"Abe" Lincoln's Yarns And Stories - free ebook by Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly) McClure

Read as playlist

"Abe" Lincoln's Yarns And Stories

Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly) McClure

579 chapters

19 hour read

Read as playlist

Selected Chapters

579 chapters

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY CHICAGO & PHILADELPHIA

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY CHICAGO & PHILADELPHIA

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the Great Story Telling President, whose Emancipation Proclamation freed more than four million slaves, was a keen politician, profound statesman, shrewd diplomatist, a thorough judge of men and possessed of an intuitive knowledge of affairs. He was the first Chief Executive to die at the hands of an assassin. Without school education he rose to power by sheer merit and will-power. Born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, his surroundings being squalid, his chances for advancement

52 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE.

PREFACE.

Dean Swift said that the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before serves well of his kind. Considering how much grass there is in the world and comparatively how little fun, we think that a still more deserving person is the man who makes many laughs grow where none grew before. Sometimes it happens that the biggest crop of laugh is produced by a man who ranks among the greatest and wisest. Such a man was Abraham Lincoln whose wholesome fun mixed with true philosophy made tho

24 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S NAME AROUSES AN AUDIENCE, BY DR. NEWMAN HALL, of London.

LINCOLN’S NAME AROUSES AN AUDIENCE, BY DR. NEWMAN HALL, of London.

When I have had to address a fagged and listless audience, I have found that nothing was so certain to arouse them as to introduce the name of Abraham Lincoln. REVERE WASHINGTON AND LOVE LINCOLN, REV. DR. THEODORE L. CUYLER. No other name has such electric power on every true heart, from Maine to Mexico, as the name of Lincoln. If Washington is the most revered, Lincoln is the best loved man that ever trod this continent. GREATEST CHARACTER SINCE CHRIST BY JOHN HAY, Former Private Secretary to P

5 minute read

Read Chapter

(From Harper’s Weekly, April 13, 1901.)

(From Harper’s Weekly, April 13, 1901.)

Colonel Alexander K. McClure, the editorial director of the Philadelphia Times, which he founded in 1875, began his forceful career as a tanner’s apprentice in the mountains of Pennsylvania threescore years ago. He tanned hides all day, and read exchanges nights in the neighboring weekly newspaper office. The learned tanner’s boy also became the aptest Inner in the county, and the editor testified his admiration for young McClure’s attainments by sending him to edit a new weekly paper which the

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN ASKED TO BE SHOT.

LINCOLN ASKED TO BE SHOT.

Lincoln was, naturally enough, much surprised one day, when a man of rather forbidding countenance drew a revolver and thrust the weapon almost into his face. In such circumstances “Abe” at once concluded that any attempt at debate or argument was a waste of time and words. “What seems to be the matter?” inquired Lincoln with all the calmness and self-possession he could muster. “Well,” replied the stranger, who did not appear at all excited, “some years ago I swore an oath that if I ever came a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TIME LOST DIDN’T COUNT.

TIME LOST DIDN’T COUNT.

Thurlow Weed, the veteran journalist and politician, once related how, when he was opposing the claims of Montgomery Blair, who aspired to a Cabinet appointment, that Mr. Lincoln inquired of Mr. Weed whom he would recommend, “Henry Winter Davis,” was the response. “David Davis, I see, has been posting you up on this question,” retorted Lincoln. “He has Davis on the brain. I think Maryland must be a good State to move from.” The President then told a story of a witness in court in a neighboring c

1 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln always took great pleasure in relating this yarn:

Lincoln always took great pleasure in relating this yarn:

Riding at one time in a stage with an old Kentuckian who was returning from Missouri, Lincoln excited the old gentleman’s surprise by refusing to accept either of tobacco or French brandy. When they separated that afternoon—the Kentuckian to take another stage bound for Louisville—he shook hands warmly with Lincoln, and said, good-humoredly: “See here, stranger, you’re a clever but strange companion. I may never see you again, and I don’t want to offend you, but I want to say this: My experience

56 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S DUES.

LINCOLN’S DUES.

Miss Todd (afterwards Mrs. Lincoln) had a keen sense of the ridiculous, and wrote several articles in the Springfield (Ill.) “Journal” reflecting severely upon General James Shields (who won fame in the Mexican and Civil Wars, and was United States Senator from three states), then Auditor of State. Lincoln assumed the authorship, and was challenged by Shields to meet him on the “field of honor.” Meanwhile Miss Todd increased Shields’ ire by writing another letter to the paper, in which she said:

2 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln never told a better story than this:

Lincoln never told a better story than this:

A country meeting-house, that was used once a month, was quite a distance from any other house. The preacher, an old-line Baptist, was dressed in coarse linen pantaloons, and shirt of the same material. The pants, manufactured after the old fashion, with baggy legs, and a flap in the front, were made to attach to his frame without the aid of suspenders. A single button held his shirt in position, and that was at the collar. He rose up in the pulpit, and with a loud voice announced his text thus:

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE.

HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE.

Once, when Lincoln was pleading a case, the opposing lawyer had all the advantage of the law; the weather was warm, and his opponent, as was admissible in frontier courts, pulled off his coat and vest as he grew warm in the argument. At that time, shirts with buttons behind were unusual. Lincoln took in the situation at once. Knowing the prejudices of the primitive people against pretension of all sorts, or any affectation of superior social rank, arising, he said: “Gentlemen of the jury, having

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A MISCHIEVOUS OX.

A MISCHIEVOUS OX.

President Lincoln once told the following story of Colonel W., who had been elected to the Legislature, and had also been judge of the County Court. His elevation, however, had made him somewhat pompous, and he became very fond of using big words. On his farm he had a very large and mischievous ox, called “Big Brindle,” which very frequently broke down his neighbors’ fences, and committed other depredations, much to the Colonel’s annoyance. One morning after breakfast, in the presence of Lincoln

3 minute read

Read Chapter

THE PRESIDENTIAL “CHIN-FLY.”

THE PRESIDENTIAL “CHIN-FLY.”

Some of Mr. Lincoln’s intimate friends once called his attention to a certain member of his Cabinet who was quietly working to secure a nomination for the Presidency, although knowing that Mr. Lincoln was to be a candidate for re-election. His friends insisted that the Cabinet officer ought to be made to give up his Presidential aspirations or be removed from office. The situation reminded Mr. Lincoln of a story: “My brother and I,” he said, “were once plowing corn, I driving the horse and he ho

1 minute read

Read Chapter

‘SQUIRE BAGLY’S PRECEDENT.

‘SQUIRE BAGLY’S PRECEDENT.

Mr. T. W. S. Kidd, of Springfield, says that he once heard a lawyer opposed to Lincoln trying to convince a jury that precedent was superior to law, and that custom made things legal in all cases. When Lincoln arose to answer him he told the jury he would argue his case in the same way. “Old ‘Squire Bagly, from Menard, came into my office and said, ‘Lincoln, I want your advice as a lawyer. Has a man what’s been elected justice of the peace a right to issue a marriage license?’ I told him he had

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HE’D NEED HIS GUN.

HE’D NEED HIS GUN.

When the President, early in the War, was anxious about the defenses of Washington, he told a story illustrating his feelings in the case. General Scott, then Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, had but 1,500 men, two guns and an old sloop of war, the latter anchored in the Potomac, with which to protect the National Capital, and the President was uneasy. To one of his queries as to the safety of Washington, General Scott had replied, “It has been ordained, Mr. President, that the city

3 minute read

Read Chapter

KEPT UP THE ARGUMENT.

KEPT UP THE ARGUMENT.

Judge T. Lyle Dickey of Illinois related that when the excitement over the Kansas Nebraska bill first broke out, he was with Lincoln and several friends attending court. One evening several persons, including himself and Lincoln, were discussing the slavery question. Judge Dickey contended that slavery was an institution which the Constitution recognized, and which could not be disturbed. Lincoln argued that ultimately slavery must become extinct. “After awhile,” said Judge Dickey, “we went upst

1 minute read

Read Chapter

EQUINE INGRATITUDE.

EQUINE INGRATITUDE.

President Lincoln, while eager that the United States troops should be supplied with the most modern and serviceable weapons, often took occasion to put his foot down upon the mania for experimenting with which some of his generals were afflicted. While engaged in these experiments much valuable time was wasted, the enemy was left to do as he thought best, no battles were fought, and opportunities for winning victories allowed to pass. The President was an exceedingly practical man, and when an

3 minute read

Read Chapter

‘TWAS “MOVING DAY.”

‘TWAS “MOVING DAY.”

Speed, who was a prosperous young merchant of Springfield, reports that Lincoln’s personal effects consisted of a pair of saddle-bags, containing two or three lawbooks, and a few pieces of clothing. Riding on a borrowed horse, he thus made his appearance in Springfield. When he discovered that a single bedstead would cost seventeen dollars he said, “It is probably cheap enough, but I have not enough money to pay for it.” When Speed offered to trust him, he said: “If I fail here as a lawyer, I wi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” HAIR NEEDED COMBING.

“ABE’S” HAIR NEEDED COMBING.

“By the way,” remarked President Lincoln one day to Colonel Cannon, a close personal friend, “I can tell you a good story about my hair. When I was nominated at Chicago, an enterprising fellow thought that a great many people would like to see how ‘Abe’ Lincoln looked, and, as I had not long before sat for a photograph, the fellow, having seen it, rushed over and bought the negative. “He at once got no end of wood-cuts, and so active was their circulation they were soon selling in all parts of t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULD “TAKE TO THE WOODS.”

