Lincoln Page #20

Stanton, perpetually exhausted and impatient, storms down the

stairs with Welles and the chief telegraph operator, MAJOR

THOMAS ECKERT, 40, in his wake.

STANTON:

They cannot possibly maintain under

this kind of an assault. Terry's

got ten thousand men surrounding

the Goddamned fort! Why doesn't he

answer my cables?

WELLES MAJOR ECKERT

Fort Fisher is a mountain of It's the largest fort they

a building, Edwin. Twenty-two have, sir. They've been

big seacoast guns on each reinforcing it for the last

rampart - two years -

They reach the desks for the key operators. Among these,

SAMUEL BECKWITH, 25, and the key manager, DAVID HOMER BATES,

22, sit at their silent keys, waiting to receive news.

Stanton scribbles furiously on Beckwith's small notepad.

STANTON (CONT'D)

They've taken 17,000 shells since

yesterday!

WELLES STANTON:

The commander is an old goat. I want to hear that Fort

Fisher's ours and Wilmington

MAJOR ECKERT has fallen!

They said -

STANTON (CONT'D)

Send another damn cable!

Stanton thrusts the cable at Beckwith, who taps it out

immediately.

Stanton turns to a table where the large map of Wilmington

from the Cabinet meeting is laid out, heavily scribbled-on.

GUSTAVUS FOX, assistant Secretary of the Navy, and CHARLES

BENJAMIN, Stanton's clerk, are checking the marks on the map

against a stack of dispatches.

62.

STANTON (CONT'D)

The problem's their commander,

Whiting. He engineered the fortress

himself. The damned thing's his

child; he'll defend it till his

every last man is gone. He is not

thinking rationally, he's -

LINCOLN (O.C.)

(hollering!)

"Come on out, you old rat!"

Everyone's startled, and confused. They all turn to Lincoln,

who sits in Major Eckert's chair, wrapped in his shawl.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

That's what Ethan Allen called to

the commander of Fort Ticonderoga

in 1776. "Come on out, you old

rat!" `Course there were only forty-

odd redcoats at Ticonderoga. But,

but there is one Ethan Allen story

that I'm very partial to -

STANTON:

No! No, you're, you're going to

tell a story! I don't believe that

I can bear to listen to another one

of your stories right now!

Stanton stalks out, shouting down the corridor as he goes:

STANTON (CONT'D)

I need the B&O sideyard schedules

for Alexandria! I asked for them

this morning!

Lincoln pays no attention to Stanton's fulminations and

continues with his story.

LINCOLN:

It was right after the Revolution,

right after peace had been

concluded, and Ethan Allen went to

London to help our new country

conduct its business with the king.

The English sneered at how rough we

are, and rude and simple-minded and

on like that, everywhere he went,

till one day he was invited to the

townhouse of a great English lord.

Dinner was served, beverages

imbibed, time passed, as happens,

and Mr. Allen found he needed the

63.

privy. He was grateful to be

directed thence - relieved you

might say.

Everyone laughs.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

Now, Mr. Allen discovered on

entering the water closet that the

only decoration therein was a

portrait of George Washington.

Ethan Allen done what he came to do

and returned to the drawing room.

His host and the others were

disappointed when he didn't mention

Washington's portrait. And finally

His Lordship couldn't resist, and

asked Mr. Allen had he noticed it,

the picture of Washington. He had.

Well, what did he think of its

placement, did it seem

appropriately located to Mr. Allen?

Mr. Allen said it did. His host was

astounded! Appropriate? George

Washington's likeness in a water

closet? Yes, said Mr. Allen, where

it'll do good service: the whole

world knows nothing'll make an

Englishman sh*t quicker than the

sight of George Washington.

Everyone laughs.

LINCOLN (CONT'D)

I love that story.

Beckwith's and Bates's keys starts clicking. They transcribe

furiously.

There's a general rush to the operators' desks. Lincoln walks

quickly over, and is joined there by Stanton, who arrives

just as the first dispatch has been completed and is being

decoded. Stanton and Lincoln hold hands, as they've done many

times, waiting for news of the battle.

Bates hands the decoded cable to Benjamin, who reads it

quickly, then announces to the room:

CHARLES BENJAMIN

Fort Fisher is ours. We've taken

the port.

WELLES:

And Wilmington?

64.

Eckert shakes his head as Beckwith hands him the next

telegram.

MAJOR ECKERT:

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