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Bloody Crimes: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Chase for Jefferson Davis

Page 46

by James L. Swanson

Sheridan, Philip H., 28, 75

  Sherman, William Tecumseh, 14, 17-18, 182, 212, 289, 329

  Davis conspiracy theory of, 365-66

  Johnston’s surrender to, 238, 256, 365

  Shiloh, battle of, 9, 312

  Shubrick, William B., 151

  Simpson, Matthew, 184, 189, 282-84

  Sing Sing, N.Y., 232, 233

  slavery, 100, 258-59, 356, 357, 367, 382, 388, 401

  Brown’s raid and opposition to, xi-xii

  in Confederacy, 3

  Davis and, 49, 60-61, 357, 367, 401

  expansion of, 52, 54

  Lincoln’s opposition to, xii, 52-54, 60-61, 333-34

  U.S. Constitution and, 53

  smallpox, 262-63

  Smith, Anna Davis, 56

  Smith, Gerrit, 356

  Smith, Kirby, 14

  Smithsonian Institution, 49, 124

  Smithsonian National Museum of American History, 400

  Snow, Parker, 229

  Soldiers’ Home, 93

  South, 276

  agricultural empire of the, 2

  Brown as seen in, xii

  Davis as spokesman for, 50

  feeling of superiority in, 322

  impact of Lincoln’s death on, 196

  Johnson and, 121, 196, 199-200

  postwar, 361

  reconstruction of, 92

  Union army as seen by, xiv, 322

  South Carolina, 238, 245, 250, 252, 257, 268, 297

  secession by, 98-99

  Southern Express Company, 195

  Southern Historical Society, 361

  Southern Historical Society Papers, 363

  Speed, James, 157, 207

  Speed, Phillip, 157

  Spotswood Hotel, 356

  Springfield, Ill., 27, 59, 143, 145, 153, 155, 161, 163, 199, 201-2, 213, 247, 293, 295, 331, 391

  Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in, 392-93

  Lincoln’s burial in, 271-78, 275, 283, 287, 389

  Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 340

  Stanton, Edwin M., 79, 92, 130, 136, 170, 180, 313

  arrests ordered by, 240

  Booth manhunt and, 111, 147, 204, 244, 268, 296

  on Davis capture, 330-32

  Davis’s captivity and, 339, 341, 352, 354

  Davis suspected of assassination involvement by, 276, 287, 297, 320, 326

  and fall of Richmond, 17, 18, 20, 34-36

  Grand Review and, 331

  Lincoln corpse photograph and, 234-37, 239-41, 248

  Lincoln’s corpse and, 138-40, 379-80

  Lincoln’s funeral and, 140-42, 184-85, 189

  Lincoln’s funeral train and, 154-58, 199, 200-204, 207-9, 217, 219, 225, 246, 274, 277

