Senator John D. Hatfield Escaped From Libby Prison by Tunneling Out.

Hatfield Honored by Abe Lincoln. President Introduced Him to Both Houses of Congress—Story of the Famous Escape of 131 Men.

While eloquent members of the Nebraska state senate was eulogizing Abraham Lincoln on the 100th birthday of the martyred president, there sat silent, but attentive to the proceeding one member of that body who had the honor of having been introduced by Lincoln to both branches of congress. 

That man was Senator John D. "J.D." Hatfield [D] (1909-1911) of Antelope county. Few persons on the occasion of the speechmaking in the senate knew that Senator Hatfield had been thus honored or was aware of the reasons why President Lincoln had paid him this tribute. 

Captain John D. Hatfield of Neligh, Nebraska.
Escaped from Libby Prison and was Honored by President Lincoln.

Some may have noticed a little bronze button on the lapel of the senator's coat, but he had been among his fellow senators only a short time and had been so quiet that it was not even known that he claimed the honor of having met the Lincoln who is now the ideal of the American people and of the world Senator Hatfield is like four of the other members of the senate. 

He had the fortune to serve in the war of the rebellion in defense of the union. He was one of the 131 brave Union prisoners-of-war to escape from captivity by planning and digging a tunnel from Libby prison to the open air of freedom. Captain Hatfield was one of the men who escaped and made their way to the Union lines. A few days later, Hatfield was personally invited to the White House by President Abraham Lincoln to be shown every honor.

Libby Prison

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Luther Libby was running a ship supply shop from the corner of a large warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. In need of a new prison for captured Union officers, Confederate soldiers gave Libby 48 hours to evacuate his property. The sign over the north-west corner reading "L. Libby & Son, Ship Chandlers" was never removed, and consequently, the building and prison bore his name. Since the Confederates believed the building inescapable, the staff considered their job relatively easy.

Libby Prison, August 23, 1863.

Death Lottery

It was also his fortune while in Libby Prison at Richmond, Virginia to be one of the prisoners of the rank of captain who drew lots one of the most gruesome of prizes, the privilege of being hanged by the neck till dead, a fate which the rebel authorities proposed in retaliation for the hanging of two southern spies found within the union lines Neither of the two little black beans in the lottery fell to him.

Captured In a Charge

How Senator Hatfield came to meet President Lincoln dates back to Jackson, Mississippi, when by the blunder of some superior officer his troops were ordered to charge strong breastworks of the confederates.- He obeyed, as captain of Company H, 53rd Illinois, and while many of the soldiers remained on the battlefield, dead or wounded, he and about 200 others went over the breastworks. It is needless to say he stayed there as a prisoner of war. While in the hands of the southern men who commanded troops in the field he was well treated but his transfer to Libby prison at Richmond, Virginia. was a different story. Immediately after his capture, he asked permission to go back over the field. Under a guard, he was allowed this privilege. What he saw there was the most distressing sight of his life. His colonel and the lieutenant colonel were among the dead.

He remained seven months in Libby before the historical escape occurred. The life there was not to be compared to that at Andersonville, but it was bad enough. The open windows [of the large tobacco warehouse let in cold and one night the temperature fell to 4° below zero. The prisoners had nothing but one blanket and a bare floor to sleep upon and they had to run about the prison all night to keep from freezing to death.

Plan to Escape.

"I never knew who dug the tunnel," said Captain Hatfield, "for the reason that we worked at night and never were able to recognize each other in the day time. 

By removing a stove on the first floor and chipping their way into the adjoining chimney, the officers constructed a cramped but effective passage for access to the eastern basement. Once access between the two floors was established, the officers set about plans to tunnel their way out. There were fifteen men on the work and it required fifty-one days and nights.

Among the number was one civil engineer who did some calculating for us, but after all, we started to come out of the ground with the tunnel too soon before we had got past a high board fence in a vacant lot where we desired to have the exit. 

History gives the credit to Colonel Rose for planning the escape, but it belongs to others as I understand it. The men who started it found the Work too slow and called in others to help. I was confided in after the work started. The basement below where we were imprisoned was used as a storeroom and we dared not use it, so a sloping tunnel was started through the brick wall to a basement opposite our quarters. This second basement was over 100 feet long and was lighted only by one door with dirty glass. The farthest end where it was dark and where some hogsheads and barrels were piled, was the place chosen for the entrance to the main tunnel. It was planned to go under the street and come out in a vacant lot behind a store, the proposed exit being behind a high board fence. 

"You can imagine it was slow work. Two men labored in the day time and two at night. We had nothing to work with except a case knife and a chisel. To haul the dirt out of the place we had to use a wooden spittoon. To this, we tied a strip of a blanket to haul it out and to haul it into the tunnel. Every time the work stopped the hole in the wall had to be stopped up and ashes were used to make the wall look solid. Then we had to prevent the guards from missing the two men who were constantly on the work. The count taken in the morning and at night was not by actual count, but by squares of men lined up four abreast. To make the square look full one prisoner would playfully jostle another to one side and sometimes a hat would be held up to represent a man in the squad. 

We started to throw the earth taken from the tunnel into a sewer that emptied into a canal near the prison, but this was abandoned because the dirt discolored the water and made us afraid our plans would be discovered. The dirt was piled in the dark end of a large basement room behind hogsheads and barrels.

The Tunnel Finished

"The supreme moment came on the evening of February 9, 1864. At eight o'clock prisoners began to enter the tunnel to make their strike for liberty. The hole was so narrow that a big man had difficulty in worming his way through. There was danger that men would smother to death in the hole and stop our way to the open air. I entered the tunnel at 11 o'clock at night. I did not care to start earlier for fear of the patrol through the city. A large man in front of me puffed and groaned in his efforts to wiggle through the hole. One big man had to be assisted. Others crept up behind him and he put his feet on the shoulders of the man next to him and pushed, while the man in front of him pulled with all his might on his arms.

