The Belle Of The North

Katherine Jane Chase the daughter of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, married Rhode Island Governor William Sprague November 12^th 1863 at the Chase home in Washington, DC.

Katherine Jane Chase; always called Kate, was born August 13^th 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Salmon P and Eliza Ann (Smith) Chase.  She was sent to school in New York City to the Haines School, where she learned elocution, history, languages, music, and most importantly the social graces.  After being away at school for nine years Chase returned to Columbus, Ohio, a beautiful 18 year old, to serve as hostess for her widowed father, who had been newly elected Governor.  She was a beautiful, intelligent young woman who impressed her father’s many political friends.

Chase came to Washington, DC with her father, when he became President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury in 1861.  She set up their home in Washington and continued to act as his hostess.  The parties she held were much sought after invitations, and she quickly became the “Belle of the North”.  Chase made a point of visiting the Union camps surrounding Washington, and making friends of Union General.  She was also out spoken on her views of how the war should be fought.

On November 12^th 1863 Chase married Rhode Island Governor William Sprague in her father’s home in Washington, DC.  It was the social event of the year.  The United States Marine Corps Band played a march composed by Thomas Mark Clark just for the occasion.  President Lincoln attended the ceremony, but his wife Mary, who didn’t like Chase, did not go.

Hers was not a happy marriage.  Both Chase and her husband apparently had affairs, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1882.  After the divorce she took back her maiden name.  Chase moved with three of her children to her late father’s estate “Edgewood” near Washington, DC.  She died there July 31^st 1899 in poverty of Bright’s disease.  She is buried beside her father in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

If you are interested in reading more, check out The Nuptials of Miss Kate Chase and Ex-Gov. Sprague

She Returned To Work After The War

The side-wheel steamer the USS Monohansett, which had been working as a ferry for Martha’s Vineyard, was chartered by the Union August 13^th 1862.

The Monohansett was built in New York at the Thomas Collier shipyard in 1862 for the New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamboat Company.  She was 182 feet long and 28 foot wide with a draft of 9’ 6”.  She made her first trip to the Martha’s Vineyard Edgartown wharf on June 1^st 1862.  Only two month latter she became the USS Monohansett when she was chartered by the Union Government on August 13^th 1862.

The Monohansett was used the move military dispatches for the Union fleet operating in the Cape Hatteras, Wilmington, Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River area.  She would be used as Union General Ulysses S Grant’s dispatch boat as well as the headquarters at City Point.  President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary used the boat while in the City Point area near the end of the war.

After the war ended the Monohansett returned to her work as a ferry for Martha’s Vineyard.  When the then President Grant visited Martha’s Vineyard in 1874 he used the boat again.  She was wrecked while going between Boston and Gloucester in a heavy fog in June 1904.

The 16th President

Abraham Lincoln became the 16^th President of the United States on March 4^th 1861.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president on November 6^th 1860, between then and his inauguration on March 4^th 1861 four states had seceded from the Union.  Lincoln began traveling to Washington, DC by train on February 11^th 1861 with his wife Mary and their three sons.  During the next 10 days the train made numerous stops, ending with late night train through Baltimore, Maryland to avoid an assassination plot.

The outgoing President James Buchanan arrived at the Capital just before 1 pm.  Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B Taney administered the presidential oath of office to Abraham Lincoln shortly after one on March 4^th 1861.

A Small Party

President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln entertained General and Mrs. Tom Thumb on February 13th 1863.

Charles S Stratton a little person who worked for PT Barnum; known as General Tom Thumb married February 10th 1863 to Lavinia Warren. They were married at the Grace Episcopal Church in New York City, and held a reception for 2,000 at the Metropolitan Hotel. On February 13th 1863 there was a small party of 50 held for the couple at the White House, given by Mary Lincoln. The whole Lincoln family attended with the exception of Robert Lincoln.

A must read web site on this subject
Reception for General Tom Thumb

My Poor Boy

It was a devastating day in the Lincoln White House. On February 20th 1862, the beloved son of President and Mrs. Lincoln; Willie, passed away.

William Wallace “Willie” Lincoln was the third son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. He was born December 21st 1850, about ten months after the death of his brother Eddie, and was named after the doctor who had nursed Eddie in his last days. Lincoln had an extra soft spot when it came to Willie, who was considered by those who knew him to be intelligent, generous and mature for his age. The American people weren’t used to having children in the White House, and the boys were showered with gifts, including a pony to which Willie was committed.

Willie became ill in early 1862, must likely from typhoid fever. His condition went up a down from day to day, but he gradually became sicker. With his parents spending much of thier time by his bed side, he died about 5pm on Thursday February 20, 1862. He was eleven. His father said "My poor boy. He was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so. It is hard, hard to have him die!" The family was distraught. Willie’s little brother Tad cried for almost of month, Lincoln stopped official correspondence for four days, and he worried that Mary’s grief was effecting her sanity.

Willie was buried first in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery, but after his father was assassinated, his casket was exhumed and placed in a temporary tomb. On September 19th 1871 his remains were placed to rest with his father and brother Eddie in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, IL.

Some other reading
Abraham Lincoln Research Site

Willie speaks out!: The psychic world of Abraham Lincoln

Mr. Lincoln's Boys