Internet Research Assignment

Spirits and Abraham Lincoln:  Letters to President Lincoln Concerning Spiritualism

by Evelyn Engel

History 660

Professor Jules Tygiel

            In the late nineteenth century, American spiritualists maintained that Abraham Lincoln had been a spiritualist too.  Whenever they drew up lists of prominent believers, Lincoln was foremost among the reformers, judges, governors, senators, and scientists whose stature lent credence to their movement.  In this paper, I look at letters written to President Lincoln by spiritualists or about spiritualism, but it is not my aim to determine whether or not Lincoln was a spiritualist.  Instead, I use these letters to reflect on spiritualism as a cultural phenomena.  It captured the imaginations of many Americans in the years leading up to the Civil War, drawing them to séance rooms, to mediums, or to their family parlors to commune with the dead.   The letters to Lincoln reveal how spiritualism evolved from older cultural traditions and what it came to mean for spiritualists.

            Letters to Abraham Lincoln are available on the World Wide Web, part of the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. The Lincoln Papers include a large number of incoming letters from a variety of correspondents: friends, political figures, and regular people.  Most of the letters have been transcribed and annotated by scholars at the Lincoln Study Center .  Very few letters—only ten—deal with spiritualism at all.  The authors, however, represent the full spectrum of letter writers, from Lincoln ’s closest friend, to a well-known New York judge, to ordinary people—that is, ordinary people who received messages from spirits.  Five of these ten letters came from avowed spiritualists, four men and one woman.[1]  One man denied being a spiritualist, and another sent a tongue-in-cheek introduction to two mediums, leaving his sentiments unclear.  Although most spiritualists revered Abraham Lincoln during his presidency, they did not write to him.  I have drawn upon these ten letters, along with others by the same author or on related topics, for a total of about twenty letters.

            Spiritualism did not simply arise out of the blue and the letters to Lincoln reflect this.  Although believers pointed to a specific event that inaugurated the dawn of “Modern Spiritualism”—the infamous raps heard by the Fox sisters at Hydesville , New York , in 1848—spiritualism drew upon many precedents, particularly the traditions of clairvoyant somnambulism, mesmerism, and second sight.  The earliest letters to Lincoln concerning spiritualism warn him of danger.  An anonymous writer, one G. A., “A Wide Awake,” wrote from Cleveland in December, 1860, to warn Lincoln of a plot to murder him by poison upon his arrival in Washington D.C.   G. A. wrote, as he explained it, because “as a good Republican, I deem it my duty, to communicate the following facts.”  A young local girl, a somnambulist and clairvoyant, “not a Spiritualist” (he hastened to add), had requested his presence and then, while entranced, told of the scheme.  The clairvoyant girl had specifically requested G. A. to inform Lincoln .  She supplied an antidote as well: should Lincoln feel ill, he must drink “hot milk in Large quantities” to foil the plot.  Obviously uncomfortable with the new trend attributing predictions to spirits, G. A. assured Lincoln that “the undersigned is no Spiritualist,” but he vouched for “the absolute verity of many events foretold by this Sonambule [sic].” [2]

            In 1861, A. J. Hastings wrote from Boston to warn of another threat.  Unlike the anonymous G. A., however, Hastings admitted he was a spiritualist.  “I have been for three years,” he wrote, “an undoubting believer in Spirit Communion...[it] is as much a truth with me, as the events of my daily life”  Like G. A., Hastings did not receive the warning himself, but through a medium, a Scotsman, who, Hastings wrote, had been known since infancy for having “the gift of ‘second sight.’”  Hastings did not usually visit this Scotsman, and his visit this time was a matter of chance, he at first imagined.  The Scotsman told him of feeling great distress, similar to the turmoil he experienced before the battle of Bull Run, then sat up suddenly, entranced, and in a powerful voice, told Hastings that he had been brought there “to receive a communication of the highest importance.”  The man then told of an eminent plan to blow up buildings in Washington , endangering the President and General Scot.  With the plot set to hatch within days, Hastings apparently first sent a telegram, then his letter.  He felt duty bound to do so, he wrote, but even a committed spiritualist can have doubts.  “The whole may have been a personation [sic] for mischief,” he added, “still I could not do otherwise than I did.” [3]

            Spiritualists had no monopoly on foreboding.  Many people wrote Lincoln warning of danger, conspiracy, treason, and plots.  In a “confidential” letter in December, 1860, Richard Randolph of Cairo , Illinois , warned Lincoln of pending “evil.”  He had predicted Lincoln’s election by calculating his “nativity,” and now, with a more complete calculation, foresaw an ominous event during the President’s first year—or during the first year of his second term—that  “may possibly involve your life.” [4]  Most warnings, however, relied neither on astrology, clairvoyance, or spirits, but simply on the individual’s assessment of events.  In 1864, for example, “Lizzie W. S.” wrote from Washington to warn Lincoln against traveling outside the city, although admitting “it, is not, it is true, my province, or business.”   Citing the recent arrival of a Confederate Army on the outskirts of Washington , she wrote that “in our very midst, and throughout Maryland , and Va. there are hordes of Secesh-sympathizers...lurking biding their time.”  She signed off, “trusting you will not wholly disregard my woman's whining.” [5]  Lincoln endorsed this envelope, so he apparently took her concern seriously enough to read the letter.

