He’s scarcely a footnote on a day that changed America

DBF

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A middle-aged man walks briskly along the road as he makes his way to the beautiful 3-story home on Madison Place near Pennsylvania Avenue. The house facing Lafayette Square has been affectionally known as the “Old Clubhouse”, but shortly after the Union surrender of Fort Sumter the family of William Seward, the Secretary of State serving President Lincoln, moved in and made it their home. But this home has been involved in another infamous event. On February 27, 1859, in the room that is now the Seward’s parlor, Philip Barton Key succumbed from the bullet that was fired from future Union General Daniel Sickles. But on this night the thoughts of the man is to deliver a message from the State Department to Mr Seward, who has been bedridden since his carriage accident and then he’ll head home.

seward-house_large.jpg

William Seward Home
National Park Service
(Public Domain)

It’s springtime in Washington, although most people will always remember this as a frigid night. Temperatures are in the mid-50’s with a few clouds. There was a full moon 3 nights ago, so tonight the moon is almost full (90% illumination) but our solitary man continues to his destination reaching the Seward home sometime after 10:00 pm. Soon it will be the weekend, and a new day will begin, but first he has one more job to do - today - April 14th, 1865. History may forget this man, but this is a day Emerick Hansell will remember forever.

Who Was This Man?

The Philadelphia born Emerick W. Hansell was a hard worker and enjoyed his job at the State Department in Washington. Born in 1817, he married D.C. native Elizabeth Ann Robinson in 1840. They were the parents of a son, George and two daughters, Emma and Roberta. He was a member and Sunday School teacher at the St. Paul’s English Lutheran Church and was an active member of the International Order of Odd Fellows, a charitable fraternity with their motto of “"Friendship, Love and Truth".

In 1855 he was an acting messenger employed at the State Department however by 1858 he was a full messenger. He received an annual salary of $900.00. Her was known as a dedicated and hard working employee. In an interview Frederick Seward would praise him with his words - - -

“Hansell was a man of proved efficiency and integrity”. {1}

The war years made the State Department one of the busiest departments and tonight is one of those times when Mr. Hansell has one more job to complete before calling it a day. He turns to the house on Madison Place and walks up the walkway. He will soon be at the door to deliver the message and go home. Little does he realize the horror that awaits him on the other side.

A Night He’ll Never Forget

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Lewis Powell’s Attack on William Seward
National Police Gazette, April 22, 1985
(Smithsonian - Public Domain)

Mr. Hansell arrives at the door of the Seward home. He must have heard a noise coming from the house as shouts and screams reach his ears. He is about to walk in on the worst night of his life. Upon entering he realizes something is very wrong as he is drawn to the stairs to see what is happening. He turns to run for help when he comes he face-to-face with a 20 year old young man. He won’t know it, but he will go down in history as the last of the Lincoln Conspirator’s victims.

Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne) has already attacked several members of the Seward family and he now turns his knife on Emerick Hansell. Powell raises his arm to deliver a strike from the blade of his Rio Grande Camp knife. {6} It hits directly into Hansell’s back near his spinal column. He screams in anguish as he falls to the floor as Powell runs from his crimes and out into the Washington night.

"Blood Was Everywhere"

The first physician to arrive at the scene was William Seward’s personal doctor Tullio Verdi. When he arrived he noted - - -

“I found terror depicted on every countenance and blood everywhere.” {1}

His immediate attention was to William Seward and discovering his wounds were not fatal, he quickly stopped the bleeding and applied ice to soothe the pain. Next his attention was to his Seward’s sons Frederick and Augustus. He then turns his attention to Seward’s male nurse Private George Robinson and finally he treats Emerick Hansell. After he was stabbed, Emerick was carried to the bedroom of Steward’s 18 year old daughter Fanny who was in the house that evening. During the trial of Lewis Powell and the other Lincoln Conspirators Dr. Verdi gave this one line testimony regarding Mr. Hansell - - -

“I found Mr. Hansell, a messenger of the State Department, lying on a bed, wounded by a cut in the side some two and a half inches deep.” {1}

From the night of the 14th, to the trial of the Lincoln Conspirator’s beginning May 9th, 1865, there seems to have been a slight change in the attitude from Dr. Verdi. Secretary of War Edwin Station had gone to the Secretary of State’s home that evening and saw first hand the devastation that Powell administered in that home and had been given status reports on all injured. Much later as he sat at Lincoln’s side in the "death watch", he sent a dispatch to Major General Dix and included the following statement regarding the condition of Mr. Hansell - - -

“The attendant who was present [at Seward’s] was stabbed through the lungs, and is not expected to live.” {1}

Emerick Hansell was never called to be a witness at the trial of Lewis Powell and his fellow conspirators.

