Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

Letters from Home: Permilia Gordon to her husband Samuel.

On this Valentine’s Day we present a handwritten Civil War era valentine written by Permilia Gordon to her husband Samuel who fought in the 118^th Illinois Infantry Company C. Below, you will find a transcription of the valentine:

Your Valentine

your steps are so light your movements so rare

Wouldn’t wonder a bit if you lived in the air

Remember me When this you see

Roses red and Violets blue

Sugars sweet and so are you

If this paper should chance to roam

Box its ears and send it home

Samuel Gordon appears to have had a very loving family. You can read a letter written to him from his daughter, Ella, here.

Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation

Copyrighted and designed by Mrs. M. M. Pabor in 1888 this commemorative lithograph of the Emancipation Proclamation was printed in Cincinnati, Ohio and features the allegorical ladies, Justice and Liberty. Other symbols of peace and justice, the laurel leaves and grapes are featured on the print. Because not all slaves were freed immediately with the issuance of the Proclamation in 1863, Mrs. Pabor added a note to this copy: “The rest of the slaves were freed by legislation, and Constitutional amendments.” This statement refers to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

This lithograph is currently on display as part of our most recent version of our “Boys in Blue” exhibit currently on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library until March, 2014.

Boys In Blue: Diary entry from Sgt. Ashford H Magee of the 77^th Illinois Infantry Company E

In Memory

Dr. C.M. Colquet of leo “A” 1^st Ala Arty. Ft. Morgan age 40 years, Departed this life 4^th July 1864. If a man dies Shall he live again.

All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my chance comes

Rest, rest, rest in peace.

Boys In Blue: Pvt. William Alphonso McLain

At the age of 15, William Alphonso McLain joined the Union Army for a one hundred day stint in the 9^th Illinois Infantry. The age listed on his papers? Twenty-two. Three years later, William mustered into the Army for another one hundred day tour, this time with the 135^th Illinois Infantry. The age listed on his papers? A more accurate eighteen.

Boys In Blue: 1st Lt. Michael F Swartzcope, 31st Illinois Infantry, Company A

Michael F. Swartzcope of Illinois stood six-foot-five and a half and at 41 years of age he mustered into the 31^st Illinois Infantry as a Private. Census records tell us that Michael worked as both a cooper and a surveyor before the war began. Over six foot tall and a surveyor…sound familiar? By the end of the war, Michael was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and Quartermaster. Michael’s Lincolnesque life continued after the war; Lincoln was a lawyer, and Swartzcope followed a law career as well, serving as a judge in Jackson County, IL from 1865 to 1869. Judge Swartzcope passed away on March 22, 1901 at the age of 80 at the Home for Disabled Veterans in Danville, IL.

Boys in Blue: Diary Entry, Pvt. Abner W Foreman, 7th Ill. Inf. Co. D

Two days after Abraham Lincoln’s death in Washington D.C., Pvt. Abner W. Foreman of the 7^th Illinois Infantry Company D “received the disturbing news” of the President’s death and wrote the following in his diary:

Beaufort, NC April 17, Monday

The darkest day in the annals of our country. Just received the disturbing news that Abraham Lincoln has been assassinated. The numerous ships here in the harbor have the stars & stripes at haf mast as a token of National grief. The countenance of every union man is the very picture of grief. It seems to the me the darkest day I ever Saw. Wo be unto traitors is the but determined expression of all soldiers here

Boys In Blue: Diary Entry, Pvt. James W Ferguson, 10th Ill. Inf. Co. G

Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 and died the next day at 7:22 a.m. Word immediately spread about the President’s death, but the information wasn’t always accurate. This diary entry from two days after the event in WashingtonD.C.by Pvt. James W Ferguson of the 10^th Illinois Infantry, Company G is an example of how information transfer became a game of “telephone.” The basic facts are correct, but some of the details are skewed.

Monday April 17..1865

All is quite today, nothing farther in reguar to Jonsons surrender—-but the terebal news has reached us of the ontimely death of our President Abraham Lincoln. he was assasionated when at the theater the assasian Shot him through the head. as he was getting up to leave at 10 oclock and Pm and lived till 10 oclock Am and died, the likewise brook into Secretary Seward house and pearced him in several places and his Sun served in the same manner, the think Seward will recover but his sun is not expected to recover, the assasians is not found yet

Letters from the Boys In Blue: General Grant had no political aspirations

Ulysses S. Grant was building momentum in the Civil War, having won victories in April 1862 at Shiloh and earlier in 1863 at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. As a result of his military victories, General Grant’s political star was starting to brighten, although he did not realize it at the time. In December 1863, Barnabus Burns, who was the chairman of the “War Democrats” in Ohio, sent Grant a letter asking to present the general’s name as a presidential candidate at the Democratic Convention. You’ll find General Grant’s December 17, 1863 response below:

Chattanooga Tennessee,

December 17^th 1863,

B. Burns, Esq.

Chairman Dem. Cen. Com.

