Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington

by Ted Widmer

As a divided nation plunges into the deepest crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Washington and his inauguration—an inauguration Southerners have vowed to prevent by any means necessary. Drawing on new research, this account reveals the President-Elect as a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, foiling an assassination attempt, and forging an unbreakable bond with the American people.

On the eve of his 52nd birthday, February 11, 1861, the President-Elect of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, walked onto a train, the first step of his journey to the White House, and his rendezvous with destiny.

But as the train began to carry Lincoln toward Washington, it was far from certain what he would find there. Bankrupt and rudderless, the government was on the verge of collapse. To make matters worse, reliable intelligence confirmed a conspiracy to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore. It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of the Republic hung in the balance.

How did Lincoln survive this grueling odyssey, to become the president we know from the history books? Lincoln on the Verge tells the story of a leader discovering his own strength, improvising brilliantly, and seeing his country up close during these pivotal thirteen days.

From the moment the Presidential Special left the station, a new Lincoln was on display, speaking constantly, from a moving train, to save the Republic. The journey would draw on all of Lincoln’s mental and physical reserves. But the President-Elect discovered an inner strength, which deepened with the exhausting ordeal of meeting millions of Americans.

Lincoln on the Verge tells the story of America’s greatest president and the obstacles he overcame, well before he could take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Civil War, Politics, American History, Presidents

640 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

Edward (Ted) Ladd Widmer (born 1963) is a historian, writer, and librarian, who served as a speechwriter in the later days of the Clinton White House.

His parents were Eric G. Widmer and Ellen B. Widmer. As of 1992, his father was working as Dean of Admissions and financial aid at Brown University, and his mother was an Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Literatures at Wesleyan University. Ted Widmer obtained an A.B. in the history and literature of France and the United States, an A.M. in history, and a Ph.D. in the history of American civilization from Harvard University.

Widmer was appointed lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University from 1993 until 1997. He then spent a few years working with Bill Clinton, both during and after Clinton's presidency. He was the special assistant to the president for national security affairs, writing foreign policy speeches, and subsequently was the senior advisor to the president for special projects, advising on history and scholarship related issues. He conducted interviews with Clinton while Clinton was writing his autobiography.

He was the first director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and an associate professor of history at Washington College from 2001. On July 1, 2006 he was appointed director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Ted Widmer’s Martin Van Buren last year and, even accounting for the fact that it was supposed to be an accessible, easy-reading entry in the American Presidents series, I thought it was one of the worst presidential biographies I’d ever read.

So, even though this seemingly more thoughtful and serious Lincoln book has earned generally positive reviews, I was hesitant to give Widmer a second chance. Then I saw it in the library and thought, hey, it’s free, so what do I have to lose but a little time and maybe some sanity?

Well, I should have stuck with my first instinct. This book about Lincoln’s 13-day journey from Springfield to Washington for his inauguration is an earnest enough effort, and not anywhere near as cynically flippant or shoddy as Widmer’s Van Buren book, so there’s that. But if I were Widmer’s editor, I would have cut the book by half to eliminate all of the extraneous verbosity. And then I’d cut it in half again to eliminate all the tangents, unnecessary side stories and stream-of-consciousness observations. Then, what remained would likely be little more than a magazine article, but that would probably be preferable to this big book of bloat.

Of course, this is only my humble opinion. Those who gave this positive reviews may simply be more in sync with Widmer’s style. And if that’s the case, great, I’m glad they enjoyed it. I just found the book to be insufferably overwritten, filled with annoying attempts at wryness, an overabundance of puns, homonyms, analogies and metaphors, resulting in a plethora of groaners. “It seems fitting that our most bipolar president arrived at the moment the country was splitting in two” (groan) is one example. Another, about Lincoln’s decision to grow facial hair, notes that "the absence of beards among the cadaverous Cabinet of James Buchanan was all the more reason to explore this hairy new frontier" (bigger groan). I stopped writing down examples after a while, since there are just so many.

Widmer also engages in a lot of distracting wordplay, as he'll seize upon an otherwise nondescript word and proceed to riff on it, as a way to segue into a new topic or go off on a tangent. Consider the way he describes Lincoln's journey to Columbus, Ohio: "A nearby town, Circleville, was originally built around a series of concentric circles..." "There was a circular logic to the state, and not simply because of the O that formed the first and last letter of its name..." Lincoln "had encountered circles during his long immersion in the geometric writings of Euclid," in which "Euclid defined a circle as a shape with a center, from which all lines can be drawn equally..." At the center of it all in Columbus was Lincoln, who spoke at the Ohio State House, which "covered a round chamber, shaped like the letter O, another one of Ohio's circles..." What does any of this mean? Nothing really, but hey, wasn't it cool how he riffed on the word "circle" there? No? Well, get used to it, because he repeats this style ad nauseam.

If you can get past the writing, which I could not, there’s also the matter of the book’s content. After setting up the story of Lincoln’s inaugural journey, Widmer pauses to ponder the history and the impact and the meaning of railroads, and recaps Lincoln's entire life story in the context of his physical and figurative "locomotion" that, like the railroad, was always "propelling him forward" (another groan).

Once the train finally gets going, the book sometimes reads as straightforward history, but often veers into David Reynolds-esque cultural history, with numerous anecdotes or pieces of trivia about unrelated things that happened to have taken place at the same time, or in the places through which Lincoln traveled. Among the many diversions we’re treated to, as Lincoln’s train rolls along, are how Ivory soap was invented, the early origins of the credit card and the elevator, and where the internet was developed. What does this have to do with Lincoln or his inaugural journey? Nothing, but that somehow seems to be the point.

As the train chugs along, we’re also subjected to an ongoing travelogue, in which we learn more about the history, culture, industry and trivia of each city Lincoln stopped in, passed through or passed near, than about what he actually did there when he disembarked. And the descriptions of what he did get repetitive after a while, with the crowds and the excitement and the pushing and the shoving and the brief remarks Lincoln makes before moving on.

There are many references to prominent people and every future president from Grant to Wilson, some of whom were among the crowds along the train route, others who had a tenuous connection to cities along the route, and others who lived nearby and were not known to have been among the crowds, but Widmer decides "it is hard to imagine" they would have missed it, so into the story they go. At one point, the train passed near a New York town that was the home of a railroad investor, whose daughter was to become the mother of Winston Churchill, which then allows Widmer to tell an anecdote or two about Churchill that have no connections to Lincoln's journey. At another point, a chapter begins with a jaunty full-page photo of Henry Flagler - who, oddly, is never even mentioned once in the narrative (maybe Widmer just liked the photo?)

