Lew Powell's Frostbitten Feet

[Natty]

(08-24-2012 07:15 PM)MaddieM Wrote:  I find it quite extraordinary how deeply this affected me personally. And from reading your posts, you feel the same, as do others. Yes, he was a good looking lad, but then lots of people with sad or tragic stories are. I think it's his whole personality, the intriguing mixture of maturity and vulnerability and the utter waste of what was clearly a very special person with so much potential and promise. One might wonder what he would have become had the war not taken him on the pathway it did. No doubt a loving husband and father, working the land or following in his dad's footsteps. He was clearly a born healer, and may well have pursued that path.

I truly believe in the workings of karma. Things don't happen for no reason, but also that we have choices. I think Lewis seriously had an opt out from this pathway to destruction in the Seward house when the gun failed to fire. From accounts in American Brutus, he seemed hesitant when he was unable to gain access to Seward's bedroom, walking back down the stairs for a short while. I truly believe he was being guided out of there, but then his own free will took over and back he went and sealed his fate. Also, he took a wrong turn on his escape route and ended up in the cemetary. Perhaps we just can't fight our destiny.

(08-24-2012 10:37 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Didn't Eckert spend some time with Lewis?
Before you feel to sorry for Lewis, read Fanny's Seward's diary of that night at
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?p...&Print=436

A horrific night
(I learned about this from Linda Anderson of this forum, she's the Seward expert)

He was a young man, but he made some poor choices. He grew up in a Christian home and knew better than to do what he did. He hurt a lot of people, and not just the ones he attacked. Mr Seward's wife and daughter Fanny would both be dead within a year of the attack, and they were not even injured that night.

I think there is no wrong perspective in looking at this situation and there is no need to feel caught between two fences, either. I have enormous sympathy and understanding for both parties and even though I primarily concerned myself with matters pertaining to Lewis' life, I know that, objectively speaking, Lewis doesn't emerge from this story with a white vest. He cannot, however, be simplified and reduced to this one event and it should be possible to talk about him, even in a positive light, without having to make constant apologies for his actions.

Lewis made poor choices, yes, but he was not a fundamentally bad person and he might have, as Maddie said, led a completely different, decent life if he had not been caught up in this crowd of people. It is a classic case of the "road not taken". He was 20 years old at the time of his crime, had just endured four brutal years of war and carried a completely different mindset when it came to taking orders and questioning authority than we do today. Beyond his existence as a dutiful soldier, he was a sensitive, soft spoken soul, who cared for the sick, loved music and read medical books, possibly with dreams of becoming a doctor. Once you get beyond the label "Seward's assassin" and take a closer look at the man himself, it is easy to see the potential that was lost that day on the gallows, even despite the repulsive nature of his crime. The little details that make up his person are fascinating, shedding an entirely different light on someone his contemporaries wanted to "erase from memory". Lewis is a giant bundle of "what ifs?" and it is perfectly natural to speculate on what they could have been.
Lewis was, however, only the secondary victim of his own mistakes; as Gene pointed out, his actions led to horrible suffering and trauma on part of the Sewards. Seward's injuries would leave him scarred for life and his wife and daughter were left severely traumatized from the assault, possibly weakening their constitutions to the point of death. Fanny was also Lewis' age - a sensitive soul with literary talents, whose life was cut short a year later by tuberculosis. Shortly before, her mother had died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by the anxiety she suffered during and after the attack. Looking at Fanny, one could see the same lost potential and possibilities, enhanced by the undue suffering brought upon her by that horrible night. If it had never happened, would she have lived? She was an avid writer and kept detailed diaries - perhaps she would have published something later on in life? Yet another "what if?"

It is true that Lewis' great mistake left nothing behind but tragedy and broken lives. Ultimately, he was to blame for these misfortunes and his own. But it is possible to reconcile an understanding for Lewis and the Sewards, particularly when each subject is examined separately as persons of interest and all aspects of their lives are taken into account. An objective evaluation of Lewis or the Sewards cannot be made if one lingers solely on the night of the assassination. There is no understanding of either party to be found in such an event, nor should finding sympathy with one side exclude the capacity of finding understanding with the other.

PS: Gene, yes! I think Eckert was the one who slipped Lewis some chewing tobacco through his hood, after trying to get him to talk on the monitors. During one of the photos sessions, Lewis tried to obstruct the process by shaking his head and it was Eckert who stepped in and intervened when another officer struck him. I believe Lewis ended up giving him his pen knife, so there must have been some fondness there.