From Out of the Top Hat: A Blog from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

As we enter the season of calculating income tax, one of the prized deductions remains donations to charitable organizations.  Typically these non-for-profit organizations host auctions as a source for raising revenue.  It is common to see items with celebrity autographs as the main attractions.

The use of celebrity status to raise money for worthy causes has a long history.  During the Civil War era, the United States Sanitary Commission held frequent events called by various names — Sanitary Fairs, Soldiers’ Fairs, etc. — to raise money for blankets,  medical, and sundry supplies for the soldiers.  Led by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, who had designed New York City’s Central Park, the United States Sanitary Commission established regional networks across the northern states to raise money for the war effort.

A couple of celebrity signatures from the ’60s.

The town of Springfield, Massachusetts, held a Soldiers’ Fair in December 1864 as part of the fund-raising efforts.  As was common, a fair newspaper, The Springfield Musket, was issued throughout the fair to list daily events.  One of the noteworthy items for auction was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Springfield Arsenal.”  Of greater interest was a letter sent by First Lady Mary Lincoln (which does not appear in Justin and Linda Turner’s compilation of her writings).  The text appeared in a January 1, 1865 Washington Sunday Chronicle newspaper article reprinting an article that first appeared in the Springfield (Mass.) Republican on December 30, 1864.  That text is provided in full:

“Mrs. as well as Mr. Lincoln wrote a letter for the Soldiers’ Fair in this city but Mrs. Lincoln’s has only just arrived.  It is addressed to Miss Isabel Clary, and will be raffled for, so that it is not too late, after all, to add to the receipts of the fair.  Ten dollars have been offered for it already, but refused.  Below is the letter, and we will add, for the benefit of those who may not see the original, that it is written on fine initial note paper, unruled, and the writing consequently sloping gently to the right:

                                                EXECUTIVE MANSION,  December 24.

Your letter of the 12^th instant has been received, and as it always affords me much pleasure to forward so laudable an object as the one mentioned in your note, I hasten to comply with your flattering request.  I most sincerely hope that your highest anticipations may be realized, giving you all that may be necessary to carry out plans which present not only a noble purpose, in the cause of our beloved and struggling country, but also a generous, humane, and great good, in the comfort of the brave and noble hearts battling for our glorious Union.  With heartfelt hope, I pray God speed you, and crown your efforts with success. 

                                                                                    Very truly yours,     Mary Lincoln”

Her husband’s response on Dec. 19th was more pro-forma, indicating that matters of state required him to remain in Washington.  However, Lincoln attended the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair in June 1864.  Among the celebrity items offered in Philadelphia were printed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward, and John G. Nicolay.  Shrewd visitors would have seen the bargain of purchasing one at the sale price of ten dollars apiece.  Unfortunately, most people declined to purchase a copy, and many remained unsold.  Today, one of these Leland-Boker autographed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation will fetch well more than one million dollars at auction.

The recent release of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter takes the well-known story of our Sixteenth President and places it in a fictional world of vampires.  In this fantasy world, Nancy Hanks Lincoln is killed by a vampire, a death witnessed by a young Abraham.  Seeking to avenge his mother’s death, Abraham Lincoln learns the secret art of killing vampires.

While the film has not yet realized the success of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel upon which it was based, many critics are dismissive about the connection between Lincoln and vampires.  In fact, Lincoln and vampires were first paired during the Civil War.  Rather than being the hunter of vampires, Lincoln was often shown as a demonic associate or a vampire himself. 

Lincoln uses the devil's ink to free the slaves.

Adalbert Volck, a Baltimore dentist, engraver, and strong supporter of the Confederate cause, created a series of engravings highly critical of Lincoln and his policies.  In October 1862, Volck finished his engraving “Writing the Emancipation Proclamation.”  Lincoln is shown in a satanic pose, holding the Constitution under foot and composing the Emancipation Proclamation from a devil’s inkwell on a table with a ram’s head at the top of each leg and an all-seeing eye as decoration.  Outside the window at left are flying bats, but it is unclear if they are vampire in nature. 

