Voices of Secession--Part 2

As the election crept closer, the voices of secession grew louder.

The Daily Delta in New Orleans ran an editorial on this day in 1860. Echoing many of the arguments presented by fireeater William Lowndes Yancey, the editor makes many predictions about what would happen if the Lincoln administration took power.

I have added this document to our Primary Documents section. Here it is in full:

“What We Have To Look For”

The Daily Delta (New Orleans), November 1, 1860

Mr. Yancey, in his speech on Monday night, very justly warned the Southern people against the danger of resting secure in the conviction that there are, in the South, no sympathizers with Black Republicanism. Whether or not there is any large number who entertain Black Republican principles at this moment, is not material. We rather incline to believe that the number of such persons must be small. But there are very many, as there must be very many in every community, who would yield to the pressure of a majority, to the allurements of office, to the seductions of power. These men, in a short time after Lincoln’s election, should the South submit to his Administration, would fill the Federal offices, would wield all the influence of the Federal Government within the Southern States, and with their followers and friends would compose the Administration party. In other words, they would be the basis of a Black Republican organization, having more or less strength in every Southern State. This is the inevitable result of Lincoln’s election should the South be deluded into submission. Nor does it require much sagacity to predict from which party the new organization will spring. No one can doubt that the election of Lincoln will precipitate upon the South an issue which must be speedily met. The question will then immediately arise, what course is the South to pursue? The division line between the party which places the rights of the South and the rights of the States above all Unions, and the party which considers the Union of more value than the preservation of Southern rights and the maintenance of Southern equality, will be run wide and deep. The party which insists on adhering to the Union, if it triumph in the South, must become the Administration party because the simple question and the only question will be, submission or opposition to the Black Republican Administration. From that party must come all the Federal office-holders. For the same principle which compels submission, demands the assistance of those who counsel submission, in carrying into operation throughout the South the whole machinery of the Federal Government. It would be absurd to say that it is the duty of the South to remain in the Union under Mr. Lincoln’s Administration, and at the same time to say that it is the duty of Southern citizens to refuse office under Mr. Lincoln. It is, therefore, very evident that if the South submit, the instruments of the Black Republican Administration will be found ready made to its hands. We are conscious that the Bell party is composed mainly of persons who would sincerely and heartily repudiate the imputation of Abolition tendencies. We know also that many of them, after the election is over, and when the course of the South comes to be determined, will join the ranks of the Southern Rights Party; but it must be clear to every reasoning mind that the logic of principles, the logic of events, the pressure of circumstances, must force a portion of the party with which they are now acting, into a position of antagonism to the South, and of adhesion to Lincoln’s Administration.

Does any one suppose that when this Black Republican party is formed in every Southern State, it will be without followers and sympathizers? He who imagines any such thing has read history to little purpose. Even now distinguished men proclaim that the question of Southern rights in the Territories is a mere abstraction; that it is not worth contending for; that it never can be settled in our favor; that it might as well be abandoned. And when that point is yielded, precisely the same reasons can be urged to persuade an abandonment of other rights, not less sacred, but much more intimately cherished. Even now the very arguments of Helper’s infamous book have been reproduced in the South by the oratorical champion of one branch of the Opposition and the newspaper representatives of the other branch. Respectable leading journals of this city devote themselves to the task of proving that the South is thriftless, lazy, poverty-stricken. Mr. Soule, preaching Douglasism to the people of Avoyelles, declares that nobody but the slave-holder has an interest in the preservation of slavery. Thus depriving the question of its sectional character, or rather of its national character, and reducing it to a question, simply, of the maintenance of the peculiar rights of a privileged class. Thus endeavoring to stimulate the jealousy of one portion of our population against another portion, and preparing it for the reception of Abolition doctrines, and disloyalty to Southern institutions. If these things are done now, they would be done a thousand times more when the integrity of Southern sentiment shall have been destroyed; when Southern spirit shall have been broken; when Southern individuality shall have been annihilated by submission to Black Republican domination and sectional despotism. This is what we have to expect. This is what will surely come upon us. We have been fighting against abolitionism at the North; and, as a contest of sections within the Union, we have lost the battle. Let us beware of the day when the struggle shall be transferred to our own soil; when the slavery question shall cease to be a sectional question, and shall become a domestic question; when the armies of our enemies will be recruited from our own forces.

