As Mary Lincoln turned to the capital’s growing Spiritualist community, the First Lady became vulnerable to charlatans who tried to use her for economic and political advantage. One such charlatan who targeted the First Lady was the English medium Lord Charles J. Colchester. According to Noah Brooks, Elizabeth Keckly “had induced Mrs. Lincoln to listen to the artful tales of a so-called spiritual medium who masqueraded under the name of Colchester, and who pretended to be the illegitimate son of an English duke.” (329) Whatever Keckly witnessed during Colchester’s séances, it so impressed her that she recommended the medium to the First Lady. (330)
Historian Stephen Mansfield disagreed with Brooks’ identification of Elizabeth Keckly as the person who introduced the First Lady to Colchester. “There may have been some racism in this,” Mansfield writes. Arguing that Spiritualism was the sole possession of upper-class whites claiming, “Elizabeth Keckly could have done no more than encourage Mary Lincoln in what she already experienced with her white, upper-class friends.” (331) Nevertheless, the First Lady was intrigued by the medium’s reputation and invited him to conduct a séance for her.
“By playing on her motherly sorrows, Colchester actually succeeded in inducing Mrs. Lincoln to receive him in the family residence at the Soldiers’ Home, where, in a darkened room, he pretended to produce messages from the boy by means of scratches on the wainscoting and taps on the walls and furniture,” Noah Brooks wrote in his memoir. (332) As she had with Rebecca Pomroy and Oliver Browning, Mary Lincoln shared her faith in Spiritualism with Noah Brooks. The California reporter had also experienced a devastating loss when his wife died in 1862. (333) Like Rebecca Pomroy, Brooks remained skeptical and declined the First Lady’s invitation to attend a White House séance featuring the English medium. (334)
The Lincolns were intrigued by the manifestations that Colchester produced during his séances. President Lincoln wanted to get the opinion of Dr. Joseph Henry, head of the Smithsonian Intuition and the country’s premier scientist. On the behest of the President, Dr. Henry received the medium in his office at the Smithsonian. Eager to gather another convert, Colchester summoned the spirits and raps filled the office. Dr. Henry, though, was unimpressed. “I do not know how you make these sounds, but this I perceive very clearly—they do not come from the room but from your person,” Joseph Henry informed the medium. (335) Henry’s observation’s proved correct. While on a train, Henry met a man who confessed to the scientist that he sold instruments to Colchester and other charlatan mediums to aid them in their presentations. (336) It is unknown if Dr. Henry shared his discoveries with the President. As it would turn out, it would be Noah Brooks who would reveal Lord Colchester’s true character to the Lincolns’.
Shortly after declining his invitation to attend one of Mary Lincoln’s séances, Noah Brooks changed his mind. “I received an invitation to invest one dollar and attend ‘a Colchester sitting’ at the house of a Washington gentleman who was a profound believer in this pretentious seer. To gratify my curiosity, I paid the entrance fee, and, accompanied by a trusty friend, went to the séance,” Brooks recounted. (337) Assembled with his skeptical friend, the reporter was not impressed by what he witnessed.
Colchester began the séance after all the lights in the parlor were extinguished and all the assembled participants had joined hands. Only then would the spirits announce their presence by producing manifestations that caused musical instruments to play on their own accord. Suspecting trickery, Brooks loosened his hands and in his account, “grasping in the direction of the drum-beat, grabbed a very solid and fleshy hand in which was held a bell that was being thumped on a drum-head.” (338) Determined to end this charade Brooks called for his friend to turn on a light, but before his friend could act the investigative reporter received a blow to the head with the drum. “When the gas was finally lighted, the singular spectacle was presented of ‘the son of the duke’ firmly grasped by a man whose forehead was covered with blood, while the arrested scion of nobility was glowering at the drum and bells which he still held in his hands,” Brooks gleefully recalled. (339) The séance ended with the exposed medium storming out of the room.
Despite being exposed as a fraud, Charles Colchester continued to be a thorn in Noah Brooks’ side. Instead of attacking Brooks again, the medium changed tactics and decided to go after Mary Lincoln. Noah Brooks was a well-known friend of the President and it was conceivable that Colchester believed that the reporter had been sent to the séance on the behest of President Lincoln.
