Tag: Abraham Lincoln

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A Busy Day in Abraham Lincoln’s Life

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Lincoln MemorialPeriodically I check a website called The Lincoln Log to see what was going on in Lincoln’s life on this day throughout his life. Today was an especially busy day.

The Lincoln Log arose out of a long-term project beginning with Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, a series of three volumes published in 1960 cataloging the life of Lincoln. The third volume was made possible in part by volunteer work of the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am a current officer. The Lincoln Log was later augmented by information from the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project, with a special emphasis on Lincoln’s legal work. More information is added periodically. It’s a fun and useful resource.

Which gets to today, May 7th. This date seems to hold several important events in Lincoln’s life over the years.

1832: Lincoln is en route to Rock River in Illinois serving in the Black Hawk War.

1833: Lincoln is appointed postmaster at New Salem by President Andrew Jackson. Lincoln is already identifying himself as a Whig and Jackson is a Democrat more likely to give patronage to party members, Lincoln believes the post office position is “too insignificant to make his politics an objection.”

1837: Lincoln the romantic? Probably not. On this date in 1837 he writes to Mary Owens, whom he has committed to marry despite reservations by both parties. He writes: “I … wish you would think seriously before you decide. . . . My opinion is that you had better not do it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than you now immagine.” Lincoln adds, “Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I can immagine, that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort.”  [At least now he is still free to meet Mary Todd…and Joshua Speed]

1852: Jury begins deliberation in Johnston v Jones and Marsh, a case in which Lincoln later serves an attorney. More familiarly known as the “Sand Bar” case, Lincoln deftly handles the environmental and technical aspects of sand accumulating after a rock wall is built, thus affecting the property owned by two Lake Michigan lakeside owners.

1858: Lincoln defends Duff Armstrong, the son of an old friend from his New Salem days, in a murder trial that becomes known as the “Almanac Trial” due to Lincoln’s use of an almanac to dispute the testimony of a key witness. I visited the site of the trial in Beardstown, Illinois.

1861: Lincoln acknowledges a letter from the Republic of San Marino conferring citizenship upon him. He now has dual citizenship.

1862: The presidential party arrives at Fort Monroe, Virginia and boards the USS Monitor. The Monitor was undergoing repairs after its battle with the Confederate ironclad Virginia (formerly the Merrimack). Lincoln confers with General Wool and visits the yacht Vanderbilt, donated by its namesake millionaire to the Union cause.

1863: Lincoln and General Halleck spend the day with General Joseph Hooker and the Army of the Potomac. After returning to Washington he frantically telegraphs Secretary of War Stanton: “Have you any news?” He then writes Hooker to ask him what he plans to do next. Hooker has spent the last several days failing miserably during the Battle of Chancellorsville, one of Robert E. Lee’s best military wins. Stonewall Jackson is wounded by his own men in a “friendly fire” incident and dies soon after.

1864: Lincoln receives first-hand report on the Wilderness campaign from H.E. Wing, who arrives about 2 a.m. on a special locomotive. Lincoln also transmits to the Senate the opinion of his attorney general on the “rights of colored persons in the army or volunteer service.” Lincoln is working to get more equal treatment of black troops.

All of this on May 7th.

I discuss many of these points in my forthcoming book. More on that shortly.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Abraham Lincoln and the Store that “Winked Out”

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LincolnWhen he returned from the Black Hawk War, Lincoln was without any means of employment or income. He briefly considered learning blacksmithing, but he also wanted to further his education, which he acknowledged was sorely lacking. Around this time New Salem resident James Herndon sold his interest in the general store he owned with his brother Rowan to William F. Berry, who had served with Lincoln in the militia. Dissatisfied with Berry, a few weeks later Rowan sold his own share to Lincoln. Berry was the son of a Presbyterian minister from an influential family, so may have paid for his share, but Lincoln’s share was obtained on credit. In 1832, Berry and 22-year-old Lincoln were suddenly partners, store owners, and in debt.

