Show happy birthday Birthl day hald had but little meaning for man whom whom americans honor on february 12 each year by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 0 western newspaper union N FEBRUARY 12 americana U ON everywhere will join in celebrating an eve event nt which took place years ago the birth of abraham lincoln on that day they will recall many a familiar story about the man whose career began in a little log cabin in county kentucky on february 12 1809 but the chances are that the majority of them will remember him best as the man of sorrows who was chief executive of their nation during one of the most critical ditl periods in its history the civil war years of such being the case it seems appropriate to inquire 4 kow few was this date which is now a red letter day on americas calendar celebrated during that period was there any general observance of the presidents birthday and was february 12 ever a happy birthday for abraham lincoln during those years it Is doubtful it if february 12 1801 was a happy birthday for him for on that date lie he was en an route to washington to take lake up his duties as president of the united states of america perhaps the disunited states would be a more accurate designation confederacy organized for six weeks after his election south carolina had passed its iti ordinance of secession during the next month georgia alabama mississippi louisiana and florida had followed the palmetto states lead on february 4 representatives from these states had met at montgomery ala and organized the confederate states of america r five ive more texas north caro una linn virginia tenne tennessee asee and arkansas were almost certain t to a join the six that had already d departed I 1 from tho the union the future course of three border states maryland kentucky and missouri os as well as the northern slave state of delaware was doubtful do u and always in the background loomed the threat of a fratricidal war between the north and the south ever eveir since his election his mall mail had been filled with threatening letters and by the time he roi reached philadelphia allen alien Pink pinkertons ertons secret service men had uncovered such indisputable evidence of a plot to assassinate x al 4 N I 1 on february 23 1863 brady azain again trained his camera on th the 8 features fili tures of abraham lincoln and a nd gave us this picture of the president in repose but reflecting a soul weary of two years of war the president elect that unusual precautions were token taken to safeguard ills his entrance into the national 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 the capital under such circumstances cum stances dut but if february 12 1861 was a day of anxiety for abraham lincoln february 12 1862 was even farther from being a happy birthday for him lie he had failed to avert p a war and in the first test of arms with the confederacy the union forces suffered a disastrous defeat at the battle of bull run at tt i battle of balls bluff lie he lost one of his oldest and dearest friends col E D baker after whom lincoln had named the son who was burled buried in springfield the trent affair almost in evolved the notion nation in a war with england and a scandal in the administration of the war department made it necessary for him to permit simon cameron Cam cron secretary of war to retire from ills his cabinet ills his appointment of gen george B mcclellan as commander of th army of thu potomac had proved probed a disappoint t R 9 av i at W s V t this photographs photograph of lincoln was vaa made by mathew B D 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 him president in III it the people of the north saw a sad wise determined man who would do nothing rash and yet would defend their union anion ment because little mac refused to move against the ene enemy my while harassed by this inaction and obstinacy of mcclellan mr lincoln was plunged into a bitter private sorrow writes ida M tarbell in her life 0 of lin coin early in february his two younger boys willie and tod tad as they were familiarly known fell sick when he saw them suffering and when it became evident dent as it finally did that the elder of the two would die the presidents anguish was intense lie ile would slip away from visitors and cabinet at every opportunity port unity to go to the sick room and during the last four or five days of willies Wll lies life when the child was suffering terribly and lay in on an unbroken delirium mr lincoln shared with the nurse the nightly vigils at the bedside when wlllie 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 ills his grief many public a duties he undoubtedly did neglect indeed a month after willies death we find him apologizing for delay to answer a letter be caus causo a of a domestic affliction 11 it is probable that th n t february 12 1863 come nearer being a happy p v birthday for abraham lincoln than the two previous ones had been the victories of grant in the west and Farra guts capture of new orleans were partial compensation for the disasters in the east the failure of mcclel ni lans ians peninsula campaign po popes ps defeats at the second battle of buu bull run and the horror of fredericksburg the failure of lees invasion of maryland and the result of tho the battle of antietam had made it possible for lincoln to issue ills his emancipation proclamation la although for a time this proclamation seemed to have abad a bad effect on public opinion in the north it gave the war a new meaning and forecast the eventual defeat of the confederacy the tide turns early in 1863 it became apparent that the tide of success had turned strongly in favor of the union and this fact probably made Lincol ns birthday in this year a happier event than it had previously been incidentally this year marked the first celebration of Lincol ns birthday of which there is any record it is contained in the reminiscences of william H tisdale written a few years year before his death in 1930 lie he gays the first birthday anniversary of abraham lincoln I 1 remember occurred february 12 1863 at that time I 1 was on duty at the white house and had been for some six months previous as the presidents orderly as confidential messenger or dispatch bearer L r there was no countrywide country wide observance in the early evening a small company assembled for his birthday party a few especially close to him and a few women friends of mrs lincoln his son robert a young army officer arrived and all sat down to a quiet but happy dinner just before the birthday feast one of the negro boys I 1 ame to me with eyes wide with astonishment astonishment urging me to see what was being taken to the president and following him I 1 saw 6 turkey a monstrous big bird some admirer in pennsylvania had sent it 6 i february 12 1864 found another er year of sa aness added to the life of abraham lincoln true the high tide of the confederacy had chad ebbed from the tha shell shel I torn lorri slopes of gettysburg and with the surrender of vicksburg the father of waters rolled to the sea but in the east there