Full Title

Note from Joseph A. Wheelock to his wife, Kate French Wheelock, upon hearing news of Lincoln's death

Description

A short, personal note from Joseph Albert Wheelock, a journalist in Saint Paul, to his wife Kate French Wheelock, commenting on the assassination of President Lincoln. It reads: "My darling, If you have tears prepare to shed them now Weep - Weep - Weep for the Slain of the daughters of my people." The envelope with it is just as interesting: "Father's note to Mother when Lincoln was assassinated. Mr. Colgrave told me that he was with Father when the news came - and that he staggered across the room sank down and burst into tears."

Transcription

My darling, If you have tears prepare to shed them now Weep - Weep - Weep for the Slain of the daughters of my people.

Source

Joseph A. Wheelock and Family Papers, 1719, 1756, 1803 - 1906. P334, box 4, Minnesota Historical Society

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching, and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as Joseph A. Wheelock and family papers, Minnesota Historical Society. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast, or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please see this web page: http://bit.ly/1ml2lCd

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Joseph Albert Wheelock. "Note from Joseph A. Wheelock to his wife, Kate French Wheelock, upon hearing news of Lincoln's death". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/189

Creator

Joseph Albert Wheelock

Date

April 15, 1865

Material

paper

Full Title

"Late Northern News!"

Description

Reports from Memphis, Tennessee, giving details and updates about the death of President Lincoln (published in the Montgomery Daily Advertiser on April 22, 1865). They also state that Secretary of State Seward has been killed, but that assassination attempt was actually unsuccessful. Near the end of the piece is a note describing the reaction of some southerners to the event: "Several citizens were arrested in Memphis on Sunday for expressing joy at the above news."

Source

Excerpt from the Montgomery Daily Advertiser, book number ADVCOL40B. Catalog record for this title is available here.

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as defined here. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

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Montgomery Daily Advertiser. ""Late Northern News!"". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/195

Creator

Montgomery Daily Advertiser

Date

April 22, 1865

Full Title

Traitors at Home

Description

Article on page 2 of the Monday April 17, 1865 edition of the Cleveland Morning Leader newspaper describing an incident that occurred the previous Saturday afternoon when citizens gathered on Public Square at 3PM to publicly mourn the death of the President by an assassin. J.J. Husband, the architect of the county courthouse on the NW corner of Public Square at that time and likely a Democrat, was heard to say that Lincoln's death was "no great loss." The crown turned on him and ran him out town. A group then chiseled his name off the cornerstone of the courthouse, vowing that his name would never be heard or read again in the city. The article provides details of this infamous event in Cleveland history.

Transcription

Cleveland Morning Leader
Monday April 17, 1867 p.2

TRAITORS AT HOME
___
Eulogists of Murder in Cleveland – How
they were treated.
___

It seems providentially provided for that some villains are fools—so great fools that they parade their villainy before the world. Such was the case of certain traitors in Cleveland Saturday, who were crazy enough to express their joy at the murder of the President, and received therefore some very rough treatment, no more, however, than their just deserts.

The case of J. J. Husband, the well-known architect, who occupies an office and rooms over Fogg’s store, was most prominent. He was in high glee over the news, remarking to one man: “You have had your day of rejoicing, now I have mine;” to another: “This is a good day for me,” and to a third that “Lincoln’s death was a d____d small loss.” It seems that afterward he became sensible of the danger he had incurred by these remarks, for he came sneaking to the newspaper offices to deny that he had made them. We have, however, the authority of half a dozen reliable gentleman, who heard his remarks, against his unsupported assertion.

On his way back to his office he was assaulted by the crowd, but escaped from them. His words were repeated from mouth to mouth, and the indignation of the multitude knew no bounds. The crowd searched the building for him, at last finding him on the roof of the building. He was caught, thrown through the skylight into his room, and knocked and kicked down stairs. The mob then set upon him and would perhaps have pounded him to death had he not been rescued by prominent citizens. He was taken to the courthouse and locked up in a room for safekeeping. He broke out and sneaked off during the day, and, we understand, has since left town. He can never show his face again in Cleveland. His name has already been chipped from the place on the court-house where it was cut as architect.

