Mary the night before the inaugural: Helm, The True Story of Mary, p. 168.
strangers swarming…streets below: Star, March 4, 1861.
“Lincoln often resorted…or argument”: JGN, “Some Incidents in Lincoln’s Journey from Springfield to Washington,” in Nicolay, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, p. 107.
out of four documents: Herndon and Weik, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, p. 386.
“such a crowd…about him”: Orville H. Browning, quoted in Nicolay, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln, p. 6.
Browning focused on one imprudent passage: WHS to AL, February 24, 1861, quoted in Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 322.
“threat, or menace…palpably in the wrong”: Orville H. Browning to AL, February 17, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“strong and conclusive”: WHS to AL, February 24, 1861, quoted in Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 321.
“bound by duty…shift his position”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—First Edition and Revisions,” January 1861, in CW, IV, p. 250.
“exclusive and defiant…negro equality”: Entry for May 19, 1860, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 129.
“give such advantages…exercise of power”: WHS to AL, February 24, 1861, quoted in Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, pp. 320, 321.
“treasonable”…would only “aggravate the dispute”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—First Edition and Revisions,” January 1861, in CW, IV, pp. 253 n32, 257 n67, 260, 260 n85.
“to the effect…and irrevocable”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—Final Text,” March 4, 1861, in ibid., p. 270.
“With you… ‘or a sword?’”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—First Edition and Revisions,” January 1861, in ibid., p. 261.
“to meet…cheerful confidence”: WHS to AL, February 24, 1861, quoted in Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 321.
“I close…angel of the nation”: WHS revision, in AL, “First Inaugural Address—First Edition and Revisions,” January 1861, in CW, IV, pp. 261–62 n99.
“I am loth…angels of our nature”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—Final Text,” March 4, 1861, in ibid., p. 271.
Lincoln read the speech…left alone: Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 208.
the morning newspapers…of his house: Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 515.
“I have been…and the free”: L. A. Gobright, Recollection of Men and Things at Washington, During the Third of a Century (Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1869), p. 291.
“Disappointment!…little Illinois lawyer!”: Schurz, Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 221–22.
As the clock…“Hail to the Chief”: Stanley Kimmel, Mr. Lincoln’s Washington (New York: Coward-McCann, 1957), p. 23; Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 402–03.
cheering crowds…throughout the entire route: Julia Taft Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father (Boston: Little, Brown, 1931), pp. 17–18; “The Diary of a Public Man, part III,” North American Review 129 (October 1879), p. 382.
“A sharp, cracking…in the aggregate”: Star, March 4, 1861.
“assume[d] an almost idyllic…large rural village”: Edna M. Colman, Seventy-five Years of White House Gossip: From Washington to Lincoln (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1926), pp. 279–81 (first and third quotes attributed by Colman to foreign observer J. G. Kohl).
platform seating; Baker…introduced the president-elect: NYT, March 5, 1861; Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, pp. 45–46.
Douglas reached over…his own lap: “The Diary of a Public Man, part III,” NAR (1879), p. 383; Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, p. 46.
outdoor venues of the Western states: NYT, March 5, 1861; Leech, Reveille in Washington, p. 44.
“no purpose…better angels of our nature”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—Final Text,” March 4, 1861, in CW, IV, pp. 263–66, 269, 271.
“The Mansion…dinner prepared”: Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, p. 46.
“If you are as happy…this country”: James Buchanan, quoted in Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. I, pp. 137–38.
hasty unpacking…dressed for the Inaugural Ball: Randall, Mary Lincoln, p. 209.
Inaugural Ball: NYH, March 6, 1861; NYT, March 6, 1861; Colman, Seventy-five Years of White House Gossip, p. 268.
“because of…in its decoration”: Colman, Seventy-five Years of White House Gossip, p. 268.
Brightened by…good deal of space: NYH, March 6, 1861.
“Dressed all in blue…and pearls”: Leech, Reveille in Washington, p. 46.
she danced the quadrille…her exhausted husband: Star, March 5, 1861; Leech, Reveille in Washington, p. 46.
“What an inappreciable…5th of March”: Entry for March 4, 1861, Fanny Seward diary, Seward Papers.
“seven days and seventeen hours”: Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. I, p. 140.
“grand…in every respect”: NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“convincing…manner”: New York Evening Post, reprinted in NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“eminently…under the Constitution”: Philadelphia Bulletin, reprinted in NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“the work…its contents”: Commercial Advertiser, N.Y., reprinted in NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“wretchedly…unstatesmanlike paper”: Hartford Times, reprinted in NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“It is he…Civil War”: Atlas and Argus, Albany, N.Y., quoted in Albany Evening Journal, March 5, 1861.