The famed British cartoonist Matt Morgan’s last Lincoln drawing for Fun, an illustrated magazine, showed a frightened Columbia in bed with Lincoln sitting on top of her stomach.  The caption read “Columbia’s Nightmare.”  Morgan joined the Comic News shortly after leaving Fun in October 1864.  One of his early cartoons for his new employer showed Lincoln, with Satan’s tail, in a tug-of-war with George B. McClellan over a map of the northern states; it is entitled “Pull Devil — Pull Baker,” here an expression roughly meaning ‘both will take revenge.’

Morgan revisited Lincoln as the enemy of Columbia in a post-election cartoon, “The Vampire.” Lincoln is depicted as hovering over a kneeling Columbia, declaring ‘Columbia, thou are mine; with thy blood I will renew my lease on life — Ah! Ah!”  That Lincoln’s critics saw his policies as undermining the Republic, represented by Columbia, is clear.  And Morgan would like his audience to believe that Lincoln, as vampire president, drained the life blood from the Republic in a prolonged and needless Civil War.

Leaving nothing to the imagination, Southern Punch ran a cartoon on November 14, 1863, “Abduction of the Yankee Goddess of Liberty.  The Prince of Darkness (Abraham Lincoln) Bears Her Away To His Infernal Regions.”  The Yankee Goddess protests, “Monster of Perdition, let me go!”  While Lincoln replies, “Never!  You have been preaching about the Constitution too long already.  I was the first to rebel against constituted authority. ‘Hell is murky!’ You go thither!”

Whether Satan or Vampire, Lincoln was seen as the embodiment of evil by many illustrators with Southern sympathies.  It is no wonder that Mary Lincoln later used the term “vampyre press” to describe her own critics.  Ironically, one of Lincoln’s great admirers was an Irish writer who is best known for taking the 1819 story of The Vampyre by Dr. John William Polidori and creating the novel that is the foundation for all other vampire plots.  Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula remains the silver standard for vampire novels, just as Tod Browning’s 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi sets the bar for vampire films.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln held greater aspirations for their children than they experienced in life.  That they could send their son Robert to Harvard University revealed the importance the Lincolns placed upon education as one of the building blocks of success.

Robert’s success as a lawyer provided wealth and status that his father could only imagine.  Indeed, Robert Todd Lincoln was constantly imposed upon by relatives, real and imagined, to provide financial assistance.  His Aunt Emily Todd Helm received a regular Christmas check from Robert to help offset her expenses.  When he forgot to send it, she reminded him.  Aunt Emily was also the person Robert relied upon to explain the Todd family tree to him.  On occasion, Robert would receive a letter from someone who claimed to be related.  He, in turn, would consult with Aunt Emily, who would explain or deny the connection.  Once satisfied of kinship, Robert dutifully sent a small offering of assistance.

Clinton Conkling grew up with Robert in Springfield, Illinois.  It was Conkling whom Robert entrusted to find appropriate renters for the family home in Springfield after 1865.  Once Mary Lincoln deeded the home to Robert, it was Conkling who convinced Robert to turn over ownership to the State of Illinois, in 1887, rather than sell the property.

As a gesture of appreciation for their friendship, Robert wrote out a check for $1,000 that was used for carved oak stalls in the chancel of Westminster Presbyterian Church, formerly Second Presbyterian Church, which Conkling attended and served as one of the leading members.  The gift was in perfect keeping with Robert’s generosity of spirit.

Not everyone in Springfield, however, viewed Robert’s gift in the same spirit of generosity.  Conkling’s letter to Robert dated October 6, 1915, tells the story:

“Yours of 4^th inst. at hand.  It has just come to my ears in a perfectly natural way that your correspondent and another lady had a very warm discussion — not dispute — to-day concerning why you did not do something for the First Presbyterian Church — a church, as they said, so intimately connected with your family and whose pastors had officiated at the funerals of various of its members (your mother) etc. etc. etc.  It would seem that the women of the Church are becoming some[what] warm over the matter.  They cannot understand why you should have given me something for the Second Presby’n Church, and fail to consider though told of it long ago that it was a personal gift to me for the purpose of the new church on account of the long friendship which has existed between you and me.

