Extra Credit Questions

[RJNorton]

Scott asked me to post this photo. He will then post below.

[STS Lincolnite]

(01-23-2024 06:25 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Scott asked me to post this photo. He will then post below.

Rob, you have the correct trip...but not the correct location or date. But you are close enough for me to reveal the answer...

This original photo posted to start off this question is of the Stephen P. Grove Farm (aka Mt. Airy). It's located just west of Sharpsburg, Maryland. It is about 2 miles from Antietam Creek. I was able to make a visit to the area in November of 2023 and snapped the photo. The home is now a private residence, but there is a Civil War Trails marker on the main road. The home can be seen and photographed from there.

To conclude this question, I asked Roger to post a photo that Alexander Gardner took of Lincoln with McClellan and his staff in the front yard of the Grove home taken on Oct. 3, 1862. You can see the roof and chimneys of the home poking out above the tents.

[Rob Wick]

Scott,

Last night I spent about an hour going through the Lincoln Log website looking for various times when Lincoln was on a trip. Maryland seemed to me the most logical, although the remainder was a guess.

Best
Rob

[Steve]

Rob,
I had the same idea. After your post I also went through the Lincoln log for 1862, but I couldn't find any better guesses than yours.

[STS Lincolnite]

(01-23-2024 07:35 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Scott,

Last night I spent about an hour going through the Lincoln Log website looking for various times when Lincoln was on a trip. Maryland seemed to me the most logical, although the remainder was a guess.

Best
Rob

Rob (and Steve as well) I appreciate your diligence in searching this out on the Lincoln Log website! I had been wanting to find the location of where the Lincoln/McClellan photo was taken and I finally had an opportunity to seek it out and get "boots on the ground" in November. I knew from the start it would be kind of a tough question. I really appreciate all the people who responded with such wonderful guesses!

[RJNorton]

No googling please.

This is a photo of two people sitting on a couch. Both people have been previously mentioned on the forum. Who are they?

[Gene C]

Wow Roger, it's a little hard to tell. You cut their heads off

They both are right handed.
the way her upper body is angled indicates to me that she is turned toward the man and focused on him.
With her dress above the knees, I'm guessing the photo is anywhere from the 1950's to 1960's (where's BetttyO when you need some fashion advice)
With them sitting on a couch with an adult beverage in their hands suggest a more formal setting and not a backyard BBQ, nor a picnic at the park.

My first guess is Wilma Francis Minor and Carl Sandburg which doesn't quite match up with my date for the photo.
Second guess, make that Marilyn Monroe.

[RJNorton]

You are correct, Gene! Well done! Indeed it's Marilyn Monroe and Carl Sandburg.

[Rob Wick]

Roger,

The University of Illinois has a deep collection of Sandburg images culled from his collection, and it includes a number of photos of Sandburg and Monroe. Sandburg wrote a tribute to Monroe for Look Magazine after her 1962 death. Hollywood Progressive ran an article about the meeting. Here is an excerpt:

After Monroe arrived, late as usual, she ran to Sandburg, hugged and kissed him, and began talking to him. He remembered that “she sometimes threw her arm around me, like people do who like each other very much.” After they sat down, she sometimes squeezed his hand. What she found in him was a sympathetic and personable old sage who liked her for herself and not just her fame and looks. Sandburg recalled that “she had some faith in me.” She told him of her insomnia problems and “that she thought herself too intelligent to commit suicide.”

He found her to be down-to-earth and genuine. He said that “she came up the hard way,” and since his path to fame had also been difficult, he probably admired her “rags-to-riches” saga. He thought she “was a good talker.” Although “'there were realms of science, politics and economics in which she wasn't at home, . . . she spoke well on the national scene, the Hollywood scene, and on people who are good to know and people who ain't.” He added that they “agreed, on a number of things—that Charlie Chaplin is beyond imitation, for instance”—and she “never talked about her husbands.” He also found in her “a vitality, a readiness for humor,” which was a characteristic Sandburg always appreciated in others, including Abraham Lincoln. In his Look tribute, he expressed great regret over her death, “I wish I could have been with her that day. . . . I believe I could have persuaded her not to take her life.”

Best
Rob

[RJNorton]

Thanks for sharing this, Rob!

[RJNorton]

What is depicted in this sketch?

[Gene C]

Lincoln visits a doctor ?

[mbgross]

Face mask by Volk?

[RJNorton]

Close enough, Gene. The scene is not in a doctor's office. The sketch comes from the November 1988 edition of American History Illustrated. The article is titled "A Few Appropriate Remarks," and the author is Harold Holzer. The artist is Keith Rocco. Lincoln did not feel well on the train from Gettysburg back to Washington. He had a wet towel spread across his forehead and kept it there for much of the ride back. Most sources say he was coming down with varioloid, a mild form of smallpox.

[RJNorton]

The following story comes from a Gettysburg resident. On the night of November 18, 1863, (the day before Lincoln's Gettysburg Address) Secretary of State William Seward stepped outside from the home where he was staying. He found himself in a crowd. He was recognized, and the crowd called for a speech.

Seward said, "Sure, sure, I'll make a speech." He began by saying:

"My very good friends from this grand and glorious state of ________________."

Fill in the blank --> what is the next word that Secretary Seward said?