The store came fully stocked with the usual items, just as Offutt’s outfit had been. Mostly they served farmers coming in from the surrounding territory. When another store co-owned by James A. Rutledge failed, Berry and Lincoln quickly scooped up the extra goods. The new products included a barrel of whiskey, which teetotaler Lincoln avoided but Berry proved all too fond of, perhaps explained the store’s lack of profits.

Business was slow, and Lincoln was generally left to operate the store while Berry worked his second job as town constable or was away attending college, which he did at least briefly. The slow pace was perfect for Lincoln, who much preferred entertaining to selling, often sitting by the fire telling humorous stories and jokes to anyone who might wander inside. Everything from the weather to politics was ripe for intense discussion, and Lincoln kept all his visitors enthralled. He freely extended credit to his growing list of friends, which seemed to include everyone who walked into the store.

In early 1833 Berry and Lincoln bought out the inventory of a larger store across the road, as well as the store itself. Here the two men, likely at Berry’s urging, applied for a license to sell whiskey by the glass. Despite the common occurrence of “groceries” (equivalent to what we today call pubs) and widespread alcohol imbibing, Lincoln had to walk a fine line of denial in his debates two decades later with Stephen A. Douglas, who sought to tarnish Lincoln’s reputation.

New Salem had begun to stagnate as a community, in large part because the nearby Sangamon River was not as navigable as hoped. The combination of too much competition, the overstocking of supplies, and inexperienced management by both owners put the business in a bad financial position. In 1834, the store “winked out.” Not long afterward, Berry grew severely ill, most likely from a life of hard drinking, and died. Lincoln was forced to assume the considerable remaining debts of the failed business, which totaled more than $1,000 ($27,000 in today’s valuation). He jokingly referred to this as his “national debt,” and it took him many years to repay.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln, a Flatboat, New Orleans, and Discovering America

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Lincoln flatboatSoon after moving to Illinois, Lincoln made his second flatboat trip to New Orleans. A local entrepreneur and schemer named Denton Offutt approached Lincoln’s relative John Hanks about manning such a journey. Hanks then recruited Lincoln and brother-in-law John Johnston, all of whom now lived in a wooded area west of Decatur near the banks of the Sangamon River. Because of the previous “winter of deep snow,” melting snowpack made the roads impassable by the first of March 1831, forcing the three men to purchase a canoe and paddle down the Sangamon River as far as Springfield, where they expected to find a fully loaded flatboat. Offutt, however, had somehow forgotten to arrange for it.

Frustrated by the delay but eager to continue, Lincoln, Hanks, and Johnston were joined by a local carpenter, Charles Cabanis, and John Roll. While they largely followed the standard design, there were some differences. Because this trip was to include livestock—live hogs in addition to wet and dry goods—the men constructed small corrals and troughs in the boat. They also added a wooden mast and sail to help them maneuver when the wind was gentle enough to push the boat, but not wreck it. After about six weeks of construction, they shoved the 18 feet wide by 80 feet long boat into the Sangamon River just below Sangamotown. They floated the Sangamon River as it wound northwest until meeting the Illinois River near Beardstown, which then turned south until its confluence with the mighty Mississippi River north of Alton for their final thousand miles on the waters to New Orleans. Along the way they would pass St. Louis (where John Hanks turned back because his wife was due to give birth), Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, and Baton Rouge, giving Lincoln a glimpse at cities that would become important strategic points in the later Civil War.

As he moved down the river, Lincoln discovered how the Mississippi had become the central artery of commerce in the Midwest, allowing farmers from western New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to move their produce to New Orleans. It was here Lincoln discovered the existence of a cosmopolitan, multiethnic, society doing trade with the Caribbean and South America, as well as across the central American isthmus and up to west coast, plus Europe and Africa. Lincoln’s world enlarged immeasurably. No longer subsistence farming and small towns as far as you could walk or ride on horseback, life on the river showed Lincoln a glimpse of upper society. There were wealthy sugar plantation owners who purchased or traded for pork and potatoes. There were poverty-stricken families, both black and white, desperate to barter whatever little they had for whatever little they could get. The river was an economic engine as well as transportation, but he recognized the benefits were unequal in distribution. It made Lincoln think about his own situation, his limited formal schooling and opportunities, and how he might better his condition.

