Your guess: "angels" or "ages?"

[RJNorton]

(10-18-2013 01:24 PM)L Verge Wrote:  ....when did the Stanton quote in full (using either "ages" or "angels") first appear in print?

I believe the first time this phrase was in print was in Nicolay and Hay's 1890 biography of Lincoln. Hay was present at the deathbed and wrote that Stanton used the word "ages." Years later, James Tanner, who acted as Stanton's stenographer at the Petersen House, wrote a short pamphlet titled "The Passing of Lincoln." In it Tanner wrote "ages," but I think the debate began when the Kunhardts, in "Twenty Days," mis-copied Tanner's "ages" and incorrectly used "angels" in their book. Tanner has several published articles on this matter and always used the word "ages." It gets confusing as I believe one of the doctors at Lincoln's bedside said "angels," and claimed Tanner had actually departed the premises by the time Lincoln died.

I think the vast majority of historians accept "ages" because Hay was at the deathbed.

Personally I go with Hay's recollection and feel "ages" is what Stanton said.

Yet this is really another of those situations we have discussed often on the forum - relying on folks' reminiscences many years after the fact.

Here is an excerpt from an article Tanner wrote for the National Republic in August 1926: