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“Doubly Dear to Us” Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln
This post is part of our Black History Month blog series. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Frederick Douglass adopted February 14 as his birthday because his mother used to call him her “little valentine,” so today’s Black History Month post is dedicated to him. Douglass met with Lincoln several times (in fact, he was once invited to tea at the Soldiers’ …
Read MoreExhibits at the Visitor Education Center
The Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center contains four self-guided, permanent exhibits: Wartime Washington, Lincoln the Commander-in-Chief, Lincoln Family at the Soldiers’ Home, and History of the Soldiers’ Home. Civil war prints and maps line the main corridor and interactive gallery in the Visitor Education Center, a sustainably renovated 1905 Beaux Arts style building that was awarded LEED Gold certification …
Read MoreCivil War D.C.
Arid hill, and sodden plain showed alike the horrid trail of war. Forts bristled above every hill-top. Soldiers were entrenched at every gate-way. Shed hospitals covered acres on acres in every suburb. Churches, art-halls and private mansions were filled with the wounded and dying of the American armies. The endless roll of the army wagon seemed never still. The rattle …
Read MorePresidential Work at the Soldiers’ Home
While life at the Soldiers’ Home offered some degree of privacy and relief from the pressure of running a country at war, President Lincoln bore the burden of his leadership constantly. The captain of the company assigned to guard the President at the Cottage reported that Lincoln carried work with him to and from the Soldiers’ Home. I usually went …
Read MorePresident Lincoln’s Cottage to Display Emancipation Proclamation
David M. Rubenstein loans rare signed copy to National Monument for Civil War anniversary. August 23, 2012. President Lincoln’s Cottage will be the first public venue to display a rare, signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation recently purchased by David M. Rubenstein. The historic document will be displayed in the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center at President Lincoln’s Cottage …
Read MoreThe First Reading of The Emancipation Proclamation: July 22nd, 1862
By Scott Ackerman As we move through the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, 2012 has already seen the anniversary of the bloodbath at Shiloh, and of the meat-grinder known as the Seven Days Battles. This fall, Antietam and Fredericksburg will effect commemorations worthy of the soldiers who fought and died there 150 years ago. Inextricably linked to the events at …
Read MoreLincoln 2012: Vampire Hunter and (international) Box Office Slayer
By Catherine Clinton My obsession with action adventure films and my status as a Lincoln scholar, I decided, would make me a perfect candidate to enjoy Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The fractional truth — a concept Lincoln alludes to in the film’s voiceover — can become a dangerous thing, but it also allows for complex, entertaining eccentricities. Especially in this souped-up …
Read MoreJuneteenth: The Emancipation of Enslaved Texans
The U.S. and Juneteenth flags flying (c/o Flickr user 2011 Juneteenth Celebration) As a nation we can celebrate January 1, 1863, as the day Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect and declared freedom for 3.5 million of America’s slaves held in rebellious areas. December 6, 1865 is an occasion worthy of celebration, too. That is the day Georgia ratified …
Read MoreLincoln’s Own Flag Day
By Zachary Klitzman Let’s face it: Flag Day — which commemorates the official adoption of the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777 — is not the most widely celebrated holiday in America. An informal survey of the staff calendars at President Lincoln’s Cottage revealed that only 50% of the calendars listed the “holiday” (Father’s Day, …
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