Upon arrival in the Crescent City, he and his companions had to compete for space at the piers with hundreds of other flatboats, two to three deep along the docks for over a mile at the landing site above the city. After crawling over other boats, the men bartered and sold whatever remained of their wares, plus anything acquired along the way. Eventually they would sell the boat itself, sometimes whole to a wealthy buyer, but often piecemeal, taking it apart board by board to sell as lumber or fuel. Overall, they could net a return of about a quarter of the construction cost. On each occasion the crews lingered in New Orleans for as long as they could afford before setting out for home.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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The President is Dead

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Lincoln mourning ribbonThe mood in Washington was euphoric. After four long years the war was nearly over. Lincoln had anticipated this ending in his second inaugural address, reminding northerners that they should welcome southerners back into the Union:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Not everyone agreed with Lincoln’s “without malice” sentiment. Radical Republicans wanted the South to pay dearly for its treasonous actions. But those decisions would come later; now was the time for celebration. Buildings were decorated with patriotic red, white, and blue bunting; flags were everywhere and everyone seemed happy in the nation’s capital.

Then tragedy. President and Mary Lincoln were joined at Ford’s Theatre on Good Friday, April 14, by Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris. A night out to see the long-running comedy Our American Cousin would give Lincoln a chance to put thoughts of war behind him.

During the performance, at about 10:14 p.m., actor and southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth stealthily entered the rear of the box. He pressed a small derringer pistol to the back of Lincoln’s head, and fired. Slashing at Rathbone’s arm as he climbed over the rail of the second-story theater box, Booth caught his spur on the American flag decorating the outside, breaking his leg as he landed on the stage. He shouted the Virginia state motto, Sic semper tyrannis (“thus ever to tyrants”), as he escaped out the back door and onto a waiting horse. It took an army of pursuers twelve days to catch up with Booth, who was finally shot and killed while hiding in a tobacco barn.

The unresponsive Lincoln was carried across the street to Petersen’s boarding house, where he clung to life until the next morning, dying without regaining consciousness at 7:22. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton captured the moment with, “Now he belongs to the ages.” The sixteenth President of the United States was dead just days after the long war that dominated his entire presidency had ended.

Lincoln’s body lay in state in the White House before being loaded on a train for the long, arduous trip back to Springfield. The route retraced that which Lincoln had taken when he first came to Washington four years before, making many stops so that people could see him one last time. Millions more saw his train as it made its way home for burial in the Lincoln tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery.

For a “contemporary” newspaper coverage of the event, see Extra!! President Abraham Lincoln is Dead.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Discoveries and Inventions – Lincoln’s Science Lecture (or was it two lectures?)

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Abraham LincolnOn April 6, 1858, in Bloomington, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln gave his first science lecture on what has become known as “Discoveries and Inventions.” Or maybe he wrote two lectures by that name; the issue is a bit murky.

The Daily Pantagraph reported that “Mr. Lincoln is an able and original thinker, and in the department of literature fully sustains the reputation he has so justly earned at the bar.” Others, including Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon, were not so charitable, calling the lecture a “dull, lifeless thing.”

In any case, analyzing the Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions is complicated by the fact that only what appear to be partial transcripts of the lecture remain. John Nicolay in a Century Magazine article called “Lincoln’s Literary Experiments,” and later in the Nicolay and Hay Life of Lincoln, reports only the second half of the lecture. Basler’s Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln has both parts of the lecture, but lists them in two separate volumes as if they were two separate lectures. The confusion comes from the two handwritten parts of the lecture left with the only surviving daughter of Mary Lincoln’s uncle, who passed them to Dr. Samuel Melvin after Lincoln’s assassination, who, believing they were separate lectures, kept one part and sold the other part to Charles Gunther, who later sold it to renowned Lincoln collector Oliver Barrett. In the 1990s, historian Wayne Temple demonstrated clearly that the two parts were indeed from the same lecture. A prominent Bloomington, Illinois newspaper, the site of his most well-attended version of the lecture, carried a significant accounting that includes reference to both sections of the lecture, as well as two subjects—laughter and music—that are not in either section. The lecture most likely included another written piece in the middle, now lost, or Lincoln improvised as he spoke. The two pieces also include some overlap and seeming repetition, for example mentioning Adam’s fig-leaf and steam power in both, which suggests that both pieces are early drafts that Lincoln revised and consolidated into a final lecture.

