Noah Brooks (October 24, 1830 – August 16, 1903) was an American journalist and editor who worked for newspapers in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, Newark, and New York. He is known for authoring a major biography of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

based on close personal observation.

Career

Born in

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...

, he moved to Dixon, Illinois in 1856, where he became involved in John C. Frémont's campaign for president. During the campaign, he became friends with

. Brooks moved to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

in 1857 as a "free state" settler, but returned to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

about a year later, then moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1859. After the death of his wife in 1862, Brooks moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to cover the Lincoln administration for the ''Sacramento Daily Union''. He was accepted into the Lincoln household as an old friend. Unlike most people, Brooks was able to maintain a close friendship with both the President and Mrs. Lincoln. When Brooks was detailed to cover the 1864 Democratic Convention in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, President Lincoln asked Brooks to also report back in detail by private letter. In 1884, Brooks wrote the first novel exclusively about baseball:Grobani, Anton. Guide to Baseball Literature (Gale Research Company, 1975 ) ''Our Base Ball Club and How It Won the Championship'' (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1884). Brooks' 258 Washington dispatches for the ''Sacramento Daily Union'' were published under the name "Castine." In 1895, Brooks published his biography of Lincoln, ''Washington in Lincoln's Time'', based on his Castine articles, as well as personal observations and interviews. The book is now considered an indispensable source of information on the Lincoln

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. In 1901, Brooks published ''The Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition'' based largely on the

Nicholas Biddle Nicholas Biddle (January 8, 1786February 27, 1844) was an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States (chartered 1816–1836). Throughout his life Biddle worked as an editor, diplomat, au ...

history of

the Expedition ''The Expedition'' is the live album by the American metal band Kamelot, released in October 2000 through Noise Records. The last three tracks are rare studio recordings: "We Three Kings" (instrumental) and "One Day" are additional material fro ...

. Brooks was assisted by the notes written in the margins of his manuscript by Dr.

Elliott Coues Elliott Ladd Coues (; September 9, 1842 – December 25, 1899) was an American army surgeon, historian, ornithologist, and author. He led surveys of the Arizona Territory, and later as secretary of the United States Geological and Geographic ...

, who had edited the 1894 edition of Biddle, and who had wide experience as an explorer of the American West. In the 2017 documentary film ''The Gettysburg Address'', Brooks is portrayed by actor Jason Alexander.

Notes

External links

* *
''Washington in Lincoln's Time''
from the Internet Archives' American Libraries.
Mr. Lincoln's White House on Noah Brooks
An article backed by th

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Noah 1830 births 1903 deaths American newspaper editors American biographers American male biographers People from Castine, Maine People from Dixon, Illinois Historians from Illinois

Career

Notes

Further reading

External links