"One hundred and nine passed through the tunnel by daylight. Before I wont out I loosened and pulled out of position two bars to a window. This was planned in the hope that the rebels would not find our exit, but would think we got out of the window and that the guards would be blamed. Then it was hoped other prisoners might use the tunne! the next night. It turned out as we supposed. When the prisoners were missed in the morning the guards were placed under arrest for negligence. Diligent search was made all day for the means of escape, but nothing except the disarranged bars of the window were found till some one saw the hole in the vacant lot. Then a negro was put into it and he worked his way back into the prison through the tunnel we had used. 

"It was never accurately known how many of the 109 got into the union lines. The number was between 37 and 56. The escaped men went in twos or singly, i was alone and was five days traveling ninety miles to the union lines at Williamsburg, Va., where the Seventh New York cavalry took me in charge. I was bareheaded and barefooted and badly frozen and had only one meal of victuals in five days.

"It is no easy job to hide in the winter in the daytime. By traveling at night and hiding by day I managed to get through. The open fields, especially if they were overgrown I found the best places to hide in. The ground was frozen and made a nice place to lie in. As what clothing I had was already frozen I did not mind the frozen ground. A strong constitution was probably all that enabled me to endure the hardship of the trip. Frequently I could see the rebels searching in skirmish lines through the timber and fields for the escaped men. This kept me alert and I had little chance to forget the seriousness of the situation. 

Negro Furnishes Aid

"The rebels had destroyed all of the boats on the Chickahominy River that I had to cross and I was looking for cordwood or some other means of floating across because I knew I would die if I attempted to swim. Just then I heard someone coming through the brush. I hid under the boards of a little boat landing and when I thought the person approaching was near me I jumped out and grasped him by the neck and told him I would kill him if he tried to getaway. The only weapons I had were a butcher knife and a cane.

"Good Lord, Massey spare my life," said the man. Then I knew he was a negro, and I did not harm him. I told him who I was and what I wanted and he said he had a boat hidden in the brush. We carried it to the river and he rowed me over and said he would go back and get something for me to eat. True to his word he came back with a nice supper of cornbread and bacon, which he had had his wife cook in their cabin. That was the only meal I had on the way. 

For two days I remained at Williamsburg and then went to Fortress Monroe, where I remained one day. General Ben Butler was in command there. I had never seen him but was able to recognize him from ' descriptions of his peculiar countenance. He gave me a pass to Washington, where I arrived at 7 o'clock in the evening. The return of one of the Libby prison men appeared to create some commotion. At 8 o'clock in the evening, President Lincoln sent an orderly and invited me to come to the White House and stay overnight. I was poorly clad and felt unfit physically to appear before him and asked the orderly to present my excuse. The next morning while passing up Pennsylvania avenue a Jewish merchant came out and asked me if I was the man who came in yesterday. He wanted to sell me a uniform, but I told him I was poor and had no money. He took me in the store and insisted on giving me a uniform of my rank with the understanding that if I did not get my pay he would let me keep it for free.

I visited a barbershop and got my hair cut and with the new uniform on my back, I felt better and must have looked somewhat like a human being.

Interview With Lincoln

A brother of Governor Morton of Indiana introduced himself to me and offered to go with me to the white house. He said he was personally acquainted with the president. I accepted his offer. I can never forget how Lincoln looked. He sat down in a chair and wrapped his long loose looking legs in a peculiar way, one behind the other under the chair rungs.

"Captain," he said, "I always said if I found a man homelier than myself I would kill him. I believe I have found him."

"All right," I said, "I am not much good; I am about played out anyway."

"I'll give you one chance," he said, "I'll leave it to Mrs. Lincoln."

"If you do, my life will be spared," I replied.

He called for Mrs. Lincoln and when she entered the room, he introduced me and said, "Now, haven't I found him?"

"No," she replied, "If he were well he would be a better-looking man than you."

Lincoln then asked me questions about the escape of the prisoners and about myself. This took up the time till noon and he had me remain for dinner. He asked me if I had ever seen Washington and when I told him I had not, he offered to take me about the city. He first took me to congress, which was then in session, and introduced me to both houses. We visited all the places of interest. He took me to the paymaster general and there I drew pay amounting to $1,015 ($16,850 today). He took me to Secretary of War Stanton and told him to give me a leave of absence for thirty days and a free pass to Illinois. I suggested that I would not be in condition for service in thirty days, but Lincoln said under general orders a leave could not be granted for a longer period. He told me to report my condition and he would leave it to my honor and if necessary extend the leave of absence. I got one extension signed by President Lincoln and then went back to the service and marched with Sherman to the sea.

Butler's Famous Threat

"While with General Butler I asked about his threat to hang General Fitzhugh Lee and Captain Winder, confederate prisoners in his charge, if the rebels carried out their threat to hang Captain Sawyer and Captain Flynn of Libby prison. He said he surely would have done it. I suggested that he would not because Lincoln would not have let him.

"I would have had them shot first," said General Butler, "and then reported to Lincoln what I had done." "I never knew why Captain Sawyer and Captain Flynn were not hanged by the rebels, but I understood that the threat of General Butler saved their lives. Before I left Libby prison I heard the rebels say of General Butler, "The old brute will do it."

Letters from Libby Prison [Runtime 16:11]

The Libby Prison Break was the largest and most successful of the Civil War.

Nebraska State Journal, February 14, 1909

Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop of Chicago, a Long History of Rare Collectables.

Ralph Newman, a master promoter, raconteur, one time Merchant Marine, minor-league baseball player, and hopeless bibliophile, owned a bookshop called “Home of Books” that he opened in 1932. His location was close to the Chicago Daily Newspaper offices and two of their leading journalists, Carl Sandburg and Lloyd Lewis, kept coming into the shop. They became friends with Ralph and turned his interest, over time, towards the Civil War and Lincoln studies. In 1938 Ralph decided to rename his store the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop and specialize in Lincolniana.

