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turning to page one
The telegraph office looks improvised, even after four years. Formerly the War Department library, it's lined with bookcases stuffed with bundled dispatches. Telegraph cables stretch across the ceiling to the cipher-operators' desks.
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, sit at their silent keys, waiting to receive news. Stanton scribbles furiously on Beckwith's small notepad.
STANTON
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
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
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
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 shit 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?
Eckert shakes his head as Beckwith hands him the next telegram.
MAJOR ECKERT
We've taken the fort, but the city
of Wilmington has not surrendered.
A beat as this sinks in. Then:
STANTON
How many casualties?
Eckert looks up at Stanton and Lincoln, stricken.