Grant and Lincoln's invitation

[STS Lincolnite]

According to Grant, in his memoirs (p. 750 in my copy) - "I replied to the President's verbal invitation to the effect, that if we were in the city we would take great pleasure in accompanying them; but that I was very anxious to get away and visit my children, and if I could get through my work during the day I should do so. I did get through the work and started by the evening train on the 14th, sending Mr. Lincoln word, of course, that I would not be at the theatre."

He makes no mention whatsoever about his wife prodding him to leave. Grant implies that it was his wish to see his children that prompted him to want to leave on the 14th and that that was the case from the time Lincoln had invited him to the theatre. If his work was not completed and he had to stay in Washington, he would go to the theatre. If his work was completed he would leave by the first available train to get home and visit his children.

This doesn't answer the question as to why he took the local train versus a later express but I could imagine there could be any great number of reasons. Even though the local train ride was longer, wouldn't it have still arrived home at an earlier time? A mother or father anxious to see their children would I am sure endure a longer train ride if it meant an hour or two extra with their children.

Now to Mrs. Grant. I re-read the applicable pages in Mrs. Grant's memoir. Though she does not say why, she states that as soon as the General awoke on the morning of the 14th she "...asked him earnestly if we would not leave for Burlington today." She goes on to give an account of a messenger who arrived from Mrs. Lincoln - she states that looking back she firmly believed he was one of the conspirators and not from Mrs. Lincoln at all. Following this incident she says she again asked (via note) the General to leave that evening and also asked 3 of the staff officers to "urge the General to go home that night." She recounts seeing Booth and brunch at a nearby table with three other men (one of whom she is sure was the "messenger" from earlier in the morning) watching her and her party. She states that she told a Mrs. Rawlins with whom she was dining, "I believe that they are part of Mosby's guerillas and they have been listening to every word we have said. Do you know, I believe there will be an outbreak tonight or soon. I just feel it, and am glad I am going away tonight." Also talks of Booth riding up next to their carriage and looking in (this incident seems to be consistent with one of John Mathews' statements) in what was a very aggressive and menacing way.

Taken in totality, it seems to me that the wishes of Julia Grant were the paramount reason for the trip home on the evening of the 14th. Why she was so adamant - I'm not really sure. Though she may not have particularly cared for Mary Lincoln, I don't think Mrs. Lincoln was the main reason she was so adamant about leaving that night. It could have been a dream (though she never mentions one in her memoirs) but I have little doubt that she somehow felt that she and her husband were in some sort of danger. Maybe it was "intuition". Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink describes the unconscious way some people are able to assimilate information and draw a conclusion (often correct) without even knowing how they do it - an explanation for what many call intuition. However she came to the conclusion, she was certainly right about the "outbreak tonight or soon."

[loetar44]

First, I hate to walk around sounding like I know what I'm talking about when I do not. Let that be clear. But I still have my doubts that the Grants left Washington in such a hurry primary because of Mary. Five things:

(1) I know Mary ranks among the most controversial women in American history, high-strung and mercurial, at times exercising poor judgment and often offensive to those around her. But she is also remembered as well educated, intelligent, unusually assertive for a woman of her time, a helpmate to Lincoln, and a loving mother. She was not that evil. Where originated the story that she was? Can someone tell me where exactly it is stated as a fact that hard feelings, or at least wariness, on the part of Julia Grant was the only reason the Grants did not attend the play that night with the Lincolns? Or.... who started this story?

(2) Can someone tell me that it is indeed a true fact that Julia Grant actually said that she did not want to sit in the box with Mrs. Lincoln? I always thought that it was Mrs. Stanton who said this to Julia at the reception on the 13th, as follows: "Unless you accept the invitation, I shall refuse. I will not sit without you in the box with Mrs. Lincoln." ("The General’s Wife , The Life Of Mrs Ulysses S Grant", 1959, by Ishbel Ross.)

(3) Grant was embarrassed when Julia made her decision not to attend the play, since he had already told the President that they would go. In my opinion this means that there was not an initial plan to get back (in a hurry) to Burlington and the children, but this was only used as a good excuse.

