Lincoln's Last Days: March 12, 1865
March 12th of 1865 (150 years ago today) was a Sunday, and while many political leaders of that era observed the biblical recommendation of rest on the Lord's Day, Lincoln transacted some business. According to his papers contained in the Library of Congress, on that day he met with former Illinois Congressman Isaac Arnold and offered him a position as an auditor for the Treasury Department. Arnold had served two terms in Congress as a Republican from 1860 to 1864. Arnold would later write a biography of Lincoln called "The History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery", published in 1867. The book was criticized for not having sufficient research.
On March 12th Lincoln also met for a half an hour with Dr. Anson Henry and Noah Brooks. Brooks was a journalist and editor who worked for newspapers in Sacramento, San Francisco, Newark, and New York. He too authored a biography of Lincoln. He had been involved in the first Republican campaign for President, that of John C. Frémont. During the campaign, he became friends with Lincoln. After the death of his wife in 1862, Brooks moved to Washington, D.C. to cover the Lincoln administration for the Sacramento Daily Union. He was welcomed into the Lincoln household as an old friend. Brooks maintained a friendship with both the President and Mrs. Lincoln. In 1895, Brooks published his biography of Lincoln, entitled "Washington in Lincoln’s Time".
Lincoln was not feeling well and the next day, March 13th, he was described in a later report from the New York Herald as being "quite sick". The Herald reported that Lincoln did not see any visitors that day.
Lincoln was likely pleased with reports from General William T. Sherman, who was in North Carolina, following victory at the Battle of Fayetteville. Sherman reported to his commander, Ulysses Grant, that his army was in very good spirits. Here is the test of a letter he sent to Grant on March 12, 1865:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,
FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March. 12, 1865.
Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, commanding United States Army, City Point, Virginia.
DEAR GENERAL: We reached this place yesterday at noon; Hardee, as usual, retreating across the Cape Fear, burning his bridges; but our pontoons will be up to-day, and, with as little delay as possible, I will be after him toward Goldsboro. A tug has just come up from Wilmington, and before I get off from here, I hope to get from Wilmington some shoes and stockings, sugar, coffee, and flour. We are abundantly supplied with all else, having in a measure lived off the country.
The army is in splendid health, condition, and spirits, though we have had foul weather, and roads that would have stopped travel to almost any other body of men I ever heard of.
Our march, was substantially what I designed--straight on Columbia, feigning on Branchville and Augusta. We destroyed, in passing, the railroad from the Edisto nearly up to Aiken; again, from Orangeburg to the Congaree; again, from Colombia down to Kingsville on the Wateree, and up toward Charlotte as far as the Chester line; thence we turned east on Cheraw and Fayetteville. At Colombia we destroyed immense arsenals and railroad establishments, among which wore forty-three cannon. At Cheraw we found also machinery and material of war sent from Charleston, among which were twenty-five guns and thirty-six hundred barrels of powder; and here we find about twenty guns and a magnificent United States' arsenal.
We cannot afford to leave detachments, and I shall therefore destroy this valuable arsenal, so the enemy shall not have its use; and the United States should never again confide such valuable property to a people who have betrayed a trust.
I could leave here to-morrow, but want to clear my columns of the vast crowd of refugees and negroes that encumber us. Some I will send down the river in boats, and the rest to Wilmington by land, under small escort, as soon as we are across Cape Fear River.
I hope you have not been uneasy about us, and that the fruits of this march will be appreciated. It had to be made not only to destroy the valuable depots by the way, but for its incidents in the necessary fall of Charleston, Georgetown, and Wilmington. If I can now add Goldsboro' without too much cost, I will be in a position to aid you materially in the spring campaign. Jos. Johnston may try to interpose between me here and Schofield about Newbern; but I think he will not try that, but concentrate his scattered armies at Raleigh, and I will go straight at him as soon as I get our men reclothed and our wagons reloaded. Keep everybody busy, and let Stoneman push toward Greensboro' or Charlotte from Knoxville; even a feint in that quarter will be most important. The railroad from Charlotte to Danville is all that is left to the enemy, and it will not do for me to go there, on account of the red-clay hills which are impassable to wheels in wet weather. I expect to make a junction with General Schofield in ten days.
