"Happy Birthday" Had But Little I Meaning for Man Whom Americans Honor on February 12 Each Year Dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON Hi Western Newspaper Union. ON FEBRUARY 12 Americans Amer-icans everywhere will join in celebrating an event which took place 130 years ago the birth of Abraham Abra-ham Lincoln. On that day they will recall many a familiar story about the man whose career began in a little log cabin in Hardin county, Kentucky, Ken-tucky, on February 12, 1809. But the chances are that the majority of them will remember remem-ber him best as the "Man of Sorrows" who was Chief Executive of their nation during one of the most critical criti-cal periods in its history the Civil war years of 1861-65. Such being the case, it seems appropriate to inquire "How was this date, which is now a red letter day on America's calendar, celebrated cele-brated during that period? Was there any general observance ob-servance of the President's birthday and was February 12 ever a 'happy birthday' for Abraham Lincoln during those years?" It is doubtful if February 12, 1861, was a "happy birthday" for him, for on that date he was cn route to Washington to take up his duties as President of the United States of America. Perhaps Per-haps "the Disunited States" would be a more accurate designation. desig-nation. Confederacy Organized. For, six weeks after his election elec-tion , South Carolina had passed its ordinance of secession. During Dur-ing the next month Georgia, Alabama, Ala-bama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida had followed the Palmetto Palmet-to state's lead. On February 4 representatives from these stales had met at Montgomery, Ala., and organized the "Confederate States of America." Five more, Texas, North Carolina, Caro-lina, Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas, Ar-kansas, were almost certain to join the six that had already departed de-parted from the' Union. The future fu-ture course of three "border states," Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, as well as the northern slave state of Delaware, was doubtful. And always in the background loomed the threat of a fratricidal war between the North and the South. Ever since his election his mail had been filled with threatening letters and by the time he reached Philadelphia Allen Pinkerton's secret service men had uncovered such indisputable evidence of a plot to assassinate x V On February 23, 1863, Brady again trained his camera on the features of Abraham Lincoln and gave us this picture of the President Presi-dent in repose but reflecting a soul weary of two years of war. the President-elect that unusual precautions were taken to safeguard safe-guard his entrance into the national na-tional capital. As a result, the story was spread by his enemies that "the Prince of Rails sneaked into Washington like a thief in the night." Never before nor since has a President-elect entered en-tered the capital under such circumstances. cir-cumstances. But if February 12, 1861, was a day of anxiety for Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1862, was even farther from being a "happy "hap-py birthday" for him. He had failed to avert a war and in the first test of arms with the Confederacy Con-federacy the Union forces suffered suf-fered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bull Run. At the Battle of Ball's Bluff, he lost one of his oldest and dearest friends, Col. E. D. Baker, after whom Lincoln had named the son who was buried in Springfield. The "Trent Affair" almost involved in-volved the nation in a war with England and a scandal in the administration ad-ministration of the war department depart-ment made it necessary for him to permit Simon Cameron, secie- tary of war, to retire from his cabinet. His appointment of Gen. George B. McCIellan as commander com-mander of the Army of the Potomac Po-tomac had proved a disappoint- This photograph of Lincoln was made by Maihew B. Brady, the great Civil war photographer, on February 27, 1860, and Lincoln often said that this picture and his speech at Cooper Union in New York city had made bim President. In it the people of the North saw a sad, wise, determined deter-mined man who would do nothing rash and yet would defend their Union. ment, because "Little Mac" refused re-fused to move against the enemy. "While harassed by this inaction inac-tion and obstinacy of McCIellan, Mr. Lincoln was plunged into a bitter private sorrow," writes Ida M. Tarbell in her "Life of Lincoln." Lin-coln." "Early in February his two younger boys, Willie and Tad, as they were familiarly known, fell sick . . . When he saw them suffering and when it became evident, evi-dent, as it finally did, that Willie, the elder of the two, would die, the President's anguish was intense. in-tense. He would slip away from visitors and cabinet at every opportunity, op-portunity, to go to the sick room, and during the last four or five days of Willie's life, when the child was suffering terribly and lay in an unbroken delirium, Mr. Lincoln shared with the nurse the nightly vigils at the bedside. When Willie finally died, on February 20, the President was , so prostrated that it was feared by many of his friends that he would succumb entirely to his grief. Many public duties he undoubtedly did neglect. Indeed, In-deed, a