Lincoln Cottage April 9 Event with Don Doyle and Sidney Blumenthal

[Don1946]

Those in the DC area may be interested in attending a book talk I'm giving on The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War at Lincoln's Cottage the evening of April 9.
Sidney Blumenthal, a Washington political figure and Lincoln scholar, will be interviewing me. A reception and book signing will be part of the event.
I look forward to seeing many old friends in DC, where this book began back in 2010.

Details about the event can be found in the following link:
http://lincolncottage.org/cc-doyle-2015/

[RJNorton]

Wow, Don, that sounds wonderful! Kudos! Thanks for posting.

[L Verge]

(03-25-2015 07:56 AM)Don1946 Wrote:  Those in the DC area may be interested in attending a book talk I'm giving on The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War at Lincoln's Cottage the evening of April 9.
Sidney Blumenthal, a Washington political figure and Lincoln scholar, will be interviewing me. A reception and book signing will be part of the event.
I look forward to seeing many old friends in DC, where this book began back in 2010.

Details about the event can be found in the following link:
http://lincolncottage.org/cc-doyle-2015/

Would love to be there if the legs would just work! After (or before) the interview, conduct your own interrogation of Sidney. I had lunch with him and worked with him briefly a few years ago because he has a book in the works also. He has also been working with Dr. Terry Alford in the Lincoln field. And, he was/is a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I visited the Cottage just this morning. I saw your book, which I really loved, in the book~/souvenir shop there, and, in the course of a "book-small talk/discussion", highly recommended it to the shop assistant and another visitor.

[Don1946]

Thanks Eva and L, yes, Sidney Blumenthal is about to come out with the first of a three volume biography of Lincoln. The Cottage likes to pair authors with Washington figures, and in this case they also have another author. The Lincoln Cottage is I suppose my favorite Lincoln historic site. I first visited there in 2010 when I was just beginning work on my book and I kept coming back with those who visited during the year I was in DC. There is something about that place, its association with the Lincoln family, Walt Whitman (who witnessed Lincoln coming and going), and of course the Emancipation Proclamation, which was drafted there, that makes it all a very special Lincoln site.

[L Verge]

The site is sort of magical. You travel to the near-outskirts of the city, through some patches that have seen better days. You enter through majestical old gates onto pristine grounds, knowing that retired veterans who have protected the country in the past are surrounding you. The house has been nicely restored, and I get the feeling that this was one place where Lincoln and his family (but especially him) could retreat for relaxation and some calm.

[RJNorton]

(03-26-2015 08:16 AM)L Verge Wrote:  and I get the feeling that this was one place where Lincoln and his family (but especially him) could retreat for relaxation and some calm.

I think that is true, Laurie. There are no known photographs of Abraham, Mary, or the boys at the Soldiers' Home, but here is a drawing by a Frenchman named Pierre Morand. Morand had moved to the United States, and he became acquainted with Lincoln after the Civil War began. Although Morand was not a professional, he made several sketches of the president. This one shows Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home.

[L Verge]

I've always liked that drawing because it shows Lincoln in summer attire.

[RJNorton]

Here's another of Morand's sketches:

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-26-2015 09:27 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I've always liked that drawing because it shows Lincoln in summer attire.

The same goes for me. The sketch was on display at the Cottage.

Yes, it's a wonderful place, and I sort of envied the tour guide on her job. The tour was quite short, I missed some things to be mentioned, or pointed out more in detail, that IMO should have. E.g. that JWB planned to abduct A. L. on the way to the S.H., that the latter partly wrote the EP there, that the Stantons used to live next door, or anecdotes taking place there, like the one of A. L. and Stanton saving some wild turkeys from a tree, as recalled by Stanton's son.

I bought this book at the souvenir shop:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0195179854...SY200_QL40
I have yet only thumbed through it, but it seems a good book on the topic.

[L Verge]

Mr. Pinsker's book is considered the best on the subject. I can't believe that the tour guide did not mention the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation that occurred there. That was one of the chief justifications for having the site declared a National Landmark and restored.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-27-2015 08:15 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Mr. Pinsker's book is considered the best on the subject. I can't believe that the tour guide did not mention the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation that occurred there. That was one of the chief justifications for having the site declared a National Landmark and restored.

If she mentioned it she did it so briefly that I didn't get it. I cannot believe it either. She did tell though that this "was" Mr. Lincoln's desk (respectively a replica), the original one is in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House.
   

[STS Lincolnite]

(03-27-2015 06:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Yes, it's a wonderful place, and I sort of envied the tour guide on her job. The tour was quite short, I missed some things to be mentioned, or pointed out more in detail, that IMO should have. E.g. that JWB planned to abduct A. L. on the way to the S.H., that the latter partly wrote the EP there, that the Stantons used to live next door, or anecdotes taking place there, like the one of A. L. and Stanton saving some wild turkeys from a tree, as recalled by Stanton's son.

I bought this book at the souvenir shop:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0195179854...SY200_QL40
I have yet only thumbed through it, but it seems a good book on the topic.

When I was there the tour guide mentioned all those things with the possible exception of the turkeys...but it may have been brought up by a member of the tour group with an interest in Lincoln.

Pinsker's book is very good Eva. I think you will like it.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Prof. I'd be there with bells on if possible, but I am in California. Dare I hope that it will be televised, perhaps on C-span?

The Lincolns spent their first summer at the Old Soldier's Home in 1862. They went there because as Mary put it "peace and quiet are necessary when we are in grief" (MTL Letters, Turner&Leavitt). Willie had died in February and both his parents were recovering from emotional breakdowns in the tragic wake, in Mary's case a severe one. The WH was too noisy and crowded, and the capital in summer did not sound like a nice place to be even under normal circumstances. It was dubbed the "city of stink".

So the Home was not only a vacation getaway but a place to mourn and heal, which makes it all the more poignant.

Eva, I agree about Matthew Pinsker's book. I really enjoyed it!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-27-2015 07:44 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 06:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Yes, it's a wonderful place, and I sort of envied the tour guide on her job. The tour was quite short, I missed some things to be mentioned, or pointed out more in detail, that IMO should have. E.g. that JWB planned to abduct A. L. on the way to the S.H., that the latter partly wrote the EP there, that the Stantons used to live next door, or anecdotes taking place there, like the one of A. L. and Stanton saving some wild turkeys from a tree, as recalled by Stanton's son.

I bought this book at the souvenir shop:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0195179854...SY200_QL40
I have yet only thumbed through it, but it seems a good book on the topic.

When I was there the tour guide mentioned all those things with the possible exception of the turkeys...but it may have been brought up by a member of the tour group with an interest in Lincoln.

Pinsker's book is very good Eva. I think you will like it.

Oh, we started the tour in the garden, so the turkeys, respectively the question whether the tree still exists (No!) was brought up by a member of the tour when the guide was about to go inside. By the time we reached the desk the tour member had decided it was probably too impolite to ask to much about unmentioned points, as well as pointing out a misquotation in the guide's power point presentation ("I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky" - Lincoln's original words weren't that faithful: "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game," September 22, 1861 letter to Orville Browning). I kept quite, but I just think a "teaching institution" should be as correct as possible about such matters. But it was the same at Ford's Theater.

This was actually taken at the Soldiers' Home (which you can see in the background). I think I easily beat Mr. Lincoln on careless clothing in this one. Well, one has to prioritize, my paramount objective was surviving the temps (and in this life I probably won't make it anymore to become a graceful southern belle...). I was glad Mary wasn't around.