Another man, named James Griffith, from Hamilton, Butler county, in this State, arrived in town Saturday morning, and on hearing of the news, said to a barber who was shaving him in the Weddell House barber shop, that “Lincoln was a d__d son of a b___h, and ought to have been shot long ago.” Hearing of this the mob started after him. He was taken charge of by Clark Warren and others who carried him to the jail. On the way there, however, the mob got at him and pounded him badly. He is now in jail and ought to stay there for a term of months.

Another traitor, expressing his joy on Ontario street, Saturday morning, was knocked stiff by a little fellow half his size. Other men of Southern sympathies knew enough to keep closely at home Saturday. Cleveland is an unhealthy place for rebels.

[Transcription by Deborah Taylor.]

Source

www.wrhs.org

Rights

Permission for personal and research use; publication and reproduction requires permission from the Western Reserve Historical Society.

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Cleveland Morning Leader. "Traitors at Home". Cleveland Morning Leader. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/223

Creator

Cleveland Morning Leader

Publisher

Cleveland Morning Leader

Date

April 17, 1865

Full Title

"The Assassination of Lincoln."

Description

Editorials published in the Montgomery Daily Mail on April 24, 1865, discussing the reported deaths of President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward. The first editorial denounces the assassinations, while still hoping "the entire story is a pure fabrication": "...we unconditionally condemn violence of this kind at any time, but at this peculiar juncture, we deplore it, as a calamity to the country at large...And we hope and insist that the South will not be held responsible for this unmanly act." Though several dispatches have been received confirming the assassinations (with "an air of plausibility about the whole"), the paper has not yet definitively stated the news as fact.

Source

Excerpt from the Montgomery Daily Mail, book number ADVCOL39. Catalog record for this title is available here.

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as defined here. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

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Montgomery Daily Mail. ""The Assassination of Lincoln."". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/196

Creator

Montgomery Daily Mail

Date

April 24, 1865

Full Title

Excerpts from the diary of Mary Jane Chadick, published in "The Alabama Historical Quarterly", Volume 9, Number 2 (Summer 1947).

Description

In her entry for April 16, 1865, Chadick discusses local reaction to the death of Lincoln, including a military order calling for the punishment of "all persons exalting the death of President Lincoln." She also mentions the attempted assassination of Secretary of State Seward. An introduction by the journal editor is included. (The original diary is located at the University of Arkansas Libraries; see "Source" field for specific location information.)

Source

Mary Jane Chadick Journal, Fordyce Family Papers (MC 1311), Box 4, Folder 4. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville. Finding aid for this collection is available here.

(A transcript is available at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, collection number SPR69. Catalog record for this title is available here.)

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Chadick, Mary Jane. "Excerpts from the diary of Mary Jane Chadick, published in "The Alabama Historical Quarterly", Volume 9, Number 2 (Summer 1947).". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/212

Creator

Chadick, Mary Jane

Date

April 16, 1865

Full Title

Proclamation! By Mayor Senter

Description

News of Lincoln's death by assassin reached Cleveland via telegraph at 7:30 AM on Saturday April 15, 1865. At 9:00 AM Mayor George B. Senter issued a proclamation to the citizens of Cleveland announcing the "overpowering calamity that has befallen this nation." He asked that all businesses be closed and that all citizens gather on Public Square that afternoon at 3 PM to mourn "the loss of the head of our nation, and its Premiere, Secretary Steward." Steward would survive his attack. Senter had been mayor in 1861 when Lincoln had visited on his way to his inauguration. Less than two weeks later, Public Square would be the site of another gathering of citizens to view the body of the slain President.

Source

www.wrhs.org

Rights

Permission for personal and research use; publication or reproduction requires written permission from the Western Reserve Historical Society.

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George B. Senter. "Proclamation! By Mayor Senter". City of Cleveland. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/221

Creator

George B. Senter

Publisher

City of Cleveland

Date

April 15, 1865

Full Title

Cornerstone of Third County Courthouse, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Ohio

Description

On April 15, 1865 citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, gathered on Public Square to mourn the death of Lincoln by assassination. The architect for the nearby Cuyahoga County Courthouse, J. J. Husband, was heard to say that Lincoln's death was "no great loss." The crowd turned on him, chasing him back to his office, also nearby, and he later that day fled Cleveland for good. Several members of the crowd went to the courthouse, then on the NW corner of Public Square, and chiseled out his name, vowing that his name would never be spoken or read in Cleveland ever after. See "Traitors at Home," a news article appearing the following Monday in the Cleveland Morning Leader, also uploaded to this Remembering Lincoln archive. Shown here is the cornerstone as it appeared in 1930s, when the building was demolished.

