Springfield, IL: Part IV – Old State Capitol

On Saturday, Oct. 10 this year my family and I visited the Old State Capitol  in Springfield, IL (see overview of the trip here).  After our tour of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, we walked across Adams Street to the state house, where Lincoln served in the state legislature.  This building served as the fifth seat of Illinois state government from 1839 to 1876 (the preceding four were not in Springfield), and is now maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Here are a few shots of a descriptive marker on the grounds, the building, and detail of the front columns (click the thumbs for larger images):

    

Upon entering the state house, the central hall is dominated by the staircases to the second floor, from the landing of which can be seen the interior of the dome:

 

The first floor of the Capitol houses the offices of the auditor, secretary of state, and treasurer, as well as the state library, law library, and supreme court.  Here are photos of each in order:

     

The second floor is where the senate and hall of representatives are located.  There are a few interesting items outside these large rooms, including a statue of Stephen Douglas, a banner from Lincoln’s 1860 campaign, an old-timey mouse trap (death by drowning, I think), and the Adjutant General’s office (occupied 1869-1873 by old leather breeches Hubert Dilger):

   

Here’s the Senate Chamber:

Lincoln delivered his House Divided” speech in the Hall of Representatives, where he had served, upon his being put forth as a candidate for the U. S. Senate in 1858.  A little under 7 years later, his body would lie in state in the same room:

    

The coolest thing I picked up on my trip was a free handout at the Old Capitol.  It’s Lincoln’s last paycheck from the legislature.  It contains three very interesting signatures: Lincoln’s; Auditor James Shields; and Treasurer John Whiteside.  This is cool because, as you most likely know, future Civil War general Shields once challenged Lincoln to a duel over some critical letters that appeared in the Sangamo Journal known as the Rebecca Letters, the second of which was almost certainly written by Lincoln.  As the challenged party, Lincoln chose broadswords for weapons, and put some other creative limitations on the contest such that neither man could possibly strike the other, or that the much taller Lincoln only could reach his shorter opponent.  Shields’s second in all of this was Whiteside.  You can find all the correspondence on page 291 of volume I of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.  Or you can go here and advance through the sections to see all the correspondence and notes.

I forgot to ask where Lincoln had his office during the presidential campaign (or was it after the election and prior to the inauguration?) - if any of you readers know, clue me in.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part V

Part VI

Springfield, IL: Part III – Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices

On Saturday, Oct. 10 this year my family and I visited the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices in Springfield, IL (see overview of the trip here).  After our tour of the Abraham Lincoln Home National Historic Site, we headed to 6th and Adams Streets where the offices are located across Adams from the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln served in the legislature.  It was pretty cool to realize how closely these three critical Lincoln sites are situated to one another.  Adams St. from 6th to 5th is closed off into one of those urban malls that were all the rage in the 1970s.  Unlike most of those, however, this one seems to work, probably due to the tourist factor.

The law offices are maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and for now, at least, it is open on Saturday.  The building is three stories, and when Lincoln had offices there from 1843 to 1852 with first Stephen Logan and later William Herndon, they were located on the third floor.  Exactly where is not certain, but it is believed they were on the 6th St. side, two floors above the Post Office – the left end of the building in the first image below.  The building in Lincoln’s day extended further up Adams, but that part of it was demolished later, so it is possible that the actual space occupied by Lincoln’s offices is gone.

   

Our tour began on the first floor, where we heard some of the story of the building’s use and learned a little about the post office.

   

The Federal court and offices were located on the second floor.  The old Capitol can be seen out the window of the courtroom in the front of the building.

       

Then to the third floor, which has a recreation of the Lincoln-Herndon office as described by Herndon, but set up in the front of the building.  Two long tables were arranged in a “T”, and a couch representing a custom seven-footer upon which Lincoln would lounge to read the paper each morning sat in a corner.  The room in the last picture is where the office was more likely located, in the rear above the Post Office.

   

The Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices is a must-see, despite some questions about where the actual office was located.

Part I

Part II

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Lincoln’s Books

As far as I know, he didn’t write any.  I’m pretty sure he wrote a third person biography for a pamphlet as part of the 1860 presidential campaign.   A poem or two.  Lots of letters.  Speeches.  Bills.  Briefs.  At least one proclamation.

But no books. 

Correct me if I’m wrong.

See here.  Wow.

Springfield, IL: Part II – Lincoln Home

On Saturday, Oct. 10 this year my family and I visited the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, IL (see overview of the trip here).  We started at the visitor center (VC), which has a scale model of Springfield as Lincoln knew it (click on the thumbnails for larger images):

We got our tickets for the tour of Lincoln’s home, situated around the corner from the VC on 8th St., and had enough time before the tour to see a fine film in the VC auditorium.  Journey to Greatness tells the story of Lincoln from the time he arrived there from New Salem to the time he left it as president-elect.  I thought the filmmakers did a nice job with AL’s appearance and especially his voice, which by most accounts was strong and high-pitched.  After the film, we took the short walk to the home down the street.   Below are front, side and rear images of Lincoln’s home:

  

Four blocks, one in each direction from Lincoln’s home at 8th St. & Jackson Ave., have been closed off and historic buildings on them have been restored.  The effect is quite impressive.  The last image below is a recreation of a log cabin float used in parades and rallies during Lincoln’s presidential campaign:

  

The NPS moves groups through the home in an efficient but quick manner.  At any one time, there are three groups in the  house (except for the 1st and 2nd groups of the day, and the next to the last and last groups).  The tour goes right in the front door (the original nameplate is in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum), through the parlor, and through the dining room (at least, I think it was the dining room).  Then it’s up the stairs past the guest room, into AL’s room and Mary’s connecting room (not uncommon for the time), past the boys’ room and the servant’s room, back downstairs to the kitchen, and out the back door to the yard.  When you enter the home, there’s a nook behind the stairs in which hangs a stove-pipe hat, shawl, and a few walking sticks (none of these are actual artifacts as far as I know, but I liked the look):

 

The black horsehair (I think) furniture in the parlor are original pieces, owned by the Lincolns, and our guide told me he thought the hinge on the parlor door was one of the few remaining pieces of original hardware.

        

The dining room was notable for its colorful floor coverings (not original or from a fragment, but rather the result of research into the fashion of the times) and the stereo viewer AL bought for the boys for the princely sum of $25.  The guide referred to it as a 19th century X-Box – my son got a kick out of that.

    

I was looking forward to using the stairs to the second floor, as I was aware that this was one of the few chances I would ever get to actually touch one of Lincoln’s possessions, something he used every day.  This is the original handrail, and we were encouraged to use it.

 

Once upstairs, we proceeded past the guest room (probably Robert’s room until he left for Harvard) and entered Lincoln’s bedroom (the desk is original and the one he used); that’s Henry Clay and Daniel Webster over AL’s mantel, and that’s our guide in the doorway from Lincoln’s room to Mary’s. 

     

Next we passed through Mary’s bedroom.  I’m not sure if that was her potty, and I didn’t think to ask. 

  

In the back hallway, we went past the bedroom of Willie and Tad, complete with children’s toys and boots, then past the servant’s room, downstairs through the kitchen and out the back door to the yard.

    

A reconstructed privy sits in the back yard.

 

On Sunday evening, we returned to the Lincoln Home for some night-time shots.

   

The Lincoln Home is a wonderful stop, alone worth the trip to Springfield.

Part I

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Springfield, IL: Part I – Overview

On Friday, Oct. 9 my wife, son, and I flew into St. Louis and drove the 105 miles or so to Springfield, Il.  They treated me to the trip for my birthday coming up at the end of November.  It’s one of those milestone birthdays – we usually celebrate on a much smaller scale.  We got in kind of late, and stayed Friday night out by the power plant, but not so bright and early Saturday morning we hit the road for downtown Springfield.  We had a room at the Hilton, just a couple of blocks from, well, just about everything as far as Lincoln is concerned.  You can’t miss the Hilton, which is by far the tallest building in town (we stayed on the 27th floor).  Click on the thumbs for larger images.

