John George Nicolay - Wikipedia
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German-American civil servant and author (1832–1901)
John George Nicolay
Nicolay (
c.
1855–1865)
2nd
Marshal of the United States Supreme Court
In office
1872–1887
Preceded by
Richard C. Parsons
Succeeded by
John M. Wright
Private Secretary to the President
In office
March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
President
Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by
James Buchanan III
Succeeded by
William A. Browning
Personal details
Born
1832-02-26
February 26, 1832
Essingen
Kingdom of Bavaria
Died
September 26, 1901
(1901-09-26)
(aged 69)
Washington, D.C.
, U.S.
Resting place
Oak Hill Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation
Newspaper editor, diplomat
John George Nicolay
(February 26, 1832 – September 26, 1901) was a German-born American author and diplomat who served as private secretary to U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln
and later, with
John Hay
, co-authored
Abraham Lincoln: A History
, a ten-volume biography of the 16th president. He was a member of the German branch of the
Nicolay family
U.S. Indian Commissioner William P. Dole seated, John G. Nicolay standing at Big Lake encampment, Sherburne County, Minnesota mid-August 1862. They were en route to make a treaty with the Chippewa on the Red River that was postponed due to the Uprising. Nicolay had been sent as Lincoln's personal representative to the Chippewa.
U.S. Chippewa treaty Commission led by William P. Dole in camp at Big Lake, Sherburne County; John G. Nicolay on horse at left, 1862.
Early life
edit
Nicolay was born Johann Georg Nicolai in
Essingen
Kingdom of Bavaria
. In 1838, he immigrated to the United States with his father and attended school in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Career
edit
Nicolay moved to Illinois, where he edited the
Pike County Free Press
at
Pittsfield, Illinois
, and he became a political power in the state. Then he became assistant to the secretary of state of Illinois. While in this position, he met
Abraham Lincoln
and became his devoted adherent.
In 1852, he was granted a U.S. patent "for improvement in printing presses".
In 1861, Lincoln appointed Nicolay as his
private secretary
, which was the first official act of his new administration. Nicolay served in this capacity until Lincoln's death in 1865. Twice Lincoln sent Nicolay to record treaties with Native Americans. In 1862 he went to
Minnesota
for a Chippewa treaty that was delayed because of the
Santee Sioux uprising
. The next year he traveled to
Colorado
for the Ute Treaty. Shortly before his
assassination
, Lincoln appointed Nicolay to a
diplomatic
post in France.
After the death of the president, Nicolay became United States
Consul
at
Paris, France
(1865–69). For some time after his return to the United States, he edited the
Chicago
Republican
He was
marshal of the United States Supreme Court
(1872–1887). In 1881, Nicolay wrote
The Outbreak of Rebellion
Nicolay and
John Hay
, who had worked with Nicolay as assistant secretary to Lincoln, collaborated on
Abraham Lincoln: A History
. It appeared in
The Century Magazine
serially from 1886 to 1890 and was issued (1890–94) in book form as 10 volumes, together with the two-volume
Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln
. The resulting
biography
is an important resource on Lincoln and his times. Nicolay and Hay also edited Lincoln's
Works
in 12 volumes published in 1905 after Nicolay’s death.
In 1912, Nicolay's daughter, Helen Nicolay (1866–1954),
published
Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln
. The book was based on envelopes of material that Nicolay had collected but been unable to use in the biography of Lincoln that he wrote with Hay. Helen Nicolay wrote in the preface to the book that the envelopes contained "miscellaneous notes, personal jottings, private letters, and newspaper clippings."
In 1949, Helen Nicolay published a biography of her father.
10
Historian
Joshua M. Zeitz
writes, "Above all, Nicolay and Hay created a master narrative whose influence would ebb and flow over the years but that continues to command serious scrutiny and engagement.... Early in the writing process, Nicolay assured
Robert Todd Lincoln
":
We hold that your father was something more than a mere make-weight in the cabinet.... We want to show that he formed a cabinet of strong and great men—rarely equaled in any historical era—and that he held, guided, controlled, curbed and dismissed not only them but other high officers civilian and military, at will, with perfect knowledge of men.
11
Nicolay was a founding member of the
Literary Society of Washington
in 1874, according to a book about the society written by his daughter Helen Nicolay. Both Nicolay and Hay were members of long standing in the society.
12
Death
edit
Grave of Nicolay in Oak Hill Cemetery
Poor health had forced Nicolay to resign as Marshal of the Supreme Court, and he suffered from a wide range of ailments in his final years. He lived with his daughter Helen Nicolay at her home at 212 B Street SE in Washington, D.C. He died at home of unspecified causes on September 26, 1901.
