Lincoln in Despair—A Time When He Was Tempted To Commit Suicide.

An Instance When he Was More Serious Than the Case Warranted

Story Told by Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.

President Lincoln during the war was very sensitive of the criticisms on his administration by the newspaper press, believing it to be, as he asserted, the true voice of the people. The failures of McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, and Poe with the Army of the Potomac and the criticisms made thereon by the newspapers almost crazed him. Time and again he would free himself from the Executive Mansion and seek my little office, the only place in Washington, he often said, where he could be absolutely free from interruption. When he became closeted with me on these visits Mr. Lincoln would unbosom himself and talk of his cares and woes. Several times he insisted that he ought to resign, and thus give the country an opportunity to secure someone better fitted to accomplish the great task expected of the President. Or, if he did not resign, he thought he ought to impress upon Congress the propriety of giving the absolute control of the army to some purely military man. It was during one of these moods that he conceived the idea of placing Joseph Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac, and of vesting him with such power that, in his opinion, he could not fail of success.

Brigadier General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker of The Army of the Potomac. It was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April.

He had a great idea of Hooker's ability as a soldier, and in addition, he believed him to be an honest man and a sincere patriot. He wanted him to fight what he intended should be and what he felt would be, the closing battle of the war. Accordingly, when Hooker got underway, and the news came that at Chancellorsville he would make his fight, Mr. Lincoln was in the greatest state of mental excitement. From the time that Hooker's army began its march until the smoke of battle had cleared from the fatal field of Chancellorsville, he scarcely knew what it was to sleep.

It will be remembered that the fight lasted three days. During the first two days it looked as if Hooker was about to accomplish what so many generals before him had failed to do; but, early on the third day, the usual half-hour dispatches began to make matters look dark and ominous of defeat. The whole day Mr. Lincoln was miserable. He ate nothing and would see no one but me. As it grew dark the dispatches ceased coming at all. 

White House, 1865

Mr. Lincoln would walk from the White House to my apartment and anxiously inquire for news from Hooker. With the going down of the sun a cold and drenching rain set in, which lasted through the night. At about 7 o'clock Mr. Lincoln ceased his visits to my apartment and gave orders at the Executive Mansion that he, would see no one before morning. An hour afterward a dispatch of indefinite character was received from Hooker, and I hurried with it to Mr. Lincoln's apartments. When I entered I found him walking the floor, and his agonized appearance so terrified me that it was with difficulty that I could speak. Mr. Lincoln approached me like a man wild with excitement, seized the dispatch from my hand, read it, and, his face slightly brightening, remarked: "Stanton, there is hope yet!" At my solicitation, Mr. Lincoln accompanied me to the War Department, where he agreed to spend the night, or until something definite was heard from Hooker. For five hours, the longest and most wearisome of my life, I waited before a dispatch announcing the retreat of Hooker was received. When Mr. Lincoln read it he threw up his hands and exclaimed, "My God, Stanton, our cause is lost! We are ruined—we are ruined; and such a fearful loss of life! My God! this is more than I can endure!" He stood, trembling visibly, his face of a ghastly hue, the perspiration standing out in big spots on his brow. He put on his hat and coat and began to pace the floor. For five or ten minutes he was silent and then, turning to me, he said: "If I am not around early tomorrow, do not send for me, nor allow anyone to disturb me. Defeated again, and so many of our noble countrymen killed! What will the people say?"

As he finished he started for the door. I was alarmed. There was something indescribable about the President's face and manner that made me feel that my chief should not be left alone. How to approach him without creating suspicion was the thought of a second. Going up to him and laying my hand on his shoulder I said: "Mr. President, I, too, am feeling that I would rather be dead than alive; but is it manly—It is brave—that we should be the first to succumb? I have an idea: "You remain here with me tonight. Lie down on yonder lounge, and by the time you have had a few hours' sleep, I will have a vessel at the wharf, and we will go to the front and see for ourselves the condition of the army."

The idea of visiting the army in person acted like a tonic. Mr. Lincoln immediately adopted the suggestion. The next morning we left Washington on a gunboat for Hooker's command. On our return trip Mr, Lincoln told me that when he started to leave the War Department on that evening he had fully made up his mind to go immediately to the Potomac River and there end his life, as many a poor creature—but none half so miserable as he was at that time. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Precise Location of Lincoln's Birthplace Farm.

When Abraham Lincoln prepared a brief sketch for the artist, Thomas Hicks on June 14, 1860, he wrote in referring to his birthplace, "I know no means of identifying the precise locality." It was not until the editor of Lincoln Lore made his documentary researches in Hardin County, Kentucky that the "precise locality" of the Lincoln farm was established by duly authorized court records.