Springfield is pretty much like just about every state capital I’ve ever been in.  Other than Lincoln, not much going on in town on the weekend.  We parked in a garage and set off exploring (with The Abraham Lincoln Observer Mike Keinzler’s notes in hand), walking about two blocks to the site of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices which, we were to learn, were not exactly…well, more on that later.  We took a few photos there of the sculpture of the Lincoln family…

 

…and of the Old Capitol that sits right across the street (Adams Ave., which has been closed off into a sort of mall).

At this point we decided to walk another couple of blocks to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site and a tour of, well, Lincoln’s home.

Then it was back to the law offices, after a quick stop in the Tinsley Dry Goods store to enquire about the evening’s ghost tour.  It was already unseasonably cold and was only going to get colder, so we adopted a wait and see attitude.  Tinsley Dry Goods is one of those artsy/crafty type places, which means the wife browsed a little longer than was expected.

Right next to Tinsley’s are the Law Offices, and we entered just in time for the tour.  Afterwards, we strolled through the Capitol, a beautifully preserved building.

These stops pretty much made up the whole day.  We went back and checked into the hotel, deciding to just get dinner at Bennigan’s there in the hotel.  On the way, we stopped into a shop and saw this guy:

We ate, watched some football, and around 6:30, while we were still in the restaurant, all the power within about a 2 mile radius of the capitol building went out.  Remember, all our stuff is on the 27th floor.  There were also two wedding receptions under way in the hotel.  After about half an hour of this chaos, we jumped in the car and headed for Hooters to watch more football, opting not to freeze to death on a ghost tour.

Well, eventually the power came back on in town, so we came back to the hotel and turned in.  Sunday morning after breakfast, we walked another few blocks to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  Well, the Museum anyway – due to state budget constraints, the Library is closed on weekends.  We spent about 4 hours in the Museum, including of course the gift shop.  Here’s the library and museum – the buff colored buildings running diagonally lower left (library) to mid-right center (museum) - from our room:

After the museum, we walked through the Springfield Visitor Center, housed in an old,though not Lincoln old, train station (see it in the image above, the reddish building in the mid-upper left).  Then it was a quick walk back to the car and a pretty short drive to Oak Hill Cemetery where the Lincoln Tomb was…closed due to state budget constraints.  Then we spent some time in the little gift shop that’s been sitting at the entrance to the cemetery for about 70 years, and afterwards went to a seafood house for dinner.

On Monday morning before driving back to St. Louis for our 3:00 PM flight home, I dropped the wife off at the ALPLM gift shop and the boy and I drove over to the current capitol building to check out the statuary there. 

Then we picked up the wife, drove back to St. Louis, made a quick (very quick) stop at the arch – for some odd reason the NPS is under the impression that the Lewis & Clark expedition began in St. Louis, when we all know it started in Pittsburgh – and arrived at the airport with about 15 minutes to spare.

OK, don’t worry (or do worry, depending on what you think of my writing and photography).  I have a lot of pictures and comments on the sites we visited and the sights we saw, and will post them here as I get to them.  Stay tuned.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Coming Up…Springfield, IL

I just got back from a long weekend in Springfield, IL.  My family was (were, if you’re British) nice enough to treat me to the trip for my upcoming birthday.  We saw a lot of stuff and, believe it or not, two days was just not enough time to see everything we wanted.  I took about 250 pictures, and while I don’t intend on subjecting you to all of them, I plan to write a series of posts over the next week or two that will be illustrated to an altogether fitting and proper extent.

Books, Trips, Letters, Apologies

I’ve updated a number of links on my Books and Articles On-Line page that were rendered useless by the demise of Microsoft’s book digitization project.  If you run across any digitized versions of Bull Run related books or articles not on my list, please let me know and I’ll get them posted.

