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Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency
The Lincolns spent the summer of 1862 north of the White House at the Soldiers’ Home. The lush, cool hill overlooking the squalid capital promised the Lincolns an escape from the "city of stink." Despite fears about Lincoln’s vulnerability in the secluded place, Lincoln spent a quarter of his presidency at the Soldiers’ Home. But until the National Trust for Historic Preservation began restoring the cottage, little had been done to explore this missing link in Lincoln’s life. Elizabeth Smith Brownstein fills in a critical gap. Using diaries, letters, and eyewitness accounts, she provides unusual perspectives on Lincoln’s relationships, traces the evolution of Lincoln’s image, examines the Lincoln marriage, and more. Lincoln’s Other White House is a vivid evocation of a turbulent era, and an intimate portrait of the still elusive president.
- GenresHistory
277 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 3, 2022
I am puzzled by this book.
In 2003, the National Trust for Historic Preservation commissioned Matthew Pinsker’s Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home, to trace the history of Lincoln’s summer retreat, which was later restored and opened to the public as President Lincoln’s Cottage. Then in 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation commissioned Elizabeth Smith Brownstein’s Lincoln’s Other White House, to trace the history of Lincoln’s summer retreat, which was later restored and opened to the public as President Lincoln’s Cottage.
So, why a second book commissioned by the very same group on the very same subject? If the first book was somehow disappointing or incomplete, I could see commissioning a second as a “do-over.” But the first book was not at all disappointing. This second book, however… well…
I’ve read some articles and interviews from the time these books were published, and I’ve asked around myself, and it appears that Pinsker’s book was seen as the “academic” one and Brownstein’s was meant to be the more popular and accessible one. If that is indeed the case, then Pinsker largely succeeded in his goal, while Brownstein only partially succeeded in hers.
Pinsker unearthed diaries, letters and memoirs to help flesh out the little-known story of Lincoln’s summers spent at the Soldiers’ Home, and he supplemented that story with the bigger picture of the issues and challenges Lincoln grappled with during his time there. Brownstein cites many of the same diaries, letters and memoirs to describe Lincoln’s summers spent at the home, but supplements her story with descriptions of the personal relationships Lincoln had with his family, generals, Cabinet secretaries and the soldiers who lived on the grounds.
It is definitely a different take on the same story that provides some different perspectives. And perhaps the casually curious reader, who comes upon both of these books in the Lincoln’s Cottage gift shop, might pick up Brownstein’s and be happy. As a collection of stories about Lincoln, loosely linked to his time spent at his “other White House,” it’s fine, and should satisfy anyone not looking for the deeper, more serious dive that Pinsker provides.
But much of Brownstein’s book has a tenuous connection to the home itself. It starts off promising, with vignettes about all of the other homes Lincoln lived in before the Soldiers’ Home, from the log cabin of his youth, to Springfield, to the White House. From there, the book is organized thematically around Lincoln and those with whom he interacted, at the home and elsewhere. Several generals and Cabinet secretaries who happened to have visited the home on occasion, or perhaps only once, get chapter-length character sketches. Chapters consisting of long excerpts from “Lincoln’s favorite storytellers” or “Poems about slavery” come across as non-sequitur filler material. And the epilogue and last few paragraphs muse on Lincoln's legacy, but have nothing to say about the home, its importance or its influence, which might make one wonder whether, halfway through writing, Brownstein somehow forgot what the book was supposed to be about.
The most problematic parts of the book, however, are right in the middle, where Brownstein aims to portray the importance of the home by emphasizing its connection to the Emancipation Proclamation. In his book, Pinsker writes that “there is a tradition that Lincoln physically wrote the second draft” of the Proclamation at the Soldiers’ Home. It’s entirely possible and probable that there is some truth to the “tradition,” but we just can’t know, as Pinsker concludes after thoroughly examining the question, evaluating the evidence and judging the veracity of witnesses’ memories shared years after the fact. Brownstein, in contrast, simply takes the “tradition” and runs with it, with no comparably careful analysis.
