“Lincoln has no element of dignity; no tact, not a spark of genius,” he writes in one, and in another: “The official machinery is utterly and absurdly inadequate for the emergency & there is no time to think of enlarging it. I feel the whole business is exceedingly uncertain & should not be much surprised to get up & find Jeff Davis in the White House.” To Mary, he struck this plaintive note: “Give me some good news of yourself, please, and of the park. I can not get on long without you here.”