My family is taking me on a trip to Springfield, IL for my birthday coming up in November (the birthday is in November, the trip is not that far away).  We’ll be gone a few days, and I don’t anticipate making any posts during that period (blogging on a sight-seeing trip doesn’t appeal to me; blogging on a sit-on-your-butt trip is a different story).  I should have plenty of photos to post when I get back, and Mike over at the The Abraham Lincoln Observer (my favorite among a sea of Lincoln blogs) has been kind enough to send me some tips for the trip.  In the main, I plan to visit the ALPMuseum (the library will be closed), his home, the tomb, and drive to New Salem.  There are also some other oddball sights I’d like to hit, like the funeral museum Andrew Ferguson visited in Land of Lincoln (oops, reading Mike’s tips I see that museum has folded).  If you haven’t read that book yet, you should: it’s a hoot.

If work permits, this week I hope to post the letter from the member of Company D, 5th AL I talked about here, along with some related material.  The generous reader who shared the letter has been unable to look again at the original to get two missing lines, and has given me the go-ahead to post the letters without them.  When he does get the missing lines, I’ll amend the letter at that time.

I’ve also got a number of other letters to post, and need to apologize to many folks who have been kind enough to take the time to pass them on.  Friend Mike Peters has sent me a number of New York soldiers letters published in various newspapers, friend Terry Johnston has sent me some good stuff on the 79th NY Highlanders, friend Eric Wittenberg sent me a letter concerning Hampton’s Legion, and of course I have all that Brent Nosworthy material to wade through.  I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I have planned for the resources section.  Let’s hope I live long enough to make a dent.

Also keep an eye on what Jonathan Soffe is doing over at First Bull Run.com.  Cool stuff that he has graciously allowed me to use when I get around to writing my unit biographies.

Vanity

On Sunday last I headed over to Borders with a 40% off coupon.  Normally I only go to the big-box bookstores to see what’s new: like most rational folks, I don’t normally pay retail for books, and usually buy them used or remaindered.  But 40% off ain’t bad – ain’t great, but ain’t bad .  I settled on Larry Tagg’s The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln.  I know I vowed to not buy any more Lincoln books for a while, but this one has intrigued me since I heard about it.  A quick flip through looked promising, but what sold me was the appearance yet again, on the inside rear flap of the jacket, of a snippet of my blurb for Brad Gottfried’s The Maps of First Bull Run.  That’s vanity, pure and simple.

I don’t know when I’ll even get to look at Mr. Tagg’s book.  Over the last few weeks I’ve received four books (including two novels) to review for Bull Runnings, and I’ve got my Six-Pack reviews due on the 15th.  So, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.

Lincoln’s Collected Works – Vol. I (Part 2)

Continued from here.

Sept. 27, 1841 – To Mary Speed (pp 260-261).  In this letter Lincoln famously recounts a river boat trip on which he and best bud Joshua Speed observed a dozen recently purchased slaves, “strung together precisely like so many fish upon a trot-line.”  But he also mentions an “Aunt Emma”, who the editors identify in footnote #8 as Emma Keats, wife of Joshua Speed’s brother Philip and the sister of the English poet John Keats.  This site, however, identifies Emma as Keats’ niece (see 85).  Then Lincoln refers to a Mrs. Peay, and in footnote #9 the editors explain that this is Mrs. Peachy Walker Speed Peay, another of Joshua’s sisters and the wife of Austin Peay.  According to this site, early 20th century Tennessee Governor Austin Peay was a Kentuckian for whom what is now Austin Peay State University (alma mater of the great “Fly” Williams) was named.  His father is listed as a Confederate cavalryman, also named Austin Peay, but with wife Cornelia.  It seems likely that Peachy’s Austin is some sort of precursor to the Governor, but I’m not sure how.  I just think it’s cool that her name was Peachy Peay.  Austin and Peachy would take over Farmington, the Speed family’s Kentucky mariju…er, hemp plantation after the death of the pater familia.