13
He was buried at
Oak Hill Cemetery
in the city.
14
15
In popular culture
edit
In the TV series
Carl Sandburg's Lincoln
, aired on NBC in 1974–1976, he was portrayed by
Michael Cristofer
. In the 1992 documentary
Lincoln
, the German-born Nicolay is voiced by the Austrian-born actor
Arnold Schwarzenegger
. In the 1988 NBC mini-series
Lincoln
, based on
Gore Vidal
's
Lincoln: A Novel
, Nicolay is portrayed by actor Richard Travis. In
Steven Spielberg
's 2012 film
Lincoln
, Nicolay is portrayed by
Jeremy Strong
. In the 2017 documentary film
The Gettysburg Address
, Nicolay is portrayed by actor
William Fichtner
Works
edit
Nicolay, John George; Hay, John (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume I
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume II
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume III
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume IV
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume V
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume VI
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume VII
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume VIII
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume IX
. New York : The Century Co.
—— (1914).
Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume X
. New York : The Century Co.
Campaigns of the Civil War
, Volume 1:
The Outbreak of Rebellion
(originally published in 1881)
References
edit
Nicolay: A Preliminary Study of the Descendants of John Jacob Nicolay
by Kay Frances Sellers, with annotations by Sharon Weaver Vitter (1945).
Gilman, D. C.
; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905).
"Nicolay, John George"
New International Encyclopedia
(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
"List of Patents"
New York Daily Times
. October 13, 1852. p. 3
. Retrieved
January 29,
2026
– via
Newspapers.com
Doris Kearns Goodwin
(2005).
Team of Rivals
: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
, p. 705.
Wilson, J. G.
Fiske, J.
, eds. (1900).
"Nicolay, John George"
Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
. New York: D. Appleton.
Nicolay, John G.,
The Outbreak of Rebellion
, Introduction by
Mark E. Neely, Jr.
, New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.
Helen Nicolay: Daughter, Author, Artist
Lincoln's Secretary's Secretary
Helen Nicolay (1913).
Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln
, New York: The Century Co., "Preface", p. 2 (unnumbered).
Helen Nicolay (1949).
Lincoln's Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay
. Longmans, Green and Co.
Joshua Zeitz (2014).
Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image
. Penguin. p. 280.
ISBN
9780143126034
Nicolay and Hay are listed in the directory of members of the society in Helen Nicolay's
Sixty Years of the Literary Society
, Washington, D.C., 1934. Library of Congress call number PN22.L53 N5.
Google Books
"Death of John G. Nicolay"
The Washington Times
. September 27, 1901. p. 2
. Retrieved
March 17,
2015
– via
Newspapers.com
Keller 1999
, p. 75.
"Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Van Ness) - Lot 273 East"
(PDF)
oakhillcemeterydc.org
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on March 2, 2022
. Retrieved
October 25,
2022
Further reading
edit
Burlingame, Michael
, ed. (2000).
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865
. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN
978-0809326839
Burlingame, Michael, ed. (2007).
Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay
. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN
978-0809338634
Carden, Allen; Ebert, Thomas J. (2019).
John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln's Shadow
. University of Tennessee.
ISBN
9781621904984
Keller, Marisa (Spring–Summer 1999). "Oak Hill Cemetery Marks 150th Anniversary".
Washington History
75–
76.
Nicolay, Helen (1949).
Lincoln's Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay
. Longmans, Green and Co.
Review
by
J. G. Randall
, who calls Helen Nicolay "a well-known Lincoln scholar in her own right".
Zeitz, Joshua (2014).
Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image
. Penguin.
ISBN
9780143126034
Zeitz, Joshua (February 2014).
"The History of How We Came to Revere Abraham Lincoln"
Smithsonian
44
(10).
External links
edit
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John George Nicolay
Wikisource
has original works by or about:
John George Nicolay
Works by Helen Nicolay
at
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Works by John George Nicolay
at
Project Gutenberg
Works by or about John George Nicolay
at the
Internet Archive
Works by or about Helen Nicolay
at the
Internet Archive
Works by John George Nicolay
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
Mr. Lincoln's White House: John G. Nicolay
Truman Praises "Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln" by John G. Nicolay and John Hay
Archived
2014-06-10 at the
Wayback Machine
Shapell Manuscript Foundation
Mr. Lincoln and Friends: John G. Nicolay
Archived
2004-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine
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Categories
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