Charles Dickens, Edwin Stanton, and the Assassination

[RobertLC]

Charles Dickens made two visits to the United States. His first occurred in 1842, while the second was in 1867-68. During the second, he was in ill health, but determined to complete his “reading tour.” As one would expect, his most popular reading was what we know as, “A Christmas Carol.”

During both visits, however, he had opportunities to meet with government officials, including President Tyler during his first visit and President Johnson during his second.

Margaret Leech writes the following in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Reveille In Washington, (page 391), “About three o’clock on Friday afternoon – so Stanton later told a party of gentlemen, of whom Charles Dickens was one – Mrs. Stanton came into the War Office to ask her husband how she should reply to an invitation from the President to go to the theatre that evening … Mr. Stanton said, but they had always refused because he disapproved of the President’s exposing himself. On this occasion, as might have been expected, he again instructed his wife to send regrets.”

Unfortunately, Leech does not cite references in her book. So during my limited search, I’ve found one reference in Dickens’ letters that notes a dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton.

In a letter to his friend John Forster on February 4, 1868, from Washington, DC, Dickens writes about the dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton. During the dinner visit, Stanton relates the story of the Cabinet meeting on April 14, 1865, for which he was late, and prior to his arrival, Lincoln had shared with the Cabinet members his dream, “I am on a great broad rolling river – and I am in a boat – and I drift – and I drift! … .” However, the arrival of Mrs. Stanton in the War Office is not mentioned in this letter from Dickens.

Leech does not list Dickens in the Bibliography at the end of her book, nor does she list Sumner. She does list one source for Stanton, but it is an 1870 reference to the death of Stanton. I have not yet read it to see if it mentions Dickens. Additionally, I have not yet found references by Sumner or Stanton regarding the dinner meeting or any other meeting with Dickens, but I’m looking.

So my questions are:
Is anyone aware of a source from which Leech might have gotten her reference of Stanton telling Dickens about the day of the assassination including Mrs. Stanton visiting the War Department?
Is anyone aware of occasions, other than the one I mentioned above, during which Stanton and Dickens might have gotten together?

Thanks in advance.
Bob

[Dave Taylor]

Bob,

In reading your post I recalled having once purchased an article about a dinner between Stanton and Dickens. I had used its vivid description of one of the nurses injured by Powell at the Seward house "weltering in his own gore". Here is the full article for you: https://boothiebarn.files.wordpress.com/...storey.pdf

Dave

[Linda Anderson]

(03-04-2015 09:29 PM)RobertLC Wrote:  Charles Dickens made two visits to the United States. His first occurred in 1842, while the second was in 1867-68. During the second, he was in ill health, but determined to complete his “reading tour.” As one would expect, his most popular reading was what we know as, “A Christmas Carol.”

During both visits, however, he had opportunities to meet with government officials, including President Tyler during his first visit and President Johnson during his second.

Margaret Leech writes the following in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Reveille In Washington, (page 391), “About three o’clock on Friday afternoon – so Stanton later told a party of gentlemen, of whom Charles Dickens was one – Mrs. Stanton came into the War Office to ask her husband how she should reply to an invitation from the President to go to the theatre that evening … Mr. Stanton said, but they had always refused because he disapproved of the President’s exposing himself. On this occasion, as might have been expected, he again instructed his wife to send regrets.”

Unfortunately, Leech does not cite references in her book. So during my limited search, I’ve found one reference in Dickens’ letters that notes a dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton.

In a letter to his friend John Forster on February 4, 1868, from Washington, DC, Dickens writes about the dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton. During the dinner visit, Stanton relates the story of the Cabinet meeting on April 14, 1865, for which he was late, and prior to his arrival, Lincoln had shared with the Cabinet members his dream, “I am on a great broad rolling river – and I am in a boat – and I drift – and I drift! … .” However, the arrival of Mrs. Stanton in the War Office is not mentioned in this letter from Dickens.

Leech does not list Dickens in the Bibliography at the end of her book, nor does she list Sumner. She does list one source for Stanton, but it is an 1870 reference to the death of Stanton. I have not yet read it to see if it mentions Dickens. Additionally, I have not yet found references by Sumner or Stanton regarding the dinner meeting or any other meeting with Dickens, but I’m looking.

So my questions are:
Is anyone aware of a source from which Leech might have gotten her reference of Stanton telling Dickens about the day of the assassination including Mrs. Stanton visiting the War Department?
Is anyone aware of occasions, other than the one I mentioned above, during which Stanton and Dickens might have gotten together?

Thanks in advance.
Bob

Bob, this is from the Lincoln, Stanton and the Aeolian Harp thread:

From the article in the Atlantic Monthly, April 1930, titled "Dickens, Stanton, Sumner, and Storey."

"The record of a dinner held in Washington at which present were the host, Charles Sumner, Charles Dickens, Edwin M. Stanton, and Moorfield Storey, Mr. Sumner's secretary. This memorandum was written by Mr. Storey the evening of the dinner, immediately after the departure of the guests."

Stanton and Sumner gave their accounts of Lincoln's assassination. Stanton "alluded to Mr. Lincoln's breathing [on his deathbed], and said that it sounded like an aeolian harp, now rising, now falling and almost dying away, and then reviving, and reminded him in what he had noticed in the case of one of his children, who had died in his arms shortly before."

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...ht=aeolian

[Houmes]

Bob, this is from the Lincoln, Stanton and the Aeolian Harp thread:

From the article in the Atlantic Monthly, April 1930, titled "Dickens, Stanton, Sumner, and Storey."

"The record of a dinner held in Washington at which present were the host, Charles Sumner, Charles Dickens, Edwin M. Stanton, and Moorfield Storey, Mr. Sumner's secretary. This memorandum was written by Mr. Storey the evening of the dinner, immediately after the departure of the guests."

Stanton and Sumner gave their accounts of Lincoln's assassination. Stanton "alluded to Mr. Lincoln's breathing [on his deathbed], and said that it sounded like an aeolian harp, now rising, now falling and almost dying away, and then reviving, and reminded him in what he had noticed in the case of one of his children, who had died in his arms shortly before."

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...ht=aeolian
[/quote]

Mr. Lincoln's breathing while on his deathbed is a classic example of Cheyne-Stokes respiration, with rhythmic crescendo (increasing sound or force of breathing sounds) then decrescendo (with decrease in sound or force), usually followed by a pause where the patient stops breathing before the pattern is repeated. The respiratory pattern is caused by not enough oxygen to the brain, in this case not because of lack of blood but due to the swelling of Mr. Lincoln's brain, as his brainstem (where the body's control center for breathing is located) was herniating, being pushed down out of the skull into the spinal canal. The president didn't die from bleeding, he died from brain swelling and herniation.

[Susan Higginbotham]

I don't know if you will be able to see it, but Dickens recounts the story about dining with Stanton in several letters he wrote in February 1868. He also notes that Stanton was an enthusiastic reader of his:

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Charles-Di...57&sr=1-10

https://books.google.com/books?id=hpJSVN...ry&f=false

[Linda Anderson]

(03-04-2015 11:26 PM)Houmes Wrote:  Stanton and Sumner gave their accounts of Lincoln's assassination. Stanton "alluded to Mr. Lincoln's breathing [on his deathbed], and said that it sounded like an aeolian harp, now rising, now falling and almost dying away, and then reviving, and reminded him in what he had noticed in the case of one of his children, who had died in his arms shortly before."

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...ht=aeolian

Mr. Lincoln's breathing while on his deathbed is a classic example of Cheyne-Stokes respiration, with rhythmic crescendo (increasing sound or force of breathing sounds) then decrescendo (with decrease in sound or force), usually followed by a pause where the patient stops breathing before the pattern is repeated. The respiratory pattern is caused by not enough oxygen to the brain, in this case not because of lack of blood but due to the swelling of Mr. Lincoln's brain, as his brainstem (where the body's control center for breathing is located) was herniating, being pushed down out of the skull into the spinal canal. The president didn't die from bleeding, he died from brain swelling and herniation.
[/quote]

Thanks, Blaine. Stanton remembering his child's recent death would have been another reason for his impatience (to say the least) with Mrs. Lincoln that evening.

---

[L Verge]

I agree with Linda on that last assessment of Mrs. Lincoln's behavior irritating Mr. Stanton. Although I understand what she must have been going through, I have often thought that her behavior was atypical for a well-bred Victorian lady. Even today, I feel uncomfortable around "weepers and wailers" at viewings and funerals - and I don't consider myself a hard-hearted lady.