“In their talk they referred to what you did for me.  I feel you should know this feeling so that, if it seems best to you, you can make such a contribution as will still this sort of talk and cause them to know they are not being discriminated against.

“I have hesitated to write this but I believe you will understand that it [is] meant for your guidance and not to annoy you.

“Excuse me if I have presumed too much.”

Conkling couldn’t help but add the following note on a separate enclosure:

“Between you and me and not to be spoken of the following may be of interest.  In 1860 the family of B. S. Edwards were members of the Second Presbyterian Church, but soon after for ‘political reasons’ I was told by one who knew, they withdrew and went to the First Presbyterian Church.  This was because the intensely loyal attitude of almost the entire congregation of the Second made the atmosphere uncomfortable.  In the First Presby’n Ch. of that day were to be found for the most part the influential men of the community who were opposed to Mr. Lincoln and the coercing of the South.  In 1861 there was not a single non-union man in the Second, while in the First were many.  It is true there were a few, very few, supporters of your father in the First but there were many many more who opposed him.  However you know these facts in a general way as well as I do.

“Now all rise up to do your father honor.”

As a very good amateur historian, Conkling wrote an extensive history of Westminster Presbyterian Church as well as local Springfield history.  Benjamin S. Edwards, like his older brother Ninian Wirt Edwards, left the Whig Party to become a Democrat; while the youngest brother, Albert Gallatin Edwards, who later founded the investment company bearing his name, remained firmly in the Republican ranks.  Benjamin Edwards was one of the leaders promoting the ratification of a new state constitution in 1862 that was explicitly anti-Lincoln administration. Illinois voters rejected it.

From the red-brick 1876 edifice, the First Presbyterian Church, Mary Lincoln was buried in 1882. Conkling sent Robert Lincoln this postcard in 1915, when Robert donated to his parents' original congregation.

In character with Robert’s philanthropic spirit, two days later he sent a $1,000 check to First Presbyterian Church’s organ fund, confirming the wisdom of the aphorism: ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’

To only a handful of individuals interested in the Lincoln assassination, the name of Nathan Simms evokes quizzical looks.  Simms is one of several individuals who claimed to have held the reins of John Wilkes Booth’s horse on the night of April 14, 1865.  Dr. Edward Steers ably demonstrates the problems with Simms’s claims and credits John “Peanut” Burroughs as the rightful holder of Booth’s horse on that fateful night.  But if Simms was mistaken about his role on April 14, 1865, it might be premature to dismiss his connection to the assassination.

A letter by architect Walter F. Price to President Herbert Hoover suggests that Simms — misspelled as “Sims” throughout the letter — worked for Mary Surratt.  Beyond the new information on Simms, Mr. Price also enclosed three photographs to provide additional visual reference of this obscure individual.  The text of the February 3, 1931, letter follows:

“Some weeks ago I went to Marshalton, Chester County, Pa., to visit an old Meeting House; the aged care-taker as I was leaving pointed to a frame House in the edge of the village.  He said ‘in that house lived a colored man named Nathan Sims; when he was about seventeen he held a horse for J. Wilkes Booth while he went into the theatre to assassinate President Lincoln.’

Nathan Simms, in Pennsylvania, 1931 – Mary Surratt’s former slave?

“On the 9^th of January last I went again to Marshalton about four miles west of West Chester and called at his house.  A mulatto woman came to the door and said she was Mrs. Nathan Sims, then added that her husband was in the village getting slop.  On my inquiry as to how I should know him, she said he will be carrying two buckets.  Within five minutes I met him with his buckets; he admitted he was the Nathan Sims who held the horse for Booth.  I turned to walk back with him to his house.  He seemed shy and taciturn.  To my question as to whether he was the slave of Mrs. Surratt, he said he had been, but later in our short talk, he referred as to having been her bond servant.  Of Mrs. Surratt he said only, the soldiers came and bundled her up and took her away.  I don’t know what became of her.  Near his house I had him stand for his picture by his pump.  I took a second picture, trying to secure a little better light on his face.

