Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference" 2021

[wpbinzel]

Historic speculation on my part, but the noteworthy event in the immediate aftermath of the morning April 15, 1865, was the death of President Lincoln -- and not what was said at his bedside or by whom. That came later. Until Hay and Nicolay were published in 1890 in The Century Magazine, no one made mention of what was OR WAS NOT said upon Lincoln's death. The fact that three eye witnesses -- Hay, Leale, and Tanner (who, as Scott pointed out, must be considered as primary sources) all were in agreement (or at very least did not dispute) -- Hay's recollection, puts me firmly in the camp that Stanton likely said something and that something was "ages." In short, I agree with Scott's well researched, well documented, and well presented conclusion that Stanton spoke and said "ages." While there is no mention on the part of other witnesses of Stanton saying anything or what he said, silence on that point does not rise to level of evidence contradicting that there was a comment or what was said. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I believe that Stanton spoke and used the word "ages."