A Lincoln quote

[STS Lincolnite]

While I have a few minutes (I am away from the house for a bit), I am online and trying to track down a quote that Lincoln made regarding assassination attempts. It goes something like this:

"If someone wants to get at me, there is nothing I can do to prevent it" or perhaps "If someone truly wants to do me harm, there is nothing I can do to prevent it," or any of a number of other variations I have come across.

These variations are put forth by various non-historians and historians alike as I am looking online. None of what I have found so far has a cited source. I will be digging into this a little more when I get a chance but if anyone can point me in the right direction to finding the actual quote and then a citation for it, I would be very grateful.

Thanks!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Scott, is this what you are looking for? Noah Brooks, "Washington in Lincoln’s Time", p. 37:

"He...said, but with some seriousness: ‘I long ago made up my mind that if anybody wants to kill me, he will do it. If I wore a shirt of mail, and kept myself surrounded by a bodyguard, it would be all the same. There are a thousand ways of getting at a man if it is desired that he should be killed.'"
(This was in 1863.)

[RJNorton]

Scott, in addition to Eva's, he (allegedly) said the following to William H Crook:

(the Fehrenbachers give it a "D")

"Crook, do you know, I believe there are men who want to take my life? And I have no doubt they will do it...I have perfect confidence in those who are around me, and in every one of you men. I know no one could do it and escape alive. But if it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent it."

According to Crook (considered a poor source by many), Lincoln said this on the afternoon of April 14, 1865. It is on p. 66 of Crook's book entitled Through Five Administrations.

[John Fazio]

Howdy:

I have the identical quote, but I have the source as Arthur H. Shaw, The Lincoln Encyclopedia, 1950, p. 17. It seems likely that Shaw took it from Brooks. Here's another quote by Lincoln that is especially pointed, because it fits my belief that Booth showed Forbes a forged authorization to be permitted to join the presidential party in the box at Ford's:

"...if there were such a plot (political assassination), and they wanted to get at me, no vigilance could keep them out. We are so mixed up in our affairs, that--no matter what the system established--a conspiracy to assassinate, if such there were, could easily obtain a pass to see me for any one or more of its instruments."
(My emphasis)

This is from F. B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House With Abraham Lincoln, 1866,pp. 66, 67

John

[STS Lincolnite]

Eva, Roger, and John,

Thanks to you all! This is exactly what I was looking for. I never cease to be amazed by the expertise and generosity of the people on this discussion group.

In a few weeks, I may be sharing more about why I was checking up on this...curiosity piqued?

Thanks again,
Scott

[Eva Elisabeth]

Seward actually had told him to be aware. New York Times Editor Henry J. Raymond wrote: "Free from the faintest impulse of revenge himself, he could not appreciate its desperate intensity in the hearts of others. Mr. Seward, with his larger experience and more practical knowledge of human nature, had repeatedly told him that so great a contest could never close without passing through an era of assassination - that if it did not come as a means of aiding the rebel cause, it would follow, and seek to avenge its downfall, and that it was the duty of all who were responsibly and conspicuously connected with the Government, to be prepared for this supreme test of their courage and patriotic devotion. Mr. Seward himself, had acted upon this conviction, and had stood at his post always prepared for sudden death."

[STS Lincolnite]

(02-06-2017 05:21 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Seward actually had told him to be aware. New York Times Editor Henry J. Raymond wrote: "Free from the faintest impulse of revenge himself, he could not appreciate its desperate intensity in the hearts of others. Mr. Seward, with his larger experience and more practical knowledge of human nature, had repeatedly told him that so great a contest could never close without passing through an era of assassination - that if it did not come as a means of aiding the rebel cause, it would follow, and seek to avenge its downfall, and that it was the duty of all who were responsibly and conspicuously connected with the Government, to be prepared for this supreme test of their courage and patriotic devotion. Mr. Seward himself, had acted upon this conviction, and had stood at his post always prepared for sudden death."

Seward also said: “assassination is not an American practice or habit, and one so vicious and so desperate cannot be grafted into our political system.” - This from a letter he wrote to John Bigelow July 15, 1862

Emerson Reck in his book (A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours, p.12) claims that Seward changed his mind on assassination shortly before Lincoln was killed after receiving correspondence from London warning of danger, the content of which was , "so portentous that Seward had consulted with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton." Reck goes on to state the Seward and Stanton agreed that they should lay the matter before Lincoln but before this could happen, Seward had his carriage accident and Lincoln was never apprised of the letters.

Apparently James Speed later recalled Seward telling him that after the fall of Richmond "if there were to be assassinations, now was the time." and that Seward had urged him to "warn the president of the danger". Speed was at the time on his way south to see Lincoln. (Stahr, Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man, p.434-435)

I would sure like to see what those letters from London said! Enough of a credible threat to change Seward's mind on assassination if Reck is accurate. Must have been something significant.