“I went again on the 25^th of January and took a promised picture.  In the town I asked for an old and reliable citizen, and was referred to a Mr. Peterson, who said relative to N. Sims’ veracity, that from his knowledge of the man, he felt sure we could depend on anything he might say.  Just as I reached the house he came around the corner and I gave him the picture and asked more questions.  For example; who are his parents?  He replied they were slaves of Dr. Gunton of Maryland.  There were several boys in the family and as he was not needed, he was bound over by his master to Mrs. Surratt, and that he worked for her on her ‘big’ farm at Surrattville, where she had much property.  He finished by saying that he had lived in Marshalton thirty-six years.”

Nathan Simms may not have held Booth’s horse but he clearly seems to be connected to Mary Surratt.  To this extent, he is worth knowing more about as an historical actor.

Springfield eagerly anticipated the presidential visit by Herbert Hoover to rededicate the remodeled Lincoln Tomb on June 17, 1931.  In advance of the visit, Hoover received an unusual request from famed Lincoln collector Oliver R. Barrett proposing an offer that he hoped the president could not refuse.  Writing on June 2, 1931, Barrett declared:

“I have the door plate which, during Mr. Lincoln’s residence in Springfield, was on the front door of his home.  Enclosed you will find a photostat of the contemporaneous description of the door plate with the print of the Lincoln Home.  A similar description has appeared in one of the Bulletins of The Lincoln Centennial Association.

“I have been requested to permit a reproduction to be made and replaced upon the door.  I think, however, it would be more fitting to have the original plate restored to its old place upon the door of the Lincoln home by you on the occasion of your visit to Springfield.

In the 1930s, gentlemen traded around the door plate of this self-made gentleman.

“I have always made it a rule that nothing should go out of my Lincoln collection unless in exchange for some other desirable item which might be added to it.  If you would be willing to write your answer to this letter in longhand and send also an appreciation of Lincoln written and signed in longhand, I would be glad to give you the door plate in exchange and when restored by you, it would be unnecessary to make any reference to its former ownership.

“If you have a short appreciation of Lincoln already written, it will serve.  If not, I would prefer to have you write on one of the enclosed sheets (the other you may retain if you wish).  You will note the former ownership of these sheets by holding to the light to observe the water-mark.

“If you choose to write some thought or excerpt from your address which is to be delivered at the Lincoln Monument, it will not be necessary for you to send the appreciation to me until after the address has been delivered.

“I am sure that Mr. Logan Hay of The Lincoln Centennial Association, Springfield, Illinois, will be very glad to have the door prepared to receive the plate before your arrival.

“In the event of your answer to my letter, I would like to have you address it to my son, Roger Watson Barrett, who, although only fifteen years of age, is, in reality, the owner of the plate which I have brought together.”

Although Barrett’s offer was “very much appreciated,” Hoover, through his secretary Lawrence Richey, respectfully declined the offer.  What happened next to the door plate is murky.  The Illinois State Historical Library (now called the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum) received it from Jesse Jay Ricks, another Chicago collector, in 1938 but without fanfare.  Paul Angle, director of the Library, placed a note on the box indicating that the Library was not to admit owning the original unless the copy on the door of the Lincoln Home was stolen.  Ricks was a prominent collector in his own right and perhaps made a swap with Barrett that placed the door plate into his possession.

Barrett’s son, Roger, later went on to a prominent legal career of his own, first as one of the legal team at the Nuremberg Trials and later with the prominent Chicago law firm of Mayer Brown & Platt.

Although Abraham Lincoln predates Sigmund Freud, the Illinois lawyer did write to famed Cincinnati physician Dr. Daniel Drake for help during his emotional crisis of  “the hypo” in 1841.  If Drake replied to Lincoln’s letter, it has never surfaced.  Since then, both professionals and amateurs have tried to explain Lincoln’s personality.  One particular incident led a number of individuals to lobby President Herbert Hoover to intervene.  The incident is instructive because of both the prominent persons involved and Hoover’s response.

