National Ar- gagement with the collection of the chives in 1972, she returned to her National Archives and a function of childhood Portland, Maine, and built her expertise and hard work. She well a beautiful home in Cape Elizabeth deserves to be part of the narrative of overlooking the sea. Cobb turned the beloved image of Lincoln at Gettys- her attention to local history, work- burg. ing with state organizations such as the Maine Old Cemetery Association and the Maine Historical Society. She Mark B. Pohlad is an Associate Professor helped convert the latter from “an old of Art History at DePaul University, Chi- boys’ club” into something more pub- cago. lic and inviting. “She was of that gen- eration that made things pop,” one Endnotes and additional comments can local historian said. In her large library be found online at www.FriendsoftheLin- of books were volumes signed to her colnCollection.org. Photograph of Josephine Cobb, by researchers and notables such as 10 SUMMER 2019 National Archives, 12169321

Edwin McMasters Stanton

Frank J. Williams Edwin M. Stanton LN-2113

Edwin McMasters Stanton was born as one of the best trial lawyers in the Cameron. In December 1861, he in Steubenville, Ohio, on December country. Helen Hutchinson entered helped Cameron draft a report that 19, 1814. On the eve of achieving Stanton’s life, and they married recommended enlistment of African- his life’s dream, chronic asthma in 1856. They had four children. American troops. When Cameron caused his death on December was compelled to resign due to his 24, 1869. His lifelong struggle with After moving to Washington in mismanagement and corruption of poor health also contributed to his 1856, Stanton began arguing cases contracts in the War Department, volatile temper, as did the early loss before the Supreme Court of the Lincoln named Stanton as Cameron’s of his father and the deaths of his United States. Forming a close replacement. It’s uncertain why Lincoln brother and two children. Upon his friendship with Attorney General made this appointment, as Stanton father’s death, young Stanton had to Jeremiah S. Black, who served under was a Democrat and Lincoln had been take work at a bookstore to support President James Buchanan, Stanton insulted by Stanton in a patent case his mother. He became a lawyer in supported Southern Democrat John while Lincoln was the local counsel in 1836 and married Mary A. Lamson, C. Breckinridge for the presidency Illinois. But Seward, who thought with whom he had two children. in 1860 because he believed that Stanton was a moderate, had only Breckinridge could save the recommended him. And Secretary Judge Benjamin Tappan, a family friend, Union. After Lincoln was elected in of Treasury Salmon P. Chase, invited Stanton to join his law firm in November, Buchanan appointed an abolitionist, was impressed 1837. Tappan, a Democrat with anti- Black to serve as secretary of state, with Stanton’s anti-slavery views. slavery leanings, mentored Stanton and Stanton became his successor as and provided the base for Stanton’s attorney general. Stanton supported Stanton was a much better manager political direction. In 1837, Stanton the Union and did all that he could than his predecessor Cameron. was elected prosecuting attorney for to prevent secession. He and Black Working well with leaders of both Harrison County, Ohio. He also played pressured Buchanan to push back parties, he made efforts to cultivate a major role in the election of his against the secessionist elements relationships in Congress, especially partner to a U.S. Senate seat. in the South. Stanton also back- with those who had a major say doored intelligence to the incoming on military appropriations bills. He After Mary died in 1844, Stanton secretary of state, William H. Seward. reorganized the War Department sank into deep depression. Obsessed and reformed the guidelines by by work, Stanton expanded his law Stanton greeted Abraham Lincoln’s which the department conducted practice, and he left Tappan in 1845. arrival in Washington as president- business, establishing a system In 1847, he partnered with Charles elect with contempt. After Lincoln of open, competitive bidding for Shaler, and he soon had clients was inaugurated the 16th president contracts. He also assumed control throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. on March 4, 1861, Stanton remained of the Union’s railroad system and Stanton was extremely bright, shrewd, in Washington where he became a telegraph network. He eventually and aggressive and was soon regarded consultant to Secretary of War Simon befriended Major General George B. McClellan, the new Commander of

