Did Vinnie Ream visit the White House daily for 5 months?

[Linda Anderson]

(03-16-2017 05:43 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you for posting this, Linda.

I did not mean to discount Vinnie's accomplishments in previous posts in this thread; it is simply my opinion that she did not really go to the White House daily for 5 months to make her Lincoln bust.

I didn't think you were discounting her accomplishments, Roger, although there were plenty of people who did because of her reputation.

Look at the title of these recent articles about her: "Lincoln's Beautiful Sculpture or Enchanting Washington Nymph."

http://www.civilwarbummer.com/lincolns-b...ton-nymph/

"Vinnie Reams: Teen Prodigy or Victorian Intriguer?"

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/vinnie-r...er.103487/

Of course, she could have been both talented and an "intriguer."

I've read that she had a relationship with Sherman.

This is from a review of Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman’ by Robert O’Connell

"As to Sherman’s private life, his long marriage was mutually fulfilling but passionately disputatious, especially as regards Thomas Ewing’s persistent attempts to keep his daughter by his side in Ohio while her husband pursued a military career that, until success was at last achieved, Ewing regarded with disdain. Sherman had always 'been intensely aware of women, particularly attractive women,' and as the years went by and Ellen grew increasingly stout, his eyes roved elsewhere. It is common knowledge that in 1873 he was taken with the fetching young sculptor Vinnie Ream (her bust of Lincoln is in the Capitol rotunda), but on what grounds does O’Connell insist that after their initial meeting, 'within days, the two were lovers'? There is nothing in his notes to indicate the source of this, and by contrast Marszalek says only: 'Since Sherman was so open with his flirtations and he had a reputation for kissing young women, no one ever accused him of having a serious affair. Clearly though, he enjoyed younger women, and there must have been some flings. . . . His need for Ellen, however, precluded any permanent dalliances.' This probably is about as close to the truth as reliable evidence permits, and thus as far as any responsible scholar should feel entitled to go."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/column/re...9a7ac21561