The life of James Buchanan
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Wheatland
While a luxurious private life awaited James Buchanan at his Pennsylvania home, his last years were difficult. Rightly or wrongly, considerable blame for the Civil War fell upon Buchanan. His portrait had to be removed from the capitol building to keep vandals from damaging it, and posters captioned "Judas" depicted him with his neck in a hangman's noose.
The Republican press used attacks on him as a way to deflect responsibility for the conflict from Lincoln and others in his administration. Though Buchanan vocally supported the Union cause, many branded him an appeaser of the South and lover of slavery. Finally, the former president decided to write a book telling his side of the story called, Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion. It saw print in 1866, one year after the war ended, and the public largely ignored the book. Buchanan's book blames the Civil War on the Republican Party and the abolitionists. After the book's publication, Buchanan all but vanished from public life. He retreated inside the walls of his home and saw only close friends, and died there in June 1, 1868. He was buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wheatland has been restored and furnished as it was when Buchanan lived there. (Visit Lancaster Online for hours and more information)