I also found the tone of the book to be somewhat uneven. There’s the leisurely travelogue aspect of the story, interwoven with an optimistic hope that Lincoln would be able to bring the country together, interwoven with a sense of danger and drama leading up to the Baltimore Plot to assassinate the president-elect. Regarding the latter, Widmer sometimes relies on questionable single sources that others have questioned or debunked, to add dramatic detail. In one case, he describes a potentially deadly obstruction placed on the train track (which, he doesn’t mention, one of the sources he cites actually said would not really have derailed the train at all) and later describes a live grenade found aboard the train, a report that appeared in a single newspaper and that Lincoln aides discounted. Widmer claims this story was later "confirmed," citing a source that merely repeated the newspaper story and didn't "confirm" it at all. But these anecdotes enhance the drama, so into the story they go.

And while Widmer cites some of the substance of what Lincoln said in some of the stops along the route, he misses an opportunity to analyze much of it. Some historians have criticized Lincoln’s often impromptu comments as being sloppy and thoughtless, coming as they did after such a long period of public silence, which were then subject to misinterpretation by the press and liable to inflame an already tense situation in the country. Harold Holzer, in his Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter, 1860-1861, defends Lincoln, portraying him as testing out themes, working to strike the right balance between strength and conciliation, which he got better about refining and perfecting the closer he got to Washington. In contrast to these assessments, Widmer offers no particular point of view, as he generally just quotes Lincoln briefly before he hops back aboard the train to head to another city, whose history and geography and famous residents and inventions we will soon learn, no doubt preceded by some kind of pun or play on words.

As the book nears its end, even the climax - the surreptitious nighttime travel through Baltimore to dodge the assassination plot, which the entire book has been building toward - is marred by the same kinds of diversions and travelogue that permeate the rest of the book. It’s hard to be drawn into the drama when you’re being treated to trivia and would-be witticisms.

I don’t want to spoil the book’s ending, but I will say that it closes with a reference to the 1969 moon landing. Because of course it would.

Clearly a great amount of research and effort went into writing this book, so I feel bad about feeling so badly toward it, especially given that many people seem to like it. To me, it’s just too much. Too much excess verbiage, too much unnecessary information, too much eye roll-inducing prose - and just not enough left over to make it worth recommending.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I picked up this book soon after I finished the Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer. I figured more on the subject of Lincoln's journey to Washington was needed before I was fully willing to credit some scholarly scuttlebutt I had come across about threats to Lincoln on his journey. More scholarship is still needed on this aspect of Lincoln's presidency. We have many tomes about Lincoln after he gets to DC, but very little about the train trip East. I found this volume to help fill in another piece in the Lincoln puzzle. A worthy effort and an entertaining read, start to finish.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville described America as enduring a “quadrennial crisis” every four years as it held its presidential elections. The 1860 election was an exception because the artificial passions that were easily stoked reached unheard of levels. de Tocqueville remarked that “a self-absorbed president, catering to the ‘worst caprices’ of his supporters, could easily distract their attention from plodding matters of governance, and whip their enthusiasm into a frenzy, especially if he divided his supporters and his critics into hostile camps.” He spoke of “feverish obsessions” and warned “the potential for lasting damage was always lurking.” As the ominous warnings came to fruition in the Civil War in 1861, today we stand on another ominous precipice as the 2020 election approaches. de Tocqueville’s view of America is as plausible today as it was in the 19th century as even a pandemic and how to deal with it has strong partisan overtones and we find that people are storming the offices of governors with AR-15 weapons. With the current state of our politics in the background it is useful to examine the pre-inaugural period that witnessed Abraham Lincoln’s journey from Springfield, IL to Washington, D.C. after the election of 1860 wonderfully presented in Ted Widmer’s new book, LINCOLN ON THE VERGE: THIRTEEN DAYS TO WASHINGTONS.

One might ask why do we need another book about Abraham Lincoln, but to Widmer’s credit he has unearthed a great deal in his research and by focusing on Lincoln’s thirteen day odyssey he does so in a manner that other authors should envy as his narrative is like a flower that has buds leading to numerous diversions for Widmer to relate to other aspects of American history. In a recent CBS television interview Widmer as he does in his book argued that Lincoln’s election was the key to reaffirm the democratic process in America and its continuation as the core of our government. Widmer argues further that the United States was the democratic model for the world and if it did not preserve its democratic principles the rest of the world would not have developed as it did, particularly in the 20th century and who knows how events would have transpired. Widmer develops other important themes that in a general way are very pertinent. The south had enjoyed an idyllic existence with a free labor system as the basis of its plantation economy or “cotton kingdom.” It did not develop the industrial infrastructure as the north and would soon feel threatened not only by its fear of the emancipation of slaves, but by the growth of the west as evidenced by the new census, which if admitted to the union as free states would result in the loss of its control of Congress. The north’s industrial development particularly the expansion of the railroads was the main threat. The railroads provided the transportation network that was making the steamboat almost obsolete and provided the vehicle for the demographic explosion west of the Mississippi to the west coast.

Widmer makes a number of salient points that reflect southern anxiety. For the first sixty-one years of the Republic slaveholders held the presidency. For forty-one of those years a slaveholder was Speaker of the House. For fifty-two years the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was a slaveholder. Eighteen out of thirty-one members of the Supreme Court were southerners, despite the fact that 80% of cases that reached the court originated in the north. Lastly, most military officers and Attorney-Generals hailed from the south – no wonder the economic, political, and social changes that were evolving in the 1850s produced so much anxiety below the Mason-Dixon line.

Widmer writes with exceptional verve and excitement as he describes Lincoln’s journey to assume the presidency. A journey that had been preceded by Lincoln’s strategy of silence during the campaign which now would be drastically altered. Widmer has the ability to focus on his main task, how Lincoln avoided violence and a possible assassination as he passed through eight states. But, at the same time he fills in the background history of a particular whistle stop and its relationship to Lincoln’s life and career. A case in point is Lincoln’s arrival in Cincinnati, known as the “Queen City,” as well as “Porkopolis” because of its pork industry (which would give rise to Proctor and Gamble in the 1840s!) which Widmer argues was a key to Lincoln assuming the presidency and the North’s ultimate victory in the Civil War. Sitting across on the other side of the Ohio River sat Kentucky with its myriad of political interests making Cincinnati influential in formulating the attitudes of many Kentuckians. Being a border state Lincoln feared that if Kentucky seceded, they would soon be followed by Maryland and Missouri which immediately would have threated the capitol and Lincoln’s assumption of the presidency.