(4) Metaphysical belief in the United States was in 1865 popular and not simply confined to poor frontier folk or African slaves. I just read “I Would Still Be Drowned In Tears: Spiritualism in Abraham Lincoln’s White House”, a thesis of Michelle L. Hamilton (2013) to obtain her Master of Arts in History.

Carol Berkin in "Civil War Wives: The Lives & Times of Angelina Grimké Weld, Varina Howell Davis & Julia Dent Grant" (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009) writes on page 229: “Julia Dent, the future wife of Ulysses S. Grant, was a firm believer in metaphysics. Born in Missouri, as a child, Julia Dent Grant was exposed to metaphysical beliefs from her family’s slaves. For the rest of her life, Julia was a firm believer in premonitions, omens, and the power of dreams to foretell the future.” Julia was not only a firm spiritualist, but also believed herself to possess some mediumistic power. Ulysses Grant believed in no particular religion and certainly not in spiritualism. That’s why he never mentioned the spiritual/ mediumistic feelings of his wife. Would you, if you are a non-believer?

(5) I’m curious what the lady’s in this forum have to say. Laurie, Eva, Linda what do you think?

[Linda Anderson]

Just a quick answer for now.

If Mrs. Grant thought she and her husband were in danger, wouldn't she have thought the Lincolns were as well?

It was reported in the newspapers in 1893 that Mrs. Grant wanted to rent the Seward Mansion but her friends dissuaded her because of the mansion's well known reputation for destroying the lives of its occupants. If she believed in omens, why on earth would she want to live there, assuming the newspapers are correct, of course.

I can perfectly understand Mrs. Grant's reluctance to sit with Mrs. Lincoln at Ford's Theater after what happened at City Point. Didn't Mrs. Lincoln snub her the night before?

I don't think that either Grant or his wive would state that Mrs. Lincoln was the true reason for them hurrying home.

[HerbS]

Some people have dreams of premonition that prove to be true, really happen,and play out.Sort of like reincarnation.

[L Verge]

I truly have no clear thoughts or opinions on this subject. I can actually see all of the reasons given as pertinent -- desire to see children asap (on both of the Grants' parts); desire not to be stuck in the theater for hours (just to show off) during a performance of a rather worn-out comedy; fear of being embarrassed or insulted by your hostess, etc.

You will now likely confirm your suspicions that I'm weird, but I believe in premonitions. Twice, I have had a wave of "something" hit me to let me know that someone close to me had died - first, my father, and then a close friend. And, as many of you know, I have very bad knees and have been avoiding operations on them for several years. This avoidance is due to a premonition I had in a dream that I went under anesthesia and didn't wake up. I have been under general anesthesia many times in the past, but this premonition has me spooked! I remember waking up from the dream anxious about who would help my daughter raise my grandson.

Back to Mrs. Grant: I'm sure she had worried for four years about the fate of her husband and that was still on her mind. Having a scruffy messenger show up at my door and having a group of men staring me down during a meal at a public dining room would not help my situation. And finally having a strange man ride so close to the carriage I was in would certainly spook me.

[loetar44]

(10-09-2014 08:25 AM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  I don't think that either Grant or his wive would state that Mrs. Lincoln was the true reason for them hurrying home.

Do you mean that it is all speculation?

[loetar44]

General Horace Porter described in “Campaigning with Grant” (1897) how John Wilkes Booth observed Julia Grant in the dining room of the Willard Hotel, how Booth shadowed Grant , how an assassin (???) was foiled by the locked door of Grant’s railcar, how Grant received the message of the assassination of Lincoln and how Grant’s journey was interrupted :

///////////

The President and Mrs. Lincoln invited the general and Mrs. Grant to go to Ford's Theater and occupy a box with them to see “Our American Cousin.” The general said he would be very sorry to have to decline, but that Mrs. Grant and he had made arrangements to go to Burlington, New Jersey, to see their children, and he feared it would be a great disappointment to his wife to delay the trip. The President remarked that the people would be so delighted to see the general that he ought to stay and attend the play on that account. The general, however, had been so completely besieged by the people since his arrival, and was so constantly the subject of outbursts of enthusiasm, that it had become a little embarrassing to him, and the mention of a demonstration in his honor at the theater did not appeal to him as an argument in favor of going.

