Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan General George B. McClellan made a good first impression. He was also a striking contrast to the nation’s commander’s in chief, Abraham Lincoln. “General McClellan is indeed a striking figure, in spite of his shortness,” recalled Lincoln aide William O. Stoddard. “He is… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >

Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Todd Lincoln was an original. “Mrs Lincoln is like no human being I ever saw. She is not easy to get along with, though I succeed pretty well with her,” wrote one Federal official who had frequent dealings with her.1 Mary Todd Lincoln was described at the time […]

Abraham Lincoln and Journalists One day in April 1864, President Abraham Lincoln walked across the hall to the office of aide John Hay. Mr. Lincoln “picked up a paper and read the Richmond Examiners recent attack on Jeff Davis,” wrote Hay in his diary. “It amused him. ‘Why’ said he…” Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >

Abraham Lincoln and Members of Congress Even before Abraham Lincoln took office as President, members of Congress loomed large in President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s political planning. Two weeks after the election, President-elect Lincoln met in Chicago with Senators Lyman Trumbull and Hannibal Hamlin. Hamlin… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries< Article >

Abraham Lincoln’s Sons Illinois Editor Jeriah Bonham recalled visiting Abraham Lincoln in Springfield in the summer of 1860. Mr. Lincoln was at the State Capitol where he normally met with visitors, but this day he was alone with Tad and Willie, who were playing on the floor of the Governor’s office. “‘Tad’ was … Abraham […]

Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton War Department official Aide Charles Dana wrote that Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was “impulsive, warm-blooded, very quick in execution, perhaps not always infallible in judgment. I never knew a man who could do so much work in a given time. He was a nervous… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article […]

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass led an unusual life. Born Frederick Bailey in 1818, Frederick Douglass was never sure of his father’s identity although it seems certain that his father was white and possibly was his owner, Thomas Auld. Douglass had little contact with his mother … Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >

Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward William H. Seward, President Abraham Lincoln’s first and only secretary of state, was a force of political nature. Writer Henry Adams described Seward’s “slouching slender figure; a head like a wise macaw; a beaked nose; shaggy eyebrows; unorderly hair and clothes; hoarse voice;… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >

Abraham Lincoln’s Secretaries No one had a better vantage point to observe President Abraham Lincoln than his two principle secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay. They lived at the White House, worked next to the President’s office, slept across the hall, accompanied him to the theater, and acted as… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >

Abraham Lincoln and The Clergy Abraham Lincoln’s acquaintance with preachers was close and frequent. When he first came to New Salem, Illinois, he boarded with a Presbyterian preacher, John Cameron. For the next three decades, Mr. Lincoln came to know Illinois preachers of many denominations and… Abraham Lincoln’s Contemporaries Article >