Even before Lincoln left Springfield to travel to Washington rumors and conspiracy theories abounded. Lincoln received numerous threats on his life as he was seen by the south as the embodiment of evil and the ultimate threat to their way of life. As Lincoln traveled toward Washington his friends and cohorts wondered how they could protect him. Thanks to the early warnings of Dorothea Dix who had traveled through the south during the secessionist craze learning of a number of conspiracy theories concerning a possible southern seizure of Washington and the depth of hatred for Lincoln in Maryland. She informed Samuel Felton, the President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad of the possible coup who then contacted General Winfield Scott, and Alan Pinkerton who would deploy eight detectives, among of which was Kate Warne. Warne brilliantly acted the part of a recently arrived Alabaman, which produced a large amount of gossip from southern women, she would also frequent southern saloons trawling for information. This led to a treasure trove of information for Pinkerton’s spies and created an undercurrent of gloom as Lincoln’s odyssey made its way toward the nation’s capital amidst possible assassination plots to take place when Lincoln passed through Baltimore.

Widmer does a wonderful job linking Lincoln’s journey to future historical figures. For example, the sixteen-year-old Thomas A. Edison, the sixteen-year-old Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, all future presidents in addition to John D. Rockefeller all who witnessed Lincoln’s odyssey.

The journey was dominated by political calculations as at each whistle stop Lincoln would make a speech designed for the audience that came to see him by the thousands. Lincoln went further than any president had gone before in addressing the American people. It appeared as if he was having direct conversations with voters and with newspaper and the telegraph, he was able to reach people across America and make a Lincoln presidency more real. Despite Lincoln’s exhaustion he eventually came to relish the relationship he was establishing with his constituents. Lincoln would experience many ups and down during his journey which at times was compounded by his bouts with depression highlighted by the fact he was almost certain that he left Springfield he would never return alive.

As Lincoln traveled from city, hamlet, and village he had to navigate the political minefields of each location. None was more problematical than Albany and New York, NY which had been under democratic control for decades under the stewardship of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. Lincoln’s coat takes elected a Republican governor which would only exacerbate the problem as Fernando Wood, the unstable mayor of New York City leaned toward the south and argued for an autonomous zone for his city. Widmer also does a fine job comparing another political minefield as he follows the odyssey of Jefferson Davis, the newly elected president of the Confederacy. Widmer follows Davis’ sojourn from his plantation in Mississippi to the new capitol in Montgomery, AL comparing his executive actions and powers with those lacking in Lincoln who had a ways to go in getting his administration up and running as he tried to survive and reach Washington.

Widmer deftly measures Lincoln up against other historical figures throughout the narrative. His favorite is George Washington who had his own partisan and foreign policy travails who Lincoln studied particularly his “Farwell Address” and how he dealt with enemies within his own administration. It seems that Widmer is able to choose a historical personage from each city that Lincoln visited and compare the future president with that individual on a personal level and the historical context of each.

Lincoln gave numerous speeches throughout his travels which were roundly critiqued at the time. Widmer does the same but singles out his addresses in Philadelphia as perhaps his most important. When Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, he immediately grasped its iconic importance in American history as is evidenced by his references to the Declaration of Independence’s “all men are created equal” supposition and the work of the founders in the city. For Lincoln, the city and its shrines were sacred, a message he put forth during each speech. Lincoln focused on a “sincere heart” and the holiness and sacred walls of Independence Hall. It was if he were experiencing his own “Great Awakening.” His speeches raised the level of his bond with the union he vowed to protect as he restored the radical promise inherent in the Declaration of Independence. As Widmer continuously reminds us, throughout his visit to “the city of brotherly love” he received numerous messages of hatred concerning plots that were unfolding in Baltimore which clouded the president-elect’s visit.

Widmer ends his superb narrative after tracing his deception that frustrated the potential assassins surrounding Baltimore by reversing Lincoln’s odyssey, this time departing Washington for Springfield in late April and early May 1865. Widmer has written an excellent account superseding most if not all books on the topic, but also, he has completed a narrative that should join other classics written about the fallen president.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is said that outside of Jesus Christ and Napoleon, no one in western history has been written more about than that of Abraham Lincoln.  After thousands of books on the man and his life, what more can be said?  What new angles can be examined? Ted Widmer vividly focuses on just thirteen perilous days (February 11-23, 1861) in the life of Lincoln in “Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington”. With the nation on the verge of collapse into at the time a yet to be named civil conflict, Widmer follows president-elect Lincoln’s thirteen-day, 1,900-mile train voyage from Springfield, Illinois to Washington D.C. for his inauguration with great suspense and high drama.

The journey begins with an impromptu farewell address, delivered from the rear platform of the passenger car at the Springfield train station.  Widmer vividly details the weight upon the president-elect’s shoulders and the courage required for the immense task at hand.  With each stop along the way, each carefully crafted speech given, each handshake received, Lincoln is keenly aware of the symbolism of holding the democracy together as the Union begins to dissolve. Through it all Lincoln displays his trademark humor and storytelling with vacillating moments of immense melancholy.  As the president-elect stops in each northern city greeted by large and friendly crowds, Widmer ominously details the southern states beginning their succession from the Union as Jefferson Davis builds his new government as the President of the newfound Confederacy.  With a probable plot of assassination in Baltimore and a bomb scare in Cincinnati, the stakes and suspense are high.

As the journey to Washington plods along Widmer offers a unique perspective of the significance of each stop’s geography.  At times this background can feel like filler, but it provides important historical context with emphasis on the vast differences between the booming economies and population growth of the North versus the unhurried and disconnected South. At each stop, we’re introduced to future presidents or historical figures who were either in attendance to see Lincoln or who could have very well been in the audience such as: Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Rutherford B. Hayes in Cincinnati, James Garfield in Columbus, Frederick Douglas in Rochester, Rockefeller in Cleveland, Carnegie in Pittsburgh, Grover Cleveland in Buffalo, Chester Arthur and even John Wilkes Booth in Albany in town for a performance.

