Historians/History

The Parallel Passages

by Philip Nobile

Mr. Nobile teaches history at the Cobble Hill School of American Studies in New York. He is the author of Intellectual Skywriting: Literary Politics & the New York Review of Books and editor of Judgment at the Smithsonian. He is a contributing editor at HNN.

In the current Weekly Standard -- in an article republished by HNN -- I accuse Simon & Schuster of knowingly plagiarizing my work in C.A. Tripp's The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, just published by its Free Press division. My accusation is unusual because publishers are usually unaware of their author's thievery prior to publication. Otherwise, the publisher would be complicit in the act. In my case, however, the publisher was fully informed. In fact, Free Press recognized that Tripp, now deceased, was guilty of massive copying. As a result, the November pub date was changed to January and the first chapter was rewritten. However, the plagiarism, now paler, is still apparent.

According to the American Historical Association, copying comes in several forms:

Plagiarism includes more subtle and perhaps more pernicious abuses than simply expropriating the exact wording of another author without attribution. Plagiarism also includes the limited borrowing, without attribution, of another person's distinctive and significant research findings, hypotheses, theories, rhetorical strategies, or interpretations....More subtle abuses include the appropriation of concepts, data, or notes all disguised in newly crafted sentences ....

Regardless of the reshuffling, my work was abused in varying degrees in ten of the first eleven paragraphs of the revised book. Since Simon & Schuster has not only failed the ethical test, but recommitted the plagiarism, am I bound by my no-litigation pledge? I did not say I would not sue if I were copied a second time. A scholar who has written about plagiarism in Lincoln studies examined the parallel passages reproduced in this article and observed that I have an indubitable case. So I'm thinking, what would Lincoln do?

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TRIPP: Virginia Woodbury Fox, the wife of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox, traveled in high sociopolitical circles and kept a detailed diary noted for its specificity and impartiality from 1856 to 1876. She was a close Lincolnconfidant, and her diary became a much quoted source found throughout Lincoln literature.

NOBILE: Such a person was Virginia Woodbury Fox, the wife of Gustavus V. Fox, Lincoln’s Assistant Secretary of State and a close confidant. Mrs. Fox’s extensive diary, a much cited record of Washington politics, society, and culture circa 1856-76 ...

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TRIPP: ...Yet one of her notes has been overlooked, until very recently. It is an entry dated November 16, 1862.: “Tish says, ‘there’s is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the President, drives with him, and when Mrs. L. Is not home, sleeps with him.’ What stuff!”

NOBILE: “[Mrs. Fox’s diary] carried a provocative entry for November 16, 1862:

... Tish says ‘ ‘theres is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the President, drives with him, and when Mrs. L. Is not home, sleeps with him.’ What stuff!”

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TRIPP: The Bucktail soldier was David V. Derickson. He was five-feet-nine-inches tall, with intense eyes, a strong nose, and thick black hair, and was from a socially prominent family from Meadville, Pennysvania ... His middle brother, George, was killed in 1854 in the Mexican War.

NOBILE: Physically, Derickson was five-feet-nine-inches tall with a husky build and a formidable face; he had deep-set eyes, a prominent nose, and a thick black beard. ... Socially, he came from a ruling-class family from Meadsville, Pennsylvania ... His middle brother, George, died in the Mexican War in 1854.

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TRIPP: Margaret Leech’s 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winningReveille in Washington 1860-1865, includes one mention of Derickson on page 303: [ Lincoln] grew to like the Bucktails, especially Company K ...

NOBILE: Margaret Leech won a Pulitzer Prize for Reveille in Washington1860-1865 ... the 1941 book remains in paperback today. On page 303 ... :[ Lincoln] grew to like the Bucktails, especially Company K ...

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TRIPP: Ms. Leech never identified this “congenial captain,” and she cryptically left the fellow almost as soon as she introduced him.

NOBILE: The soldier who caught Lincoln’s fancy was not identified by name. As soon as Leech brought him on stage, he vanished from the text.

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TRIPP: Leech’s bibliography references a rare and scholarly book that discussed Derickson in far more detail: History of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktails Brigade. Published in 1895, it was written by Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlin, immediate commanding officer to Capt. Derickson in Washington.

NOBILE: However, an 1895 book in Leech’s bibliography pointed directly to Company K. The title was History of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktails Brigade. The author was Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Chamberlin, historian of the Bucktails survivors association and Captain Derickson’s former commanding officer in Washington.

