Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference" 2021

[RJNorton]

(04-20-2021 02:51 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  First, there are earlier accounts from both Tanner and Taft that do not mention Stanton having said anything. The first published for Tanner where he mentions Stanton having said something that I can find is 1905 (40 years after the fact). His first account (which does not mention Stanton’s words) was a letter on 17 April 1865. The first published account I can find from Taft where he mentions Stanton’s words is 1893 (28 years after the fact).

Scott, thank you very much for your replies! The fact that Taft and Tanner waited until 1893 (Taft) and 1905 (Tanner) actually makes me wonder if both men "remembered" Stanton saying something only after seeing what was said in Hay and Nicolay's biography. It just seems strange to me that it's not in either man's 1865 accounts.