Lincoln's Wartime Tours from Washington, D.C. by John W. Schildt

Author:John W. Schildt [Schildt, John W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: History, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), State & Local, Middle Atlantic (DC; DE; MD; NJ; NY; PA)
ISBN: 9781439670392
Google: cFfcDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2020-10-26T03:37:47+00:00

GETTYSBURG, NOVEMBER 18–19

One week before the dedicatory events, Ward Hill Lamon and his top aide, Benjamin B. French, went by rail to Gettysburg to check on all the preparations. They checked in at the Eagle Hotel and went over the program for November 19. The weather turned colder, and when Lamon and French returned to Washington on November 14, they were met by a thunderstorm bringing another cold front to the capital.

While Lamon was in Gettysburg, Lincoln attended the social event of the year in Washington: the wedding of Kate Chase, the daughter of the secretary of the treasury. Kate was politically ambitious, intelligent and shrewd. She was also beautiful and the belle of Washington. The President attended alone, as Mrs. Lincoln detested “Miss C,” as she called Kate. She had instructed Abe not to speak to her at the receptions because she was deceitful. He had to attend because Kate was the daughter of a cabinet member. She married the wealthy William Sprague, former governor and, in 1863, a senator from Rhode Island. Mr. Lincoln did not tarry at the reception. He returned to the White House quickly. He had one more week until the big day in Gettysburg.

The public had been informed by the media of the Gettysburg events on November 7. Two days later, Mr. Lincoln went to Ford’s Theatre and sat in the box he usually occupied. The performance starred John Wilkes Booth in The Marble Heart.

Always considerate of others, Mr. Lincoln made two trips, both on Sunday, November 8 and 15. On the first, he went with his secretaries Nicolay and Hay to the Photographic Gallery of Alexander Gardner. He went again a week later with his friend Noah Brooks. Mr. Lincoln went to Gardners on Sunday so he would not disturb Mr. Gardner’s regular photographic business.111

On the seventeenth, Mr. Lincoln watched a parade in Washington. The occasion was the march of 2,500 members of the Invalid Corps. The President attended a cabinet meeting and discussed travel arrangements for Gettysburg. Secretary Stanton had scheduled a one-day trip, but Lincoln did not like the arrangement. “I do not wish to so go that by the slightest accident we fail entirely, and at the best, the whole be a mere breathless running of the gauntlet.” During the evening, he examined a drawing of the burial plot of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Lincoln also told Joshua Speed that he had about half of his Gettysburg speech prepared.

The eighteenth did not dawn very well. Mr. Lincoln was feeling a little ill. Worse yet, ten-year-old Tad had suddenly taken sick. After Willie’s death, this was very threatening. Mrs. Lincoln grabbed the President’s arm and begged, “Don’t go. Stay home with Tad and me.” She became hysterical. This time, the President did not yield to her behavior. He had made a commitment to go to Gettysburg. And go he must, even though he was not feeling well and Tad was ill. About noon, the President departed on a special four-car train provided by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

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