Castro's Lincoln?

I thought it was going to be a slow news week as far as Lincoln was concerned, but as it turns out, Fidel Castro proved me wrong.

The Cuban leader published an essay last Sunday, in which he criticized U. S. foreign policy and Geroge W. Bush. Nothing much new there. However, my eyes were immediately drawn to his comments about Abraham Lincoln.

He praised Lincoln for not only taking a strong stand against slavery, but for abolishing it in America. He wrote that Lincoln was devoted “to the just idea that all citizens are born free and equal.”

Castro went on to proclaim, “Long Live Lincoln!”

According to this news story, Castro has been a Lincoln admirer for almost half a century. In January 1959, Castro traveled to Washington, D. C. and visited the Lincoln Memorial. He also claims to have a bust of Lincoln in his office.

Now that is news to me!

Lines on the Death of Col. Edward D. Baker

While the Lincoln family continued to mourn the loss of family friend Edward D. Baker, ten-year-old Willie Lincoln put the finishing touches on a poem he had been working on. That’s right. Lincoln’s precocious son memorialized the fallen hero of Ball’s Bluff in a poem, which he shared with a local newspaper editor.

On this date in 1861, the National Republican in Washington printed the following letter and poem:

Dear Sir:

I enclose you my first attempt at poetry.

Yours truly,
William W. Lincoln

There was no patriot like Baker,
So noble and so true;
He fell as a soldier on the field,
His face to the sky of blue.

His voice is silent in the hall,
Which oft his presence grac’d.
No more he’ll hear the loud acclaim
Which rang from place to place.

No squeamish notions filled his breast,
The Union was his theme;
‘No surrender and no compromise,’
His day-thought and night’s dream.

His Country has her part to play,
To’rd those he has left behind;
His widow and his children all,
She must always keep in mind.

"One of the Mysteries of the War"

Everything in his background pointed toward success. His mother came from a prominent Pennsylvania family, while his father was a talented surgeon. At the age of fifteen, he entered the United States Military Academy, where he graduated four years later, second in a class of 59.

He served in the Mexican War, taught at West Point, wrote a manual on bayonet tactics, went to Europe to observe the Crimean War, and rose to the rank of captain.

He retired from the army at the age of 31 and began a lucrative career in the railroad industry, eventually serving as the president of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad and later, the St. Louis, Missouri & Cincinnati Railroad.

George B. McClellan had it all.

And then the war came.

After the fall of Fort Sumter, the Lincoln administration called for volunteers. Ohio Governor William Dennison appointed McClellan a major general in charge of the state’s volunteers. He quickly received a commission in the regular army.

Everything pointed toward success, but McClellan's Civil War career is ultimately a study in missed opportunities.

Historian Jonathan M. Beagle has recently summarized the McClellan enigma:

The ambiguity of George McClellan’s Civil War service admits both praise and criticism. He forged a powerful weapon of war, the Army of the Potomac, yet wielded it weakly. He roused both the admiration of his troops and the ire of his superiors. He parried Lee’s thrust into the North, but was himself checked at the gates of Richmond. Indeed, McClellan’s legacy defies easy categorization and simple judgment. Perhaps Ulysses S. Grant expressed it best when asked after the war to evaluate McClellan as a general. “McClellan,” he replied, “is to me one of the mysteries of the war.”

McClellan’s postwar career is fascinating, but it is not well-documented. He traveled through Europe from 1865 to 1868, where his wife gave birth to a son in Germany. When he returned to the states, McClellan worked on several engineering projects in New York City. Like he had done before the war, he also served as president of a railroad, this time the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad.

McClellan reentered politics in 1877 when he ran for governor of New Jersey. He won and served a single, though successful, term in office.

George B. McClellan died unexpectedly on this date in 1885. He was 58.

The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area

The United States House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would create something called “The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area” in central Illinois.

