Killing Lincoln - Nat Geo (Reactions)

[Linda Anderson]

(02-28-2013 02:59 PM)Loomings Wrote:  

(02-28-2013 02:55 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Fanny Seward writes about Lincoln's visit on April 9 while her father was bedridden. Lincoln "told us much about his visit to Richmond, & that one of his last [?] acts was going through a hospital of seven thousand men, & shaking hands with each one. He spoke of working as hard at it as sawing wood - & seemed, in his goodness of heart, much satisfied at the labor. He spoke of the escort that met him & took him into Richmond - & his son Robert with them."

I believe that is Fanny's mistake. Robert was not along for the walk. Tad was.

E

Fanny may have meant that Robert escorted Lincoln in Petersburg, not Richmond. Lincoln saw Robert in Peterburg on April 3 after the city had been evacuated.

"On March 29, Grant began his final push against Lee's army and moved his staff and headquarters closer to the front. It was during this time that Robert Lincoln participated in the fall of Petersburg and Richmond...

"After visiting both Petersburg and Richmond, President Lincoln telegraphed his wife, 'Petersburg and Richmond are both in our hands; and Tad and I have been to the former and have been with Bob four or five hours. He is well and in good spirits.'"

Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln