Abraham Lincoln's Whistle Stop Tour

Most Americans have a general knowledge of Abraham Lincoln's life story. He was born in Kentucky, and lived in both Indiana and Kentucky. Lincoln's accomplishments include election to both state and federal legislative bodies. He was a lawyer, husband, and father.  Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States. Because of his election, the southern states seceded from the Union, and the Civil War erupted. Lincoln was elected to a second term in office, but it was cut short by his assassination.

 During my research of Lincoln's life and politics, I came across the story of Lincoln's arrival to Washington as president-elect. Two different entities, Detective Allen Pinkerton of Chicago and William and Frederick Seward, had each independently uncovered a plot to assassinate Lincoln as he traveled through Baltimore, Maryland, to Washington D.C. Lincoln had been making his way from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington D.C., stopping in varies cities and making speeches. Upon receiving this intelligence while in Philadelphia, Lincoln decides to fulfill his promised appointments in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


 After fulfilling his commitments in Harrisburg, Lincoln, accompanied by two friends and wearing a disguise, boarded the train for Washington on February 22, 1861, at 11 p.m. Lincoln's departure was hours ahead of schedule. Lincoln and his companions arrived undetected in Washington the next morning about the time he was scheduled to leave Harrisburg.

 During the trip from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., Lincoln gave speeches enlightening his supporters and the nation about what his policies were going to be. Prior to this, Lincoln had not campaigned around the nation. He had instead followed the common practice of the day to stay at home and let supporters come to him. Delegates of his party were designated to travel and let the country know what the party stood for.

 Lincoln's whistle stop tour was the first time Lincoln himself had said anything to the nation about his policies. One local newspaper in Delaware State commented on both Lincoln's policies and his safety.
           "We are on the verge of the inauguration, and that silence, on political
       subjects, so long observed, by Mr. Lincoln, must soon end.
           "The fate of generations yet unborn may hang upon the sentiments he may
       utter. We have a hope that Mr. Lincoln will rise to the highest platform of
       patriotism.
           "In the meantime there is, in some quarters, an earnest effort to away him and
       his opinions. He can have no safety but in his own and the discretion of patriots."
                                                                          Smyrna Times (Delaware)
                                                                               February 28, 1861

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For further reading, visit...
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Delaware Public Archives, Dover, DE
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Jefferson Davis - President of the Confederate States of America

February 18, 1861 - Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the 
first president of the Confederate States of America.
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Jefferson Davis was born in Christian (now Todd) County, Kentucky, on June 3, 1808. His father, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, moved the Davis family to Mississippi. Young Jefferson was taught at home. He then attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Upon completion at the university in 1824, Davis was appointed to West Point by President Monroe. One of his classmates at West Point was Robert E. Lee. Davis graduated West Point in 1828, at the age of twenty. He was commissioned as a second-Lieutenant and sent to the Northwest with the First Infantry. During his time in the Infantry, he fought in the Black-Hawk War.

Davis suddenly resigned from military service in June of 1835. He married Sallie Knox Taylor, Colonel Zackary Taylor's daughter, and returned to Mississippi to be a cotton planter. His married life, however, was cut short. Sallied died three months after their marriage from malaria. He remarried Varnia Howell ten years later.

In 1843, Davis stepped into politics. His speeches at the democratic convention impressed those who heard him. On December 8, 1845, Davis took his seat in the United States Senate. Nine months after taking his senate seat, Davis vacated it to help fight the Mexican War. He regained it again in 1847 when he was appointed to Senate after the death of the former senator.

When the next Mississippi gubernatorial race was held in 1851, Davis ran. He was defeated, however. At the same time, Davis became ill and was forced to resign from public office. He returned to private life for a short time. In 1852, the newly elected President Pierce called upon Davis' services. Upon much consideration, Davis accepted the office of the secretary of war.

Davis entered the U.S. Senate once again on March 4, 1857. When the people of Mississippi voted to secede from the Union on January 9, 1861, Davis knew he no longer had a job. While Davis was been a strong proponent of states rights, he was not an advocate of speeding up secession. However, he understood the reasons for secession and publicly backed Mississippi in their decision. Davis returned to Mississippi where he was elected to be put in command of the state forces. But he only held the office for a few weeks before he was elected President of the Confederate States of America.

Davis did not have confidence in his ability to carry out such a job. When he first received word of his election, his wife later said Davis "looked so grieved that I feared some evil had befallen our family." Davis did not shrink back from the new and daunting challenge before him. He realized the struggles challenges that forming a new country would bring. Davis said, "Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles innumerable. We are without machinery, without means, and threatened by powerful opposition but I do not despond and will not shrink from the task before me."

Some of Davis' war strategies and appointments were criticized because of their lack of success or poor appointments. His own vice president, Alexander Stephens, did not like Davis' management. After the end of the Civil War, Davis was captured and held in prison for two years before being released. He was never brought to trial for the alleged crimes he had committed. Davis returned to Mississippi, where he retired and eventually died in 1889.
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For more information about Jefferson Davis, visit...
civilwarhome.com
Jefferson Davis' farewell Senate speech
americancivilwar.com
jeffersondavis.rice.edu
tulane.edu
Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library
spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
history.com
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Gathering Storm Clouds - On This Day in Civil War History

     This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The Civil War proper started on April 12, 1861. However, storm clouds were gathering months, even years before. What follows is a brief overview of what happened starting November 1860 through today's date 1861.