What Is the Truth?

On June 10, 1867 another trial began. This time John Surratt was the defendant and testimony was given that threw the Emerick Hansell attack into confusion. Testimony appeared to indicate that Hansell was staying in a room in the home as an additional “guard” for the Secretary of State.and came when he heard the commotion.

Pvt. Robinson, the male nurse that was tending to William Seward gave the following testimony - - -

“On [Powell’s] way down, on the first flight, he overtook Mr. Hansell, a messenger at the State department, who had been roused by the noise that had been made, and had apparently turned to go down stairs for help. He came within reach of him and struck him in the back.” Robinson was then asked if Hansell said anything to which he responded, ‘He started to say ‘O!’ I presume, but he did not say it exactly. He hallooed out pretty loud. He did not utter any particular word that I heard’.” {1}

The testimony concurred with a May 1865 letter from Mrs. William Seward - Frances supporting the fact that Mr. Hansell was in their home. She wrote - - -

“While [Augustus] was stepping into his room for a pistol, the man made his escape down the stairs, on his way wounding Mr. Hansell, a messenger from the department, who came out of a lower room and was going to the street door to give the alarm.”. {1}

There was no reason given for the confusing facts, however in May of 1865, Dr. Verdi wrote an article regarding Emerick Hansell on the night of April 14, 1865 - - -

“Mr. Ansel, the fifth person who was wounded, is a messenger in the State Department, and was sleeping that night over the Secretary’s room, waiting for his turn of watching. Hearing the fearful screams of Miss Fanny, he (a very weak-kneed gentleman) was making his way out of the house as fast as possible, when, after having descended a flight of stairs, he met the murderer, also on the landing. Mr. Ansel, however, endeavored to run faster; but the assassin, fearing he might give the alarm, gave him a memento of his brutality by plunging the dagger in his back.” {1}

Interesting - Dr. Tullio Verdi was not there during the attack and there is no explanation why Dr. Verdi would take a personal attack on Mr. Hensell character although there is some speculation that Seward’s son Augustus (Gus) was the real coward and Emerick was the hero that tried to get Lewis Powell’s attack to stop.

Throughout the years various stories have emerged that he had just arrived or he was staying there at the home. It was also reported that he was a “young man” when in reality he was born in 1817; and was in his mid-forties, not necessarily a “young man” but a middle-aged man. Some reports don’t give his name at all, he is simply a “messenger from the State Department”. And then there is Dr. Verdi that doesn’t even get his name correct.

What to do with the rest of his life?

Although he was constantly in pain and never regained complete mobility after a period of convalescence he was able to return to work at the State Department, In 1870 his wife of 30 years passed away and in 3 years he retired from his job at 56 years of age. He was a beaten and hurting man but he was able to pick up the pieces of his life. However in the same year as his retirement - 1873 - he married his 2nd wife a widowed 36 year old named Mary.

His next battle was with Congress as he fought to get a payment for injuries he received that night of April 14th. After much vigorous debate from both chambers on August 15th, 1876 President Ulysses Grant signed H.R. 3184 - “A bill for the relief of Emerick Hansell”. Mr. Hansell was awarded $2,000.00 (worth almost $50,000.00 in today’s money).

Towards the end of his life his wound made his life difficult. He experienced partial paralysis and at times breathing would be painful for him. On February 14, 1893 at 75 years of age he breathed his last, surviving almost 28 years after his attack. Lewis Powell never successfully completed his original assignment of killing William Seward, but he did change lives and Emerick Hansell was one of them.

