By Wendy Swanson
Washington D.C.
Thursday, August 5, 2021
The summer edition of The Lincolnian (the newsletter) has gone to press and will be in members’ mailboxes shortly. Here is a peek inside this edition.
A fourth-grade teacher instills a student with a life-time love of history and of all things Lincoln. A new publication leads a tour guide to further examine an historic event. An item in a shopper’s guide ignites a reader’s curiosity and leads to research and discovery.
This edition focuses on these stories and more. Read about the knowledge, creativity, ingenuity and accomplishments of some of your fellow members Remembering Willie of the Lincoln Group of DC. Enjoy!
Member Duane Hills became fascinated with the story of the Lincoln assassination while still in elementary school. Now a funeral director by trade, Hills used his vocational connections to ensure that a local site, Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, shares with visitors its Lincoln story, that of a grief-stricken president who visited his son’s remains. Read the details of Willie’s death and funeral, of Lincoln’s grief and devotion, and of Hills' own personal quest to make this story known to cemetery visitors. (A preview of this story appeared in this news blog on May 23.)
Carl Adams saw that item in the shopper’s guide and started on a road to discovery, researching the “first slave freed by Lincoln” and along the way discovering that her son was in Galveston on June 19, 1865, the original “Juneteenth.” Carl, in Galveston for this year’s Juneteenth commemoration, has provided us with on-site coverage of our newest federal holiday. Learn about the "ink" he received in a national publication.
Our Lincoln Group tour director Craig Howell read a new perspective on the end of the Gettysburg campaign and has incorporated this material into our September 25th in-person tour. His article provides what you need to know about this upcoming event. Join us for that event and decide for yourself whether Lincoln was right to feel betrayed by Union commanders.
Meanwhile, LGDC President David continues his column of book reviews, this time focusing on the talents of yet another member (and a former Lincoln Group president), Ed Steers. Read David’s thoughts on Steers’ recent publication Getting Right with Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions About Our Greatest President as well as his classic, His Name is Still Mudd.
Seldom does a day go by without our seeing some mention of Abraham Lincoln, references not only pertaining to current events but also to such subjects as the arts. Our resident film buff Edward Epstein has written about the complicated task of portraying Mary Lincoln in films. We know Sally Field from her portrayal of Mary in Lincoln but, for many, Ruth Gordon as Mary may come as a surprise. Discover what it takes to play Mary.
The Lincolnian newsletter is a benefit afforded members of the Lincoln Group of DC. To join our organization – and to read these articles and other features – go to the “join now” button on this website.
Photo Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Division