“couched in the cool…civil war”: Richmond Enquirer, reprinted in NYTrib, March 7, 1861.
“might as well…inevitable”: Herald, Wilmington, N.C., quoted in Star, March 7, 1861.
“won some favorable…slave states”: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 248.
“without getting…can stand”: WHS to FAS, March 8, 1861, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 518.
“been fully justified…my country”: Entry for March 4, 1861, Charles Francis Adams diary, reel 76.
Radicals…considered an appeasing tone: T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and the Radicals (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1941), p. 22.
Frederick Douglass…cruel slaveholders: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, introduction by Houston A. Baker, Jr. (The Anti-Slavery Office, 1845; New York: Penguin Books, 1986), chapters I–X.
“it was unlawful…rid of thinking!”: Ibid., pp. 78 (first quote), 84 (second and third quotes).
“no more pervasive…in America”: Blight, Frederick Douglass’ Civil War, p. 3.
“It has taught…the Presidency”: Douglass’ Monthly (December 1860).
“no lawful power…Pierces and Buchanans”: Douglass’ Monthly (April 1861).
White House family quarters: William Seale, The President’s House: A History, Vol. I (Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association/National Geographic Society, 1986) pp. 366, 368, 377, 379–80, illustration 41.
“the grounds…closets”: WHS to home, March 16, 1861, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 530.
hundreds of people…securing a job: Seward, Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat, p. 147; William O. Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times: Memoirs and Reports of Lincoln’s Secretary, ed. Michael Burlingame (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), p. 5.
“from Edward…that he was handsome”: Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, pp. 47, 48.
memorizing railroad timetables…“perfect precision”: John Hay, “Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln,” Century 41 (November 1890), p. 35.
Tad…“worry of the household”: Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, pp. 48–49.
A speech impediment: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 8; Hay, “Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln,” Century (1890), p. 35.
“a very bad…discipline”: NYTrib, July 17, 1871.
The boys harried the staff: Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times, pp. 26–27; NYTrib, July 17, 1871; Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, pp. 102–06.
“If there was…a good time”: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, p. 107.
Seward had proposed: Grimsley, “Six Months in the White House,” JISHS, p. 49.
“For over two hours…at the windows”: JGN to TB, March 10, 1861, container 2, Nicolay Papers.
“well dressed…social courtesy”: Entry for March 8, 1861, reel 76, Charles Francis Adams diary.
“was voted by…ever known here”: JGN to TB, March 10, 1861, container 2, Nicolay Papers.
“This is certainly…she has been here”: MTL to Hannah Shearer, March [28, 1861], in Turner and Turner, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 82.
“light and capricious”…morning schedule: Hay, “Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln,” Century (1890), p. 34.
white marble fireplace…a panorama: Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 416.
description of the Cabinet Room: Seale, The President’s House, Vol. I, pp. 364, 367; Isaac Arnold, quoted in Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 416.
“the very first…in his hands”: Entry for July 3, 1861, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 476.
“that their provisions…their relief”: Memorandum, July 3, 1861, quoted in John G. Nicolay, With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860–1865, ed. Michael Burlingame (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000), p. 47.
“I now see…surrender”: Joseph Holt and Winfield Scott to AL, March 5, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
to “reclaim…yourselves the aggressors”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—First Edition and Revisions,” January 1861, in CW, IV, p. 254 (first and second quotes); AL, “First Inaugural Address—Final Text,” March 4, 1861, in ibid., p. 271 (third and fourth quotes).
“to eat or sleep”: AL, quoted in Villard, Memoirs of Henry Villard, Vol. I, p. 156.
“he had literally…I must see them”: Hay, “Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln,” Century (1890), pp. 34, 33.
“has no conception…security now”: Entry for March 10, 1861, Charles Francis Adams diary, reel 76.
“owes a higher…office-hunters”: NYT, April 4, 1861.
“The President proposes…upon him most”: WHS to home, March 16, 1861, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 530.
“long-skirted…around his waist”: Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 418.
his large leather Bible…“inaudible music”: Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father, pp. 32–33.
Lincoln penned a note: AL to Winfield Scott, March 9, 1861, in CW, IV, p. 279.
Scott’s reply…“20,000 volunteers”: Winfield Scott to AL, March 11, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“was disinclined…to be understood”: Welles diary, Vol. I (1960 edn.), p. 6.
“was virtually…irresistible force”: FPB to MB, March 12, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
Fox’s ingenious plan: “Result of G.V. Fox’s Plan for Reinforcing Fort Sumpter; In His Own Writing,” in Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, pp. 38–39; West, Gideon Welles, p. 98.
pacing up and down as he spoke: Helen Nicolay, “Lincoln’s Cabinet,” Abraham Lincoln Quarterly 5 (March 1949), p. 274.
