The war between the two sections of the country affected him very deeply.  It seemed to him a terrible tragedy, to which there could be no end but utter ruin for the country.  He sympathized strongly with the cause of the Union, but at the same time his heart bled at the sufferings of the people of the south.  It was one long agony to him, and only those who knew him intimately can understand how much he suffered during this unhappy period.

Mr. Moncure D. Conway gives the following reminiscence of him about this time:  “I passed a night under the same roof with him at the house of Mr. Fields, his publisher.  He seemed much dejected.  Mr. Fields had invited a little company, but, after the first arrivals, Hawthorne made his escape to his room, from which he did not emerge until the next morning at breakfast time.  He then came in with the amusing look of a naughty child, and pleaded that he had become lost the night before in Defoe’s ghost stories until it was too late to make his appearance in the company.  He must, I should think, have been contemplating some phantasmal production at that time, for I remember his asking me many questions about the ghost-beliefs of the negroes, among whom I had passed my early life.”

Besides the works already mentioned, Hawthorne was the author of “True Stories from History and Biography” and “The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls,” both published in 1851; “The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales,” published in 1852; and “Tanglewood Tales,” published in 1853, all juveniles.  At the time of his death he was engaged upon a novel which was to have been published in the “Atlantic Monthly,” but it was left incomplete.

In the spring of 1864 his friend and publisher, Mr. W.D.  Ticknor, of Boston, seeing how feeble Hawthorne had become, asked him to accompany him on an excursion, hoping that a rapid change of scene and cheerful company would benefit him.  They set out in April, and went direct to Philadelphia.  Upon arriving at the hotel, Mr. Ticknor was suddenly taken very ill, and died on the 10th of April in his friend’s arms.  Hawthorne was profoundly shocked by this melancholy occurrence, and it is said that he never fully recovered from its effects upon him.  His melancholy seemed to deepen, and though his friends exerted themselves to cheer him, he seemed to feel that his end was near.  Ex-President Pierce, hoping to rouse him from his sad thoughts, induced him to accompany him on an excursion to the White Mountains.  Upon reaching Plymouth, which they took on their route, they stopped at the Pemigewasset House for the night.  Mr. Pierce was so full of anxiety concerning his friend, who had been quieter and sadder than usual that day, that he went softly into his room in the middle of the night to look after him.  Hawthorne was lying very still, and seemed to be sleeping sweetly.  Mr. Pierce stole softly away, fearing to disturb him.  In the morning he went back to rouse his friend, and found him lying lifeless in the position he had noticed in the night.  He had been dead some hours.