Louis Weichmann

[RJNorton]

(09-03-2015 10:37 AM)Pamela Wrote:  Is the building still standing?

Mike Kauffman's article was from 25 years ago, and he included a modern view of the building. So it was still standing then, but I do not know about now. Here's a scan of it:

[Susan Higginbotham]

It looks as if it is still standing!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/f+stre...0a!6m1!1e1

[Pamela]

(09-03-2015 12:50 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  It looks as if it is still standing!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/f+stre...0a!6m1!1e1

Awesome Roger and Susan! It has a flag with the letters G and W. Could it be part of George Washington University now? I wonder if Dave feels like reenacting Louis's window pose if they let him in? Maybe my husband will do it.

---

Going back to the first post on this thread, I have now read and re-read the file posted by Gene and I feel like I've been tortured on the rack. If there's another masochist reading this thread, go for it if you want to confirm what I'm going to say.

The oft repeated statements in Ewald's articles on Weichmann's life in Anderson, that Louis and his family were basically despised by the community and that Louis never stood with his back to a door, etc, all come from two sources--Pastor Conroy and Joseph Abel. Pastor Conroy arrived in Anderson a few years after Weichmann's death, but received a lot of toxic information about Louis's brother, Pastor Fred Weichmann and Louis from his predecessor, Pastor Mulcahy. None of their stories have been confirmed by any other source, other than, to a degree, the information from Abel, which is very suspect. Joseph Abel liked Weichmann and benefited from his kindness in his business school. Louis gave him free tuition in exchange for office work when he was only 15. Sometime after that, Abel had conversations with Conroy who was the pastor of his church, St Mary's. I'm waiting for Ewald to give me details. In 1943 Conroy submitted an insane sounding report to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for their Lincoln museum, trashing Weichmann, expressing belief in Mary Surratt's innocence (and mentioning her ghost "on the wing") and referencing Abel and a book Louis supposedly wrote called The Pope and the Southern Confederacy.

Joseph Abel wrote a six page article when he was over 80 years old, about his knowledge of Louis Weichmann and the Lincoln assassination, and stuck it in St Mary's church files, where Ewald found it. Ewald admitted that Abel's article, "... is a most confusing document." "Upon reading the entire Abel manuscript it will become immediately apparent that the balance of the document represents Abel's limited understanding of the assassination as he interpreted it through the few secondary sources he may have read. It is readily apparent, also, that this is a most confusing document in that it is difficult to ascertain exactly what Abel had gathered from other sources and what he had actually heard from Weichmann and had read in the latter's manuscript." Ewald then wrote a series of articles for the Surratt Courier that read like a tabloid newspaper. Included is the story of Chris Ritter, a butcher who blew into town one day and announced he was writing a book about Booth's actual escape to South America and other crazy stuff, some of which involved Louis. After a period of time in which he recieved a lot of attention from the press, he left town and was never heard of again and no book was ever published.

Then there was the article about some distant branch of the Surratts living in Anderson, including a lot of colorful information and innuendo about how stressful their presence must have been for Louis, but not one iota of documentation that they ever met or noticed or cared about each other's presence.

Finally, in Notes from his courier article of November 1992, Ewald made this mention:

"8. According to the reminiscences of Mary Louise Voght--who remembers her childhood visits to the Weichmann sisters and whose father was baptized by Father Wiechmann--the family was highly regarded in the Anderson community. From conversation with this writer on October 9, 1991. Father Mulcahy's testimony should be considered with caution (understatement!!) as Msgr. Conroy, in the above-cited letter, remarked that Mulcahy,"'...so far as I know, never spoke of Lou Wichman except with undisguised contempt.'"

[Anita]

(09-03-2015 08:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, Susan. I am thinking he never returned to his job at the War Department in Washington.