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TRIPP: Every detail about Chamberlin points to his legitimacy as an historian. As he wrote in the preface to his book: Nothing has been set down here without careful authentication ...

NOBILE: Nonetheless, Chamberlin appears to be a trustworthy historian. “Nothing has been set down here without careful authentication ...,” he stated in his preface.

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TRIPP: Chamberlin had graduated with high honors from Lewisburg College, his hometown school, in 1858 and had then gone on to graduate studies in both law and philosophy in Germany. When war came, he elected. to serve as company captain in the Pennsylvania Reserves. He was wounded twice in combat, including at Gettysburg, on July 1, 1863, which turned out to be the finish of his military career. It also left him partially disabled for the duration of his life, until 1917.

NOBILE: Brave, intelligent, and patriotic, he graduated with high honors from his hometown Lewisburg College in 1858 and pursued graduate studies in law and philosophy in Germany . When war broke out in 1861, he rushed home and served in the Pennsylvania Reserves as a company captain. He was felled twice in combat–a minor bullet wound in the left calf at the Battle of Charles City Cross Roads in Maryland on June 30, 1862 and a more [serious] shot in the shoulder at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, an injury that ended his military service and partially disabled him until his death in 1917.

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TRIPP: A sizable contingent of the Bucktail Survivors read Chamberlin’s history of the regiment. They congratulated him and even gave him an award for the quality and accuracy of the reporting.

NOBILE: Those who served in the 150 th with Chamberlin saluted his literary work. The minutes of the annual 1895 survivors’ meeting (September 21, 1895), apparently penned by Chamberlin himself, was replete with tributes

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TRIPP: According to Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865, Mrs. Lincoln left for New York and Boston on October 25, 1862. Returning on November 27. Virginia Fox’s diary entry falls within this window.

NOBILE: According to Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865, she departed to New York and Boston between October 25, 1862 and November 27. This period overlaps the date of the diary entry as well as Chamberlin’s Washington command.

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TRIPP: Derickson’s full account is a fascinating document. It goes on to discuss the events of November 1, 1862 when the Lincoln family was due to leave the Soldier’s Home and return to the White House. Company K was slated to be removed as the Presidents Guard and be assigned elsewhere.

NOBILE: Their unusual attachment was scheduled to end on November 1 when the Lincoln family departed the Soldier’s Home and resumed residence at the White House. Simultaneously, Company K was detached from the president’ guard and reassigned elsewhere.

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TRIPP: The decision to retain the Bucktails, he confirmed, was a matter strictly of the heart. “Captain Derickson’s excellent standing with the President sufficiently explains this written expression of the latter’s feeling.

NOBILE: Whatever the military politics in the background, Chamberiln contended that Lincoln’s note was penned from the heart: “Captain Derickson’s excellent standing with the President sufficiently explains this written expression of the latter’s feeling.”

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TRIPP: For whatever reason, Tarbell did not explore the Derickson-Lincoln relationship in detail. ...She described it as nothing more than another example of the president’s well known warmth and generosity toward the whole of Company K. “This kindly relation, begun with the captain, the president extended to everyman in the company.”

NOBILE: Although Tarbell was the first biographer to report Lincoln’s friendship with Derickson, she downplayed its importance and ignored many other signs of intimacy conveyed in the article. “This kindly relation, begun with the captain, the president extended to everyman in the company.”

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TRIPP: Lincoln and Derickson’s daily contact lasted nearly eight months, and the circumstances of its ending deserve attention. Derickson wanted a transfer and promotion, as well as an Army posting back home in Meadville. As he described it, Lincoln was instrumental: In the spring of 1863, Congress passed a law known as the Enrollment Act ...

NOBILE: After seven months, the President and the Captain parted ways. The bodyguard sought a transfer and promotion. Admittedly, he used his influence with Lincoln to assure himself an Army posting back to Meadville. In the spring of 1863, Congress passed a law known as the Enrollment Act ...

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TRIPP: It is apparent the Lincoln did not resent the captain’s request to leave, or at least not to let it interfere with his promise to him. Lincoln kept his word, and on April 17, 1863, after an informal inspection of Company K, together with Secretary of State William H. Seward, gave the captain what was surely welcome news. At the hour appointed ...