  at Petersen house, 113, 120-21

  post-funeral planning by, 143, 151, 153

  on Seward attack and Lincoln assassination, 110-11

  women’s clothes rumor propagated by, 324, 327-29, 344

  State Department, U.S., 110

  states’ rights, 363

  Stephens, Alexander, 47

  Stevens, Thaddeus, 220

  Stevenson, Job E., 258-59, 284

  Stone, Robert King, 109, 117, 133, 135-36, 169

  Stoneman, George, 88

  Confederate gold rumor and, 244-45

  Strong, George Templeton, 328

  Stuart, J. E. B., 2

  Sulivane, Clement, 8, 20, 31

  Sumner, Charles, 114-15

  Supreme Court, U.S., 52, 62, 171

  Surratt, Mary, 341, 344

  Sutherlin, William T., 37-38

  Swan, Otis D., 157

  Swancey’s Ferry, S.C., 256

  Swanson, Claude A., 387

  Syracuse, N.Y., 242

  Taft, Charles Sabin, 106-7, 108-9, 120, 124, 126-27, 133, 135

  Taft, William Howard, 398

  Taltavul’s Star Saloon, 96, 102

  Tanner, James, 126

  Taylor, Sarah Knox, 55-56, 58, 175, 357, 366, 376-77

  Taylor, Zachary, 9, 50, 55, 142, 188

  telegraph, 18-19, 20

  Texas, 14, 33, 80, 247

  as possible new Confederate center, 197, 219, 279, 299, 317

  T. Gurney & Son, 239-40

  Thomas, D. C., 126

  Thomas, George, Confederate gold rumor and, 244-45

  Thomas, Lorenzo, 141

  Thomas, William B., 157

  Thompson, Jacob, 268-69

  Tifton, Ga., 398-99, 399

  Tillson, Davis, 245

  torpedo general, 85-87

  Townsend, Edward D., 141, 203, 352

  Lincoln corpse photograph and, 230, 234-38, 248

  Lincoln’s funeral train and, 201-3, 209, 213-19, 225, 232-33, 243, 245-46, 248-50, 253, 255, 261-62, 271, 274-77, 294

  Townsend, George Alfred, 145-46, 185-87, 192-93, 198

  on cleaning out of Lincoln’s office, 324-26

  Treasury Department, U.S., 93, 108, 141-42, 150, 151, 156, 158, 187, 192, 287, 336-37

  Tredegar Iron Works, 11, 401

  Trenholm, George, 9, 32, 33, 38

  Tucker, Beverly, 268-69, 314

  Tuscarora, 330

  Tyger River, 250

  Tyler, E. B., 214

  Ulke, Henry, 128-30

  Ulke, Julius, 128-30

  Union Army, 82, 87, 92, 182, 213-14, 275, 289, 356

  approach to Richmond by, 5, 13-14, 18-21, 26, 30, 31

  cavalry of, 88, 194, 244-45, 278-79, 299-302, 304-18

  Davis honored by, 321-22

  Grand Review of, 329-30, 331, 333, 336-37

  Lincoln’s popularity with, 75-76

  prisoners from, 46, 344

  in Richmond, 44

  as seen by South, xiv

  as threat to Davis, 200

  see also Army, U.S.

  Union League Association, 220

  Union League Club, 157

  Union Pacific Railroad, 391

  United Confederate Veterans, 386

  United Daughters of the Confederacy, 386, 399

  United States Military Railroad, 27, 208-9, 277, 331, 382

  Urbana, Ohio, 259

  U.S. Army Medical Museum, 136, 137, 395

  U.S. Arsenal, tragedy at, 177-81, 342

  Usher, John P., 117

  Valentine, Edward, 386

  Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 356

  Vicksburg, battle of, 112

  Vicksburg, Miss., 3, 76, 123, 156, 248

  Vignodi, Professor, 344

  Vincent, Thomas, 116

  Virginia, 40-41, 95, 121, 194, 206, 297, 317, 401

  aristocracy of, 3

  as Confederacy’s principal state, 37, 70, 82

  Walker, J. M., 83

  Wallace, Lew, 215, 240

  War Department, Confederate, 288

  War Department, U.S., 18, 35, 101, 150, 152, 154, 181, 190, 235, 239-41, 249, 296, 297, 330, 341, 344, 350, 352, 380

  War of 1812, 132, 141

  Washington, D.C., 1-2, 16, 18, 19, 27, 48, 73, 75, 77, 78, 90, 100, 119, 121, 123, 126, 130, 141, 152-53, 155, 167, 173,

  Washington, D.C. (cont’d) 178, 199, 203, 209, 213, 214, 234, 237, 239, 242, 271, 273, 275, 276, 277, 281, 287, 295, 296, 331, 358, 361, 371, 383, 391, 393

  antebellum, 352

  boardinghouse culture in, 98

  Davis’s capture and, 318-19, 321, 323-24, 326

  Davis’s death and, 380

  fall of Richmond celebrated in, 34-36, 39, 102

  Grand Review in, 329-30, 331, 333, 336-37

  Lee’s surrender celebrated in, 79-80, 81, 84, 92-93, 102

  Lincoln’s funeral ceremonies planned in, 141, 143, 148-52

  reaction to Lincoln’s assassination in, 116

  Richmond’s nearness to, 3

  Washington, Ga., 73, 92, 273, 278-80, 288-89

  Washington, George, 53, 143, 170, 188, 221, 265, 278, 293, 382

  Washington and Lee University, 386

  Washington Daily Morning Chronicle, 180, 323-24

  Washington Evening Star, 34
-35, 124, 170, 171-72, 173, 178-79, 180

  Washington Navy Yard, 94, 156, 164

  Washington Post, 381

  wax figures:

  of Booth, 344, 392-93

  of Davis, 344-45

  of Lincoln, 344, 392

  Webster, Daniel, 52

  Weitzel, Godfrey, 47, 62, 63

  Welles, Gideon, 75, 79-80, 92, 108, 110-12, 119, 138, 170, 207, 237, 324, 330-31, 336