month after Willie's death, we find him apologizing for delay to answer a letter because be-cause of a 'domestic affliction.' " It is probable that February 12, 1863, came nearer being a "happy "hap-py birthday" for Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln than the two previous ones had been. The victories of Grant in the West and Farragut's capture cap-ture of New Orleans were partial compensation for the disasters in the East the failure of McClel-lan's McClel-lan's Peninsula campaign, Pope's defeats at the second Battle of Bull Run and the horror of Fredericksburg. Fred-ericksburg. The failure of Lee's invasion of Maryland and the result re-sult of the Battle of Antietam had made it possible for Lincoln to issue his Emancipation Proclamation. Proc-lamation. Although for a time this proclamation seemed to have a bad effect on public opinion in the North, it gave the war a new meaning and forecast the eventual eventu-al defeat of the Confederacy. The Tide Turns. Early in 1863 it became apparent appar-ent that the tide of success had turned strongly in favor of the Union and this fact probably made Lincoln's birthday in this year a happier event than it had previously been. Incidentally this year marked the first celebration of Lincoln's birthday of which there is any record. It is contained con-tained in the reminiscences of William H. Tisdale, written a few years before his death in 1930. He says: "The first birthday anniversary of Abraham Lincoln I remember occurred February 12, 1863. At that time I was on duty at the White House, and had been for some six months previous, as the President's orderly as confidential confiden-tial messenger or dispatch bearer. bear-er. "There was no country-wide observance. In the early evening a small company assembled for his birthday party, a few especially especial-ly close to him, and a few women friends of Mrs. Lincoln. His son, Robert, a young army officer, arrived, ar-rived, and all sat down to a quiet but happy dinner. "Just before the birthday feast began one of the Negro boys came to me with eyes wide with astonishment, urging me to see what was being taken to the President. Pres-ident. And following him I saw a turkey a monstrous big bird. Some admirer in Pennsylvania had sent it." February 12. 1S64, found another anoth-er year of sadness added to the life of Abraham Lincoln. True, the high tide of the Confederacy had ebbed from the shell-torn slopes of Gettysburg and, with the surrender of Vicksburg, "the Father of Waters rolled unvexed to the sea." But in the East there was still a stalemate, successive suc-cessive calls fox volunteers had failed to provide enough men to continue the struggle and the Federal government was forced to resort to the draft, which resulted re-sulted in the bloody "draft riots" in New York city. Nor were these military problems the only ones that added to the burdens of Abraham Lincoln. Not only was there dissatisfaction dissatisfac-tion in the North with his conduct of the war, but there was dissension dissen-sion in the party which had elected elect-ed him and it was no secret that men high in the councils of the party were making plans to defeat de-feat him for renomination. First they approached Hannibal P. Hamlin, the vice president, to be their candidate but he refused. But Salmon P. Chase, his secretary secre-tary of the treasury, was not an unwilling listener for he had been Lincoln's rival in 1860. All through the winter of 1863-64 Chase carried on a voluminous correspondence in the interests of his candidacy and no doubt the possibility that Lincoln might be repudiated by his party before his work of saving the Union was finished and the task entrusted to a lesser man overshadowed his birthday in this year. Chase Resigns. However, his birthday was scarcely past when a too zealous supporter of Chase issued a circular cir-cular calling upon the country to organize in the secretary's behalf. be-half. Chase was placed in such an embarrassing position that he felt called upon to resign from the cabinet and when the legislature legisla-ture of his state demanded in the name of the people and the soldiers sol-diers of Ohio that Lincoln be renominated, re-nominated, the Chase boom collapsed. col-lapsed. Another such boom, which resulted in a convention at Cleveland that nominated Gen. John C. Fremont, had little better bet-ter success. So when the Republican Repub-lican convention met, it was a foregone conclusion that Lincoln would be renominated. That did not mean, however, that he would necessarily be reelected. re-elected. For the Democrats nom- 4 This photograph was taken in the last months of Lincoln's life. Here is a face scalded by time, the face of the "Man of Sorrows." inated Gen. George B. McCIellan, McCIel-lan, declared the war a failure, and denounced various acts of the President as "usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution" Con-stitution" and demanded that "immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, or other peaceable peace-able means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal union of the' states." McCIellan turned out to be an unexpectedly strong candidate, partly because he repudiated the Democratic platform by announcing announc-ing himself in favor of peace, but only on terms that would preserve