On this day in history....
Nov, 6, 1860
     Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States. The Southern states threaten to leave the Union.

Dec. 20, 1860
     South Carolina becomes the first state to take action on their threat and secede from the Union.

Jan. 3, 1861
     Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.

Jan. 5, 1861
     The "Star of the West," a civilian Union merchant ship leaves for Fort Sumter, South Carolina with men and supplies. Everyone but Major Robert Anderson, commander of the fort, knows of the ships mission.

Jan. 9, 1861
     Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union.
     The "Star of the West" is met in South Carolina by militia fire. Major Robert Anderson, commander of Fort Sumter, doesn't know what is happening and decides to not fire on the militia. This incident begins a stand off in Charleston Harbor.

Jan. 10, 1861
     Florida secedes from the Union.

Jan. 11, 1861
     Alabama secedes from the Union.
     
Jan. 12, 1861
     Major Robert Anderson, stationed at Fort Sumter, sends a dispatch to Washington declaring allegiance to the Union.

Jan. 16, 1861
     The Crittenden Compromise fails to pass in the Senate. It was a last chance effort to keep the Union together,

Jan. 19, 1861
     Georgia secedes from the Union.

Jan. 21, 1861
     Jefferson Davis gives his farewell Senate speech. During the speech, Davis stated that he agreed with Mississippi's vote to secede and they had put him out of a job. He expressed forgiveness and no ill will towards those he had disagreed with in the Senate. He also ask the same of his former colleagues. After the the speech, Davis and four other colleagues from seceded state leave the Senate and return to the South.

Jan. 26, 1861
     Louisiana secedes from the Union.

Jan. 29, 1861
     Kansas enters the Union as a free state after much blood shed between Kansas and Missouri residents over the issue of slavery.

Feb. 1, 1861
     Texas becomes the last pre-war state to secede from the Union. This decision went against the wishes of Governor Sam Houston.

Feb. 4, 1861
     Delegates from the seceded states, with the exception of Texas, met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed a new government.

Feb. 8, 1861
     A provisional constitution is adopted for the Confederate States of America.

Feb. 9, 1861
     Jefferson Davis is elected Provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

Feb. 10, 1861
     Jefferson Davis learns of his election. He said he was unfit for the job and the odds were great, but he would not shrink back. (Read more)

Feb. 11, 1861
     President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves Springfield, Illinois, headed to Washington D.C.
     At a stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, Lincoln asked those gathered if it was coercion or invasion to invade South Carolina and make them submit. He also asked which one it would be if the Union was to just reclaim it's forts.

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For more information...
Jefferson Davis Farewell
1861 in the United States
This Day in History
Lincoln's Whistle Stop Tour to Washington
Lincoln's Whistle Tour Speech in Indianapolis, IN
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Graves in Unexpected Places

This past week, I made an unexpected discovery. I happened to find the grave marker for Rev. Richard Whatcoat. I was visiting the Wesley Methodist Church in Dover, DE when I stumbled upon the grave marker.  It was hanging on the wall in one of the church's hallways.

Richard Whatcoat's grave marker
Special thanks to Wesley Methodist Church

What interested me in this piece of stone wasn't what was written on it, but the explanation across the hallway that accompanied the stone.

A brief history of Richard Whatcoat
Special thanks to Wesley Methodist Church
Now, I must admit, I would not have known who Richard Whatcoat was if an explanation had not been available. And I probably would not have been very interested in him even after I read about him if I hadn't recognized some other names like Francis Asbury, John Wesley, Thomas Coke, and the young Methodist Church.

For those in Protestant churches, John Wesley is a recognizable name from 1700 and 1800's. Wesley was known for his preaching and founding Methodist Societies, starting in England and then spreading to the Amereican colonies. The men who helped John Wesley spread Methodism in colonies are not as well-known. Francis Asbury, Thomas Coke, and Richard Whatcoat were three of those men. They also served as the first three bishops of the Methodist Church in America. Whatcoat and Asbury were also traveling companions as they spread the Christian Gospel throughout the colonies and the new western frontier.

At the end of Whatcoat's life, he became ill and stayed with a friend of his in Dover, DE. When he died, he was buried under the pulpit of Wesley Church in Dover where he had preached many times. The grave marker was put on Whatcoat's grave. When the church moved several years later, they grave marker was moved also, but Whatcoat's body remained. A monument was later erected in the graveyard near the old church.

The graveyard at North Street near Slaughter Street
A special thanks to Wesley Methodist Church in Dover, DE for allowing me to photograph Richard Whatcoat's grave marker located inside their church.

For further reading about Richard Whatcoat...
Whatcoat United Methodist Church - Who Was Whatcoat?
Richard Whatcoat - www.FrancisAsbury.org
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