A few days after the interrupted séance, Noah Brooks received a note from Mary Lincoln requesting that he come to the White House as soon as possible. Arriving at the White House, Brooks found a frazzled First Lady. Mary Lincoln showed Brooks a note she had received from Charles Colchester, “in which he requested that she should procure for him from the War Department a pass to New York, and intimated that in case she refused he might have some unpleasant things to say to her.” (340)
Infuriated, Noah Brooks concocted a plan to expose the medium. Brooks arraigned for Mary Lincoln to invite Colchester to the White House the next day. At the appointed time, Charles Colchester arrived at the White House probably with the expectation that he was going to get his pass. After formally introducing Noah Brooks to the medium, Mary Lincoln withdrew from the room. “Going up to Colchester, I lifted the hair from the scar on my forehead, yet unhealed, and said, ‘Do you recognize this?’” Brooks demanded. “You know that I know you are a swindler and a humbug. Get out of this house and out of this city at once. If you are in Washington to-morrow afternoon at this time, you will be in the old Capitol prison,” Brooks threatened. (341)
Realizing that he had crossed the wrong person, Charles Colchester fled the White House and never harassed the First Lady again. Despite this exposure to a fraudulent medium, Mary Lincoln’s faith in Spiritualism remained unscathed and she continued to try to convert her family and friends.
In December 1863, Mary Lincoln’s favorite half-sister, Emilie Todd Helm, came to Washington, D.C. to visit the Lincolns. Like her older sister Emilie had suffered a devastating loss when her husband died while serving in the Confederate Army. Regardless of the controversy of hosting a Confederate sympathizer, President Lincoln invited Emilie to the White House in December 1863 so that the sisters could grieve together. (342) During Emilie’s visit, Mary decided to share with her sister her belief in Spiritualism. Following Emilie into her bedroom one evening Mary announced:
“I want to tell you, Emilie, that one may not be wholly without comfort when our loved ones leave us. When my noble little Willie was first taken from me, I felt that I had fallen into a deep pit without a ray of light anywhere. If I had not felt the spur of necessity urging me to cheer Mr. Lincoln, whose grief was as great as my own, I could never have smiled again and if Willie did not come to comfort me I would still be drowned in tears, and while I long to touch him, to hold him in my arms, and still grieve that he has no future in this world that I might watch with a proud mother’s heart—he lives, Emilie!...He comes to me every night, and stands at the foot of my bed with the same sweet, adorable smile he has always had; he does not always come alone; little Eddie is sometimes with him and twice he has come with our brother Alec, he tells me he loves his Uncle Alec (343) and is with him most of the time. You cannot dream of the comfort this gives me. When I thought of my little son in immensity, alone, without his mother to direct him, no one to hold his little hand in loving guidance, it nearly broke my heart. (344)
This declaration by Mary Lincoln perfectly illustrated why she found Spiritualism appealing. After Willie’s death, she had fallen into a “deep pit,” but only through Spiritualism had Mary found comfort through contacting her dead children. Through her dreams or visions of Willie and Eddie, Mary Lincoln was convinced that her sons were in heaven waiting for the day that the family would be re-united. Adding to Mary’s comfort her vision confirmed for her that her sons were not alone in heaven, but were being cared for by a loving family member. This proved to be too much for Emilie Helm who recorded in her diary, “It is unnatural and abnormal.” (345) Despite facing the displeasure of their family, the Lincolns’ continued to pursue their interest in Spiritualism.
Six months after receiving John W. Edmonds request that the President accept his books on Spiritualism, President Lincoln received another letter, this time from Senator Edwin D. Morgan regarding Edmonds’ offer. Morgan requested that the President, “please read the letter of Judge Edmonds and return it to me that I may tell him you will accept of his Books.” (346) President Lincoln finally responded and accepted Edmonds’ book offer. “Will Senator Morgan please present my compliments to Judge Edmonds, & say to him the books will be gratefully accepted by me,” Lincoln stated to Morgan on January 16, 1864. (347)
Why did President Lincoln decide to accept Edmonds offer? John W. Edmonds’ first wrote to President Lincoln in June of 1863 offering the President copies of his books. At the time, the President ignored the offer which prompted Senator Morgan to write to President Lincoln again on Edmonds’ behalf. It is possible to deduce that his wife’s interest in Spiritualism was having a powerful impact on him. President Lincoln’s acceptance of Edmonds’ book suggests that the President possessed an interest in Spiritualism.
