Surratt Courier

[wpbinzel]

When I first started looking at Lincoln in the Telegraph Office on April 14, 1865, it was in an effort to try to understand and explain the reported actions and statements of President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton, and Chief of the Military Telegraph Corps Eckert on that day. By profession, I am an attorney. Consequently, before I attempted to explain the “why,” I questioned the “what.” Because Bates’ version of events (i.e., that Lincoln wanted Eckert to accompany him to Ford’s Theater because of his physicality, and that Stanton and Eckert refused Lincoln’s request) has been so widely published, I assumed that there was some substantiation of it, and I set out to find it. However, all references that I found led back to Bates’ account as the source. When I parsed through Bates’ story, I found that it was inconsistent with all other contemporary sources that I reviewed. Nor is it consistent with the known character and other actions of Lincoln or Stanton. I have found no evidence that supports Bates’ version of events of that day. That is the point of my article.

I am interested in Thompson’s account, and to better understand where you find fault with Stanton’s actions. However, to be clear, in his account of the events of April 14th, Bates made no reference to Jacob Thompson, so I would suggest that any discussion of Thompson’s activities, or Stanton’s or Lincoln’s reaction to them, is not relevant in the consideration of Bates’ veracity. (The source of the information about Thompson, Stanton and Lincoln is Charles Dana, and in his telling of it, there is nothing to support Bates’ version of events.)

If there is evidence to support Bates’ version of events, I certainly am open to it and would welcome the opportunity to see it.