More recently, Mary and Robert Lincoln historian Jason Emerson discovered letters between Robert and John Nicolay revealing that the two pieces, perhaps additional missing segments, and maybe some revisions, were contained in “a mss [manuscript] book, thin, in black cover, evidently got for the purpose of copying the Lecture into it, as was done in my father in his own hand.” Robert concluded that book was “evidently the one used in delivery.” Unfortunately, Robert lost the book and it has never been found.

Whatever the final length, Lincoln gave the lecture on as many as six different occasions in central Illinois between April 1858 and April 1860. The first was in Bloomington on April 6, 1858. Ten months later, he repeated the lecture in Jacksonville and again in Springfield on February 21, 1859. After giving it in Decatur in January 1860, his planned repeat in Bloomington in April was cancelled as it was about to begin due to poor turnout. His return engagement in Springfield two months after rising to national prominence with his Cooper Union speech, however, was given before a “large and intelligent audience.” Many more requests for Lincoln to present the lecture were made by prominent community leaders across the state, but Lincoln limited himself to places and times that coincided with legal and political business so as not to inconvenience himself.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln and Native Americans – A Panel

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Abraham Lincoln ChicagoOn March 30, 1861, Abraham Lincoln writes to Illinois State Auditor Jesse K. Dubois, who is “sorely disappointed” that Lincoln did not name J. P. Luse to head Minnesota’s Indian Affairs office. The letter gives a glimpse into the difficulties Lincoln faced dealing with our historical treatment of Native Americans. In the letter, Lincoln writes:

I was nearly as sorry as you can be at not being able to give Mr. Luce the appointment you desired for him. Of course I could have done it; but it would have been against the united, earnest, and, I add, angry protest of the republican delegation of Minnesota, in which state the office is located. So far as I understand, it is unprecedented, [to] send an officer into a state against the wishes of the members of congress of the State, and of the same party. Your friend as ever A. LINCOLN

Dubois had served for many years as a fellow Illinois state legislator alongside Lincoln, and was eager for Lincoln to use his patronage to get a position as Indian agent in Minnesota for his son-in-law, James P. Luse. Lincoln explains that control over the appointments is up to U.S. congressmen representing the local Minnesota populace, and that his hands were largely tied. This had always been the case, and would continue for many years to come.

The treatment of Native Americans during the Civil War has recently been offered as part of the rationale for questioning why we honor Lincoln with statuary and school namings. Most notably, San Francisco considered removing the names of Lincoln and many others from school buildings (they have since put the idea on hold). Chicago has initiated a review of 41 statues they deem potentially offensive, including five of the city’s most iconic Lincoln statues.

Which gets me to a program I’ll be participating in next month. On April 13th at 2:00 pm ET, the Illinois State Society (ILSS) is sponsoring a panel discussion entitled “The Case for Honoring Lincoln.” Organized by Rod Ross, a member of the ILSS and the Lincoln Group of DC, the panel consists of myself, current Lincoln Group President John O’Brien, and current Lincoln Group Vice President of Special Events Debbie Jackson. After our short presentations, I’ll moderate a Q&A for the panel. A link for the event will be sent around shortly.

My portion of the program will focus on Lincoln and Native Americans. Specifically, I’ll address Lincoln’s role in the “Dakota 38,” where 38 Dakota were hanged for their part in an uprising that resulted in the deaths of 800 or more settlers. While Lincoln commuted the death sentences of 265 of those convicted, the 38 remain the largest mass execution in U.S. history. I’ll put the incident, and two others, in context with the history of the “Indian System” that had been in place for decades.

