Kathryn Canavan

Author of Historic True Crime Stories

About Kathryn Canavan
Contact Kathryn at: mail@kathryncanavan.com.
  • True Crime Philadelphia: From America’s First Bank Robbery to the Real-Life Killers Who Inspired Boardwalk Empire
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September 8, 2015 by Matt

A rebel widow visits the Lincolns

One word for Emilie Helm’s visit to the White House — awkward.emilie hardin helm

Helm, Mary Lincoln’s younger half-sister, came to her sister’s home for sympathy after her husband Confederate Brigader General Benjamin Hardin Helm died in battle at Chickamauga.

The Lincolns, who favored her and her deceased husband even over other family members, welcomed her warmly. Still, having the widow of an enemy general in the presidential mansion presented some problems.

Visitors who encountered Helm were taken aback.

Tad Lincoln became agitated when his little visiting cousin shouted, “Hurrah for Jeff Davis” and when the cousin told him his father couldn’t be president.

Although Emilie Helm tried to disappear when visitors called, some of them wanted news about their friends in the South.

Political talk was prickly. Sen. Ira Harris of New York, a good friend of the president’s, blurted out to Helm, “We have whipped the rebels at Chattanooga, and I hear, madam, that the scoundrels ran like scared rabbits.” Emilie Helm managed to say, “It was the example you set them at Bull Run and Manassas.” Mary Lincoln tried to change the subject, but Emilie Helm, shivering and weeping stumbled out of the room.

Gen. Dan Sickles, who had lost a leg at Gettsyburg, hobbled up the stairs to the room where President Lincoln was resting in bed and said, “The child has a tongue like the rest of the Todds. You should not have that rebel in your house.”

Mrs. Helm soon left for Kentucky on a presidential pass that did not require an oath allegiance.

Reveille at Washington by Margaret Leech

Filed Under: How Do You Unfriend an Assassin?

Historians’ Praise for Lincoln’s Final Hours

“Just when you thought there wasn’t anything new to say about Abe Lincoln’s assassination, along comes Ms. Canavan to reveal elements of the saga that will startle and enthrall even the most hard-core of Lincoln aficionados, including what must rank as the single most petty act by any one individual in the history of America—but I’ll save that for the book.”

—Erik Larson, author of Devil in the White City

“She writes with a flair not often found in historical works.”

—Edward Steers, Jr., author of Blood on the Moon

“Canavan has performed excellent research in winnowing out myriad human interest details. The result is a fast-paced, moving, yet authoritative account of the people caught up in the fallout of Booth’s mad act.”

— William C. Davis, author of Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour

“Lincoln’s Final Hours is a welcome addition to a crowded field. Fast-paced, dramatic and exciting, the reader will be hard pressed to put it down. The author, with her exquisite writing, has ensured this.”

―Frank J. Williams, founding chair of The Lincoln Forum

 

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