Something I've Wondered About....

[LincolnToddFan]

(06-28-2014 08:38 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Toia,

Powell is a very fascinating person - a true enigma. Surprisingly, Mr. Seward never had anything really bad to say about Powell -- and as for Fanny, sweet person that she was, she refused to identify him on board the monitor because she was fearful that her identification could have resulted in his death - and she didn't want that on her conscious!

Poor little Fanny. She had integrity, which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for so many others connected with this tragedy.

Thanks Betty!

[SSlater]

[quote='BettyO' pid='34889' dateline='1403985916']
More Sarah Slater, info? Wonderful, John! Do keep us informed....

Re: Conrad - are you referring to the Old Capitol Prison (Woods) or to the Old Arsenal on Greenleaf's Point? It was at the Old Arsenal where the conspirators were held. None, except Mrs. Surratt, Weichmann, the Bransons, et. al. were ever held in the Old Capitol.
[/quote

I am certain that Conrad said that he was put in with the conspirators, but he was dealing through Woods. Then, did Woods put him in the Arsenal Prison - just to Listen? Conrad said that Woods released him FOR THE WEEK END, and had to return by Monday, and loaned him his privately owned horse. Let me find the original of this. It is beginning to sound like Conrad wrote something untrue.

[Linda Anderson]

(06-28-2014 07:51 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Thank you very much, BettyO.

I find Powell mysterious and fascinating, along with Mary Surratt. Something about their roles in the tragedy haunts me, I can't figure out what it is. Two and two doesn't add up.

Ironically, the people who had every right to hold a grudge against Lewis-the Seward family-apparently never did.

During the attack, Secretary Seward is said to have felt strangely detached from the whole thing as if he was viewing it all from a dream. He said he mostly remembered looking up at Powell through a haze of blood and thinking how nice looking he was, and how fine his clothing was.

He was disfigured for life, his son almost died, and his wife did die a few weeks later but he never excoriated Lewis in print.

The letters I've read from the Seward family right after Powell's attack never mention him; they are concerned with the health of Secretary Seward, Mrs. Seward, Fred and Fanny.

Fanny wrote about the assault in her diary a few weeks later.

"As we sat through those long dark hours the thoughts they brought were almost overwhelming. The thought that such cruel & inhuman beings, as the man who had attacked my father & brothers, existed, made me wish myself dead, & out of such a world, anywhere seemed better."

That is the enigma of Lewis Powell. How do we reconcile the "cruel and inhuman being" with the churchgoing, intelligent gentleman that Reverend Stryker describes?

Secretary Seward looked at the assassination attempt as something to be expected in a time of revolution.

"Waking suddenly from one of those dozes, when very weak, and only half conscious, his eye fell upon his daughter's face, and the impression that passed through his mind was that she was staring like a maniac, with a most horrible expression of terror upon her face. Next he saw what he thought the vision of a hand stretched toward him from the other side of the bed, and then an arm seemed to grow out from it, and while looking listlessly, he was saying to himself, 'What an elegant overcoat that arm has on?' Then he saw the figure of a man, as if coming out of the air where the arm was, first the bust appearing, then the lower part of the face, and then the whole figure leaning over him.
"He has no impression of seeing a knife, and yet his reflections at the moment would indicate that the purpose of the shadow (for he deemed it to be such) had been conveyed to his mind. These were as follows: 'We are engaged in a gigantic revolution. I have accepted it. Those who are attempting to overthrow the Government will shrink at nothing. Assassination has always attended revolution. There must be sacrifices of this nature in every revolution.' From this his mind turned to a contemplation of the face leaning over him, and he said to himself: 'That is a handsome face. How clean it is shaven! It is a very pleasant and attractive face.' Those who know Mr. Seward's habits, will at once perceive how natural it was that such thoughts should come into his mind. In regard to keeping himself close shaven, he is very particular, never allowing any sign of a beard to appear."

Cincinnati Daily Gazette - 2/6/1866

[LincolnToddFan]

Linda, how incredibly sad. I've never read that...that Fanny grew so depressed after the attack she wished she was dead. She got her wish within about a year and a half. Her health never recovered.

I distinctly also remember reading somewhere that Seward said he often wished he had died that night with Lincoln, as he had been intended to. He felt that the great task and work of his career had ended with the war. It's fascinating to read his exact thoughts as the assault was taking place...that this was a time of revolution, and that assassination was the natural consequence of it. He seemed resigned to his fate at that moment.

Thanks for the info.

[BettyO]

Quote:Fanny wrote about the assault in her diary a few weeks later.

"As we sat through those long dark hours the thoughts they brought were almost overwhelming. The thought that such cruel & inhuman beings, as the man who had attacked my father & brothers, existed, made me wish myself dead, & out of such a world, anywhere seemed better."

That is the enigma of Lewis Powell. How do we reconcile the "cruel and inhuman being" with the churchgoing, intelligent gentleman that Reverend Stryker describes?

Secretary Seward looked at the assassination attempt as something to be expected in a time of revolution.