She doesn’t question Vice President Hannibal Hamlin’s claim that Lincoln showed him a draft of the Preliminary Proclamation at the Soldiers’ Home, a full month before Lincoln first revealed his thoughts on the subject to his close advisers and more than six weeks before he presented his first draft to his Cabinet. Most serious Lincoln scholars dismiss Hamlin’s claim as self-puffery, as told to his son and related in a biography written by his grandson decades later. In his book, Pinsker offers very clear and direct advice about this account, which Brownstein completely ignores. Hamlin’s story provides "an important lesson about the writing of history,” Pinsker notes, which is to treat with some skepticism "a third-hand recollection offered years after the fact and contradicted by some contemporary information". He goes on to caution that "the rhythms of narrative invariably color perceptions of what constitutes truth," and that the "narrative appeal” of such an account “is almost irresistible" to many writers who are interested in "making the larger story more dramatic."
The appeal of Hamlin’s account was apparently irresistible to Brownstein, in her desire to tell a dramatic story without bothering to carefully consider its credibility. She does the same with nurse Rebecca Pomroy’s late-in-life claim that she personally witnessed Lincoln struggling to compose the Proclamation at the home. Pinsker cautions that this story "rings false" and "merits interest, not acceptance" because "it comes from a little known book that was ghostwritten years after the conflict and contains some obviously spurious material." Reminiscences related years after the fact "are subject to the natural erosion of memory and the equally natural inclination toward self-aggrandizement," he writes. Brownstein, however, weakly and somewhat laughably argues that Pomroy’s “strong character, and the confidence both Lincolns had in her" is reason enough to believe her account unquestioningly.
In her acknowledgements, Brownstein expresses thanks for "the superb material" that Pinsker turned up in his research. But she gives no indication in her endnotes or bibliography that she ever actually read his book while researching her own. And it was rather nervy of her to subtitle her book, the second on the subject, "the untold story." Maybe she purposely avoided Pinsker's book, in order not to be influenced by it. All good historians, however, build upon the scholarship of their predecessors. Brownstein’s take on the story would have been a far better one had she more carefully considered Pinsker’s take.
So I give this book a generous three stars. The stories Brownstein tells are interesting and engaging enough. But she doesn’t really seem to be able to turn the book’s individual anecdotes and character studies into a larger story about the Soldiers’ Home and its importance. There’s already a much better book that does just that.
In 2003, the National Trust for Historic Preservation commissioned Matthew Pinsker’s Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home, to trace the history of Lincoln’s summer retreat, which was later restored and opened to the public as President Lincoln’s Cottage. Then in 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation commissioned Elizabeth Smith Brownstein’s Lincoln’s Other White House, to trace the history of Lincoln’s summer retreat, which was later restored and opened to the public as President Lincoln’s Cottage.
So, why a second book commissioned by the very same group on the very same subject? If the first book was somehow disappointing or incomplete, I could see commissioning a second as a “do-over.” But the first book was not at all disappointing. This second book, however… well…
I’ve read some articles and interviews from the time these books were published, and I’ve asked around myself, and it appears that Pinsker’s book was seen as the “academic” one and Brownstein’s was meant to be the more popular and accessible one. If that is indeed the case, then Pinsker largely succeeded in his goal, while Brownstein only partially succeeded in hers.
Pinsker unearthed diaries, letters and memoirs to help flesh out the little-known story of Lincoln’s summers spent at the Soldiers’ Home, and he supplemented that story with the bigger picture of the issues and challenges Lincoln grappled with during his time there. Brownstein cites many of the same diaries, letters and memoirs to describe Lincoln’s summers spent at the home, but supplements her story with descriptions of the personal relationships Lincoln had with his family, generals, Cabinet secretaries and the soldiers who lived on the grounds.
It is definitely a different take on the same story that provides some different perspectives. And perhaps the casually curious reader, who comes upon both of these books in the Lincoln’s Cottage gift shop, might pick up Brownstein’s and be happy. As a collection of stories about Lincoln, loosely linked to his time spent at his “other White House,” it’s fine, and should satisfy anyone not looking for the deeper, more serious dive that Pinsker provides.
But much of Brownstein’s book has a tenuous connection to the home itself. It starts off promising, with vignettes about all of the other homes Lincoln lived in before the Soldiers’ Home, from the log cabin of his youth, to Springfield, to the White House. From there, the book is organized thematically around Lincoln and those with whom he interacted, at the home and elsewhere. Several generals and Cabinet secretaries who happened to have visited the home on occasion, or perhaps only once, get chapter-length character sketches. Chapters consisting of long excerpts from “Lincoln’s favorite storytellers” or “Poems about slavery” come across as non-sequitur filler material. And the epilogue and last few paragraphs muse on Lincoln's legacy, but have nothing to say about the home, its importance or its influence, which might make one wonder whether, halfway through writing, Brownstein somehow forgot what the book was supposed to be about.
The most problematic parts of the book, however, are right in the middle, where Brownstein aims to portray the importance of the home by emphasizing its connection to the Emancipation Proclamation. In his book, Pinsker writes that “there is a tradition that Lincoln physically wrote the second draft” of the Proclamation at the Soldiers’ Home. It’s entirely possible and probable that there is some truth to the “tradition,” but we just can’t know, as Pinsker concludes after thoroughly examining the question, evaluating the evidence and judging the veracity of witnesses’ memories shared years after the fact. Brownstein, in contrast, simply takes the “tradition” and runs with it, with no comparably careful analysis.
She doesn’t question Vice President Hannibal Hamlin’s claim that Lincoln showed him a draft of the Preliminary Proclamation at the Soldiers’ Home, a full month before Lincoln first revealed his thoughts on the subject to his close advisers and more than six weeks before he presented his first draft to his Cabinet. Most serious Lincoln scholars dismiss Hamlin’s claim as self-puffery, as told to his son and related in a biography written by his grandson decades later. In his book, Pinsker offers very clear and direct advice about this account, which Brownstein completely ignores. Hamlin’s story provides "an important lesson about the writing of history,” Pinsker notes, which is to treat with some skepticism "a third-hand recollection offered years after the fact and contradicted by some contemporary information". He goes on to caution that "the rhythms of narrative invariably color perceptions of what constitutes truth," and that the "narrative appeal” of such an account “is almost irresistible" to many writers who are interested in "making the larger story more dramatic."
The appeal of Hamlin’s account was apparently irresistible to Brownstein, in her desire to tell a dramatic story without bothering to carefully consider its credibility. She does the same with nurse Rebecca Pomroy’s late-in-life claim that she personally witnessed Lincoln struggling to compose the Proclamation at the home. Pinsker cautions that this story "rings false" and "merits interest, not acceptance" because "it comes from a little known book that was ghostwritten years after the conflict and contains some obviously spurious material." Reminiscences related years after the fact "are subject to the natural erosion of memory and the equally natural inclination toward self-aggrandizement," he writes. Brownstein, however, weakly and somewhat laughably argues that Pomroy’s “strong character, and the confidence both Lincolns had in her" is reason enough to believe her account unquestioningly.
In her acknowledgements, Brownstein expresses thanks for "the superb material" that Pinsker turned up in his research. But she gives no indication in her endnotes or bibliography that she ever actually read his book while researching her own. And it was rather nervy of her to subtitle her book, the second on the subject, "the untold story." Maybe she purposely avoided Pinsker's book, in order not to be influenced by it. All good historians, however, build upon the scholarship of their predecessors. Brownstein’s take on the story would have been a far better one had she more carefully considered Pinsker’s take.
So I give this book a generous three stars. The stories Brownstein tells are interesting and engaging enough. But she doesn’t really seem to be able to turn the book’s individual anecdotes and character studies into a larger story about the Soldiers’ Home and its importance. There’s already a much better book that does just that.
March 19, 2014
Abraham Lincoln lived in the White House from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Or did he? In fact, he spent most of the summer months of 1862 through 1864 – about a quarter of his presidency – living in the Soldier’s Home. Author Elizabeth Smith Brownstein gives us a fascinating, as well as delightful, look at Lincoln’s Other White House.
The book unfolds in two parts. The first part groups three chapters into a sort of preamble as Lincoln’s “long journey to the Soldier’s Home.” Here we find the history of the airy cottage originally belonging to the Riggs banking family but now transformed into a home for aging veterans. We also get a sense for why Lincoln was eager to escape to the home, both from the pressures of constant office seekers and from the diseases and smells permeating the capitol during the steamy summer months.
The second part is split into 15 chapters exploring a variety of issues and people Lincoln dealt with as the war raged outside his doors. Not all of the action takes place at the Soldier’s Home, but the home life is delicately interwoven throughout the stories. Brownstein brings us into the complexities of the Lincoln marriage, his interactions with various cabinet members and Generals, and the importance of his time at the Soldier’s Home during the development of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Along with discussions of Lincoln’s views on freedom and his interest in the tools of war are more unique insights. We see some of the poems on slavery that rose from the pens of such icons as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Walt Whitman. An occasional poet himself, no doubt Lincoln appreciated their ways with words. We also get a sense of Lincoln’s favorite storytellers, including the inimitable characters Petroleum V. Nasby, Artemus Ward, and Orpheus C. Kerr (a play on “office seeker”).
Brownstein’s writing is crisp and light. She covers a lot of territory as she hops in and out of key events and interrelationships during Lincoln’s time at the Soldier’s Home. I found it to be a delightful book indeed, and I highly recommend it to readers.
The book unfolds in two parts. The first part groups three chapters into a sort of preamble as Lincoln’s “long journey to the Soldier’s Home.” Here we find the history of the airy cottage originally belonging to the Riggs banking family but now transformed into a home for aging veterans. We also get a sense for why Lincoln was eager to escape to the home, both from the pressures of constant office seekers and from the diseases and smells permeating the capitol during the steamy summer months.
The second part is split into 15 chapters exploring a variety of issues and people Lincoln dealt with as the war raged outside his doors. Not all of the action takes place at the Soldier’s Home, but the home life is delicately interwoven throughout the stories. Brownstein brings us into the complexities of the Lincoln marriage, his interactions with various cabinet members and Generals, and the importance of his time at the Soldier’s Home during the development of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Along with discussions of Lincoln’s views on freedom and his interest in the tools of war are more unique insights. We see some of the poems on slavery that rose from the pens of such icons as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Walt Whitman. An occasional poet himself, no doubt Lincoln appreciated their ways with words. We also get a sense of Lincoln’s favorite storytellers, including the inimitable characters Petroleum V. Nasby, Artemus Ward, and Orpheus C. Kerr (a play on “office seeker”).
Brownstein’s writing is crisp and light. She covers a lot of territory as she hops in and out of key events and interrelationships during Lincoln’s time at the Soldier’s Home. I found it to be a delightful book indeed, and I highly recommend it to readers.
October 5, 2018
so good that I fear there’ll be a Mar-a-Lago version written.
May 10, 2014
I've read dozens of books on Lincoln over the years. This book, unlike many others, paints a great portrait of his family life, his friendships, and his daily personal life. So many books discuss his overall political career, his views on slavery and his political alliances. This one actually takes new information from letters and journals and paints a picture of Lincoln's family life in the Soldier's Home - his weekend White House.
It was only recently that we learned Lincoln spent so much time there. The authors does a great job weaving different aspects in his life throughout the chapters. She spends a great deal of time discussing Mary Todd Lincoln's command of the staff as well as her pension for decorating and literally overspending to do so. She also handles the intrafamily relationships - between their children, and as many books do, the impact the loss of some of their children had on them.
The chapters are set up covering different aspects of Lincoln's life, although mostly the time during his presidency. What I found particularly intriguing was her chapters devoted to his political and military partners, how they felt about each other, and how they worked together. That was fascinating.
This reads like history, but with a twist. The Brownstein's talent seems to be bringing personalities to life. After reading this book, I feel now as if I have a much better grasp on who Lincoln was as a person.
It was only recently that we learned Lincoln spent so much time there. The authors does a great job weaving different aspects in his life throughout the chapters. She spends a great deal of time discussing Mary Todd Lincoln's command of the staff as well as her pension for decorating and literally overspending to do so. She also handles the intrafamily relationships - between their children, and as many books do, the impact the loss of some of their children had on them.
The chapters are set up covering different aspects of Lincoln's life, although mostly the time during his presidency. What I found particularly intriguing was her chapters devoted to his political and military partners, how they felt about each other, and how they worked together. That was fascinating.
This reads like history, but with a twist. The Brownstein's talent seems to be bringing personalities to life. After reading this book, I feel now as if I have a much better grasp on who Lincoln was as a person.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews