Upcoming Program with the U.S. State Department

President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward

President Lincoln’s Cottage and the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State are hosting a public program to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), the flagship publication of the Department’s Office of the Historian. Join Burrus Carnahan, noted Civil War and Lincoln author and scholar as he interviews Dr. Aaron Marrs, Civil War Researcher with the Office of the Historian, on Marrs’ new research that sheds light on foreign relations in the context of the Civil War.

Join us December 1, 2011 at 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Location: President Lincoln’s Cottage

Admission: FREE

Reservations are required – call (202) 829-0436 x31232 or email Sahand_Miraminy@nthp.org

The President’s Pets

By Katie Needham

President Lincoln and his sons shared a love of animals and enjoyed the company of various pets during  their time in Washington, DC.  An array of animals, including dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, horses, and even peacocks, lived at the White House and President Lincoln’s Cottage, providing amusement and contentment to President Lincoln, Willie, and Tad. 

Courtesy of the Henry Horner Collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Even before moving from Springfield to Washington, the Lincolns had pets.  Most notable, beside Lincoln’s horse Bob, was the family’s dog, Fido, who posed for a photograph in 1860 prior to the Lincolns’ move to the White House.  Because Lincoln knew that Fido disliked loud noises and crowds, he arranged for family friends to care for Fido while he was in Washington.  Lincoln went so far as to give the family a horsehair sofa, so that the dog would be more comfortable. [i] 

It wasn’t long after the Lincolns settled into the White House that new animals joined the family.  In August of 1861, Secretary of State William H. Seward gave the family two kittens.  Maunsell Field, who served as the Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury during Lincoln’s presidency, recalled that “[Mr. Lincoln] was fond of dumb animals, especially cats.”[ii]  One of several cats that lived at the White House was named Tabby.  Apparently, President Lincoln used to feed the cat at the table, using the presidential silverware.  When Mrs. Lincoln asked her husband if he really thought that was in good taste, President Lincoln responded, “If the gold fork was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough for Tabby.”[iii] 

President Lincoln also got a dog in Washington to keep him company, named Jip.  Rebecca Pomroy, the army nurse who tended to both Mary and Tad in 1862 following Willie’s death, noted that Jip “was instrumental in relieving his master of some portion of the burden, for the little fellow was never absent from the Presidential lunch.  He was always in Mr. Lincoln’s lap to claim his portion first, and was caressed and petted by him through the whole meal.”[iv]  

Many of the Lincolns’ pets spent time at President Lincoln’s Cottage, moving to the Old Solders’ Home with the Lincolns.  Tad had a pony, two goats, and several peacocks that often resided at the Cottage.  When Tad was away, traveling with Mrs. Lincoln, he worried about his animals, prompting responses from his father about their condition.  In April of 1864, President Lincoln telegraphed Mrs. Lincoln: “The draft will go to you. Tell Tad the goats and father are very well—especially the goats. A. LINCOLN.”[v]  Later that same year, he wrote, “All well, including Tad’s pony and the goats. Mrs. Col. Dimmick died night before last. Bob left Sunday afternoon. Said he did not know whether he should see you. A. LINCOLN.”[vi]

Today, there are no pets at President Lincoln’s Cottage, however there is plenty of wildlife to fill the void.  Squirrels, birds, raccoons, and even deer often roam the grounds around the Cottage, reminding visitors of the rural setting the Lincolns’ enjoyed during their time at President Lincoln’s Cottage. 

Ms. Needham is the Office Coordinator at President Lincoln’s Cottage.

 

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[i] Rowan, Roy and Brooke Janis.  First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends.  Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.  p43-48.  Photo of Fido courtesy of the John E. Roll/The Frank & Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, published in “Presidents and Their Dogs.” Time Photos, 2010.  http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1830236_1746622,00.html.

[ii] Field, Maunsell B.  Personal Recollections: Memories of Many Men and of Some Women.  New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1875.  p213.

[iii] “Abraham Lincoln, Pets and Children.”  The Lincoln Institute’s Abraham Lincoln’s Classroom.  http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/index.

[iv] Boyden, Anna L.  War Reminiscences or Echoes from Hospital and White House.  Boston: D. Lothrop & Company, 1887.  p82.

[v] Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. VII, 1809-1865.

[vi] Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. VII, 1809-1865.  Mrs. Dimick was the wife of Colonel Justin Dimick, appointed governor of the Soldiers’ Home in January 1864.

The Election of 1860

By Zach Klitzman

Perhaps it’s fate that this week’s election has been so hotly contested.  Four days after the midterms will mark the 150^th anniversary of the Presidential Election of 1860, which saw the second highest voter turnout in American history (81.2% of eligible voters).  Abraham Lincoln won the intense election, angering Southern slave owners who in turn seceded. As poet Walt Whitman wrote in “Year of Meteors,” 1860 with its influential election was a “year all mottled with evil and good! [A] year of forebodings!”

The infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857 and John Brown’s raid in 1859 both increased sectional tension between the Northern Free States and the Southern Slave States during the late 1850s. As a result, the political landscape fragmented in 1860, with four candidates running for President. The Democratic Party — which had occupied the White House for all but eight of the previous 32 years — split into a Southern and Northern wing, nominating Vice President John Breckinridge and Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, respectively.  The new Constitutional Union Party nominated former Tennessee Senator John Bell with the slogan “the Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is.” Last was Lincoln, the nascent Republican Party’s candidate, whose previous top elected office was as a one-term Representative from Illinois over 10 years previously.

Bolstered by his moderate but firm stance on slavery, as well as national exposure from debating Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat in 1858, Lincoln won the Republican nomination in 1860. He upset three more established politicians: New York Senator William Seward, Ohio Senator Salmon Chase and former Missouri Representative Edward Bates. By comparison to Lincoln, Seward was too radical, Chase too connected to the Democrats and Bates too old. So instead, Lincoln won the nomination. (He eventually nominated Seward, Chase and Bates to serve as members of his cabinet, and they all would advise him on the Emancipation Proclamation.)

As was common practice, Lincoln did not personally campaign. Instead, Republican organizers throughout the North campaigned on his behalf, energizing the base with their arguments against the expansion of slavery. They campaigned only sparingly in the Border States and not at all in the South. In fact Lincoln’s name did not even appear on the ballot in 10 of the 11 states that eventually seceded, and he only won 1.1% of the vote in the eleventh state, Virginia.

This focus on the Northern states succeeded. Douglas tried playing both sides but instead just alienated them. Bell was a non-factor, carrying just three Upper South states. And while Breckinridge carried the rest of the South, his 72 electoral votes were not enough. Lincoln won all but three of the electoral votes in the Free States, and despite winning just 39.8% of the popular vote–the smallest plurality a President has ever earned—he won a majority of 180 out of 303 electoral votes, guaranteeing his election. Though divided opposition bolstered his electoral votes, if had faced just a single opponent he would have won the Electoral College 169-134.

 Southerners equated Lincoln’s opposition to the expansion of slavery with outright abolition. Without new Slave states in the west to balance new Free states, they argued, the balance of power in Congress would soon shift to the Free States. Furthermore, Lincoln’s election without a single Southern electoral vote did not bode well. If the Northerners did not need Southern support for victory, what incentive would they have to compromise? With this in mind, seven states acted preemptively, and seceded by the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861. Following the attack on Fort Sumter, another four would do so as well.

Lincoln’s election had made the Civil War inevitable.

Mr. Klitzman is a Historical Interpreter at President Lincoln’s Cottage