Boston Bombing aftermath, any similarity to the Lincoln assassination aftermath?

[Linda Anderson]

(04-23-2013 03:05 PM)Gene C Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 02:58 PM)My Name Is Kate Wrote:  I'm well aware that Powell was a real person. But it seems that some people don't realize the Sewards were real people too.

Sorry, didn't mean to infer that you didn't. And I agree with you about Seward
with the lapse of time, it's sometimes hard for me to visualize then as walking talking, feeling, real people

William Seward, who lived in Auburn, NY, spent his life serving his country. He served in the state senate, as governor of NY, as a U. S. senator and finally as the secretary of state under Lincoln and Johnson. His son Frederick served with him as the assistant secretary of state. His two other sons, Augustus and William, Jr., both served in the Union army. William attained the rank of Brigadier General.

Seward's wife, Frances, was an abolitionist. Due to chronic illness she lived in their home in Auburn while Seward lived in Washington. The Auburn home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Bad things happened to them in Auburn such as their dog being poisoned, their barn being set mysteriously on fire and a rock thrown through Mrs. Seward's study window. Fortunately, she was not at her desk at the time.

Seward's youngest daughter, Fanny, was a writer, and it is due to her diary that we have the harrowing description of the attempt on her Seward's life by Lewis Powell. She kept a diary for many years in which she described the effect of the Civil War on a young, upper class girl. She met many famous people, including the Lincolns, Stanton, Senator Sumner, Lord and Lady Napier, and Generals Scott and Butler. The famous actress Charlotte Cushman was a close friend of the family and Fanny wrote a wonderful description of Edwin Booth coming to dinner in 1864.

Seward survived Powell's assault as did Augustus and Frederick who were also attacked. Mrs. Seward, however, did not. She died just ten weeks later. She had rushed to Washington when Seward was severely injured in a carriage accident on April 5 and it is thought that she may have had a heart attack on assassination night.

Fanny, who was frail and suffered from "weakness of the lungs " for years, died in October 1866 at the age of 21. Her lungs were found to be badly damaged in August 1866. However, in September she rushed to her father's side in Harrisburg, PA when she heard he was gravely ill from cholera. She found him "so emaciated that he looked as on the night of the assassination but much older."

The Seward family believed that both Mrs. Seward and Fanny died as a result of the trauma of Powell's attack.