The Coterie

[RJNorton]

I don't know Ishbel Ross's reputation as a biographer, but she writes the Coterie was "dedicated to the cultivation of the arts, to political happenings in their fast-growing state, to the causes that excited the scholars of the day. They were conventional but avant-garde, and they went in for a round of parties, dances, sleigh rides, political rallies, picnics and other excursions. Lincoln was more at home swapping jokes and stories with his cronies around the stove in Speed's quarters, but John Stuart saw to it that he joined the Coterie gatherings and visited Mary."

In her book Ross mentions many of the same members as you, Donna, and also adds James Shields.

In a December 6, 1865, letter to Mary Jane Welles, Mary wrote, "In our little coterie in Springfield in the days of my girlhood, we had a society of gentlemen, who have since, been distinguished, in a greater or less degree, in the political world. My great and glorious husband comes first, 'a world above them all.' Douglas, Trumbull, Baker, Hardin, Shields, such choice spirits, were the habitués, of our drawing room. Gen Shields, a kind-hearted, impulsive Irishman, was always creating a sensation & mirth, by his drolleries..."