I agree with your thinking.
"Out of work and money he wrote to Stanton from Philadelphia August 4th 1865 asking for a position in this city(Philadelphia) in the post office or customs house." Before December of that year he was employed at the customs house.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Vgd-Bg...&lpg=PT93&

[Eva Elisabeth]

He was discharged from the War Department on May 29, and "at once started for my home in Philadelphia...in December 1865, I was appointed to a clerkship at the Philadelphia Custom House".
What I don't understand or cannot find (have just started to read Weichmann's book - had it on the stack and due to this thread pulled it out from behind/below) - the editor's preface states he was employed for many years there and resigned on Oct.1, 1886, while Weichmann writes he was discharged in Nov. 1866.(???)

[tom82baur]

(09-03-2015 03:54 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 08:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, Susan. I am thinking he never returned to his job at the War Department in Washington.

I agree with your thinking.
"Out of work and money he wrote to Stanton from Philadelphia August 4th 1865 asking for a position in this city(Philadelphia) in the post office or customs house." Before December of that year he was employed at the customs house.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Vgd-Bg...&lpg=PT93&

I read further down the link that Anita posted above, and I came across what I thought might be an interesting tidbit. Hatch references the correspondence between Oldroyd and Weichmann, and states that the chapter in Oldroyd's book about Weichmann was written and proofed by Weichmann. I moved not long ago and I am unable to put my hands on my copy of Oldroyd's book at the moment, so I do not know if this is new information or not. Perhaps it is already common knowledge, or even noted in the book, as such. I read the book long ago, and I do not remember that being mentioned. However, I would now like to re-read it in this new-to-me context.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Vgd-Bg...nn&f=false

[Anita]

(09-03-2015 05:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  He was discharged from the War Department on May 29, and "at once started for my home in Philadelphia...in December 1865, I was appointed to a clerkship at the Philadelphia Custom House".
What I don't understand or cannot find (have just started to read Weichmann's book - had it on the stack and due to this thread pulled it out from behind/below) - the editor's preface states he was employed for many years there and resigned on Oct.1, 1886, while Weichmann writes he was discharged in Nov. 1866.(???)

Eva, from what I recall Weichmann lost the job in November 1866 when Andrew Johnson got rid of many Republic Party appointees. Then when
Grant became president, Stanton got Weichmann his job back with the Philadelphia Custom House. Cleveland and the Democrats were elected in 1886 and Weichmann was let go again.

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(09-03-2015 05:56 PM)tom82baur Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 03:54 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 08:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, Susan. I am thinking he never returned to his job at the War Department in Washington.

I agree with your thinking.
"Out of work and money he wrote to Stanton from Philadelphia August 4th 1865 asking for a position in this city(Philadelphia) in the post office or customs house." Before December of that year he was employed at the customs house.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Vgd-Bg...&lpg=PT93&

I read further down the link that Anita posted above, and I came across what I thought might be an interesting tidbit. Hatch references the correspondence between Oldroyd and Weichmann, and states that the chapter in Oldroyd's book about Weichmann was written and proofed by Weichmann. I moved not long ago and I am unable to put my hands on my copy of Oldroyd's book at the moment, so I do not know if this is new information or not. Perhaps it is already common knowledge, or even noted in the book, as such. I read the book long ago, and I do not remember that being mentioned. However, I would now like to re-read it in this new-to-me context.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Vgd-Bg...nn&f=false

Thanks Tom. I didn't read far enough down the page and catch your tidbit!

[RJNorton]

(09-03-2015 01:49 PM)Pamela Wrote:  It has a flag with the letters G and W. Could it be part of George Washington University now?

Pam, yes! That building has a fascinating history!!

"Within the walls of its famed salon, presidents, policymakers, journalists, and countless members of Congress dined and deliberated the nation’s most pressing matters, from the founding of NATO to the ownership of the Panama Canal. Long before it flew the GW flag, the three-story building was a Civil War office, a private residence, and a place for Washington’s elite to sip cocktails and socialize. Today, this house of many milestones is home to GW President Steven Knapp."

https://www.gwu.edu/~magazine/archive/20...treet.html

[L Verge]

(09-04-2015 05:35 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 01:49 PM)Pamela Wrote:  It has a flag with the letters G and W. Could it be part of George Washington University now?