The Lincoln's log cabin in Kentucky where Abraham was born. Illustrative purposes only.

When Richard J. Collier purchased what was known as the birthplace farm in 1905, he had no assurance but tradition and folklore that the land he acquired was once in possession of Thomas Lincoln, father of the 16th President. One newspaper account of the Collier purchase stated that "Since the birth of Lincoln on February 12, 1809, the farm has changed hands only twice. 

Thomas Lincoln sold the land to Richard Creal about the time the family moved to Indiana in 1816." Richard Creal did not acquire the part of the Lincoln farm where the cabin stood until August 26, 1867, fifty years after the Lincolns left Kentucky. By that time the cabin tract had changed hands eleven times. Creal added this tract to a hundred-acre survey he had previously acquired and after some changes in the boundary sold 110½ acres to A. W. Dennett in 1894, specifying in the deed that it was the farm on which Abraham Lincoln was born.

When the United States came in possession of the traditional birthplace farm in 1916, there was no abstract title available which proved that the farm was once in possession of Thomas Lincoln. In fact, there were those primarily interested in the project who claimed that Lincoln lived on a squatter's domain so the boundaries of any specific piece of ground surrounding the cabin were of no importance. 

But Abraham Lincoln was not born on a squatter's domain. Thomas Lincoln paid $200, "cash in hand" in December 1808 for a 300-acre tract on which the birthplace cabin stood. The document showing Thomas Lincoln's ownership of the land is in the Hardin County Circuit Court records, a copy of which follows with the endorsements of David Vance and Isaac Bush:

MATHER TO VANCE — BOND

"Articles of agreement made this First Day of May 1805 between Richard Mather of the County of Hardin, and the State of Kentucky and David Vance of the County and State aforesaid witnesseth that I have sold to the said David Vance a certain parcel or tract of land on the waters of the South Fork of Nolin containing 300 acres beginning near or at a spring called the Sinking Spring, to be twice as long as wide and including as much of a grove called the Little Turkey Grove, as will fall within the boundary as aforesaid and I do obligate myself to make a deed with a general warranty to the said David Vance when the said David Vance has made full payment to Richard Mather or his order for the aforesaid land, in witness whereof we have inter-changeably set our hands the day and year above written. Signed Richard Mather. Witnesses: John Gum, Shepherd Gum."

Endorsement. No. 1. "For value received I assign the within the agreement to Isaac Bush, given under my hand and seal this 2nd Day of November 1805. Signed David Vance. Witnesses: Ben Helm, John Miller."

Endorsement. No. 2. "For Value received I assign the within the article to Thomas Lincoln. Witness my hand and seal the 12th Day of December 1808. Signed: Isaac Bush; witness, Sam Haycraft."

It was not long after Thomas Lincoln acquired the land that it was in litigation over payments Vance had failed to make to Mather. The court decreed Thomas Lincoln should receive from William Bush the $200.00 he had paid for the land, and he moved from the premises in 1811. This tract of land, originally in possession of Thomas Lincoln, was surveyed by order of the court in 1837 and was found to contain 348½ acres instead of the designated 300 acres. 

The boundaries follow: 

"Beginning at a large white oak (1) 13 poles (214.5 feet) above the sinking spring, running thence North 9½ degrees West 155 poles (2,557.5 feet) to a stake (2) in John Taylor's field, thence South 89½ degrees East 155 poles (2,557.5 feet) to a forked blackjack oak (a small red oak tree) (3), thence South 9½ degrees East 310 poles ( 5,115 feet) to a blackjack oak (4), thence North 89½ degrees West 155 poles (2,557.5 feet) to the beginning." (Poles or rods: multiply the length value by 16.5 to get feet.)

The above survey was divided into several smaller tracts including one of nine acres surrounding the Lincoln cabin, which at the time designated has been in possession of the following property holders since it was first patented as part of a 30,000-acre survey:

William Geenough, February 20, 1786; 

John Dewhurst, June 15, 1786; 

William Weymouth, October 15, 1791; 

Joseph James, June 11, 1798; 

Richard Mather, December 23, 1802; 

David Vance, May 1, 1805; 

Isaac Bush, November 2, 1805; 

Thomas Lincoln, December 12, 1808; 

Commander Benjamin Wright, September 12, 1816; 

Gabriel Kirkpatrick, December 19, 1816; 

John Welsh and William Duckworth, December 19, 1816; 

George Burkhart, July 16, 1822; 

Henry Thomas, January 28, 1824; 

John Gash, October 14, 1830; 

Henry Brothers, April 7, 1835; 

Charles F. Huss, March 25, 1840; 

William Huss and William J. Thomas, February 15, 1845; 

Henry D. Horn, September 27, 1852; 

R. P. Hankla, December 14, 1853; 

Richard Creal, August 26, 1867; 

Alfred W. Dennett, November 23, 1894; 

Commander L. B. Hanley, May 1905; 

R. J. Collier, August 28, 1905; 

Lincoln Farm Ass'n., November 9, 1907; 

United States of America, April 11, 1916.