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 11 EDWIN MCMASTERS STANTON

the Army of the Potomac, who had appointment and removal of military General Order 100 in 1863. (It would replaced General Winfield Scott as commanders. He oversaw military become the basis for the first Hague commander in chief of the army. But operations and, along with Lincoln, Conventions in 1899 and 1907.) after McClellan’s repeated failures to played a role in shaping Union take aggressive action, Stanton asked strategy. He was an advocate of total Because his supporters were now Lincoln to remove McClellan from war and, like Lincoln, supported primarily Republicans and like the command of all the Union armies, the confiscation of slaves and other trial lawyer he once was, Stanton and Lincoln complied, leaving the property of secessionists as a war did not hesitate to seek Republican general in command of only the Army measure, believing that the federal support for military appropriations. government could seize the slaves His position on soldiers voting in the and free them because they canvas of 1864 helped the Republicans were considered property by the and President Lincoln achieve victory. slaveholding South. He therefore This was the first soldier vote, and strongly supported Lincoln’s it permitted voting in the field. issuance of the preliminary and final Emancipation Proclamations With the appointment in early 1864 and urged inclusion of the of Ulysses S. Grant as general in call for enlistment of African- chief, President Lincoln, almost American troops in the final unbeknownst to himself, created proclamation of January 1, 1863. the first effective joint chiefs of command structure with General Stanton’s most controversial in Chief Grant, Army Chief of Staff function during this period was to Henry W. Halleck, and the president supervise internal security, a duty as commander in chief. With Stanton that he assumed from Secretary of providing logistics through the State William H. Seward in March War Department, the armies were 1862. Initially, Stanton restricted provided the tools to wage war. the exercise of martial law and Lincoln provided overall direction, ordered the release of most and his acuity as a politician helped of the citizens interned under assure a successful political strategy. Seward after Lincoln suspended Halleck acted as a conduit between the writ of habeas corpus. Bitter the president and secretary of war to objections to conscription – the Grant and other military departments. first draft in American history – as well as the issuance of the Stanton’s relations with Grant’s Emancipation Proclamation Edwin M. Stanton OC-0979 caused the administration to broaden the suspension of the Potomac. McClellan, true to his of habeas corpus nationwide, insecurity and failures as a battlefield and military arrests rose commander, blamed Stanton. They dramatically. In March 1863, then became bitter enemies until Congress established a McClellan was finally relieved of all militarized provost marshal’s command by President Lincoln after bureau that was placed under the Battle of Antietam in the fall of 1862. Stanton’s control. This created, in effect, a national police force. The Lincoln-Stanton relationship Stanton used this apparatus evolved into mutual respect, despite vigorously to enforce the draft Stanton’s initial low opinion of Lincoln and combat dissent, including as a lawyer and as a president. the arrest and detention of While the two often disagreed, the civilians and their trial before president was able to soften the war a military commission (there secretary’s harsh demeanor and draw were over 4,200 U.S. citizens him out of his self-absorption. They tried before these tribunals), became close friends. To Lincoln, as well as closure of disloyal Stanton became his “no” man, turning newspapers. But he did down outrageous demands of the support General in Chief president’s time from those seeking Halleck’s collaboration with government contracts and patronage. Columbia University Professor Francis Lieber, who drafted the Between late 1862 and 1864, Stanton first code on the law of war. played a central role in Lincoln’s President Lincoln approved administration, especially in the the code, and it became

Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet LN-1818 12 SUMMER 2019 FRANK J. WILLIAMS

colleague and friend, General William president to accept the more Radical On February 22, 1868, the House T. Sherman, were less cordial, view of Reconstruction by Congress. of Representatives drafted articles especially when Sherman gave more of impeachment against President generous terms to the surrender Stanton and Grant began an Johnson on charges of violating the of General Joseph E. Johnston’s alliance with Congress because of Tenure of Office Act. Johnson was army than those Grant gave at the failure of Johnson’s policies. acquitted by one vote in the Senate. Appomattox. Stanton revoked the Stanton supported the first and order. Because Sherman felt he was second Reconstruction Acts despite Disappointed that the Senate was following Grant’s lead, Stanton’s opposition from the president. unable to convict Johnson, Stanton action upset him. They would remain There was to be no compromise remained in his post. But on May 26, enemies for the rest of their lives. with the president, and Johnson 1868, he resigned and was replaced The assassination of President Lincoln turned against him. Stanton and by General John M. Schofield. Stanton on April 14, 1865, enraged Stanton. Grant drafted a third Reconstruction returned to private life, exhausted, Grieving at Lincoln’s deathbed, he Act that removed the armies in the in ill health, and virtually bankrupt. allegedly said, “He now belongs to South from the president’s control. He did, however, participate in the the ages,” which somehow morphed campaign to elect Ulysses S. Grant into, “Now he belongs to the angels.” Johnson demanded Stanton’s president in November 1868. Grant (Stanton biographer Walter was elected, but Stanton’s Stahr believes the secretary health had suffered another of war uttered nothing when setback from his active Lincoln breathed his last.) After support of General Grant. the assassination, a furious Stanton assumed control of Grant appointed Stanton to a the government and used all vacant seat on the Supreme his resources to hunt down Court out of gratitude and for the conspirators who had his years of friendship and orchestrated this crime and service. Although the Senate the attack on Secretary of State ratified the appointment, Seward. He pressed President Stanton’s asthma finally took Andrew Johnson and Attorney his life at the age of fifty-five, General James Speed for a before he could take the oath. military commission to try the conspirators and personally Stanton was one of the central directed the prosecution, using and most controversial Judge Advocate General Joseph political figures in the Civil Holt and Congressman John War era. Lincoln referred Bingham as his surrogates. to him as his “Mars” – the The judge advocate general chief manager under the and the congressman actually president in the Union’s war joined in the deliberations of effort. Stanton engendered the members of the military intense hostility because commission that tried the of his abrasive personality, conspirators. Stanton favored his autocratic leadership the death penalty for the style, and his position as convicted conspirators, director of internal security, including Mary Surratt, the Edwin M. Stanton LN-2345 which inevitably made him proprietor of the boarding house resignation. a lightning rod for dissent. where the plotting had transpired. It Stanton refused, and on August 11, Yet his efforts did much to is unfounded that Stanton withheld 1867, Johnson suspended him and redeem the sacrifices of the war. the recommendation of the military named Grant as his successor ad court for clemency in Surratt’s case, interim. Congress in January 1868 Suggested reading: nor was he himself involved in the ordered Stanton restored to his Walter Stahr, Stanton: Lincoln’s conspiracy as some have alleged. office under the terms of the Tenure War Secretary (New York: Simon & of Office Act, which Congress had Schuster, 2017) Stanton remained secretary of war passed over Johnson’s veto in March under President Johnson, so he was 1867 to protect Republicans in the William Marvel, Lincoln’s Autocrat: actively involved in Reconstruction cabinet, including Stanton himself. The Life of Edwin Stanton (Chapel Hill: and overseeing the demobilization of Grant immediately acquiesced, and University of North Carolina Press, the Union armies. Reports of violence Stanton resumed his duties. Johnson 2015) against freedmen changed Stanton’s again tried to replace Stanton, view of Johnson’s policy of lenient this time with General Lorenzo Frank J. Williams is Founding Chair of the Reconstruction. Stanton came to Thomas, but Stanton refused to Lincoln Forum and serves as President believe in stronger measures. Working acknowledge the appointment by of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential with Grant, he tried to convince the blockading himself in his office. Library and Museum at Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS. LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 13 Lincoln, Emancipation, and Civil Rights

