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Director of operations at Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitors Center
As a public historian my goal in a nutshell is connecting the present with the past. And one of the first steps in making that connection is to find common ground between the ages. For me personally, there is something compelling about walking the same streets, visiting the same places and talking about the same things as those who went before us. In this way, the past does not seem so distant.
One figure who is difficult to connect with in local history is Steubenville native Edwin Stanton. He is one of those figures who looms larger than life. As President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war during the Civil War, his influence in national events is far reaching, to put it mildly. Many books and articles have been written about him, his influences and his accomplishments. And it was Stanton who famously uttered the words after President Lincoln’s assassination that “Now he belongs to the ages
William Seward was a good man, remembered poorly Print this article
William Seward is known to most people as the architect of “Seward’s folly,” the acquisition of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867. The stinging name has stuck, though energy-rich Alaska has turned out to be a bargain at 2 cents an acre.
Seward’s biggest role was in Washington as President Lincoln’s secretary of state and closest adviser. On the night Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth, Seward was knifed and left bleeding and near death at his home a few blocks away by a Booth henchman.