Authors: Doris Kearns Goodwin
on Thursday, February 20, Willie died: Entry for February 20, 1862, in
Lincoln Day by Day,
Vol. III, p. 96.
“Well, Nicolay…actually gone!”: Entry for February 20, 1862, notebook, February–March 1862, container 1, Nicolay Papers.
“buried his head…ofher old age”: Keckley,
Behind the Scenes,
pp. 103, 104.
She took to her bed…ease her grief: Rebecca R. Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Rebecca R. Pomroy Letters, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College [hereafter Pomroy Letters].
He sent his carriage to the Brownings…Tad’s bedside: Entries for February 20 and 21, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 530.
He asked…Mary Jane, to sit with the boy: Niven,
Gideon Welles,
pp. 442–43.
Julia Bates…also watched over him: Entry for February 22, 1862, in
The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866,
p. 236.
Lincoln turned to Dorothea Dix: Anna L. Boyden,
Echoes from Hospital and White House: A Record of Mrs. Rebecca R. Pomroy’s Experience in War-times
(Boston: D. Lothrop & Co., 1884), p. 52.
a powerful woman…“out of fashion”: Dorothy Clarke Wilson,
Stranger and Traveler: The Story of Dorothea Dix, American Reformer
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), p. 256.
Dix chose Rebecca Pomroy…“turn right in”: Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Pomroy Letters.
Willie’s body lay…“Oh, why is it?”: AL, quoted in Boyden,
Echoes from Hospital and White House,
pp. 54–56 (quotes pp. 54, 56).
Tad would awaken…gown and slippers: Pomroy to “Mary,” March 27, 1862, Pomroy Letters.
Lincoln drove with Browning to Oak Hill Cemetery: Entry for February 23, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 531.
The funeral service…in the East Room:
National Intelligencer,
Washington, D.C., February 25, 1862;
Star,
February 24, 1862.
“keep the boys…in the casket”: Bayne,
Tad Lincoln’s Father,
p. 200.
“He lay with his eyes…for the evening”: Nathaniel Parker Willis, quoted in Keckley,
Behind the Scenes,
p. 108.
“no spectator”…the East Room service: Entry for March 2, 1862, in French,
Witness to the Young Republic,
p. 389.
Congress had adjourned:
Star,
February 24, 1862;
National Intelligencer,
Washington, D.C., February 25, 1862; entry for February 24, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 531.
a frightful storm arose: Benjamin B. French to Henry F. French, February 27, 1862, reel 5, French Family Papers, DLC;
Star,
February 25, 1862.
stormy weather…the grave: William G. Greene interview, May 30, 1865, in
HI,
p. 21.
Mary found it difficult to endure: Elizabeth Todd Edwards to Julia Edwards Baker, quoted in Randall,
Mary Lincoln,
p. 287.
She never invited them back to the White House: Bayne,
Tad Lincoln’s Father,
p. 200.
In her talks with Mrs. Pomroy…her own family: Boyden,
Echoes from Hospital and White House,
pp. 58–59.
she should surrender to God’s will: Baker,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
p. 214.
“to try us…is not with us”: MTL to Julia Ann Sprigg, May 29, 1862, in Turner and Turner,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
p. 128.
speculating that God…“of little else”: MTL to Hannah Shearer, November 20, 1864, in ibid., p. 189.
“foresaken…so lovely a child”: MTL to Mrs. Charles Eames, July 26, 1862, in ibid., p. 131.
“far happier…when on earth”: MTL to Mary Jane Welles, February 21, 1863, in ibid., p. 147.
“Death
…blessed transition”: MTL to CS, July 4, 1865, in ibid., p. 256.
“where there are…
no more
tears shed”: MTL to Mary Jane Welles, July 11, 1865, in ibid., p. 257.
Through Elizabeth Keckley…celebrated medium: Baker,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
p. 219.
the “veil…the ‘loved & lost’”: MTL to CS, July 4, 1865, in Turner and Turner,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
p. 256.
“the spirits of the dead…have become alive”: Princess Felix Salm-Salm,
Ten Years of My Life
(Detroit: Belford Bros., 1877), pp. 59, 60.
