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since i am no longer doing the 50bookchallenge, i'm no longer numbering, but last night i acquired and read (cover to cover ~ and to the exclusion of all else that might have been useful) Mary Abbie Walker Porter's The Surgeon in Charge.
The good news is, this is a weird little aggregation of George Loring Porter's leftover diary, letters and notes regarding the conspiracy trial (and he seemed to have saved most everything that got put into his hands).
a bonanza, right?
well no. unfortunately, Porter was a by-the-book fella who took very seriously his oath to convey no information about the proceeding whatsoever ~ not even privately to himself. so the diary ends with him saying he's been called to duty with General Hartranft, and then is dead silent until the 4th of July when he recalls the grand procession in Washington ~ complete with a hilarious reference to Sherman and Stanton: "they had a spat". i doubt anyone on my flist would know this, but Sherman was so furious at Stanton (and visa versa) that they very publicly snubbed one another on the grandstand. even today there is debate about who did the snubbing first, Stanton later claiming it was he who snubbed Sherman, not the other way around. unfortunately Porter doesn't shed light on this very pressing historical issue.
silly generals and politicians. does it amuse me that my two least favorite people in 1865 were such brats? oh yes, yes it does.
anyway ~ the book answers one really important question regarding the whereabouts of the surgeon's reports. there simply were none. Porter reported verbally to Hartranft and, if there was some pressing issue that couldn't be resolved between them medically, Hartranft reported to Hancock, who reported to Stanton, who sat on his throne and made all the decisions. so we'll never know the particulars of who was ailing and what with. and if Porter wrote no reports, then it is highly doubtful that Dr. Gray (the insanity expert who reported directly to Stanton) ever wrote any either.
unfortunately the book raised more questions than provides answers. Porter seems a stiff fella who wrote a lot of letters correcting other people's assumptions about the conspiracy trial later ~ he even kept correspondence with Weichmann (good heavens, is it just me or does that seem totally inappropriate?). he claimed to have been present during Booth's interment, but Kauffman doubts that he was (his details of the event don't jive with anybody else's, but then you have such a pack of liars and braggarts in this area it's hard to know who really did what).
the biggest puzzlement is in regard to the blasted stupid hoods the prisoners were required to wear. Stanton initially ordered the hoods, in his own word: to prevent self-destruction. this leads me to think they must have been padded. Sam Arnold says they started out with canvas hoods and then got switched to the padded (Sam Arnold's memory, unfortunately, is a bit unreliable as well, though). the Porter book contradicts itself in saying that the padding was installed to prevent chaffing from the canvas, and/or it was done to keep them from communicating. it's generally believed that the hoods were exchanged at some point, but some sources say the padding was exchanged for the canvas because of the heat and some say the canvas was switched to the padding. it's worth noting that General Hartranft, in his letter to Stanton, asks to remove all the hood "except 195 [Powell], as he does not seem to suffer as the rest". (though betty insists that the hood made Powell so traumatized he couldn't think straight).
anyway, Porter doesn't shed any light whatsoever on any of this. he wrote only one report to Hartranft on the condition and suitability of the prison itself, with recommendations for taking out a few window panes to let in a breeze and prerogatives to air out the bedding and keep the prisoners in clean underclothes (an ongoing concern).
Porter lived at the Arsenal in a little house
with his pregnant wife, baby girl, and the girl's mammy.
i'm not 100% sure, but based on the tree line in this picture
and the cannons in the background, i think this was
taken on the Arsenal lawn, which is excellent because
i need a bench under a tree in my story
and i have decided that this is it. yay!
other minor points: Porter was a regular career army surgeon (once captured by rebels earlier in the war) who received two brevet promotions in the summer of 1865 for his service during this time. there's no evidence that he ever personally quarreled with Stanton (though who didn't, given the chance). he liked General Hartranft (who didn't?), and sent him a gift from florida when he and Dodd escorted Mudd, O'Laughlin, Spangler, and Arnold to dry tortugas.
he was 27 years old at the time.
Porter's "ticket" to the execution, signed by General Hancock
(i just love that guy's writing!). even with my very rudimentary
paleography skills, i am pretty confident the handwriting
on the back is General Hartranft's.
The good news is, this is a weird little aggregation of George Loring Porter's leftover diary, letters and notes regarding the conspiracy trial (and he seemed to have saved most everything that got put into his hands).
a bonanza, right?
well no. unfortunately, Porter was a by-the-book fella who took very seriously his oath to convey no information about the proceeding whatsoever ~ not even privately to himself. so the diary ends with him saying he's been called to duty with General Hartranft, and then is dead silent until the 4th of July when he recalls the grand procession in Washington ~ complete with a hilarious reference to Sherman and Stanton: "they had a spat". i doubt anyone on my flist would know this, but Sherman was so furious at Stanton (and visa versa) that they very publicly snubbed one another on the grandstand. even today there is debate about who did the snubbing first, Stanton later claiming it was he who snubbed Sherman, not the other way around. unfortunately Porter doesn't shed light on this very pressing historical issue.