In life, Lincoln was deemed 'crazy' mainly by secessionists; in death, mainly by psychiatrists. This now-reupholstered couch was on his funeral train.

Dr. Abraham Arden Brill (1874-1948) announced that he planned to deliver a paper at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in Toronto, Canada, on June 5, 1931, in which he would characterize Abraham Lincoln as a “schizoid-manic personality.”  Brill was hardly a quack.  Rather, he provided the first English translations of Sigmund Freud’s work, introducing into the American lexicon such Freudian concepts as transference, repression, displacement, and unconscious.  Brill founded the New York Psychoanalytic Society and served for a time as head of the psychiatry clinic at Columbia University before going into private practice.  He is widely known for advising famous public relations guru Edward L. Bernays (1891-1995) on how to overcome the stigma that surrounded women smoking cigarettes.  Brill suggested that cigarettes be viewed as “torches of freedom.”  Bernays hired a number of young models to march in the 1929 New York City Easter Parade, and on his cue they each lit a Lucky Strike in front of a group of photographers he had assembled.  The women’s “torches of freedom” were lit as a protest against male domination, but also to help Bernays’s sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, promote its most popular cigarette brand to a new audience — women.

Brill’s characterization of Lincoln as a “schizoid-manic personality” immediately drew the ire of fellow psychiatrist Dr. Edward Everett Hicks, senior physician of the psychopathic department of Kings County (i.e., Brooklyn) Hospital, New York.  Hicks was an avid history buff and a member of both the Sons of the American Revolution and the Society of Mayflower Descendants.  He made a formal protest to the American Psychiatric Association regarding Brill’s intended paper and received the assistance of F. Walter Mueller, Eastern Division Sales Manager for the Continental Lithograph Corporation.  It was Mueller who took it upon himself to write to Lawrence Richey, Secretary to President Hoover, seeking to obtain a Presidential request to suppress Brill’s paper from being delivered in Canada.

The media enjoyed the brief controversy because it provided entertaining copy.  An unidentified instructor of psychology declared: “Some of our psychiatrists and psychologists seem to get so saturated with abnormal in their practice that they lost the normal point of view.  They then get a compulsion to pigeonhole all persons, and especially eminent men in the routine psychiatric categories.”  One less-kind reaction goaded Hicks: “I hope you hit the illustrious gentleman [Brill] in the solar plexus, and once for me too.”  Hicks offered the following assessment of Brill to the press:  “I understand Dr. Brill is an alien.  If he was not born here and was permitted to become a citizen, it seems very bad taste for him to criticize a man of the caliber of Lincoln.  If psychiatrists would modify some of their fantastic theories and apply more common sense, the American public would have greater respect for them.  Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts ought to be analyzed themselves and classified as to the types they belong to.”  Hicks was reminded by the reporter that “you’re a psychiatrist too.”  Hicks replied with a laconic “yes” — and smiled.

President Hoover idolized Abraham Lincoln but wanted no part in the controversy.  Lawrence Richey replied to F. Walter Mueller’s letter, indicating that “The matter of an address before a scientific association in another country is not, it seems to me, within the purview of the President’s duties.”  Brill delivered his paper on Lincoln, one which people have since little noted nor long remembered.

In the mid-19^th century the mass production of prints and images allowed average citizens to own scenes and portraits that might serve as sources of inspiration.  One such example is the Alexander H. Ritchie print of Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s painting of First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation Before the Cabinet.  The print was wildly popular.  Although sales figures are lacking for this period, the number of prints that can be found today online and at flea markets shows that it was widely disseminated.

One individual who purchased a copy was Herbert Hoover’s grandfather Eli.  The following narrative was written by the 31^st President (who served from 1929 to 1933) and attached to the back of the framed print that now hangs in the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum in West Branch, Iowa.  The reader should note that duringHoover’s term as president, the print hung above the very fireplace depicted within the print.

