Charlottesville

[Eva Elisabeth]

(08-27-2017 12:52 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Thank you, Eva. I did know that Lincoln and Stephens had a long history of friendship. Coming from a paternal family that loved to tease, I appreciate fun teasing. I just found this Lincoln comment very inappropriate given the circumstances -- high officials of both sides coming together in one last gasp for peace.

You are a well-educated lady, Laurie, also as for etiquette. Lincoln and Stephens were men who shared a quite similar biography and background - sons of struggling farmers and impoverished at the beginning of their lawyer career who made their way up by themselves.

And then - what were the circumstances? It was an almost private, secret meeting both men had in advanced considered as humbug (Stephens even used this very expression) and mere farce pro forma. The setting aboard the River Queen was probably rather cozy and like in a private living room, the surrounding "staff" of lower rank, so what reason was there to "play" official etiquette and distance as if they were strangers?

I'd like to add this "background" to the release of Stephen's nephew from the last link above as I think it sheds some more light on their mutual feelings in 1865:

"As the meeting was breaking up, Lincoln told the Confederate vice president: 'Well, Stephens, it seems we can do nothing for our country. Is there anything I can do for you?' Stephens requested President Lincoln’s help in securing release of his nephew from a federal prisoner camp at Johnson’s Island, Ohio – where the young Georgian had been held for more than a year. The next day, President Lincoln wrote the camp commandant: 'Parole Lieut. John A. Stephens, prisoner of War, to report to me here in person, and send him to me. It is in pursuance of an arrangement I made yesterday with his uncle, Hon. A. H. Stephens.' John Stephens left Ohio on February 6. Unaware of his impending release, Lieutenant Stephens was delivered to the President’s office at the White House, interrupting a meeting with Secretary of State Seward. After greeting the Confederate visitor, the President said: 'I saw your uncle, the Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, recently, at Hampton Roads and I promised to send you to him, Lieutenant.'

The young Georgia Confederate lingered in Washington for a few days, recovering his health. Before departing, he went again to the White House. President Lincoln presented Lieutenant Stephens with a photograph he had signed: 'You had better take that along; it is considered quite a curiosity down your way, I believe.' The President wrote the elder Stephens a note for the paroled officer to deliver: “According to our agreement, your nephew, Lieut. Stephens, goes to you, bearing this note. Please, in return, to select and send to me, that officer of the same rank, imprisoned at Richmond, whose physical condition most urgently requires his release[.]' It was a day before Stephens’ 53rd birthday and just two days before Lincoln’s 56th and final birthday. Stephens did not receive the Lincoln letter until after he learned of the President’s assassination. 'I almost wept when I saw it,' Stephens recalled."