silly generals and politicians. does it amuse me that my two least favorite people in 1865 were such brats? oh yes, yes it does.
anyway ~ the book answers one really important question regarding the whereabouts of the surgeon's reports. there simply were none. Porter reported verbally to Hartranft and, if there was some pressing issue that couldn't be resolved between them medically, Hartranft reported to Hancock, who reported to Stanton, who sat on his throne and made all the decisions. so we'll never know the particulars of who was ailing and what with. and if Porter wrote no reports, then it is highly doubtful that Dr. Gray (the insanity expert who reported directly to Stanton) ever wrote any either.
unfortunately the book raised more questions than provides answers. Porter seems a stiff fella who wrote a lot of letters correcting other people's assumptions about the conspiracy trial later ~ he even kept correspondence with Weichmann (good heavens, is it just me or does that seem totally inappropriate?). he claimed to have been present during Booth's interment, but Kauffman doubts that he was (his details of the event don't jive with anybody else's, but then you have such a pack of liars and braggarts in this area it's hard to know who really did what).
the biggest puzzlement is in regard to the blasted stupid hoods the prisoners were required to wear. Stanton initially ordered the hoods, in his own word: to prevent self-destruction. this leads me to think they must have been padded. Sam Arnold says they started out with canvas hoods and then got switched to the padded (Sam Arnold's memory, unfortunately, is a bit unreliable as well, though). the Porter book contradicts itself in saying that the padding was installed to prevent chaffing from the canvas, and/or it was done to keep them from communicating. it's generally believed that the hoods were exchanged at some point, but some sources say the padding was exchanged for the canvas because of the heat and some say the canvas was switched to the padding. it's worth noting that General Hartranft, in his letter to Stanton, asks to remove all the hood "except 195 [Powell], as he does not seem to suffer as the rest". (though betty insists that the hood made Powell so traumatized he couldn't think straight).
anyway, Porter doesn't shed any light whatsoever on any of this. he wrote only one report to Hartranft on the condition and suitability of the prison itself, with recommendations for taking out a few window panes to let in a breeze and prerogatives to air out the bedding and keep the prisoners in clean underclothes (an ongoing concern).
Porter lived at the Arsenal in a little house
with his pregnant wife, baby girl, and the girl's mammy.
i'm not 100% sure, but based on the tree line in this picture
and the cannons in the background, i think this was
taken on the Arsenal lawn, which is excellent because
i need a bench under a tree in my story
and i have decided that this is it. yay!
other minor points: Porter was a regular career army surgeon (once captured by rebels earlier in the war) who received two brevet promotions in the summer of 1865 for his service during this time. there's no evidence that he ever personally quarreled with Stanton (though who didn't, given the chance). he liked General Hartranft (who didn't?), and sent him a gift from florida when he and Dodd escorted Mudd, O'Laughlin, Spangler, and Arnold to dry tortugas.
he was 27 years old at the time.
Porter's "ticket" to the execution, signed by General Hancock
(i just love that guy's writing!). even with my very rudimentary
paleography skills, i am pretty confident the handwriting
on the back is General Hartranft's.
Tags:
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From:
no subject
2. I WILL BROOK NO BAD WORDS ABOUT GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, FOX OF OHIO. Just because he & Grant won the war, and because he was a neurotic racist asshole, everybody's gotta hate.
3. He mentioned the bitchfight? He mentioned the bitchfight? Man, why don't people write down relevant details.
From:
no subject
2. the neurotic racist asshole actually scores points in my book for squabbling with the evil Stantonpig ~ and for having the narcissism to publicly diss him.
3. likewise i mourn for the lack of details. just the mention, though, made me laugh with glee. love the word "spat" in particular.
: D
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
there are three or four letters and the worst one has an include of a letter from some other fella who praises him, as if to say: see, this guy likes me.
that, and his saying: stanton said i was "comely" (gush gush gush).
oy vey. poor sap was just neuroses unchained.
: o p
i'll do some transcribing later and share them. they are pretty dang pitiful.
From:
no subject
Aaaaaahhhh Weichmann, please at least try not to embaress me like this. I'm trying to defend you and your behaviour is not helping.
....comely? Did Stanton seriously call him comely?
From:
no subject
makes me feel mildly green.
i think among all my favorite dreadful things in history is Surratt's rail against him from his tour lecture. it's so seriously vicious ~ if both of them weren't so ridiculous in their lies and cover-ups, i would almost feel sorry for Weichmann on the receiving end of that particular host of insults.
From:
no subject
some comment of his about something mean some-one said on the stand nearly broke my heart the other day, but can't seem to find it anymore....although that reminds me I abandoned my lj post on how he finishes his letters so I'm going to go do that....
From:
no subject
: D
From:
no subject
In the picture with the tree, what is the man on the far right wearing on his head? A fez?
From:
no subject
as to the hat, that's Porter wearing it, and yes, it's a fez-like job (flat, rather than conical) that was popular in the 1860s, particularly with the college-going set. it's a lounging cap, i guess ~ that's how you could describe it (as opposed to formal head wear). you usually wore it with a smoking jacket.
: D