Mark Twain Speaking

118. Lincoln Celebration

MARK TWAIN SPEAKING· 118 · 381 The celebration of Lincoln's birthday jammed Carnegie Hall. Among those present were Carnegie, Dr. Lyman Abbott, J. Pierpont Morgan, Robert C. Ogden, Frederick A. Stokes, Oscar Straus, F. W. Vanderbilt, Whitelaw Reid, Daniel S. Lamont, Kilaen Van Rensselaer, and a bevy ofgenerals Union and Confederate: Miles, Dodge, Wheeler, Howard, Greene, Sickles, McCook, and others. Veterans ofthe blue and the grayfilled the stage. Five hundred singers of the People's Choral Union, directed by Frank Damrosch, sang the old war songs, and the Fifth United States Artillery band rendered stirring marches. Mark Twain, chairman, announced the songs to be sung by the chorus, escorted Miss Tracey, soprano, front and centerfor several solos, read a letter ofregret from President McKinley, and introduced the principal speaker. Remarks as Chairman Lincoln Celebration, Benefit ofLincoln Memorial University, Carnegie Hall, New York, February 11,1901 There remains of my duties as presiding officer on this occasion two things to do-only two-one easy, the other difficult. It is easy to introduce to you the orator of the evening, and then to keep still and give him a chance is the difficult task. To tell an American audience who Henry Watterson is is not at all necessary. Just to mention his name is enough. A name like his mentioned to an audience would be like one of those blazing sentiments on the Madison Square tower. Just the mention of his name touches the chords of your memory tenderly and lovingly. Distinguished soldier, journalist, orator, statesman, lecturer, politician, rebel. What is better, he is a reconstructed rebel. Always honest, always noble, always loyal to his confessions, right or wrong, he is not afraid to speak them out. And, last of all, whether on the wrong side or on the right side, he has stood firm and brave, because his heart has always been true. It is a curious circumstance, a peculiar circumstance-and it is odd that it should come about-that in the millions of inhabitants of this great city two Confederates, one-time rebels, should be chosen for the 382 MARK TWAIN SPEAKING honorable privilege of coming here and bowing our heads in reverence and love to that honorable soul whom, forty years ago, we tried with all our hearts and all our strength to defeat and suppress-Abraham Lincoln. But are not the blue and the gray one today? By these signs we may answer here, "Yes." There was a rebellion, and we understand it is now closed. I was born and reared in a slave state. My father was a slave owner before the Civil War, and I was a second lieutenant in the Confederate service-for a while. Oh, I could have stayed longer. There was plenty of time. The trouble was with the weather. I never saw such weather. I was there, and I have no apologies to offer. But I will say that ifthis second cousin of mine, Henry Watterson, the orator of the evening, who was born and reared in a slave state and was a colonel in the Confederate service, had rendered me such assistance as he could and had taken my advice the Union armies would never have been victorious. I laid out the whole plan with remarkable foresight, and if Colonel Watterson had carried out my orders I should have succeeded in my vast enterprise . It was my intention to drive General Grant into the Pacific Ocean-if I could get transportation. If I could have had the proper assistance from Colonel Watterson it would have been accomplished. I told Watterson to surround the eastern armies and wait until I came up. But he was insubordinate and stood upon the punctilio of military etiquette and refused to take orders from a second lieutenant of the Confederate army, and so the Union was saved. Now, this is the first time that this secret has ever been revealed. No one outside of the family has known these facts, but they're the truth of how Watterson saved the Union, and to think that up to this very hour that man gets no pension! That's the way we treat people who save Unions for us. There ought to be some blush on the cheek of those present this evening, but, to tell the truth, we are out of practice. The hearts of this whole nation, North and South, were in the war. We of the South were not ashamed of the part...