Ulysses S. Grant to Robert N. Johnson with an anecdote told by Abraham Lincoln about Alexander Stephens and his overcoat - American History 1493-1945 - Adam Matthew Digital

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Field name	Value
Collection Reference Number	GLC01305
From Archive Folder	Unassociated Civil War Documents 1865-1929
Title	Ulysses S. Grant to Robert N. Johnson with an anecdote told by Abraham Lincoln about Alexander Stephens and his overcoat
Date	16 September 1884
Author	Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) (1822-1885)
Document Type	Correspondence
Content Description	Replies to Johnson's letter and encloses his version of an anecdote told by Abraham Lincoln about Alexander Stephens and his overcoat at the Hampton Roads, Virginia Peace Conference. State he will use the anecdote in his memoirs. The story describes Stephens as wearing a very large and heavy overcoat. When he removed the coat, he looked to weigh only 90 pounds. Grant relays that Lincoln remarked about Stephens in his coat, "wasn't it the biggest shuck and the littlest ear ever you did see."
Subjects	President Union Forces Union General Confederate General or Leader Confederate States of America Civil War Diplomacy Humor and Satire
People	Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) (1822-1885) Johnson, Robert N. (fl. 1884) Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Stephens, Alexander Hamilton (1812-1883)
Place written	Long Branch, New Jersey
Theme	The American Civil War; The Presidency
Sub-collection	Papers and Images of the American Civil War
Additional Information	The Hampton Roads Peace Conference was an informal and unsuccessful peace talk held during American Civil War aboard the steamer River Queen on 3 February 1865. Stephens was the Confederate Vice President 1861-1865.
Copyright	The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module	Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
Transcript	Show/hide Long Branch, N.J. Sept. 16th 1884 Dear Sir: Col. Grant left for the City this morning, not to return again this season. I have opened your letter to him however, and answer. - It is all together probable that I will use the anecdote of Mr. Lincoln's remark about Mr. Stevens and his over-coat when I come to that point of my Memoirs; [struck: when] but it will not be in either of the Articles I am writing, have written - because the four are now complete - for the Century. I inclose for you the correct story as near as I can relate it. Yours &c U. S. Grant Robt. N. Johnson [Grant's enclosed manuscript] [2] When the [inserted: peace] Commissioners, Stevens, Hunter and Campbell, appeared a[t] City Point the former - whom I had never met, but always understood to be a very small man - was wearing a very large overcoat, reaching near his ankles, and made of a heavy coarse material, manufactured in the south after the breaking out of the rebellion. Mr. Stevens looked, in this overcoat, like a medium sized man. But when I showed the Commissioners to the boat in which they were to be guest of the government during their stay, Mr. S. divested himself of his overcoat, and stood forth the stalwart of ninety pounds which I had understood was about his weight when in robust health. - When notified that Mr. Lincoln was on his way from Washington to [3] meet the Commissioners, I sent the boat in which they were guests to Hampton Roads to await the coming of the President. After the interview Mr. Lincoln run in up to City Point. It seems that Mr. Stevens was wearing his overcoat when the President boarded the boat on which the Commissioners were but took it off in honor of his presence: for about the first thing Mr Lincoln said to me when we met, was: "did you see that overcoat of Stevens';" yes, laughing, but; "did you see him take it off," yes again, well; "wasn't it the biggest shuck and the littlest ear ever you did see."

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