As this correspondence suggests President Lincoln took great pains to keep his interest in Spiritualism discreet. President Lincoln was an astute politician who realized that it was easy for his private mail to land in the wrong hands. In fact, when, President Lincoln communicated with his family during his term in office it was only through telegraph that went through a secure War Department line that could not be tapped by the press. (348) The fact that President Lincoln requested John W. Edmonds to send him books about Spiritualism suggested that the President wanted to read more about the topic.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln had little leisure time. He was not going to waste his time reading about a subject in which he had no interest. His attendance at séances and his perusal of Spiritualist literature proved that President Lincoln had an active interest in Spiritualism—just like he had 20 years earlier when he witnessed his wife’s mesmerism. Unlike Mary Lincoln, the President realized the political damage that could be done if his interest in Spiritualism continued to be bandied about in the press and he tried to remain discreet about his interest.
President Lincoln had a valid reason for keeping his interest in Spiritualism discreet because the new religion was about to be attacked in the nation’s capitol. Nettie Colburn detailed the events in her memoir, “During the early part of the winter of 1863 and 1864, a woman by the name of Smith came to Washington upon the subject of Spiritualism.” At first Smith was welcomed into Washington’s Spiritualist society which embraced her lectures as a way of spreading the faith. “She obtained a hall which was quickly filled with a crowd of eager listeners,” Nettie chronicled, “to whom it soon became apparent that she was half deranged.” (349)
Smith was not the only Spiritualist lecturer that proved controversial. Itinerant medium Father Beeson packed audiences at the Odd Fellows Hall where he wowed audiences with communications from the spirit of Judge Dean, a noted defender of fugitive slaves before the Civil War. The public was receptive to Father Beeson’s pronouncements until he announced that he had received a message from the spirit of an African American man who informed the medium that in Heaven blacks occupied the chief seats next to God. (350)
Horrified over Smith’s and Beeson’s behavior, Washington’s Spiritualists went on damage control and sought out Nettie for assistance. “The Spiritualists of Washington were greatly mortified at having their religious belief thus caricatured, and a gentleman called on Mr. Somes, at whose house I was then stopping and making known his errand asked to see and talk with me,” Colburn recorded. (351) The gentleman had come to see Nettie about arranging a lecture to explain the true meaning of Spiritualism to the public. “Mr. Somes introduced me, saying that he represented a number of Spiritualists who had been exceedingly mortified at the notoriety given to their religious belief by this crazy woman, and that they desired to get up a public lecture and have me speak for them,” Nettie noted. (352)
After some deliberation, Nettie agreed to return to her roots as a public speaker and participate in the lecture. The lecture proved to be a success. After being introduced by the Revered John Pierpont, Nettie spoke to a packed audience. “The interest the subject had awakened in the public mind was apparent from the crowded audience that had assembled to meet us,” Nettie remembered. (353) The capital’s residents had paid a heavy toll during the Civil War and Nettie’s hopeful message more than likely brought comfort to her audience.
“We were heard with every mark of respect and attention, and more than one person remarked, ‘If this is Spiritualism, it is the most comforting and rational religious belief I ever heard. I would like to know more of it,’” Nettie proclaimed. (354) Following this lecture more of the capital’s residents joined Mary Lincoln in her belief in Spiritualism.
Throughout 1864 Mary Lincoln continued to summon Nettie and her Spiritualists friends to the White House. Shortly after Nettie’s public lecture, the medium was invited to the White House to show off her talents for the First Lady’s friends. Mary Lincoln declared she had a friend she wanted Nettie to meet, but she wanted to test the medium’s powers and would not tell her who the guest was. Instead, Mary decided that Nettie’s spirit guide Pinkie should be able to guess the true identity of the mysterious guest. (355)
Naturally, according to Nettie the undefeatable Pinkie correctly guessed that the guest was a military officer who had recently lost a leg. The spirit of Pinkie was correct as the guest turned out to be none other than General Daniel Sickles. (356) What made this séance stand out, besides the presence of the Union Army’s most notorious general, was that in a rare moment of bravado Nettie Colburn gave herself credit for the creation of the Freedman’s Bureau. Following President Lincoln’s death, Spiritualists tried to give credit for the Emancipation Proclamation to Nettie Colburn’s ministrations. This claim troubled the medium and her husband for the rest of their lives. “Mr. Maynard is very anxious that the people should know that his wife never claimed that through her was dictated the Emancipation Proclamation,” wrote the M.E. Cadwallader a friend of the medium and her husband. (357)
During this séance, Nettie, lectured the President about the condition of the freed slaves. “While the spirits realized fully the many cares resting upon the President, there was duty to perform that could not be neglected—a duty that demanded immediate attention. They counseled him in the strongest terms to prove the truth of their statements, extravagant as they seemed, by appointing a special committee, whose duty it should be to investigate the condition of these people, and to receive their report in person, and on no account to receive it second hand,” Nettie instructed. (358)
