Posted on 03/02/2021 6:02:21 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Many posts for Inauguration Day.
Bruce Catton, reply #12
Doris Kearns Goodwin, #13
David H. Donald, #14
The text of Lincoln’s address, #15
Note from John Nicolay, #16
Mary B. Chesnut’s diary entry, #17
David Blight, #18
George Templeton Strong’s diary entry, #19
Letters from two witnesses to the inauguration, #20
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln
Mary Chesnut’s Diary, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
SHADY HILL, 5 March, 1861.
Is it not a great satisfaction to have the dignity and force of the government once more asserted? To feel that there are strong and honest hands to hold it, in place of the feeble and false ones which for four months past have let it fall?
Lincoln's Inaugural is just what might have been expected from him, and falls but little short of what might have been desired. It is manly and straightforward; it is strong and plain enough to afford what is so greatly needed, a base upon which the sentiments of the uncorrupted part of the Northern people can find firm ground; and from which their course of action can take direction. But what will the seceded States say about it — still more, what will they do? I incline to believe that they will not try violence, and that their course as an independent Confederacy is nearly at an end.
Congress could not have done less harm than it has done in passing the proposal for a Constitutional Amendment.1 I am sorry that Lincoln should have volunteered any approbation of the proposal, — though I have little fear that the Amendment can be adopted by a sufficient number of States to make it part of the Constitution. I do not wish to bind the future. I fully adopt the principle in regard to “domestic institutions” (what a euphuistic people about slavery we are!) of the Republican platform, but I do not want Congress bound never to pass laws to prevent the internal Slave Trade. Let Slavery alone in each state, — very well; but let us not promise never to try to stop Virginia from being nothing but a breeding ground of slaves.
The first act of this great play of Destruction of the Union has ended well. It seems now as if before the play were ended it would be generally found out that, as you and I have believed from the beginning, its proper name is, Destruction of the Slave Power.
When the history of American Slavery is written its open decline and fall will be dated from the day in which the South Carolina Declaration of Independence was signed. . . .
1 The Thirteenth Amendment as proposed by Congress in 1861, and approved by Lincoln in his inaugural address, forbade the passage of any amendment empowering Congress “to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.” As adopted and declared in force before the end of 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 219-20
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/charles-eliot-norton-to-george-william_21.html
I read the inaugural address aloud to Grandfather this evening. He dwelt with such pathos upon the duty that all, both North and South, owe to the Union, it does not seem as though there could be war!
SOURCE: Village Life in America, 1852-1872, p. 130
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/09/diary-of-caroline-cowles-richards-march.html
Day after the Inauguration posts:
“Team of Rivals,” reply #22
“Lincoln,” #23
Mary B. Chesnut, #24
George Templeton Strong, #25
John Nicolay, #26
Two from civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com, #27
Bruce Catton, The Coming Fury
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
FORT SUMTER, S. C,
March 6, 1861.
GENERAL: I have the honor to report that during the day, and especially towards night, unusual activity was observed among the South Carolinians around us; several steamer loads of men were landed on Cummings Point. The number was greater than the arrangements for shelter, apparently, for I observe quite a large number grouped about their bivouac fires this morning. Their suffering must have been considerable during the night, for the weather suddenly changed from the warm temperature of the preceding days to a high degree of cold, for this climate, the wind blowing fresh from the north.
I learn that portable hot shot furnaces have been furnished to several, and probably all, of the batteries. The mortar battery on James Island, south of Fort Johnson, is armed, but the number of mortars is not ascertained. The magazine in the flank of this battery is also finished. The mortar battery on Sullivan's Island, west of Fort Moultrie, is also armed. All the batteries on Morris Island are armed. The guns range from 32pounders down, with the exception of the iron bomb-proof, which is (I think, from all reports and observations) armed with 8-inch Columbiads — three of them.
The raft does not meet expectations. It is being covered with railroad strap iron instead of the T rail. This has a crosssection of about three-fourths or one inch by two inches or two and a half inches.
They are now ironing the top portion, the front not being yet commenced. Two 8-inch Columbiads are lying on the wharf ready to be put on board. I do not think this floating battery will prove very formidable.
We have not yet received the inaugural address of President Lincoln, although it is reported from town that it is coercive in its character, and that much excitement prevails.
J. G. FOSTER,
Captain Engineers.
GENERAL JOS. G. TOTTEN,
Chief Engineer U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.
SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 280-1
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/06/captain-john-g-foster-to-brevet.html
MR. MAYOR, MY OLD NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, AND FELLOW CITIZENS:—
I have not language to express the feelings which swell in my heart on this occasion: but I do most cordially thank you for this demonstration of your personal kindness to an old man, who comes back to you ere long to go to his final rest. And here let me say that, having visited many foreign climes, my heart has ever turned to Lancaster as the spot where I would wish to live and die. When yet a young man, in far remote Russia, my heart was still with friends and neighbors in good old Lancaster. [Applause.] Although I have always been true to you, I have not been half so true to you as you have been to me. Your fathers took me up when a young man, fostered and cherished me through many long years. All of them have passed away, and I stand before you to-day in the midst of a new generation. [A voice in the crowd — “I saw you mount your horse when you marched to Baltimore in the war of 1812.”] The friendship of the fathers for myself has descended on their children. Generations of mortal men rise, and sink, and are forgotten, but the kindness of the past generation to me, now so conspicuous in the present, can never be forgotten. I have come to lay my bones among you, and during the brief, intermediate period which Heaven may allot me, I shall endeavor to perform the duties of a good citizen, and a kind friend and neighbor. My advice shall be cheerfully extended to all who may seek it, and my sympathy and support shall never be withheld from the widow and the orphan. [Loud applause.] All political aspirations have departed. What I have done, during a somewhat protracted public life, has passed into history. If, at any time, I have done aught to offend a single citizen, I now sincerely ask his pardon, while from my heart I declare that I have no feeling but that of kindness to any individual in this county. I came to this city in 1809, more than half a century ago, and am, therefore, I may say, among your oldest citizens. When I parted from President Lincoln, on introducing him to the Executive Mansion, according to custom, I said to him: “If you are as happy, my dear sir, on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home, you are the happiest man in this country!” I was then thinking of the comforts and tranquillity of home, as contrasted with the troubles, perplexities, and difficulties inseparable from the Presidential office. Since leaving Washington, I have briefly addressed my friends on two or three occasions, but have purposely avoided all allusions to party politics, and I shall do so here.
There is one aspiration, however, which is never absent from my mind for a single moment, and which will meet with a unanimous response from every individual here present, and that is, may God preserve the Constitution and the Union, and in His good providence dispel the shadows, clouds, and darkness which have now cast a gloom over the land Under that benign influence we have advanced more rapidly in prosperity, greatness and glory than any other nation in the tide of time. Indeed, we had become either the envy or admiration of the whole world. May all our troubles end in a peaceful solution, and may the good old times return to bless us and our posterity [Loud and prolonged applause.]
SOURCE: John Bassett Moore, The Works of James Buchanan: Comprising His Speeches, State Papers and Private Correspondence, Volume 11, p. 161-2
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/10/speech-of-james-buchanan-at-lancaster.html
What a damnfool. Every decision he made hastened a civil war. Still the worst President in American history in my opinion, including the horrible Jimmy Carter and Hussein Obama.
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
FORT SUMTER, S. C, March 7,1861.
Hon. General JOHN A. DIX, Washington, D. C., — Thank you — many thanks to you — for your whole-souled letter of March 4. One such letter is enough to make amends for a life of trial and of discomfort.
I regret that the change of administration deprives the country of your services and of those of Mr. Holt. I felt, while you two were members of the Cabinet, that, whenever I should need assistance, it would be sent promptly and in full force.
My position is not a very enviable one; but still, when I consider how God has blessed me at every step I have taken here, I have not the least fear of the result. I have written to the department very fully, and the administration now know my opinion, and the opinion of each individual officer of this command, of the strength of the force necessary for forcing an entrance into this harbor.
You speak of the disgraceful incidents developed in your report to Congress. I had already read some of your correspondence, and was shocked at the developments they made. The faithful historian of the present period will have to present a record which will sadden and surprise. It would seem that a sirocco, charged with treachery, cunning, dishonesty, and bad faith, had tainted the moral atmosphere of portions of our land. And, alas! how many have been prostrated by its blast!
I hope that, ere long, we shall see symptoms of restoration, and that a healthier wind will recover some of those who have given way to the blast. A long life of honest devotion to every duty, moral and social, may cause their course to be forgiven, but it cannot be forgotten.
The South Carolinians arc on the qui vive to-night—why, we know not. They have four guard-boats in the stream instead of the usual number of late — two. I cannot believe, though, that General Beauregard, lately of the Engineer Corps, would make an attack without having given formal notice of his intention to do so. My rule is, though, always to keep a bright lookout.
With many thanks, my dear General, for your most kind and welcome letter, I am, as ever, your sincere friend,
ROBERT ANDERSON.
SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 8-9
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/08/major-robert-anderson-to-major-general.html
Continued from March 5 (reply #22).
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Mary Chesnut’s Diary, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary
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