Over the past several years, we have proceeded through the anniversaries of emancipation and the civil rights amendments, with the ratification of the 15th Amendment approaching in March 2020. The Lincoln Financial Foundation Col- lection is well-suited to explore the response to these events, not only at the time but in succeeding decades, with its combination of manuscripts and let- ters, books, popular prints, music, newspapers, magazines, ephemera and objects.

Focusing on visual imagery, it is clear that the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment were seen as signal moments in the country’s history. This is evi- dent in prints and works of art, both those focused on the document and those using it to symbolize Abraham Lincoln’s character and achievements. Emancipation emerged as a recurring theme in popular prints memorializing Lincoln, in symbolic figures and vignettes surrounding paired images of Lincoln and George Washington and in nu- merous portrait prints, where he is shown with the Emancipation Proclamation. One genre, the calligraphic portrait composed of the Proclamation’s text, was popular well into the 20th century, sometimes combined with the names of those who voted for the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment prints often focus on those who sup- ported it, through facsimiles of the signed resolution and composite photographs.

While these images present Lincoln and emancipation in a positive light, the collection pro- vides ample evidence of the debate’s uglier side. A significant amount of material was pro- duced around the time of the 1864 presidential election, including political cartoons and prints showing African Americans as buffoons or sinister figures in mixed-race social settings or voting. It was during this election that the term “miscegenation” was coined, attempting to raise fears that Lincoln’s policies would inevitably lead to race-mixing, a theme that would Senate Engrossed Copy of the 13th continue through more than a century of battles against segregation and discrimination. Amendment to the Constitution

David Gilmour Blythe, President Lincoln Writing the Proclamation of Freedom, January 1, 1863, Pitts- burgh, Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co., 1864

Anti-Slavery Constitutional Amendment Supporters, Powell and Co., New York, 1865

Adalbert Volck, Writing the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863

14 SUMMER 2019 Although far fewer in number than depictions related to the end of slavery, vari- ous publishers produced colored prints commemorating the 15th Amendment. They have similar content, featuring the celebratory parade held on May 19, 1870 in Balti- more, key civil rights leaders always including Hiram R. Revels, the first African Ameri- can senator (from Mississippi), and Presidents Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Vignettes show the fundamental impact of the civil rights amendments: African Americans marry and enjoy family life, worship in their own churches, till their own land, attend school, vote and fight for their nation and their rights. Some prints, as with pictorial printsof the Emancipation Proclamation, include contrasting images of life under slavery.

Imagery from these prints would be put to new uses even as the battle for civil rights continued. A 1919 print published by E.G. Renesch in Chicago, celebrates both the Emancipation Proclamation and African American soldiers’ service in World War I, surrounding a large portrait of Lincoln with images of Frederick Douglass and Book- er T. Washington, poet and novelist Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the highest rank- ing African American officers from Illinois’ 370th Infantry, Lt .Col. Franklin- ADeni son and Lt. Col. Otis B. Duncan. Vignettes of heroic soldiers, a prosperous farm, Lady Liberty with children and students streaming into school echo the earlier prints.

The 15th Amendment and Renesch prints appear to have been created primari- ly for an African American audience. More ambiguous is The Republican Souvenir, a print from the 1884 election, featuring the Republican candidates for President and Vice President, James B. Blaine and John A. Logan. As with other prints from the peri- od, it reflects increasingly weak support for civil rights by diluting imagery - thatsug gests the depth of struggle or agency of African Americans. The print shows Lincoln Gilman R. Russell, Emancipation Proc- with the Emancipation Proclamation and a newly freed woman with her children. lamation, Issued January 1, 1863, P.S. Above is an image of President Garfield, also an assassin’s victim. Lincoln is flanked Duval & Son, Philadelphia, 1865 by two vignettes—one of African Americans voting and attending school but the oth- er showing Uncle Tom and Eva from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The Father and Preserver of Our Country, E. J. Post, 1865-1885

Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862, E. G. Renesch, Chicago, 1919

The Republican Souvenir, R.H. Curran, Boston, 1884

Liberty, E.C. Bridgman, New York, 1870- 1875 by Susannah Koerber, Chief Curator and Research Officer at The Indiana State Museum LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 15 Interview with Jay Winik

16CoverSUMMER of April 1865: 2019 The Month that Saved America, by Jay Winik, 2001 71.2009.084.13230 Sara Gabbard JAY WINIK

