The Assassination on the Screen - Comparisons

[J. Beckert]

From Gideon Welles' diary regarding his observations at the Petersen House.

"His large arms, which were occasionally exposed, were of a size which one would scarce have expected from his spare appearance."

[LincolnToddFan]

Alrighty...thanks Roger. I am back in your camp. You and Joe have cast doubt in my mind that AL had endocrine cancer at his death. See how wishy-washy I can be??

BTW...I am surprised that Dr. Sotos is a cardiologist, I thought he was an endocrinologist?

Between the concurring descriptions of both Gideon Welles and Dr. Curtis of AL's denuded body, I am inclined to believe he was ripped and in great shape...at least on the outside. Wasn't there an amazing story of him lifting and axe and holding it out at arm's length with his thumb and forefinger a week before he died?

I can't remember the details.

[RJNorton]

Excellent memory, Toia! There is a story that on April 8, 1865, holding his arm straight out, Lincoln picked up an axe by the butt, with the handle parallel to the ground, and held the 7-pound tool motionless. His strength amazed everyone who was watching.

When I exchanged emails with Dr. Sotos I also asked him how Abraham Lincoln could have performed that feat if he had MEN2B. Dr. Sotos wrote back as follows:

"Francis Carpenter is often cited as the primary source, but he is not. He cites a newspaper called "The NY Independent," but I think he is making it up. First, the days of the week he writes in his story don't fit the calendar. Second, I looked at all the issues of the Independent between Lincoln's Virginia visit and the publication of Carpenter's book, and the story is not there. The only substantial Lincoln material in The Independent is the long series of articles that Carpenter himself wrote. Carpenter was known to make stuff up.

I looked at every other eyewitness recollection of the hospital visits. It is pretty disjointed material. But there are at least three eyewitnesses who mention nothing about it: Sen. Sumner, Marquis de Chambrun, and a young soldier named Wilbur Fisk who wrote an effusive, detailed letter home on April 20 that did not mention axe work. It is likely that Sen. Harlan and William Crook were with him, too. Their reminiscences of that trip mention no axe work. By contrast, Keckley says that Lincoln returned to the River Queen that night so weary that he wanted to go to bed immediately.

And, somehow, this 1869 account from Lawrence Gobright has been overlooked: "... a visit to City Point early in April. While there, the President passed through the wards of several hospitals... He looked feeble, and was, for this reason, met with a remonstrance from all the surgeons in charge for attempting the hand-shaking of several thousand of men."

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks Roger, that's the story I was thinking of. I could have sworn that there were other sources for the axe story than Francis Carpenter. The famous axe itself is in a collection somewhere, I saw a photo of it recently. I don't believe the story is made up, it just sounds very "Lincolnesque".

But it does sound astonishing for a middle aged man who was supposedly fatigued and fatally ill.

If I tried something like that, I'd end up cutting off one or both of my own feet!

[RJNorton]

Right, Toia! It's in the possession of the ALPLM. There is a good article here.

There is a photo of the axe here.

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks Roger.

With all due respect to Dr. Sotos, my hunch is that if the "evidence" exists, there is at least a chance the story is probably true.

[jonathan]

Drifting back to the original post and a related question...is there any new information on the Swanson/HBO/Manhunt project, or has that moved on to a kind of vaporware status? I remember a while back someone posted a little teaser from Swanson, but I haven't been paying much attention lately, so I don't know if it ever went beyond that. I so, so...soooo wish it would happen. An HBO miniseries based on the assassination, done the right way of course, would have the potential to knock everything else out of the water.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi jonathan, maybe the release is being put closer to the 150th anniversary of the assassination commemorations set for next April 2015?

I agree that such a series, done correctly, would be simply phenomenal!