Aug. 7, 1844 – Resolutions Adopted by Springfield Clay Club on the Death of John Brodie (p 341).  “Whereas, we the Springfield Clay Club, impelled by a profound respect for the character of our late and lamented friend, JOHN BRODIE, and by the peculiarly afflictive manner of his death, are desirous of expressing in some appropriate way our deep and lasting regard for his memory:”  In a footnote we learn that ”Brodie was killed on August 3 when struck by the fall of a derrick with which a Liberty Pole was being raised for the Whig rally scheduled on that day.  The Whig Liberty Pole, 214 feet 6 inches high, was erected on August 23.”

Feb. 12, 1845 – Recommendation for Admittance of Stanislaus P. Lalumiere to the Practice of Law (pp 343-344).  In a footnote, we learn that “[f]ollowing a term as clerk of the United States Court in Springfield, Lalumiere went to St. Louis, Missouri, to take a similar position.  While there he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, and upon being ordained priest in 1857, was sent to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he later founded Marquette University” (alma mater of the great Butch Lee).

Jun. 2, 1848 – To William H. Herndon (pp 490-492).  Here Lincoln’s temper bursts forth from the paper. “You ask me to send you all the speeches made about ‘Old Zach[ary Taylor]‘ the war &c. &c.  Now this makes me a little impatient.  I have regularly sent you the Congressional Globe and Appendix, and you can not have examined them, or you would have discovered that they contain every speech made by every man, in both Houses of Congress, on every subject, during this session.  Can I send any more?  Can I send speeches that nobody has made?  Thinking it would be most natural that the newspapers would feel interested to give at least some of the speeches to their readers, I, at the beginning of the session made arrangement to have one copy of the Globe and Appendix regularly sent to each whig paper in our district.  And yet, with the exception of my own little speech, which was published in two only of the then five, now four whig papers, I do not remember having seen a single speech, or even an extract from one, in any single one of those papers.  With equal and full means on both sides, I will venture that the State Register has thrown before it’s readers more of Locofoco speeches in a month, than all the whig papers of the district, have done of whig speeches during the session.”  Old Abe was honestly pissed at Billy.  It was at this time Lincoln and the Whigs were pushing Zachary Taylor for president.  Despite the fact that Lincoln appeared to favor his hero Clay as the better man, it was party and power first – he was certain Taylor was more electable, and he was right.

Jul. 2, 1848 – To Mary Todd Lincoln (pp494-496).  We’ll end with this one.  “The music in the Capitol grounds on saturdays, or, rather, the interest in it, is dwindling down to nothing.  Yesterday evening the attendance was rather thin.  Our two girls, whom you remember seeing first at Carusis, at the exhibition of the Ethiopian Serenaders, and whose peculiarities were the wearing of black fur bonnets, and never being seen in close company with other ladies, were at the music yesterday.  One of them was attended by their brother, and the other had a member of Congress in tow.  He went home with her; and if I were to guess, I would say, he went away a somewhat altered man—most likely in his pockets, and in some other particular.  The fellow looked conscious of guilt, although I believe he was unconscious that every body around knew who it was that had caught him.”

Lincoln’s Collected Works – Vol. I (Part 1)

Some thoughts on Volume I of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln:

First, let me say that projects like this are immeasurably more useful than selected works.  Selected works are selected for a reason, by a person or persons, and therefore reflect any prejudices or agendas of the selector/selectors.   Collected works projects typically strive to present all documents.  Also, the editors of Lincoln’s Collected Works used a very light hand in annotation, unlike editors of many selected works, which are often polluted with commentary – even to the point of speculating what the author really meant.

Edited by Roy Bassler, The Collected Works was begun in 1945 and published in 1953, with two subsequent supplemental volumes.  It was the product of the Abraham Lincoln Association and had an editorial advisory board of Lincoln scholars Paul Angle, J. G. Randall and Benjamin P. Thomas.  The task was that of  “collecting, cataloging, reducing to typescript, and annotating each discoverable writing or speech of Abraham Lincoln.”    These include just about everything that could be found that was written in Lincoln’s hand or otherwise documented to have been authored by Lincoln in whole or in part, signed by him, or signed for him by his authority, with the exception of: law cases and associated documents; items Lincoln merely copied in his own hand; acts of Congress; commissions; authorizations; treaties; appointments; etc…, unless there was some special significance to the document.

