Tuesday, February 22, 2011

February 20, 1861

President-elect Abraham Lincoln meets his Vice President-elect, Hannibal Hamlin, for the first time.  Lincoln is in New York City as part of an 11-day rail journey from his home town of Springfield to Washington, D.C.  Lincoln has made prior stops in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo and Albany.  He had arrived in New York City the day before, and the New York Times reports on the speech he gave to the various committees of the Republican Party of New York City:
"...I do suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this country, at this time, is rapidly shirting its scenes -- forbidding an anticipation, with any degree of certainty, to-day, what we shall see to-morrow -- it was peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the last minute, before I should take ground that I might be disposed (by the shifting of the scenes afterwards) also to shift. [Applause.] I have said, several times, upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time does come, I shall then take the ground that I think is right -- [applause] -- the ground that I think is right -- [applause, and cries of "Good, good"] -- right for the North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for the whole country, [Cries of "Good," "Hurrah for LINCOLN," and applause.] And in doing so, I hope to feel no necessity pressing upon me to say anything in conflict with the Constitution; in conflict with the continued Union of these States -- [applause] -- in conflict with he perpetuation of the Liberties of this people -- [applause] -- or anything in conflict with anything whatever that I have ever given you reason to expect from me."



The  Peace Conference continues its work in Washington, D.C., but as the New York Times  reports, "The Peace Conference had another five-hour session to-day. An animated discussion occurred, as on yesterday, with no result. A vote is expected to-morrow, and the adoption of the report by one majority."  Horatio Nelson Taft, an attorney with the US Patent Office, whose children played often with the Lincoln children at the White House, writes in his diary that he had dinner with J.C. Smith, an old friend and a member of the Peace Conference. 

The Detroit Free Press ran a column discussing the possibility that John B. Floyd, the Secretary of War under James Buchanan, had possibly stocked muskets and rifles in Southern arsenals.

The New York Times ran a column entitled, "President Lincoln and the Crisis", in which they conclude,
“We have full faith in the disposition and ability of Mr. LINCOLN to meet the tremendous responsibility which rests upon him. We have no fear that he will either be seduced into fatal concessions of principle, or coerced into a reckless trifling with dangers which are none the less real because they are unreasonable, and which it is his duty to avert, although he is in no degree responsible for their existence. It can never be a matter of indifference, or of secondary moment, to him, whether the Union is destroyed or not, -- nor is it possible for him, or for any one in his position, to attach more weight to the mere clamor of selfish and malignant partisans, than to the voice of the country which relies on him for deliverance from the dangers which threaten its existence. But, in common with all who look with concern upon the disturbed state of the country, we are looking forward with eager impatience to the time when he can indicate the policy which, in his judgment, the emergencies of the country require.”

Unlike yesterday, the newspapers were fairly silent today on the inauguration of Jefferson Davis which had happened two days prior.  Davis himself penned a letter on this day to his wife, in which he writes,
I was inaugurated on Monday, having reached here on Saturday night. The audience was large and brilliant. Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers; but, beyond them, I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.
We are without machinery, without means, and threatened by a powerful opposition; but I do not despond, and will not shrink from the task imposed upon me.
All along the route, except when in Tennessee, the people at every station manifested good-will and approbation by bonfires at night, firing by day; shouts and salutations in both.
I thought it would have gratified you to have witnessed it, and have been a memory to our children.
Thus I constantly wish to have you all with me. -- Here I was interrupted by the Secretary of the Congress, who brought me two bills to be approved. This is a gay and handsome town of some eight thousand inhabitants, and will not be an unpleasant residence. As soon as an hour is my own, I will look for a house and write to you more fully.

The Valley Spirit newspaper in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, ran a few articles, including a summary of the Democratic County Convention, which concluded that Franklin County Democrats are against war, but seek to uphold the equality and rights of all states.   They also reprinted two articles:  First, from the Hagerstown Herald, which said that all Americans would do good to read the history of the French Revolution before rushing into a war of their own; and second, a reprint from the Philadelphia Ledger, in which during a fancy party a woman dressed as South Carolina had her flag of South Carolina broken by the American flag of another guest, dressed as Lady Liberty.

Lastly, as the rising tide of war is breaking, Joseph Emery Fiske, a student at the Andover Theological Seminary, writes home to his parents.  Here is his letter in full:
My dear Parents, -- If I felt quite jolly and excited about the war news a week ago, how do you think I feel now? But good news is getting to be an old story. My faith, which has been derided by many, is now no stronger than it was six months ago because it can be no stronger. I believe that we are destined to become the greatest nation in the World. This topic is uppermost in the minds of almost all others here and elsewhere as well as myself. I cannot see why we should not expect a series of glorious victories from the Mississippi to the Potomac and down the seaboard to the Mexican line.

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