Another Amusing Anecdote
The George Francis Train story made me think of another that is just as odd.
Sorry for the delay between posts—I started a new job and got distracted. Will try and post regularly from now on!
In February 1864, General James H. Wilson met the Lincolns at a reception. “My Uncle Abe and Aunt Mary are a remarkable pair of birds – particularly Mrs. L.,” he wrote to General “Baldy” Smith of this meeting—whatever that meant.
Some time after, he was invited to attend the theater with the Lincolns, and this is how he tells it in his memoirs:
. . . while seated in the President’s box, he told me between the acts a great many characteristic anecdotes, but made no allusion to public affairs. Now and then, for an instant, his countenance seemed ‘sicklied o’er with a pale cast of thought,’ like a peaceful landscape shadowed by passing clouds, but on the whole he looked brighter and more cheerful than usual. He did not disguise the relief he felt at having at last found a leader for the army with the prestige and habit of success. This, more than anything else, lifted a great load from his mind, but, withal, it was evident that he was still wearied and weighed down by the cares of his great office and that he sought relief in the play before him. I was struck that night by the gravity of his countenance in contrast with the extraordinary mobility of his lips and tongue and the clear and rapid enunciation they gave to his words. Something in the play caused him to turn to me and imitate the low and plaintive “ba-a-a” of a lamb, which he did with a singular accuracy and effect.”
Emphasis mine.
Sources: Edward G. Longacre, Grant’s Cavalrymen: The Life and Wars of General H. Wilson, p. 104-105; James Harrison Wilson, Under the Old Flag, Volume I, pp. 349-350.