Monthly Archives: April 2018

George Washington and Smallpox

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Smallpox was a dreaded contagious disease. If one survived, one could be scarred and disfigured for life. George Washington and his Brother Lawrence Augustine Washington died when his son George was eleven. He had four younger siblings. He also had … Continue reading →

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Seward and Davis: An Unlikely Friendship

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Jefferson Davis and William Seward in their old age. William H. Seward: Republican Whig The 1850s was decade seething with unrest; a volcano just waiting to erupt. The Whigs had always been a cobbled-together party of various factions and sections … Continue reading →

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General Grant’s Greatest Lesson

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Fear is a natural reaction in the face of danger, or stress or the unknown. Or all of it. USG: Reinstatement The surrender of Fort Sumter in April 1861 changed everything for West Point trained Ulysses S. Grant. President Lincoln … Continue reading →

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Harriet Hanks, Lincoln’s Cousin-Niece

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Feather Schwartz Foster

It’s a complicated family line. The Lincoln-Hanks Kinship Abraham Lincoln, as everyone knows, was the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. Nancy Hanks, Abe’s mother, had an aunt, also named Nancy Hanks, who had an illegitimate son named Dennis, … Continue reading →

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Grover Cleveland, Commuter

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Feather Schwartz Foster

The Presidency has always come with very nice housing. Free. Presidents’ Residence By the time a President is elected, he is mature, established in a profession, and at least of middle class means. Some of our early POTUSes had magnificent … Continue reading →

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