Dear Sir:

Your letter of the 7^th inst. asking if you will be at liberty to use my name before the Convention of the “War Democracy”, as candidate for the office of the Presidency is just received. – The question astonishes me. I do not know of anything I have ever done or said that would indicate that I could be a candidate for any office whatever within the gift of the people. I shall continue to do my duty, to the best of my ability, so long as permitted to remain in the Army, supporting whatever Administration may be in power, in their endeavor to suppress the rebellion and maintain National Unity, and never desert it because my vote, if I had one, might have been cast for different candidates.

Nothing likely to happen would pain me so much as to see my name used in connection with a political office. I am not a candidate for any office nor for favors from any party. Let us succeed in crushing the rebellion, in the shortest possible time, and I will be content with whatever credit may then be given me, feeling assured that a just public will award all that is due.

Your letter I take to be private. Mine is also private. I wish to avoid notoriety as far as possible, and above all things desire to be spared the pain of seeing my name mixed with politics. Do not therefore publish this letter but wherever, and by whatever party, you hear my name mentioned in connection with the candidacy for any office say that you know from me direct that I am not “in the field,” and cannot allow my name to be used before any convention.

I am, with great respect,

Your obt. Svt.

U.S. Grant

Soon after this letter was sent, Grant would be promoted to Lieutenant General and given command of the entire Union army. Four and a half years later, in late 1868, the Confederacy was no more, President Lincoln had been assassinated, and the general who stated “Nothing likely to happen would pain me so much as to see my name used in connection with a political office” was elected to his first of two terms as the eighteenth President of the United States.

Letters from Home: Eleanor “Ella” Gordon to her father Samuel

On the first of October in 1863, Private Samuel Gordon of the 118^th Illinois Infantry Company C sat in a camp near Berwick Bay, LA and wrote to his wife Permilia. Ten days later, Permilia wrote back to Samuel and in the letter included an additional letter from their eldest daughter Ella, who had just turned eleven years old.

Hamilton

Oct 11 1863

dear papa

I thought I would write you a letter. I have put those apples you spoke of up for you. I keep your room in order. I go to school to Miss Safford I like her verry much I wish you would come home very much

From your daughter

Ella Gordon

Samuel Gordon would muster out of the Union Army on October 1, 1865 in Baton Rouge, LA and return home to Hamilton, IL. Ella grew up and would go by her given name, Eleanor. Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon became a teacher, a minister in the Unitarian Church, and a leader of the Suffragette movement in Iowa.

Boys In Blue: Pvt. William Baker Kaericher, 66^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company I

At the age of eighteen, William Baker Kaericher from Edwards, Illinois was mustered into the Union Army on November 25, 1861 at Benton Barracks, Missouri. The 66^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was more commonly known as the “Western Sharpshooters.” To qualify as a member of the company, the volunteers had to pass a rigid shooting test: From a distance of 200 yards, three shots could average no more than 3 1/3 inches from the center of bull’s-eye.

As a member of the sharpshooters, William Kaericher fought in many of the Civil War’s major battles including Shiloh, Corinth, and Sherman’s March to the Sea. Despite seeing this much action in a bloody Civil War, William survived and filed for his pension on December 5, 1866.

“Uncle Bill,” as he was would later be known, married Mary Fishel in May 1870 and settled in Brocton, Illinois as a blacksmith. They remained married until her death in February 1927. “Uncle Bill” lived another six years and passed away in April 1933, four days after his 90^th birthday. The following poem was included in his obituary in the April 19, 1933 edition of the Brocton Weekly Review:

He never spake an unkind word,
By malice he was never stirred,
His was the clearer, kindlier eye
Which lets the little flaws pass by
Unnoticed, but is quick to see
The good in all humanity.

His was the friendly life and brave,
Unto this world himself he gave.
His dreams were lofty, and his
creed
Found adherence in many a deed.
Clean, manly, upright to the end
He taught us how to be a friend.