Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference" 2021

[Steve]

(03-06-2025 04:08 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  I am still working on my article (mentioned earlier in this thread) on this topic. Part of the problem has been that as I continue to chip away at some research threads, I am actually finding some new things - so I am hesitant about finishing up the article in fear I might find something critical after I have submitted for publication. I would say my final conclusion remains the same but one of the things I have found since my talk is quite important and I think strengthens my conclusion. That said, I have couple more threads to pull on and who knows what I will find. But I hope to have my final draft ready for publication by the end of 2025.

Anyway, I thought I would chip in here too. In doing so, I will reiterate/agree with a lot of what Bill said.

As far as I have found, "ages" first appearance is indeed the Nicolay and Hay biography of Lincoln from 1890. Though Twenty Days (1965) was the work that gained the most traction with respect to the use of "angels," Dorothy Kundardt wrote an earlier article that espoused the same idea that it was "angels" not ages. And I found while doing research that "angels" actually shows up as early as 1899 in a newspaper article and several other places in the early 20th century. But, as Bill said above, there are no accounts from people actually (or at least purported to be) at Lincoln's deathbed that use "angels." Or at east none that I have yet found. Twenty Days uses James Tanner as it's source (though the written account they re-produce is not actually cited, so we can't verify it or its origin). However, in my research, I have found at least 3 accounts by Tanner, all signed in ink by him, and in all of them he uses "ages."

As far as Taft goes, he went from publishing an early account where he did not make any mention of Stanton having said anything to then much, much later giving his version of the "ages" line in 1893. Like Bill, I have never come across any original notes from Taft. If they do exist, I would speculate they are in a private collection somewhere.

Lastly I feel like I should mention that my original talk was about "ages" vs "angels" because they are the most commonly cited as being part of what Stanton said. BUT there are other words that have been attributed to Stanton at Lincoln's deathbed (not having ages or angels in their construction) in other published accounts. And one such account was from someone who was purportedly in the room. So that does contradict (though not enough to refute) Nicolay and Hay.

I'll look forward to reading your article when it eventually comes out. When/were was Taft's earlier account published? I wasn't aware that he published an earlier account prior to 1893.