From the time of Abraham Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency until his assassination, John G. Nicolay served as the Civil War president’s chief personal secretary. Nicolay became an intimate of Lincoln and probably knew him, as well as anyone outside his own family. Although he did not keep a diary, Nicolay recorded his conversations with the president in a series of memos. He wrote numerous letters to his assistant John Hay and others, describing the mood at the White House and expressing opinions that were almost certainly shaped by Lincoln. In this expertly edited collection, Michael Burlingame compiles Nicolay’s memoranda, journal entries describing Lincoln’s activities, and excerpts from most of the nearly three hundred letters Nicolay wrote to his fiancee, Therena Bates. This first paperback edition of
With Lincoln in the White House
offers essential information about Abraham Lincoln.