A new work on Emilie Todd Helm's visit to Lincoln's White House

[STS Lincolnite]

(01-26-2015 02:06 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Donna, Harold Holzer (editor) in "The Lincoln Mailbag", p. 117, claims that on December 8, 1863, Emily took the following oath of allegiance:
"'I, Emily T. Helm, do solemnly swear in presence of Almighty God that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all proclamations of the President, made during the existing rebellion, having reference to slaves so long and so far as not modified, or declared void by the Supreme Court. So help me God.'
In return for signing this affidavit - which Lincoln wrote out himself, and then rewrote in order to keep a copy in his files -...Emily was given the following presidental pass:..."

Please go here: https://books.google.de/books?id=mKH2hDb...CBYQ6AEwBA

Donna, so you are sure this is wrong?

Eva, in the accounts that I have read, Lincoln did write out the oath of allegiance for her as above and gave it to her along with the pass...but she never signed it. In one account I read, it stated that Lincoln signed her name for her (because he knew she would never sign it herself). It is thought he did this so as to be supportive of her and provide means for her to go home to her family while trying to keep minimal the political consequences of giving (preferential?) travel passes to family members (Confederates at that). When giving her these papers allowing her to travel back to KY, he supposedly asked her not to cause any trouble for him. Prior to this, she had been given an oath of allegiance to sign when she crossed the lines on her way to the White House...this was required of all people crossing the lines. She refused to sign at that time. Word of this got back to Lincoln and he was asked how to handle the situation. He replyed with a note that said simply "send her to me." The ebook mentioned in the initial post gives a good account of both of these events.

I too would like to hear Donna's take.