Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln

[Gene C]

written by Francis Bicknell Carpenter and originally published in 1866 as Inner Life of Abrahan Lincoln - Six Months At The White House,. It has about 350 pages, easy to read, good sized print, short chapters,

Very interesting book. Mr. Carpenter was the artist who painted the large picture (108" x 108") of the "First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Read...mation.jpg

For me, there were two points that make this work special.
First, Mr. Carpenter was in the White House on a regular basis for about six months in 1864 and was able to see the daily routine of the President. He was able to see Lincoln in business and somewhat private situations.
Second, his book was first published in 1866, the memories he recorded are fresh and not dimmed by the passage of time.

Many of the incidents he writes about have been repeated in other books, much of the book was familiar to me. There was one story he mentions about Mrs. Lincoln that was new to me, and knowing a little about how outspoken she could be, it is easy to imagine.

"The second week in July the whole country, and Washington in particular, was thrown into a fever of anxiety by the rebel raid upon that city under Early and Breckinridge. The night of Sunday, the 10th,
I have always believed the city might have been captured had the enemy followed up his advantage....
At the White House the cannonading at Fort Stevens was distinctly heard throughout the day. During Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, the
President visited the forts and outworks, part of the time accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln. While at Fort Stevens on Monday, both were imprudently exposed,
— rifle - balls coming, in several instances, alarmingly near.

Subsequently the rebel force returned to Richmond almost unharmed. I saw no one who appeared to take this more to heart than Mrs. Lincoln, who was inclined to lay the responsibility at the door of the Secretary of War. Two or three weeks later, when tranquillity was
perfectly restored, it was said that Stanton called upon the President and Mrs. Lincoln one evening at the " Soldiers' Home." In the course of conversation the Secretary said, playfully,
"Mrs. Lincoln, I intend to have a full-length portrait of you painted, standing on the ramparts at Fort Stevens overlooking the fight !

" That is very well," returned Mrs. Lincoln, very promptly ; and I can assure you of one thing, Mr. Secretary, if I had had a few ladies with me the Rebels would not have been permitted to get away as they did!"

Included in the book is a speech, about 25 pages, made by William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, given in December of 1865. From that speech you can see how Herndon believes he has a special insight into Lincoln's thoughts and feelings, and that he understands Lincoln better than anyone else, maybe even better that Lincoln understood himself. At times he seems to contradict himself in explaining Lincoln's personality. This is an interesting subject in itself.

The book has it's shortcomings, pointed out in the introduction, but it is well worth reading, and owning. It is available on Internet Archives, https://archive.org/details/innerlifeofa...rp/page/n7
or can be purchased for a very reasonable price, check around, prices vary a lot. This is the copy I have.
https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Life-Abraha...am+Lincoln

[RJNorton]

I agree with you, Gene. Carpenter's book is a valuable source for Lincoln's activities, conversations, actions, etc. Because Carpenter actually lived in the White House in 1864 I think the book is uniquely worthwhile. One of my absolute favorite Lincoln quotes is, "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." And Carpenter's book is the source for that.

[LincolnMan]

Love your reviews Gene.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(10-10-2018 05:10 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Love your reviews Gene.

I, too!!

[David Lockmiller]

(10-09-2018 05:45 AM)Gene C Wrote:  written by Francis Bicknell Carpenter and originally published in 1866 as Inner Life of Abrahan Lincoln - Six Months At The White House,.

I possess the 1879 printing of this book by The Riberside Press. One of my favorite stories which I posted previously on May 6, 2018 under the thread titled RE: President Lincoln vignettes in F. B. Carpenter's "Six Months at the White House" (page 102) is as follows:

The morning of the last day of April, [1864], Mr. Wilkeson, the head of the New York "Tribune" bureau of correspondence in Washington at that period, called upon me with his sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, well known for her radical views on political and social questions, who wished an introduction to the President. Later in the day, after the accustomed pressure of visitors had subsided, I knocked at the door of the President's study, and asked if I might bring up two or three New York friends. Mr. Lincoln fortunately was alone, and at once accorded the desired permission. Laying aside his papers, as we entered, he turned around in his chair for a leisurely conversation. One of the party took occasion shortly to endorse very decidedly the Amnesty Proclamation, which had been severely censured by many friends of the Administration. This approval appeared to touch Mr. Lincoln deeply. He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget, "When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no exception to the rule."

There are so many such good personal stories in this book witnessed by F. B. Carpenter. Indeed, this is one of my very favorite Lincoln books.

[RJNorton]

(10-11-2018 11:50 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Indeed, this is one of my very favorite Lincoln books.

I second you, David.

[Gene C]

(10-11-2018 11:50 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  I possess the 1879 printing of this book by The Riberside Press. One of my favorite stories which I posted previously on May 6, 2018 under the thread titled RE: President Lincoln vignettes in F. B. Carpenter's "Six Months at the White House"

There are so many such good personal stories in this book witnessed by F. B. Carpenter. Indeed, this is one of my very favorite Lincoln books.

How neat!
I know how special owning some of these older books can be.
It's like you are holding the past in your hands. You can feel it.

[David Lockmiller]

In his book at pages 30-31, Francis B. Carpenter made this personal observation of President Abraham Lincoln:

"There was a satisfaction to me, differing from that of any other experience, in simply sitting with him. Absorbed in his papers, he would become unconscious of my presence, while I intently studied every line and shade of expression in that furrowed face. In repose, it was the saddest face I ever knew. There were days when I could scarcely look into it without crying.

During the first week of the battles of the Wilderness, he scarcely slept at all. Passing through the main hall of the domestic apartment on one of these days, I met him, clad in a long morning wrapper, pacing back and forth in a narrow passage leading to one of the windows, his hands behind him, great black rings under his eyes, his head bent forward upon his breast, -- altogether a picture of the effects of sorrow, care, and anxiety."