[Houmes]

(03-05-2015 12:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I agree with Linda on that last assessment of Mrs. Lincoln's behavior irritating Mr. Stanton. Although I understand what she must have been going through, I have often thought that her behavior was atypical for a well-bred Victorian lady. Even today, I feel uncomfortable around "weepers and wailers" at viewings and funerals - and I don't consider myself a hard-hearted lady.

I admire strong women.

[Linda Anderson]

(03-06-2015 11:40 AM)Houmes Wrote:  

(03-05-2015 12:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I agree with Linda on that last assessment of Mrs. Lincoln's behavior irritating Mr. Stanton. Although I understand what she must have been going through, I have often thought that her behavior was atypical for a well-bred Victorian lady. Even today, I feel uncomfortable around "weepers and wailers" at viewings and funerals - and I don't consider myself a hard-hearted lady.

I admire strong women.

Maybe it's a cultural thing but I remember "weepers and wailers" at the Italian wakes I attended when I was growing up. Robert Lincoln wept at his father's deathbed but I guess he was quieter about it.

Here's an article from Slate.com that was excerpted from Lincoln’s Body: A Cultural History by Richard Wightman Fox.

"Mary’s lengthy White House isolation gave Northern mourners a chilling crystallization of their own suffering. Until April 20, she did not even sit up in bed. Having been denied any semblance of a family deathbed scene at the Petersen House—Stanton refusing to let her bring in young Tad, or to let her mourn as inconsolably as she had wished—she settled into a deafening public silence.

"In doing so, she unintentionally bestowed a great gift on the American people. She handed her husband’s body over to the body politic. The people’s grief, and the people’s martyr, would take precedence over the family’s mourning and family’s loved one. Of course, family metaphors shaped the people’s perception of Lincoln during the war and after his death. The Union’s soldiers especially called him Father Abraham, but many others insisted that losing him felt exactly like losing a member of their family."

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/histo...cross.html

[L Verge]

(03-06-2015 11:40 AM)Houmes Wrote:  

(03-05-2015 12:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I agree with Linda on that last assessment of Mrs. Lincoln's behavior irritating Mr. Stanton. Although I understand what she must have been going through, I have often thought that her behavior was atypical for a well-bred Victorian lady. Even today, I feel uncomfortable around "weepers and wailers" at viewings and funerals - and I don't consider myself a hard-hearted lady.

I admire strong women.

I think Jacqueline Kennedy as well as Ethel Kennedy set the highest of standards for dignity under duress.

[LincolnToddFan]

(03-05-2015 12:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I agree with Linda on that last assessment of Mrs. Lincoln's behavior irritating Mr. Stanton. Although I understand what she must have been going through, I have often thought that her behavior was atypical for a well-bred Victorian lady. Even today, I feel uncomfortable around "weepers and wailers" at viewings and funerals - and I don't consider myself a hard-hearted lady.

Mary was indeed a well-bred Victorian lady...but hardly a typical one! She was too outspoken, too well-read, too intelligent, too bad tempered...too...EVERYTHING. She simply didn't know her place and if she did, she didn't stay there. I have never sat next to a person who was the center of my universe as they got a bullet in the brain, but I imagine her hysterics were too much for the group of shell-shocked men at the Peterson House that night.

The stoic composure displayed by Jacqueline Kennedy in Dallas would have been beyond someone of Mary's temperament. And in Los Angeles in 1968 Ethel Kennedy reportedly urged everyone who was sitting vigil over her dying husband to go into his room-alone-and spend a few minutes saying goodbye before they pulled the plug on RFK.

Can anyone imagine poor Mary doing that?

[Gene C]

While I know the book Mrs. Abraham Lincoln by W A Evans, is not one of your favorites, he does a nice job of explaining some of Mary's personality peculiarities.

We have discussed it here.
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...-1747.html

[RobertLC]

(03-04-2015 10:27 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  Bob,

In reading your post I recalled having once purchased an article about a dinner between Stanton and Dickens. I had used its vivid description of one of the nurses injured by Powell at the Seward house "weltering in his own gore". Here is the full article for you: https://boothiebarn.files.wordpress.com/...storey.pdf

Dave

Thanks, Dave!