WOULD “TAKE TO THE WOODS.”

Secretary of State Seward was bothered considerably regarding the complication into which Spain had involved the United States government in connection with San Domingo, and related his troubles to the President. Negotiations were not proceeding satisfactorily, and things were mixed generally. We wished to conciliate Spain, while the negroes had appealed against Spanish oppression. The President did not, to all appearances, look at the matter seriously, but, instead of treating the situation as

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN CARRIED HER TRUNK.

LINCOLN CARRIED HER TRUNK.

“My first strong impression of Mr. Lincoln,” says a lady of Springfield, “was made by one of his kind deeds. I was going with a little friend for my first trip alone on the railroad cars. It was an epoch of my life. I had planned for it and dreamed of it for weeks. The day I was to go came, but as the hour of the train approached, the hackman, through some neglect, failed to call for my trunk. As the minutes went on, I realized, in a panic of grief, that I should miss the train. I was standing b

2 minute read

Read Chapter

BOAT HAD TO STOP.

BOAT HAD TO STOP.

Lincoln never failed to take part in all political campaigns in Illinois, as his reputation as a speaker caused his services to be in great demand. As was natural, he was often the target at which many of the “Smart Alecks” of that period shot their feeble bolts, but Lincoln was so ready with his answers that few of them cared to engage him a second time. In one campaign Lincoln was frequently annoyed by a young man who entertained the idea that he was a born orator. He had a loud voice, was ful

2 minute read

Read Chapter

MCCLELLAN’S “SPECIAL TALENT.”

MCCLELLAN’S “SPECIAL TALENT.”

President Lincoln one day remarked to a number of personal friends who had called upon him at the White House: “General McClellan’s tardiness and unwillingness to fight the enemy or follow up advantages gained, reminds me of a man back in Illinois who knew a few law phrases but whose lawyer lacked aggressiveness. The man finally lost all patience and springing to his feet vociferated, ‘Why don’t you go at him with a fi. fa., a demurrer, a capias, a surrebutter, or a ne exeat, or something; or a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW “JAKE” GOT AWAY.

HOW “JAKE” GOT AWAY.

One of the last, if not the very last story told by President Lincoln, was to one of his Cabinet who came to see him, to ask if it would be proper to permit “Jake” Thompson to slip through Maine in disguise and embark for Portland. The President, as usual, was disposed to be merciful, and to permit the arch-rebel to pass unmolested, but Secretary Stanton urged that he should be arrested as a traitor. “By permitting him to escape the penalties of treason,” persisted the War Secretary, “you sancti

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MORE LIGHT AND LESS NOISE.

MORE LIGHT AND LESS NOISE.

The President was bothered to death by those persons who boisterously demanded that the War be pushed vigorously; also, those who shouted their advice and opinions into his weary ears, but who never suggested anything practical. These fellows were not in the army, nor did they ever take any interest, in a personal way, in military matters, except when engaged in dodging drafts. “That reminds me,” remarked Mr. Lincoln one day, “of a farmer who lost his way on the Western frontier. Night came on,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

ONE BULLET AND A HATFUL.

ONE BULLET AND A HATFUL.

Lincoln made the best of everything, and if he couldn’t get what he wanted he took what he could get. In matters of policy, while President he acted according to this rule. He would take perilous chances, even when the result was, to the minds of his friends, not worth the risk he had run. One day at a meeting of the Cabinet, it being at the time when it seemed as though war with England and France could not be avoided, Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of War Stanton warmly advocated that

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S STORY TO PEACE COMMISSIONERS.

LINCOLN’S STORY TO PEACE COMMISSIONERS.

Among the reminiscences of Lincoln left by Editor Henry J. Raymond, is the following: Among the stories told by Lincoln, which is freshest in my mind, one which he related to me shortly after its occurrence, belongs to the history of the famous interview on board the River Queen, at Hampton Roads, between himself and Secretary Seward and the rebel Peace Commissioners. It was reported at the time that the President told a “little story” on that occasion, and the inquiry went around among the news

4 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” GOT THE WORST OF IT.

“ABE” GOT THE WORST OF IT.

When Lincoln was a young lawyer in Illinois, he and a certain Judge once got to bantering one another about trading horses; and it was agreed that the next morning at nine o’clock they should make a trade, the horses to be unseen up to that hour, and no backing out, under a forfeiture of $25. At the hour appointed, the Judge came up, leading the sorriest-looking specimen of a horse ever seen in those parts. In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln was seen approaching with a wooden saw-horse upon his should

1 minute read

Read Chapter

IT DEPENDED UPON HIS CONDITION.

