Authors: David Von Drehle
“all blue here”: Nicolay to Therena Bates, Oct. 16, 1862.
“twice our usual majority”: J. W. Grimes to G. V. Fox, Oct. 24, 1862, in
Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox,
Vol. 2, pp. 410–11.
“a little gun”:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 463.
“butcher-day”: Herndon and Weik,
Abraham Lincoln,
Vol. 2, p. 245.
sparing three lives:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 475–76.
“No man but he”: Herndon and Weik,
Abraham Lincoln,
Vol. 2, pp. 212–15.
a combination of considerations: Donald,
“We Are Lincoln Men,”
pp. 122–27.
“I am not wedded”: McClellan to Lincoln, Oct. 17, 1862.
“the question of
time
”:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 460.
“Your Excellency”: McClellan to Lincoln, Oct. 17, 1862.
“fear that he was playing false”: Hay diary, Sept. 25, 1864.
“fine dry weather”: Nicolay to Therena Bates, Oct. 20, 1862.
“pardon me for asking”:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 474.
“dirty little flings”: McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, Oct. 26, 1862.
“so rejoiced” … “wretched innuendo”:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 477; McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, Oct. 29, 1862.
“never was a truer epithet”: McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, Oct. 29, 1862.
“holding a prayer-meeting”: Nicolay to Therena Bates, Oct. 26, 1862.
“a fiery trial”:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 478.
“last grain of sand”:
RW,
pp. 380–81.
12: NOVEMBER
first snow: Bates diary, Nov. 7, 1862.
passed the camp twice a day: Pinsker,
Lincoln’s Sanctuary,
pp. 66–68.
twenty-five refugees a week: Joseph P. Reidy, “‘Coming from the Shadow of the Past’: The Transition from Slavery to Freedom at Freedmen’s Village, 1863–1900,”
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
95, no. 4 (October 1987), pp. 403–28.
“The cause of humanity”: Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 3, 1862.
Grant … was forced to think: Grant,
Memoirs and Selected Letters,
pp. 284–85.
news so startling:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 487.
The president drafted a reply: ibid., pp. 502–3.
“the life of the nation”: ibid., pp. 512–13.
“men absent on furlough”: ibid., p. 484.
“hard desperate fighting”: ibid.
“A deeper gloom”: Livermore,
My Story of the War: Four Years Personal Experience in The Sanitary Service of the Rebellion,
pp. 555–61.
“hanging from the post”: Donald,
Lincoln,
p. 384.
“see clearly and persist”: Shenk,
Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness,
p. 189.
“indulge in no delusions”: Schurz to Lincoln, Nov. 20, 1862, in Schurz,
Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz,
pp. 213–19.
“I ought to be blamed”:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 509–11.
“You are re-elected”: ibid., p. 487.
“no next presidency”:
RW,
p. 400.
Lincoln would not resist: Barnes,
The Life of Thurlow Weed,
Vol. 2, p. 428.
Under Governor Seymour: Mitchell,
Horatio Seymour of New York,
pp. 318–19.
“The heavens were red”: Anonymous,
Chronicle of the Union League of Philadelphia: 1862–1902,
pp. 45–50.
“worse … than the bloodiest”: Sumner to Lincoln, Nov. 8, 1862.
far from disastrous: McPherson,
Crossroads of Freedom,
pp. 153–54.
shift of this magnitude: For purposes of comparison, the party composition of each U.S. Congress can be accessed at
http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/index.aspx
.
“Halleck would be an indifferent”: Welles diary, Nov. 4, 1862.
“The President’s patience”: Nicolay to Therena Bates, Nov. 5, 1862.
Montgomery Blair rode out: Pinsker,
Lincoln’s Sanctuary,
pp. 87–88.
No ordinary courier: Sears,
George B. McClellan,
p. 340.
Rectortown with McClellan’s replacement: Rafuse,
McClellan’s War,
p. 376.
“Another interruption”: McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, Nov. 7, 1862.
“a dreadful mistake”: ibid.
“Gray-haired men”: McClellan to Mary Ellen McClellan, Nov. 10, 1862.
“the romance of war”: quoted in Catton,
Mr. Lincoln’s Army,
pp. 329–30.
“we always understood each other”: James Longstreet, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” in
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
Vol. 3, p. 70.
Grant … let Halleck know:
The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant,
Vol. 6, pp. 199–201.
intended to clear the Rebels: ibid., p. 243.
“unvexed to the sea”:
CW,
Vol. 6, p. 410.
out of Grand Junction: Grant,
Memoirs and Selected Letters,
p. 284.
John McClernand: Christopher C. Meyers, “John Alexander McClernand,” in Heidler and Heidler, eds.,
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War,
pp. 1277–79.
the orders he coveted:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 468–69.