Sara Gabbard: Your book April April 1865. One thing I would add is 1865: The Month that Saved America that the readers obviously agreed is a “must read” for those intent on with me. understanding the ramifications of the presidency of Abraham SG: Tell our readers something Lincoln, the Civil War, and the about Lincoln’s meeting at City aftermath of both assassination Point with Grant and Sherman as and war. What prompted you to April 1865 dawned. undertake this challenge? JW: As April 1865 was about to dawn, Jay Winik: When I was searching Abraham Lincoln called the very im- around for a topic for my book, I was portant meeting with his two top gen- trying to find something that I thought erals, Ulysses S. William and William would be fresh, would be exciting, T. Sherman. He wanted to talk about would have a pounding narrative, and the war: when it would end and how would really change the way people it would end. He did some things that “Lincoln Entering Richmond,” by Thomas Nast OC-1481 look at things. What really struck me were really quite crucial there. One of about April 1865 is that you had this the first things he said to them was dramatic surrender at Appomattox, something that had deeply concerned that was, as he put it, that there would this moving surrender at Appomat- him. That was the possibility, as Lin- be one final bloody Armageddon. And tox, yet it was not a surrender of the coln put it, that the southerners would he said, “Must there be more blood- entirety of the Confederate Army, and take to the hills with their hearty hors- shed, must there be one final great then five days later, Abraham Lincoln es and hearty men and then wage in battle?” Grant said, “Lee being Lee, was dead. I thought that’s the story effect what would be guerilla warfare. there will be a final cataclysmic war.” that we don’t hear enough about, and There was one other thing that Lin- that’s the story that needs to be told. At that point Grant agreed that was coln wanted to talk about. It was an That in the end is what prompted me a real possibility. And then Lincoln extremely insightful comment: when to undertake the lofty challenge of wanted to talk about something else this war is over, there must be no making sense of what would become with both Grant and Sherman and bloody work, no hangings, there must be none of that. In other words, what he was talking was the need for a soft peace. His reference was to some- thing that loomed large in the minds of all Americans in that day and age: that there could be a repeat of the French Revolution in America with terrible consequences of an ongoing cycle of bloodshed and civil war that would continue on without end.

SG: Can you please describe Lin- coln’s appearance in Richmond on that stirring day of April 4th?

JW: As Lee was retreating, this had to have been one of the most stir- ring days, not only in the entirety of April, not only in the entirety of the Civil War, but in the entirety of all American history if not modern con- temporary history. Lincoln wanted to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Va. LN-2429

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 17 INTERVIEW WITH JAY WINIK

ing that he could retreat from Rich- Confederate soldiers were allowed to mond as well as Petersburg, take his return to their homes, and they were army down south, hook up with Joe allowed to keep their horses. After Johnston, and from there he would the signing of the treaty, Lee left the strike at William Sherman. He would house, mounted his horse Traveler, then “take to the hills” and continue and left the premises. the war from there, prepared to fight as long as possible. Lincoln feared SG: Since your book is titled April more than anything else this mindset 1865 would you please comment of Lee. In the actual retreat itself, all on the assassination in that Lee had to do was “hook down south” month? with his army and link up at a place called Amelia Courthouse, where ra- JW: What’s so dramatic is that when tions were waiting for him. Lee surrendered, he surrendered only his army. There were still three Con- When Lee began his retreat, this epic federate armies in the field, ready to military measure spawned over four fight to the bitter end. Also, there was sets of long lines stretching over thir- still Mary Lee, who was a direct de- ty-five miles each. However, when he scendant of Martha Washington, call- left Richmond and Petersburg, he had ing for continued fighting; and there taken military equipment but no food. was Jefferson Davis calling for - guer His men marched hour after hour and rilla warfare. The situation was so un- “Surrender of General Lee, at Appomattox Court day after day, and finally arrived at stable that chances for reconciliation House, Virginia, April 9th, 1865,” Currier & Ives, Amelia Courthouse. Lee made his way were, at best, uncertain. Five days lat- 1865 71.2009.081.0739 to the train tracks, where the precious er in Washington, D.C., on April 14th, see the now-fallen rebel capital, and cargo was waiting for him. He opened three deadly assassins fanned out he wanted to see it with his own eyes. up one of the boxcars, and what did across the city. First was, of course, He got into a small boat and made his he find? He found weapons and oth- John Wilkes Booth, who shot the pres- way to Rocketts Landing in Richmond. er military equipment. He found ev- ident at approximately 10:15 p.m. The He then got off the boat and was sur- erything but food and water. In other next morning at 7:22 a.m., the great rounded by a number of men who words, the absence of these essentials Abraham Lincoln died. were there to guarantee his security. threatened to undo this mighty Army All of a sudden President Lincoln saw of Northern Virginia. But it was at this The second deadly assassin made a crowd of African Americans, many of point that Lee resolved that he and his his way to Secretary of State William whom had been slaves. They wanted men would fight with whatever they Seward’s house, managed to gain to get a look at the man they consid- had. They would continue this retreat access to his bedroom, and stabbed ered to be their liberator. They want- with great spirit and determination. him multiple times. Seward’s life was ed to see him with their own eyes. left hanging by a thread, but he sur- They tried to touch him. At one point, On April 7th they would have a bitter vived. The third member of the assas- Lincoln said to them very poignantly, battle against the North at a place sination conspiracy planned to kill the “You’re free, you’re free as air.” It was called Saylor’s Creek. They would fight vice president, Andrew Johnson, but at that point another one of these for- with their weapons, but they would be by happenstance, he got cold feet at mer slaves threw himself at Lincoln’s fighting hand-to-hand combat as well. the end and did not make an assas- feet, and the president wagged a stern Lee’s forces eventually lost this battle, sination attempt. Imagine the chaos finger at him and said, “From now on and by April 8th and then April 9th, it and the turmoil that rippled through you do not kneel to me, you kneel to was obvious that they were surround- Washington, D.C., at that point. That your God, you kneel only to your cre- ed on the east, west, and south sides. was the 9/11 of their day. Indeed, the ator.” He then proceeded to visit the The option to head north was not a Chief Justice of the United States said office of Jefferson Davis. That was that viable alternative. It was at this point it was a night of horrors. It was a night stirring day in Richmond that will live that Lee was forced to consider sur- of chaos. The American people had in time and memorial as a powerful rendering. not had sufficient time to experience moment in American history. the relief promised after the surren- SG: Please describe what you der of Robert E. Lee when their presi- SG: Could you please comment consider to be the most generous dent was taken from them. about Lee’s retreat and its signifi- terms of the peace treaty at Appo- cance? mattox. SG: How real was the threat of guerrilla warfare by Confederate JW: If you think about what Abraham JW: This is one of the great moments groups and individuals? Lincoln was saying to Grant and Sher- in all of American history. Grant and man, he was talking about a “soft Lee met at the Wilmer McLean house. JW: It was incredibly real. Between the peace” and reconciliation. Lincoln had Lee wore his finest uniform, and Grant riders and the fighters and men like his ideas, but Robert E. Lee had a to- appeared in muddy military clothes. John Mosby, Nathan Bedford Forrest, tally different mindset. Lee was think- The most important provisions were: the legendary William Quantrill, and