IT DEPENDED UPON HIS CONDITION.

The President had made arrangements to visit New York, and was told that President Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, would be glad to furnish a special train. “I don’t doubt it a bit,” remarked the President, “for I know Mr. Garrett, and like him very well, and if I believed—which I don’t, by any means—all the things some people say about his ‘secesh’ principles, he might say to you as was said by the Superintendent of a certain railroad to a son of one my predecessors in office. Some

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“GOT DOWN TO THE RAISINS.”

“GOT DOWN TO THE RAISINS.”

A. B. Chandler, chief of the telegraph office at the War Department, occupied three rooms, one of which was called “the President’s room,” so much of his time did Mr. Lincoln spend there. Here he would read over the telegrams received for the several heads of departments. Three copies of all messages received were made—one for the President, one for the War Department records and one for Secretary Stanton. Mr. Chandler told a story as to the manner in which the President read the despatches: “Pr

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“HONEST ABE” SWALLOWS HIS ENEMIES.

“HONEST ABE” SWALLOWS HIS ENEMIES.

“‘Honest Abe’ Taking Them on the Half-Shell” was one of the cartoons published in 1860 by one of the illustrated periodicals. As may be seen, it represents Lincoln in a “Political Oyster House,” preparing to swallow two of his Democratic opponents for the Presidency—Douglas and Breckinridge. He performed the feat at the November election. The Democratic party was hopelessly split in 1860 The Northern wing nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, as their candidate, the Southern wing naming Joh

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SAVING HIS WIND.

SAVING HIS WIND.

Judge H. W. Beckwith of Danville, Ill., said that soon after the Ottawa debate between Lincoln and Douglas he passed the Chenery House, then the principal hotel in Springfield. The lobby was crowded with partisan leaders from various sections of the state, and Mr. Lincoln, from his greater height, was seen above the surging mass that clung about him like a swarm of bees to their ruler. The day was warm, and at the first chance he broke away and came out for a little fresh air, wiping the sweat f

2 minute read

Read Chapter

RIGHT FOR, ONCE, ANYHOW.

RIGHT FOR, ONCE, ANYHOW.

Where men bred in courts, accustomed to the world, or versed in diplomacy, would use some subterfuge, or would make a polite speech, or give a shrug of the shoulders, as the means of getting out of an embarrassing position, Lincoln raised a laugh by some bold west-country anecdote, and moved off in the cloud of merriment produced by the joke. When Attorney-General Bates was remonstrating apparently against the appointment of some indifferent lawyer to a place of judicial importance, the Presiden

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“PITY THE POOR ORPHAN.”

“PITY THE POOR ORPHAN.”

After the War was well on, and several battles had been fought, a lady from Alexandria asked the President for an order to release a certain church which had been taken for a Federal hospital. The President said he could do nothing, as the post surgeon at Alexandria was immovable, and then asked the lady why she did not donate money to build a hospital. “We have been very much embarrassed by the war,” she replied, “and our estates are much hampered.” “You are not ruined?” asked the President. “N

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“BAP.” McNABB’S BOOSTER.

“BAP.” McNABB’S BOOSTER.

It is true that Lincoln did not drink, never swore, was a stranger to smoking and lived a moral life generally, but he did like horse-racing and chicken fighting. New Salem, Illinois, where Lincoln was “clerking,” was known the neighborhood around as a “fast” town, and the average young man made no very desperate resistance when tempted to join in the drinking and gambling bouts. “Bap.” McNabb was famous for his ability in both the raising and the purchase of roosters of prime fighting quality,

3 minute read

Read Chapter

A LOW-DOWN TRICK.

A LOW-DOWN TRICK.

When Lincoln was a candidate of the Know Nothings for the State Legislature, the party was over-confident, and the Democrats pursued a still-hunt. Lincoln was defeated. He compared the situation to one of the camp-followers of General Taylor’s army, who had secured a barrel of cider, erected a tent, and commenced selling it to the thirsty soldiers at twenty-five cents a drink, but he had sold but little before another sharp one set up a tent at his back, and tapped the barrel so as to flow on hi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

END FOR END.

END FOR END.

Judge H. W. Beckwith, of Danville, Ill., in his “Personal Recollections of Lincoln,” tells a story which is a good example of Lincoln’s way of condensing the law and the facts of an issue in a story: “A man, by vile words, first provoked and then made a bodily attack upon another. The latter, in defending himself, gave the other much the worst of the encounter. The aggressor, to get even, had the one who thrashed him tried in our Circuit Court on a charge of an assault and battery. Mr. Lincoln d

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LET SIX SKUNKS GO.

LET SIX SKUNKS GO.