Inspiration: from Lincoln to Carpenter to Ritchie to Hoover to …

“This print is from the Carpenter painting which hangs in the House of Representatives in Washington.  The painting was made from life.  The scene is Lincoln’s study in the White House.  The fireplace in the background is the same today and is easily identified.  The figures in the painting were sketched in by Carpenter in the study but he did the detailed portrait work in the East Room.  The prints were a part of every Midwest household for years after the Civil War.

“This copy was given to my father Jessie Hoover by his father Eli Hoover soon after my father was married and set up housekeeping in the little cottage at West Branch in about 1871.  Thereafter this picture was probably there when I was born.  After my mother’s death in 1879, the print was kept by an uncle Allan Hoover until his death in about 1922 when it went to his brother Davis Hoover.  Uncle Davis gave it to me with the above history in 1927.  It hung in my study at 2300 S Street, Washington, D.C., until 1929, when Mrs. Hoover removed it to the White House where it hung over the same mantel which appears in the picture.  It remained there for four years until 1933.  It was then removed to Palo Alto, and was brought back to my apartment in Waldorf Towers [on Park Avenue in New York] in 1945.  Thus its history seems clear for about 75 years!”

Long before Jackie Kennedy refurbished the White House in the early 1960s, First Lady Lou Henry Hoover extensively documented the White House rooms and furnishings in photographs.  She and President Hoover also converted the Lincoln Bedroom back into the original study and cabinet room as depicted in Ritchie’s print. Hoover used this as his private study and spent numerous hours in it conducting the affairs of state.  In a search for the original furnishings, a number of items turned up, only to be eliminated after careful research.  Four side chairs were the only items that could be reasonably ascertained as coming from the Lincoln presidency.  Undoubtedly, Abraham Lincoln remained Hoover’s inspiration for presidential leadership.

The first part of the post was published on May 30, 2011.

In April 1865 everyone knew that temporary quarters were needed for the immediate housing of Lincoln’s remains along with those of his departed sons Willie and Eddie. Willie’s casket accompanied Lincoln’s back to Springfield from Washington and was carried out to Oak Ridge Cemetery with Lincoln’s on May 4, 1865, both being placed in the temporary receiving vault in the cemetery.

Edward Baker Lincoln had been buried in Hutchinson Cemetery in 1850. This was a six-acre area immediately west of the old four-acre city graveyard. As Springfield grew, Hutchinson Cemetery was no longer sufficient, having become surrounded by town development. In 1856 the original portion of it was closed to further burials, and by 1866 all burials in these grounds were closed and all the bodies were removed to Oak Ridge.

At Oak Ridge what began as a modest 28 acres in the late 1850s eventually encompassed 115 acres of scenic rolling hills. City officials followed the national trend of placing cemeteries in bucolic rural settings outside of the noise and commotion of daily life. Cemeteries became places where people could commune with nature and see that life, like nature, was cyclical.

The pastoral setting chosen by Mary Lincoln; far from the hubbub of 2nd Street and Jackson

The formal dedication of Oak Ridge occurred on May 24, 1860, and was a major public event that Abraham and Mary Lincoln likely attended. Mary vividly recalled a conversation with her husband shortly before his death as they were taking a carriage ride. Approaching an old country graveyard, Lincoln turned to her and said: “Mary, you are younger than I. You will survive me. When I am gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.” This memory of Lincoln’s burial preference became the source of controversy between Mrs. Lincoln and the National Lincoln Monument Association in 1865.

The Association began negotiations to acquire property in the Mather block, a site near Springfield’s public square and visible from the Chicago and Alton Railroad tracks. A temporary receiving vault was begun with the intent that Lincoln’s remains would reside there, not at Oak Ridge. Mrs. Lincoln objected, and her cousin John Todd Stuart consented to her immediate wishes that Abraham and Willie Lincoln’s bodies reside in the temporary vault at Oak Ridge. Most Association members continued to push for the construction of the permanent monument on the Mather property and hoped to persuade Mrs. Lincoln of the merits of their position.