18 SUMMER 2019 JAY WINIK

the James boys, it would have been rail to take communion. Members of SG: Do you have an upcoming proj- possible to carry out guerrilla war, not the congregation were unsure as to ect which you can share with our only for days, but for weeks, if not for what would happen next. All of a sud- readers? years. den, an elderly man who looked sickly made his way up to the rail and took SG: At the end of your chapter communion next to that black man. JW: I’m not at a point where I’m yet titled “Reconciliation,” you tell a That man was Robert E. Lee. ready to share with your readers, but moving story of an incident at St. I can give one little inkling into what Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rich- SG: Such disparate individuals as mond. Please repeat that story for President George W. Bush and I’m doing. In each of my books, I try to our readers. actor Tom Hanks read and reacted find a profound turning point in time. to April 1865. Please comment on I try to write about a significant presi- JW: The marvelous anchor of ABC their reactions. dent as well. I try to write about some- news, Peter Jennings, told me that, thing fresh. So while I’m not at liberty when he read the scene, it caused JW: This book really has had a remark- tears to form. But I want to give a lit- able set of individuals who have read yet to tell you what I’m writing about, tle bit of setting just for a second. One it: President George Bush and Pres- you might think about what I’ve writ- thing that Robert E. Lee did after the ident George Herbert Walker Bush; ten before: George Washington in his war was to give an interview to the Bill Clinton; Chief Justice of the Unit- era; Lincoln in his era; and FDR in his New York Herald Tribune. In this in- ed States John Roberts; many sena- terview, he said the best men of the tors, including Mitch McConnell; and era. In each of these are momentous South were rejoicing at the end of the legendary actor Tom Hanks. In periods and momentous presidents. slavery, and he talked about what we George Bush’s case, he read the book So I’m hoping to do the same with my in the United States should do next. and finished it the day after 9/11 and next book and all I can say is: “stay The reason that this statement is so was observed carrying the book as he significant is that in earlier days when exited Marine 1 on the south lawn of tuned.” he said “we,” he always meant the the White House on September 12, Confederacy. Now he said “we” in the 2001. Tom Hanks gave an interview to Jay Winik is the author of April 1865: The context of what the country should Maureen Dowd, a great journalist of Month that Saved America. He will give do next. The moving scene at St. the New York Times. At one point, he the annual R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond went into his library and he came out occurred during the service when with April 1865 and said that this book at the Allen County Public Library in Fort a black man walked to the chancel was amazing. Wayne, Indiana, on September 16, 2019.

“Assassination of President Lincoln, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, April 14, 1865,” E.B. & E.C. Kellogg 71.2009.081.1756 LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 19 An Interview with Kate Masur

on “They Knew Lincoln” by John E. Washington

John E. Washington, c1941 LN-1137 Sara20 SUMMER Gabbard 2019 KATE MASUR

Sara Gabbard: Who was John E. ing the ghosts that haunted Ford’s status of African Americans liv- Washington? What brought him Theatre. Washington’s motivation ing in Washington, D.C., during to your attention? to write publicly about those people Lincoln’s presidency? and their era began in 1935, when African Americans’ status in Kate Masur: I first came across John KM: the Associated Press ran a story as- E. Washington’s book, They Knew Washington, D.C., was tremendously serting that Elizabeth Keckly was not Lincoln, when I was a graduate stu- dynamic during Lincoln’s presidency. the author of her 1868 book, Behind dent at University of Michigan in Perhaps one way of imagining the big the Scenes, and that in fact Keckly the 1990s. I found a citation to the picture is to think about two groups: had never existed. Like many other book and wanted to have a look for the African Americans who lived African Americans in Washington, myself. I found the book very intrigu- in the District of Columbia in 1861, D.C, John Washington knew very well ing, and I especially wanted to know and the thousands who migrated that Keckly had indeed existed and more about the author. Who was there during the war. Slavery was John E. Washington, and how did he legal in the District of come to write and publish this book? Columbia until April At that time, when the internet was 1862, when Congress just getting started, it wasn’t easy passed a law requir- to find any substantive information ing that all slaves be about Washington. I thought it was freed (and providing strange that he was so obscure. My compensation to sla- primary focus at that point was writ- veowners). The end of ing my dissertation, but I kept think- slavery in the nation’s ing about Washington and his book. capital was momen- tous. Abolitionists Eventually I learned quite a bit about had been demanding John Washington and the origins of it for decades. Yet They Knew Lincoln. In the new edi- the city already had a tion of the book I provide a narra- large free black popu- tive of his life and work, but here lation. In fact, almost are the basics: Washington was a 80 percent of the man of many talents. The son and African Americans grandson of slaves, he was born in who lived in the Annapolis, Maryland, in 1880. His District of Columbia parents passed away when he was when the war began young, and he was raised by his were already free. In grandmother, Caroline Washington, this sense, the cap- who ran a boarding house near ital was similar to Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Baltimore and other He earned three degrees at Howard parts of Maryland, University – in teaching, dentistry, where free black and liberal arts – and taught com- people significant- mercial art for decades at Cardozo ly outnumbered the High School, a business high school enslaved. for black students in D.C.’s segregat- They Knew Lincoln, by John E. Washington, first edition, 1942 71.2009.084.13229 ed public school system. The antebellum black community of Washington became interested in Washington had managed to flour- had been closely associated with Lincoln and the Civil War Era when ish under difficult circumstances. Its the Lincolns. His effort to vindicate he was young. He grew up listening members built churches and devel- Keckly eventually led him to write as his grandmother’s friends told oped schools, and by the time Lincoln They Knew Lincoln. stories of those days – of escap- became president, Washington was ing from slavery, of working in the SG: Can you briefly describe the home to some very accomplished Lincolns’ White House, or of hear-