The titles to the other tracts cut out of the original Thomas Lincoln 348½ acre survey have been traced through the court records so that it is now, documented proof for the "precise location" of the Lincoln Birthplace Farm.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

43 Story Plunge! 3 Killed Inside Marina City Tower Core Construction Site.

Three workmen plunged 43 floors (of the final 64-floors when completed) on September 15, 1961, in the fall of a scaffold-elevator inside the core for the east tower (completed before tower 2) at the new Marina City (aka Marina Towers) apartment project (converted to condominiums in 1977).

Marina City's East Tower core (foreground) where three men fell to their deaths.

The victims, all carpenters, were going up the core shaft with forms for concrete when the scaffold slipped off a hoisting cable hook from which it was suspended. A workman 5-feet above them was the only person who saw the scaffold fall.

FIRST TO DIE ON JOB

The dead were identified as James R. Toner, 24, of 10605 Throop street; Wallace E. Kumpula, 42, of 3231 N. Racine avenue; and Homer Fields, 33, of 8911 Normandy Avenue, Oak Lawn.

They were the first fatalities in the construction of the twin 64-story apartment towers on the north bank of the Chicago River between State and Dearborn streets. The towers are destined to become the first large circular apartment buildings and the world's tallest (at 588-feet each) reinforced concrete structures.

"We were raising forms inside the core and I was about 5-feet above them," said Mike Einsele, 26, of 7206 S. Western avenue. "They were standing on the scaffolding, and I guess a cable slipped. I heard a loud noise and I turned around to look. The bodies bounced crazily, hitting one obstruction after another until they hit bottom. I heard the thuds when they hit and I got sick. I got out of there then."

FOREMAN IN PERIL

A carpenter foreman standing on a ladder above the scaffold had a narrow escape. The ladder, which was supported by cables at the 46th floor and extended below the 43rd-floor level, was jerked from under him when hit by the falling platform.

"I grabbed a beam right there and hung on," said Ed Schreck, 32, of 3024 Jonquin lane, Downers Grove. "I thought I was a goner, for sure, but I wasn't going to let go. An ironworker on a deck at that level worked his way over and got hold of by back and dragged me up to the deck."

ONE WORKER STEPS ASIDE

Will Bridges, 42, of 6039 Vernon Avenue, said he was 10 stories below the scaffold level and had stepped out of the line of the scaffold's fall to get a drink of water. "Everyone inside the core heard them fall," Bridges said. 

Lee Bronson, superintendent for the McHugh Construction Company, general contractor, directed workmen who dug into debris at the bottom of the core to recover the bodies. All were taken to Henrotin Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

James McHugh, an officer of the company, said the hook holding the scaffold sling had apparently moved or tilted in such a way that the sling slipped off the hook. He said the heavy wooden forms being taken up on the elevator may have jammed along the wall on the way up, causing tension on the hook and possibly bending it enough to permit the cable to slip off.

CALLED A FREAK ACCIDENT

"One of the workers heard a carpenter on the scaffold say, just before the fall, 'It jammed a bit'," McHugh said. He described it as a freak accident that did not involve any structural failure or failure of safety devices.

All workmen were called out of the core and work was halted for the day after the tragedy. One workman on the project, unable to find his brother who also worked there, rushed to the hospital and identified one of the dead men as his missing brother. A few minutes later, the brother was found safe at the building site.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Zenith Radio Store, Chicago, Illinois, 1936.

Console radio units are displayed in model living rooms in two illuminated, floor-to-ceiling windows of this Zenith Radio store in Chicago at the southwest corner of Michigan and Huron in September 1936. 

Personal radio purchases increased after the passage of the Rural Electrification Act [1] in 1936, which coincided with a drop in radio prices and increased sales for the Chicago company.

The southwest corner is now the "City Place" building at 676 North Michigan Avenue and home to the Omni Chicago Hotel.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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[1] The Rural Electrification Act (REA) of 1936, enacted on May 20, 1936, provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States. REA crews traveled through the American countryside, bringing teams of electricians along with them. The electricians added wiring to houses and barns to utilize the newly available power provided by the line crews. A standard REA installation in a house consisted of:

A 60 amp, 230-volt fuse panel, with:

• A 60 amp range circuit
• A 20 amp kitchen circuit
• Two or three 15 amp lighting circuits

A ceiling-mounted light fixture was installed in each room, usually controlled by a single switch mounted near a door. At most, one outlet was installed per room, since plug-connected appliances were expensive and uncommon. 