OK, so, what did I run across in Volume I that caught my attention for whatever reason, and prompted me to attach a (this time) purple Post-It note?  Please keep in mind that I don’t consider myself a Lincoln expert, so if you have any opinion on these notes, feel free to comment.  But keep any comments on current events in your fingers and off the keyboard.  Drawing parallels between historic and current events is a parlor trick, not a talent.

Jan. 11, 1837 – Speech in the Illinois Legislature Concerning the State Bank (pp 65-66) – “I make the assertion boldly, and without fear of contradiction, that no man, who does not hold an office, or does not aspire to one,  has ever found any fault of the Bank.  It has doubled the prices of the products of their farms, and filled their pockets with a sound circulating medium, and they are all well pleased with its operations.  No, Sir, it is the politician who is the first to sound the alarm, (which, by the way, is a false one.)  It is he, [who,] by these unholy means, is endeavoring to blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct.  It is he, and he alone, that here proposes to spend thousands of the people’s public treasure, for no other advantage to them, than to make valueless in their pockets the reward for their industry.  Mr. Chairman, this movement is exclusively the work of politicians; a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least on long step removed from honest men.  I say this with the greater freedom because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as personal.”

Apr. 1, 1838 – Letter to Mrs. Orville H. Browning (pp 117-119) – This letter, in which Lincoln describes the circumstances surrounding his engagement to Mary Owens, is a joy.  I’d seen snippets of it before, but never read the whole thing.  Lincoln had not seen Miss Owens in about three years, “…and although I had seen her before, she did not look as my imagination had pictured her.  I knew she was over-size, but she now appeared a fair match for Falstaff; I knew she was called an ‘old maid’, and I felt no doubt of the truth of at least half of the appellation; but now, when I beheld her, I could not for my life avoid thinking of my mother; and this, not from weathered features, for her skin was too full of fat, to permit its contracting into wrinkles; but from her want of teeth, weather-beaten appearance in general, and from a kind of notion that ran in my head, that nothing could have commenced at the size of infancy, and reached her present bulk in less than thirtyfive or forty years; and, in short, I was not all pleased with her.”  Well, it turns out that Miss Owens let Lincoln out of his scrape, much to his chagrin.  Lincoln then scooped Groucho Marx by about 100 years: “I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason; I can never be satisfied with any one who would be block-head enough to have me.”

Dec. 26, 1839 – In this very, very long Speech on the Sub-Treasury (pp 178-179), Lincoln argued to the legislature in favor of the National Bank over the administration’s Sub-Treasury system for transferring and disbursing the revenues of the nation.  At the close, it seems Lincoln was consciously experimenting with writing and delivering a stirring, patriotic rouser.  In addition to establishing Lincoln as the “King of Commas”, I think it’s a bit over the top, and ultimately leaves an impression of insincerity.  “Mr. Lamborn averts to the late elections in the States, and from their results, confidently predicts, that every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van Buren in the next Presidential election.  Address that argument to cowards and to knaves; with the free and the brave it will effect nothing.  It may be true, if it must, let it.  Many free countries have lost their liberties; and ours may lose hers; but if she shall, let it be my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.  I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of political corruption, in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing, while on its bosom are riding like demons on the waves of Hell, the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those who resist its destroying course, with the hopelessness of their effort; and knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away.  Broken by it, I, too, may be; bow to it I never will.  The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.  If I ever feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and alone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.  Here, without contemplating consequences, before High Heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty and my love.  And who, that thinks with me, will not fearlessly adopt the oath I take.  Let none faulter, who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.  But, if after all, we shall fail, be it so.  We still shall have the proud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our country’s freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment, and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, WE NEVER faultered in defending.”

As this is taking longer than I thought, and I want to stick to the People Magazine theory of article length, I’ll have another post (at least) with more from Volume I later this week.