“Two commanders”: Grant,
Memoirs and Selected Letters,
p. 285.
“Am I to … lay still”:
The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant,
Vol. 6, p. 288.
“You have command”: ibid.
Grant promptly sent his cavalry: Grant,
Memoirs and Selected Letters,
p. 286.
trying to thwart McClernand: ibid., p. 288.
“The Sioux War”: Cox,
Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862,
p. 152.
“like the locusts”: ibid., p. 26.
“anxious to execute”: ibid., pp. 152–53.
A plea from … Ramsey:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 493n.
“Please forward”: ibid., p. 493.
“The only distinction”: ibid., p. 493n.
possible lynch mobs: Pope to Lincoln, Nov. 24, 1862, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
“turn them over to me”: Ramsey to Lincoln, Nov. 28, 1862, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
The president told his visitors:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 493n.
“I have waited in vain”: Mary Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 2, 1862.
Lincoln finally replied:
CW,
Vol. 5, p. 494.
Company K: Pinsker,
Lincoln’s Sanctuary,
pp. 79–81.
“loud talking”: ibid., p. 83.
“getting quite thick”: ibid., p. 84.
“in the same bed”: Chamberlin,
History of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade,
p. 38.
Some historians have speculated: cf. Tripp,
The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.
“very agreeable to me”:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 484–85.
test firing of a new rocket: Bruce,
Lincoln and the Tools of War,
pp. 217–19.
“a long familiar talk”: Browning diary, Nov. 29, 1862.
ordered the release: Long,
The Civil War Day by Day,
p. 289.
“would rather die”:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 503–4.
Browning asked about Burnside: Browning diary, Nov. 29, 1862.
“somewhat risky”:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 514–15.
“To cross the Rappahannock”: Browning diary, Nov. 29, 1862.
“The President is … quickened”: Sumner to John Bright, Nov. 18, 1862.
Lincoln was shocked:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 505–6.
“His hair is grizzled”:
Lincoln Observed,
pp. 13–14.
13: DECEMBER
“I strongly suspect”:
CW,
Vol. 5, pp. 553–54.
second annual message to Congress: ibid., pp. 518–37.
make the decisions himself: ibid., pp. 537–38.
303 often confusing files: Cox,
Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862,
p. 182.
a drunken mob marched: ibid., pp. 189–90.
a follow-up message: Nicolay to Henry H. Sibley, Dec. 9, 1862.
“shrank with evident pain”: “Conversation with Hon. J. Holt Washington Oct 25 1875,” in
An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln,
p. 69.
“hang men for votes”: quoted in Cox,
Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862,
p. 184.
“after all hope”: William B. Franklin, “Franklin’s Left Grand Division,” in
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
Vol. 3, p. 133.
“a chicken could not live”: James Longstreet, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” in
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
Vol. 3, p. 79.
“men, prostrate and dropping”: Darius Couch, “Sumner’s ‘Right Grand Division,’” in
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
Vol. 3, p. 113.
Longstreet saw “the Federals”: James Longstreet, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” p. 82.
grab at the legs: Lang,
The Forgotten Charge: The 123rd Pennsylvania at Marye’s Heights,
p. 74.
“imbecility, treachery, failure”: quoted in McPherson,
Battle Cry of Freedom,
pp. 573–74.
“never once faltered”: Catton,
Glory Road,
p. 62.
“If the same battle”:
RW,
p. 426.
Wilkinson … Wade … Fessenden: Browning diary, Dec. 16, 1862.
Browning … protested: ibid., Dec. 22, 1862.
“no evidence”: Goodwin,
Team of Rivals,
487–88.
demand … Seward’s resignation: Browning diary, Dec. 17, 1862.
“do as they please about me”: quoted in Goodwin,
Team of Rivals,
p. 488.
“partizans of Mr. Chase”: Browning diary, Dec. 22, 1862.
Ewing “had no doubt”: ibid., Dec. 19, 1862.
“Chase writes me”: Sumner to John Bright, Nov. 18, 1862.
“like the starling”:
RW,
p. 397.
“a bitter draught”: Sterne,
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy,
p. 242.
“refuse to parley”: Welles diary, Dec. 20, 1862.
Needing to hear exactly: ibid., Dec. 19, 1862.
“He had … no adviser”: Hay diary, Oct. 30, 1863.
When Browning … called: Browning diary, Dec. 18, 1862.
Republican senators took their seats: Fessenden,
The Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden,
Vol. 1, pp. 239–43.
“contrived
to suck them out
”: Bates diary, Dec. 19, 1862.
“common rumor”: Fessenden,
The Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden,
Vol. 1, p. 241.
The difficult question: Hay diary, Oct. 30, 1863.