In the movie Lincoln, the president spent part of the last day of his life–April 14, 1865–on an outing with his wife Mary and then later had some business to attend to with members of his cabinet, before hurriedly keeping an appointment with his wife to go to a play at Ford’s Theater.
What Spielberg’s movie didn’t show was that Lincoln also spent some time that day writing letters. Here’s what may be the last one he ever wrote. The original is on display in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum:**
Executive Mansion
Washington, April 14, 1865
Mr. Hugh Ridd Morgan
My dear sir:
Your courageous efforts on behalf of Lt. Levi Friedman have been known for some time by the Shearith Israel congregation, the New York synagogue of which Lt. Friedman was a member. I have the honor to know of it as well now, the facts of the incident having been related to me by Rabbi Arnold Fischel of the same congregation.
Dr. Fischel had previously brought to my attention several years ago the matter of a lack of Jewish chaplaincy in the Army. That inequality has been amended and so has justice been dealt in the individual matter of the naval captain who abandoned Lt. Friedman to certain death.
After investigation of this unfortunate episode the captain was relieved of his command and otherwise reprimanded. I wish it were within my power as well to amend the grief of Lt. Friedman’s family over his loss during the assault upon Ft. Fisher in January of this year. I have been told he fell after wresting enemy colors from a parapet.
It is a less solemn purpose here to humbly and belatedly offer you recognition for helping this brave Union officer escape from a particular Egypt and across the water, where he might rejoin his fellow patriots in our Cause; including, perhaps, men of color that you evidently and earlier helped to freedom also.
Given the difficult loyalties of your portion of the Chesapeake you not only risked your life but also those of your family with an action prompted only by conscience and without benefit of drums, bugles or the regiment’s honor. You have my heartfelt thanks and admiration.
Your trade as a miller was mentioned. It strikes me that a nation is, in the larger respect, much like a gristmill, with its diverse and complex machinery and gearing, the clatter and rumbling of the wheel and–you must know this all too well–its constant need for attention and repair.
What has turned the Wheel of this Union since its inception has been, in a loftier sense, the pursuit of the ideal of democracy, a belief in the rights of humanity, and the willingness to accept and share the responsibilities that necessarily attend our liberties. That flow, always of varying constancy, as with a millrace, had been greatly diverted; indeed, threatened to cease altogether.
You, and the man you once sheltered beneath the stones of your gallant enterprise, have done as much as any to restore it.
Very truly yours,
A. Lincoln
**Okay, so the letter’s not REALLY at the Smithsonian. But you CAN find it in Morgan’s Mill.
Honest.
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