It’s hard not to read this book in 2020 and not draw some parallels of a tremendously divided country between 1861 and now.  While not quite as threatening today as it was then, this stinging lash of prevailing worldviews continues to haunt the country.  Nevertheless, Lincoln on the Verge is one of my favorite reads of 2020 and should offer great satisfaction to not only Lincoln buffs, but general history lovers alike.

[David Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Distinguished lecturer and prolific writer Ted Widmer pens what is certainly one of the best Lincoln books of the year. The focus is on the thirteen days Abraham Lincoln traveled from Springfield, Illinois to Washington in time for his first inauguration. All told, Lincoln traveled 1,904 miles, taking 18 different railway lines through eight states, engaging in adventures and misadventures along the way. Widmer captures all of these events, both the well known and the obscure.

For example, many have heard of the assassination attempt planned for Lincoln’s passage through Baltimore. Widmer keeps us apprised of the developments as the Lincoln party learned of them, and the thrilling nighttime diversion from schedule to ensure his safe arrival in the District. Less well known was the unattended carpet bag containing a grenade that would have destroyed the entire car, fortuitously discovered just before the presidential train left Cincinnati. Or the over-exuberance of welcoming festivities at Alliance, Ohio, when a celebratory cannon fired too close to the car, showering a less than happy, but subsequently uninjured, Mary Lincoln with broken glass. [Another spectator would blow off his own hand when a cannon fired prematurely outside of Cleveland.] Or the coincidental occurrence of John Wilkes Booth staying in Albany when Lincoln arrived, having traveled a nearly identical route between there and Rochester, New York, touring a series of Shakespearean tragedies.

Wary of entering into southern territory—seven states had already seceded from the Union by this time—the Lincoln entourage kept to a winding route through the northern states. Each stop provides fodder for Widmer to regale the reader with the historical significance of the city in addition to Lincoln’s activities. Upstate New York, for example, allows him to meet 12-year-old Grace Bedell, who had encouraged him to grow a beard, while Rochester was the home of Frederick Douglass, who may (or may not, we don’t know for sure) have greeted the train during Lincoln’s brief stop). It turns out Cincinnati was a center of scientific excellence while simultaneously also known as “Porkopolis” for its massive number of pig slaughterhouses. The anecdotes are endless. While the focus is on Lincoln’s travels, the book interweaves thousands of small details and flashbacks relevant to Lincoln’s life. The author does this in a breezy storytelling style that is as interesting as it is informative. I highly recommend this book for all to read.

David J. Kent
Author, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius
President, Lincoln Group of DC

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although tagged as a Biography, this very readable account of Lincoln only covers 13 days of his life. On February 11, 1861 Lincoln began his journey to the Presidency in Springfield, Illinois aboard a train they called "The Special".

The train traveled 1,900, as Lincoln attempted to gather support from the industrial North. These States were vital to the war that Lincoln knew would come.

Lincoln was following Buchannan into the Oval Office. Buchannan's time as President, known as the worst in history, was filled with corruption and cronyism with the Southern plantations. It was an eye-opener to see how our current political strife parallels what was happening in 1861 :

...the most depressing problem was the one that struck countless Europeans as the central paradox of American democracy. The ideals of the Declaration were hardly self-evident..

...even if Southern militias did not surround the Capitol, there was another way Lincoln's election could be turned back, striking for simplicity. On February 13th two boxes would be taken into the House chambers where they would be opened and the votes counted. But anything could happen in a city that that had effectively ceased to play by any rules. Perhaps the certificates had not been signed and sealed properly? Lincoln's enemies might declare a miscount, throwing the election into the House. Or leading Southerner's might just ask the Vice-President to become an "acting president"...

Before Lincoln left for Washington, Allan Pinkerton (Pinkerton Security) was hired to root out any trouble. Pinkerton uncovered several assassination plots along the route. The South was determined that Lincoln would never reach Washington.

As you read and travel the route with Lincoln, you watch a meek, "homely" man become an orator, who begins to emphasize the world ALL. As in "All men are created equal". While Lincoln was shouting for unity, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the new President of The Confederacy. Every delay in Lincoln's arrival, for his inauguration, brought the Union closer to dissolution and war. Those who supported Lincoln came in droves to watch his train pass. Democracy was fraying at the seams...Lincoln helped Americans to feel that they were taking back their country from a cabal that was destroying its very purpose.

An excellent look at history-highly recommended

I received this book as a GR's Give Away-Thank you goodreads and thank you Simon and Schuster

[Bryan Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fills a gap in Lincoln literature by devoting an entire book on the train ride that Linclon took to get to D.C. for the inauguration.

Well-written and the author really shows us a super-star in the rising.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical piece written in a very accessible manner. Also a very timely read as it reflects perhaps the only time our nation has been more divided than it is right now. And the parallels in the geographical and ideological underpinnings of the divisions then and now are remarkable.

[Ashley Tarter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler. Here's the last line in the book, "Lincoln on the Verge."
"Lincoln's refusal to fall apart in 1861, made the difference." This book is so timely as "2020 bingo cards" are starting to include "Civil War." I refuse to fall apart. I choose to lean into to hear and understand viewpoints different from my own; historical facts, that I was never exposed to before; and narratives that might be distasteful, but not necessarily untrue. I am willing to consider that however well I think I know American history, there are always nuances that one historian can use to slant this way or that, and that it is my duty as someone seeking to be intellectually honest, that I can't stop seeking truth. This book is about so much more than the story of the time between Lincoln's election and his inauguration. This book is really a comparison between Lincoln's vision of a more perfect union and how the south organized itself for secession, along with an historically minded view of what "State's rights" meant in the period of 1785-1865.
It also has sweet nuggets about Lincoln that I had never heard elsewhere before, including stories about how he parented his own teenage son!
#notwhatyouthought
#Lincoln

[Christopher A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really looking forward to this but I’m left rather disappointed. This book basically tells that there is a serious plot to kill Lincoln pn his journey to DC. It doesnt give much detail into the plot or those planning. The book more detils Lincolns journey which gives a summary of each stop and the reception that was given. I enjoyed the early parts of the book and the last 50 pages but the meat of the book seemed like each chapter was the same as the previous. Lincoln was tired, there were excited people everywhere trying to see him and shake his hand, he was even more tired and more handshaking.