United States Representative Ray LaHood (R-Peoria) explained why he introduced the bill:

The legacy of Abraham Lincoln is so interwoven with the history of Illinois—and especially the central part of our state—that it is only right that we create this Heritage Area as we are on the cusp of the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009. There are dozens of sites throughout the 42 counties of this Heritage Area that have significant ties to Lincoln. This federal designation will allow us to tie these sites together to better convey to future generations the impact that Abraham Lincoln has had on our country, and the influence that Illinois had on Lincoln.

I am extremely proud that I represent the very same 11 counties which Abraham Lincoln represented during his single term in Congress. I could not think of a better way to commemorate the Lincoln Bicentennial than by creating this Heritage Area.

The Senate will now consider the bill.

Here are a few more details:

The legislation authorizes annual federal funding of $1 million for up to 15 years. This funding would allow for grants to be awarded to entities seeking to carry out the mission of the Heritage Area. Any funding awarded must be matched dollar-for-dollar in state, local or private funds.

Once this bill becomes law, the first step for the Abraham Lincoln Heritage Area will be to create a management plan containing a resource inventory, goals and strategies, potential funding sources, and an interpretative and business plan. The process will include significant public involvement. The management plan must be completed and approved by the National Park Service before matching funds are released for specific projects.

The legislation also designates the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition (LFLHC) as the management entity for the new Heritage Area. Looking for Lincoln is a 501c3 organization which has been in existence for almost nine years. LFLHC works with a consortium of central Illinois communities and historic sites that have significant Lincoln history in common. LFLHC helps communities enhance and improve the interpretation of their Lincoln historic sites, and then provides marketing support to those that have “visitor-ready” sites.

The Heritage Area includes the following Illinois counties: Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Dewitt, Douglas, Edgar, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Jersey, Knox, LaSalle, Logan, McLean, McDonough, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Mason, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Tazewell, Vermillion, Warren and Woodford.

Honestly, I don’t really know what to think of the plan. LaHood says the idea evolved during discussions with the Lincoln Heritage Coalition board, which is led by Nicky Stratton, who does magnificent work. I suppose federal dollars to help promote local tourism is a good thing too, but I still want to learn more about this new geo-historical entity.

Perhaps more of the details will emerge when the Senate begins to consider the bill?

Hiding in Plain Sight

Sometimes the best place to hide is right out in the open. Three Lincoln documents have been "discovered" this week. Guess where they they found them?

For the last thirty years, the illusive documents have been hanging on a wall in Sangamon County Recorder Mary Ann Lamm’s office. That’s right, they’ve been hiding in plain view in, of all places, Springfield. It wasn’t supposed to be a secret. In fact, Lamm enjoyed showing visitors the documents.

Somehow, word never made its way down the street to the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project. Though project members have traveled the country for more than two decades to capture scans of Lincoln documents, they were unaware of the Lamm documents until this week.

Details are a bit hard to come by just yet, but the documents seem to include a promissory note and possibly two receipts, all signed by Lincoln.

The promissory note appears to be the most interesting. A woman named Ritta da Sylva borrowed $125 from Lincoln to purchase a home. Lincoln charged her 10 percent interest on the loan.

Though the news story does not mention it, this document appears in the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln in volume 2, pages 224-225. The editors identify “Ritta Angelica da Silva” as “a member of a group of Portuguese settlers who came to Springfield in 1849.”

Interestingly, the editors say this document is part of the Taper collection.

I wish the original SJ-R story provided more detail on the provenance of the document. If anyone can shed light on the subject, please send me an email.

Here is the full text of the document as transcribed by the editors of the Collected Works:

Mortgage from Ritta A. DA Silva

August 11, 1854

This Indenture made this eleventh day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and fiftyfour, by and between Ritta D. Sylva, of the City of Springfield, County of Sangamon, and State of Illinois, of the one part; and Abraham Lincoln, of the City, County and State aforesaid of the other part, Witnesseth:

That the said Ritta D. Sylva, for, and in consideration of, the sum of one hundred and twentyfive dollars, to her in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, has granted, bargained, and sold; and by these presents does grant, bargain and sell unto the said Abraham Lincoln, his heirs and assigns forever, the following described lot of ground, towit: Lot Five, in Block Six, in Wells & Peck's addition to the late town, now City, of Springfield, Illinois.

To have and to hold to the said Abraham Lincoln, his heirs and assigns forever, the above described lot of ground, together with all and singular the previleges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or to belong.

Yet upon condition that whereas the said Ritta D. Sylva has executed her promissory note of even date herewith, for the sum of one hundred and twentyfive dollars, with interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, payable to the said Abraham Lincoln, Four year after date---interest payable annually. Now, if said note shall be paid according to it's tenor and effect, the above conveyance is to be null and void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.

In testimony whereof the said Ritta D. Sylva, has hereunto set her hand and seal the day and year above written.

RITTA ANGELICA DA SILVA [SEAL]

Satisfied in full. Nov. 24, 1858.

A. LINCOLN

Refusing to Let the Vandals Win

Vandals defaced a train depot in Peekskill, New York. They painted swastikas on the door post and sprayed the “n-word” and other offensive language on the building, reports the Journal News.

But this is not merely a local story about vandalism or hate speech. No, the national media has picked up the story because the vandals defaced a historic building connected to Abraham Lincoln.

President-elect Lincoln visited the train depot during his trip from Springfield to Washington, D. C. The train made a brief stop at the Peekskill train depot on February 19, 1861, where a large crowd had gathered, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new president on the eve of the Civil War (contemporary sketch, pictured above left). Lincoln said a few words:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I have but a moment to stand before you to listen to and return your kind greeting. I thank you for this reception and for the pleasant manner in which it is tendered to me by our mutual friends. I will say in a single sentence, in regard to the difficulties that lie before me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously and unanimously sustained as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate I shall be, I shall not fail; but without your sustaining hands I am sure that neither I nor any other man can hope to surmount those difficulties. I trust that in the course I shall pursue I shall be sustained, not only by the party that elected me, but by the patriotic people of the whole country.

In recent years, the train depot was simply used for storage, but city officials, along with the Lincoln Society, have just recently completed a $1.8 million renovation of the building. They commissioned a Lincoln statue (pictured above right) and have scheduled a dedication ceremony for this Saturday, October 27 at 11 am. Former Governor George Pataki, Peekskill Mayor John Testa, historian Harold Holzer, and sculptor Richard Masloski will be on hand for the unveiling and dedication of the new statue.

The ceremony will go on as scheduled, but the senseless act of vandalism leaves more questions than answers. “We are just absolutely sickened by this,” said the police chief. “So much has been put into this building becoming a centerpiece of Peekskill’s historical renovations and to have it defiled like this is just horrible. It’s an assault on our sensibilities.”

Though the vandalism is discouraging, I wish the people of Peekskill the best. They have worked hard and now they are ready to share their connection to Lincoln with the world.

I wish I could say the act of spraying racial epithets on Lincoln-related monuments was unique, but it is not. Springfield has had a number of cases of such acts. Vandals sprayed racist slogans and graffiti onto the Lincoln tomb in 1987. Local citizens were outraged. They volunteered to repair the damage and the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company donated $1,500 to help the cause. Ten years later, vandals returned and sprayed swastikas and obscenities onto the Lincoln tomb.

Defacing a historic site is a senseless act, but vandals who paint racial epithets onto a Lincoln-related site are especially ignorant of what the site stands for.

The Battle of Ball's Bluff--Part 2

The Lincoln family was not prepared to hear that Edward D. Baker had been killed at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. He had long been a welcome visitor to the Lincoln home, both in Springfield and in the White House. He was eloquent, full of energy, and extremelly ambitious. In addition to being a lawyer, he had fought in three wars. He had been a member of the United States Congress and the U. S. Senate. The Lincolns named their second son after him.

Lincoln tried to stay busy the day following Baker's death. He held a Cabinet meeting and discussed the disastrous battle, as well as the recent actions of General John C. Fremont, who Lincoln had concluded must be removed from command. After the meeting, Lincoln retired to the living quarters, where he and Mary refused to see any visitors. That evening, Lincoln went to the homes of Secretary of State William H. Seward and General George B. McClellan. The next day would be difficult.

On this date in 1861, the president and Mrs. Lincoln attended Col. Baker's funeral.

Lincoln wanted the funeral to be held in the White House, but repairs made it impossible. Instead, serices were held at the home of Baker's friend, Col. J. W. Webb. Colleagues in the Senate offered eulogies and, according to a reporter, Lincoln "wept like a child."

From Washington, the funeral procession traveled to Philadelphia, where Baker's body lay in state at Independence Hall. Two days later, his body lay in state at City Hall in New York. Some two months after his death, Baker was finally laid to rest in San Francisco, where he had been living before the war. An estimated 15,000 people attended his funeral.

The Battle of Ball's Bluff--Part 1

Very little had happened since the humiliation at Manasas Junction in July. “All Quiet Along the Potomac,” declared the war correspondents. But that silence was shattered on October 21, 1861.

General George B. McClellan was now in charge of Union forces. While he spent the last several months organizing and drilling his newly christened Army of the Potomac, the president reminded his new general that the country was growing impatient. When would he advance against the enemy? When would he do something magnificent to tip the scales in the Union’s favor and end this rebellion? “Don’t let them hurry me,” McClellan calmly replied.

As war correspondent Charles Carlton Coffin mingled with encamped Union soldiers near Alexandria, rumors began circulating that something was happening upriver, near Edwards’ Ferry.

In search of the story, the reporter descended on McClellan’s headquarters. While waiting to meet with the general, the president entered. He shook hands with the reporter and commented on the beauty of the afternoon. As the president spoke, the reporter took note of the deep lines carved in the president’s cheeks, obvious examples of the stress and anxiety he had been under.

A lieutenant entered and led the president into the next room. The reporter overheard muffled voices, but everything suddenly went silent. The “click, click, click” of the telegraph increased its pace. The machine brought the first details of events upriver.

Five minutes passed.

Unannounced and alone, the president emerged. His head was bowed and his face was suddenly pale. Tears poured from his eyes. He passed by the reporter before stumbling onto the street. A guard saluted him, but he did not respond. The president’s hands were on his heart, while tears continued down his sunken cheeks.

The reporter’s attention left the president only when McClellan stepped into the room. The silence after Manasas was over, but it was still too early for specifics.

“I have not much new to give you,” McClellan said, “There has been a movement of troops across the Potomac at Edwards’ Ferry, under General Stone, and Colonel Baker is reported killed. That is about all I can give you.”

The Battle of Ball’s Bluff was over and the Union suffered another terrible defeat. The repercussions would play out over the next several weeks.

"All the Ladies Like Whiskers"

An eleven year old girl wrote to the Republican candidate for president in 1860. She had just seen his picture and had a bit of advice for him: he should grow a beard!

“You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin,” reasoned Grace Bedell. But this was not merely a cosmetic suggestion, it would yield political results. “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband’s to vote for you and then you would be President,” she wrote.

On this date in 1860, Lincoln replied to his young admirer. “As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?” Lincoln asked.

Four months later, as the president-elect made his way to Washington, he stopped in Westfield, New York to deliver a brief speech. A reporter captured the event:

At Westfield, Mr. LINCOLN greeted a large crowd of ladies, and several thousand of the sterner sex. Addressing the ladies, he said, ``I am glad to see you; I suppose you are to see me; but I certainly think I have the best of the bargain. (Applause.) Some three months ago, I received a letter from a young lady here; it was a very pretty letter, and she advised me to let my whiskers grow, as it would improve my personal appearance; acting partly upon her suggestion, I have done so; and now, if she is here, I would like to see her; I think her name was Miss BARLLY.'' A small boy, mounted on a post, with his mouth and eyes both wide open, cried out, ``there she is, Mr. LINCOLN,'' pointing to a beautiful girl, with black eyes, who was blushing all over her fair face. The President left the car, and the crowd making way for him, he reached her, and gave her several hearty kisses, and amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd, he bade her good-bye, and on we rushed.

Of course, either Lincoln or the reporter got the name wrong. Miss Barlly was indeed Grace Bedell and she met Lincoln, now with a set of fresh whiskers.

Today there is a statue (pictured above) in Westfield, New York that depicts this meeting.

Grace went on to live a full life. She married a Union veteran, had children of her own, and died in 1936 at the ripe old age of 87.

For those of you who have children, you may want to check out one of the many books that depict this story:

Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick is intended for children ages 4 to 8:

Grace’s Letter to Lincoln by Peter and Connie Roop and Stacey Schuett is intended for children ages 9 to 12:

Lincoln’s Little Girl by Fred Trump is also intended for children ages 9 to 12:

John Brown & Harpers Ferry: Part 3

Colonel Robert E. Lee had taken a leave of absence from the military. His father-in-law had recently passed away and left him a large, but decaying plantation called Arlington, along with 196 slaves. Adjusting to life as a planter did not come easy for him.

Lee was working at Arlington when a rider approached. It was twenty-six year old JEB Stuart who, as luck would have it, had been in the War office that morning when news of a slave rebellion reached Washington. Secretary of War John B. Floyd ordered the young cavalryman to cross the Potomac River and bring Col. Lee to the War Department.

Without wasting time to change into military garb, Lee met with the Secretary and President James Buchanan. Details were hard to come by, but initial reports estimated that some 3,000 men had captured the arsenal at Harpers Ferry and had armed local slaves. The president had already decided to send in a company of marines, as well as four companies of Maryland militiamen. Lee was in command and Stuart would serve as his aide.

When Lee arrived at Harpers Ferry, he learned that the initial estimates were wrong. Local militiamen and area farmers had done an admirable job. They had already blocked the main escape routes and the assailants were pinned in a small brick building. Lee had a plan.

He told the militia companies and the local farmers to leave the area. The marines surrounded the building.

At about 2 am, Lee wrote a note to the people in the armory building. He told them they had no escape and they must surrender immediately. If they resisted, Lee told them he could not “answer for their safety.”

Lee gave the note to JEB Stuart and told him to deliver it under a flag of truce. If Stuart encountered any difficulty in delivering the message, Lee told him to give a sign and the marines would storm the building.

At 7 am, 148 years ago today, Stuart moved into position. As he was cautiously approaching the building, the door opened slightly. A bearded man leveled the a muzzle in his direction and took aim. Stuart knew he could go no further, but he stood his ground. He opened Lee's mesasge and began to read aloud.

A voice from inside the building interrputed Stuart. The man said he had hostages and instead of surrendering, he proclaimed that he would “rather die here.” Satisfied with his refusal, Stuart backed away from the building and signaled to Lee.

The marines stormed the building. As they struggled to break the door down, John Brown fired his musket in their direction. In the ensuing chaos, two of the marines were shot and one died from his wounds. Once inside, Lt. Israel Green recognized Brown, who was busy trying to reload his musket. Green drew his sword and stabbed Brown in the neck. In less than three minutes, the situation was under control. The hostages were free and Brown had been taken alive.

Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, Senator James M. Mason of Virginia, and Representative Clement Vallandigham of Ohio arrived in Harpers Ferry that day and personally questioned Brown for more than three hours.

They concluded that Brown was not simply a madman or a fanatic, but he was guilty of the most serious crimes applicable under the law. Justice needed to be swift. They charged him with murder, inciting a slave rebellion, and treason against the state of Virginia.

His trial would begin in nine days.

John Brown & Harpers Ferry: Part 2

News of the raid spread quickly to the countryside, but slaves did not rally around John Brown. Instead, local farmers, militiamen, and shopkeepers grabbed their muskets and took positions on the heights surrounding the arsenal. For the next several hours, they shot at Brown and his men, pinning them down in the small armory buildings in Harpers Ferry.

Brown made no attempt to escape, but by noon it was a moot point. Local volunteers charged into town and blocked off the bridge. If Brown and his men had any intention of escaping, they would now have to engage in a gun battle with well-armed local militiamen.