The President had decided to select a new War Minister, and the Leading Republican Senators thought the occasion was opportune to change the whole seven Cabinet ministers. They, therefore, earnestly advised him to make a clean sweep, and select seven new men, and so restore the waning confidence of the country. The President listened with patient courtesy, and when the Senators had concluded, he said, with a characteristic gleam of humor in his eye: “Gentlemen, your request for a change of the w

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW HE GOT BLACKSTONE.

HOW HE GOT BLACKSTONE.

The following story was told by Mr. Lincoln to Mr. A. J. Conant, the artist, who painted his portrait in Springfield in 1860: “One day a man who was migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon which contained his family and household plunder. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no room in his wagon, and which he said contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. Without

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A JOB FOR THE NEW CABINETMAKER.

A JOB FOR THE NEW CABINETMAKER.

This cartoon, labeled “A Job for the New Cabinetmaker,” was printed in “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” on February 2d, 1861, a month and two days before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States. The Southern states had seceded from the Union, the Confederacy was established, with Jefferson Davis as its President, the Union had been split in two, and the task Lincoln had before him was to glue the two parts of the Republic together. In his famous speech, delivered a s

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“I CAN STAND IT IF THEY CAN.”

“I CAN STAND IT IF THEY CAN.”

United States Senator Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, and Wendell Phillips were strongly opposed to President Lincoln’s re-election, and Wade and Davis issued a manifesto. Phillips made several warm speeches against Lincoln and his policy. When asked if he had read the manifesto or any of Phillips’ speeches, the President replied: “I have not seen them, nor do I care to see them. I have seen enough to satisfy me that I am a failure, not only in the opinion of the people

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN MISTAKEN FOR ONCE.

LINCOLN MISTAKEN FOR ONCE.

President Lincoln was compelled to acknowledge that he made at least one mistake in “sizing up” men. One day a very dignified man called at the White House, and Lincoln’s heart fell when his visitor approached. The latter was portly, his face was full of apparent anxiety, and Lincoln was willing to wager a year’s salary that he represented some Society for the Easy and Speedy Repression of Rebellions. The caller talked fluently, but at no time did he give advice or suggest a way to put down the

3 minute read

Read Chapter

FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW.

FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW.

President Lincoln, while entertaining a few friends, is said to have related the following anecdote of a man who knew too much: During the administration of President Jackson there was a singular young gentleman employed in the Public Postoffice in Washington. His name was G.; he was from Tennessee, the son of a widow, a neighbor of the President, on which account the old hero had a kind feeling for him, and always got him out of difficulties with some of the higher officials, to whom his singul

4 minute read

Read Chapter

HE LOVED A GOOD STORY.

HE LOVED A GOOD STORY.

Judge Breese, of the Supreme bench, one of the most distinguished of American jurists, and a man of great personal dignity, was about to open court at Springfield, when Lincoln called out in his hearty way: “Hold on, Breese! Don’t open court yet! Here’s Bob Blackwell just going to tell a story!” The judge passed on without replying, evidently regarding it as beneath the dignity of the Supreme Court to delay proceedings for the sake of a story....

41 minute read

Read Chapter

HEELS RAN AWAY WITH THEM.

HEELS RAN AWAY WITH THEM.

In an argument against the opposite political party at one time during a campaign, Lincoln said: “My opponent uses a figurative expression to the effect that ‘the Democrats are vulnerable in the heel, but they are sound in the heart and head.’ The first branch of the figure—that is the Democrats are vulnerable in the heel—I admit is not merely figuratively but literally true. Who that looks but for a moment at their hundreds of officials scampering away with the public money to Texas, to Europe,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WANTED TO BURN HIM DOWN TO THE STUMP.

WANTED TO BURN HIM DOWN TO THE STUMP.

Preston King once introduced A. J. Bleeker to the President, and the latter, being an applicant for office, was about to hand Mr. Lincoln his vouchers, when he was asked to read them. Bleeker had not read very far when the President disconcerted him by the exclamation, “Stop a minute! You remind me exactly of the man who killed the dog; in fact, you are just like him.” “In what respect?” asked Bleeker, not feeling he had received a compliment. “Well,” replied the President, “this man had made up

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HAD A “KICK” COMING.

HAD A “KICK” COMING.

During the war, one of the Northern Governors, who was able, earnest and untiring in aiding the administration, but always complaining, sent dispatch after dispatch to the War Office, protesting against the methods used in raising troops. After reading all his papers, the President said, in a cheerful and reassuring tone to the Adjutant-General: “Never mind, never mind; those dispatches don’t mean anything. Just go right ahead. The Governor is like a boy I once saw at a launching. When everythin

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CASE OF BETSY ANN DOUGHERTY.

THE CASE OF BETSY ANN DOUGHERTY.