[James Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially in these uncertain times it is important to get to know Lincoln better. Ted Widmer is a respected Historian with a lengthy story about that Inaugural Trip to Washington DC. It's important to realize that few Americans along this nearly 2,000 mile trip through Americana had ever met their newly elected Republican President.

I read about the plot being hatched in Baltimore to assassinate Abraham Lincoln before he even reached DC so details on the speeches and encounters along the tracks can be helpful in understanding that Lincoln simply believed in our founding documents meant the Negro is entitled to Freedom as a fundamental right

Some critics said that Ted Widmer spent too much time on filling the seats on trains and in lecture halls in places like Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City. I would have liked to have read more of his prepared and impromptu comments as well as the Editorials that arose from the backs of trains and in quickly arranged ceremonies. Dorms Kearns Goodwin is right. This is a book for our time!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve previously read both ‘The Lincoln Conspiracy’ by Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch and ‘The Hour of Peril’ by Daniel Stashower which are also about Lincoln’s historic train ride and assassination attempt, and this book is not the best of them. Additionally, there have been numerous magazine articles and well as TV spots regarding this subject so its by no means all that new of a subject.

Good Lord, the book was pushing 700 pages and there are 109 pages of notes to refer to. No wonder this book was so tedious. Exhausting! Repetitive, poorly written. It’s not terrible it’s just too much, too long, and too dragged out.

Overly detailed, along with many long stories about everywhere the train went and every single person with any connection at all to the story. If you are a real Lincoln buff it is probably worth reading but for myself, I wish I didn’t pick it up. Three very tired stars.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A lot of interesting history and some excellent insights, but the author tries too hard. The book is overwritten, with too many strained analogies and too many attempts to connect the train ride to as many 19th century personalities as possible. Worth reading, but could have used some editing.

[Sher · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Rahni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me to be thankful that there are people out there with patience to do the research to bring stories like this together. Ted Widmer has obviously pored through innumerable sources and mined records and reflections of countless contemporaries of Lincoln to find snippets to flesh out this sojourn across America. The conditions surrounding the journey and the election were at times a sobering mirror of today's tumult.

I need this book in print! I'd have a lot more to thumb through, revisit, and quote for this review. (Though the audio was absorbing and well-narrated.)

I learned so much about the country at that time--the individual pockets Lincoln traveled through, cares and concerns of the day, "modern" conveniences and troubles, social causes, the role that information and the reporting of events (and the ever-increasing speed with which the news was distributed), and loads more. This book contained A LOT. The many tidbits and asides didn't feel like fluff and filler to me, but rather provided depth and greatly informed the tableau of the journey.

My only quibble was that some of the writing about the South and the Southern leaders seemed to employ a kind of "nyah nyah you hicks and pompous drawling no-technology punks" schoolyard-dissing. It's not that I want the historians to have no opinions (and I firmly embrace the causes Lincoln championed), but I suppose I'm more used to the Robert Caro version of discussing figurehead's flaws and causes with more of a reporter's telling than a fervent supporter's. It's not that it seemed unfair, per se--there was plenty going wrong on that side of the Mason-Dixon line--but it seemed a little one-dimensional. Not a huge thing, but something I noticed every now and then.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this and Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch's book, "The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President⁠—and Why It Failed." Both cover the same period of time. The Meltzer and Mensch book has a narrower focus, and a broader target audience. I had low expectations for it. Surprisingly, the Meltzer and Mensch book is far better. This book, by Ted Widmer, is not very well written, and is incredibly repetitive. How many different ways can you describe a crowd of people cheering for the president-elect? Not nearly enough. Widmer tries to turn Lincoln's train journey to Washington into a geography lesson, telling at least one story about each town Lincoln visits. This is very interesting for the first 100-200 pages. Then it started to put me to sleep.

> In the first sixty-one years of the government, slaveholders held the presidency for fifty years, the Speaker of the House's chair for forty-one years, and the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee for fifty-two years. Eighteen of thirty-one Supreme Court justices hailed from the South, even though four-fifths of the actual business of the court came from the North. No Northern president had been reelected.

> Floyd may have been the worst. As secretary of war, he had sworn to defend the United States against all enemies. Instead, he surreptitiously shipped arms from Northern arsenals to the South. (The Confederacy would later brag about his disloyalty.)

> For anyone trying to reach Washington from the northern states, Baltimore was a frustrating choke point. The two lines that came in from the north failed to connect with the lines heading south and west, with the result that much time was wasted moving passengers and goods at a snail's pace through the city's clogged streets

> Confederates continued to set up their government. In many ways, they were ahead of the United States, barely governed at all in the final weeks of the Buchanan administration.

> earliest memories stemmed from the Knob Creek farm where his parents had moved when he was two years old. But in all of Kentucky, he had won only 1,364 votes, or less than 1 percent

> Just before the train left, an unattended carpetbag was found in Lincoln's car. When it was opened, a "grenade of the most destructive character" was discovered inside, live, and "so arranged that within fifteen minutes it would have exploded, with a force sufficient to have demolished the car and destroyed the lives of all the persons in it." That remarkable story was reported in the Syracuse Journal but omitted from the daily coverage of the New York City and Chicago papers. Was Lincoln nearly blown up on the third day of his journey?

> Eight years later, on exactly this stretch of track, a young inventor, George Westinghouse, would perfect a new system of air brakes capable of stopping all the cars at the same time thanks to a system of compressed air running through the entire train. The breakthrough would allow trains to grow longer, faster, and safer. Westinghouse would go on to invent a long roster of rail improvements before turning to electricity, alternating current, and the power grids

> It was said that "men kiss each other's wives in Pittsburgh," simply because it was so difficult to see, and that mothers wrote out messages to shopkeepers on the faces of their children.

> Lincoln had just entered the Western Reserve, another statelet within a state. At the time of independence, this section of northern Ohio was still a part of Connecticut—nearly as large as the original, with 3.3 million acres of prime real estate. The parcel had been included in Connecticut's royal charter of 1662 and, as its name suggested, was considered a western extension of the state. But it became difficult to hold as Americans poured west to fill up the new lands after the war. In 1796 Connecticut sold its Ohio land to a group of Connecticut investors. … Moses Cleaveland, whose last name would grace the metropolis of the Western Reserve, thought of it as "New Connecticut," a state unto itself.