  Welles, Mary Jane, 108, 119-20, 133

  Western Railroad Corporation, 187

  Westfield, N.Y., 246

  West Point, U.S. Military Academy at, 48, 54, 55, 232

  Wheeler, Joseph, 238

  White House, 3, 15, 16, 18, 60, 78, 84, 93, 96, 103, 110, 111, 114, 119, 130, 131, 140, 151, 153, 156, 161, 164, 167, 215, 337, 400

  East Room viewing and funeral in, 146, 148-50, 152, 158-59, 160-63, 181, 183-91, 187, 197-98, 199, 249, 277, 281, 285

  Lincoln’s corpse in Guest Room of, 132-39, 143-46, 160

  Lincoln’s corpse transported to, 126-27, 131-32, 207

  Mary Lincoln’s delayed departure from, 286, 287, 324, 335, 389

  other funerals in, 165, 170-71, 173

  in War of 1812, 132

  White House of the Confederacy, 2, 3, 5, 15, 60, 170, 174, 397, 401-2

  evacuation of, 9-10, 12-13, 22, 24-25

  Lincoln at, 47, 62-64, 66, 73

  photographs sold of, 63

  Union seizure of, 31, 32

  Whitman, Walt, xiv, 34, 124, 262, 294-95

  Wilcox’s Mills, Ga., 204

  Wilde, Oscar, 363-65, 364

  William P. Clyde, 330

  Willis, Lee H., 376

  Wilson, Henry, 164

  Wilson, James, 256-58, 296-98, 313, 320-22, 330

  Winslow, Edward F., 257

  Wirt, William, 52

  Wirz, Henry, 344, 350, 356

  Wisconsin, 57

  Wise, John S., 30

  Wofford, William T., 67-68

  Wood, John Taylor, 9, 25, 33, 88, 92, 122, 302, 310, 312-13, 318

  Woodward, Janvier J., 133-36, 138, 354

  Wormley, James, 158

  wrestling, 55

  Yates, Richard, 151

  York, Pa., 218

  Yorkville, S.C., 243

  Acknowledgments

  A number of people helped in my pursuit of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis:

  My splendid editor, Henry Ferris, recognized from the start how pairing the final journeys of the two presidents could enhance the power of each story. Our countless conversations and late night editing sessions in his New York office improved the book in immeasurable ways. Henry’s assistants, Peter Hubbard, now an editor in his own right, and Danny Goldstein, brought diligence and enthusiasm to the project.

  I am also grateful to the rest of my HarperCollins team: Michael Morrison and Liate Stehlik for supporting this book with energy and personal interest, Lynn Grady and Jean Marie Kelly for bringing it to its audience, and miracle-worker Sharyn Rosenblum, the best publicist in the business.

  At the Museum of the Confederacy, President S. Waite Rawls III and historian John Coski provided valuable information about Jefferson Davis. Thanks also to Waite for a moving, late afternoon private tour of the Confederate White House.

  At the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library at Beauvoir, Mississippi, Chairman Richard V. Forte Sr. and curator Richard R. Flowers answered questions about Davis’s last sanctuary and provided the surprising photo of Oscar Wilde. Lynda Lasswell Crist, editor of the Papers of Jefferson Davis at Rice University, was a superb guide to the writings of the lost man of American history. Lynda answered questions with good cheer, and supplied numerous documents and transcripts. With the impressive papers project, a model for future historians, she has made a major contribution to the study of American history.

  At the Library of Congress, John Sellers is a living treasure who shared his vast expertise on the Lincoln and Civil War manuscript collection. His retirement is a loss to all those who pursue the Lincoln story. In the rare book division, Clark Evans, with his usual effusive charm, made available a number of treasures documenting the final days of Lincoln and Davis. W. Ralph Eubanks, director of publishing and a fine author in his own right, helped me obtain a number of superb photographs and illustrations, as did Helena Zinkham and Barbara Orbach Natanson in the prints and photographs division. I must also thank John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book and author impresario of the National Book Festival, for his support and efforts to spread Lincoln scholarship to a wide popular audience at the best book event in America.