NOBILE: Lincoln kept his promise, suggesting that he did not begrudge the Captain’s desire to leave. On April 17, 1863, following a ceremonial inspection of Company K with Secretary of State William H. Seward, he gave the Captain the desired news. At the hour appointed ...

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TRIPP: After the war, now Major Derickson retired and took full advantage of his many excellent connections. He decided on a career in politics and public service. With a nod from President Grant, he was appointed the postmastership in Meadville in 1869, following that with a term spent as a state legislator, from 1881 to 1882. He also served as a member of the board of directors for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, simultaneously giving his time to the Meadville City Hospital, doing charity work to help the poor.

NOBILE: After the war, the well-connected veteran, who retired at the rank of Major, carved out a career in politics and public service. President Grant set him up with the postmastership of Meadville in 1869 and spent one term in the state legislature in 1881-82. While a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, he also donated his time to the Meadville City Hospital and the relief of the poor.

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TRIPP: Understandably, Derickson was exceedingly judicious about what he included, and omitted, in his hometown newspaper, never mentioning the nights he’d shared a bed with Lincolnor even the day-to-day social interaction. ... His four-thousand-word article of 1888 was much in line with a brief account of Company K included in Samuel P. Bates’s multivolume History of the Pennsyvania Voulunteers, 1861-65, published in 1870. (Not that this was surprising; Bates was from Meadville and Derickson had probably spoken about his friendship with Lincoln.)

NOBILE: Derickson, of course, was not completely confessional in his hometown paper. He skipped his night in Lincoln’s bed ... On the whole, Derickson’s recollections seem credible, as far as they went. At the least they were consistent with an earlier abbreviated account of Company K in Samuel P. Bates’s History of the Pennsylvania Voulunteers, 1861-65, published in 1870. Bates was from Meadville and Derickson probably passed along the lore of his friendship with Lincoln.

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TRIPP: For instance, at the very time Derickson was in the Bucktail Brigade and closely involved with Lincoln, he had a grown son, Charles Milton Derickson, who actually marched with his father as part of company K, after enlisting at age eighteen. The son served the president right up until the president was assassinated. But neither father nor son seemed customary in their responses to one another. What possible explanation could there be for a father who so rarely mentions or acknowledges a son who is also a comrade and soldier? And why would the son act similarly about his father, in fact, acknowledging his father even less? In a ten-page, handwritten letter to Tarbell (dated December 13, 1897, six years after the death of his father), Charles refers to “Captain Derickson” three times, with no hint of him being any relation, in fact, without the merest trace of ill-will or any kind of feelings between them.

NOBILE: Derickson’s article inexplicably omitted a family-fact–the author failed to recognize his son, Sergeant Charles Milton Derickson, who enlisted in Company K at age eighteen, marched with his father to Washington, and served the President continuously until the assassination. Why would a father erase his son, both soldier and comrade, so entirely? The same could be asked of the son who followed the same pattern. In a ten-page handwritten letter to Tarbell, dated December 15, 1897, he mentioned “Capt. Derickson”three times, without notice of paternity or endearment.

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TRIPP: Interestingly, Charles Milton Derickson, the son, also wrote about visiting Lincoln in his private quarters, in one innocuous instance: The President evidently paid very little attention to his own personal welfare ...

NOBILE: Ironically, the son also wrote about visiting Lincoln in his bedroom: The President evidently paid very little attention to his own personal welfare ...

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TRIPP: Evidently, both Lincoln and his son Tad felt some affection for the teenage sergeant and felt an ease with him: Little Tad sent for me to come to the White House ...

NOBILE: Apparently, Lincoln and his son Tad took a strong liking to the teenage Sergeant.Little Tad sent for me to come to the White House ...

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TRIPP: On April 28, 1865, Derickson bid his final good-bye when Lincoln’s funeral train made its stop in Cleveland. Carl Sandburg noted the occasion: “From Meadville, Pennsylvania, had come two hundred [men] marshalled by Captain Derickson and some of his boys who had served with Lincoln’s White House bodyguard.”

NOBILE: Derickson said his final good-bye on April 28, 1865, when Lincoln’s funeral train stopped in Cleveland. “From Meadville, Pennysylvania, had come two hundred marshalled by Captain Derickson and some of his boys who had served with Lincoln’s White House bodyguard,” wrote Carl Sandburg in the final pages of The War Years.

