Details
[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM] SEWARD, Frederick, Acting Secretary of State. Printed document (accomplished but unsigned) addressed to the "Secretary of the Navy" [Gideon Welles]. Washington, D.C., 14 April 1865. 1 page, 8vo, integral blank, text printed in italic, accomplished in manuscript, docketed (by Welles?).
AN INVITATION TO ATTEND LINCOLN'S FATEFUL LAST CABINET MEETING
A rarely encountered printed form, used by the Secretary of State to convene cabinet meetings in the Lincoln White House. The date, in this case, lends exceptional interest. Manuscript portions in square brackets: "Department of State, Washington, [Apr 14] 186[5]. The President desires a meeting of the Heads of Departments at the Executive Mansion at [eleven] o'clock [this morning]. To the Honorable [Secretary of the Navy]."
This is presumably one of only eight such forms completed on this date, summoning Gideon Welles to attend the crucial Cabinet meeting on the morning of the day of Lincoln's assassination. The first peacetime cabinet meeting following the surrender of Lee and his army, it was the only such Cabinet meeting attended by Grant; Welles was the only one of the seven original members of the Cabinet who was present. In the long meeting--which lasted from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.-- topics under discussion included plans for reconstruction and black suffrage; Lincoln stated his opposition to harsh measures against former Confederates. While waiting for Stanton, who brought news from General W.T. Sherman, they discussed the military situation. At one point Lincoln turned to Welles and recounted a recurrent dream which seemed to him to be a portent. As Welles wrote in his diary: "Generally, the news had been favorable which succeeded this dream, and the dream itself, was always the same. I inquired what this remarkable dream could be. He said it related to your (my) element, the water; that he seemed to be in some indescribable vessel, and that he was moving with great rapidity towards an indefinite shore; that he had this dream preceding Sumter, Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg [etc.]...'I had,' the President remarked, 'this strange dream again last night, and we shall, judging from the past, have great news very soon.'" (Welles Diary, II, 283).
Curiously, at that moment Confederate General Joseph Johnston was negotiating for the surrender of his army. Later that day Lincoln had his first meeting with Vice-President Johnson, and that evening went to a play at Ford's Theater.
AN INVITATION TO ATTEND LINCOLN'S FATEFUL LAST CABINET MEETING
A rarely encountered printed form, used by the Secretary of State to convene cabinet meetings in the Lincoln White House. The date, in this case, lends exceptional interest. Manuscript portions in square brackets: "Department of State, Washington, [Apr 14] 186[5]. The President desires a meeting of the Heads of Departments at the Executive Mansion at [eleven] o'clock [this morning]. To the Honorable [Secretary of the Navy]."
This is presumably one of only eight such forms completed on this date, summoning Gideon Welles to attend the crucial Cabinet meeting on the morning of the day of Lincoln's assassination. The first peacetime cabinet meeting following the surrender of Lee and his army, it was the only such Cabinet meeting attended by Grant; Welles was the only one of the seven original members of the Cabinet who was present. In the long meeting--which lasted from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.-- topics under discussion included plans for reconstruction and black suffrage; Lincoln stated his opposition to harsh measures against former Confederates. While waiting for Stanton, who brought news from General W.T. Sherman, they discussed the military situation. At one point Lincoln turned to Welles and recounted a recurrent dream which seemed to him to be a portent. As Welles wrote in his diary: "Generally, the news had been favorable which succeeded this dream, and the dream itself, was always the same. I inquired what this remarkable dream could be. He said it related to your (my) element, the water; that he seemed to be in some indescribable vessel, and that he was moving with great rapidity towards an indefinite shore; that he had this dream preceding Sumter, Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg [etc.]...'I had,' the President remarked, 'this strange dream again last night, and we shall, judging from the past, have great news very soon.'" (Welles Diary, II, 283).
Curiously, at that moment Confederate General Joseph Johnston was negotiating for the surrender of his army. Later that day Lincoln had his first meeting with Vice-President Johnson, and that evening went to a play at Ford's Theater.