Pam, yes! That building has a fascinating history!!

"Within the walls of its famed salon, presidents, policymakers, journalists, and countless members of Congress dined and deliberated the nation’s most pressing matters, from the founding of NATO to the ownership of the Panama Canal. Long before it flew the GW flag, the three-story building was a Civil War office, a private residence, and a place for Washington’s elite to sip cocktails and socialize. Today, this house of many milestones is home to GW President Steven Knapp."

https://www.gwu.edu/~magazine/archive/20...treet.html

What a great article! I've driven past that house many times and never realized that it was the Commissary General's office during the CW. Thanks for posting, Roger.

[Pamela]

You can buy a copy of this image at more than one site, but here's one:

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-23833741...at-th.html

This is a really fun discovery! I love that it has so much history, but of course my favorite is the role it played in the civil war even for only a few years. It's nice that the building looks so much the same compared to Mary's boarding house.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(09-03-2015 06:35 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 05:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  He was discharged from the War Department on May 29, and "at once started for my home in Philadelphia...in December 1865, I was appointed to a clerkship at the Philadelphia Custom House".
What I don't understand or cannot find (have just started to read Weichmann's book - had it on the stack and due to this thread pulled it out from behind/below) - the editor's preface states he was employed for many years there and resigned on Oct.1, 1886, while Weichmann writes he was discharged in Nov. 1866.(???)

Eva, from what I recall Weichmann lost the job in November 1866 when Andrew Johnson got rid of many Republic Party appointees. Then when
Grant became president, Stanton got Weichmann his job back with the Philadelphia Custom House. Cleveland and the Democrats were elected in 1886 and Weichmann was let go again.

Thanks, Anita. So if the editor of Weichmann's book, F. E. Risvold, is wrong about his claim in the preface, what did Weichmann do instead until 1886?

[Pamela]

Risvold was right. Check pages 2 and 3 of this thread. If you are a member of ancestry.com you can look up the records for the federal employees in Philadelphia and see Louis listed as a clerk , the years and his salary.

[Anita]

(09-04-2015 06:35 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 06:35 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 05:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  He was discharged from the War Department on May 29, and "at once started for my home in Philadelphia...in December 1865, I was appointed to a clerkship at the Philadelphia Custom House".
What I don't understand or cannot find (have just started to read Weichmann's book - had it on the stack and due to this thread pulled it out from behind/below) - the editor's preface states he was employed for many years there and resigned on Oct.1, 1886, while Weichmann writes he was discharged in Nov. 1866.(???)

Eva, from what I recall Weichmann lost the job in November 1866 when Andrew Johnson got rid of many Republic Party appointees. Then when
Grant became president, Stanton got Weichmann his job back with the Philadelphia Custom House. Cleveland and the Democrats were elected in 1886 and Weichmann was let go again.

Thanks, Anita. So if the editor of Weichmann's book, F. E. Risvold, is wrong about his claim in the preface, what did Weichmann do instead until 1886?

Eva, from the end of 1865 to Nov. 1866 he worked at the Custom House.
Not positive what he did between then and his reappointment to the Custom House. Globe newspaper?
Then He was reappointed to the Custom House April 15 1869 and was there until October 1 1886. https://books.google.com/books?id=2AlJAQ...ia&f=false

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Pamela and Anita, and sorry for the redundancy.

This might be another, but if it has been posted already I forgot and can't find - Pamela, do you (or someone else) know from where in Germany his family came? (I'm not a member of ancestry.com!)

[Pamela]

I'm not with ancestry now, either, and don't know where in Germany his parents came from, but in his book he mentioned that he knew Peterson (owner of the house where Lincoln died) because Peterson and his father were both German tailors in DC and friends. Also, now that we know where office of the Commissary General of Prisoners is, it's interesting that he had to walk past the White House going to and from work.