Many requests and petitions made to Mr. Lincoln when he was President were ludicrous and trifling, but he always entered into them with that humor-loving spirit that was such a relief from the grave duties of his great office. Once a party of Southerners called on him in behalf of one Betsy Ann Dougherty. The spokesman, who was an ex-Governor, said: “Mr. President, Betsy Ann Dougherty is a good woman. She lived in my county and did my washing for a long time. Her husband went off and joined the

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HAD TO WEAR A WOODEN SWORD.

HAD TO WEAR A WOODEN SWORD.

Captain “Abe” Lincoln and his company (in the Black Hawk War) were without any sort of military knowledge, and both were forced to acquire such knowledge by attempts at drilling. Which was the more awkward, the “squad” or the commander, it would have been difficult to decide. In one of Lincoln’s earliest military problems was involved the process of getting his company “endwise” through a gate. Finally he shouted, “This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will fall in again on the othe

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” STIRRING THE “BLACK” COALS.

“ABE” STIRRING THE “BLACK” COALS.

Under the caption, “The American Difficulty,” “Punch” printed on May 11th, 1861, the cartoon reproduced here. The following text was placed beneath the illustration: PRESIDENT ABE: “What a nice White House this would be, if it were not for the blacks!” It was the idea in England, and, in fact, in all the countries on the European continent, that the War of the Rebellion was fought to secure the freedom of the negro slaves. Such was not the case. The freedom of the slaves was one of the necessary

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GETTING RID OF AN ELEPHANT.

GETTING RID OF AN ELEPHANT.

Charles A. Dana, who was Assistant Secretary of War under Mr. Stanton, relates the following: A certain Thompson had been giving the government considerable trouble. Dana received information that Thompson was about to escape to Liverpool. Calling upon Stanton, Dana was referred to Mr. Lincoln. “The President was at the White House, business hours were over, Lincoln was washing his hands. ‘Hallo, Dana,’ said he, as I opened the door, ‘what is it now?’ ‘Well, sir,’ I said, ‘here is the Provost Ma

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GROTESQUE, YET FRIGHTFUL.

GROTESQUE, YET FRIGHTFUL.

The nearest Lincoln ever came to a fight was when he was in the vicinity of the skirmish at Kellogg’s Grove, in the Black Hawk War. The rangers arrived at the spot after the engagement and helped bury the five men who were killed. Lincoln told Noah Brooks, one of his biographers, that he “remembered just how those men looked as we rode up the little hill where their camp was. The red light of the morning sun was streaming upon them as they lay, heads toward us, on the ground. And every man had a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” WAS NO DUDE.

“ABE” WAS NO DUDE.

Always indifferent in matters of dress, Lincoln cut but small figure in social circles, even in the earliest days of Illinois. His trousers were too short, his hat too small, and, as a rule, the buttons on the back of his coat were nearer his shoulder blades than his waist. No man was richer than his fellows, and there was no aristocracy; the women wore linsey-woolsey of home manufacture, and dyed them in accordance with the tastes of the wearers; calico was rarely seen, and a woman wearing a dr

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CHARACTERISTIC OF LINCOLN.

CHARACTERISTIC OF LINCOLN.

One man who knew Lincoln at New Salem, says the first time he saw him he was lying on a trundle-bed covered with books and papers and rocking a cradle with his foot. The whole scene was entirely characteristic—Lincoln reading and studying, and at the same time helping his landlady by quieting her child. A gentleman who knew Mr. Lincoln well in early manhood says: “Lincoln at this period had nothing but plenty of friends.” After the customary hand-shaking on one occasion in the White House at Was

1 minute read

Read Chapter

Governor Blank went to the War Department one day in a towering rage:

Governor Blank went to the War Department one day in a towering rage:

“I suppose you found it necessary to make large concessions to him, as he returned from you perfectly satisfied,” suggested a friend. “Oh, no,” the President replied, “I did not concede anything. You have heard how that Illinois farmer got rid of a big log that was too big to haul out, too knotty to split, and too wet and soggy to burn. “‘Well, now,’ said he, in response to the inquiries of his neighbors one Sunday, as to how he got rid of it, ‘well, now, boys, if you won’t divulge the secret, I

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“I’VE LOST MY APPLE.”

“I’VE LOST MY APPLE.”

During a public “reception,” a farmer from one of the border counties of Virginia told the President that the Union soldiers, in passing his farm, had helped themselves not only to hay, but his horse, and he hoped the President would urge the proper officer to consider his claim immediately. Mr. Lincoln said that this reminded him of an old acquaintance of his, “Jack” Chase, a lumberman on the Illinois, a steady, sober man, and the best raftsman on the river. It was quite a trick to take the log

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LOST HIS CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER.

LOST HIS CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER.