The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop was located at 33 North LaSalle Street in Chicago. Then in 1990, they moved to 18 East Chestnut Street until 2016, when the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop made yet another move to 824 West Superior Street, where they still serve the needs of discerning collectors, Lincoln scholars, professional historians, independent writers, dedicated first edition book hunters and casual history enthusiasts.

Among the small circle of Ralph's friends were poet Carl Sandburg, authors Bruce Catton, Otto Eisenschiml, E.B. ‘Pete’ Long, Stanley Horn, Lloyd Lewis, and T. Harry Williams, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner and William O. Douglas the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Famous 'Round Table'

Also among Newman’s circle of friends were the fifteen men who became the charter members of 'The Civil War Round Table,' the first chapter of the Civil War Round Table groups that meet monthly across the country and around the World. Round Table members from around the globe still visit the Book Shop and sit at the original “round table” while reviewing Lincoln autographs, manuscripts, artwork, or rare books.

In 1971 Daniel Weinberg entered into a partnership with Ralph Newman, and in 1984 purchased Newman’s interest to become the sole proprietor.

Daniel Weinberg, owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, November 7, 2016.

As suggested by the name, the Book Shop specializes in Lincolniana, material related to the Civil War, and material related to U.S. presidents. Rare books, autographs, manuscripts, works of art, statuary, and other treasures grace the bookshelves and walls. In-print books, pamphlets, historic broadsides, cartes de visite, and magnificent reproductions of Lincoln and Civil War photographs are available to those who share their love of history. Among their staff, are experts in U.S. history, publishing and bookbinding, art history, photographic history, and handwriting.

Abraham Lincoln Letters and Documents at the

Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago. [Runtime 8:24]

They take pride in the ability to obtain some of the rarest historic collectibles, their wide selection of in-print and out-of-print books provide a ready resource for the new student looking to start an American history library with reasonably priced first editions of standard works. The Book Shop provides assistance to those developing new collections with their carefully assembled lists of recommended titles on Lincoln, The Essential Lincoln Book Shelf, and on the U.S. Presidency, The Essential Presidential Book Shelf. 

In 2006, Daniel Weinberg holds the second-oldest known photograph of the 16th president. The photo was purchased by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, for $150,000.

In addition to the well-stocked shelves and collecting lists, they supply important services to the history collector, offering expert appraisal services for those who wish to establish the monetary worth of family heirlooms.

The one item Daniel Weinberg says he would save from a fire is a signature in which Lincoln misspelled his name. It shows he's human.

Even though they have about the longest history of any commercial venture in the field, the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop continues to develop new and exciting items for the walls and bookshelves of their friends and customers. In recent years they've brought to the market contact prints of President Lincoln from Alexander Gardner’s original collodion wet-plate glass negatives, including the most vivid image yet of the famous “Gettysburg Lincoln,” and a magnificent Imperial Salt Print of the same view. In 2001 James Swanson (a long-time customer) and Daniel Weinberg co-authored the "Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial And Execution."

Daniel Weinberg, a Lincoln scholar, states his favorite book for Abraham Lincoln's biography is Ron White's "A. Lincoln."

Samuel Wheeler, Ph.D. Former Illinois State Historian at the

Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, Illinois. [Runtime 9:24]

The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop opened in 1938 at 33 North LaSalle Street, then moved to 18 East Chestnut Street in Chicago. 

Today, the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop is located at 824 West Superior Street in Chicago. By Appointment, Online, or Zoom, (312) 944-3085. - ALincolnBookShop.com

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Fort Abraham Lincoln near Mandan, North Dakota (1872-1891).

Constructed in June 1872 by Companies B and C of the 6th U.S. Infantry to protect the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The initial post was located on a high bluff overlooking the confluence of the Missouri River and the Heart River and was known as Fort McKeen. Fort McKeen, named for Colonel H. Boyd McKeen, who was a Pennsylvanian officer and brigade commander killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor during the Civil War, was built as an infantry post with three blockhouses and a partial palisade, unsuited for cavalry operations. It was soon realized that the mission required mounted cavalry and that the new post was unsuited for those troops. 

A second post, Fort Abraham Lincoln, was constructed just south of Fort McKeen. The new post was begun in late 1872 as a six-company cavalry post and on March 3, 1873, Fort Abraham Lincoln was authorized by act of Congress. The newly created fort encompassed both the infantry post and the cavalry post.

Fort Abraham Lincoln was built to protect the Northern Pacific Railroad[1] and to contain the local Indian tribes, including the Sioux. A post office also operated at the fort.

Fort Abraham Lincoln Cavalry Post Blockhouse.

The first commander of the combined post was Lieutenant Colonel (brevetted Major General[2]) George Armstrong Custer. Custer had fought in the Civil War in the 1860s and had been given the temporary rank of “General” at that time. The commander’s house at Fort Abraham Lincoln was very large and fancy. It had a bathroom, expensive carpets, drapes, and fine furniture.

Fort Abraham Lincoln Cavalry Post Custer House.

Fort Abraham Lincoln Cavalry Post Custer House Interior.

By 1874 the fort housed nine companies with about 650 men, three companies of the 6th Infantry, and 17th Infantry, and six companies of the 7th Cavalry. The fort was among the largest and most important on the Northern Plains.

Hunting camp party of Custer (standing in center) and guests at Fort Abraham Lincoln on the Heart River, Dakota. Territory, 1875. Note Custer's fringed leather coat.

The Lakota were made up of several bands that were related to the Dakota nation. In 1876, Lakota leaders Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face, and Gall led a large band of Lakota to Montana to hunt bison and celebrate a summer feast. The U.S. government ordered the Indians to return to their reservations, but they ignored this order. The Lakota were angry about treaties being broken and their lands being taken over by settlers and gold seekers. The Indians were forced to live on reservations. Provisions promised to them were often not available.

Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, 7th Cavalry Band.

