Frances Adeline "Fanny" Seward

Fanny Seward
Fanny and William Seward, c. 1861
Born	Frances Adeline Seward December 9, 1844 Auburn, NY
Died	October 29, 1866(1866-10-29) (aged 21) Washington D.C.
Resting place	Fort Hill Cemetery
Residence	William H. Seward House
Parent(s)	William H. Seward Frances Adeline Miller

Frances Adeline "Fanny" Seward (December 9, 1844 – October 29, 1866) was the daughter of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward and his wife Frances Adeline Miller. The last of five children born to the Sewards, she was their only daughter to survive to adulthood.

Frances Seward was born in Auburn, New York on December 9, 1844. Her father was a prominent Whig who had served as Governor of New York, and would later become a United States Senator, join the Republican Party, and serve as Secretary of State under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. She was named for her mother, who was the daughter of a judge, and a stalwart abolitionist.

Fanny received a progressive education and upbringing, and aspired to be a writer. Her mother was frequently ill and ill-disposed to travel and socializing, and chose to remain at home in Auburn while her husband served in the Senate and the cabinet. When her father began his term as Secretary of State in 1861, Fanny, then sixteen, resided with him in Washington, D.C. and became his closest domestic companion.

Recognized as sensitive and precocious, she demonstrated her desire for a literary career by authoring both fiction and poetry. She is best known for keeping a voluminous diary throughout the course of the Civil War, which documented with intimate detail the social and political milieu of Washington during the Lincoln administration.

On the night of April 14, 1865, Lewis Powell, an associate and co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth, attempted to assassinate Seward at his Washington D.C. home. Powell's attack on Seward was coordinated with Booth's attack on President Abraham Lincoln and George Atzerodt's aborted attack on Vice President Andrew Johnson in order to maximize the element of surprise and to sever the continuity of the United States government. Another member of the conspiracy, David Herold, led Powell to the Seward home on horseback and was responsible for holding Powell's horse while he committed the attack as well as guiding him out of the city during their escape. Powell was able to gain access to the Seward home by telling the butler that he was delivering medicine for Seward, who had been badly injured nine days earlier in a carriage accident.