Yours truly,
W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General
On March 12th Lincoln also met for a half an hour with Dr. Anson Henry and Noah Brooks. Brooks was a journalist and editor who worked for newspapers in Sacramento, San Francisco, Newark, and New York. He too authored a biography of Lincoln. He had been involved in the first Republican campaign for President, that of John C. Frémont. During the campaign, he became friends with Lincoln. After the death of his wife in 1862, Brooks moved to Washington, D.C. to cover the Lincoln administration for the Sacramento Daily Union. He was welcomed into the Lincoln household as an old friend. Brooks maintained a friendship with both the President and Mrs. Lincoln. In 1895, Brooks published his biography of Lincoln, entitled "Washington in Lincoln’s Time".
Lincoln was not feeling well and the next day, March 13th, he was described in a later report from the New York Herald as being "quite sick". The Herald reported that Lincoln did not see any visitors that day.
Lincoln was likely pleased with reports from General William T. Sherman, who was in North Carolina, following victory at the Battle of Fayetteville. Sherman reported to his commander, Ulysses Grant, that his army was in very good spirits. Here is the test of a letter he sent to Grant on March 12, 1865:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,
FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March. 12, 1865.
Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, commanding United States Army, City Point, Virginia.
DEAR GENERAL: We reached this place yesterday at noon; Hardee, as usual, retreating across the Cape Fear, burning his bridges; but our pontoons will be up to-day, and, with as little delay as possible, I will be after him toward Goldsboro. A tug has just come up from Wilmington, and before I get off from here, I hope to get from Wilmington some shoes and stockings, sugar, coffee, and flour. We are abundantly supplied with all else, having in a measure lived off the country.
The army is in splendid health, condition, and spirits, though we have had foul weather, and roads that would have stopped travel to almost any other body of men I ever heard of.
Our march, was substantially what I designed--straight on Columbia, feigning on Branchville and Augusta. We destroyed, in passing, the railroad from the Edisto nearly up to Aiken; again, from Orangeburg to the Congaree; again, from Colombia down to Kingsville on the Wateree, and up toward Charlotte as far as the Chester line; thence we turned east on Cheraw and Fayetteville. At Colombia we destroyed immense arsenals and railroad establishments, among which wore forty-three cannon. At Cheraw we found also machinery and material of war sent from Charleston, among which were twenty-five guns and thirty-six hundred barrels of powder; and here we find about twenty guns and a magnificent United States' arsenal.
We cannot afford to leave detachments, and I shall therefore destroy this valuable arsenal, so the enemy shall not have its use; and the United States should never again confide such valuable property to a people who have betrayed a trust.
I could leave here to-morrow, but want to clear my columns of the vast crowd of refugees and negroes that encumber us. Some I will send down the river in boats, and the rest to Wilmington by land, under small escort, as soon as we are across Cape Fear River.
I hope you have not been uneasy about us, and that the fruits of this march will be appreciated. It had to be made not only to destroy the valuable depots by the way, but for its incidents in the necessary fall of Charleston, Georgetown, and Wilmington. If I can now add Goldsboro' without too much cost, I will be in a position to aid you materially in the spring campaign. Jos. Johnston may try to interpose between me here and Schofield about Newbern; but I think he will not try that, but concentrate his scattered armies at Raleigh, and I will go straight at him as soon as I get our men reclothed and our wagons reloaded. Keep everybody busy, and let Stoneman push toward Greensboro' or Charlotte from Knoxville; even a feint in that quarter will be most important. The railroad from Charlotte to Danville is all that is left to the enemy, and it will not do for me to go there, on account of the red-clay hills which are impassable to wheels in wet weather. I expect to make a junction with General Schofield in ten days.
Yours truly,
W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General