> Eventually Rockefeller decided that his talents were better suited to the challenges of refining and shipping the oil rather than extracting it. Two years after Lincoln's visit, the young Clevelander would launch an oil refinery along a small creek that flowed into the Cuyahoga

> at Schenectady. A few young movers and shakers, showing a little too much leadership, took it upon themselves to fire a celebratory cannon as Lincoln's train approached. The only problem was that they managed to fire it directly into his train, taking out a section of the forward car, shattering three windows "into atoms," covering passengers with broken glass, and terrifying everyone. For the second time since the trip started, an errant artillery blast had caused windows to break near the Lincolns.

> an early version was called the "Vertical Screw Railway." But eventually it would be called by a simpler name: the elevator. Its inventor was a former toymaker from Vermont, Elisha Otis, who had filed his patent only a few weeks earlier. Otis had been trying to improve railroad brakes when he began to look into the problem of carrying weight upward, along grooved metal tracks, with power supplied by a steam engine. At first, his device was intended to help factories move heavy equipment from one floor to another

> After he was elected, panicky rumors spread up and down Wall Street that the Republicans were radicals who wanted to punish the wealthy. Many business leaders blamed Lincoln for the fact that Southern states were seceding

> with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the marshal was obligated to capture suspected runaways. As a result, Independence Hall saw a new function: as a holding pen for African-Americans about to be returned to slavery

> At the last minute, just before midnight, a fake package was delivered to the conductor, to distract him, while the real package—Abraham Lincoln—slipped quietly into the sleeper through the back door and was ushered into his berth. Pinkerton and Lamon followed close behind.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the book could have been more tightly edited, it still manages to depict the tense story of Abraham Lincoln's train trip to Washington for his first inauguration. Tying together diverse strands of information, his book is unexpectedly timely. For instance, Lincoln's security detail seeks to avoid an armed, weaponized mob scheming to override Lincoln's victory (conjuring up images of January 6, 2021). While it should be difficult to find new stories to tell about the 16th president, this book does so in entertaining fashion.

[Bruce Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea of the magnitude of the threat against Lincoln as he traveled to his inauguration. There is, of course, no way now for anyone to evaluate how accurate they were, but reports from Pinkerton and other sources placed the number of conspirators in the hundreds, perhaps thousands -- many of whom would have been the police (particularly in Baltimore) charged with protecting the president elect. Widmer traces the decisions Lincoln and his staff/associates made in an effort to make it to DC alive. To our modern sensibilities, it beggars belief how unprotected Lincoln was in his day to day activities. His train would make a scheduled stop in some city and there would be thousands and thousands of people waiting to see and hear them, and there was virtually no separation between them and Lincoln. He'd have to make his way through masses of people, any one of whom might have wanted him dead. People would climb onto the stage as he was delivering a speech and make comments about how tall he was.

As Widmer narrates Lincoln's trek to DC, he uses the opportunity to digress into the major trends that were taking place or that already begun and were now shaping events: the discovery of coal and oil deposits, the spread -- in the North, not matched in the South -- railroads, education, the telegraph (Some worried that it was actually driving them apart. In 1858, three days after the first Atlantic Cable connected New York and London, the New York Times asked if the news would become “too fast for the truth?”). This does occasionally slow the narrative down, of course, but more importantly, it does provide a better understanding of the time. The anger, the disruptive nature of technology, the furious polarization, the urge for power.

It is striking -- and more than a little disturbing -- how closely some things resembled our own time. The book was published in 2020, which means that he was writing it during the Trump years. Likely, the events of that period influenced how Widmer perceived things, and certainly how he might have chosen to describe them. For all that, the echoes are powerful. For example, one of the key fears Lincoln's people and others had involved the certification of electoral votes in Congress:

They [the votes] might be waylaid, or stolen by the armed militias who were increasingly seen marching around Washington, reporting to no one in particular. During the count, if it got that far, the Southern masters of Congress might declare a certificate unacceptable, simply because it looked wrong. Or they could appoint a committee to investigate voting discrepancies in November. Such a committee might take a very long time to reach a verdict—plenty of time for the Confederacy to establish itself.

Complicating things further, the person responsible then (as now) for delivering the EC votes was the Vice President, in this case John Breckinridge of Kentucky. Breckinridge was a strong supporter of slavery. As Widmer notes, "He had been the South’s candidate in the election, and he was the very person who would gain the most if the boxes were destroyed, or stolen, or simply misplaced." Breckinridge did his Constitutional duty. Sometime after the certification, Massachusetts senator Henry Dawes wrote, “We owe much to Mr. Breckinridge for the dignity and propriety of his conduct, though his heart was so thoroughly with the rebels he was among the earliest to join their army.”

The press was factious and irresponsible, politicians were hungry for attention and fame, citizens were all too easily manipulated And then, of course, there was the widespread sense (not at all irrational) that the American Experiment was nearing its end. The lessons of history were hard to ignore. Every democracy ever known had failed, beginning with the Greeks twenty-four centuries earlier. They had succumbed, one by one, to all the well-known vices of the people: corruption, greed, lust, ethnic hatred, distractibility, or simply a fatal indifference. Needless to say, the South was more than eager to break up the "United" states. Widmer quotes William Tecumseh Sherman's diary, where he "confessed his anguish at seeing Americans indulging in a 'glorious rejoicing at the downfall of our own country.' "

As others have noted, the book can be repetitious, but I took that to be a minor flaw. All in all, "Lincoln on the Verge" a very worthy contribution to the literature of the Civil War, filled with insight into Lincoln's personality and his development as a politician, and fascinating details, like: the NY Times describing New Jersey as “the South Carolina of the North;” that Wisconsin alone had 38 local time zones before railroad expansion made that situation unworkable; that Lincoln's train was greeted with enthusiastic crowds, rifle volleys, and cannon fire -- including... A few young movers and shakers, showing a little too much leadership, took it upon themselves to fire a celebratory cannon as Lincoln’s train approached. The only problem was that they managed to fire it directly into his train, taking out a section of the forward car, shattering three windows “into atoms,” covering passengers with broken glass, and terrifying everyone.

[Charlene Intriago · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Worth a second read. Well researched and well written.