Following me will be John O’Brien’s discussion of Lincoln and Emancipation in response to questions about whether Lincoln thought “black lives mattered.” Debbie Jackson will bring the topics together with an overview of why we honor Lincoln despite the fact that he wasn’t infallible.

ADVANCED REGISTRATION FOR THE ZOOM MEETING IS REQUIRED. SEE LINK BELOW. The panel discussion and Q&A will be recorded and is intended as a resource for the Chicago and San Francisco review commissions, plus will be made available to organizations, schools, groups, and anyone else who would benefit from a rational discussion of Lincoln’s roles in these issues.

Please RSVP with link below

Advance Registration Required

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_esVKJb0eSty1gsF3F1BREA

[Photo by David J. Kent, Lincoln in Chicago]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Robert Lincoln – Assassination Jinx?

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Robert Todd LincolnRobert Todd Lincoln was the oldest of Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s four sons, and apparently an assassination jinx in a story that includes several presidents, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison.

Robert died in 1926 after having lived to the age of 82, a longevity quite unusual for his family, as father Abraham was assassinated at the age of 56 and his mother died at 63. Robert was not only the first to be born, he was the last to die, and the only Lincoln child to even reach adulthood. Second born Eddie lived only three years, dying from tuberculosis. Then there was Willie, who died in the White House at age eleven. Thomas (Tad) managed to recover from the same sickness that took his brother in 1862, only to see his father’s life taken a few years later. Tad made it to the age of 18 before dying of heart failure, perhaps from the strain of his mother’s fragile mental state after the trauma of her husband’s demise.

Robert had many great accomplishments in his own right. He served as Secretary of War under President’s Garfield and Arthur, then minister to the United Kingdom under President Benjamin Harrison. He later became legal counsel to the Pullman railroad car company, and eventually became its president.

Perhaps the most interesting factoid is that Robert was either present or nearby at three Presidential assassinations. The first was his father’s, where he was at the White House and rushed to the Petersen House to witness his father’s last hours. Sixteen years later, while serving as Secretary of War, Robert witnessed the assassination of President Garfield at the Sixth Street train station. And if that was not enough bad luck, Robert was present at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo at the invitation of President William McKinley. After McKinley was shot and killed, Robert is said to have refused any further presidential invitations. I suspect Presidents also thought better about inviting him. *(See note)

President McKinley’s assassination happened six months into the second term of his presidency. The exposition was yet another World’s Fair to highlight rapidly changing technology and cultural exchange. McKinley had a busy schedule but managed to slip in a visit to the nearby Niagara Falls. After seeing the gorge with its beautiful falling waters (being careful to remain on the American side to avoid the inevitable political chatter), the President toured Goat Island where a statue of Nikola Tesla would be erected many years later.

One of the main goals of the Niagara Falls trip was to visit the hydroelectric plant, which included the alternating current generators and motors designed by Tesla. It was the alternating current from Tesla’s Niagara Falls system that lit up the entire exposition, including the centerpiece “Electric Tower” and the Temple of Music. There were also electric trains, ambulances, and other vehicles moving people to and from different parts of the fair and the Falls.

After marveling at the ingenuity of Tesla’s designs at Niagara, McKinley returned to Buffalo for a reception at the very same Temple of Music. While shaking hands with well-wishers, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. It was September 6, 1901.

In an ironic twist of fate, Tesla’s rival Thomas Edison could have saved McKinley’s life. Doctors were unable to locate the bullet in McKinley’s abdomen, and an early X-ray machine designed by Edison was on display at the Fair. McKinley’s doctors, however, deemed the apparatus too primitive to be of use. Edison quickly sent his most modern X-ray machine from New Jersey up to Buffalo, but aides to the President refused to use it for fear of radiation poisoning. While McKinley at first appeared to be recovering, gangrene set into the wound and he died on September 14th, Edison’s unused machine sitting nearby.

There is another odd connection to assassination. Robert Lincoln’s life was saved by the brother of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. Here is more on that story.

[Adapted from my e-book, Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate, available for download on Amazon.]