A note was now brought to him from Mrs. Grant expressing increased anxiety to start for Burlington on the four o'clock train, and he told the President that he must decide definitely not to remain for the play. It was probably this declination which saved the general from assassination, as it was learned afterward that he had been marked for a victim. It was after two o'clock when he shook Mr. Lincoln's hand and said good-by to him, little thinking that it would be an eternal farewell, and that an appalling tragedy was soon to separate them forever. Their final leave-taking was only thirteen months after their first meeting, but during that time their names had been associated with enough momentous events to fill whole volumes of a nation's history.

The general went at once to his rooms at the hotel. As soon as he entered Mrs. Grant said to him: “When I went to my lunch to-day, a man with a wild look followed me into the dining-room, took a seat nearly opposite to me at the table, stared at me continually, and seemed to be listening to my conversation.” The general replied: “Oh, I suppose he did so merely from curiosity.” In fact, the general by this time had become so accustomed to having people stare at him and the members of his family that such acts had ceased to attract his attention. About half-past 3 o'clock the wife of General Rucker called with her carriage to take the party to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad-station. It was a two-seated top-carriage. Mrs. Grant sat with Mrs. Rucker on the back seat. The general, with true republican simplicity, sat on the front seat with the driver. Before they had gone far along Pennsylvania Avenue, a horseman who was riding in the same direction passed them, and as he did so peered into the carriage. When Mrs. Grant caught sight of his face she remarked to the general: “That is the same man [499] who sat down at the lunch-table near me. I don't like his looks.” Before they reached the station the horseman turned and rode back toward them, and again gazed at them intently. This time he attracted the attention of the general, who regarded the man's movements as singular, but made light of the matter so as to allay Mrs. Grant's apprehensions.

On their arrival at the station, they were conducted to the private car of Mr. Garrett, then president of the Baltimore and Ohio railway company. Before the train reached Baltimore a man appeared on the front platform of the car, and tried to get in; but the conductor had locked the door so that the general would not be troubled with visitors, and the man did not succeed in entering. The general and Mrs. Grant drove across Philadelphia about midnight from the Broad street and Washington Avenue station to the Walnut street wharf on the Delaware River, for the purpose of crossing the ferry and then taking the cars to Burlington. As the general had been detained so long at the White House that he was not able to get luncheon before starting, and as there was an additional ride in prospect, a stop was made at Bloodgood's Hotel, near the ferry, for the purpose of getting supper. The general had just taken his seat with Mrs. Grant at the table in the supper-room when a telegram was brought in and handed to him. His whereabouts was known to the telegraph people from the fact that he had sent a message to Bloodgood's ordering the supper in advance. The general read the despatch, dropped his head, and sat in perfect silence.

Then came another, and still another despatch, but not a word was spoken. Mrs. Grant now broke the silence by saying: “Ulyss, what do the telegrams say? Do they bring any bad news?” “I will read them to you,” the general replied in a voice which betrayed his emotion; “but first prepare yourself for the most painful and startling news that could be received, and control your feelings so as not to betray the nature of the despatches to the servants.” He then read to her the telegrams conveying the appalling announcement that Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Seward, and probably the Vice-President, Mr. Johnson, had been assassinated, and warning the general to look out for his own safety. A special train was at once ordered to take him back to Washington, but finding that he could take Mrs. Grant to Burlington (less than an hour's ride), and return to Philadelphia nearly as soon as his train could be got ready, he continued on, took her to her destination, returned to Philadelphia, and was in Washington the next morning.

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Grant took his family to Burlington in 1864 to avoid the war’s physical conflict. Mrs. Grant and her children lived at 309 Wood Street. But does someone know how long Grant and his wife did not see their children? Weeks? Months? A year? I remember having read somewhere that Gen. Grant had visited his family the last time prior to his victories at the Battles of the Wilderness (was that May 1864 ???).