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TRIPP: [Ida] Tarbell had discovered a 4000-word memoir by Captain David. V. Derickson, published in the May 12, 1888, edition of the Meadville ( Pennsylvania) Tribune-Republican, titled ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BODYGUARD. The article left the distinct impression that Lincoln’s attraction to him began practically at first sight. Their first encounter at the Soldier’s Home on September 8, 1862, is described in several paragraphs by Tarbell, quoting Derickson at length, but cutting certain of his passages (restored here, in bold).

NOBILE: Among Tarbell’s valuable finds was a 4000-word, autobiographical article by Major D.V. Derickson, the former captain of Company K, published in the May 12, 1888 edition of the Meadville ( Pennsylvania) Tribune-Republican. According to Derickson’s narrative, Lincoln’s attraction began at first sight and with an abundance of flattery. Tarbell fastened on five paragraphs describing their original encounter on September 9, 1862 at the Soldier’s Home, Lincoln’s summer residence three miles north of the White House. The passages in bold were kept from readers’ eyes via ellipses in her book.

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NOBILE: Whatever the military politics in the background, Chamberiln contended that Lincoln’s note was penned from the heart: “Captain Derickson’s excellent standing with the President sufficiently explains this written expression of the latter’s feeling.”

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TRIPP: For whatever reason, Tarbell did not explore the Derickson-Lincoln relationship in detail. ...She described it as nothing more than another example of the president’s well known warmth and generosity toward the whole of Company K. “This kindly relation, begun with the captain, the president extended to everyman in the company.”

NOBILE: Although Tarbell was the first biographer to report Lincoln’s friendship with Derickson, she downplayed its importance and ignored many other signs of intimacy conveyed in the article. “This kindly relation, begun with the captain, the president extended to everyman in the company.”

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TRIPP: Lincoln and Derickson’s daily contact lasted nearly eight months, and the circumstances of its ending deserve attention. Derickson wanted a transfer and promotion, as well as an Army posting back home in Meadville. As he described it, Lincoln was instrumental: In the spring of 1863, Congress passed a law known as the Enrollment Act ...

NOBILE: After seven months, the President and the Captain parted ways. The bodyguard sought a transfer and promotion. Admittedly, he used his influence with Lincoln to assure himself an Army posting back to Meadville. In the spring of 1863, Congress passed a law known as the Enrollment Act ...

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NOBILE: Lincoln kept his promise, suggesting that he did not begrudge the Captain’s desire to leave. On April 17, 1863, following a ceremonial inspection of Company K with Secretary of State William H. Seward, he gave the Captain the desired news. At the hour appointed ...

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TRIPP: After the war, now Major Derickson retired and took full advantage of his many excellent connections. He decided on a career in politics and public service. With a nod from President Grant, he was appointed the postmastership in Meadville in 1869, following that with a term spent as a state legislator, from 1881 to 1882. He also served as a member of the board of directors for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, simultaneously giving his time to the Meadville City Hospital, doing charity work to help the poor.

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NOBILE: Derickson, of course, was not completely confessional in his hometown paper. He skipped his night in Lincoln’s bed ... On the whole, Derickson’s recollections seem credible, as far as they went. At the least they were consistent with an earlier abbreviated account of Company K in Samuel P. Bates’s History of the Pennsylvania Voulunteers, 1861-65, published in 1870. Bates was from Meadville and Derickson probably passed along the lore of his friendship with Lincoln.

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NOBILE: Ironically, the son also wrote about visiting Lincoln in his bedroom: The President evidently paid very little attention to his own personal welfare ...

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TRIPP: Evidently, both Lincoln and his son Tad felt some affection for the teenage sergeant and felt an ease with him: Little Tad sent for me to come to the White House ...

NOBILE: Apparently, Lincoln and his son Tad took a strong liking to the teenage Sergeant.Little Tad sent for me to come to the White House ...

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TRIPP: Whether the two ever saw each other again is not known. However, a letter of June 3, 1864, from Provost Marshall Derickson to his commander-in-chief, preserved in the Library of Congress, expressed Derickson’s abiding warmth: I have the honor to inform you ...

NOBILE: Whether Lincoln and Derickson ever saw each other again after May 1863 is not recorded. However, a June 3, 1864 letter from Provost Marshall Derickson to his Commander in Chief, preserved at the Library of Congress, expressed the former’s abiding warmth. I have the honor to inform you ...

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