Author of a diary set in civil war Washington, D.C., Horatio Nelson Taft’s family had remarkable unofficial connections and access to the first family of the United States during the early months of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and, later, at the very end. His youngest children were playmates of Lincoln’s sons and his oldest son, a physician, was in the audience at Ford’s theater when the president was shot and attended Lincoln shortly afterward through to his death.
An attorney and U.S Patent Office patent examiner before and during the Civil war, Horatio Nelson Taft was born on January 13th, 1806 and died at age 82 on April 15, 1888 in Sag Harbor, Suffolk County, New York. Recording much of his experiences and observations in Washington during the war years, Taft’s three-volume diary remained with the family until presented to the Library of Congress in 2002.
At the opening of the first volume of his diary, the Taft family lived just ½ mile from the White House, home of the U.S. President. During the first year of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, his sons, William (Willie) and Thomas (Tad) were regular, almost inseparable, playmates of the middle two Taft boys, Horatio, Jr (Bud – age 14) and Halsey (Holly – age 11) as well as the youngest, 8-year-old Willie Taft on occasion and often chaperoned by the older sister, Julia.
Julia later wrote a memoir, Tad Lincoln’s Father, relating memories of her visits to the presidential mansion and many observations of the private side of the nation’s leader. She relates in it that Mr. Lincoln called her a “flibbertigibbet” which he defined as “a small, slim thing with curls and a white dress and a blue sash who flies instead of walking.”
After Willie Lincoln died of typhoid fever, First Lady Mary Lincoln asked Horatio’s wife, Mary, to keep the boys away from the White House as their presence brought memories that were too painful and the immature Tad Lincoln began to emulate the first lady’s least desirable traits, including throwing himself on the floor and screaming whenever the Taft boys would show up. The disruption and unhappiness that resulted in the Taft household eventually led Horatio to move his wife and children back to Sag Harbor to live with her parents.
Taft’s diary begins on January 1st, 1861. For the first 2 years, his entries are daily with few days missed. From 1864 through May 30th, 1865, the entries are irregular, with Taft summarizing events that occurred over several days or even weeks.
One of the more significant entries is the account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It may include the only new information on that terrible event that has surfaced in the last 60 or 70 years. Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, Horatio’s son by his first wife, was in Ford’s theater that night. He was the physician lifted from the floor of the theater by the audience to attend the president. Charles remained at Lincoln’s side until he died. He appears in at least two published less-than-accurate images of the death scene in the Peterson boarding house.
With over 600 entries, Taft ended his diary with a summary of the previous several months, closing with, “Our great and Good President has been assassinated. The assassin Killed. Jefferson Davis has been captured and impeached for Treason. The grand Review & the Trial of the conspirators. Tearfully — and Joyfully have we witnessed these Events.”