In her memoir it is clear that Nettie Colburn fully believed that the President took her message to heart. A few weeks later while visiting her parents in Hartford, New York, her father showed her a newspaper article reporting that President Lincoln was creating a commission to evaluate the condition of the freedmen. “This item confirmed what I had told my father more than a week before of my recent sitting at the White House. It also proved that Mr. Lincoln considered the counsel he had received through me sufficient importance to engage his attention, as he had literally followed the direction given him by the spirit world,” Maynard crowed. (359)
The medium overestimated her influence with President Lincoln in this matter. Since the start of the war, the President had been aware of the plight of the freed slaves that flocked to contraband camps throughout the capital. Elizabeth Keckly, the First Lady’s seamstress, had solicited the aide of the Lincolns in her fundraising efforts for the First Contraband Relief Society. (360) Throughout the war, Abraham and Mary Lincoln were frequent visitors to the contraband camps located outside of the Soldiers Home, where they passed out food from the White House kitchen and other sundry items desperately needed by the freedmen. (361)
Nettie Colburn’s memoir is a valuable source that sheds light into the career of a Spiritualist medium during the Civil War. Though she was unable to specify the exact number of séances preformed in the White House, her account testified that the President attended more séances than was previously been attributed by historians. According to Nettie in the introduction to her memoir, “Comparatively few of the séances with the President are given, as a number took place with Mrs. Lincoln alone as witness.” (362)
As the strain of the Civil War began to emotionally and physically separate Abraham and Mary Lincoln, the couple’s mutual interest in Spiritualism was one thing that kept them together. It is highly likely that Mary Lincoln scheduled these séances in a bid to spend time alone with her husband. “During the latter part of February, and the month of March [1864], I had a number of séances with President Lincoln and his wife; but, as there were no other witnesses, and as they did not inform me of the nature, but simply allude to the fact. These séances took place by appointment. At the close of one, Mrs. Lincoln would make an appointment, engaging me to come at a certain hour of the day, which usually would be in the vicinity of one o’clock, the time when Mr. Lincoln usually partook of his luncheon, which generally occupied about half to three-quarters of an hour,” Nettie disclosed. (363) Concerning the issues discussed during the séances, the medium would only admit, “Many subjects of interest were discussed at the various meetings I had with Mr. Lincoln.” (364)
In one séance, Nettie illustrated her talent for military strategy. After becoming entranced, the medium awakened standing in front of a map of the Southern states with a pencil in her hand. “The only remarks I heard was these: ‘It is astonishing,’ said Mr. Lincoln, ‘how every line she has drawn conforms to the plan agreed upon.’ ‘Yes,’ answered the older soldier, ‘it is very astonishing,’” Nettie Colburn claimed. (365) Upon leaving the President turned to the medium and said, “It is best not to mention this meeting at present.” (366) Nettie promised that she would keep her consul about the events she had witnessed.
In her memoir, the medium used the events of that evening to conclude that President Lincoln shared his wife’s interest in Spiritualism. “That it was important may be supposed, for those were not days for the indulgence of idle curiosity in any direction, nor was Mr. Lincoln a man to waste his time in giving exhibitions in occult science for the amusement of his friends,” the medium concluded. (367) As 1864 drew to a close, the President had little time for recreation as he engaged in a hard fought campaign for re-election.
In November of 1864, President Lincoln was re-elected for a second term as President of the United States. The re-election campaign had been difficult as the President had to square off against the popular General George B. McClellan. (368) Despite the esteem the Union Army might have had for their “Little Mac,” that esteem could not counter the love they had for their “Father Abraham,” and the soldiers vote handily gave President Lincoln the election. (369)
Shortly after the election, President Lincoln received a congratulatory letter from the spirit of Edward D. Baker transmitted through a Spiritualist medium. Baker wanted to reassure his friend, “While your motives are pure and the spirits of the just—will hover around you and impress you of the right—Yes we saw you and witnessed your mind during the mighty struggle of the last political campaign—Your mind was calm and serene—You did not wish or pray that you might be reelected.” (370)
If Lincoln had any doubts about God’s support for the Union’s war effort, Baker added, “You shall and will be directed by the Almighty ruler of all events.” (371) After reassuring the President that victory was within reach, Baker then closed his letter with a request. “And now my dear friend I have a request to make of you—It is this—I want you to do us justice—by answering this and the receipt of the communication dated as follows March 23d 1862 November 14th 1862 November 29th 1864—I find the medium is honest and I want she should have the proof of the truthfulness of the spirits who have communicated through her to you—She being at the time in an unconscious state—I hope you will favor me by complying with this request—I know you will you are so kind.” (372) The missives Baker mentioned in this letter have not survived. Though Lincoln failed to respond to this letter, he had a close relationship with his Washington, D.C. Spiritualist friends.
