President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home

Last updated
President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument
Abraham Lincoln's summer cottage, Washington, D.C LCCN2010630290.tif
Location map District of Columbia street.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Washington, D.C.
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home (the United States)
Location Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates 38°56′30″N77°0′42″W / 38.94167°N 77.01167°W / 38.94167; -77.01167
Area2.3 acres (9,300 m2)
EstablishedJuly 7, 2000
Governing body Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington, President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home (501c3)
Website President Lincoln's Cottage

President Lincoln's Cottage is a historic home used by Abraham Lincoln on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, known today as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, near the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, D.C. In 2000 it was designated a national monument called President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument.

Contents

President Abraham Lincoln and his family resided seasonally on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home to escape the heat and political pressure of downtown Washington, as did President James Buchanan (1857–1861) before him. President Lincoln's Cottage also served as the Summer White House for Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881) and Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885). [1]

History

The historic cottage, built in the Gothic revival style, was constructed from 1842 to 1843 as the home of George Washington Riggs, who went on to establish the Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C. Lincoln lived in the cottage June to November 1862 through 1864 and during the first summer living there, Lincoln drafted the preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. Mary Todd Lincoln fondly recalled the campus; in 1865, she wrote, "How dearly I loved the Soldiers' Home."

Poet Walt Whitman, who was living on Vermont Avenue near the White House in 1863, often saw the president riding to or from Soldiers' Home. He wrote in The New York Times , "Mr. LINCOLN generally rides a good-sized easy-going gray horse, is dressed in plain black, somewhat rusty and dusty; wears a black stiff hat, and looks about as ordinary in attire, &c., as the commonest man...I saw very plainly the President's dark brown face, with the deep cut lines, the eyes, &c., always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression." Whitman quoted this article in his 1876 book Memoranda During the War, adding the phrase: "We have got so that we always exchange bows, and very cordial ones." [2] In 1889 it was named Anderson Cottage after the late Brevet Major General Robert Anderson, who was one of the founders of Soldiers' Home.

Lincoln Cottage, February 1975 Soldiers-Home-Lincoln-Cottage.jpg
Lincoln Cottage, February 1975

The Soldiers' Home stands on 251 acres (1.02 km2) atop the third highest point in Washington. The Home was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 11, 1974. In 2000, the cottage was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered list. Then about 2.3 acres (9,300 m2) of the Home was proclaimed a National Monument by President Bill Clinton on July 7, 2000. The National Trust took on the restoration which was completed in 2007. The Cottage exterior was restored to the period of Lincoln's occupancy in the 1860s in a joint venture by the Philadelphia firm J. S. Cornell & Son, and Stephen Ortado, Historic Structures, according to the standards of the National Park Service. Today the property is leased by the National Trust for Historic Preservation through a cooperative agreement with the Armed Forces Retirement Home; and is managed by President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home, an independent 501(c)(3) charity. [3]

President Lincoln's Cottage opened to the public on February 18, 2008. A reproduction of the Lincoln desk on which he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation was commissioned by the Trust for use in the Cottage. [4] The original drop-lid walnut paneled desk is in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. The desk is the only surviving piece of furniture that is known to have been placed in the White House and the Cottage during the Lincoln era.

The adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center features exhibits about the Soldiers' Home, wartime Washington, D.C., Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief during the Civil War, and a special exhibit gallery. President Lincoln's Cottage and Visitor Education Center is normally open to the public for tours seven days a week.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln</span> President of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emancipation Proclamation</span> 1862 executive order by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln freeing slaves in the South

The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States". The Emancipation Proclamation played a significant part in the end of slavery in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Harlan (Iowa politician)</span> American politician and lawyer

James Harlan was an attorney and politician, a member of the United States Senate, a U.S. Cabinet Secretary at the United States Department of Interior under President Andrew Johnson, and a Federal Judge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery</span> Veterans cemetery