  At the Surratt Society, Joan Chaconas, Laurie Verge, and Sandra Walia rendered the same generous assistance that they gave to Manhunt. Their expertise and good humor make Mary Surratt’s country tavern and the James O. Hall Research Center two of the most interesting and informative sites on the Lincoln assassination trail.

  Many thanks to my “first readers” Michael Burlingame, Ronald K. L. Collins, and Edward Steers Jr. for reading the manuscript with keen eyes, and making valuable suggestions.

  At Ford’s Theatre, my friend Paul Tetreault offered good counsel, a public venue to share my research, and the opportunity to participate in the preservation of an American landmark. Paul is a remarkable catalyst and visionary who understands the potential of Ford’s as both a working playhouse and a museum that tells the story of Lincoln’s life and death. At the National Park Service, Kym Elder, Rae Emerson, and Gloria Swift were always ready to provide assistance, advice, and encouragement.

  At the Heritage Foundation, Attorney General Edwin Meese III and Todd Gaziano, director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, provided me with a collegial home during the time I wrote this book. Jessica Kline gave valuable assistance with all computer mysteries. Interns Laura Clauser and Andrew O’Dell helped track down a number of hard-to-find documents and articles.

  My friend and literary agent, Richard Abate, grasped the dramatic possibilities of this story about the end days of the two Civil War presidents and made a number of invaluable suggestions on how to think about and tell this tale. He critiqued the manuscript, provided his usual telling insights, and in a number of ways above and beyond the call of an agent, gave this book his “last measure of devotion.”

  I also thank my television agent at WME Entertainment, Julie Weitz, for her tireless efforts in translating my work into another medium.

  My wife, Andrea E. Mays, occupied with her own book on the hunt for Shakespeare’s First Folio, read the manuscript several times, made countless editorial improvements, helped sift through the abundance of art works to select the images, and, whenever I got bogged down in the trees, cut me a path to clarity. Andrea lived with this book for more than two years and helped me bring alive the saga of Lincoln and Davis. Our boys, Cameron and Harrison, ages thirteen and eleven, were our companions on visits to historic sites, my assistants at book signings, and coaches on storytelling. “Readers want blood,” said Cameron. “And knives,” added Harrison.

  Finally, my father, Lennart J. Swanson, traveled with me for much of this journey. In a way, he began this book by taking me on an unforgettable trip to Gettysburg when I was ten years old. We have been traveling on that path ever since.

  James L. Swanson

  Washington, D.C.

  July 7, 2010

  Also By James L. Swanson

  Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer

  Copyright

  The maps on pages 275, 300, and 380 were created by Kieran McAuliffe.

  All interior artworks, unless otherwise indicated, are from the author’s private collection. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Library of Congress for photographs that appear on the front and back endpapers. Additionally, the author wishes to thank the following for use of the photographs that appear throughout the text: Library of Congress (pp. 4, 112, 137, 191, 211, 226, 264, 334, 335, 343, 346, 362, 377, 399, 403); Ed Steers, Jr. (p. 104); Ford’s Theatre, National Park
Service (p. 129); National Museum of Health and Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center (p. 135); Stack’s (p. 142); Indiana Historical Society (pp. 203, 260); Terrell Library, Washington State University (p. 207); Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (p. 230); U.S. Army Center of Military History (p. 360); The Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, Beauvoir (p. 364); New Orleans Public Library (pp. 379, 384); North Carolina State Archives (p. 385); Wes Cowan (p. 395).

  BLOODY CRIMES. Copyright © 2010 by James L. Swanson.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 978-0-061-98985-8

  FIRST EDITION

  Designed by Richard Oriolo

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Swanson, James L.

  Bloody crimes : the chase for Jefferson Davis and the death pageant for Lincoln’s corpse / James L. Swanson.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  1. Davis, Jefferson, 1808–1889—Captivity, 1865–1867. 2. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Death and burial. 3. Fugitives from justice—United States—Case studies. 4. Political prisoners—United States—Case studies. 5. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Prisoners and prisons. I. Title.

  E477.98.S93 2010

  973.7’7092—dc22

  2010029404

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