The Army ordered troops to Montana to move the Lakota back to their reservations. On May 17, 1876, Custer and his troops prepared to leave Fort Lincoln. Giovanni Martino (John Martin), Custer’s Bugler, details the brigade’s make-up and disposition. "The troops for this expedition consisted of twelve troops of the Seventh Cavalry, four companies of infantry, ten of fifteen Indian scouts, and twenty-five or thirty civilians. We took the field at 6:30 AM 'Boots and Saddles' was sounded, and at 7 AM, stand, horse, and mount was called. Then we passed in review and bade farewell to our friends and though the band was playing "The Girl I Left Behind Me," it seemed like a funeral procession.

American Marching Song:

"The Girl I Left Behind Me."

Then they started off for Montana. Libby Custer and other officers’ wives rode with the troops part of the first day. Then they stopped to say their goodbyes. Later they played Custer’s favorite tune, “Garyowen” [Garry Owen].” 

"Garyowen" - Song of the 7th Cavalry

Martin continues, “After leaving the post, the march was taken up in columns of fours, route step, General Terry and staff in the front, followed by General Custer and staff (Mrs. Custer rode on the left of the General). That day we made Little Heart River and camped for the night. After pitching camp assembly was sounded (I was a bugler) and we fell in for payment. It was a pretty sober crowd, everybody felt the position we were in. Some made deposits for their money, and I, for one, put $50 with the Paymaster. The next morning general call was sounded at 6:30, boots and saddles at 7, and we took up the march again. The paymaster went back to Fort Abraham Lincoln.”

Group portrait of officers in uniform, from the 7th Cavalry and 6th Infantry, and ladies, standing and seated in front of building at Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota, circa 1874. Lt. Colonel Custer is the third person from the left.

Identified persons by number are: 1) Lt. Bronson, 6th Infantry; 2) Lt. George D. Wallace, 7th Cavalry; 3) General George Armstrong Custer, 7th Cavalry; 4) Lt. Benjamin H. Hodgson, 7th Cavalry; 5) Mrs. Elizabeth B. Custer (wife of General Custer); 6) Mrs. Thomas McDougall, 7th Cavalry; 7) Capt. Thomas; McDougall, 7th Cavalry;  8) Capt. Badger, 6th Infantry; 9) Mrs. George W. Yates; 10) Capt. George W. Yates, 7th Cavalry; 11) Charles Thompson (civilian clothing); 12) Mrs. James Calhoun, wife of Lt. Calhoun (and sister of General Custer); 13) Miss  Annie Bates; 14) Col. Poland, 6th Infantry; 15) Lt. Charles A. Varnum, 7th  Cavalry; 16) General Carlin, 6th Infantry; 17) Mrs. Myles Moylan; 18) Capt. Thomas W. Custer, 7th Cavalry; 19) Col. William Thompson; 20) Lt. James.

The Indian tribes had come together at the Little Bighorn River at the behest of Chief Sitting Bull to discuss what to do about the white man.

Scouts who were sent ahead came back and reported to Custer that there were huge numbers of Indians camped beside the Little Bighorn River (the Lakotas called this river the Greasy Grass). Custer did not believe that there could be so many. He decided to go ahead and attack without waiting for the two other units.

Custer's command came upon this large encampment, he split his forces into three battalions and attacked. A series of missteps and an underestimation of Indian strength caused the initial attack by Major Marcus Reno to falter then fail. Thousands of Indians then attacked the remaining men who were forced to ground by the overwhelming force. Custer and all his men were killed in the final stand. Other units also failed to defeat the Lakotas and their Cheyenne Indian allies.

Wounded soldiers from the other units were quickly taken to the Yellowstone River where the steamboat "Far West" was waiting with supplies. The boat’s pilot, Captain Grant Marsh, steamed as fast as he could back to Bismarck. Ten days after the battle, the Far West reached Bismarck, and word quickly spread that over 250 men had lost their lives.

Though the Lakota had defeated the U.S. Army in battle, they knew more soldiers would come after them. They left the Greasy Grass River. Several bands traveled all the way to Canada where they were safe from the U.S. Army.

It seemed like everybody criticized Custer for being reckless and leading his troops to death. Libby Custer wanted people to believe that her husband was a brave hero. She spent the next 57 years, until her death at age 91, writing books, articles, and letters defending her husband’s memory.

Fort Abraham Lincoln remained the headquarters of the 7th Cavalry until June of 1882 when the 7th and its headquarters were transferred to Fort Meade in South Dakota. After the railroad to Montana was complete the fort gradually declined in importance and was finally abandoned in 1891.

After the fort was abandoned, settlers took apart the buildings and used the lumber to build houses and farm buildings. They also made good use of other items they found, like the fancy bathtubs in the officers’ quarters made good feeding troughs for the farmers’ pigs.

At its height, Fort Abraham Lincoln had 78 separate buildings. Many of those original buildings were dismantled by settlers and used in the construction of homes and farms. 

Today, several of the buildings at Fort Abraham Lincoln, including Custer’s house, have been reconstructed. The site is located in Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park near Mandan, North Dakota.

MORE UNIQUE LINCOLN ARTICLES

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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[1] The Northern Pacific Railway, founded in 1864, was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest.

[2] A brevet was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. An officer so promoted was referred to as being brevetted.

The Inside Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Stovepipe Hats and the Downfall of Dr. Samuel Wheeler, Illinois State Historian.

President Lincoln at 6' 4"

Abraham Lincoln was our tallest president. At 6-foot-4, he would stand out even today, and he certainly towered over the men and women of his era. The stovepipe hat he habitually wore in public made him look taller. 

You couldn’t miss him in a crowd. The 16th president wore the stovepipe hat in war and peace, on the stump and in Washington, on occasions formal and informal.

In fact, Lincoln wore a variety of top hats, all with a different design. During his first inauguration in 1860, he donned a lower silk plush hat. During his second term in 1864, he once again wore a stovetop hat. His last top hat was purchased from a Washington hat maker by the name of J. Y. Davis. No one really knows when the hat was purchased or how many times it was worn. It was the last hat worn when he left for the Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, the night he was assassinated.

