Washington Whirlwind #6: Columbian Puzzle

 

Washington Whirlwind #6

Columbian Puzzle by Denniele Bohannon

Columbian Puzzle recalls the District of Columbia where

the Lincolns lived for the four years of Civil War.

One puzzle:

Why does it have such a shape?

Washington, often called Washington City in the 19th century, lies within the almost rectangular District of Columbia. This district, once 100 square miles (10 miles by 10), was created from parts of Maryland & Virginia on either side of the Potomac to become the U.S. Capitol. In 1846 Virginia reclaimed its land donation west of the Potomac, which explains the missing area of the original square Territory of Columbia. The yellow star is the White House in Washington City.

The flat roof of the Executive Mansion with a parapet, a protective

railing, was the play space for the Taft & Lincoln boys.

Columbian Puzzle also recalls the Lincoln's youngest son.

There was something wrong.

Thomas Lincoln (1853-1871)

He may be 3 or 4 in this photograph.

Their youngest was born when Mary Todd Lincoln was about 35. They'd lost 3-year-old Edward to disease a few years earlier and this last child was much indulged and well-loved.

Columbian Puzzle by Jeanne Arnieri

His nickname was Tad, supposedly given shortly after birth by his father who noted his unusually large head and thought he looked like a tadpole. We special education teachers say, "Uh-Oh." He may have been hydrocephalic, a condition that puts pressure on the brain from an abnormality in the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid. Today a shunt would be inserted to relieve the pressure. 

His mother indicated she suffered from giving birth to Tad with his large head, later seeking cures in European spas for never named gynecological problems. She alluded to this last child's birth as the cause of her "headaches" and water-cure visits.

Tad at about 16

Tad's brain fluid problem seems to have eventually eased, but there is evidence of other cranio-facial abnormalities and learning problems that may have been the result of pre- and post-natal hydrocephalus. Portraits also show him with a cleft lip, a common abnormality with about 1 of every 1,600 American infants born today having lip and palate anomalies, more common in boys than girls. Today plastic surgery repairs both lip and palate (roof of the mouth) problems. 

Tad at 18

A cleft lip can cause speech pronunciation problems, which afflicted Tad. White House observers noted his unintelligible speech. The cleft palate was a more serious problem with teeth growing in askew  causing chewing and swallowing problems (also recorded by White House observers who noted he required a special easy-to-ingest diet.) A cleft palate can allow food to enter sinus passages and airways causing infection. Tad died at 18 of some kind of a lung problem, the kind of thing one might worry about with a boy whose food processing was a problem. 

Columbian Puzzle by Becky Brown

We have noted Tad's mischievousness, which might be more clinically described as hyperactivity and an attention deficit disorder, commonly accompanied by learning disabilities. Tad did not learn to read until he was 13 years old, a milestone noted by his mother in 1866. 

"Taddie ...Can now read....he did not know his letters when he came here."

(Beyond learning his letters did he ever actually learn to read?)

Lincoln and Tad looking at a catalog, photographed by

the Brady Studios.

Columbian Puzzle by Elsie Ridgley

His reading and other academic deficiencies were the despair of White House tutors who noted his inability to pay attention. There was also the problem of parental indulgence with his father preferring to watch him play rather than suffer with lessons.

John M. Hutchinson, a speech pathologist by training and Lincoln historian, addresses the puzzle of Tad Lincoln's speech and related problems here:

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0030.105/--what-was-tad-lincolns-speech-problem?rgn=main;view=fulltext

"Given the evidence...it is probable that Tad Lincoln had a complex speech and language disorder that today would have necessitated early and extensive intervention by a speech/language pathologist to address, at a minimum, a delay in language development and the developmental articulation problem."

The Block

The Columbian Puzzles: "Why is the District of Columbia such an odd shape?" is more easily explained than Tad Lincoln's learning and physical problems.

During the years after 1880 when the Drunkard's Path block with its curved pieces was popular the pattern industry publishing under the name Clara Stone gave an alternative variation---all straight line piecing. It's BlockBase+ #2196.

Turkey red and white solids, inscribed 1896

Columbian Puzzle by Elsie Ridgley who is doing two sets.

Elsie's Blocks 1-6 in Mary Lincoln's favorite color.

Anna McNeill Whistler's Civil War

 

Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler (1804-1881)

When the Civil War began Anna was a widow. Husband George, a railroad engineer working for Russia's Tsar, had died of cholera there in 1849.

