Through Five Administrations

[Gene C]

Written by one of the guards at the White House, William Crook.
I read an on line version
https://archive.org/details/throughfiveadmin06croo

Shop around if you want to buy a copy, the prices vary a lot.

Interesting book, Crook was the guard serving the shift just prior to Lincoln's assassination. He had been serving as a guard for only about 4 months. He was with Lincoln and Tad when they visited Richmond right after it fell.

Written in 1907, about 280 pages, first 80 deal with President Lincoln, about 70 on Johnson, and about 70 on Grant. The remainder on Hayes, Garfield & Arthur.

The chapters on Lincoln, Johnson & Grant were the most interesting to me. I don't normally read e-books, so that may be one of the reasons I was somewhat disappointed in the book, but I can't explain why. We have talked about Crook before, and that he may have some self created memories. I still believe it is well worth reading. I was a bit surprised of his favorable attitude toward Johnson, and he did not care for Senator Charles Sumner or Thaddeus Stevens.

Crook was about 25 when he started serving, married with one small child. That may be one of the reasons he talks in complimentary terms about the family life of the Presidents, and he seemed to have a genuine fondness for Tad.

I'll probably buy a hard copy when I catch the price dropping significantly

[RJNorton]

For me the most interesting part of Crook's book is the blame he places on John Parker for the president's assassination. Some top Lincoln assassination historians give Parker a break and say that Parker was at Ford's more as an escort, not as a guard for the president. Crook disagrees. He wrote, "Yet had he done his duty, I believe President Lincoln would not have been murdered by Booth. The man was John Parker."

[LincolnToddFan]

Roger, John Parker had been very recently hired by Mary Lincoln. She agreed with Crook that Parker had shirked his duties that night and was responsible for her husband's death. She told him so to his face before she left the White House for good.

[LincolnMan]

For me the most interesting part of Crook's book is the blame he places on John Parker for the president's assassination. Some top Lincoln assassination historians give Parker a break and say that Parker was at Ford's more as an escort, not as a guard for the president. Crook disagrees. He wrote, "Yet had he done his duty, I believe President Lincoln would not have been murdered by Booth. The man was John Parker."

Parker was an officer of the police force at the time? Wouldn't his duties have been clearly known to himself, his superiors, and the president?

[RJNorton]

Hi Bill. I will quote from Mike Kauffman's American Brutus. Mike's opinion, as stated here, represents what I have read from several leading experts.

"He (Parker) had been assigned to the White House on detached service to the commissioner of public buildings, and was paid out of the Interior Department budget to protect the building and its furnishings - not the president. Mr. Lincoln had never been guarded in the theater before, and if anyone had suggested he be accompanied by guards on Good Friday, he undoubtedly would have rejected the idea."

According to this theory Parker's job was simply to escort the president to the theater, and once the presidential party was safely seated, Parker was on his own until the play was over. Parker spent at least part of the time drinking next door (as did Forbes and Burke).

Personally I tend to disagree and think Parker shirked his duty and should have been held accountable for blowing off his assignment (as I feel his job as a police officer was to protect Lincoln). Although William Hanchett and others consider Crook's reminisces to be more myth than fact, I do agree with Crook's opinion on Parker.

Toia mentioned that Mary Lincoln blamed Parker. According to Elizabeth Keckly Mary was overheard blaming him (Parker) for her husband's murder. Soon after the assassination Parker was the guard assigned to protect Mrs. Lincoln one night. She yelled at him, "So you are on guard tonight - on guard in the White House after helping to murder the president." Parker replied, "Pardon me, but I did not help to murder the president... I could never stoop to murder - much less to the murder of so good and great a man as the president." Mrs. Lincoln indicated she didn't believe him. Parker then continued, "I did wrong, I admit, and have bitterly repented... I did not believe any one would try to kill so good a man in such a public place, and the belief made me careless. I was attracted by the play, and did not see the assassin enter the box." Mrs. Lincoln told him she would always believe he was guilty and with a wave of her hand, she motioned for him to leave the room.

To this day Parker's exact location at the time of the shooting remains unknown. He was not seen again until 6:00 A.M. the next morning.

[LincolnMan]

Isn't it interesting that there really isn't a unified agreement on something that might be considered so simple as what was Parker's actual job assignment. But then again, it seems the more you know about the Lincoln assassination story- the more you find out that what you thought was so- maybe wasn't so.

[L Verge]

And therein lies the fascination for so many of us. It becomes a game to see what we can prove or disprove or surmise about. James O. Hall used to call us his Baker Street Irregulars because we were willing to dig deeper for answers. He also said that once one was bitten by the assassination bug, there was no known cure.