[Gerry Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

In February of 1861 Abraham Lincoln set out on a 13 day, 1900 mile, eight state rail journey to rally the North to the trial yet to come viz the civil war. In Lincoln on the Verge Ted Wilmer documents this unique event in American history. It wasnt Lincoln’s oratory (of 101 speeches only two were memorable: Trenton and Independence Hall in Philadelphia). It was his presence. His making himself present to hundreds of thousand along the journey. He became the symbol of faith when all seemed dark and broken. The Union would stand. He would persist despite death threats. He would not shirk his duty as the elected president. It rallied the North while Jeff Davis was being inaugurated Confederate president. Widmer makes a compelling point about the significance and impact of Lincoln’s sojourn , often overlooked by other historians. And four bloody years later Lincoln made the same trip by rail by in reverse. Homeric in its storytelling.

[Katherine Younkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abraham Lincoln was facing one of the biggest crises of his career and he had not even assumed the office of President. Before his inauguration, before setting into motion his plans for challenging the issues of slavery and Southern secession, he and his family had to physically reach Washington from Springfield, Illinois. This may not seem to be such a huge endeavor, as already the Iron Horse provided quick travel routes. The challenges were not the distance but what Lincoln needed to do to solidify support among the regular citizens. What Lincoln hoped to accomplish was a speaking tour where he could go through city and town and let the nation see him. His very legitimacy as President was in question from thousands of Southern sympathizers who were in the towns lining his route. These were enraged opponents many of whom had sent Lincoln death threats after the November election. Plans were underway for his assassination before he reached the capital.
To his advantage, Lincoln had a plainspoken honesty and directness that moved people. He was a sharp contrast to James Buchanan and his corrupt administration. He also had a deep reverence for the ideals of democracy and the United States. In a shrewd move, he chose to stop in small towns and meet local dignitaries spending time with regular people. Along the way he and his aides thwarted several attempts on his life, to reach a capital city where many of its residents had questionable loyalties.

Ted Widmer’s heavily-researched account of Lincoln’s journey incorporates perspectives of Henry Villard, a journalist, Lincoln’s secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay and wells as countless other notables. Widmer’s research also includes numerous anecdotes and recollections of many regular people who interacted with the President-Elect. One charming story includes the meeting of Grace Bedell, the twelve-year-old girl who had written Lincoln and promised she could deliver the five votes of her father and brothers if he would grow a beard. He had complied and Grace was there to meet him in Westville, New York. After gaining the attention of the whole crowd and meeting Lincoln, the shy Grace hid the rest of the day.

The route was by no means a straight shot to Washington. Lincoln needed to avoid Virginia as much as possible as the state was on the brink of seceding as South Carolina had already done. Lincoln’s train traveled through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, New York City, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and dangerous Baltimore to reach Washington. His train slowed for him to make one and five-minute stops in smaller towns to allow people to see him. Widmer documents Lincoln’s inner moods and bouts of sadness, the personalities and events at each stop, the crush of crowds, and the wearying nights he had to endure standing and shaking hands. He gave over a hundred impromptu speeches.

The final dash through Baltimore was thrilling. Kate Warne, a female spy, had gathered information from talking to Southerners and identifying a specific plot to kill Lincoln in Baltimore. Lincoln switched trains to a low-profile rail car and traveled all through the night in a disguise to reach Washington unharmed.

Widmer’s book is a detailed and moving account of Lincoln’s first exposure as the President-Elect to a nation undergoing a crisis. Many famous names of those involved in this trip will stand out to readers such as Alan Pinkerton and Dorathea Dix. I had little knowledge about Lincoln’s trip to Washington before I read this and was engrossed with the danger of his journey and the utter dignity of the man. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy learning more about Abraham Lincoln and this very chaotic time in American history.

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Taya · Rating 2 out of 5]

after having read this, i have determined that i am not interested in pursuing a major in history, specifically that of abraham lincoln’s life. i think i have learned enough for a lifetime. the true crime enthusiast in me was disappointed in the lack of details of the assassination :/ but i will not be looking into that. i have better things to do, including reading sapphic love stories 😻 thank you and goodnight.

[Eric Sondermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book. The best I have picked up in a while. A compelling story of Lincoln’s unlikely, high-risk journey to D.C. to assume the presidency. And in the process, to rally the Union for the struggle inevitably ahead. But it is far more than a tale of Lincoln’s trip. It is also a story of America’s expansion and development; of the burgeoning railroad network; of Lincoln’s and Jefferson Davis’s parallel paths;of a nation fraying by the day; of the various personages Lincoln encounters along the way; and of one person’s match with the moment. Superb, engaging read.

[Keri Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down - so many parallels to today.

[Ingrid Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a story of one incident in time. I had read of the planned attempt to assassinate Abraham Lincoln before he could be sworn in as America’s 16t President for the first time while reading articles surrounding his 200th Birthday. It was a brief story that skimmed over what should have been a large part of the story of this amazing man’s Presidency.
Lincoln on the Verge is about that moment in time. And so much more...this is Lincoln on the verge of his historic Presidency. On the Verge of changing our country forever. On the Verge of greatness. On the Verge of Immortality.
It begins with Lincoln unexpectedly winning the election, and before he is even sworn is as the new leader of these United States, he is faced with the biggest crisis of his career and life. He takes the reigns during a time of upheavel, the South already making steps to leave the union, slavery at an all time high, and at its most heinous. Half the country loves him, half hates him, some enough to want him dead before they would accept him as President.
But before all of that, he had to actually get to Washington, DC. Something that sounds strange to our modern ears, it’s just a quick trip up I95. But in his time it was a long, arduous journey already full of natural dangers but now Lincoln had to face the dangers of man.
Lincoln needed to solidify his standing as a leader with the everyday citizens of this country. Some who would never actually set eyes on a President in their lifetime. So he decides that on the journey to be sworn in he will stop and speak at as many cities and towns as possible, especially in the South where he was hated, and let people see and hear him for themselves.
So hated that plans to assassinate him before he reached the capital, were already in place.
This book is full of recollections, research, and antidotes of Lincoln spending time with average people as well as dignitaries on his way to DC. Acting as if all were fine while multiple attempts on his life were stopped but the Pinkerton detectives, a group that would become the forerunners of the Secret Service.
One of the more endearing stories involved the meeting of Grace Bedell, the twelve-year-old girl who had written Lincoln and promised she could deliver the five votes of her father and brothers if he would grow a beard. He had done as she suggested and Grace was there to meet him in Westville, New York. After gaining the attention of the whole crowd and meeting Lincoln, the shy Grace hid the rest of the day.
What would be a straight forward drive today was made more difficult by Lincoln’s need to avoid the State of Virginia, already on the brink of seceding like it’s fellow Confederate State, South Carolina had already done by that point. Lincoln’s train traveled through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, New York City, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and dangerous Baltimore to reach Washington. His train slowed for him to make one and five-minute stops in smaller towns to allow people to see him. This must have been a security nightmare for those entrusted with his safety.
Kate Warne, a spy, had gathered information from talking to Southerners and identifying a specific plot to kill Lincoln in Baltimore. Lincoln switched trains to a low-profile rail car and traveled all through the night in a disguise to reach Washington unharmed.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln and the lesser-known stories of the early days of his Presidency.