Eight of Brown’s men were either dead or dying. Five others were cut off, while two more had managed to escape across the river. Brown gathered his surviving men, along with nine hostages, and moved to a small brick engine house and waited.

At one point, Brown sent his son Watson and another of his men out with a white flag, offering to surrender. When the well-armed crowd saw the men, they ignored the white flag, and shot them. With one son now dead, Brown turned his attention to another of his sons, Oliver, who had been wounded in the initial gunfire. By now he was moaning in agony, begging his father to kill him. Brown told his son to “die like a man.” Within hours he did as he was told.

Brown was out of ideas.

News of the raid made its way to Washington. By 3:30 pm, Colonel Robert E. Lee and a force of U.S. Marines were on their way to Harpers Ferry.

John Brown & Harpers Ferry: Part 1

He is one of the most controversial characters in American history. Some say he was a mad man, a fanatic, a terrorist, and even a murderer, while others claim he was a prophet, as well as a martyr.

Today is the 148th anniversary of John Brown’s failed raid on Harpers Ferry.

In Brown’s mind, the plan made perfect sense. The federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia contained 100,000 muskets and rifles. Not only did Brown want to capture the arsenal, but he also wanted to send word to local slaves. Upon hearing the news of his bold strike, area slaves would flock to the arsenal and rally around their new Moses. Brown would then lead his army further south, capturing federal arsenals and arming local slaves. He would bring an end to American slavery.

Initially, everything went right. Brown led 21 men into Harpers Ferry. They cut telegraph wires, captured the armory and arsenal, and rounded up hostages, including Col. Lewis Washington, whose great grand uncle was George Washington.

But then disaster struck. There was a noise off in the distance and it was getting louder. It was a train and it was coming toward them. Brown and his men froze, but one of the occupants of Harpers Ferry was not going to let this opportunity pass him by. He ran toward the train and was shouting. They were under attack, this madman named Brown wanted to incite a slave rebellion, help! Brown and his men ordered the man to stop screaming, but he wouldn’t listen. They shot him. The first casualty in John Brown’s slave revolution was named Hayward Shepherd, a free black.

Rattled by the shooting, Brown allowed the train to depart Harpers Ferry. It would be one of many mistakes he would make during the next few days.

Lincoln and Douglas in Alton, Illinois

The campaign dragged on for more than five months. For the past three months, the two aspiring candidates for the United States Senate met in seven towns in Illinois to debate the issues. And of course, slavery was the issue.

On this date in 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met for their seventh and final debate in Alton, IL.

Douglas spent a considerable amount of time trying to define Lincoln as an abolitionist. He wanted the crowd to believe that Lincoln not only opposed slavery in the territories, but he also advocated perfect equality amongst the races.

Referring to a speech Lincoln had given earlier in the campaign, Douglas told the crowd:

In that Chicago speech he even went further than he had before, and uttered sentiments in regard to the negro being on an equality with the white man. (That's so.) He adopted in support of this position the argument which Lovejoy and Codding, and other Abolition lecturers had made familiar in the northern and central portions of the State, to wit: that the Declaration of Independence having declared all men free and equal, by Divine law, also that negro equality was an inalienable right, of which they could not be deprived. He insisted, in that speech, that the Declaration of Independence included the negro in the clause asserting that all men were created equal, and went so far as to say that if one man was allowed to take the position, that it did not include the negro, others might take the position that it did not include other men. He said that all these distinctions between this man and that man, this race and the other race, must be discarded, and we must all stand by the Declaration of Independence, declaring that all men were created equal.

I’ve always found it curious that Douglas used the name Lovejoy during this speech. Presumably, Douglas is referring to the abolitionist Owen Lovejoy, whose brother Elijah was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, IL in 1837.

Of course, Douglas was distorting Lincoln’s position on slavery, just as he was twisting his opponent’s interpretation of the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln used his time to clarify his position. He read an excerpt from an earlier speech he had delivered, which he hoped would illustrate his interpretation of the Declaration:

I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal---equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit.

They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere.

The Alton Debate marked the last time Lincoln and Douglas would engage in face-to-face debate in 1858. The election was just two weeks away.