“Assuming it to be…to attempt it?”: AL to WHS, March 15, 1861, in CW, IV, p. 284.
description of the State Department: Charles Lanman, Bohn’s Hand-Book of Washington (Washington, D.C.: Casimir Bohn, 1856), p. 35; Robert Mills, Guide to the National Executive Offices and the Capitol of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Peter Force Printer, 1841), published work 5007, reel 14, The Papers of Robert Mills, 1781–1855, ed. Pamela Scott, Scholarly Resources, microfilm edn.
Frederick…assistant secretary of state: WHS to FAS, March 8, 1861, in Seward, Seward at Washington…1846–1861, p. 518.
Seward reiterated…emphatic negative reply: WHS to AL, March 15, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“If the attempt…cannot advise it”: SPC to AL, March 16, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“the organization of…its experiment”: SPC to Alphonso Taft, April 28, 1861, reel 15, Chase Papers.
“it seems to me…affirmative answer”: SPC to AL, March 16, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“to do any act…a civil war”: Entry for March 16, 1861, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 179.
“an inevitable…the better”: Simon Cameron to AL, March 16, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“impression has gone…untold disaster”: GW to AL, March 15, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“it would not…circumstances”: Caleb B. Smith to AL, March 16, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“every new conquest…those who administer it”: MB to AL, March 15, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
if he could keep Virginia…give up Sumter: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 251–52; Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 278.
“utterly ruinous…recognition abroad”: AL, “Message to Congress in Special Session,” July 4, 1861, in CW, IV, p. 424.
Lincoln sent Fox to talk directly: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 389.
half-rations…until April 15: Ari Hoogenboom, “Gustavus Fox and the Relief of Fort Sumter,” Civil War History 9 (December 1963), p. 386.
Lincoln sent Stephen Hurlbut…“a fixed fact”: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, pp. 390–91 (quote p. 391).
“a cypher…a humdrum lawyer”: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 244.
“humiliating…their respective states”: WHS to AL, March 28, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“certainly have…show me”: SPC to AL, March 28, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“I believe…Whig & Democratic element”: FPB to SPC, March 26, 1861, reel 14, Chase Papers.
cabinet meetings set for Tuesdays and Fridays: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 247 (quote); Welles diary, Vol. I, (1960 edn.), pp. 7–8.
William Russell: Leech, Reveille in Washington, p. 51.
“a subtle, quick…state mysteries”: Entry for March 26, 1861, in William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South (Boston: T. O. H. P. Burnham, 1863), p. 34.
“put out his hand…‘the Mississippi’”: Entry for March 27, 1861, in ibid., p. 39.
“was already seated…agreeable, and sprightly”: Ibid., pp. 41–42.
“easily…or Reynolds”: Belden and Belden, So Fell the Angels, pp. 5–6.
“In reality…charm and magnetism”: Mrs. Charles Walker, quoted in Cincinnati Enquirer, August 1, 1899.
“I shall be glad…me at any time”: Cincinnati Enquirer, August 1, 1899; Belden and Belden, So Fell the Angels, p. 4 (italics from Belden and Belden).
“there was a Babel…he is famous”: Entry for March 28, 1861, in Russell, My Diary North and South, pp. 43, 44.
“according to recent…slave-holding States”: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 394.
“A very oppressive silence…not General”: MB to GW, May 17, 1873, reel 25, Welles Papers.
“timid temporizing…you are lost”: FPB, Sr., to Martin Van Buren, May 1, 1861, reel 34, Papers of Martin Van Buren, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Lincoln was unable to sleep: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, p. 395.
“of all the trials…to survive them”: Memorandum, July 3, 1861, quoted in Nicolay, With Lincoln in the White House, p. 46.
Lincoln presented…“for his expedition”: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, pp. 429–33 (quote p. 433).
“would be impossible…of time”: JGN to TB, March 31, 1861, container 2, Nicolay Papers.
“it was finally…to go to war”: George Harrington, “President Lincoln and His Cabinet: Inside Glimpses,” undated, unpublished manuscript, George R. Harrington Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Mo.
“a peaceful…of the whole north”: Frederick L. Roberts to WHS, March 18, 1861, reel 62, Seward Papers.
“Unionists…save the country”: Benjamin Ogle Tayloe to WHS, April 3, 1861, reel 63, Seward Papers.
“no conception…equal to the hour”: Entries for March 28 (first quote) and March 31, 1861, Charles Francis Adams diary, reel 76.
“two supreme illusions”: Frederic Bancroft, “Seward’s Proposition of April 1, 1861, For a Foreign War and a Dictatorship,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 99 (October 1899), p. 791.
Three commissioners…resorted to an indirect link: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, pp. 250–51.