was still a stalemate successive a dalls calls for volunteers had failed to provide enough men to continue the struggle and th the a F federal government was waa forced to resort to the draft which resulted in the bloody draft riots in now new york city nor were these military problems the only ones that added to th the a burdens of abraham lincoln not only was there dissatisfaction in the north with his conduct of the wor war but there w was as dissension in the party parts which had elected him and it was no secret that men high in the councils of the party were making plans to defeat d a him for first they approached hart hannibal anibal P hamlin the vice president to be their candidate but ho he refused but salmon P chase his secretary of the treasury was not an unwilling listener for he had been Lincol ns rival in 1860 all through the winter of 1863 64 04 chase carried on a voluminous correspondence in the interests of his candidacy and no doubt the PO possibility that lincoln might bo be repudiated by his party before his work of saving the union was finished and the task entrusted to a lesser jesser man overshadowed his birthday in this your year chase resigns however his birthday was scarcely past when a too zealous supporter of chase issued a circular calling upon the country to organize ze in the secre behalf chase was placed in such on an embarrassing position that he fet felt called upon to resign from the cabinet and when the legislature of his state demanded in the name of the people and the soldiers of ohio that lincoln be the chase boom collapsed another such boom which resulted in a convention at cleveland that nominated gen john C fremont had little bet bota ter success so when the republican convention met it was a oregano foregone conclusion that lincoln would be that did not mean however that he would necessarily be reelected for the democrats nom 8 1 0 1 1 1 V this photograph was taken in the last months of Lincol ns life here is a face scalded by time the face of the man of sorrows gen george B mcclellan mcclelian declared the wai war a failure and denounced various acts of the president as usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the constitution ution 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 means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the federal union of the states mcclellan turned out to be ian an unexpectedly strong candidate partly because he repudiated the he t democratic platform by announcing himself in favor of peace but only on terms that would preserve serve the union for a time the issue hung in the balance then Sher shermans mans capture of atlanta proved that the war was not a failure and had much to do with turning the tide in favor of lincoln who won by b a I 1 large a rge electoral majority by february 12 1865 1805 it was clearly apparent th that atthe the end of the war was in sight so it was probably the happiest birthday that lincoln had known during durin g 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 rl rc celver of it in the flies files of the war department are preserved among many such telegrams orders and notes from LJ coln ad ln one which was signed on february 12 1865 it is addressed to major general hooker at cincinnati and reads Is it samuel B davis whose death sentence is commuted if not done let it be done Is there not an associate of his also in trouble please answer 1 J 4 AZ t vi I 1 tho the charge that lincoln 11 stole into washington Is refuted by the words of the noted historian t benson J lossing Lossl ng who incidentally was born on Lincol ns birthday in 1813 lossing interviewed lincoln in 1864 and in ills his diary under the date data of december 4 says 1 I called on president lincoln with congressman I 1 N arnold of at met him in the cabinet council room alone he endorsed on the permit of the war department his recommendation of me to the courtesies of all public offices jn the service at my request he gave me on an account cou nt of his journey through baltimore to washington as follows arrived iq in philadelphia 1 I arrived at philadelphia agreed to stop over night and on the following day holst hoist the flag over independence hall in the evening there was a great crowd and I 1 received my friends I 1 received a message from mr judd of chicago a warm personal friend asking me to come to his room I 1 went and found there only mr judd and mr pinkerton the latter a detective whom I 1 had seen in chicago he had been employed for some days in watching or searching for suspicious or expected suspicious movements 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 si he knew of the plan but was not sure the conspirators would have pluck enough to execute it ile he wanted me to go with him right through to washington that night I 1 like that I 1 had made engagements to visit Harris burgh and go from there to baltimore and I 1 wished to do so I 1 made arrangements however with mr judd for arl me to return to philadelphia the next night if I 1 shall be convinced there was danger in going through baltimore alm re the next day I 1 told him that if I 1 should meet at harris burgh as I 1 had other places a delegation to ga go with me to the n next a at place thru baltimore I 1 should feel safe and go on when I 1 was making my way back to my room through crowds I 1 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 assassin atO MO me they knew nothing of pinkertons Pink ertons movements J I 1 now believed such a plot to be in existence the next morning I 1 raised the fing at independence hall went on to Harris burgh with mr sumner now general hunter ward vard H lamon and others met the legislature and people dined dine dand i and waited until the appointed time for me md 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 Lincol ns new hat flat in new york some friend had presented me a new beaver hat in a box and in it had placed a soft wo wool ol 01 hat I 1 never wore one in my life I 1 had this box I 1 in n my room having Jn informed formed a very few friends of the secre secret t of my movements and the cause I 1 put on an old overcoat that I 1 had with me and putting the soft hat in my P pocket bocket I 1 walked out of the house at a back door without exciting any special curiosity then I 1 put on the soft hat and joined my friends without being recognized I 1 was not the same man sumner and hunter wished to accompany me I 1 said no you are known and your presence may betray me I 1 will only take lamon now marshall la m mon on of the district of columbia whom nobody knows and mr judd sumner and hunter felt hurt elwe we went back to philadelphia and found a message from pinkerton who had returned to baltimore that the conspirators had held their final meeting that evening and it was doubtful whether they had the nerve to attempt the execution of their purpose I 1 went on however as the arrangement had been made it was a special train we were sometime in the depot at baltimore I 1 heard people talking around but no one particularly observed me thus Lur I 1 arrived rived unexpectedly in washington |