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 21 INTERVIEW WITH KATE MASUR

leaders and organizations, including and Virginia, created opportunities This was a period of almost unfath- people like John F. Cook, the pastor at for enslaved people to escape into omable change in Washington. In Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, the capital. They came to Washington 1863, African Americans publicly cel- and Kate Brown, who worked in the seeking safety and also employment ebrated July 4 with a huge parade that U.S. Capitol building. Many members with the U.S. Army and Navy, which showcased their churches, Sabbath of the antebellum black elite had had significant bases in the capital. schools, and mutual aid societies. strong ties to the white elite. As in Thousands of people migrated into Such a display would never have other slaveholding jurisdictions, how- the District, leading to a shortage of been possible before the Civil War. ever, the city’s laws and power struc- housing and problems with control Black men and women demanded tures were designed to secure slavery of sanitation. Members of the ex- equal treatment on the streetcars, and racial subordination. Local laws isting African American community attended sessions of Congress, and required free African Americans (but mobilized to provide food, clothing, even sought admittance to parties at not whites) to register their residen- and shelter to the new migrants, but the Lincoln White House. cy and imposed special curfews and the problem was far larger than they The black population of Washington licensing requirements on them. alone could handle. The government tripled between 1860 and 1870. The established several “contraband When Congress abolished slavery in mix of people who lived there at the camps” that provided temporary the District of Columbia in 1862, it time – those who had long been free, housing. In They Knew Lincoln, John also repealed those racist laws and, Civil War migrants, and numerous Washington explains that one of his for the first time, established a public highly political African Americans grandmother’s friends, Aunt Mary school system for African American from the free states who came to the Dines, taught school and supervised children. Meanwhile, the Civil War, capital in search of employment and the choir in such a camp, and she de- particularly in neighboring Maryland opportunity – made Washington, scribed what it was like when D.C., an exciting and interesting President Lincoln stopped by. place during the Lincoln administra- tion and throughout Reconstruction. African Americans demanded equali- ty and respect in all manner of public places, and black men were enfran- chised by an act of Congress in 1867. For a short time, the District had a biracial electorate and a mayor and city council that was responsive to the will of the voters. An opposition movement quickly mobilized, how- ever, and in 1871 Congress turned the District into a federal territory, eliminating almost all elected offices and putting power in the hands of the wealthy elite. I’ve written about all this in my book, An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C. (2010) and also in an article, “Color Was A Bar to the Entrance,” in the March 2017 issue of American Quarterly.

SG: Abraham Lincoln has been described as both too slow and too fast in his path to emanci- pation. What is your take on his

Cover and Inscription by John E. Washington to Dr. Louis A. Warren, in They Knew Lincoln 71.2009.084.13229 22 SUMMER 2019 KATE MASUR

“The Fifteenth Amendment” 71.2009.081.0588 journey? for escaped slaves. They had no pa- to volunteer for the U.S. Army. He tience for Lincoln’s gradual, volun- wrote, “Until the nation shall repent KM: I definitely don’t think he was tary emancipation schemes, nor for of this weakness and folly, until they too fast, and I can certainly under- shall make the cause of their coun- stand people’s frustration that he his proposal that African Americans try the cause of freedom, until they seemed too slow. Many abolitionists voluntarily leave the United States shall strike down slavery, the source believed from the beginning of the for Central America. As Frederick and center of this gigantic rebellion, war (and even before it started) that Douglass wrote in May 1861, “The they don’t deserve the support of a war would bring about the end of simple way . . . to put an end to single sable arm, nor will it succeed slavery. They wanted Lincoln to hur- the savage and desolating war now in crushing the cause of our present ry up and realize that – to attack slav- waged by the slaveholders, is to troubles.” ery directly rather than, for example, strike down slavery itself, the primal insisting that U.S. military officials cause of that war.” Douglass was Douglass was prescient, but we also allow ostensibly loyal slaveowners frustrated that the Lincoln adminis- need to appreciate how Lincoln saw to come into army camps looking tration was not permitting black men the issue. Particularly in the first year