“offered tangible…power of sympathy”: Robert S. Cox,
Body and Soul: A Sympathetic History of American Spiritualism
(Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2003), p. 85.
“an altered woman”…look at his picture: Keckley,
Behind the Scenes,
p. 116.
She sent all his toys…was laid out: Ibid., pp. 116–17; Baker,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
pp. 210, 213.
On the Thursday…his terrible grief: Stoddard,
Inside the White House in War Times,
p. 67.
“That blow…never felt it before”: AL, quoted by Rev. Willets, in Carpenter,
Six Months at the White House,
pp. 187–88.
Three months after…“my lost boy Willie”: AL, quoted in Le Grand B. Cannon,
Personal Reminiscences of the Rebellion, 1861–1866.
Black Heritage Library Collection (1895; Freeport, N.Y.: Books For Libraries Press, 1971), p. 174; the quotation from
King John
is in Act III, scene IV.
Lincoln cherished mementos…and tell stories: Randall,
Mary Lincoln,
pp. 291–92.
he invited Browning…important events: Entry for June 22, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 553.
“the memory…you have known before”: AL to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862, in
CW,
VI, p. 17.
CHAPTER 16: “HE WAS SIMPLY OUT-GENERALED”
the “sad calamity…be left undone”: GBM to AL, February 22, 1862, Lincoln Papers.
McClellan’s assurances…contentious meeting: Williams,
Lincoln and the Radicals,
pp. 77–84; Bruce Tap, “Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War (1861–1865),” in
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War,
ed. Heidler and Heidler, p. 1086.
“that neither…defer to General McClellan”: George W. Julian,
Political Recollections, 1840 to 1872
(Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co., 1884), p. 201.
Bates strenuously objected…“commanders”: Entry for January 10, 1862, in
The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866,
pp. 223–24.
He borrowed General Halleck’s book: Entry for January 8, 1862, in
Lincoln Day by Day,
Vol. III, p. 88.
“he was thinking…himself”: Entry for January 12, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 523.
“The bottom is out of the tub”: AL, quoted in Meigs, “General M. C. Meigs on the Conduct of the Civil War,”
AHR
26 (1921), p. 292.
The nearly bankrupt Treasury…meeting on the following day: Ibid.
“can’t keep a…to Tadd”: GBM, quoted in ibid., p. 293.
General War Order No. 1: AL, “President’s General War Order No. 1,” January 27, 1862, in
CW,
V, p. 111.
Lincoln correctly believed…at the same time: Entry for January 12, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, p. 523.
the Peninsula Campaign: See Stephen W. Sears,
To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign
(New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1992).
proposed a different strategy…“superior force”: EMS to Heman Dyer, May 18, 1862, reel 3, Stanton Papers, DLC.
it was feared that the Confederates: AL to GBM, February 3, 1862, Lincoln Papers. On McClellan’s plans see GBM to EMS, January 31, 1862, Lincoln Papers.
Lincoln reluctantly…safe from attack: AL, “President’s General War Order No. 3,” March 8, 1862, in
CW,
V, p. 151.
“there was no more”…grown disenchanted: EMS to Heman Dyer, May 18, 1862, reel 3, Stanton Papers, DLC.
“while men are striving…must be stopped”: EMS to Charles A. Dana, January 24, 1862, quoted in Charles A. Dana,
Recollections of the Civil War: With the Leaders at Washington and in the Field in the Sixties
(New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898), p. 5.
Stanton’s remark…society: Flower,
Edwin McMasters Stanton,
pp. 125–26.
“That will be…the waiting snub”: EMS, quoted in Albert E. H. Johnson, “Reminiscences of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War,”
Records of the Columbia Historical Society
13 (1910), p. 73.
delivered orders to transfer…“his humiliation”: Flower,
Edwin McMasters Stanton,
p. 216 (quote); Johnson, “Reminiscences of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton,”
RCHS
(1910), pp. 73–74.