*Note: The original that this piece was adapted from was written several years ago. Today, Jason Emerson, offered up a clarification on the FB version of this post. I serve with Jason on the Abraham Lincoln Institute Board of Directors, and can safely say he is the reigning expert on Robert Lincoln (as well as Mary Lincoln). Here is what he wrote and readers should defer to his research over my post:

“Actually, Robert was not at the Pan American Expo when McKinley was shot, and he was not invited to be there by President McKinley. Robert was on a train on his way to the Exposition with his family (for a family outing, nothing more) and when he arrived at the Buffalo train station, he was informed of the shooting. Robert also attended presidential events with Roosevelt, Taft, and Harding in later life. It’s all in my biography of Robert Lincoln, “Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln.””

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln Visits the Patent Office

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Abraham LincolnOn March 17, 1863, President Lincoln and his wife, Mary, tour the Patent Office. Lincoln is no stranger to the Patent Office. His own patent model resides there, for Patent No. 6469, “an improved method of getting vessels over shoals.” He took his son, Robert, there when he was a Congressman.

Also as a Congressman, Lincoln often assisted other Illinoisans get patents for their inventions. Lincoln wrote to Amos Williams, for example, telling him to send a description and drawing of his invention, along with $20 for the filing fee. Williams had sent a model, but reminded him that “nothing can be done…without having a description of your invention. You perceive the reason for this.” Similarly, Lincoln visits the  Patent Office to inquire about an application for a patent by Jesse Lynch of Magnolia. “They tell me that no patent has [been] issued to any body,” Lincoln informs Lynch, “on any application made as late as the first of July last.”

On this day, however, the visit is more leisurely. He seems to be on a mission to find a suitable gift for foreign dignitaries. The New York Herald reports:

“This temple of American genius has lately received additions . . . Mrs. Lincoln, with characteristic unselfishness, has sent from the White House a splendid variety of the presents of the Kings of Siam and the Tycoon of Japan. Among the most noticeable is a suit of Japanese armor . . . for which the Knight of La Mancha would have given his boots. . . . The President and Mrs. Lincoln seemed to enjoy greatly this respite from the cares of State among so many interesting objects.”

Lincoln and Mary would return to the Patent Office several times for events raising money for organizations taking care of wounded soldiers. The Patent Office was commonly used for such events as it was one of very few locations with enough open space for large gatherings, outside the White House. On March 6, 1865, the President and Mrs. Lincoln attend the inaugural ball at the Patent Office. The Evening Star notes that:

“Mrs. Lincoln . . . wore a white silk skirt and bodice, an elaborately-worked white lace dress over the silk skirt . . . The President was dressed in black, with white kid gloves. . . . Shortly after midnight the Presidential party were escorted to the supper room.” After dinner, “President Lincoln and party withdrew about one o’clock . . . It is estimated that not less than four thousand persons were present at this ball.”

Today, the Patent Office is now the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. I spent many a lunchtime inside its inner atrium. Inside rests the official portrait of Abraham Lincoln and all past Presidents through Barack Obama. Perhaps Lincoln is the light shining down through the atrium’s glass ceiling. Lincoln would have felt comfortable in that building.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln Fires General-in-Chief George B. McClellan, But Keeps Him Anyway

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George B. McClellanOn March 11, 1862, everyone was thinking about George B. McClellan. Lincoln’s cabinet met and groused about their chronic dissatisfaction with the General. Frustrated with McClellan’s “slows,” Lincoln issued War Order No. 3, which fired McClellan as General-in-Chief but retained him as commander of the Army of the Potomac. He spent the rest of the day explaining his decision. War Order No. 3 stated:

Major-General McClellan, having personally taken the field, at the head of the Army of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered, he is relieved from the command of the other military departments, he is retaining command of the Department of the Potomac.

 

Ordered further: That the two departments now under the respective commands of Generals Halleck and Hunter, together with so much of that under General Buell as lies west of a north and south line indefinitely drawn through Knoxville, Tennessee, be consolidated and designated the Department of the Mississippi; and that, until otherwise ordered, Major-General Halleck have command of said department.