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 23 INTERVIEW WITH KATE MASUR

of the war, he worried that a full- of black men as soldiers, he stood by end up talking quite a bit about the bore attack on slavery would push it despite widespread opposition. Constitution and also about how Maryland or Kentucky out of the Americans imagine presidential SG: What parts of Lincoln’s life Union. Both states were strategically power. Students are also interested and the Civil War most interest important for the U.S. – and would in thinking about the many ways it your students at Northwestern? have been so for the Confederacy as was possible to both despise slav- Are there any subjects that they well – and so it was important to show ery and seriously doubt, as Lincoln would prefer to ignore? the governments of those states that did, that white and black people the Lincoln administration was not, KM: I teach a freshman seminar could coexist in the United States in as so many of its opponents insist- called “Abraham Lincoln in History conditions of freedom and equality. ed, allied with the radical abolition- and Memory.” In that class we Lincoln was such a good writer that ists and poised to somehow sum- spend a lot of time reading Lincoln’s it’s always fun to engage directly with marily abolish slavery. Moreover, own writings, particularly on race his own prose. and this may have been even more and slavery, and then we look at SG: Is Reconstruction a topic that important, Lincoln believed slavery how Americans have remembered is well understood or gener- was legal in the states where it ally ignored? already existed and did not be- lieve he had the authority, as KM: I’ve spent a lot of time president, to attempt to destroy writing, thinking, and teaching it. He repeatedly asked Congress about Reconstruction. The peri- to pass legislation that would od is generally not well under- have allowed the government stood, in part because it’s often to pay the loyal border states ignored or glossed over, and in to end slavery voluntarily, and part because our collective mis- he signed several congressional understanding of it runs deep. measures that increasingly bold- After the Civil War, Americans ly provided for the freedom of had to settle two crucial and enslaved people who escaped to interrelated questions: How U.S. Army lines. But he was re- would the nation be brought luctant to use his power as pres- back together after a brutal ident to act unilaterally against war? And how would Americans slavery. He was already wielding contend with the abolition of power more forcefully than any slavery? The process of an- previous president, and he was swering these questions is the wary of alienating northerners history of Reconstruction. The who suspected him of being a period can be hard to under- tyrant at heart. stand, but I’ve come to believe that if we can break it down into Lincoln’s sense of the limits on these fundamental questions the power of the presidency – questions that are absolutely was a major reason it took him central to American history – a while to decide to issue the Frederick Douglass, 1876 LN-0513 Reconstruction can be compel- Emancipation Proclamation. It Lincoln over the last 150 years or ling for students and for all people was as commander in chief of the so. Maybe I’m projecting, but I think who want to better understand the U.S. Army and Navy that Lincoln be- students are particularly interested United States. lieved he could act against slavery, in trying to figure out Lincoln’s views and his presidential proclamation During Reconstruction, African on slavery and race. Many have nev- applied only in places that were in in- Americans founded independent er considered, for example, why surrection against the United States. churches and communities, and Lincoln – if he hated slavery – didn’t Yet once he took the momentous many historically black colleges and just wave his magic wand and end step of issuing the proclamation, universities (HBCUs) date to this it when he became president. We which also called for the enlistment period. Questions about civil rights,

24 SUMMER 2019 KATE MASUR

voting, and the proper scope of fed- tional park dedicated to interpreting on that stew of ideas to develop the eral power were front and center. Reconstruction. ideas we put forward in the volume’s Americans passed three new consti- introduction. Researching and writ- SG: I really appreciate studies tutional amendments, dramatically ing history can be very isolating, but that take the reader beyond transforming the relationship be- this was a collaborative project on the Treaty of Appomattox and tween the federal government and many different levels. I hope readers Lincoln’s assassination and focus the states and promising, for the first on effects and repercussions. You can detect the energy and excite- time, that the U.S. government would co-edited The World the Civil War ment that went into the volume. protect certain individual rights. The Made. 14th Amendment promises birth- SG: Are you currently working on right citizenship and basic civil rights, Your Introduction is titled “Echoes any special projects? while the 15th prohibits racial dis- of War: Rethinking Post-Civil War KM: I’m writing a book about the ori- crimination in voting. The 14th and Governance and Politics.” Please gins of federal Reconstruction policy comment on your experience in 15th Amendments remain critical – particularly the 14th Amendment working on this book. Surprises? to so many facets of American life. – in struggles over the rights of free Reconstruction was also a tremen- Changes in outlook? New ap- African Americans in the antebellum dously violent period. Many white proaches to teaching the sub- North. The book traces how grow- southerners refused to accept the jects? Affirmation of preciously ing numbers of northerners came to new order and turned to terrorizing held viewpoints? believe that racially discriminatory and murdering black southerners KM: That book was one of the most laws had no place in American life. and their white allies in an effort to gratifying things I’ve ever done as an For instance, it highlights the work reassert white supremacy. historian. My co-editor, Greg Downs, of black activists and white activists Congress’s efforts to launch the and I were interested in pulling to- as they worked to strike down rac- gether and assessing cutting-edge nation on a new footing during ist laws in the Midwest and as they scholarship on the post-Civil War Reconstruction – and to prioritize argued that the federal government freedom and equality for all people – period. Eric Foner’s tremendous ought to do more to protect the civil were remarkable. Yet for a long time, 1988 book, Reconstruction: America’s rights of all free persons, regardless conventional wisdom held that these Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, of race. The standard story of con- policies were a grave mistake, that cast a very long shadow over our gressional Reconstruction policy is Reconstruction was an unconstitu- field. Foner’s book is a stunning that Congress was cobbling together tional usurpation of state power, and piece of research and writing, and it’s responses on a piecemeal basis as it that white southerners were heroic widely influential across all fields of for rejecting federal policy and restor- U.S. history. When it came out, one became aware of conditions on the ing white domination. That interpre- prominent reviewer speculated that ground in the former Confederacy. tation of Reconstruction prevailed in there might be nothing further to This book takes a much longer view, textbooks and popular culture, and it say on the subject of Reconstruction! showing that Republican legislators served to justify the Jim Crow order Yet scholars continued to produce already had very clear ideas about that endured for much of the 20th new work, and we wanted to see what kind of a nation they would like century. Most historians have reject- what new patterns and approach- to live in but did not have the chance ed that interpretation since at least es we could detect. We deliberate- to try to put those ideas into practice the 1960s, but it remains deeply em- ly went beyond the usual North/ until the Civil War. This project is in- bedded in American culture. It has South and black/white dichotomies troducing me to issues, sources, and been heartening to see, over the last in Reconstruction scholarship by in- historical subfields that are entirely five years or so, growing attention to cluding historians of the U.S. West new to me, so I’m having a lot of fun Reconstruction in public life, as com- and of Native American history. Bill with it. munities uncover and discuss their Blair and Penn State’s Richards Civil own histories. The National Park War Era Center hosted a symposium Kate Masur is the Wayne V. Jones Service has devoted growing atten- where scholars gathered, gave pa- II Research Professor in History at tion to the period, and in 2017, Barack pers, and talked about connections Northwestern University. In 2018-2019, Obama created the Reconstruction across subfields. The participants’ Masur was awarded the National Era National Monument in Beaufort, papers were excellent and generat- Endowment for the Humanities Faculty South Carolina, the nation’s first na- ed a terrific discussion, and we drew Fellowship.

LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 25 210 Years Later

In February of this year, we marked ing on the riff that we all are in and But there are those who point the 210th birthday anniversary of of Lincoln country. out that prior to the Civil War, we America’s secular saint, Abraham spoke of “The United States are Imagine the tourist dollars roll- . . .” and only after the war did it Lincoln, although it can be hard to ing in from a cooperative tour of separate it from the car, furniture, become “The United States is . . .” Lincoln Land that began in Hardin Mission accomplished. Millions of carpet and indoor spa sales that County then on to Spencer County have somehow become barnacles gallons of blood shed, but he held and over to the banks of the the place together. on the birthday cake. Sangamon River. And, no, you do And we Hoosiers, along with not need a passport. And he continues to fascinate. the Illini to the west and the Someone did the research and Not everyone agrees even on the found that more books have Kentuckians across the river, con- merits of Mr. Lincoln himself. I tinue to squabble over who made been written about Abraham once knew a fellow who was a se- Lincoln than any other person the man who saved the United rious Lincoln scholar who, deep in States. I once put together a pan- except Jesus Christ. But to get a his soul, believed that – his words sense of Mr. Lincoln deep in your el program to answer the absurd – “assassination was a good career question of whether Mr. Lincoln soul, in your gut, you need to vis- move for him.” A harsh judgment it the Lincoln Memorial at the far became Mr. Lincoln “because of” but probably more correct than or “in spite of” his rural Midwestern west end of the National Mall in most of us like to think. He won Washington D.C. beginnings. And one of the real ir- the war but could he have won ritations in my life is that Indiana, the peace? Don’t know. Never This massive marble edifice, will Illinois and Kentucky continue this will. And, in many ways, we aren’t be getting renewed attention in divisive born-here- grew-up-there there yet, are we? the next couple of years as it ap- quibbling rather than harmoniz- 26 SUMMER 2019 210 Years Later

Ed Breen

proaches its centennial: 100 years Avenue to 23rd Street and We ascend the steps and enter since it was completed and dedi- past the Watergate and across that enormous space. Two hun- cated on May 30, 1922. Fifty-seven Constitution Avenue. Ahead is dred feet wide. A hundred and years after the death of the man it Independence Avenue and to our thirty feet across to the other side. celebrates. left, the Washington Monument Banks of spotlights 60 feet above Glorious, somber, elegant, impos- and the great dome of the Capitol us in the ceiling are carefully di- ing, reverent. America’s finest in the distance. All are bathed in rected at Daniel Chester French’s tribute to one of its own. The mar- flood lights. breath-taking tribute in stone. And we stand there. Transfixed. ble statue of the seated Lincoln To the right, the 87 steps leading weighs 120 tons. Nineteen feet We look up at Mr. Lincoln’s mar- from the reflecting pool to the ble face, which seems somehow high, 19 feet wide. And the base Memorial and another 58 marble animated, alive. Three feet, sev- on which it rests is another 55 steps up to the cavernous interior, en inches from chin to brow. tons. Six million visitors a year. surrounded by the 36 Colorado Motionless. Accompany me, if you will, on a marble columns, one for each It is, even in this most secular visit to this place. It was 30 years state in the Union that Mr. Lincoln of cities and places, a religious ago now. fought to preserve. experience. It is a winter night in Washington. We are alone. No tourists. No po- Ed Breen is a retired editor of Fort Fresh snow – not much by our lice. No protestors. No demonstra- Wayne’s Journal Gazette. He serves standards -- on the landscape tors. Not even one of those green as Vice President of Friends of the of the Mall. It is nearly 1 o’clock uniformed folks from the National Lincoln Collection of Indiana and in the morning, We have walked Park Service in sight, although we provided the photo above. along M Street and Pennsylvania have no doubt that they are here. LINCOLN LORE . NUMBER 1922 27 ACPL.INFO LINCOLNCOLLECTION.ORG FRIENDSOFTHELINCOLNCOLLECTION.ORG