Chapter X
I have started writing the Stanton book. I am writing what I call chapter X, because I am not sure how many chapters will precede it. The chapter deals with the first half of 1864, including the Dahlgren raid, the appointment of Grant as lieutenant general, the spring campaign, the bogus proclamation of May 18,…
Read MoreSeward House
I was interviewed yesterday by Andrew Roblee of the Seward House in Auburn NY. Here is the link. http://sewardhouse.org/mp3/sewardcast-episode-15-interview-with-walter-stahr/ I have not, I think, talked in this blog about the Seward House, but it is an amazing place, “worth the detour” in the immortal phrase of the Michelin guide. One feels as if Seward were…
Read MoreNot from here
I am in California, no longer a resident of New Hampshire, not quite a resident of California yet. I have been thinking a lot about place recently, about how I am never quite in one place. I never seem to be “from here.” I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as my father started law school…
Read MoreExeter Graduation
Yesterday was graduation day here at the Phillips Exeter Academy. A wonderful, emotional, difficult day. It was a beautiful, sunny day here, and graduation was held on the lawn in front of the main academy building, where the dog Sunny and I have walked so many times. My daughter Lydia—intelligent, beautiful, poised, gracious—was among the…
Read MoreJohnson as VP
I am reading today Paul Bergeron’s excellent book on Andrew Johnson. Bergeron notes that the question of Lincoln’s role in the selection of Andrew Johnson as vice president has been and continues to be controversial. The “conventional wisdom” is that Lincoln was neutral in this process; that he allowed the Republican delegates at the Baltimore…
Read MoreMock Trial Nationals
I have just returned from the national high school mock trial championship, held this year in Madison, Wisconsin. It was an exciting, exhausting, and in the end somewhat disappointing weekend. Most of us traveled Wednesday, arriving in Madison after nine that night. The next morning, at nine, we had our first scrimmage, against a solid…
Read MoreStanton Does Not Meet Sheridan
A few days ago, while reading the memoirs of Philip Sheridan, I noted his meeting with Stanton in Washington on the morning of October 17, 1864. According to Sheridan, he was summoned to Washington by Stanton himself, and “proceeded at an early hour to the War Department, and as soon as I met Secretary Stanton,…
Read MoreFessenden on Lincoln
I am trying, in the next two months, to get to some of the libraries near Exeter that have key sources for my Stanton biography. Yesterday I was up on the lovely campus of Bowdoin, in Maine, reviewing the papers of William Pitt Fessenden there. I was reminded, as I often am, of what incredible…
Read MoreWashington Lawyer
The Washington lawyer recently had an article by Joseph Goulden about Washington lawyers who have become historians. There are a few errors–it is the Seward papers not the Stanton papers that run to 200 reels of film–but in general it is a careful and thoughtful article. Link below: http://www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/publications/washington-lawyer/articles/april-2014-lawyer-authors.cfm
Read MoreExeter Students
Knowing that I will be in California next school year, knowing that this is probably our last school year here at Phillips Exeter, makes me appreciate Exeter more. Yes the weather is bad, although today is a lovely warm spring day. Yes, we live in a small dormitory apartment, and can hear kids at all…
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