Source

Western Reserve Historical Society

Rights

Permission for personal or research use; publication or reproduction requires written permission from the Western Reserve Historical Society.

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Western Reserve Historical Society. "Cornerstone of Third County Courthouse, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Ohio". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/224

Creator

Western Reserve Historical Society

Date

April 15, 1865

Full Title

Handwritten letter to Joseph Medill from Schuyler Colfax

Description

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax's response to Chicago Tribune newspaper editor and owner Joseph Medill's April 14, 1865 letter to Abraham Lincoln. Colfax describes the immediate aftermath of Lincoln's assassination.

Transcription

Page one

National Hotel, Wash.

April 17, 1865

My dear Medill:

Alas! Alas! Your letter was “too late”. I have scarcely any hart to write to anybody or about anything; but I asked Mr. Lincoln about Chicago, on the mourning of the day he died and he said he would go if he could. The whole policy of the Gov’t was settled at a unanimous cabinet meeting on that fatal day. If I can possibly get over to see you any day next week, from S. B. and spend a few hours (my time is very scarce) I will do so, and tell you many things. There will probably be no extra session. The inevitable resolutions about England, France & Portugal that would pass under

Page two

the P. I. and embarrass the Gov’t will prevent it. Besides the certain intestine controversies about Reconstruction. Johnson & Stanton were to have been murdered too. There were 6 conspirators in all. They supped together at 7 ½ p.m. at the Greenback restaurant near Fads bid each other good bye. Not for publication, if not published are ere you receive this. In room above Johnson’s, hdkf. with Booth’s name, sword and bowie knife between the beds were found. Asteroth was to kill Johnson. The N.Y. detective are exploring every clue. All private this.

The knife of Booth was doubtless intended for Grant. He has been hanging around the national all winter and is said to know me. Had I gone with the President to the theater I suppose I would have had it. But that is little compared to the President.

Page three

Much obliged for what you tell me about a young lady I think really a great deal of. But I ought not to know what you say. Mrs. M. may tell me of her opinion of me. The shadow of the past is over yet, when alone, more than ever; and I have no more idea and ought not to have as to matrimony than you have today. I should be very exacting as to affection & I ought not to think of changing my situation unless I feel that I could give as much as I should demand. I generally pass by these things as Mrs. M. knows, buy I have given you a glimpse into a heart that has ceased to sorrow for what God took from me forever.

With earnest regards to Mrs. M.

Yours ever

Schuyler Colfax

I yet expect to the plains in May.

Source

Robert R. McCormick Research Center, III-10 Joseph Medill Archives, 1840-1899

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This item may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885. "Handwritten letter to Joseph Medill from Schuyler Colfax". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/268

Creator

Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885

Date

April 17, 1865

Material

Letter

Full Title

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Meeting in Campus Martius

Description

Black and white photographic print of the public meeting held at Detroit's Campus Martius on April 16, 1865 in memorial of Abraham Lincoln. A crowd gathers around a gazebo, above which an American flag flies at half mast. Blake and Seeley, the Fisher Block, the Boston Shoe Store, and the old state capitol building are visible in the background. The flags, and the text on the sides of the buildings have been noticeably retouched.

Source

Detroit Historical Society

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Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as defined here. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact The Detroit Historical Society.

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anonymous. "Abraham Lincoln Memorial Meeting in Campus Martius". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/185

Creator

anonymous

Date

April 16, 1865

Material

photograph

Full Title

Horace Averill Crane letter

Description

Letter from Horace Averill Crane to his brother-in-law, Thomas Jackson Charlton regarding President Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the state of the nation.

Dr. Thomas J. Charlton, II (1833-1886) graduated from the Savannah Medical College in 1856. In 1857, he was appointed as a surgeon in the United States Navy. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Charlton resigned his commission and joined the Confederate States Navy, serving aboard the commerce raider Florida.

Source

Thomas J. Charlton Family Papers, MS 132

Rights

Use of this item for research, teaching and private study is permitted with proper citation and attribution, as defined here. Reproduction of this item for publication, broadcast or commercial use requires written permission. For permission, please contact the Georgia Historical Society Research Center at library@georgiahistory.com.

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Cite this Item

Horace Averill Crane. "Horace Averill Crane letter". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/257

Creator

Horace Averill Crane

Date

April 15, 1865