Lincoln and Gen. George Pickett

[Gene C]

I could use a little help.

I an reading a book from 1909 (Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls) that Abraham Lincoln had visited the home of General George Pickett on one of his visits to Virginia near the end of the war.

That sounded a little unusual, so I went to Google and found this article, but not
having a subscription to the NY Times, can anyone out there post a copy of the article reference from the 1927 New York Times, or the Illinois State Register

https://www.nytimes.com/1927/11/27/archi...f-gen.html

I have only done a little follow up, but it seems that the story may have originated with Mrs. George Pickett, and she seems to have had a tendency to exaggerate some in her writing and lectures about Gen. Pickett after he died.

This is from her book "What Happened To Me" published in 1917, pages 167-171
" The day after the fire there was a rap at our door. The servants had all run away. The city was full of northern troops, and my en vironment had not taught me to love them. With my baby on my arm I answered the knock, opened the door and looked up at a tall, gaunt, sad-faced man in ill fitting clothes, who asked with the accent of the North: Is this George Pickett s place?
"This is General Pickett s home, sir,; I replied, but he is not here.
"I know that, ma am, I know where George Pickett is, he answered, but I just wanted to see the place. Down in old Quincy, Illinois, where I used to hear George Pickett whistle the songs of Virginia in his bird-like notes, I have heard him describe his home till in spirit I have been here many a time....
I have sat on that back porch and listened to the music as his sister Virginia, of whom he was so proud, sang in that glorious voice he told me about, and I have swung in this old swing here while the moon and I watched and waited for the old cat to die. So I wanted to see the place.

I, listening, wondered who he could be, till he finished and then he said:
I am Abraham Lincoln.
The President! I gasped.
No no, just Abraham Lincoln; George Pickett s old friend.

the story continues -
https://archive.org/details/whathappened...ell+Picket

Anyway, the book I am currently reading (and more on that book later) was
published in 1909 and Mrs Pickett's book was published in 1917. She is probably the source of the story, but it's bugging me (not that it matters) as to when the story was first published.