Who is this?

[Susan Higginbotham]

A rather dapper John Surratt in old age.

[RJNorton]

You nailed it, Susan! Kudos! Yes, it is a photo of an older John Surratt, Jr.

Here is a young John Surratt, Jr. along with the older John Surratt, Jr:

[RJNorton]

Abraham Lincoln used this man as an example. What is his name?

[David Lockmiller]

As an example of what, if I may be so bold?

Or, does the answer to the second question, answer the first question?

[RJNorton]

David, President Lincoln was talking to a group of visitors who were doubting his war policies. The President told the visitors a "what if" story as an example of why he was doing what he was doing in the war. The man pictured above was in Lincoln's story.

[Gene C]

Charles Blondin ?

[RJNorton]

Excellent, Gene!!

The story comes from Francis B. Carpenter's book (pp.257-258). Carpenter writes that Lincoln had some visitors who were doubting his administration's policies, and Lincoln replied:

"Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope, would you shake the cable, or keep shouting out to him—“Blondin, stand up a little straighter—Blondin, stoop a little more—go a little faster—lean a little more to the north—lean a little more to the south?” No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hands off until he was safe over. The Government are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don’t badger them. Keep silence, and we’ll get you safe across."

For information on Blondin please go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin

[David Lockmiller]

Thank you, Roger. I recall the story from the Carpenter book.

Such unhelpful advice made to President Lincoln continued throughout the Civil War.

For example:

Republican insider Thurlow Weed told Lincoln in mid-August 1864 that “his re-election was an impossibility.”

Republican party chairman Henry J. Raymond expressed much the same sentiment to Lincoln on Aug. 22, [1864] urging him to consider sending a commission to meet with Confederate President Jefferson Davis to offer peace terms “on the sole condition of acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution,” leaving the question of slavery to be resolved later.

Quotation from the Wikipedia entry:

During the run-up to the 1864 United States presidential election, Abraham Lincoln compared himself to "Blondin on the tightrope, with all that was valuable to America in the wheelbarrow he was pushing before him." A political cartoon in Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun took up this quotation on 1 September 1864 depicting Lincoln on a tightrope, pushing a wheelbarrow and carrying two men on his back—Navy Secretary Gideon Welles and War Secretary Edwin Stanton

[David Lockmiller]

Roger, I could not find "Blondin" in the index of the Carpenter book. Nor, could I find any reference to "Blondin" in the index of Professor Burlingame's two-volume work.

Could you provide that information as to the citation in the Carpenter book, please?

[RJNorton]

David, go here

https://archive.org/stream/innerlifeofab...p_djvu.txt

and scroll down to pp. 257-258.

[David Lockmiller]

(01-13-2023 04:23 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  David, go here

https://archive.org/stream/innerlifeofab...p_djvu.txt

and scroll down to pp. 257-258.

Thanks, Roger.

I tried earlier to find the story with a random search in the end of the book where Carpenter related other Lincoln stories not of his personal knowledge. In my search, I found one story that one might characterize as the "flip side of the same coin" at pages 241-42.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(01-13-2023 08:45 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Excellent, Gene!!

The story comes from Francis B. Carpenter's book (pp.257-258). Carpenter writes that Lincoln had some visitors who were doubting his administration's policies, and Lincoln replied:

"Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope, would you shake the cable, or keep shouting out to him—“Blondin, stand up a little straighter—Blondin, stoop a little more—go a little faster—lean a little more to the north—lean a little more to the south?” No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hands off until he was safe over. The Government are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don’t badger them. Keep silence, and we’ll get you safe across."

For information on Blondin please go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin

I'm sorry I missed this great question - thanks for the story and link, Roger. A very fascinating person and life - and here's the cartoon David mentioned and more info on it:
https://elections.harpweek.com/1864/cart...&Year=1864
   

[David Lockmiller]

Here is the story that I mentioned in my previous post:

An officer of the Government called one day at
the White House, and introduced a clerical friend.
"Mr. President," said he, "allow me to present to
you my friend, the Rev. Mr. F., of ______. Mr. F. has
expressed a desire to see you and have some
conversation with you, and I am happy to be the
means of introducing him."

The President shook hands with Mr. F., and
desiring him to be seated took a seat himself.
Then, his countenance having assumed an air
of patient waiting, he said: "I am now ready
to hear what you have to say."

"Oh, bless you, sir." said Mr. F., "I have nothing
special to say; I merely called to pay my respects
to you, and, as one of the million, to assure you of
my hearty sympathy and support."

"My dear sir," said the President, rising promptly,
his face showing instant relief, and with both hands
grasping that of his visitor, "I am very glad to see
vou, indeed. I thought you had come to preach to me!"

[mbgross]

In his excellent book, "ABE", David Reynolds goes into some depth about Blondin, and the cultural phenomenon that the Niagara Falls had for 19th century Americans, of course, including Lincoln.

[RJNorton]

This man is probably mentioned in almost all cradle-to-grave Lincoln biographies. The image is not the one most often seen in books.

Who is this man?