A Freak Michigan Avenue Bridge Accident Occurred in Chicago on September 20, 1992.

The closure of the Michigan Avenue bridge threw a monkey wrench into downtown traffic on Monday, and there was little relief in sight. Mayor Richard M. Daley, who visited the scene, said he didn't know when the Bridge would reopen.

Meanwhile, crews planned to brace the southeast leaf of the span, one of four comprising the Bridge, to ensure it was stable enough to allow removal of debris.

The southeast leaf sprung open unexpectedly Sunday afternoon, sending a construction crane plummeting to the street and slightly injuring six people. The crane crashed through Michigan Avenue to Lower Michigan. The span rose so violently that it ripped off its structural mounts and twisted down and back into a concrete counterweight pit.

The Raised South Leaf of the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago.

The Bridge has been undergoing a two-year reconstruction in a $31 million ($58 million today) project was scheduled for completion by late November. The southeast leaf was the last segment to be renewed.

Because of the work on the leaf and removal of some heavy steel, it has become unbalanced, officials said. But it was unknown how it became unlocked, permitting it to spring up.

Officials said a section of nearby Wacker Drive from Wabash to Stetson Avenues that was closed after the accident could reopen on Tuesday.

Jesus Lopez escaped serious injury Sunday when a leaf of the Michigan Avenue bridge suddenly sprang up, causing a 70-foot crane to come crashing to the street, damaging his car and others, and injuring six people.

"We were waiting for the bridge to come down so we could go back to work," said Lopez, a bridge maintenance worker. Lopez was parked on the south side of Wacker Drive, sitting in the driver's seat of his Ford Escort, when the southeast leaf of the Bridge unexpectedly rose, and the crane sitting on the Bridge came barreling down. Its cab became wedged in the gap between Wacker Drive and the Bridge. The boom, the crane's moveable post, toppled across Wacker Drive. Two traffic light poles, a crossing gate, and a Chicago police patrol car were damaged.

The huge iron ball and hook attachment to the end of the cable that runs along the boom bounced off the asphalt of Wacker Drive, leaving about a 4-inch crater and smashing through the rear driver's side window of Lopez's car, mangling the door, roof, read quarter panel and back seat.

"I guess I was just lucky," Lopez said, patting a silver cross that hung from his neck and trying to catch his breath. "I'm glad I wasn't sitting in the back seat."

The six who were injured were passengers on a CTA bus. All of them were treated for "bumps and bruises" at area hospitals and released. According to police, Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street to Ohio Street was closed to vehicle traffic.

The accident led to an acknowledgment on the part of the city that none of its inspectors had the experience or training to determine the proper balancing of weight on a bridge under construction.

The contracting team working on the Michigan Avenue bridge during the freak accident bears full responsibility for the costly mishap, experts hired by the city. The investigators exonerated the city bridgetender on the scene when the span's southeast section suddenly flew open. And on December 3, 1992, Chicago Transportation Commissioner J.F. Boyle Jr. asserted the man was "absolutely blameless."

The unnamed employee, a 12-year veteran, insisted to investigators that he did not activate the switch that normally operates a lock on the 1,700-ton bridge section. But even if he hit the switch inadvertently, the contractors were supposed to have disconnected it.

The three unsafe conditions were found by engineers included:

• Two locks-6 1/2-inch thick steel bars located under the rear of the leaf and designed to secure it in the "down" position were bent instead of straight, robbing them of strength.
• Motors that engage and disengage the locks were left fully operational.
• Electrical circuitry connecting lock motors with controls in the bridgetender's tower was fully connected, while safety features were bypassed.

Though the "unsafe construction procedures" set the stage for the accident, it had not been determined what actually triggered the Bridge's release. Possibilities include a structural failure of the rear locks or a mechanical or electrical disengagement of the locks. For the bridgetender to fully disengage the locks, he would have had to press control for eight seconds.

The investigation had gone to the point where they could go no further.

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The Michigan Avenue Bridge was renamed the "Du Sable Bridge" in October of 2010 to honor the "Father of Chicago," Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable (the "du" of Pointe de Sable is a misnomer. It is an American corruption of "de" as pronounced in French. "Jean Baptiste Point du Sable" first appears long after his death) a French Haitian and the city's first non-native settler.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.