A curious event that occurred in December 1864 as related by Margaret Laurie to her friend William Chaney suggested that by the end of the Civil War the Lincolns had formed a unique relationship with their mediums. Chaney related that Margaret Laurie used her influence with the President to save the life of a soldier accused of desertion.
A young soldier from Maine was accused of desertion and sentenced to death after being apprehended in Boston with an expired furlough pass. According to the desperate soldier the sudden illness and death of his sister had kept him from returning to his post on time. (373) A friend of the condemned soldier rushed to Washington, D.C. to seek a pardon from President Lincoln. Unfortunately, the young man arrived at the White House after the President had retired for bed with orders that he was not to be disturbed. (374)
Deaf to his pleading, the sergeant on duty refused to admit the soldier’s friend. “But the sergeant softened enough to tell him that he had orders to admit Mrs. Laurie at any hour, day or night,” Chaney recorded in 1886. Rushing to Margaret Laurie’s home the young man explained his plight and enlisted the medium in his cause. Moved by the young man’s story, according to Chaney, the medium “hurried to the White House, reprieve in hand, and was instantly admitted to the room where the President and his wife were asleep. Mr. Lincoln aroused himself with great difficulty. In a few words she explained her mission, which he seemed to understand intuitively more than by his consciousness. Without speaking he motioned her to hand him a pen from the table, and as he put his name to the reprieve, with a moistened eye and trembling lip, he said: ‘Thank you, Mrs. Laurie; never fear to arouse me on an errand of mercy like this.’” (375)
Unlike most of the stories related by the Spiritualist who associated with the Lincolns, this one can be verified. The collection of Lincoln papers that are presently housed in the Library of Congress contains a letter written on December 19, 1864 from Mrs. M.A. Laurie to President Lincoln requesting a pardon for Elbert F. Turner. “Will the President have the kindness to pardon…if I beg he will for the sake of suffering humanity, and I believe justice, release Elbert F. Turner today,” M.A. Laurie begged the President. (376) The events recorded by William Chaney and the name on the letter are too similar to be a coincidence. It appears that the Mrs. M.A. Laurie in the letter was in fact the Spiritualist medium Margaret Laurie.
The burdens of the war weighed heavily on the President. As the incident with Margaret Laurie illustrated, it became increasingly difficult for President Abraham Lincoln to receive a peaceful night’s slumber. During the winter of 1864-1865, Nettie Colburn attended the weekly receptions hosted by Mary Lincoln on Tuesday afternoons. This allowed the medium to personally witness the strain the Civil War had placed on President Lincoln.
“He never seemed to have an idle moment, nor did he ever appear to relax his manner of reserve, nor give way to excessive mirthfulness, even at a time when witty sayings were a part of the conversation,” Nettie sadly remembered. (377) Only through Spiritualist séances did the President receive any form of comfort Nettie maintained. “It should be borne in mind that all my meetings with Mr. Lincoln were periods of special import, and upon occasions when he was in need of aid and direction. After the ‘circle,’ which he attended, he invariably left with a brighter and happier look, evidencing the benefit in part which he experienced from that which had been imparted to him,” Nettie insisted. (378)
The Lincolns’ interest in Spiritualism proved to be more than a passing fad following Willie’s death. After being introduced to Spiritualism by his wife, President Lincoln continued to regular attend séances in the White House and at the Laurie’s Georgetown residence. Though the President was a regular fixture at his wife’s séances, President Lincoln’s position on the religion remained frustratingly unclear. While he was recorded by Spiritualists as saying that he was intrigued by some of the phenomena that he witnessed, his exact feelings on Spiritualism remain unknown.
As word spread of President Lincoln’s involvement in Spiritualism, the President received harsh criticism. On the eve of a highly contested re-election campaign, the President wisely decided to remain discreet on the issue. While the ranks of Spiritualists had grown with the slaughter produced by the Civil War, the religion was still controversial. Instead of distancing himself from Spiritualism, President Lincoln just kept his movement within the Spiritualist community discreet. Despite having been targeted by a fraudulent medium, Abraham and Mary Lincoln continued to attend séances conducted by their favorite medium Nettie Colburn. All this illustrated that President Abraham Lincoln shared his wife’s interest in Spiritualism.