I received this book free from Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for my honest, unbiased review.

[Nick Cote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the current state of affairs, this book felt like a timely read. It's the story of Lincoln's train ride from Springfield to DC at an obviously turbulent time in American history. There's lots here that was pretty interesting: general history of various American cities at the time, thoughts on how recent developments in travel and technology were changing the country (and eventually gave the North great advantages in the Civil War), and most importantly, some thoughts (though not enough in my opinion) on how Lincoln viewed this trip and his actions before inauguration more broadly as a way to inspire confidence in his administration and keep the segments of the country that were not in obvious danger of seceding from thinking of secession.

One of the book's strengths is that it is a pretty in-depth and moment by moment view of Lincolns trip. The problem is that it means this book really drags at points- there are tons of scenes that are pretty unnecessary and repetitive.

This does do a good job of showing that Lincoln was fairly conciliatory to the slave states in his many speeches on the trip, even if it is ultimately pretty reverent towards Lincoln.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Train Journey Telegraphed Across a Continent

Lincoln won only 39% of the popular vote. But, he was the greatest president we have had. Winning the election at a time of great political turmoil, and then having the Union fall apart propelled the urgency of the moment. This book covers the crowd-thronged train journey Lincoln took from Illinois to Washington over a period of 13 eventful days to claim the office, as the Electoral College votes were still being counted. And, Ted Widmer writes the story with a tone of poetry and passion, drawing parallels to Homer's Odyssey throughout. The story is so engaging that the reader feels as if they are there, experiencing the moment first-hand.

"If constitutionally we elect a president... you undertake to destroy the union, it will be our duty to deal with you as old John Brown has been dealt with."

In the telling, the author journeys deep into slavery, the Constitution, the DC swampland and its choice for the capital, a Supreme Court filled with old men born in the previous century, the railroads and Lincoln's own work promoting the spread of trains and bridges. The book includes scores of quality historical photos that capture the essence of American Democracy in the mid 1800's. And, numerous important people are described: inventors, industrialists, politicians, presidents, detectives, and Lincoln's own family history is briefly covered, as well as the many death threats he endured on his journey.

"In the first sixty-one years of the government, slaveholders held the presidency for fifty years, the speaker of the house's chair for forty-one years..."

An emotional exposition of Lincoln on the verge of a changing America, this work is a must-read for people of all ages. It is available on Kindle and Audible, but I prefer the hardback for all the nice photos and the map of Lincoln's journey. However you choose to enjoy this book, it will be an enlightening experience for all Americans on the precipice of a newly changing political scene post-2020.

[Martha R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched and engaging story of Lincoln's journey from Springfield, Illinois to Washington D.C. through a divided nation. In addition to information about Lincoln, his family and his advisors, the author weaves in information about the last desperate days of the Buchanan administration, the southern sympathizers in the union's states's administrations, and contrasts Lincoln's journey with the journey of Jefferson Davis to his inauguration and the early days of the Confederacy. The book also discusses the state of communication and transportation in early 1861 and how arduous the trip would have been, even without all the hoopla of presidential travel. I was struck by how exposed Lincoln was at every stop of the train or carriage, how he was mobbed nearly every time, but patiently said a few words to the crowds and firmly shook thousands of hands. He was well aware of the threats against his life, as they had been loudly and publicly proclaimed since the election, particularly in the south. But a surprising cast of individuals became aware of an organized conspiracy in Baltimore (and why Baltimore was such a perfect place to assassinate the President). They took steps to infiltrate the group, learn of the plans, and devise a way to get Lincoln safely to Washington. Even if you've read many, many books about Lincoln and believe you already have a definitive knowledge of him, I believe you will enjoy this book.

[L. Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Lincoln on the Verge' is fascinating on multiple levels. First is, of course, how Lincoln's character, appearance, and impact on his fellow citizens helped bring the nation together just prior to the Civil War. Lincoln saw literally hundreds of thousands of people, and, more important, they saw and heard him. Second, this book shows in very clear terms how the expansion of train travel and the use of the telegraph heralded the travel times and instant communication we enjoy today. Third, the North's industrial capabilities helped win the Civil War but also continued to shape the history of those areas up to the present day. The issues surrounding pollution, worker populations, world markets, and more were relevant then and continue to be so now. This book illuminated in a comprehensive way, how truly "modern" this period was. Fourth, our democracy hung on the choices that one man, Lincoln, made. There were many voices encouraging him to let the South go but he held fast. He was the right person for the times. While he kept the nation together, however, we are still dealing with the attitudes and political factions that would, again, attempt to pull us apart. Looking at Lincoln and this period of history holds many lessons for our own times. This is an excellent book and highly recommended.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ted Widmer made a great choice of subject matter. Lincoln on the Verge concentrates on the thirteen days it took Lincoln to journey by train from Springfield to Washington. It’s a fascinating story that illustrates the political savvy of this supposed country bumpkin.

Widmer introduces us to the president-elect as he travels across a great land he knows will soon be thrown into turmoil. What could Lincoln accomplish on this tedious trip? You’ll discover he could do quite a bit. Foremost in his mind was solidifying his support in the North for the coming maelstrom. His twisted path took him to state capitals and major cities where he could converse with political power brokers and influencers. He engineered the Presidential Special’s journey in preparation to govern the nation after inauguration.

Widmer has a clear, concise writing style that keeps the narrative moving, and his matter-of-fact presentation allows the reader to mine for new insights without being led to the trough.

If you’re a Lincoln enthusiast or merely curious, you’ll enjoy this book.