[HerbS]

After we have all weighed in on Mrs.Grant,I feel that it is safe to think that Mrs.Grant wanted to get out of"Dodge".However,her relationship with Mary Lincoln was tough to say the least.

[loetar44]

(10-09-2014 03:01 PM)HerbS Wrote:  After we have all weighed in on Mrs.Grant,I feel that it is safe to think that Mrs.Grant wanted to get out of"Dodge".However,her relationship with Mary Lincoln was tough to say the least.

I think you are completely right Herb! GOOD, get out of Dodge! But that leaves the question why at that moment? In the case of (for instance) massive flooding or earthquake damage, the answer is obvious: get out immediately, get out now! But Washington celebrated the victory with parades, marching bands, the grand illumination. It was a time of jubilation, not of fear. Why do you want to get out of Dodge just at that moment ? Do you second Julia's premonitory feelings?

[RJNorton]

I will offer a long shot possibility. Kees indicated the New York Times reported that the Grants checked in at the Willard during the afternoon of the 13th and were going to stay several days. But they left the next day, and the question is why. I will ask - is it conceivable Julia Grant observed something at the Stantons' reception that scared her? At the trial the prosecution tried to show that Michael O'Laughlen was a "mysterious man" who showed up at Stantons' door during the reception. Three witnesses testified the strange man asked for Stanton and Grant.

Michael Kauffman writes, "Mike O'Laughlen had gone to Stanton's house on the night of the thirteenth, and prosecutors alleged he was lying in wait for the secretary's guest, General Grant."

Here is the testimony of one of these witnesses (from Poore):

*************************************

JOHN C. HATTER

a witness called for the prosecution, being duly sworn, testified as follows:—

By the JUDGE ADVOCATE:

Q. Will you state whether or not you know the prisoner O’Laughlin?
A. I know a man by that name.
Q. Do you recognize him here?
A. It is that man sitting back there [pointing to the prisoner O’Laughlin].
Q. Will you state whether you saw him on the 13th of April last? and if so, where, and under what circumstances?
A. I saw him on the night of the illumination—I suppose it was the night General Grant came from the front—at Secretary Stanton’s house.
Q. What occurred there between you and him? What was said?
A. I was standing on the steps, looking at the illumination; and this man [O’Laughlin] approached me, and asked me if General Grant was in. I told him he was. He said he wished to see him. Said I, “This is no occasion for you to see him. If you wish to see him step out on the pavement, or on the stone where the carriage stops, and you can see him.”
Q. What time of night was it?
A. I should judge it was about nine o’clock: it may have been a little after nine.
Q. Was that all that occurred between you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. He did not go in the house, or attempt to go in?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was he on the steps of Mr. Stanton’s house?
A. Yes, sir: I was standing on the top step.
Q. Was he on the top step also?
A. Yes, sir: he was on the steps, I should judge about two steps below me; which brought him, I believe, about the third step from the pavement.
Q. Did he leave the steps while you were there?
A. He left the step after I spoke to him. He was talking: but I did not understand what he was saying. He walked off away from the step towards the tree-box. He seemed to reflect over something, and came back, and walked off; and then I turned my eyes off him, and did not see him any more.
Q. Was the house illuminated?
A. Yes, sir: the house was lit up from the inside; and it was pretty light outside too.

**********************************

Like I said I am really "stretching" here. But could it be possible Julia either saw the mysterious stranger asking for her husband or one (or more) of the 3 men who testified at the trial told her about the incident if she didn't personally see it? Could this have caused Julia to suddenly feel fear and want to leave town as soon as possible?

[HerbS]

I think that Mrs.Grant saw and felt the obivious assassination threat to her beloved husband and Lincoln.Maybe she knew what was coming.Hey-you never know-and premonitions might come true.Perhaps there was a bigger conspiracy that has been hiding in plain sight right in front of our research noses.The police tell us to keep light on a timer for security reasons when we leave the house or make your house well-lit when you are home.Even Cub-Scouts now carry a walkie-talkie when they come to your door.Sad-but-true! These are the times we in.But,times don't really change,do they?