McClellan had been an irritant from the beginning. The embarrassing loss at the first Battle of Bull Run sent Winfield Scott to retirement and left Lincoln desperately searching for a military leader. With few options, he turned to a young George B. McClellan for his next General-in-Chief. The Ohio-born McClellan had exhibited strong leadership in two small skirmishes in western Virginia, and he came highly recommended by Ohio Governor William Dennison and Ohio native Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase.

McClellan masterfully outfitted and drilled his raw recruits into a skilled Army of the Potomac, yet he consistently refused to put them into action. He repeatedly claimed the Confederates vastly outnumbered him, even though he had up to twice as many troops at his disposal. His soldiers loved him, but McClellan’s overabundance of caution led to Lincoln’s significant frustration. Adding insult, McClellan arrogantly considered himself vastly superior to the President, referring to Lincoln in letters home to his wife as “nothing more than a well-meaning baboon” and “a gorilla.”

Peninsula Campaign

Despite his position as General-in-Chief, McClellan rarely communicated his strategy or progress. His insubordination included ignoring the President and retiring to bed after Lincoln had sat patiently in McClellan’s parlor for an hour waiting for him to return from an evening out. Continuing to press his generals to fight, Lincoln suggested that the well-trained army make a frontal assault on Confederate forces between Washington and Richmond. McClellan disagreed, eventually counter-proposing a complicated plan to take the Confederate capital of Richmond from the South, which was in direct opposition to Lincoln’s strategy to defeat armies, not take territory.

After several months of obsessive planning, in March 1862 McClellan began shipping troops down the Potomac River to the Virginia peninsula between the James and York Rivers. The size of the troop movement was unprecedented, with more than 120,000 men, a dozen artillery batteries, and tons of equipment all ferried into place at the base of the peninsula. To Lincoln’s chagrin, further overland movement toward Richmond was painfully slow because of bad weather, mud, and McClellan’s exaggerated opinion of enemy troop strength. The Union forces negated the advantage of surprise, and by the time they advanced toward Richmond the more mobile Confederate army had positioned itself to defend the southern capital. Meanwhile, McClellan, against Lincoln’s wishes, had left the Union capital woefully unprotected.

By any measurement, the Peninsula Campaign was a disaster. The Union survived its critical blunder only because of Lincoln’s strategic decision-making. McClellan, of course, blamed Lincoln for supposedly meddling. A frustrated Lincoln demoted McClellan. This left the president once again in desperate need of a military leader. Generals Henry Halleck, Ambrose Burnside (whose trademark facial hair was the inspiration for the term “sideburns”), Joseph Hooker, John C. Fremont, John McClernand, John Pope, George Meade, and others were all considered by Lincoln but ultimately found wanting. Sitting in the wings were Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, western generals who had not yet captured the president’s eye.

McClellan’s demotion was short-lived. In utter desperation and after several disastrous Union losses in the summer of 1862, Lincoln once again turned to McClellan as his General-in-Chief.

At the time, Lincoln was experiencing personal heartbreak in addition to the pressure of mounting Union soldier casualties. In February, Mary Lincoln had planned a grand open house to show off the dramatic and expensive improvements she had made to the aging and neglected White House. By the night of the party, however, Lincoln’s two youngest sons had become severely ill. While guests gathered downstairs, Lincoln and Mary repeatedly slipped upstairs to check on their ailing children. Diagnosed with what was likely typhoid fever, Willie progressively worsened. On February 20, 1862, he died. Tad recovered, but never really understood the sudden loss of his older brother and constant playmate.

Mary was devastated, and for the rest of her time as First Lady (a term she coined to refer to her position) she wore nothing but black. Relying even more on her trusted confidante, former slave Elizabeth Keckley, Mary became an even greater burden on household staff and the growing list of Washington insiders who despised her. Lincoln mourned as well, coping by throwing himself more deeply into the continued struggle to save the Union. One part of that struggle was the hugely important battle of Antietam.

