"trappings and...canopy of heaven": Elihu Washburne, quoted in Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, p. 510.
his preference for pork..."in spasms": NYT, March 31, 1864.
"was done exactly...into history": McFeely, Grant, p. 152.
"unusually backward"...end of the month: Entry for May 1, 1864, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 18591866, p. 363.
"stormy and inclement...of the Old Dominion": Dispatch of April 11, 1864, in Stoddard, Dispatches from Lincoln"s White House, p. 219.
"the toughest snowstorm...ever I saw him": Entry for March 23, 1864, in French, Witness to the Young Republic, p. 447.
"as pleasant and funny"...Sat.u.r.day levee: Benjamin B. French to Pamela Prentiss French, April 10, 1864, transcription, reel 10, French Family Papers, DLC.
he strolled into John Hay"s room...""is of me"": "24 April 1864, Sunday," in Hay, Inside Lincoln"s White House, p. 188.
"a beleaguered nation...was never bright": J. G. Randall, The Civil War and Reconstruction (1937; Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1953), pp. 670, 347.
"real suffering...in the social scale": NYT, July 7, 1864.
Food riots had broken out...vandalized: Randall, The Civil War and Reconstruction, p. 670; Emory M. Thomas, The Confederate Nation, 18611865. New American Nation Series (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), pp. 199206.
Davis"s health gradually...isolated himself: Davis, Jefferson Davis, pp. 53940, 55153.
The "tramp" of his feet: Entry for May 8, 1864, in Mary Chesnut, Mary Chesnut"s Civil War, ed. C. Vann Woodward (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), p. 601.
Washington was filled...were imminent: Dispatch of May 2, 1864, in Stoddard, Dispatches from Lincoln"s White House, p. 223.
"beginning to feel...generally been failures": JGN to TB, May 1, 1864, container 3, Nicolay Papers.
Lincoln wrote him a letter..."dignity at once": "30 April 1864, Sat.u.r.day," in Hay, Inside Lincoln"s White House, p. 192.
"entire satisfaction...power to give": AL to USG, April 30, 1864, in CW, VII, p. 324.
"been astonished...fault is not with you": USG to AL, May 1, 1864, Lincoln Papers.
the Army...from the James River: Michael Korda, Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero. Eminent Lives Series (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), p. 97.
"This concerted movement...in numbers": "30 April 1864, Sat.u.r.day," in Hay, Inside Lincoln"s White House, p. 193.
great "solicitude...great advantages": Entry for May 1, 1864, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 668.
the Wilderness: E. M. Law, "From the Wilderness to Cold Harbor," in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, Pt. I, p. 122; McFeely, Grant, p. 167; Gordon C. Rhea, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 56, 1864 (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1994), pp. 27, 51, 142, 163, 178, 193.
climb over the dead..."three and four deep": NYT, May 15, 1864.
"a nightmare of inhumanity": McFeely, Grant, p. 165.
86,000 Union and Confederate casualties: Table of casualties, Noah Andre Trudeau, b.l.o.o.d.y Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, MayJune 1864 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989), p. 341.
"The world has never seen...never will again": USG to Julia Dent Grant, May 13, 1864, in The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Vol. X: January 1May 31, 1864, ed. John Y. Simon (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982), p. 444.
"always regretted...was ever made": Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, p. 462.
as steamers reached the city..."torture and pain": Brooks, Mr. Lincoln"s Washington, pp. 320, 323 (quotes).
Judge Taft was present...others limping along: Entry for May 11, 1864, Taft diary.
As each steamer landed..."and manly": Brooks, Mr. Lincoln"s Washington, p. 323.
Elizabeth Blair fled..."for my nerves": EBL to SPL, May 30, 1864, in Wartime Washington, ed. Laas, p. 386.
"The carnage has been unexampled": Entry for May 15, 1864, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 18591866, p. 366.
"it seems to myself...battle of the war": WHS, diplomatic circular of May 16, 1864, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington...18611872, p. 219.
"The intense anxiety...for mental activity": Entry for May 17, 1864, Welles diary, Vol. II, p. 33.
"more nervous and anxious...and disaster": JGN to TB, May 15, 1864, container 3, Nicolay Papers.
nights when Lincoln did not sleep: Entry for May 7, 1864, Welles diary, Vol. II, p. 25.
"met him...his breast": Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, p. 30.
made time...an opera: Grover, "Lincoln"s Interest in the Theater," Century (1909), p. 947; entry for May 18, 1864, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 259; Schuyler Colfax, Life and Principles of Abraham Lincoln (Philadelphia: Jas. B. Rodgers, 1865), p. 12.
"People may think...it will kill me": AL, quoted in Colfax, Life and Principles of Abraham Lincoln, p. 12.
"I saw [Lincoln] walk...and anxious scrutiny": Colfax in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Rice (1886 edn.), pp. 33738.
"any other General...that wins": "9 May 1864, Monday," in Hay, Inside Lincoln"s White House, p. 195.
Lincoln hugged and kissed..."no turning back": Henry E. Wing, When Lincoln Kissed Me: A Story of the Wilderness Campaign (New York: Eaton & Mains, and Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham, 1913), pp. 1213, 3839.
"I propose to fight it out...all summer": USG to EMS, May 11, 1864, in Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Vol. X, p. 422.
Lincoln"s face lit up..."the secret" to the army"s fortunes: NYT, May 18, 1864.
Chase grew restless...retained the hope: Niven, Salmon P. Chase, p. 364.
Weed had repeatedly warned...Treasury employees: JGN to AL, March 30, 1864; TW to AL, March 25, 1864; W. W. Williams to TW, March 25, 1864, Lincoln Papers.
corrupt Treasury agents..."inevitably sink": TW to FWS, June 2, 1864, reel 84, Seward Papers.
Frank Blair had resigned...Treasury agent: Leonard B. Wurthman, Jr., "Frank Blair: Lincoln"s Congressional Spokesman," Missouri Historical Review LXIV (April 1970), pp. 27879, 28486; "Charges Against a Member," April 23, 1864, Congressional Globe, 38th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 182729; Parrish, Frank Blair, p. 192.
he began by calmly...for the presidency: FB remarks before the House of Representatives, April 23, 1864, Congressional Globe, 38th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 182832 (quote p. 1829).
Elizabeth Blair..."revenge is suicide": EBL to SPL, April 23 and June 13, 1864, in Wartime Washington, ed. Laas, pp. 369, 392.