pre-serve the Union. For a time the issue hung in the balance. Then Sherman's capture of Atlanta At-lanta proved that the war was not a failure and had much to do with turning the tide in favor of Lincoln, who won by a large electoral majority. By February 12, 1865, it was clearly apparent that the end of the war was in sight so it was probably the happiest birthday that Lincoln had known during his four years in the White House. We do not know whether there was any celebration of the day in the Executive Mansion, as there was in 1863, but we do know that there was a "birthday gift" given on that day, even though Lincoln was the giver rather than the receiver re-ceiver of it. In the files of the war department depart-ment are preserved, among many such telegrams, orders and notes from Lincoln, one which was signed on February 12, 1865. It is addressed to Major-General Hooker at Cincinnati and reads: "Is it Lieut. Samuel B. Davis whose death sentence is commuted? commut-ed? If not done, let it be done. Is there not an associate of his also in trouble? Please answer." The charge that Lincoln "stole into Washington" is refuted by the words of the noted historian, Benson J. Lossing, who, incidentally, inci-dentally, was born on "Lincoln's Birthday" in 1813. Lossing interviewed inter-viewed Lincoln in 1864 and in his diary, under the date of December Decem-ber 4, says: "I called on President Lincoln with Congressman I. N. Arnold of 111. at 9:30. Met him in the Cabinet Cab-inet Council Room alone. He endorsed en-dorsed on the Permit of the War Department, his recommendation of me, to the courtesies of all public offices in the Service. At my request he gave me an account ac-count of his journey through Baltimore Bal-timore to Washington, as follows: Arrived in Philadelphia. "I arrived at Philadelphia. Agreed to stop over night, and on the following day hoist1 the flag over Independence Hall. In the evening there was a great crowd, and I received my friends. I received re-ceived a message from Mr. Judd of Chicago, a warm personal friend, asking me to come to his room. I went, and found there only Mr. Judd and Mr. Pinkerton, the latter a detective whom I had seen in Chicago. He had been employed for some days in watching watch-ing or searching for suspicious or expected suspicious movements move-ments in Baltimore, in connection with my passage through, the time of which was known from public announcement. "Pinkerton informed me that a plan was prepared for my assassination. assas-sination. He knew of the plan, but was not sure the conspirators conspira-tors would have pluck enough to execute it. He wanted me to go with him right through to. Washington Wash-ington that night. I didn't like that. I had made engagements to visit Harrisburgh, and go from there to Baltimore, and I wished to do so. I made arrangements, however, with Mr. Judd for me to return to Philadelphia the next night, if I shall be convinced there was danger in going through Baltimore Bal-timore the next day. I told him that if I should meet at Harrisburgh, Harris-burgh, as I had other places, a delegation to go with me to the next place (thru Baltimore) I should feel safe and go on. When I was making my way back to my room through crowds, I met Fred Seward. We went together to my room and he told me that he had been sent at the instance of his father and General Scott to inform me that their' detectives in Baltimore had discovered a plot there to assassinate me. They knew nothing of Pinkerton's movements. I now believed such a plot to be in existence. "The next morning I raised the flag at Independence Hall, went on to Harrisburgh with Mr. Sumner, Sum-ner, (now) General Hunter, Ward H. Lamon and others; met the Legislature and people, dined and waited until the appointed time for me to leave. "In the meantime Mr. Judd had so secured the telegraph wires that no communication could pass to Baltimore, and give the conspirators knowledge of the change in my plans. Lincoln's New Hat. "In New York some friend had presented me a new beaver hat, in a box, and in it had placed a soft wool hat. I never wore one in my life. I had this box in my room. Having informed a very few friends of the secret of my movements, and the cause, I put on an old overcoat that I had with me, and putting the soft hat in my pocket, I walked out of the house at a back door, without exciting any special curiosity. Then, I put on the soft hat, and joined my friends, without being recognized. I was not the same man. Sumner and Hunter wished to accompany me. I said no, you are known, and your presence pres-ence may betray me. I will only take Lamon (now Marshall Lamon La-mon of the District of Columbia), Colum-bia), whom nobody knows, and Mr. Judd, Sumner and Hunter felt hurt. "We went back to Philadelphia and found a message from Pinkerton, Pink-erton, who had returned to Baltimore, Balti-more, that the conspirators had held their final meeting that evening, eve-ning, and it was doubtful whether wheth-er they had the nerve to attempt the execution of their purpose. I went on, however, as the arrangement arrange-ment had been made. It was a Special train. We were sometime some-time in the depot at Baltimore. I heard people talking around, but no one particularly observed me. Thus I arrived, unexpectedly unexpected-ly in Washington."