Nowadays, we have trouble envisioning Lincoln without his stovepipe hat, but how he began wearing it remains unclear. Early in his political career, historians tell us, Lincoln probably chose the hat as a gimmick. In those days he was rarely seen without his stovepipe, the traditional seven or even eight-inch-high hat that gentlemen had been wearing since early in the century. True, Lincoln’s version was often battered a bit, as if hard-worn, an affectation perhaps intended to suit his frontier image. 

The reformer Carl Schurz, who served as a general in the Civil War, fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg and other major battles, later recalled his first meeting with Lincoln, in a railroad car in the 1850s, on the way to one of the future president’s debates with Stephen Douglas. 

Schurz described Lincoln’s tailcoat as shabby and his stovepipe hat as crumpled, giving him what one historian has called a look “of unassuming simplicity.” So ubiquitous is the image of the battered stovepipe that the playwright John Drinkwater, in his popular Abraham Lincoln (1918) play, has Mrs.Lincoln saying, shortly after her husband is nominated for president, “I’ve tried for years to make him buy a new hat.”

John Drinkwater's 'Abraham Lincoln' (1952, CBS) Starring Robert Pastene and Judith Evelyn, the TV adaptation was notable for featuring actor James Dean in the small but significant role of William Scott, a Union soldier court-martialed and condemned to death for falling asleep on watch. May 26, 1952.

The stovepipe hat is likely a descendant of the 17th-century Capotain, Steeple, or Sugarloaf hats, which was in turn influenced by the headgear worn by soldiers, the stovepipe hat gained in popularity until, by the early 1800s, says Debbie Henderson in her book "The Top Hat: An Illustrated History," “it had become the irrepressible symbol of prestige and authority.

When Lincoln gave his famous speech at the Cooper Institute in New York in February of 1860, some observers were quoted as saying that his hat looked bashed in. But this is unlikely. As the biographer Harold Holzer points out, Lincoln, the very day of his speech, bought a new stovepipe hat from Knox Great Hat and Cap at 212 Broadway. His suit fit poorly, his boots hurt his feet, but when he gave his speech in his stovepipe, says Holzer, “at least he would look taller than any man in the city.”

Lincoln’s stovepipe hats were not always of the same design. At his first inauguration in 1860, he wore the lower silk plush hat that had by that time come into fashion. By the start of his second term in 1864, he was again wearing a stovepipe, following (or perhaps ushering) a style that would continue for a good decade or more after his assassination.

Lincoln’s stovepipe made him an easy mark for caricaturists, and many drawings have survived in which the hat is the viewer’s means for identifying him. But the cartoonists are not the only ones who found it easy to spot the 16th president in his hat.

In August of 1864, Lincoln was on horseback, on his way to the Soldiers’ Home, about three miles northeast of the White House, where he had the use of a stone cottage in the summer months. A would-be assassin fired from near the road, shooting the stovepipe off Lincoln’s head. Soldiers who found it said there was a bullet hole through the crown. This incident gave rise to the popular notion that the hat saved Lincoln’s life.

The better surmise is that the hat made Lincoln easy to spot in a crowd. In July of 1864, at the Battle of Fort Stevens, he stood in the battlements wearing his trademark hat—making him, in Carl Sandburg’s phrase, “too tall a target” for the Confederates—until warned by a Union officer to get down.

On the night Lincoln died, he dressed for the theater in a silk stovepipe hat, size 7⅛,  from the Washington hatmaker J.Y. Davis, to which he had added a black silk mourning band in memory of his son Willie. When Lincoln was shot, the hat was on the floor beside his chair.

The stovepipe hat that was worn by President Lincoln to Ford's Theatre the night he was shot.

No other president is so firmly connected in our imaginations with an item of haberdashery. We remember Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cigarette holder and John F. Kennedy’s rocker, but Lincoln alone is remembered for what he wore. Harold Holzer says, “Hats were important to Lincoln: They protected him against inclement weather, served as storage bins for important papers he stuck inside their lining, and further accentuated his great height advantage over other men.”

Lincoln’s taste for hats also gave us a remarkably durable image of our most remarkable president. Lincoln remains a giant in our memories and looms even taller in his stovepipe hat.

UPDATE ON THE STOVEPIPE HAT - JULY 2020

After finding no evidence that a purchased stovepipe hat belonged to Abraham Lincoln, Illinois State Historian, Dr. Samuel Wheeler was out of a job, fired by Governor J B Pritzker, on July 15, 2020, and had been escorted out of the building. Gov. Pritzker's office wanted a different role for the state historian. That is one of two titles Wheeler held in his $88,000-a-year job — the other being director of research.

Dr. Samuel Wheeler was the State of Illinois Historian and Director of Research and Collections for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.

Dr. Samuel Wheeler had worked at the presidential library since 2013 and was named state historian in 2016.

“I think it was clear from the governor’s office that they wanted to go in a different direction with the position of historian and make it more like the poet laureate,” said Ray LaHood, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum (opened April 2005) chairman of the board and a former member of Congress and U.S. secretary of transportation. He said the position would be subject to a term appointment and the historian would travel the state giving speeches at schools and universities, and also lecture at the Lincoln library and museum in Springfield. LaHood said he thinks the new state historian position would require legislation to create. The director of research would be a separate position.

Since questions arose about the hat’s authenticity a few years ago, it has been removed from the display list. Trustee Kathryn Harris said that the subcommittee authorized Wheeler to consult with textile experts to determine whether the hat’s material is from Lincoln’s era and whether labeling inside can connect the Great Emancipator with the hatmaker on July 7th.

This beaver-skin stovepipe hat purportedly belonged to Abraham Lincoln, but its provenance is now the topic of fierce debate. 

The hat was once appraised at $6.5 million. In the report, Wheeler focused on a history of double-dealing, conflicts of interest, and neglect of basic due diligence in studying the hat’s provenance before its purchase. He also slammed a “weaponization” of the hat during years of friction between the museum and the not-for-profit that acquired it on behalf of the museum, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, the state agency for which Wheeler worked.

