He Served in Place of Abraham Lincoln

[Houmes]

(01-19-2016 11:33 AM)maharba Wrote:  Roger has furnished here, I see, several links which document much of what I found out, even including the old newspaper clipping with Noble D. Larner being interviewed and then casually slurring the soldier who took the place of Lincoln in the army. I agree with you, Anita, that particularly that portion has the look of a partisan poster (me) slanting the reporting, there. But that really is what Mr.Larner said. When it was reported in the newspapers, as the articles which RJN cites detail, then Summerfield and his friends and family took great exception and apparently wrote the newspapers to set the story straight: Summerfield was both still alive, and very much a decent, working fellow. The authors of the other Summerfield items did not seem to understand who Larner really was, and how highly well-placed.

But now I will add a personal observation which arises in my mind from the actions of Lincoln's crony "the Grand High Priest" Noble Danforth Larner. Can't you just see him sitting in a lavish drawing room enjoying an expensive cigar with some fine cognac, laughing and even amused at the naive young soldiers slaughtered in the fields, the South on fire now with invading foreign troops. The Grand High Priest comfortable by the fire and expostulating that even Lincoln's own substitute he had fetched for him, was just some loser...probably died in the Wilderness. Did Seward, Stanton and company join in these shared good times?

Ralph Geoffrey Newman (1911-1998) was the dean of rare books, documents, and ephemera dealing with Lincoln material. He claimed that there were two works indispensable for a study of the life of Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (9 volumes and supplements) and Lincoln Day by Day, A Chronology, 1809-1865 (3 volumes). By my count, in the 5,272 combined pages of references in these volumes involving meetings (including appearances social, political, work-related) with Lincoln, plus documents and correspondence, only once is Noble D. Larner mentioned, in a casual meeting on October 1, 1864. On that day President Lincoln was introduced to his substitute, John Summerfield Staples, by a party consisting of Provost Marshal Gen. Fry, Noble D. Larner, and Staples' father.

Considering the minimal contact Larner had with President Lincoln, just how friendly was he with him? Is it also possible the cognac in your fantasy was affecting Mr. Larner's interview?