Who is this person?

[AussieMick]

Dr Lyman Beecher Todd?

[RJNorton]

Nope, it wasn't Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd.

[RJNorton]

This is a tough one, so I will give the answer. It's John Franklin Farnsworth. He is in some of the Lincoln deathbed illustrations, and the fact that he visited Mary in 1875 is here:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mar...rontcover]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Farnsworth

[David Lockmiller]

To whom did President Lincoln make the following comment on or about October 19, 1864? "[Y]ou have done more than any one else to insure my reelection."

[J. Beckert]

Harriet Beecher Stowe?

[AussieMick]

General Sherman?

[David Lockmiller]

Neither Harriet Beecher Stowe or General Sherman is correct.

The person is associated with the Democratic Party.

[AussieMick]

Clement Vallandigham?

[David Lockmiller]

(04-05-2024 04:51 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Clement Vallandigham?

I shall give you credit for your answer by quoting from Professor Burlingame's work Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Vol. Two, pages 695-96:

In addition to cultivating Radicals, Lincoln attempted to placate some Conservatives, including the prominent Peace Democrat, James W. Singleton of Illinois. According to one source, “Lincoln’s immediate friends were working to make the[Democratic] nominee and platform of the party as odious as possible.” In that effort “they were largely assisted” by Singleton, “who was one of the leaders of the anti-McClellan faction in the democratic party and a strong supporter of Vallandigham.”109

In September, [1864] Lincoln showed Singleton a politically embarrassing letter by McClellan. Soon thereafter, Singleton delivered a scathing anti-McClellan speech. Coming from a Peace Democrat, his words carried weight with members of that faction. On October 18, he met at Cincinnati with other Peace Democrats to nominate a new presidential candidate. There he presided over an informal convention and helped draft a platform that defended slavery as a positive good, described the people of the Confederacy as “brothers in blood” and recommended that “we should make all possible efforts to join them in a mutual policy of unconditional negotiation for the attainment of peace.” When Alexander Long declined to serve as the rump party’s candidate, the convention adjourned without fielding a ticket. Since they could not agree on a standard-bearer, Singleton told the delegates that he was unable to support McClellan and preferred Lincoln. Subsequently, the president told Singleton: “you have done more than any one else to insure my reelection.”111 [Proceedings of the peace convention, Cincinnati Commercial, 20 Oct. 1864, copied in the New York Daily News, 24 Oct. 1864]

I don't think anyone would have discovered the correct answer without reading Professor Burlingame's book. I just happened to read this quote in the book and thought it to be important for the detailed knowledge of our forum participants.

[RJNorton]

David, I never in a million years could have answered this question. I wonder...do you think this Lincoln quote came from his heart, or was it simply Lincoln being the politician and saying something he thought the gentleman most likely wanted to hear?

[AussieMick]

Perversely, I was going to say McClellan.... I did note the name Singleton somewhere along the way. Vallandigham is a name that always seems to pop up in my brain .... must see someone about that.

[David Lockmiller]

(04-06-2024 02:10 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  David, I never in a million years could have answered this question. I wonder...do you think this Lincoln quote came from his heart, or was it simply Lincoln being the politician and saying something he thought the gentleman most likely wanted to hear?

Roger, I think he was just being factual.

[David Lockmiller]

(04-06-2024 08:33 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  

(04-06-2024 02:10 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  David, I never in a million years could have answered this question. I wonder...do you think this Lincoln quote came from his heart, or was it simply Lincoln being the politician and saying something he thought the gentleman most likely wanted to hear?

Roger, I think he was just being factual.

Roger, I wanted to expand on this statement.

I would not say this statement Lincoln made to Singleton "came from [Lincoln's] heart" because of the firm opinion held by James W. Singleton regarding how a newly-elected Democratic Party government in 1864 should move forward in negotiations with the South.

Singleton presided over an informal convention and helped draft a platform that defended slavery as a positive good. He described the people of the Confederacy as “brothers in blood” and recommended that “we should make all possible efforts to join them in a mutual policy of unconditional negotiation for the attainment of peace.”

However, Singleton asked not only that his fellow party Democratic Party members not vote for McClellan, but he positively argued to the members of that faction of the Democratic Party which he led that they should all vote for Lincoln in the coming election.

President Lincoln made his statement to Singleton on October 18 or 19, 1864.

Professor Michael Burlingame wrote of a prior event:

On August 23, 1864, the despairing Lincoln wrote one of his most curious documents, a memorandum revealing his belief that a Democratic victory was likely:

“This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards."

He folded and sealed this document and then, inexplicably, asked his cabinet to sign it without knowing its contents. It became known as the “blind memorandum.”

Thus, at the time President Lincoln made his statement to Singleton on October 18 or 19, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was being factual: “You have done more than any one else to insure my reelection.”

[RJNorton]

No googling please.

Lincoln's height is nearly always listed as 6 ft. 4 inches.

One person actually measured him when he was not wearing shoes. It was determined Lincoln's actual height was 6 ft. 3 3/4 inches.

What was the name of the person who measured Lincoln?

[AussieMick]

Someone that was 6ft 4in ?