Robert Lincoln and the military

[loetar44]

(11-02-2014 06:03 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(11-02-2014 02:01 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I must admit that I never finished reading Jason Emerson's book on RTL. Someone who has or who has the book might be able to answer this.

It's online here:
http://books.google.de/books?id=3XLTAAAA...=html_text

Thanks Eva for the link to Emerson’s book (Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln). Immediately after reading the passage on Roberts return to Washington questions arose with me. I seriously doubt Emerson is very accurate in writing on p. 98 the following: “The general’s boat pulled into the Washington shipyard on the morning of April 14 [1865] greeted by the city’s joyous din of celebration: ‘As we reached our destination that bright morning … every gun in and near Washington burst forth – and such a salvo! – all the bells rang out merry greetings, and the city was literally swathed in flags and bunting,’ Julia Grant wrote. “

This is what Julia Grant wrote in her “Personal Memoirs”: “The General [Grant] and staff and a large number of other officers, and Mrs. Rawlins and I went to Washington on the General’s dispatch boat, freighted as she was with heroes, brave men, every gun in and near Washington burst forth – and such a salvo! – all the bells rang out merry greetings, and the city was literally swathed in flags and bunting.” She did not say that this was on the morning of April 14. It was on the day when the Grant party arrived.

In fact Mrs. Grant wrote: “The day (Monday) following that on which we received the news of the surrender was a little cloudy, and all at once at a given signal, every man-of-war, tug, or other craft that had a whistle began to blow it, and such a noise no one ever heard before.” The surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox Court House was on Sunday April 9, 1865. So, Julia Grant wrote here about Monday April 10. She also wrote she expected her husband back “for late dinner that evening”. But a telegram from Gen. Grant came: “Tell Mrs. Grant and party we will not be in as soon as we expected and cannot say at what time now.”

Mrs. Grant further wrote: “It was nearly three o’clock A.M. [= Tuesday, April 11], and we were quite exhausted ….. “, and “We waited until four o’clock and then we consented to retire, but we did not undress, only went to our cabins to rest awhile, ….”. Grant arrived at City Point when Mrs. Grant was asleep. When Mrs. Grant woke up, Gen. Grant breakfasted with his wife that morning (April 11]. Grant decided to go at once to Washington (Mrs. Grant wrote that he said: “I will go at once to Washington”). They started on the General’s dispatch boat the same day (April 11], destination Washington. The trip over the James River, the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac normally lasted ca. 30 hours. This would mean that the Grant party (with Robert Lincoln) arrived in Washington on Thursday April 13 and not on April 14 !

The New York Times wrote: “Washington, Thursday, April 13. The dispatch-boat Mary Martin arrived up from City Point about 3 o’clock this afternoon, with Lieut.-Gen. Grant and wife [accompanied by members of his staff ]. I don’t know if the name of the ship was ‘Mary’ or ‘Milton’ Martin, named after a wealthy merchant and banker who lived in Claverack. In his memoirs Grant wrote: “the steamer ‘M. Martin’, a Hudson River boat which was very comfortably fitted up for the use of passengers”. I know that during the Civil War, the ‘M. Martin’ was drafted into war service and became the dispatch boat for General Grant.

Back to Jason Emerson's book. He wrote “In fact, the young captain [= Robert Lincoln] left with General Grant and cortege the next morning [the morning after Lee’s surrender] for the four-day journey to Washington.” It took indeed 4 days for Grant (and Robert) to reach Washington, however not from City Point, but from Appomattox Court House, and 9 + 4 = 13 April (and not 14). Grant wrote in his memoirs: “After I left General Lee at Appomattox Station, I went with my staff and a few others directly to Burkesville Station on my way to Washington. The road from Burkesville back having been newly repaired and the ground being soft, the train got off the track frequently, and, as a result, it was after midnight of the second day [= April 11] when I reached City Point. As soon as possible I took a dispatch-boat thence to Washington City.” This all is in consistence with what Julia Grant wrote.

If we keep in mind that Gen. Grant rode out to accompany Mary Lincoln to see the Grand Illumination of Washington the night of April 13 and Julia Grant was that night at the residence of Secretary Stanton, Grant (and Robert) could not have arrived in Washington in the morning of April 14.

So, it’s my opinion that Emerson is wrong in his book by writing that Robert Lincoln arrived in Washington in the morning of April 14. He is also wrong in writing on p. 99: “He [Robert Lincoln] simply mounted his horse and rode directly from the wharf to the White House that fateful morning [= April 14], eager to rejoin his family, whom he found at breakfast”.

Francis F. Browne wrote in his “The Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln”(1886): “On the morning of that fatal Friday, the 14th day of April, the President had a long conversation at breakfast with his son Robert, then a member of Grant's staff, who had just arrived from the front with additional particulars of Lee's surrender, of which event he had been a witness. The President listened with close attention to the interesting recital; then, taking up a portrait of General Lee, which his son had brought him, he placed it on the table before him, where he scanned it long and thoughtfully. Presently he said: "It is a good face. It is the face of a noble, brave man. I am glad that the war is over at last." Looking upon Robert, he continued: "Well, my son, you have returned safely from the front. The war is now closed, and we will soon live in peace with the brave men who have been fighting against us. I trust that the era of good feeling has returned, and that henceforth we shall live in harmony together."

IT’S MY OPINION that Robert Lincoln arrived in Washington in Grant’s party on the steamer M. Martin on April 13, at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He then rode directly from the wharf to the White House. He did not found his father and mother and Tad at breakfast but breakfasted at 8 A.M. with them on the following morning (April 14), after a night rest in his room (at the White House). At breakfast he discussed the war with his father.

If Robert indeed arrived in the (late) afternoon of April 13 at the White House, does anyone than know how Robert was welcomed there? Did he immediately saw his parents and Tad? Or was his father in the Soldier’s Home at that moment to discuss various topics with Asst. Sec. of Treasury Maunsell B. Field? Remember this is the last homecoming of Robert to see his father alive ….