George Washington Whistler (1800-1849)

Anna returned to the United States with her two surviving sons. In 1853 she was living in Scarsdale, New York. Born in North Carolina, she had sons attending New York schools. James was an ill-suited cadet at West Point, following in his father's career path; William was considering a medical career at Columbia. Anna was pious enough to wish they'd become clergymen but she seemed happy with their eventual career choices.

She wrote about quilting for charity with the Scarsdale quilting circle there in the early 1850s, meeting in the parlors at Jane O'Neil Hill Popham's home.

Scarsdale Public Library Collection

Jane O'Neil Hill Popham (1784-1882) with granddaughters

at her home The Locusts, still standing.

The Pophams' parlors in the 1930s

By 1856 son Jemie who'd been dismissed from West Point decided to study art in Paris. Willie was studying in Philadelphia and Anna moved there to be with her well-loved youngest.

Philadelphia's Arch Street where Anna spent the late 1850s.

Willie graduated from the Pennsylvania Medical School in 1860 and married second cousin Florida "Ida" Bayard King (1840-1863) born in Georgia. Mother Anna then traveled to Europe to visit James and stepchildren Deborah Whistler Haden and George Whistler. Both James and Deborah's husband Francis Seymour Haden were artists experimenting with printmaking forms, particularly etchings.

Deborah Delano Whistler Haden (1825-1908),

Anna's stepdaughter with whom she maintained

family relations despite son James's hatred of his half-sister's husband.

 

When the Civil War commenced in 1861 Anna and her sons' allegiance followed her Carolina heritage and that of Ida's. William and Ida went to Richmond, Virginia where he found a post in the Confederate medical troops becoming an Assistant Surgeon. 

"Ida has made Willie a thorough secessionist," wrote Anna when she visited. In her early 20s Ida fell victim to smallpox and died in March, 1863 despite her mother-in-law's care. Anna found herself alone in Richmond behind the blockade. Willie was serving in the field and her other children were in Europe.

William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900)

Determined to get to England Anna booked passage on the Confederate

blockade runner Advance, which sailed from the Cape Fear River to the

West Indies and then to England nearly 20 times before being 

captured by the Union. Anna arrived in 1863.

A few months before the Civil War ended an exhausted Dr. William Whistler scheduled a voyage to England, anxious to see his family. Traveling from Charleston up to Wilmington and then to New York before he could find passage William carried dispatches from the Confederacy to contacts in England, but delivered them only weeks before Appomattox.

Flamboyant artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834- 1903)

by William Merrit Chase

Doting mother Anna always indulged both sons. One might guess she'd spoiled James who was the art world's pugnacious, self-centered Prima Donna in his time but James seems to have had such a difficult personality we can only classify him today as some kind of sociopath (a narcissist who could really paint.) He needed to be the center of attention and saw any interference as betrayal, picking huge fights with art critics and fellow artists such as sister Deborah's husband. With someone as self-absorbed as James the family could only stand back and hope for periods of peace.

Anna Whistler in her life-long mourning

with a required widow's cap. The variety

in this type of necessary head gear is

fascinating. 

The Whistlers, James, William, Deborah and Anna remained in England, seeing no home in America after Confederate defeat.

"My Brother," 1896, lithograph by James Whistler.

William practiced medicine in England and remarried a Greek heiress.

Helen "Nellie" Euphrosyne Ionides (1849-1917)

Many Confederates sought European refuge with plans to continue the war or turn a profit on what they'd learned and earned during it. The Whistler brothers were hired by torpedo specialist Henry Doty, to sell arms to South American countries warring against Spain. Willie's request for a passport was rejected but James sailed for Chile and Peru as a sort of secret agent. After failing in their arms deals the South American plot was over with James (not suitable for any secret work) getting into fist fights with several people including Doty. James returned to his art work and William spent his post-war years as a noted laryngologist.

William's Obituary in 1900

Anna must have often wondered how her parenting had resulted in two

such different sons.

In 1872 James painted his mother, wearing a

widow's cap in his characteristic monochrome palette.

The portrait, rather controversial at first due to color & composition

 (note the cropped picture frame at right), 

became an American icon in the pantheon of mother worship.

Read Anna's letters in the Atlantic Monthly, Volume 136.

She also left a diary of their exciting years in Russia.