Our One Common Country (54 page)

151.
Governor Augustus Bradford welcomed them: Philadelphia Inquirer,
February 6, 1865;
New York Times,
February 2, 1865;
New York Tribune,
February 3, 1865; Toews, Rockford, Lincoln in Annapolis, February 1865 (Annapolis: Maryland State Archives, 2009) (“Toews”), p. 11. www.lincolninannapolis.blogspot.com. See Brooks,
Noah,
Lincoln Observed
, p. 138.

151.
With Maryland in hand:
Toews, pp. 11 and 44 n. 12, citing
Baltimore American
, February 2, 1865.

151.
the
River Queen
reigned:
Wayne C. Temple,
Lincoln's Travels on the
River Queen
during the Last Days of His Life
(Mahomet, IL: Mayhaven Publishing, 2007) (“Temple”), pp. 9–13.

151.
The Spotswood Hotel:
Quoted in Furgurson, p. 52.

151.
Singleton's report to Lincoln: Browning, vol. 2, p. 5;
New York Daily Tribune
, February 1, 2, 4, and 6, 1865; Randall and Current, pp. 330–31. See Burlingame, vol. 2, p. 755.

152.
which had always seemed reasonable to him:
Escott, pp. 34–35, 55, 60, and 96–97; Debby Applegate,
The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
(New York: Doubleday, 2006) (“Applegate”), p. 339.

152.
a stern little talk: CW,
vol. 8, pp. 253–54 and 318–19; Crist, vol. 11, p. 388 n. 12; Elizabeth Blair Lee, p. 471.

152.
“bore down on him very hard”:
Rice, pp. 248–49.

152.
“Who would let these criminals loose?”: New York Daily Tribune,
February 2, 1865.

153.
Beecher's conversation with Lincoln:
Id.,
pp. 249–50.

153.
bearing orders from Stanton: OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 302.

153.
He ran into him forcefully:
Eckert relates his confrontation with Grant in Bates, pp. 334–38.

153.
Lincoln's instructions to Grant:
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 302.

154.
“rarely showed vexation”:
Badeau, vol. 3, p. 142.

154.
“And now commenced our troubles”:
Hunter, “Peace Commission,” p. 171.

 

CHAPTER 17

155.
Lincoln's instructions to Eckert:
CW,
vol. 8, pp. 220–21, 246, and 248.

155.
Grant walked Eckert:
See
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342.

155.
The major and Alec Stephens had met before:
Bates, pp. 125–29; Nicolay and Hay, vol. 10, p. 115 n. 1; Justin T. Turner, “Two Words,” 2
Autograph Collectors' Journal
(April 1950), p. 4.

155.
When they reunited on the
Mary Martin
:
Bates, p. 335.

156.
Lincoln had written it:
Westwood, “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” p. 33.

156.
I am instructed by the President: CW,
vol. 8, pp. 277–78.

156.
Eckert asked them point blank:
Bates, p. 335.

156.
Davis had given them copies:
Campbell,
Reminiscences,
p. 8.

156.
He would come back soon:
Bates, p. 335.

156.
the only written answer they could give:
Campbell,
Reminiscences,
p. 9.

157.
The substantial object to be obtained:
OR, ser. 1, vol. 46, p. 512.

157.
At about six o'clock: OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342.

157.
Eckert told his envoys they could not proceed:
Bates, pp. 336–37.

157.
What could be lost by finding out:
Campbell,
Reminiscences,
p. 9.

157.
disregard the last few words of both letters: OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 341–42;
CW,
vol. 8, pp. 281–82 n. 19.

157.
Their position was “not satisfactory”: OR
, ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342; Nicolay and Hay, vol. 10, p. 116.

157.
they tried to go over his head:
Bates, pp. 336–37.

158.
a more plausible recollection:
Stephens Manuscript, p. 15. Stephens recounted his memory in the late 1870s (Westwood, “Hampton Roads Conference”), Eckert in 1907 (Bates, p. 334).

158.
The commissioners' note to Grant:
OR
, ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342; Stephens Manuscript, p. 15.

158.
“That will do”: Id.,
p. 16.

158.
He beckoned to Grant, and they left: Id.

159.
“He was angry with me for years”:
Bates, p. 337.

159.
The last time they saw Major Eckert:
Stephens Manuscript, p. 16; Bates, pp. 337–38.

159.
Seward's wire to Lincoln:
CW,
vol. 8, p. 280.

159.
Seward's wire to Grant:
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342.

159.
Eckert's wire to Lincoln:
Id.; CW,
vol. 8, p. 281.

160.
Eckert's wire to Stanton:
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 341–42.

160.
The telegraph line was down: Id.,
p. 342. Howard C. Westwood, whose study of the record uncovered it, tells the story in “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” pp. 30–35. See also McFeely, p. 205.

160.
The line “was occasionally broken”:
Porter,
Grant,
p. 233.

160.
Lincoln monitored his telegrams to Stanton religiously:
e.g., Grimsley and Simpson, p. 84.

160.
He sent this one at ten-thirty: OR
, ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 342.

161.
Campbell having fallen ill:
Campbell's
Reminiscences,
p. 9.

161.
Grant's wire to Stanton:
CW,
vol. 8, p. 282;
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 342–43.

161.
Eckert was on his way to Hampton Roads:
Westwood, “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” p. 34.

161.
Campbell had gone to bed:
Campbell's
Reminiscences,
p. 9.

161.
Grant's “heavy brow”:
Stephens Manuscript, p. 16.

161.
the three of them talked past midnight:
Westwood, “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” p. 34.

161.
“It was expected that early this morning”: New York Times,
February 4, 1865.

161.
Not if Grant could help it:
See Campbell's
Reminiscences,
p. 9; Westwood, “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” p. 34.