Mr. Lincoln prepared his first inaugural address in a room over a store in Springfield. His only reference works were Henry Clay’s great compromise speech of 1850, Andrew Jackson’s Proclamation against Nullification, Webster’s great reply to Hayne, and a copy of the Constitution. When Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, to be inaugurated, the inaugural address was placed in a special satchel and guarded with special care. At Harrisburg the satchel was given in charge of Robert T. Lincoln, who ac

4 minute read

Read Chapter

NOTE PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT.

NOTE PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT.

The great English funny paper, London “Punch,” printed this cartoon on September 27th, 1862. It is intended to convey the idea that Lincoln, having asserted that the war would be over in ninety days, had not redeemed his word: The text under the Cartoon in Punch was: MR. SOUTH TO MR. NORTH: “Your ‘ninety-day’ promissory note isn’t taken up yet, sirree!” The tone of the cartoon is decidedly unfriendly. The North finally took up the note, but the South had to pay it. “Punch” was not pleased with t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DOG WAS A “LEETLE BIT AHEAD.”

DOG WAS A “LEETLE BIT AHEAD.”

Lincoln could not sympathize with those Union generals who were prone to indulge in high-sounding promises, but whose performances did not by any means come up to their predictions as to what they would do if they ever met the enemy face to face. He said one day, just after one of these braggarts had been soundly thrashed by the Confederates: “These fellows remind me of the fellow who owned a dog which, so he said, just hungered and thirsted to combat and eat up wolves. It was a difficult matter

4 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” FIGHT WITH NEGROES.

“ABE’S” FIGHT WITH NEGROES.

When Lincoln was nineteen years of age, he went to work for a Mr. Gentry, and, in company with Gentry’s son, took a flatboat load of provisions to New Orleans. At a plantation six miles below Baton Rouge, while the boat was tied up to the shore in the dead hours of the night, and Abe and Allen were fast asleep in the bed, they were startled by footsteps on board. They knew instantly that it was a gang of negroes come to rob and perhaps murder them. Allen, thinking to frighten the negroes, called

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NOISE LIKE A TURNIP.

NOISE LIKE A TURNIP.

“Every man has his own peculiar and particular way of getting at and doing things,” said President Lincoln one day, “and he is often criticised because that way is not the one adopted by others. The great idea is to accomplish what you set out to do. When a man is successful in whatever he attempts, he has many imitators, and the methods used are not so closely scrutinized, although no man who is of good intent will resort to mean, underhanded, scurvy tricks. “That reminds me of a fellow out in

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WARDING OFF GOD’S VENGEANCE.

WARDING OFF GOD’S VENGEANCE.

When Lincoln was a candidate for re-election to the Illinois Legislature in 1836, a meeting was advertised to be held in the court-house in Springfield, at which candidates of opposing parties were to speak. This gave men of spirit and capacity a fine opportunity to show the stuff of which they were made. George Forquer was one of the most prominent citizens; he had been a Whig, but became a Democrat—possibly for the reason that by means of the change he secured the position of Government land r

4 minute read

Read Chapter

JEFF DAVIS AND CHARLES THE FIRST.

JEFF DAVIS AND CHARLES THE FIRST.

Jefferson Davis insisted on being recognized by his official title as commander or President in the regular negotiation with the Government. This Mr. Lincoln would not consent to. Mr. Hunter thereupon referred to the correspondence between King Charles the First and his Parliament as a precedent for a negotiation between a constitutional ruler and rebels. Mr. Lincoln’s face then wore that indescribable expression which generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: “Upon questions of hist

57 minute read

Read Chapter

LOVED SOLDIERS’ HUMOR.

LOVED SOLDIERS’ HUMOR.

Lincoln loved anything that savored of wit or humor among the soldiers. He used to relate two stories to show, he said, that neither death nor danger could quench the grim humor of the American soldier: “A soldier of the Army of the Potomac was being carried to the rear of battle with both legs shot off, who, seeing a pie-woman, called out, ‘Say, old lady, are them pies sewed or pegged?’ “And there was another one of the soldiers at the battle of Chancellorsville, whose regiment, waiting to be c

1 minute read

Read Chapter

BAD TIME FOR A BARBECUE.

BAD TIME FOR A BARBECUE.

Captain T. W. S. Kidd of Springfield was the crier of the court in the days when Mr. Lincoln used to ride the circuit. “I was younger than he,” says Captain Kidd, “but he had a sort of admiration for me, and never failed to get me into his stories. I was a story-teller myself in those days, and he used to laugh very heartily at some of the stories I told him. “Now and then he got me into a good deal of trouble. I was a Democrat, and was in politics more or less. A good many of our Democratic vot

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HE’D SEE IT AGAIN.

HE’D SEE IT AGAIN.