Antietam

In September 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into western Maryland. Following their victory at a second battle of Bull Run, Lee moved his army north to a point near Sharpsburg, alongside Antietam Creek, where they took up defensive positions. With surprising aggressiveness, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac attacked Lee’s forces on September 17. The first assault came from Union General Joseph Hooker on Lee’s left flank, while General Ambrose Burnside later attacked the right. A surprise counterattack from Confederate General A.P. Hill helped push back Union forces. Eventually, Lee’s troops withdrew from the battlefield first. He moved his remaining army back across the Potomac into the safety of Virginia.

Always overly cautious, McClellan made no effort to follow. Lee had committed all of his 55,000 men, while McClellan only ordered a portion of his larger 87,000-man force into the fray. This numerical imbalance allowed Lee to create and exploit tactical advantages he should not have had. When questioned by Lincoln about his failure to pursue Lee, McClellan complained that his army and horses were sore-tongued and fatigued, and thus required rest. Lincoln responded tersely by telegram:

Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?

Antietam was destined to be the single bloodiest day of battle in American history. The casualties for both armies totaled a staggering 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.

Despite Lincoln’s frustration, Antietam stood out as an important battle in the fight for freedom. Although essentially a draw, the fact that Lee withdrew from the battlefield first allowed the North to record Antietam as a victory, something that Lincoln had been needing for some time.

He issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation a few days later.

[Adapted from my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

[Image Credit: U.S. Signal Corps/National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Abraham Lincoln, Blacksmith?

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New Salem blacksmith shopAbraham Lincoln briefly considered apprenticing as a blacksmith. Most subsistence farmers also doubled as tradesmen, working as coopers (barrel makers), tanners (leather makers), distillers (whiskey), brickmakers, shoemakers, or blacksmiths. While still in Indiana he and Dennis Hanks had spent many evenings in the Gentryville general store and at Baldwin’s blacksmith shop trading stories and “yarns,” so Lincoln had seen many an hour of blacksmithing in action.

Blacksmiths were accorded an honored place in the village. They forged the plows, the tools, and the cookware needed to sustain life on the frontier. The village blacksmith was a “gunsmith, farrier, coppersmith, millwright, machinist, and surgeon general to all broken tools and implements,” one scholar put it. He could be called on to forge such a variety of implements as nails, horseshoes, chains, bullet molds, yoke rings, bear traps, bells, saws, and all the metal parts of looms, spinning wheels, and sausage grinders. Lincoln had been familiar with the cast iron plows he used when he was young. With its relatively high carbon content (over 2%), cast iron tends to be brittle, which caused problems for Lincoln back on the farm. On the other hand, iron could be cast into a variety of shapes using molds. As a blacksmith, Lincoln would have learned how to work with wrought iron, which has a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) and much tougher, easy to hammer into useful shapes, could be drawn out into thin wires, corrosion resistant, and more easily welded.

Later, during the Civil War, Lincoln would recall his short-lived experience with blacksmithing to describe his relationship with George B. McClellan, the man he would assign as General-in-Chief of the Union Army but later described as “having the slows” because of his lack of aggressiveness in battle. Lincoln described a blacksmith in his boyhood days that tried to put to a purposeful use a big piece of wrought-iron he had in the shop. Firing up the forge, the blacksmith put the iron on the anvil determined to make a sledgehammer out of it. Giving up on that after a while, he decided to draw it out and make a clevis (a U-shaped fastener). After a few whacks and pumping the bellows to heighten the fire he again stopped. “Okay, maybe a bolt.” Working it hard for a while longer it now was too thin even for a bolt. Frustrated with his lack of success trying to make something useful happen, he proclaimed, “darn you, I’m going to make a fizzle of you.” And with that he dunked it into the water and let if fizz. McClellan, Lincoln told his friend, is someone who should have been productive but no amount of working him hard could make him useful. McClellan’s career soon fizzled out.

Being a blacksmith was respectable work, but it was also hard work, Lincoln decided. The idea of toiling over a hot forge, slinging a heavy hammer for hours on end while sweat poured from his skin was unappealing. Given his distaste for the hard labor of subsistence farming, Lincoln chose not to pursue blacksmithing. He would find some other trade.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Fire of Genius]

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, now available for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). His previous books include Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World, and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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