The stovepipe hat was the cornerstone of a $25 million haul of Lincoln artifacts in 2007 by the foundation — just as the newly-opened, state-run museum was looking to establish itself as a can’t-miss Illinois tourism destination and a nationally respected institution. Wheeler’s report also found the hat is not in Lincoln’s size, meaning he could not have worn it.

Harris said she sits on a committee of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum’s board, complimented Wheeler’s work, saying she’d heard of no complaints of his performance. She said she couldn’t say whether Wheeler’s departure was related to his report. “When people say we’re going to go in a different direction, that means nothing,” she said. “It’s words strung together that don’t mean diddly squat.

“Dr. Wheeler was never informed of any performance issues, and from my understanding of the facts, what he did was what he was asked to do,” said Springfield attorney Carl Draper, who represented Wheeler. “He wrote the reports he was asked to and he tried to fulfill his obligations that relate to his job duties.”

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Contributor, Smithsonian Magazine

Contributor, The State Journal Register

The First-Hand Story of Samuel Seymour, the Last Living Witness to President Lincoln's Assassination.

Samuel J. Seymour was from Talbot County, Maryland. His parents George and Susan Seymour had a farm near Easton, Maryland. He later lived in Arlington, Virginia. He worked as a carpenter and contractor and lived most of his later life in Baltimore, Maryland. He married Mary Rebecca Twilley. 

Samuel J. Seymour

On April 14, 1865, when he was five years old, Sarah Cook, his nurse along with Mrs. Goldsborough who was Seymour's godmother (the wife of his father's employer) took him to see Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., where they sat in the balcony across the theater from the presidential box. He saw Lincoln come into the box, waving and smiling. Later, "All of a sudden a shot rang out... and someone in the President's box screamed. I saw Lincoln slumped forward in his seat." Seymour watched John Wilkes Booth jump from the box to the stage. He remembers that not understanding what had happened to Lincoln, he was very concerned for Booth, who seemd to have hurt his leg in the jump.

Did John Wilkes Booth Really Break a Leg Jumping from Lincoln's Box at Ford's Theatre?

Mr. Seymour gave his account of the assassination to biographer Frances Spatz Leighton. The article was published in the February 7, 1954 issue of The American Weekly.

This is an eyewitness account of one of history’s great tragedies — the assassination of Abraham Lincoln — told by the only living witness left to the fateful drama enacted at Ford’s Theater on the night of April 14th, 1865. The only living witness recreates the drama of that tragic night.

I Saw Lincoln Shot by Samuel J. Seymour

Even if I were to live another 94 years, I’d still never forget my first trip away from home as a little shaver five years old.

My father was overseer on the Goldsboro estate inTalbot County, Maryland, and it seems that he and Mr. Goldsboro has to go to Washington on business — something to do with the legal status of their 150 slaves. Mrs. Goldsboro asked if she couldn’t take me and my nurse, Sarah Cook, along with her and the men, for a little holiday.

We made the 150-mile trip by coach and team and I remember how stubborn those horses were about being loaded onto an old fashioned side-wheeler steamboat for part of the journey.

It was going on toward supper time — on Good Friday, April 14th, 1865 — when we finally pulled up in front of the biggest house I ever had seen. It looked to me like a thousand farmhouses all pushed together, but my father said it was a hotel.

I was scared. I had seen men with guns, all along the street, and every gun seemed to be aimed right at me. I was too little to realize that all of Washington was getting ready to celebrate because Lee has surrendered a few days earlier.

I complained tearfully that I couldn’t get out of the coach because my shirt was torn — anything to delay the dread moment — but Sarah dug into her bag and found a big safety pin.

“You hold still now, Sammy,” she said, “and I’ll fix the tear right away.”  I shook so hard, from fright, that she accidentally stabbed me with the  pin and I hollered, “I’ve been shot!  I’ve been shot!”

When I finally had been rushed upstairs, scrubbed ,and put into fresh clothes, Mrs. Goldsboro said she had a wonderful surprise.

“Sammy, you and Sarah and I are going to a play tonight,” she explained. “A real play — and President Abraham Lincoln will be there.”

I thought a play would be a game like tag and I liked the idea. We waited a while outside the Ford Theater for tickets, then walked upstairs and sat in hard rattan-backed chairs.

Mrs. Goldsboro pointed directly across the theater to a colorfully draped box. “See those flags, Sammy?” she asked. “That’s where President Lincoln will sit.”  When he finally did come in, she lifted me high so I could see. He was a tall, stern-looking man. I guess I just thought he looked stern because of his whiskers, because he was smiling and waving to the crowd.

When everyone sat down again and the actors started moving and talking, I began to get over the scared feeling I’d had ever since we arrived inWashington. But that was something I never should have done.

All of a sudden a shot rang out — a shot that always will be remembered — and someone in the President’s box screamed. I sawLincolnslumped forward in his seat. People started milling around and I thought there’d been another accident when one man seemed to tumble over the balcony rail and land on the stage.

“Hurry, hurry, let’s go help the poor man who fell down,” I begged.

But by that time John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, had picked himself up and was running for dear life. He wasn’t caught until 12 days later when he was tracked to a barn where he was hiding.

Only a few people noticed the running man, but pandemonium broke loose in the theater, with everyone shouting:

“Lincoln’s shot! The President’s dead!”

Mrs. Goldsboro swept me into her arms and held me close and somehow we got outside the theater. That night I was shot 50 times, at least in my dreams — and I sometimes still relive the horror of Lincoln’s assassination, dozing in my rocker as an old codger like me is bound to do.

Two months before his death, Seymour appeared on the February 9, 1956, broadcast of the CBS TV panel show I've Got a Secret. 

I've Got A Secret - February 9, 1956

After arriving in New York City he suffered a fall, which left him with a large swollen knot above his right eye. Host Garry Moore, after bringing Seymour on stage, explained that he and the show's producers had urged Seymour to forgo his appearance on the show; that Seymour's doctor had left the choice up to his patient; and that Seymour very much wanted to go on.

