Buchanan’s driver told him he had made a mess of the presidency [The Scribbler]

It is unlikely that anyone watching Monday’s presidential inaugural will spend much time thinking about the changing of the guard back in 1861.

But it might be instructive, or at least amusing, to return for a few moments to yesteryear.

On a windy day in the late winter of 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th president of the United States, replacing Lancaster’s James Buchanan.

At noon on March 4 — inauguration day at that time —Buchanan, the outgoing Democrat, and Lincoln, the incoming Republican, rode in Buchanan’s carriage from Washington’s Willard Hotel to the Capitol, where Lincoln became president of a splintering nation.

During that ride, Buchanan reportedly turned to Lincoln and said, “My dear sir, if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.’’

That remark is fairly famous. Another comment associated with Buchanan leaving office is not so well known. The Scribbler recently encountered this anecdote in W. Frank Gorrecht’s 1933 essay on “The Charity of Thaddeus Stevens’’ in an 1833 Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society.

Buchanan left Washington by train on the day after the inaugural and arrived in Lancaster on March 6. Buchanan’s carriage driver, Pat Sherry, was the first to greet him when he stepped off the train.

Sherry, whom Gorrecht identified as a “recognized town character,’’ grasped the ex-president’s hand and exclaimed, “Mr. Buchanan, I shouted for you and I voted for you, but you made a damn bad mess of it.’’

Commented Gorrecht, “Of all the stories told about Buchanan after his return from Washington, the one in which (Sherry) figured was accepted in good humor by nearly every one, though it unquestionably hurt the former President.’’

Enthusiastic crowds lined Lancaster’s streets from the train station to Centre (Penn) Square, where speeches were made. From there, Sherry drove Buchanan to his impressive brick home at Wheatland. Again, well-wishers jammed the route.

Buchanan settled in and spent much of the last seven years of his life attempting to vindicate his presidency.

He failed. Historians consistently rate Buchanan among the worst presidents. That is largely because (choose one or both) he was passive and ineffectual as the Civil War loomed, or he actively supported the South’s desire to preserve slavery at the expense of the union of states.

Third to lie in state

It also is unlikely that anyone watching the late President Jimmy Carter’s memorial ceremony in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month thought about the 45 Americans who had been honored in that space before him.

Lancaster congressman Thaddeus Stevens was third of the 46. He followed Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln.

Stevens died Aug. 11, 1868, at his home in Washington. A cavalry regiment escorted his remains to the Capitol, where an honor guard of Black Union soldiers watched over him as he lay in state in the Rotunda.

Following a brief funeral, Stevens’ body was placed on a train and sent to Lancaster, where thousands of mourners gathered.

The body lay in state in the front parlor of Stevens’ home on South Queen Street. On Aug. 15, it was transferred to Shreiner-Concord Cemetery at Mulberry and Chestnut streets, where again an honor guard of Black soldiers stood watch during a solemn graveside service.

Jack Brubaker, retired from the LNP staff, writes “The Scribbler’’ column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.