She refused to meet with them and gave the Association an ultimatum: either build the permanent tomb in Oak Ridge, or else she would have her husband’s remains removed to Chicago or to George Washington’s crypt in the United States Capitol. While there had been some talk immediately following Lincoln’s death that his remains should be placed in Washington’s crypt, nothing was done. The overwhelming indicators had favored Springfield. But now it appeared that the dispute between Mary Lincoln and the Association might identify the memory of Lincoln with someplace other than Springfield. Jesse Fell, one of Lincoln’s closest associates, warned the Association that they should defer to Mrs. Lincoln on the subject lest their efforts be seen as tending “more to the enhanced value of town lots than to the dictates of patriotism.”

On June 14, 1865, a vote of the board of directors decided to concede to Mrs. Lincoln’s wishes that the monument be built in Oak Ridge. This vote passed by a slim margin of 8 to 7. The City of Springfield donated the land, and a temporary receiving vault was completed by December to free up the space in the cemetery’s public receiving vault. The remains of Abraham, Willie, and Eddie were all placed in the private temporary vault that month. Mary had carried out her husband’s wishes for “a quiet place.”

Recently, the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site resurrected the Lincoln Monument Association to serve as a support group for the Lincoln Tomb as well as the War Memorials within Oak Ridge Cemetery.  In referencing the original National Lincoln Monument Association, it is worth reviewing the goals and purposes of the founding organization.

According to her certificate, Susan Torrence became one of thousands who contributed 50 cents to help build the Monument.

Planning that had been undertaken by committee required something more permanent for addressing the long-term issues of designing, funding, constructing, and maintaining an appropriate memorial to Abraham Lincoln.  While committees continued to address the immediate needs of Lincoln’s funeral arrangements, a group of 13 which later expanded to 15 members drew up articles of incorporation.  On May 11, 1865, The National Lincoln Monument Association came into existence as a voluntary society.  Their mission was “to construct a Monument to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, in the city of Springfield, State of Illinois.”  A board of directors was created who would serve a term of 20 years.

The board elected four officers to direct the affairs of the Association.  Governor Richard J. Oglesby was the clear favorite for President.  Jesse K. Dubois, who was a neighbor of Lincoln’s and long-time political associate, became Vice President.  Clinton L. Conkling, a friend of Robert Todd Lincoln and son of James C. Conkling, was elected secretary but not a member of the Association board.  He stepped down at the end of 1865 and was replaced by O. M. Hatch.  James H. Beveridge, who served as the Illinois State Treasurer under Governor Oglesby, became treasurer for the National Lincoln Monument Association.

More than elections occurred at the May 11^th meeting.  Bylaws were approved to govern the Association, “agents appointed to collect funds, agricultural and horticultural societies called on to contribute, and the Treasurer directed to invest funds — which were already beginning to reach the treasury — in United States securities.”  A great deal of progress had been made in a very short period of time.  But just as things appeared to be in good order, an incident occurred that threatened to undo the entire project.  (To be continued.)

THE NATIONAL LINCOLN MONUMENT ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard J. Oglesby was a political associate of Lincoln’s.  He gained honor and distinction for his service in the Civil War, returning to Illinois to be elected Governor in 1864.

Orlin H. Miner served as Illinois State Auditor under Governor Oglesby.

John Todd Stuart served in the Illinois legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, and was a leading lawyer in Illinois.

Jesse K. Dubois served in the Illinois legislature, was receiver of the U.S. Land Office, then Auditor for the State of Illinois, and was a close associate of Lincoln.

James C. Conkling served as mayor of Springfield, in the Illinois legislature, and was a leading lawyer and businessman in the city.

John Williams was a banker.

Jacob Bunn was a banker and eventually became Mrs. Lincoln’s conservator.

Sharon Tyndale served as Illinois Secretary of State under Governor Oglesby.

Newton Bateman was Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois and was a friend of Abraham Lincoln.