As you might have guessed, I'm addicted! What has irritated me the most over the past forty years, however, is the automatic assumption that, if one is interested in the assassination, one must be anti-Lincoln. Those of us who have "raised" Surratt House up to a "respectable level" had to endure a lot of bull-stuff from the Lincoln field for the first ten or twenty years. We were literally considered the enemy by the die-hard Lincolnites. Many of us are excellent Lincoln historians and able to discuss his flaws as well as his virtues - and I think there were plenty of both... That's what makes many people interesting as well as controversial.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Laurie,

I am baffled as to why anyone would assume that you are anti-Lincoln if you are interested in the assassination. Think of all the people who have made a career studying the Warren Report and the murder of JFK for 50 years...they are not anti-Kennedy and neither are the folks who are fascinated by the Lincoln assassination. In my experience it's just the opposite.

I'm sorry about the experiences you and your staff have had with the Lincoln...errhm...experts. You know how I feel about a few of those guys, so I don't need to add anything. I would really like to visit Surratt House soon. It's on my bucket list!

Roger,

H. Donald Winkler in the book "Lincoln and Booth" posits that John Parker was likely a relative of Mary Todd Lincoln through her mother, Eliza Parker. He theorizes that John Parker was hired by Mary specifically to assist her in getting rid of her husband. She was in such a rage after City Point that she deliberately plotted to have incompetent men around Lincoln to endanger his security. So, Mrs. Lincoln is ultimately responsible for the death of her husband.

I sat in slack-jawed shock for several minutes after reading this garbage. I can't do anything except borrow Laurie's apt phrase....EXPLETIVE DELETED.

BTW, Mr. Winkler is also a descendent of Ann Rutledge.

[Gene C]

BTW, Mr. Winkler is also a descendent of Ann Rutledge.

I was unaware that she had any offspring.

[LincolnToddFan]

No, Gene you're right she didn't. Winkler is a distant relation is what I should have said.

[RJNorton]

Toia, I have Winkler's book and just re-read the Parker pages. You nailed it IMO. I noticed one thing Winkler "conveniently" left out - Mary also signed a draft exemption for another of the White House policemen. His name was Joseph Sheldon. She also "detailed" him for White House duty and exempted him from the draft. Thus, it's not only Parker who received this from Mary (as Winkler implies). Mary was simply doing a favor for these White House police officers, and it had nothing to do with Parker's April 14th assignment.

[L Verge]

I remember a slight brouhaha between experts when Mike Kauffman first made his assumption. I kinda got tired of hearing about it, but I remember asking and never getting a response as to a military unit that I thought had been assigned to Lincoln as escorts outside the White House after actions instigated by Gov. Tod. Why would a White House police officer be assigned escort duty if soldiers were already in place?

[Gene C]

According to Crook, the first sentence in his book
"It was in November 1864, that four police officers were detailed by Mr. William B Webb, who was then chief of police in the district of Columbia, to be a special guard for President Lincoln." ......"The men were, Alfonso Dunn, John Parker, Alexander Smith and Thomas Pendel"

on page 2, " The night-guards were expected to protect the President on his expeditions to and fromt the War Department, or while he was at any pace of amusement, and to patrol the corridor outside his room while he slept. We were all armed with revolvers"

[LincolnToddFan]

Toia, I have Winkler's book and just re-read the Parker pages. You nailed it IMO. I noticed one thing Winkler "conveniently" left out - Mary also signed a draft exemption for another of the White House policemen. His name was Joseph Sheldon. She also "detailed" him for White House duty and exempted him from the draft. Thus, it's not only Parker who received this from Mary (as Winkler implies). Mary was simply doing a favor for these White House police officers, and it had nothing to do with Parker's April 14th assignment.

Roger,

Winkler also conveniently does not mention the state of complete emotional and physical collapse Mary went into after the tragedy. The murder of her husband removed the one person in her life who ever understood and protected her. She had literally everything to lose if he was dead...and lose everything she did.

Winkler's resentment that his precious Ann Rutledge did not live to marry AL caused him to make the most vicious, irrational and irresponsible claim about Mary Todd Lincoln that I have ever read. I hope Mary will give him a nice sock in the jaw when she encounters him on the Other Side!

[L Verge]

Gene,

I think the fact that Crook is the only source I have ever seen that identifies the Metro police assigning an escort service to Lincoln. Kauffman evidently found a different source that indicated their duties were to protect the White House and its furnishings, but I don't remember if he cites it (and am too lazy to look). Somewhere, there must be (or used to be) written documentation as to exactly what that special police unit was assigned to do.

Here's an interesting link, but it quotes Crook again, and he may have elevated the position of the unit for personal satisfaction: http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/insi...ubjectID=3