John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's Secretary

Helen Nicolay, biographer and daughter of John Nicolay, included the secretary's comment on Cushman in her biography: "I had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte Cushman, the great actress, and a Miss Stebbins who is a sculptress. ... They sail from New York for Rome on the 17th. Charlotte Cushman is, I think, the most masculine woman I ever saw, though evidently a woman of great intellect. She is getting old and ugly" (Nicolay 81–82). There is no date given but drwing from context and archival material, they could have met, for instance, in October 1863, when Cushman was in Washington and brought Seward to Ford's new theater.