Lincoln’s Persistent Pest or Radical Republican Anarchist

Lincoln’s Persistent Pest, during the Civil War, was considered by many a possible assassin or at the very least, a Radical Republican Anarchist. Rumors were rampant in the nation’s capitol, that a cartel of assassins were planning Lincoln’s demise. Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s long time friend, confidant, body-guard and U.S. Marshal, investigated several deadly intrigues regarding plots to murder President Lincoln. Several failed attempts on his life have been documented, but Lincoln did not want these assaults broadcast, fearing that any such press would fuel public unrest and impede the focus of the war effort. The President, addressing Lamon on the subject of a possible assassination attempt, said,

“No good can result at this time from giving it publicity. It does seem to me that I am in more danger from the augmentation of imaginary peril than from a judicious silence, be the danger ever so great; and, moreover, I do not want it understood that I share your apprehensions. I never have. I am determined to borrow no trouble. I believe in the right, and that it will ultimately prevail; and I believe it is the inalienable right of man, unimpaired even by this dreadful distraction of our country, to be happy or miserable at his own election, and I for one make choice of the former alternative.”

President Lincoln only related fearing one man in Washington, a Polish exile named Count Adam de Gurowski. The Count, born in 1805, in Poland, could trace his noble roots to leaders of the Crusades. Raised in an aristocratic manner, de Gurowski was expelled from school, for expressing his Polish patriotism. Gurowski seemed to always be on the losing side of European politics, policy and revolution, never being able manage his extremist tendencies. He moved to Berlin, then to St. Petersburg and eventually he arrived in New York, where he became naturalized in 1849. Adam de Gurowski had hoped to teach at Harvard, but his hopes were dashed when he was accused of challenging another professor to a duel, over a perceived insult. He took a position on the editorial desk of Greeley’s New York Tribune, where he wrote articles on domestic and foreign politics including several books, The Turkish Question (1854), Russia as It Is (1854), A Year of the War (1855), America and Europe (1857) and Slavery in History (1860).

At the beginning of the Civil War, Gurowski left for Washington D.C., hoping for a ranking post in Lincoln’s administration, as a minister of foreign affairs. However, Secretary of State, William H. Seward had a less lofty posting for the caustic Count, who is said to have spoken seven languages, as a translator of foreign periodicals. Gurowski, while at the New York Tribune, had become a staunch abolitionist and fierce Republican, now at his desk reviewing diplomatic communiques, he found the time and inclination to write a diary that he published in 1862. This release rocked the administration and the political elite with its scathing criticism of Lincoln, Seward and Military leaders, their handling of the war and the arbitrary suggestion to enlist African-Americans into the Union Army. William H. Seward, who was not known for his patience or understanding, immediately demanded and received Gurowski’s resignation.

It has to be remembered that Adam Gurowski, was a sort of bohemian of the era, never quite assimilating into any environment. Whether it was his appearance, his actions or words, most folks just weren’t comfortable in the company of the Count. His presence on the streets of Washington D.C. could become quite the theatrical. Lincoln surely couldn’t have missed him. Accounts detail his appearance as being overly rotund, wearing a long European tailored coat, a floppy wide-brimmed hat and rose-colored glasses. Folks that knew of the boisterous and opinionated Gurowski, would cross to the other side of the street, just to avoid a political harangue. His venomous dialogue always centered on Lincoln and members of his cabinet and their total ineptness at government policy and protocol.

Some notables of the time relate their impression of Adam Gurowski,

Walt Whitman described him as “noisy, violent, by nature a revolutionist, a man who rebelled against restraint, even when he would admit it was justifiable.”

Navy Secretary Gideon Welles said “he is by nature a grumbler, ardent, earnest, rash, violent, unreasonable, impracticable.”

Lincoln’s secretary John Hay called him “venomous.”

The New York lawyer George Templeton Strong declared that he was “universally abominated for his bearishness and petty malignities.”

Adam Gurowski bombarded Lincoln, his Cabinet members and even the President’s wife, with vitriol laced written diatribes detailing government and military shortcomings and miscues. Hardly a day would pass, without someone receiving a missive from Gurowski explaining how the affairs of the country should be handled.

Gurowski was known to fly into a violent rage, if anyone disagreed with his assessment of Lincoln or government policy and it was the, bite and not the bark, that concerned the President. Adam Gurowski was obsessed with Lincoln and his administration’s perceived ineptness and Lincoln had difficulties resolving the unknowns of this loose cannon.

President Lincoln related to Ward Hill Lamon more than once,

“So far as my personal safety is concerned, Gurowski is the only man who has given me a serious thought of a personal nature. From the known disposition of the man, he is dangerous wherever he may be. I have sometimes thought that he might try to take my life. It would be just like him to do such a thing.”

After all was said and done, Lincoln’s Persistent Pest was nothing more than a self-centered and verbose Radical Republican Anarchist…. or was he?

Bummer