It seems likely that the article by Storey was indeed the source for Margaret Leech. She used it almost verbatim.

Thanks again for the reference.

Bob

---

(03-04-2015 11:31 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  I don't know if you will be able to see it, but Dickens recounts the story about dining with Stanton in several letters he wrote in February 1868. He also notes that Stanton was an enthusiastic reader of his:

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Charles-Di...57&sr=1-10

https://books.google.com/books?id=hpJSVN...ry&f=false

Thanks, Susan!

I have some of Dickens' letters, but only as small fraction of his total. He was certainly a prolific writer.

Thanks again.

Bob

---

(03-04-2015 10:32 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  

(03-04-2015 09:29 PM)RobertLC Wrote:  Charles Dickens made two visits to the United States. His first occurred in 1842, while the second was in 1867-68. During the second, he was in ill health, but determined to complete his “reading tour.” As one would expect, his most popular reading was what we know as, “A Christmas Carol.”

During both visits, however, he had opportunities to meet with government officials, including President Tyler during his first visit and President Johnson during his second.

Margaret Leech writes the following in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Reveille In Washington, (page 391), “About three o’clock on Friday afternoon – so Stanton later told a party of gentlemen, of whom Charles Dickens was one – Mrs. Stanton came into the War Office to ask her husband how she should reply to an invitation from the President to go to the theatre that evening … Mr. Stanton said, but they had always refused because he disapproved of the President’s exposing himself. On this occasion, as might have been expected, he again instructed his wife to send regrets.”

Unfortunately, Leech does not cite references in her book. So during my limited search, I’ve found one reference in Dickens’ letters that notes a dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton.

In a letter to his friend John Forster on February 4, 1868, from Washington, DC, Dickens writes about the dinner with Charles Sumner and Edwin Stanton. During the dinner visit, Stanton relates the story of the Cabinet meeting on April 14, 1865, for which he was late, and prior to his arrival, Lincoln had shared with the Cabinet members his dream, “I am on a great broad rolling river – and I am in a boat – and I drift – and I drift! … .” However, the arrival of Mrs. Stanton in the War Office is not mentioned in this letter from Dickens.

Leech does not list Dickens in the Bibliography at the end of her book, nor does she list Sumner. She does list one source for Stanton, but it is an 1870 reference to the death of Stanton. I have not yet read it to see if it mentions Dickens. Additionally, I have not yet found references by Sumner or Stanton regarding the dinner meeting or any other meeting with Dickens, but I’m looking.

So my questions are:
Is anyone aware of a source from which Leech might have gotten her reference of Stanton telling Dickens about the day of the assassination including Mrs. Stanton visiting the War Department?
Is anyone aware of occasions, other than the one I mentioned above, during which Stanton and Dickens might have gotten together?

Thanks in advance.
Bob

Bob, this is from the Lincoln, Stanton and the Aeolian Harp thread:

From the article in the Atlantic Monthly, April 1930, titled "Dickens, Stanton, Sumner, and Storey."

"The record of a dinner held in Washington at which present were the host, Charles Sumner, Charles Dickens, Edwin M. Stanton, and Moorfield Storey, Mr. Sumner's secretary. This memorandum was written by Mr. Storey the evening of the dinner, immediately after the departure of the guests."

Stanton and Sumner gave their accounts of Lincoln's assassination. Stanton "alluded to Mr. Lincoln's breathing [on his deathbed], and said that it sounded like an aeolian harp, now rising, now falling and almost dying away, and then reviving, and reminded him in what he had noticed in the case of one of his children, who had died in his arms shortly before."

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...ht=aeolian

Hi, Linda!

Thanks for the reference. It seems as though Storey was indeed the source for Leech.

By the way, I listened to that youtube for the aeolian harp. Wow, such a haunting sound, indeed.

Thanks.

Bob

[LincolnToddFan]

(03-07-2015 10:29 AM)Gene C Wrote:  While I know the book Mrs. Abraham Lincoln by W A Evans, is not one of your favorites, he does a nice job of explaining some of Mary's personality peculiarities.

We have discussed it here.
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...-1747.html

Hi Gene, thanks. I think I might need to give the Evans book another read!