Anson G. Henry (1804-1865) Close friend and personal doctor of Abraham Lincoln, Anson G. Henry was appointed by President Lincoln as the Surveyor General of Washington State. President Lincoln once described Dr. Henry to a new Oregon congressman: “What a great, big-hearted man he is. Henry is one of the best men I have ever […]

Rev. Phineas D. Gurley (1816-1868) Rev. Phineas D. Gurley was the Pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington where the Lincolns attended church. He and his wife were frequent guests at the White House. He often brought religious delegations and personal requests to the President. In one letter to President Lincoln on March… […]

Horace Greeley (1811-1872) Horace Greeley was the Editor of the New York Tribune, which he founded in 1841 after earlier founding a weekly newspaper, The Jeffersonian, at the request of Thurlow Weed. An eccentric social reformer and erratic political tactician, he pushed Illinois Republicans to back Stephen Douglas in 1858. Later during… Abraham Lincoln’s White […]

Gustavus V. Fox (1821-1883) Gustavus V. Fox was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy who was in charge of the rescue fleet for Fort Sumter and a valued administrator of naval build-up, including the building of iron-clad ships. Fox explained his Sumter rescue plan to President Lincoln shortly after he had taken office. Previously, Fox […]

John W. Forney (1817-1881) John W. Forney was the Editor of the Philadelphia Press (started in 1857), and the Washington Chronicle (started in 1861). Originally a War Democrat, Forney was appointed as Secretary of the Senate in 1861 with the support of President Lincoln. Forney was a political chameleon and rumor-monger who liked… Abraham Lincoln’s […]

Adolphe, Marquis de Chambrun (1831-1891) Adolphe Pineton, Marquis de Chambrun, was a French attorney who had married into the Lafayette family. Chambrun was out of sympathy with the government of Napoleon III. Nevertheless, he was given an informal diplomatic role by the French minister of foreign affairs to investigate the progress of the American Civil […]

Charles A. Dana (1819-1897) Managing editor and foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune from 1847-1862, Charles A. Dana resigned in a dispute with Editor Horace Greeley. Dana served as eyes and ears of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Lincoln in observing Grant’s command of army, starting in 1862. About his job, Dana […]

Andrew G. Curtin (1817-1894) Pennsylvania Governor (Republican, 1861-65), Andrew G. Curtin, was a determined political enemy of fellow Pennsylvanian Simon Cameron and an equally determined supporter of President Lincoln’s war efforts. Curtin was an attorney and advocate of education as secretary of the Commonwealth. He lost the 1854 Senate… Abraham Lincoln’s White House >

Francis Carpenter (1830-1900) Francis Carpenter was the New York State portrait painter who worked on “Emancipation Proclamation” while living at the White House for six months, beginning in February 1864, having first met Mr. Lincoln on February 6. He also painted a family portrait of the Lincolns and their three sons around a table – […]

Noah Brooks (1830-1903) Noah Brooks was a journalist and frequent visitor to the White House. He became a friend of President Lincoln in Illinois in 1856 before moving to California in 1859. He came to Washington as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union in 1862 after his wife died in childbirth. There, his friendship with […]