1863 Willard’s Hotel Washington D.C. Stamped Corner Ad Cover

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Willard’s Hotel in the Civil War Era.

“American author Nathaniel Hawthorne observed in the 1860s that “the Willard Hotel more justly could be called the center of Washington than either the Capitol or the White House or the State Department.” From 1847 when the enterprising Willard brothers, Henry and Edwin, first set up as innkeepers on the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Willard has occupied a unique niche in the history of Washington and the nation.

The Willard Hotel was formally founded by Henry Willard when he leased the six buildings in 1847, combined them into a single structure, and enlarged it into a four-story hotel he renamed the Willard Hotel. Willard purchased the hotel from Ogle Tayloe in 1864.

From February 4 to February 27, 1861, the Peace Congress, featuring delegates from 21 of the 34 states, met at the Willard in a last-ditch attempt to avert the Civil War. A plaque from the Virginia Civil War Commission, located on Pennsylvania Ave. side of the hotel, commemorates this courageous effort. Later that year, upon hearing a Union regiment singing “John Brown’s Body” as they marched beneath her window, Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” while staying at the hotel in November 1861.

On February 23, 1861, amid several assassination threats, detective Allan Pinkerton smuggled Abraham Lincoln into the Willard; there Lincoln lived until his inauguration on March 4, holding meetings in the lobby and carrying on business from his room.”      (written by Stanley Turkel, CMHThe Willard InterContinental Washington).

A great story from the early Civil War period, involved the colonel of the newly established 18th U.S. Infantry;  Colonel Henry B. Carrington, while in Washington, was detailed to go to Willards’ to relay a message to the then commanding general of the Union Army Major General Henry Halleck.  It fabulous story from Mark W. Johnson’s book, That Body of Brave Men, The Regular U.S. Infantry And The Civil War In The West;

 “Some key leaders did not realize this minuscule Regular Army increase had taken place. When Major General Henry W. Halleck arrived in Washington during July 1862 to become the general-in-chief of the Union Army, he took a room at Willard’s Hotel. In the hotel lobby the next morning he noticed a colonel walking toward him. The officer’s uniform caught the general’s eye, for the garb included the distinctive regulation-issue black felt Hardee hat. The front of the hat sported a gold-embroidered bugle, indicating that the wearer was a infantry officer. A silver- embroidered “18” was also on the hat but there was no state designation. The officer approached the general and was about to speak when an angry Halleck beat him to it. “What 18th Regiment?”  “The 18th U.S. Infantry, General Halleck.” the surprised colonel replied.  Halleck’s next words became legendary among the 18th Regulars: “There is no such regiment, and when I reach the War Department you will lose those straps or go into arrest!”  

    Unbeknownst to the Union Army’s latest general-in-chief, the officer standing before him was Colonel Henry B. Carrington, commanding officer of the new 18th Regular Infantry. Carrington was a friend of the Treasury Secretary Chase and had been sent to Willard’s to arrange a meeting between Halleck and President Lincoln. “General Halleck, my commission warrants my uniform,” Carrington replied to the general’s outburst. “I sought this introduction to give instruction from the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, and the Navy, to advise you that at 10 o’clock this morning they will call to this hotel with carriages to escort you to the Soldier’s Home, there to meet President Lincoln. I have discharged my duty, sir, good morning sir. 

Certainly there were many other such gatherings between military and or political types during the war, if not for dinning, and meeting in a friendly manner,  meetings of extreme importance to the management of the country and the war.