Unfortunately for Hansell, he was the least “important” victim in the Seward home that evening. Secretary Seward suffered knife wounds about his face, his son Frederick was blessed when Powell’s gun misfired and suffered a beating about his skull with his pistol, the male nurse, Private George F. Robinson suffered from several stab wounds and blows as he struggled with Powell, another son Augustus also fought with Powell with little damage done and then there was Emerick Hansell.

Sadly in the passage of time he is remembered as the “most forgotten victim” that occurred on Good Friday in 1865. Today he’s barely a footnote in a day that changed American history. The only memorial of Emerick Hansell is what his grandson erected on his gravestone. It simply states - - -


“Emerick W. Hansell

1817-1893

Wounded with Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Sec. of State

By the Assassin Payne, April 14, 1865.

Erected by his Grandson Marvin Emerick Eldridge” {3}



* * * * * * *


Sources
1. https://boothiebarn.com/2015/09/04/emerick-hansell-the-forgotten-casualty/
2. http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/washington/homes/homes-william-h-sewards-house/
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85612959/emerick-w-hansell
4. https://blogs.weta.org/boundaryston...ttle-known-victims-lincoln-assassination-plot
5. http://werehistory.org/seward/
6. https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll6/id/854/
 
That's very interesting, and quite a coincidence that the house should be connected with two notorious violent incidents. I think that I may have identified the house on Google Earth Street View by comparing the sketch shown at the start of this thread. If I have it right, there has been an additional wing added with bay windows, and a verandah has been added to the frontage of the middle floor.

Is this it ? :-


Doctor Verdi's account is somewhat cutting, excuse pun, but all the indications are that Mr Hansell was attempting to flee the scene.

Edit: The house was next door to the one I (mis)identified. It had several incarnations, and the site is now occupied by the US Court of Claims, which is that red brick building to the right in my posted image.
 
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I'm not sure any blame could be attached to him either. It sounds like he was rushed by a giant, probably bloody young guy brandishing a large knife. We know now Powell already beaten off attempts to stop him by three men, one of them a soldier. Seems to be asking an awful lot of this man that he be expected to stand his ground, unarmed, untrained as a combatant inside a scene that must have been chaotic and horrifying.

Makes you wonder why Dr. Verdi would be such a jerk?
 
I have studied the assassination for years and have never given this man a second thought. Thank you so much for bringing his story to light. I’m with @JPK Huson 1863 Hansell could not have been expected to overcome Powell. Powell was an intimidating figure. A former confederate, large and powerful man. Sounding the alarm would have been a heroic enough of a deed for Mr. Hansell.
 
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum - speak only good of the dead - but in truth I can't find anything in the accounts which would justify calling him brave.
We are all wired differently. I believe the fight or flight instinct is a natural instinct. He may not have displayed bravery in confronting Powell but I’d argue there were many who would have done the same. All he knew was there was a murderer in house, not his house, not his family. Instincts kicked in. After all he didn’t have a dog in the hunt. :smile:

BTW: I love the Latin. Very cool!
 
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum - speak only good of the dead - but in truth I can't find anything in the accounts which would justify calling him brave.

The following is what indeed I do call brave. As @War Horse said, he had no dog in the fight but suffered for the rest of his life from the attack:
Although he was constantly in pain and never regained complete mobility after a period of convalescence he was able to return to work at the State Department, In 1870 his wife of 30 years passed away and in 3 years he retired from his job at 56 years of age. He was a beaten and hurting man but he was able to pick up the pieces of his life.
 
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I have studied the assassination for years and have never given this man a second thought.
I can’t imagine how frightened he must have been to hear the anguish coming from the house and then confront Powell. His brain had so much to process in such a short amount of time.

he had no dog in the fight
When you are attacked on the night the President of the United States is assassinated, the Secretary of State and members of his family and security are attacked and you are “only” there to drop off a message and head home to your family - it’s no wonder you are one of the forgotten on that night.

I would also include Clara Harris Rathbone who several years after the assassination would be murdered by Henry Rathbone the soldier that “let” the killer of Lincoln get away. Let’s not forget the man who shot John Wilkes Booth - Boston Corbett - also a victim of mental illness later in life. There was so much fall out from that tragic evening in April.

 
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