162.
Stephens served as scrivener:
Stephens Manuscript, pp. 16–17.

162.
The commissioners' note to Eckert:
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 512;
CW,
vol. 8, p. 284. Stephens dated the note February 2, after midnight, having dated his two, pre-midnight notes February 1.
OR
, ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 342. and 512 and Westwood, “Singing Wire Conspiracy,” p. 34.

162.
Grant's charade:
Id.;
McFeely, p. 205; Stephens Manuscript, p. 18.

163.
Grant's instructions to Babcock: McFeely
,
p. 205; see
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, pp. 352 and 512;
CW,
vol. 8, p. 283.

163.
“The world is all agog”:
Elizabeth Blair Lee,
p. 472.

163.
Rhode Island and Michigan:
Nicolay and Hay, vol. 10, p. 88.

163.
the
Lady Long
arrived: OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 353.

163.
Grant's wire to Seward:
Id.,
p. 352.

163.
Eckert wired Stanton
:
Id.,
pp. 341–42.

164.
It moved him:
Nicolay and Hay, vol. 10, p. 117.

164.
“beaming with joy”; waving a ribbon:
Stephens Manuscript, pp. 18–19.

164.
“Say to the gentlemen”: CW,
vol. 8, p. 282.

164.
“Induced by a dispatch”: Id.;
OR,
ser. 1, v. 46, pt. 2, p. 352.

164.
“with evident indications”; He turned to Colonel Hatch:
Stephens Manuscript, p. 19.

164.
[Grant] was willing to exchange
all
prisoners:
Grant's Papers, vol. 13, p. 454;
New York Times,
February 12, 1865.

164.
“How about Mr. Stephens's body servant”:
Stephens Manuscript, pp. 19–20.

165.
“We were no diplomatists”:
Hunter, “Peace Commission,” p. 172.

165.
their shared ambition to secure a truce:
Stephens, CV, p. 603; Johnston and Browne, p. 484.

165.
Hunter's frame of mind: Hunter, “Reply,” pp. 303 and 305–06.

166.
“in the event that one should take place”:
Campbell,
Reminiscences,
p. 16.

166.
“old habits of communion”:
Hunter, “Peace Commission,” pp. 172–73.

166.
Stephens seemed “possessed”:
Hunter, “Peace Commission,” p. 172; Campbell,
Reminiscences
, p. 6.

166.
wounds that would not heal:
Campbell,
Reminiscences,
p. 67.

166.
A shotgun wedding would not:
Avary,
Recollections,
p. 198; Stephens,
CV,
vol. 2, p. 593; Johnston and Browne, pp. 471 and 486–87.

166.
“slight hope of doing some good”: Id.,
p. 484;
Avary,
Recollections,
p. 77.

166.
“upon some satisfactory basis”:
Cleveland, p. 198; Avary,
Recollections,
p. 374.

166.
they would never start again:
Bradley T. Johnson, “The Peace Conference,” 27
Southern Historical Society Papers
(1899) (“Johnson, ‘Peace Conference' ”), p. 376.

166.
the “inferior” as well as the “superior”:
Avary,
Recollections,
pp. 198–200.

167.
“thus far we are entirely free”:
Crist, vol. 11, pp. 370–71.

167.
“but Seward is wily and treacherous”:
Hill, p. 409;
Atlanta Constitution,
April 22, 1874, letter from Hill.

167.
in the company of Charles Forbes:
Stephen M. Forman,
A Guide to Civil War Washington
(Washington, DC: Elliott & Clark Publishing, 1995) (“Forman”), p. 150; Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery, Newsletter, Winter 1983. See
New York Herald,
February 4, 1865.

167.
He was one of Tad's favorites:
Crook, “Lincoln As I Knew Him,” pp. 113–14.

167.
with the specific exception of Charlie:
Brooks,
Lincoln Observed,
p. 49.

167.
Chaplain Neill's encounter with Forbes: Edward D. Neill, in
Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle
(St. Paul: St. Paul Book and Stationery Company, 1888) (“Neill”), p. 331; Sandburg, vol. 6, pp. 37–38.

168.
Mr. Blair will hereafter know:
Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress.

168.
making up his entourage: New York Herald,
February 3, 1865;
New York Daily Tribune
, February 3, 1865,
Baltimore American
, February 3, 1865, reprinted in Toews, p. 30. According to a serially inaccurate February 5, 1865
New York Herald
article, Andrew Smith, a bodyguard (see Toews, p. 43 n. 2), also accompanied Lincoln, but many reliable sources, including Neill and the foregoing
Tribune
and
American
articles, say only Forbes was with him.

168.
a one-car train: Philadelphia Inquirer,
February 6, 1865;
New York Times,
February 3, 1865;
New York Tribune
, February 3, 1865.

168.
“it struck them unfavorably”:
Welles, vol. 2, p. 235;
New York Daily Tribune
, February 3, 1865; Nicolay, p. 65.

168.
“a snare and a peril”: Richmond Sentinel,
February 2, 1865, reprinted in
New York Times,
February 7, 1865.

168.
General Pegram and Hetty Cary: Harrison, p. 203; Henry Kyd Douglas,
I Rode with Stonewall
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940) (“Douglas,
Stonewall
”
), pp. 325–26; Trudeau, pp. 309–10.

169.
It occurred to Seward belatedly:
Grant's Papers, vol. 13, p. 346.

169.
Lincoln boards the USS
Thomas Collyer:
New York Herald,
February 3, 1865, February 5, 1865;
New York Times
, February 3, 1865;
Philadelphia Inquirer,
February 6, 1865; Toews, p. 21; Cox,
Three Decades,
p. 333.