The Democratic press…“worthy of
Punch”
: EMS to Charles A. Dana, February 23, 1862, quoted in Flower,
Edwin McMasters Stanton,
p. 131.
on the weekend of March 8…supplies, and weapons: Sears,
George B. McClellan,
pp. 163–64; Sears,
To the Gates of Richmond,
pp. 14, 16–17.
“We shall be the…we have got one”: William P. Fessenden to family, March 15, 1862, quoted in Fessenden,
Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden,
Vol. I, p. 261.
“Anybody
…must have
somebody”
: “Conversation with Vice President Wilson, Nov. 16, 1875,” container 10, Nicolay Papers.
On March 11…Mountain Department: AL, “President’s War Order No. 3,” March 11, 1862, in
CW,
V, p. 155.
“learned through the”…the result of the war: McClellan,
McClellan’s Own Story,
pp. 224–26.
“not to let…doing anything”: EBL to SPL, April 12, 1862,
Wartime Washington,
ed. Laas, p. 127 (quote); FPB to GBM, April 12, 1862, reel 20, Papers of George B. McClellan, Sr., Manuscript Division, Library of Congress [hereafter McClellan Papers, DLC].
Washington gossip…to support McClellan: CS to John Andrew, April 27, 1862, in
The Selected Letters of Charles Sumner,
Vol. II, ed. Beverly Wilson Palmer (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1990), p. 112.
“preservers of slavery”: Entry for February 1862, in Gurowski,
Diary from March 4, 1861 to November 12, 1862,
p. 157.
Monty Blair privately…“mortifying to Frank”: MB to FPB, March 12, 1862, box 7, folder 6, Blair-Lee Papers, NjP-SC.
“urged by Chase”…felt it intensely: EBL to SPL, March 11, [1862], in
Wartime Washington,
ed. Laas, p. 109.
Frank Blair had delivered…of Blair’s address: Smith,
The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics,
Vol. II, pp. 87–89; Williams,
Lincoln and the Radicals,
pp. 105–09.
The
New York Tribune
…“of the President”: MB to John C. Frémont, August 24, 1861, quoted in
NYTrib,
March 4, 1862.
“Brother just took…think of it again”: EBL to SPL, March 6, 1862, in
Wartime Washington,
ed. Laas, pp. 105–06.
A grateful Monty Blair…“very well of it”: MB to FPB, March 12, 1862, box 7, folder 6, Blair-Lee Papers, NjP-SC.
approving Frémont’s appointment…“opinion and action”:
NYT,
March 13, 1862.
Seward appreciated…at large: Seward,
Seward at Washington…1861–1872,
pp. 50–51.
“Somebody must be…the S. of S.”: WHS to TW, April 25, 1862, quoted in ibid., p. 88.
“The President…and practical”: WHS to TW, April 1, 1862, quoted in ibid., p. 81.
Count Gurowski despaired…
“strategy?”
: Entry for February 1862, in Gurowski,
Diary from March 4, 1861 to November 12, 1862,
pp. 156, 226–27, 171 (quote).
by the middle of March…him of command: Allan Nevins,
The War for the Union.
Vol. II:
War Becomes Revolution, 1862–1863
(1960; New York: Konecky & Konecky, undated reprint), p. 44.
Seward scorned…northern Virginia!: WHS, paraphrased in letter from Sam Ward to S. L. M. Barlow, March 27, 1862, in ibid.
While acknowledging…
“‘stationary’
engine”: Carpenter,
Six Months at the White House,
p. 255.
he confided to Browning…“orders to move”: Entry for April 2, 1862, in Browning,
The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning,
Vol. I, pp. 537–38.
twenty-four hours before…to Fort Monroe: Sears,
To the Gates of Richmond,
p. xi; Sears,
George B. McClellan,
p. 168.
presented a sight…“seldom seen”: Entry for March 16, 1862, in French,
Witness to the Young Republic,
p. 391.
“I will bring you…ofhis heart”: GBM to the Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, March 14, 1862, quoted in
NYT,
March 16, 1862.
“information…defend the Capital”: EMS to Heman Dyer, May 18, 1862, reel 3, Stanton Papers, DLC.