Chuck's goal was to share with me the unusual. Oh boy did he succeed. No one I know has ever heard of this historic, and very significant, treasure!
President Lincoln’s Cottage is a historic site and museum located on a 250 acre campus in Northwest Washington, D.C. For over a quarter of his Presidency, Abraham Lincoln lived in his cottage at the Soldiers’ Home. While living there, he visited with allies and adversaries, veterans, wounded soldiers, spent time with self-emancipated men, women and children, and developed the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln’s experiences there provided new and diverse perspectives on issues of freedom, justice, and humility.
The Cottage was originally built for banker George W. Riggs in 1842. The house is situated on a hilltop overlooking downtown Washington, D.C. in the Gothic-Revival style. During the Civil War, President Lincoln and his family relocated to the Soldiers’ Home for the hot season. The tranquil surroundings offered refreshing breezes, a relief from White House protocol, and a place for the President to reflect on all-consuming decisions about military strategy, domestic policy, and foreign relations. Though often viewed as a sanctuary for the president, Lincoln was no less consumed with the war and issues of freedom and slavery there. In many ways, life at the Cottage brought the first family closer to the war and its human cost (the first National Cemetery was located near by and 40 burials occurred each week- the funeral sounds permeated the tranquil surroundings).
At the Soldiers’ Home, Lincoln made some of the decisions that defined his presidency. He met and consulted with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Secretary of State William Seward, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, and many others. He also formulated his ideas on how to bring about an end to slavery during the war.
Since the middle of the 19th century, the federal government has recognized the need to provide care for some American veterans beyond the monetary support of pension benefits. Most people are familiar with the system of national homes for disabled Union veterans that opened around the country after the Civil War, but Congress established one of the first national homes for Regular Army and volunteer soldiers a generation earlier. Known initially as the Military Asylum, and later as the U.S. Soldiers' Home—made famous during the Civil War because of Lincoln's Cottage—the institution offered the first official sanctuary for the relief and support of invalid, disabled, and homeless veterans. The administrative records of the U.S. Soldiers' Home at the National Archives document the inmates who sought out sanctuary and treatment from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries.
Lincoln did not escape the Civil War and his burden of leadership. Every morning he rode to the White House to carry out official business, returning to the Old Soldiers' Home every evening. The cavalry units that accompanied him with drawn swords and the hospitals, cemeteries, and camps for former slaves he passed on his route served as constant reminders of the war. When Confederate General Jubal Early attacked Fort Stevens, on July 12, 1864, Lincoln brashly went to observe the battle, even though his family had been evacuated from the Old Soldiers' Home (about one mile from the battle) to the White House for the four days of the battle. He became the only president ever to come under hostile fire while in office. That same summer, one of John Wilkes Booth’s plots proposed kidnapping Lincoln along his commute, and a sniper attempted to assassinate him on his way to the cottage.
"I SEE THE PRESIDENT ALMOST EVERY DAY, as I happen to live where he passes to or from his lodgings out of town. He never sleeps at the White House during the hot season, but has quarters at a healthy location some three miles north of the city, the Soldiers' Home..." -Walt Whitman, August 12, 1863. The poet came to Virginia to find his wounded brother George, a Union soldier, and then moved to Washington to work for the government and volunteer as a nurse. From his lodgings, he often exchanged bows with President Lincoln on his commute to the White House. Wow, right?!
The significance of President Lincoln’s cottage faded from memory after the mid-20th century, while the Old Soldier's Home continued to adapt the house for new uses. In 2001, the Soldiers’ Home officially became the Washington Unit of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. It is the nation’s only retirement community for Regular Army and Air Force enlisted personnel, warrant officers, and disabled soldiers and airmen. The Secretary of the Interior designated the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home, consisting of the cottage and the other three buildings constructed before the Civil War, as a National Historic Landmark in 1973. President Clinton declared it all a National Monument in 2000. The National Trust for Historic Preservation began a thorough restoration of the cottage in 2001 and opened President Lincoln's Cottage to the public for the first time in history on President's Day in 2008. I just got goosebumps.
It's strange to say but you can feel Lincoln here. He came to mourn (his son and the causalities of the war) and just be. After touring the Cottage, it is understandable his need to be there. Here's a video that does more to share this unique, and very surprising place.
Our last stop was at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery, one of the country’s oldest national cemeteries. Its rolling hills mark the final resting place for more than 14,000 veterans, including many who fought in the Civil War. This is one of two cemeteries maintained by the Department of the Army – the other being Arlington National Cemetery.
During the Civil War, churches and other public buildings around Washington were commandeered for use as military hospitals to care for wounded troops or those stricken with illness on the front lines. Just days after the Battle of Bull Run, the commissioners of the United States Military Asylum offered six acres of land at the north end of the home’s grounds as a burial ground for soldiers and officers. This offer was accepted in late July 1861, and the first burials were conducted later that summer.
From 1861 to 1864, the cemetery accepted thousands of soldiers’ remains from across the nation, which quickly filled its six acres. A 1874 report on the condition of the cemetery noted more than 5,600 interments, including 278 unknown, 125 Confederate prisoners of war, and 117 civilians (relatives of the deceased and employees of the home). In 1883, nine acres were added to the grounds, bringing the cemetery’s size to nearly sixteen acres.
Both Chuck and I learned a lot today and one of our lessons had to do with the Logan Mausoleum, the most prominent burial monument at the cemetery. Alfred Mullet, once the supervising architect of the Treasury Department, designed the granite, Norman-style mausoleum, which houses the remains of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan and his family. Maj. Gen. Logan served during the Mexican-American War, and was later a member of Congress from his home state of Illinois. At the outset of the Civil War, Logan organized a volunteer regiment, rising to the rank of major general. He returned to Congress after the war and in 1884, appeared on the Republican presidential ticket, losing a close election to Grover Cleveland. Logan also served an important role in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), issuing General Order No. 11 in 1868, which called for the GAR to spread flowers on the graves of Union soldiers. On May 30 of the following year, the first Decoration Day took place, ultimately leading to the founding of Memorial Day. The Illinois State Song mentions just three names with one being Logan (along with Lincoln and Grant). This guy was somebody. Who knew? History continues to be discovered. I absolutely loved this day!
"Though I now sink out of view, and shall be forgotten,
I believe I have made some marks which will tell
for the cause of civil liberty long after I am gone."
What a great tour guide you have! Lucky you! I can't wait to visit that whole area. I can't help but wonder how Lincoln's "cottage" got its name. A cottage is defined as a small simple house, typically one near a lake or beach. I don't see the house as simple or small, or near water! Curious...
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20c.jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
.jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
%20(Medium).jpg)
1 comments:
What a great tour guide you have! Lucky you! I can't wait to visit that whole area.
I can't help but wonder how Lincoln's "cottage" got its name. A cottage is defined as a small simple house, typically one near a lake or beach. I don't see the house as simple or small, or near water! Curious...
Post a Comment