Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference" 2021

[wpbinzel]

The Annual Meeting of the Surratt Society will be held virtually on Saturday, April 17, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT, using Zoom. Following a brief business meeting, there will be two conference presentations. Ed Steers, Jr., will speak on his latest book, Getting Right With Lincoln, and Scott Schroeder will speak on the scene at Lincoln deathbed, "Did Stanton say Ages or Angels?". This is a FREE event and is open to anyone with an interest in Lincoln. To register, please visit the Surratt Society's website: https://www.surrattmuseum.org/

[Gene C]

This looks really interesting, and you can't beat the price of admission.
Scott Schroeder has participated in our Springfield tours.
Now you have the perfect reason to postpone all those chores you don't really want to do next Saturday.

[STS Lincolnite]

FYI, the meeting/program is scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern time to 3:30 PM Eastern time.

Direct link to RSVP is here:
https://www.surrattmuseum.org/events-1/s...sentations

With a nod to Gene C., I must have dozed off, I think just posted that somewhere

[wpbinzel]

FYI, the meeting/program is scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern time to 3:30 PM Eastern time.

Thanks! (I have now added the times to my original post.)

[Wesley Harris]

FYI, the meeting/program is scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern time to 3:30 PM Eastern time.

Thanks! (I have now added the times to my original post.)

Scott was an excellent presenter at previous conferences. He is always well prepared. And of course Ed Steers is Ed Steers, the most knowledgeable man on the Lincoln assassination.

[TMRose]

The Annual Meeting of the Surratt Society will be held virtually on Saturday, April 17, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT, using Zoom. Following a brief business meeting, there will be two conference presentations. Ed Steers, Jr., will speak on his latest book, Getting Right With Lincoln, and Scott Schroeder will speak on the scene at Lincoln deathbed, "Did Stanton say Ages or Angels?". This is a FREE event and is open to anyone with an interest in Lincoln. To register, please visit the Surratt Society's website: https://www.surrattmuseum.org/

By chance will there be a link to view the conference after the fact for those of us who can't register and watch live? thanks!

[wpbinzel]

By chance will there be a link to view the conference after the fact for those of us who can't register and watch live? thanks!

The answer is "to be determined." We have permission from both speakers to record their presentations, but there will be some material that is protected by copyright which may restrict our ability to make it available for viewing. If and when we are able to make it available, I will post an announcement on this forum.

[wpbinzel]

If you have registered for today's Surratt Society Meeting and "Conference," but have not yet received the Zoom meeting link, check your spam file as some filters may have directed the Surratt Society email there.

[Thomas Kearney]

I will be live tweeting the conference. Be sure to visit my Twitter page, @ThomasE_Kearney, to follow along.

[RJNorton]

Kudos to Ed and Scott on their wonderful presentations. I enjoyed them very much! The three hours just flew by! Bill, thanks for keeping us all informed, and you were an excellent host.

[Gene C]

An interesting presentation. I noticed a few of our forum attending.
Great job by Ed and Scott.
Ed's new book was a large part of his presentation. I'm adding it to my wish list.

Scott, the evidence you presented was very well organized. I'm 55%-45% leaning toward Stanton said "He belongs to the ages now"

[Eva Elisabeth]

I second Gene and Roger - (Gene, I didn't "see" you were there, too!). While the circumstances aren't and in-person-meetings are more appreachable, the opportunity was to attend the conference from abroad was just great!
Both presentations were excellent. I have to admit Scott didn't have to convince me because I've always been in favor of "ages", yet the background info was partly new to me and fascinating, and the "case" well argumented at all. I actually didn't realize how "popular" "angels" was/is in people's opinions.

[Steve]

I really wish I could've been able to attend, especially since it was Free Zoom meeting. Learning & Free! I hope the Society is able to post a video of the talks.

With all this talk of "Ages" v. "Angels", I think this article may be of interest:

http://www.richardwfox.com/phrase

(Contrary to what this article says I don't think there was a reporter from the New Herald present at Lincoln's, but otherwise I think it's a good read.)

[Dennis Urban]

The presentation of "Ages versus Angels" was admirable and I was happy to see all the evidence presented in such a block. I always favored "ages" because to me it fit better with Stanton's personality and his relationship with Lincoln; the rivals became friends and the opponents learned to work together for the good of the country. In contemplating Stanton's frame of mind at that moment, in which I truly cannot place myself, I do not think he preconceived something eloquent to utter at the moment immediately after the prayer of the Rev. Dr. Gurley; rather it was a heartfelt thought, probably spoken in a low voice, and mostly for his own recognition of the greatness of the man who had just passed into eternity. I doubt he meant for the words to be remembered for posterity. However, they were. Sufficient weight must be given, even 20 - 30 years after the fact, to the first hand accounts; James Tanner's being the most significant. Tanner was trained to listen diligently before recording his characters of phonographic writing. The testimony he transcribed was never questioned. I have no doubt his memory was vivid so many years after the fact. Those in the "angels" camp are not to be dismissed; the word also fits. The best evidence, however, is on the side of "ages".

[RJNorton]

I apologize to Scott if he clearly answered this question in his excellent talk. What surprises me is that there is even a debate on this. All 3 primary sources (John Hay, Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, and James Tanner who were present at the death scene) agree on Stanton saying "ages." No one who was present when Lincoln died claimed Stanton said "angels." So why is there a debate? In many instances what we know of the details of the Lincoln assassination saga is due to only one primary source, but in this case we actually have 3. So can someone clearly enunciate why the 3 primary sources are questioned?

Scott mentioned the names of many authors who use "ages" and many of whom use "angels." But somehow I missed the root cause of the debate.