[Hess1865]

I'm fairly certain that Grant's family visited him at his City Point headquarters several times in 1865

[SSlater]

General Grant's choice of trains may have been dictated by previous arrangements for assistance along the way. The trip began in Washington on the B&O. At Baltimore the B&O turned west (toward Ohio) Northbound travelers were hauled by horses from the downtown Camden Station, to the President's Street Station where it was attached to another Line that headed for Philly. Now this train ran as far as the Susquehanna River, where the train was put on barges (Plural) and floated across the river, to be reassembled on the other side. From there they ran into Philly, where they disembarked and rode horse drawn ambulances, provided by the U. S. Army, from the Station to the Delaware River, where they boarded a Ferry Boat to New Jersey. Here they boarded New Jersey trains. (Maryland trains could not run on New Jersey tracks - different gauges). At the end of their run, there was someone there to meet them, including some local officials, who wanted to Greet their Hero.
Someone who was of the social stature of General Grant was not going to be left to fend for himself. Luggage handling - finding food - finding Latrines at any stop, etc. etc. was provided. If all of this was prearranged, then General Grant stuck with that train, and something running hours later was out of the question. (IMHO)

[loetar44]

(10-09-2014 04:24 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Like I said I am really "stretching" here. But could it be possible Julia either saw the mysterious stranger asking for her husband or one (or more) of the 3 men who testified at the trial told her about the incident if she didn't personally see it? Could this have caused Julia to suddenly feel fear and want to leave town as soon as possible?

Roger, I think it is certainly possible that "it all started here”. During his trial the prosecution claimed that O'Laughlin had been given the task of killing General Grant, but he was (as we all know) acquitted. I re-read some passages of Benn Pitman’s “The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators”.

(1) DAVID STANTON (for the prosecution — May 16): I have seen that man with the black moustache before, [pointing to the accused,Michael O'Laughlin.] I saw him on the 13th of April, the night before the assassination, at the house of the Secretary of War.I saw him pass in the door, and take a position on one side of the hal. –––– He did not ask for anyone else besides the Secretary, nor did he explain why he was there. –––– General Grant was in the parlor. He and the Secretary were being serenaded. O'Laughlin could see General Grant from his position. –––– He was dressed in a suit of black ; dress-coat, vest and pants, and his hat, which was a black slouch hat, I think, he had in his hand. The hall was very well lit up; the parlor, where General Grant was sitting, was also lit up, and I was directly in front of him when I addressed him. He was inside of the door, about ten feet,standing next to the library door.

(2) Major KILBURN KNOX (for the prosecution — May 16): I was at the house of the Secretary of War, in this city, on the evening of the 13th of April last, and saw there a man whom I recognize among the prisoners. There he is,[pointing to the accused, Michael O'Laughlin.] . –––– There was a band playing at the house, and on the steps were General Grant, Mrs. Grant, the Secretary', General Barnes and his wife, Mr. Knapp and his wife, Miss Lucy Stanton, and two or three small children . –––– I got down on the step, I think, next to the last one, leaning against the railing, and this man [O'Laughlin] came up to me, after I had been there ten minutes probably, and said, " Is Stanton in ?" Said I, " I suppose you mean the Secretary?" He said, "Yes." –––– He then walked on to the other side of the steps, and walked inside of the hall, the alcove, and stood on the inside step. I saw him standing there, and I walked over to Mr. David Stanton and said, " Do you know that man ?" . –––– He did not say anything about General Grant. By that time, I think, the General had gone into the parlor . –––– He [O'Laughlin] stood on the side next to the library, and in that position he could have looked into the parlor, and seen who was in there, through the door . –––– The whole house was lighted up. –––– Secretary Stanton was on the left-hand side of the steps, talking to Mrs. Grant, and the man went up on the right-hand side past them, and went in and took a place on the left-hand side.