“would be evacuated…next five days”: Ellsworth D. Draper and Joshua L. Rosenbloom, “Secession C: Fort Sumter: The Near Fiasco,” p. 9, Case Study, Lincoln and Fort Sumter, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 1983, author’s collection.
“Some thoughts for the President’s consideration”: WHS to AL, April 1, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“handwriting…hands of any clerk”: Seward, Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat, p. 149.
“We are…domestic or foreign”: WHS to AL, “Some thoughts for the President’s consideration,” April 1, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“the symbolism of Federal authority”: Draper and Rosenbloom, “Secession C: Fort Sumter,” p. 11.
under the heading of “For Foreign Nations”: Norman B. Ferris, “Lincoln and Seward in Civil War Diplomacy: Their Relationship at the Outset Reexamined,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 12 (1991), pp. 25–26.
“that there was no…the ruling party”: WHS, quoted by Rudolf Schleiden, quoted in Richard N. Current, “Comment,” JALA (1991), p. 45.
“whatever policy…assume responsibility”: WHS to AL, “Some thoughts for the President’s consideration,” April 1, 1861, Lincoln Papers.
“had Mr. Lincoln…the whole affair”: Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 186, 187.
dashed off a reply…to respond in person: Donald, Lincoln, p. 290.
“without a policy…I must do it”: AL to WHS, April 1, 1861, in CW, IV, pp. 316–17.
“to put down…this thing through”: Entry for March 31, 1861, private journal of Montgomery Meigs (copy), container 13, Nicolay Papers.
“fit out the Powhatan…she is fitting out”: AL to Andrew H. Foote, April 1, 1861, in CW, IV, p. 314.
three hundred sailors: Fox to MB, April 17, 1861, in Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, p. 33; “Result of G.V. Fox’s Plan for Reinforcing Fort Sumpter; In His Own Writing,” reprinted in ibid., p. 39.
assigned the Powhatan simultaneously to both Pickens and Sumpter: “Result of G.V. Fox’s Plan for Reinforcing Fort Sumpter” p. 40; Fox to his wife [Virginia Woodbury Fox], May 2, 1861, ibid., pp. 42–43.
“Your father says…put my name?”: Seward, Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat, p. 148.
“leave New York…disposing of your force”: Welles diary, Vol. I (1960 edn.), pp. 22–23.
“I am directed…without further notice”: Simon Cameron to Robert S. Chew, April 6, 1861, in CW, IV, p. 323.
Lincoln had devised a means: Don E. Fehrenbacher, “Lincoln’s Wartime Leadership: The First Hundred Days,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 9 (1987), esp. p. 7.
“embarrassed by…errors imputed to them”: Welles diary, Vol. I (1960 edn.), pp. 23–25.
Porter had already set sail…had priority: Hoogenboom, “Gustavus Fox and the Relief of Fort Sumter,” CWH (1963), p. 392.
Fox reached Charleston…futilely searching: Fox to MB, April 17, 1861, in Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, p. 32.
At 3:30 a.m…. in one hour: James Chesnut, Jr., and Stephen D. Lee to Robert Anderson, April 12, 1861, enclosure 5 of Robert Anderson to Lorenzo Thomas, April 19, 1861, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. I, p. 14.
Anderson’s small garrison…“fighting launches”: Fox to MB, April 17, 1861, in Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, pp. 32–34 (quote p. 33).
“the conflagration…taken refuge”: Abner Doubleday, Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860–’61 (New York: Harper & Bros., 1876), p. 157.
Thirty-four hours after…surrendered: Robert Anderson to Simon Cameron, April 18, 1860, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. I, p. 12.
a dignified fifty-round salute: Entry of April 14, 1861, Diary of Edmund Ruffin, Vol. I, ed. William Kauffmann Scarborough (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972), p. 599; Robert Anderson to Simon Cameron, April 18, 1860, OR, Ser. 1, Vol. I, p. 12.
only one Union soldier: David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, “Fort Sumter, Bombardment of 12–14 April 1861,” in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, ed. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2000), p. 760. Another soldier was mortally wounded in the explosion.
“it would be…of his friend”: Hamilton Basso, Beauregard: The Great Creole (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933), p. 84.
Convinced that…“the general public”: “Result of G.V. Fox’s Plan for Reinforcing Fort Sumpter,” in Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, p. 41.
“by an accident…justified by the result”: AL to Gustavus V. Fox, in CW, IV, pp. 350–51.
“but beyond…no using of force”: AL, “First Inaugural Address—Final Text,” March 4, 1861, in ibid., p. 266.
fatalities: “The Price in Blood: Casualties in the Civil War,” www.civilwarhome/casualties.htm., accessed July 2005.