During the game, Seymour was first questioned by panelist Bill Cullen, who quickly surmised from Seymour's age that his secret was somehow connected with the American Civil War, then correctly guessed that it had political significance and involved a political figure. Jayne Meadows then guessed that the political figure was Lincoln, and finally that Seymour had witnessed Lincoln's assassination. Because Seymour smoked a pipe rather than cigarettes, the show's sponsor, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company gave him a can of Prince Albert pipe tobacco instead of the usual prize of a carton of Winston cigarettes.

Samuel J. Seymour

He died on April 12, 1956, at his daughter's house in Arlington, Virginia, survived by five children, thirteen grandchildren, and 35 great-grandchildren. Mr. Seymour is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Of the many firsthand accounts given in books like "We Saw Lincoln Shot" by Timothy Good, this one by Mr. Seymour has an innocence in his account that can’t be found anywhere else. While Major Henry Rathbone and others give more details regarding the actual event, young “Sammy” gives a unique perspective. We become more connected to this child and his young life. We can empathize in his sense of uncertain fear and even feel the disappointment he must have had when he experienced what a “play” truly was. Most of all, I marvel at Sammy’s kindness and compassion. Ignorant of the context of what had occurred, this boy only wanted to help the man that fell.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Paying Homage to Restaurateur Burt Katz; The Inferno, Gullivers, Pequod's and Burt's Place. He is the "Father of the Caramelized Pan Pizza Crust."

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAN PIZZA AND DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Many Chicagoland pizza joints make their pizza pies with tomato sauce either on the bottom of the dough or on the top of their Deep-Dish or Pan pizzas. How the restaurant layers, the topping makes no difference and is usually proprietary to the restaurant or chain. It's up to the Pizzaiolo (Italian pizza maker) to be consistent.

Pan Pizza is made with a thick dough pasted all around the bottom and wall of a well-seasoned pan.

Deep-Dish Pizza is made with a thin to medium dough pasted all around the bottom and wall of a well-seasoned pan.

If you like more bread, look for a Pan Pizza Restaurant. Envision the Deep-Dish pizza as a 'pizza pie.' Call the restaurant and ask which pizza style they serve.

BURTON "BURT" D. KATZ

Bert Katz (1937-2016) was born in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Burt attended Roosevelt High School in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and studied history at Roosevelt University. Bert spent 25 years, on and off, as a pit trader at the Chicago Board of Trade.

On December 6, 1962, Burt and Sharon started a year-long, around-the-world honeymoon road trip in Japan. They bought a rare Toyopet Stout truck, an original Toyota, then drove through several countries, including Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Photographs show the then 24 and 25-year-olds with their truck, on which they stenciled their many stops. They shipped the truck to Chicago from Lisbon but never drove it again. Katz donated it to a friend's auto museum, which closed and sold it for scrap. When the salvage yard owner saw the stenciled country names, he could not bear to crush the truck, so again, it sold.

In 1963, Katz became an owner-partner in the pizza restaurant called The Inferno on Central Street in Evanston, a north suburb of Chicago. Katz introduced a new kind of pizza to the Chicago area consumers for the first time: a caramelized crust. The Inferno was the first place he would eventually fully own, but it would be far from the last.

He sold his share in 1965 and opened Gullivers, a pan-pizza Restaurant, with partner Jerry Freeman. Katz named it as a tribute to "Gulliver's Travels." His original Gullivers Restaurant opened on May 1, 1965, only had one dining room and was flanked by a pottery shop and a delicatessen in the same building. It was located at 2727 West Howard Street in Chicago's West Ridge community. Freeman became passionate about antiques and filled the restaurant with stained glass lamps, statues, and other items. The two soon split up. Katz would sell Gullivers and enter the business world, and he would not emerge into the pizza industry again until 1970.

Gullivers closed after 56 years in January 2022.

In 1970, Burt Katz decided he didn't enjoy the futures trading business any longer. After a confrontation with his boss, he quit his job. Now, he needed a job to support his wife, Sharon, and three children. 

So, turning back to the pizza industry and the unique caramelized pizza he had created years before, he opened the original Pequod's Pizzeria at 8520 Fernald Avenue in Morton Grove in 1971 (their menu and website incorrectly say 1970), a north-west suburb of Chicago. He named it Pequod's after the whaling ship in "Moby Dick." The original restaurant is located at 8520 Fernald Avenue in a converted house. Its original logo was just a whale, although it has since been modified to be a whale wearing a thong on his head.

Katz sold Pequod's in 1986 to Keith Jackson, who still owns the restaurant. Katz simply says he got 'burned out' at Pequods, but, of course, he couldn't stop.

Constantly changing his pan pizza (every restaurant menu said 'PAN PIZZA,' NOT 'DEEP DISH) recipe from place to place, Katz finally opened up Burt's Place in the suburb of Morton Grove, which he operated with his wife, Sharon. The pizza at each establishment where Burt had left his caramelized recipe was different at each place. 

THE PEQUOD'S PIZZERIA IN MORTON GROVE, ILLINOIS.
I was first introduced to Pequod's in Morton Grove by a friend who took me there in 1975. It is just off Lincoln Avenue at the alley at 8520 Fernald Avenue. Burt was always in the kitchen but would step into the dining room to see if he knew anyone!

Burt, a radio collector, filled the interior with beautiful vintage console radios, table-top radios, microphones, ham radios, and the QSL postcards of people's ham radio call letters stapled to the ceiling beams. There was a backroom filled with Burt's most precious collection items. Very few people were invited to see Burt's radio collection. He was just too busy.

Chicago Tribune, January 20, 1980.
"Antiques by Anita Gold" column.

One of those QSL cards was from a friend of mine. His call letters were WB9VLV, but, on air, he called his identity W - B  - 9 - Very Lovely Virgin.

QSL Card from the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair.

