The Carriage Ride of April 14th VIDEO

[asobbingfilm]

I call this video "Never So Bright and Cheerful". I want to say it was Hugh Mc Cullough in one of his writings who coined that. I may be mistaken though. Anyway my friend Nicole did the voice of Mary and Sarah Christensen from NYC is the talking head. The music is Rosin the Bow or as it is also known Lincoln and Liberty.

[Thomas Kearney]

Cool vid! To think all their peace was taken away from them a few hours later.

[LincolnMan]

An ironic moment in the life of the Lincolns, indeed. How sad and how tragic- and how much like life. One never knows what a day might bring forth. May we all appreciate the "here and now"- its all we really have.

[Donna McCreary]

"The Friday, I never saw him so supremely cheerful -- his manner was even playful." (Mary Lincoln to Francis Bicknell Carpenter, November 15, 1865)

[asobbingfilm]

Yes I have a copy of that letter. It's so touching.

"The weary look which his face had so long worn, and which could be observed by those who knew him well, even when he was telling humorous stories, had disappeared. It was bright and cheerful."-- Hugh Mc Cullough.

I think that's were I got the idea for the episode title. That's the one I was thinking of if I remember right.

[RJNorton]

Here is a little more from the letter to Carpenter:

"The Friday I never saw him so supremely cheerful. His manner was even playful. At three o'clock he drove out with me in the open carriage. In starting I asked him if any one should accompany us. He immediately replied: 'No. I prefer to ride by ourselves to-day.' During the drive he was so gay that I said to him laughingly, 'Dear husband, you almost startle me by your great cheerfulness!' He replied, 'And well I may feel so, Mary, for I consider this day the war has come to a close;' and then added, ' We must be more cheerful in the future. Between the war and the loss of our darling Willie we have been very miserable.' Every word he then uttered is deeply engraved on my poor broken heart."

[Donna McCreary]

Here is a little more from the letter to Carpenter:

"The Friday I never saw him so supremely cheerful. His manner was even playful. At three o'clock he drove out with me in the open carriage. In starting I asked him if any one should accompany us. He immediately replied: 'No. I prefer to ride by ourselves to-day.' During the drive he was so gay that I said to him laughingly, 'Dear husband, you almost startle me by your great cheerfulness!' He replied, 'And well I may feel so, Mary, for I consider this day the war has come to a close;' and then added, ' We must be more cheerful in the future. Between the war and the loss of our darling Willie we have been very miserable.' Every word he then uttered is deeply engraved on my poor broken heart."

When reading everything Mary wrote about that night, I find the letter to Carpenter the most heart breaking.

[Eva Elisabeth]

The carriage is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (this might have been posted before):
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibition...s-carriage
   
Upon seeing the carriage (which is quite touching), I wonder and would like to ask forum members - how did four persons, two of them with expanding hoop skirts, and one with expanding legs, fit in such a (one! Not two opposite benches as I had always assumed before) small seat???
   

[RJNorton]

I cannot answer your question, Eva, but if Jim Bishop (The Day Lincoln Was Shot) is right, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris were the ones who rode backwards facing the Lincolns.

Thanks for posting these photos!

[Gene C]

Upon seeing the carriage (which is quite touching), I wonder and would like to ask forum members - how did four persons, two of them with expanding hoop skirts, and one with expanding legs, fit in such a (one! Not two opposite benches as I had always assumed before) small seat???

I was wondering how a lady would get in and out of the carriage while wearing a hoop skirt?

Was this the main carriage they used? Doesn't look all that practical for inclement weather. Was this the carriage Mary was thrown from?

[RJNorton]

As I have never worn a hoop skirt I cannot answer that part, but I can tell you the carriage is not the one Mary was thrown from. This carriage was built in 1864, and Mary's accident was in 1863.

[Thomas Kearney]

Today I visited the carriage at the Smithsonian. Here is the link to the picture I took on my Flickr page.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86528312@N06/16690474827/

[L Verge]

Upon seeing the carriage (which is quite touching), I wonder and would like to ask forum members - how did four persons, two of them with expanding hoop skirts, and one with expanding legs, fit in such a (one! Not two opposite benches as I had always assumed before) small seat???

I was wondering how a lady would get in and out of the carriage while wearing a hoop skirt?

Was this the main carriage they used? Doesn't look all that practical for inclement weather. Was this the carriage Mary was thrown from?

I have both entered, sat down, and ridden in similar carriages while dressed in my hoops. Once a lady is trained in how to control her skirts, it really isn't that difficult. Slightly lift the skirt in front to mount the step and then place both hands on the sides of your skirt to enter the coach's "door." Once inside, the skirt will bend nicely in the back to sit down, and you just adjust your skirts to make room for anyone/thing beside you. Believe it or not, I used to drive a Chevy Chevette with gears on the floor in my complete outfit.

[LincolnToddFan]

Oh! HOW I wish that packet of letters from AL that Mary cherished after his death had not been lost or destroyed...I have not given up hoping that they will turn up in some attic or cellar someday....