"Waking suddenly from one of those dozes, when very weak, and only half conscious, his eye fell upon his daughter's face, and the impression that passed through his mind was that she was staring like a maniac, with a most horrible expression of terror upon her face. Next he saw what he thought the vision of a hand stretched toward him from the other side of the bed, and then an arm seemed to grow out from it, and while looking listlessly, he was saying to himself, 'What an elegant overcoat that arm has on?' Then he saw the figure of a man, as if coming out of the air where the arm was, first the bust appearing, then the lower part of the face, and then the whole figure leaning over him.
"He has no impression of seeing a knife, and yet his reflections at the moment would indicate that the purpose of the shadow (for he deemed it to be such) had been conveyed to his mind. These were as follows: 'We are engaged in a gigantic revolution. I have accepted it. Those who are attempting to overthrow the Government will shrink at nothing. Assassination has always attended revolution. There must be sacrifices of this nature in every revolution.' From this his mind turned to a contemplation of the face leaning over him, and he said to himself: 'That is a handsome face. How clean it is shaven! It is a very pleasant and attractive face.' Those who know Mr. Seward's habits, will at once perceive how natural it was that such thoughts should come into his mind. In regard to keeping himself close shaven, he is very particular, never allowing any sign of a beard to appear."

Quote:I distinctly also remember reading somewhere that Seward said he often wished he had died that night with Lincoln, as he had been intended to. He felt that the great task and work of his career had ended with the war. It's fascinating to read his exact thoughts as the assault was taking place...that this was a time of revolution, and that assassination was the natural consequence of it. He seemed resigned to his fate at that moment.

Thanks for this particular quote from the Cleveland Gazette, Linda - I've never seen that one before. I've seen a similar report - but never this one....

Yes, it's extremely tragic and hard to rectify Powell's almost seemingly "split personality" here - one moment a respectful, gentlemanly preacher's son and the other moment a vengeful, horrifying killer. But that is what has always intrigued me about him. I personally think that once he got into Seward's house and the gun missed fire (thank God!) that he panicked when he had to resort to a knife - all things aside it was a horrid thing for anyone to go through and I have the utmost respect and admiration for the Seward family. I have also never heard, Toia, of Seward wishing he had died that night. For him to be as lucid as he was and remember seeing Powell before he struck him, and then having to go through what he did, to me, commands the utmost courage. Fanny, too, frail as she was was a very courageous young woman.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Betty, yes the quote is in "Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man" by Walter Stahr. I thought it interesting that Seward felt this way at the end of his life, even after the Alaska Purchase.

To address your comment about Powell's seeming split personality..I vaguely remember reading somewhere that he had sustained a head injury, a serious one...when he was young. I suspect it's possible that he had some sort of personality disorder as a result. (Didn't he shout "I'm mad! I'm mad!" as he fled the Seward home?)

I struggle to reconcile the idea of this gentle, animal loving boy who wept for his sisters and the rest of his family on the eve of his execution with the robotic killing machine of the night of April 14 1865. It's as I've posted elsewhere...it simply doesn't add up.

Just like the idea of a devout widow, intensely praying her rosary while plotting murder doesn't add up for me either.

[BettyO]

I totally agree, Toia!

There were no recorded instances of Powell being violent after the mule kicked the boy in the face at age 12, however, his best friend Sam Mitchell said that Powell was "hot headed"; that the entire family was, and remembered Powell once getting upset with his adversary in a game of quoits and striking at the man with one of the quoit irons!

Don't know if a personality disorder was the cause or not - but an interesting thought all the same.....

Thanks!

[Linda Anderson]

(06-29-2014 12:02 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Hi Betty, yes the quote is in "Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man" by Walter Stahr. I thought it interesting that Seward felt this way at the end of his life, even after the Alaska Purchase.

To address your comment about Powell's seeming split personality..I vaguely remember reading somewhere that he had sustained a head injury, a serious one...when he was young. I suspect it's possible that he had some sort of personality disorder as a result. (Didn't he shout "I'm mad! I'm mad!" as he fled the Seward home?)

I struggle to reconcile the idea of this gentle, animal loving boy who wept for his sisters and the rest of his family on the eve of his execution with the robotic killing machine of the night of April 14 1865. It's as I've posted elsewhere...it simply doesn't add up.

Just like the idea of a devout widow, intensely praying her rosary while plotting murder doesn't add up for me either.

Toia, if Mary was involved in the assassination plot, I can very easily see her praying for her intentions that Lincoln be killed! Both the North and the South thought that God was on their side.

You can find the full account of Fanny's diary entry for April 14 in the University of Rochester's website, Lincoln and His Circle: Fanny Seward Diary.

http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?p...&Print=436

Seward was devastated by Fanny's death. "He explained to Charlotte Cushman, the actor whom Fanny had so admired, that 'I had during the last ten years dreams which formed themselves into schemes of retirement, of travel, of study at the approaching end of a life which has been active from motives of duty, but as the world will probably insist motives of ambition. Those dreams and schemes were entirely free from all impurity and all selfishness, perhaps so entirely free, because she was associated with them all.' Seward knew that he should 'rejoice that she was withdrawn from me to be reunited with the pure and blessed spirit that formed her own.' But 'I am not spiritual enough to find support in those reflections.'"

Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Linda,of course you are entirely right about Mary Surratt. Thanks for pointing it out.

You come up with the most fascinating tidbits of info...I read "Indispensable Man" a couple of years ago and had all but forgotten that section you quoted. What struck me about the Seward family was how intelligent and close they were, and how devoted all the children were to "Father". Mrs. Seward was a remarkable woman in her own right...brilliant as her husband in some ways. They had an unusual marital relationship, but they seemed very close all the same.

Thanks again!