Horace Porter

"In the War of the Revolution when it was thought the cause was lost men became inspired at the very mention of the name of George Washington. In 1812 when we succeeded once more against the mother country men were looking for a hero, and there rose before them that rugged, grim, independent old hero, Andrew Jackson. In the last and greatest of all wars an independent and tender-hearted man was raised up by providence to guide the helm of state through that great crisis, and men confidingly placed the destinies of this great land in the hands of Abraham Lincoln. In the annals of our country we find no man whose training had been so peaceful, whose heart was so gentle, whose nature was so tender, and yet who was called upon to marshal the hosts of the masses of the people during four years of remorseless and bloody and unrelenting fratricidal war."