Meeting Mr. Lincoln: Firsthand Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by People, Great and Small, Who Met the President

"Much has been said and written in regard to Mr. Lincoln's character for kindness," wrote John M. Bullock, who had gone to the White House to plead on behalf of his dying brother, a Confederate prisoner of war.

Before approaching the President I felt a natural diffidence, not to say awe, of the man who was Chief Executive of the nation, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, as well as the man who held the life of my brother in his hand.... The closer I approached the great man, however, the less I feared him, the higher my courage rose; and before the interview was over I was as much at ease with President Lincoln as if talking to my own father.

This is just one of over two dozen firsthand appraisals of Abraham Lincoln collected by Tennessee schoolteacher Victoria Radford. Through other people's eyes, his compassion, dignity, and respect for his fellow men are revealed, even in the midst of leading the United States through the brutal Civil War. Meeting Mr. Lincoln is a slim volume, barely over 100 pages, but a fascinating bit of history.