(3) Mr. JOHN C. HATTER (for the prosecution — May 16): 1 recognize that man, sitting back there, [pointing to the prisoner, O'Laughlin.] He is the man I saw at Secretary Stanton's house at about 9 o'clock, or after, on the night of the illumination, the 13th of April. I was standing on the steps looking at the illumination, and this man [O'Laughlin] approached me, and asked me if General Grant was in. I told him he was. He said he wished to see him. –––– When he spoke to me, he left the steps and walked away toward the treebox, talking as he went, but I did not understand what he was saying. He seemed to reflect over something, and came back; then he walked off, and I did not see him any more. The house was illuminated, and it was pretty light outside, too . –––– The Secretary was in the parlor with General Grant; they had not come out then ; there was nobody on the steps but me. Both doors were open, the front door and another door like the front entry, and the gas was fully lit all around.

My conclusion: David Stanton, Knox and Hatter all testified that they saw O'Laughlin on the steps of Stanton’s house. David Stanton testified that O'Laughlin could see Grant in the parlor, so if O'Laughlin could see Grant, Grant could see O'Laughlin. Both were not standing in the dark, but were “fully lit”. So I think Julia Grant did also see this “mysterious man”. But was Grant a murder target? Only Hatter testified that the man inquired about Grant; David Stanton and Knox testified that he inquired about Secretary Stanton and never mentioned Grant. Yet (in my opinion) Grant was such a major figure that it might have been more surprising if he had not been a target. I think both (Stanton and Grant) were a target, as were Seward, Johnson and of course Lincoln. Was O'Laughlin checking out the place for a possible attack on April 14? It was not proven and O'Laughlin's lawyer, Walter S. Scott, was able to show that his client was drinking with friends on the night of the murder and had made no attempt to seek out Grant. Remember that O’Laughlin had left Washington and had taken a job in Baltimore, but was back on April 13 with a few friends to observe the citywide illumination.

Back to Julia Grant. Maybe her fear for the life of her husband started indeed after (let’s call it so) this “O'Laughlin-incident”, maybe followed by a frightening dream, she kept for herself. And the next morning her fear (real or imagined) quickly grew after the knock on her hotel door, followed by an incident in the hotel’s dining room where she saw at lunch-hour the four “Mosby men” (as she called them) spying upon her. According to what Horace Porter wrote, Gen. Grant left the White House (shortly) after two o'clock and left the hotel for the railway station at about half-past 3 o'clock, without lunching. So their depart was indeed “hastily”. And on their way to the railway station followed the freeky incident with Booth at Pennsylvania Avenue, peering into the carriage …. How frightening must that all have been for the sensitive Julia (I suppose).

In his testimony at the trial at May 12, Grant made no mention of a plot on his life. But we also have the testionoy of HEZEKIAH METZ (for the prosecution — May 17), in the case against Atzerodt: We (the Metz family) were inquiring about the news, and a conversation came up about General Grant's being shot—for we had understood that he had been shot on the cars—when Atzerodt said, as I understood, " If the man that was to follow him had followed him, it was likely to be so." That Atzerodt did have said this in these words was denied by the two brothers Leaman, who gave their testimony for the defense on May 30: 1 then asked him (Atzerodt) if what we heard about General Grant was correct,that he was assassinated on the same night. He (Atzerodt) answered, "No, I don't know whether that is so or not; I don't suppose it is so; if it had been, I should have heard it." While we were at the dinner-table, my brother asked him the question again, whether General Grant was killed or not, and he said, " No, I don't suppose he was;if he was killed, he would have been killed probably by a man that got on the same car" —or the same train, I don’t remember which—" that Grant got on."

We also know (via the Grants) that a man boarded the same train as Grant did and tried to kill the General, but found the private car that the Grants were riding in locked and guarded by porters. Was this man O'Laughlin? We know that Booth and O'Laughlin looked quite similar. Was it O'Laughlin who spied upon Julia and followed the Grants to the railway station? Still lots of questions, we never may know! And last but not least: was Julia Grant’s fear real or imagined? This question is still intriguing me.

Sorry for this comprehensive response …… 

[HerbS]

Boy-you people know your stuff! I am now so confused now that I don't know what to think,your logic is right-on- though.It shows us that it was a big conconspiracy.