Burt added cheese between the edge crust and the hot pan when placing the pie back into the oven after turning it around (180°) to finish baking. This gives the crust's edge its burnt look and delicious taste. 

Bert took the aged pizza pans from Gullivers when he sold it in 1965, so by the time he opened Burt's Place in 1989, the seasoned pans were almost 25 years old.

Bert's Well Seasoned Pizza Pans.

Pequod's pan pizza is to die for. I rank it higher than Giordano's, The Original Gino's, Gino's East, Lou Malnati's, Uno's, and, yes, even Burt's Place.

NBC TV Chicago; Published February 19, 2024:

A Chicago pizza joint has been named the nation's best, and fans aren't surprised.

Personal Experience

Pequod's is a great informal, cozy date place and the greatest pan pizza anywhere. I took a girlfriend there, her first time, in 1976, and she absolutely loved their pizza. We went back shortly after that. We were seated at the 2-topper table at the front window. While waiting for our salad and pizza order, I commented how cool it would be to live across the street in one of those houses. You could call in your order, go across the street to pick up your order and bring home a scorching hot pizza. 

Well, just as I finished my statement, the house's front door directly across the street opened, and a man crossed the street and came into Pequod's, picked up his order, and went back home with it. We nearly got kicked out of the restaurant because we were laughing so hard, that tears rolled down our cheeks. Truth be told, we were a little loud too. The waitress came to our table, and I managed to tell her why we were laughing. She chuckled and explained that a lot of neighborhood residences walk in for pick up.

If you've ever been to the Morton Grove Pequod's, before Katz sold it in 1986, and used the tiny, and I mean T I N Y, restrooms that, at least the men's room, had the walls painted black and bathroom humor phrases and words were painted in different colors on the walls, and not from customers or taggers. The restroom door was slatted on both the upper and lower half of the door and angled down so you couldn't see inside. Sometimes, you could hear someone expelling gas, making grunting noises, or tinkling sounds. Creepy... but as soon as someone started to laugh or giggle . . . nobody could stop.

When the two-way swinging kitchen doors opened, viewable from only one or two tables in the back, you could see {new} women's undies, bras, and panties hanging from the ceiling. No lie! 

BERT'S PLACE IN MORTON GROVE.
In 1989, Burt and Sharon Katz opened the restaurant "Starback" at 8541 Ferris Avenue in Morton Grove, renamed "Burt's Place because of a trademark conflict with Starbucks.

NOTE: The sign in the right window says, "Morton Grove's 1st and Finest pan Pizza Since 1971." Burt's pizzas were 'pan pizzas." See videos of Burt making his famous pan pizza below. April 1994

Charles Peschke and son George at his Blacksmith Shop at 8541 Ferris in Morton Grove, Illinois, in the late 1800s. The early blacksmith provided essential services to local farmers and industry by crafting specialized tools and repairing anything made of metal, and Horseshoeing was only one part of his work. Charles Peschke also served as one of Morton Grove's first police marshals and helped organize the Morton Grove Volunteer Fire Department. The houses in the background are on Callie Avenue.

Burt's Place building was built in 1912. There is an apartment on the 2nd floor.

Burt was the sole operator in the kitchen, while Sharon was the only waitress, phone-order taker, and front-end manager." Burt believed if you want something done right, do it yourself, and he did.

A photograph of a slice of pizza from Burt's Place was featured on the cover of the October 2007 issue of Saveur magazine with an accompanying article. A huge cover reprint was displayed on the wall beside the kitchen entrance.
He achieved worldwide fame after being featured on a Chicago-themed episode of Anthony Bourdain's television documentary series "No Reservations" in 2009.

Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations"

on the Travel Channel.

In 2012, based upon a survey involving 85,000 votes, the magazine Men's Health editors selected Burt's Place as the USA's Best Pizza Parlor.

Due to Burt's health problems, he closed Burt's Place in 2015.

Meet The Pan Pizza Superhero

Burt's Place, Chicago's Best Viewer's Choice

Burton D. Katz died on April 30, 2016. His wife Sharon survived Burt, their three children, and six grandchildren; he was predeceased by one grandchild. Burt Katz is buried at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.

May Burt Katz's memory bring joy to all who knew him and think of him with every bite of pizza you take.

Remembering Burt Katz: The Pizza Show

In 2017, Burt's Place was reopened by Jerry Petrow and John Munao, former futures traders and first-time restaurateurs, who were selected and trained by Burt Katz when he knew he was dying of cancer. Petrow said he wrote down everything Bert told him from memory.

Petrow and Munao used the same fresh ingredients (shopped for every day), recipes, methods, and the pizza pans that Katz left. "There were some rumors that we weren't using the same pans," Munao said. "That is false."

Burt's Pan Pizza

Burt's Place New Interior.

The entrance had a small ramp installed because it was necessary to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, as are the two newly designed restrooms, to become ADA compliant.

John Munao ventured out independently, taking Burt Katz's caramelized pizza crust secret, and opened Lefty's Pizza Kitchen in Wilmette in 2018. The pizzas are a New York style with the crust being double thin or, as Chicagoans call it, Eastern Style.

PEQUOD'S RESTAURANT IN THE LINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO.
Keith Jackson bought Pequod's in Morton Grove in 1986 from Katz for about $300,000 (per the Cook County Assessor's Office). Jackson said the sale price was for the business and the building.

Jackson would buy the building in Chicago's Lincoln Park in 1991 to open the second Pequod's Pizza at 2207 North Clybourn Avenue. 

When asked if there was any bad blood between himself and Burt Katz, Jackson, a radiant 60-year-old with blue eyes and a peace and love mentality, said, "Let bygones be bygones." However, Jackson added that it was "disappointing that he opened up Burt's Place right up the street from our Morton Grove location." Jackson understands that it's a competitive business, and despite this, his restaurant does very well, especially in the booming Lincoln Park community.

PEQUOD'S PIZZA ☆ CHICAGO DEEP DISH

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Written with love, Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.