United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, in Washington, D.C., is located next to the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home. It is one of only two national cemeteries administered by the Department of the Army, the other being Arlington National Cemetery. The national cemetery is adjacent to the historic Rock Creek Cemetery and to the Soldiers' Home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Park (Washington, D.C.)</span> Park in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Lincoln Park is the largest urban park located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was known historically as Lincoln Square. From 1862 to 1865, it was the site of the largest hospital in Washington, DC: Lincoln Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Forces Retirement Home</span> Facilities that house retired US military service members

The Armed Forces Retirement Home refers to one of two Old Soldiers' retirement homes, one in Gulfport, Mississippi, the other in Washington, D.C., that house veterans and retired members of the United States Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Bedroom</span> Room on the White Houses second floor

The Lincoln Bedroom is a bedroom which is part of a guest suite in the southeast corner of the second floor of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Lincoln Sitting Room makes up the other part of the suite. The room is named for President Abraham Lincoln, who used the rooms for his office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War</span>

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States, was the center of the Union war effort, which rapidly turned it from a small city into a major capital with full civic infrastructure and strong defenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day</span> Poem by Walt Whitman about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

"Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day" is a poem by Walt Whitman dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. The poem was written on April 19, 1865, shortly after Lincoln's assassination. Whitman greatly admired Lincoln and went on to write additional poetry about him: "O Captain! My Captain!", "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and "This Dust Was Once the Man." "Hush'd" is not particularly well known, and is generally considered to have been hastily written. Some critics highlight the poem as Whitman's first attempt to respond to Lincoln's death and emphasize that it would have drawn comparatively little attention if Whitman had not written his other poems on Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emancipation Memorial</span> Memorial by Thomas Ball

The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was sometimes referred to as the "Lincoln Memorial" before the more prominent national memorial was dedicated in 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">140th Anniversary Celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation</span> National campaign celebrates 140th anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation

The 140th Anniversary Celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation was a national campaign to honor, celebrate, and commemorate January 1, 2003, as the 140th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, by United States President Abraham Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Dust Was Once the Man</span> 1871 elegiac poem by Walt Whitman about Abraham Lincoln

"This Dust Was Once the Man" is a brief elegy written by Walt Whitman in 1871. It was dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, whom Whitman greatly admired. The poem was written six years after Lincoln's assassination. Whitman had written three previous poems about Lincoln, all in 1865: "O Captain! My Captain!", "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Forces Retirement Home – Washington</span> Retirement home in Washington, D.C.

The Armed Forces Retirement Home – Washington is a retirement home for retirees of the United States Armed Forces located in the Park View neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The complex forms an historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home is on the campus.

The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Abraham Lincoln:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Bob</span> Driving horse of Abraham Lincoln

Old Bob or Old Robin was a driving horse used by Abraham Lincoln during the period prior to his presidency of the United States. He later participated in Lincoln's funeral. Old Bob's exact fate and date of death are unknown; he was sold to drayman John Flynn by Lincoln in 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harewood General Hospital</span>

Harewood General Hospital was one of several purpose-built pavilion style hospitals operating in the Washington, D.C., area during the Civil War which rendered care to Union military personnel. A purpose-built pavilion style hospital, it was in use from September 4, 1862, to May 5, 1866.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emancipation Memorial (Boston)</span>

The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group was a monument in Park Square in Boston. Designed and sculpted by Thomas Ball and erected in 1879, its sister statue is located in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Boston statue was taken down by the City of Boston on December 29, 2020, following a unanimous vote from the Boston Art Commission on June 30 to remove the memorial.

References

  1. Peltier, Michael (Dec 1, 2006). "The Armed Forces Retirement Home: the history--and future--of caring for our veterans". The Free Library. Nursing Homes. Archived from the original on Jan 13, 2021.
  2. Peck, Garrett (2015). Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America's Great Poet. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN   978-1626199736.
  3. "President Lincoln's Cottage Lays Groundwork for Bright Future at Storied Site" (PDF). President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home. December 10, 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  4. Mast, Erin Carlson (December 3, 2008). "Malia Obama Eyes Lincoln's Desk". President Lincoln's Cottage. Retrieved 2 January 2022.