Samuel H. Treat served as a Judge of the U.S. Court for Illinois.

Ozias Mather Hatch served as Illinois Secretary of State and was a close political confidant and ally to Abraham Lincoln.

S. H. Melvin was a prominent merchant, banker, and railroad man.

James H. Beveridge served as Illinois Treasurer for Governor Oglesby.

Thomas J. Dennis was mayor of Springfield and an accomplished architect.

David L. Phillips served as the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Illinois.

Everyone loves a winner, which may account for the continuous battle over who owns the Lincoln story.  Three states — Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois — claim to have been crucial influences upon Abraham Lincoln during his formative years.  The Illinois General Assembly wisely adopted the slogan “Land of Lincoln” in 1955 and had it placed on license plates, ensuring its wide promotion.  To make certain that no other state would infringe on the claim, Congress passed a special act that same year giving Illinois the exclusive use to the phrase “Land of Lincoln.” 

Writers have also been territorial about the Sixteenth President.  John G. Nicolay, Lincoln’s private secretary, was incensed at Ida Tarbell in the 1890s when he discovered that she intended to write a popular biography of Abraham Lincoln.  Nicolay, having recently finished a 10-volume Lincoln biography with John Hay, protested to Tarbell that “you are invading my field.”  His real concern was that a competing Lincoln biography diminishes “the value of my property.”

Not the same old Lincoln story for a new book and movie, opening June 2012.

Perhaps only a handful of Lincoln books have made the kind of sales that give one pause.  Carl Sandburg, David Herbert Donald, and Doris Kearns Goodwin come immediately to mind.  The recent announcements that two feature-length films are now in production — Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, a loosely based adaptation of the Goodwin bestseller — recalls an earlier era when two other Lincoln films were in production at the same time.

 Starring Raymond Massey, Robert Sherwood’s play Abe Lincoln in Illinois was a Broadway hit in the fall of 1938.  New York critics and audiences applauded Massey’s dramatic interpretation of a young Abraham Lincoln.  Hollywood frequently took Broadway hits and quickly turned them into motion pictures.  RKO Pictures wasted no time in purchasing the film rights and began production.  Little did they know that screenwriter Howard Estabrook had written a screenplay in 1935 for Fox Film Corporation entitled Young Lincoln.  But production ceased when Fox merged with Twentieth Century to become Twentieth Century-Fox.  Screenwriter Lamar Trotti, who had finished production of a biopic on Alexander Graham Bell in November 1938, then began rewriting Estabrook’s script, which had taken on the new title Lawyer of the West.  Darryl Zanuck, the producer of the film, changed the name of the film to Young Mr. Lincoln.

The competing Lincoln films resulted in a lawsuit in which Robert Sherwood sued Twentieth Century-Fox.  Sherwood claimed that the Twentieth Century-Fox film was a blatant facsimile of Sherwood’s play, using the same plot elements, a similar title, and similar promotional campaign, and drawing upon the popularity of Lincoln created by Sherwood’s play.  Sherwood said that “there was little public interest in any portion of the life of Lincoln” until his play generated a widespread public awareness.  In many respects, Sherwood’s assertions were similar to those of John G. Nicolay: “you are invading my field” and diminishing “the value of my property.”

Twentieth Century-Fox countered with the obvious fact that Lincoln’s historical life was in the public domain.  All of the facts and events relating to Lincoln’s life would be similar in any biographical film.  Moreover, the claim that Lincoln was unknown to the larger public until Sherwood’s play appeared was easily dismissed with an abridged listing of films and major plays and books published on Lincoln from 1900 to 1939.  Among those dealing with Lincoln’s early life were Carl Sandburg’s 2-volume work The Prairie Years (1926), D. W. Griffith’s 1930 film Abraham Lincoln, and John Drinkwater’s 1919 hit play Abraham Lincoln.  The court sided with Twentieth Century-Fox, allowing the John Ford film that starred Henry Fonda to move toward release a year before Abe Lincoln in Illinois.  And Sherwood need not have worried, since both films were eagerly embraced by audiences.