The Men Who Made the Story FamousFrancis de Hayes Janvier and James Murdoch

The story of the Sleeping Sentinel would become a political spin story much as the stories of John Bradley, one of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima during WWII and more recently, the fictionalized accounts of Jessica Lynch's rescue and Pat Tillman death by friendly fire. The cost of the Civil War needed the nation's approval and romantic stories loosely woven around actual incidents made it possible to get the support needed to continue the war effort.

The newspaper accounts of Scott's pardon helped boost Lincoln's image as a benevolent leader during the beginnings of the Civil War. To dramatize the story's message, Victorian era America used a combination of melodramatic story-telling loosely woven around fact. To get the story to the people, one-person stage performances were popular entertainment and inexpensive to produce. Stand-up oratory, often called platform performances were easy to move to different venues and cost little for a struggling government, anchored by the costs of war. The platform performances of the Civil War consisted largely of poetry readings by popular elocutionists who added their own sense of drama to the prose. Elocutionists could move an entire audience to patriotic cheers and sway a policy in favor of the war effort.

Francis de Hayes Janvier at the time of the Civil War wrote many now forgotten pieces that were read at recitals, town halls, and even at battle front encampments. He penned the poem "The Sleeping Sentinel" shortly after Scott was killed. The poem was widely circulated in newspapers and became a favorite of professional elocutionists and amateur readers.

James Murdoch, a celebrated elocutionist read the poem in 1863 at the Executive Mansion and on the same day, before the Senate Chamber. Mr and Mrs Lincoln were present at both readings.

Murdoch's performances were legendary and his recitation of the poem "The Sleeping Sentinel" in his clear, musical voice caused a sensation. Janvier's poem that drew from Scott's hardscrabble Vermont farm life to the sensational pardon by the President and finally Scott's tragic end at Lee's Mill was pure dramatic entertainment for an audience trying to make sense of a severed nation.