            Spiritualists, like many other people, sent Lincoln unsolicited advice.  J. H. Hastings wrote two more letters, but because these are not transcribed, they are difficult to decipher.  In September, 1861, he sent Lincoln a massive twelve-page letter that told of messages from the spirits of John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and others, as well as detailing plans for some type of non-alcoholic beer from California that could help reduce drunkenness among the soldiers.  He regretted that no general had yet responded to his idea.[6]  In December, 1862, he sent Lincoln a letter he had written for the Boston Courier outlining a plan for gradual emancipation, which he offered as his “peaceable solution of the great question.” [7]

            Lincoln appears to have received only one letter written by a medium while entranced.  In October, 1862, Lydia Smith, who signed herself “the Medium for Jesus Christ and the Father God,” wrote an ominous, yet revealing, message, an example of automatic writing through spirit inspiration.  She wrote in the first person, but as the voice of God, in an unpunctuated (although sometimes corrected) style.  I have caused the war, she wrote (speaking as God), in order to destroy the old world and lay the foundation for a new “Era of righteousness.”   Both North and South are corrupt societies.  Her vision of the new era suggests either compassion for poor people or, more likely, her own daily struggles.  In the new society, “man will not have a wish to trample upon their fellow man,” “all shall share equal [sic] in the bounties,” and “each one may have a home of their own an [sic] not one subject to being turned out doors because it is impossible for to pay rent.”  In addition, “poor females will not have too [sic] subject themselves to the brutal passions of evil minded men for their living.”  “Oh,” she continued, “what a pitiful condition my people are in.” [8]

            Smith concluded by asking—or rather, telling— Lincoln to bring his six top military men and meet with her by Saturday, Monday at the latest. “Now Abram Lincoln,” she wrote, “I will tell you & the 6 beside yourself just what to do that will speedily terminate this Devilish war.”  She indicated that she was staying at Mrs. Fitzgerald’s boarding house, and warned Lincoln that if he did not do as she said, “You will have to suffer the consequences of not Hearing to me.”[9]

            Judge John W. Edmonds of New York , of a much higher social position than Lydia Smith, also sent Lincoln advice, not on how to end the war or emancipate slaves, but on spiritualism itself.  In 1863, Edmunds sent Lincoln two books, probably two he himself had written after being forced from the New York Supreme Court because, he believed, of hostility toward his new belief.  Edmund’s Spiritualism (1853) was the most widely-read book on the topic in the 1850s.  In his letter, the judge intimated that Lincoln ’s very election had been foretold by spirits, for he had heard (from a source he trusted) that “we should have a Spiritualist as a President” some day.  Knowing that Lincoln had begun to “investigate,” Edmunds offered his “assistance” so that Lincoln would not have to struggle alone as he, Edmunds, had had to do. [10]   He apparently received no reply, but did not give up.  The next year, New York Senator Edwin Morgan wrote Lincoln a short note, asking that he “please read the letter of Judge Edmonds and return it to me that I may tell him you will accept of his Books,” to which Lincoln graciously replied and accepted the books.[11]

            Besides warnings and advice, spiritualists also forwarded Lincoln communications from the spirit of one of the President’s friends.  Lincoln had known Edward D. Baker since his Springfield days, although it is impossible to judge from the letters how close they really were.  Nevertheless, after Colonel Baker won election to the Senate in Oregon in the fall of 1860, he wrote, “I hope to see you President, and if I do not mistake you will feel that you have a true and warm friend at your side.”[12]  Once the war broke out, Baker became the only senator to serve in the Union Army.  Lincoln himself arranged for his friend to be commissioned a general, perhaps to ensure his personal safety, but Baker declined, saying that it was incompatible with his Senate duties and he preferred to serve at his present rank, which was “quite sufficient for all my military aspirations.”[13]  He died in the battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861.

            Two months later, the medium I. B. Conklin of New York, sent Lincoln an “enclosed communication.”  “My esteemed and best earthly friend,” the message began, “You will no doubt be surprised to receive this from me.”  The message, meant to convey gratitude and hope, was simply an expression of the central principle of spiritualism, with a dose of Union fervor.  “I am not dead,” it went, “I still live, a conscious individual, with hope, aspirations and interest; for the Union still alive.”  He had only experienced a “glorious change.”  The spirit promised to communicate with Lincoln personally, if not now, then (perhaps considering Lincoln’s reputation) after his term in office.[14]  Lincoln received another message from Baker’s spirit from a different medium in 1864.[15]

            It is likely that Lincoln read none of the letters from spiritualists described above, heeding neither their warnings nor their advice, nor finding comfort in Baker’s messages.  One letter, however, on a much lighter note, may have gotten his attention. In October, 1863, Joshua F. Speed, who had been Lincoln ’s closest friend in Illinois [16] wrote Lincoln a note introducing two mediums, his “very good friend” Mrs. Cosby and her friend Miss Netty Colburn.  He was sure Lincoln would find the company of “two such agreeable ladies” a relief from the “tedious round of office seekers.”  “They are both mediums & believers in the spirits,” he continued, “and are I am quite sure very choice spirits themselves.”  In a postscript, he noted that Mrs. Cosby denies being a medium, then adding enigmatically, “though I am quite sure she is or should be.” [17]

            The letters to Lincoln, although few, demonstrate several aspects of spiritualism: that it appealed to men as well as women and to elites like Judge Edmonds as well to the those, such as Lydia Smith, struggling at the bottom of the social order.  The letters show how spiritualism tapped into older cultural assumptions about clairvoyant prophecies, yet that spiritualists constructed the meaning of spiritualism to include more than warnings.  Spirits also provided guidance and comfort for the living.  The letters also reveal the ambivalent nature of spiritualism.  While all letter writers may have been sincere, the letters are not free from suggestions of other motives.  Lydia Smith hoped to solicit business, Judge Edmund may have wished to increase sales of his book, and the messages from Baker’s spirit can easily be seen as preying on a person in a vulnerable period of grief.  Perhaps only Joshua Speed’s suggestion that Lincoln relax with two “choice spirits” meant anything to President Lincoln.