About two years before Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency he went to Bloomington, Illinois, to try a case of some importance. His opponent—who afterward reached a high place in his profession—was a young man of ability, sensible but sensitive, and one to whom the loss of a case was a great blow. He therefore studied hard and made much preparation. This particular case was submitted to the jury late at night, and, although anticipating a favorable verdict, the young attorney spent a sleeple

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CALL ANOTHER WITNESS.

CALL ANOTHER WITNESS.

When arguing a case in court, Mr. Lincoln never used a word which the dullest juryman could not understand. Rarely, if ever, did a Latin term creep into his arguments. A lawyer, quoting a legal maxim one day in court, turned to Lincoln, and said: “That is so, is it not, Mr. Lincoln?” “If that’s Latin.” Lincoln replied, “you had better call another witness.”...

35 minute read

Read Chapter

A CONTEST WITH LITTLE “TAD.”

A CONTEST WITH LITTLE “TAD.”

Mr. Carpenter, the artist, relates the following incident: “Some photographers came up to the White House to make some stereoscopic studies for me of the President’s office. They requested a dark closet in which to develop the pictures, and, without a thought that I was infringing upon anybody’s rights, I took them to an unoccupied room of which little ‘Tad’ had taken possession a few days before, and, with the aid of a couple of servants, had fitted up a miniature theater, with stage, curtains,

3 minute read

Read Chapter

REMINDED HIM OF “A LITTLE STORY.”

REMINDED HIM OF “A LITTLE STORY.”

When Lincoln’s attention was called to the fact that, at one time in his boyhood, he had spelled the name of the Deity with a small “g,” he replied: “That reminds me of a little story. It came about that a lot of Confederate mail was captured by the Union forces, and, while it was not exactly the proper thing to do, some of our soldiers opened several letters written by the Southerners at the front to their people at home. “In one of these missives the writer, in a postscript, jotted down this a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“FETCHED SEVERAL SHORT ONES.”

“FETCHED SEVERAL SHORT ONES.”

“The first time I ever remember seeing ‘Abe’ Lincoln,” is the testimony of one of his neighbors, “was when I was a small boy and had gone with my father to attend some kind of an election. One of the neighbors, James Larkins, was there. “Larkins was a great hand to brag on anything he owned. This time it was his horse. He stepped up before ‘Abe,’ who was in a crowd, and commenced talking to him, boasting all the while of his animal. “‘I have got the best horse in the country,’ he shouted to his

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN LUGS THE OLD MAN.

LINCOLN LUGS THE OLD MAN.

On May 3rd, 1862, “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” printed this cartoon, over the title of “Sandbag Lincoln and the Old Man of the Sea, Secretary of the Navy Welles.” It was intended to demonstrate that the head of the Navy Department was incompetent to manage the affairs of the Navy; also that the Navy was not doing as good work as it might. When this cartoon was published, the United States Navy had cleared and had under control the Mississippi River as far south as Memphis; had blockade

1 minute read

Read Chapter

McCLELLAN WAS “INTRENCHING.”

McCLELLAN WAS “INTRENCHING.”

About a week after the Chicago Convention, a gentleman from New York called upon the President, in company with the Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. Dana. In the course of conversation, the gentleman said: “What do you think, Mr. President, is the reason General McClellan does not reply to the letter from the Chicago Convention?” “Oh!” replied Mr. Lincoln, with a characteristic twinkle of the eye, “he is intrenching!”...

43 minute read

Read Chapter

MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF IT, ANYWAY.

MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF IT, ANYWAY.

From the day of his nomination by the Chicago convention, gifts poured in upon Lincoln. Many of these came in the form of wearing apparel. Mr. George Lincoln, of Brooklyn, who brought to Springfield, in January, 1861, a handsome silk hat to the President-elect, the gift of a New York hatter, told some friends that in receiving the hat Lincoln laughed heartily over the gifts of clothing, and remarked to Mrs. Lincoln: “Well, wife, if nothing else comes out of this scrape, we are going to have some

48 minute read

Read Chapter

VICIOUS OXEN HAVE SHORT HORNS.

VICIOUS OXEN HAVE SHORT HORNS.

In speaking of the many mean and petty acts of certain members of Congress, the President, while talking on the subject one day with friends, said: “I have great sympathy for these men, because of their temper and their weakness; but I am thankful that the good Lord has given to the vicious ox short horns, for if their physical courage were equal to their vicious disposition, some of us in this neck of the woods would get hurt.”...

43 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S NAME FOR “WEEPING WATER.”

LINCOLN’S NAME FOR “WEEPING WATER.”

“I was speaking one time to Mr. Lincoln,” said Governor Saunders, “of Nebraska, of a little Nebraskan settlement on the Weeping Water, a stream in our State.” “‘Weeping Water!’ said he. “Then with a twinkle in his eye, he continued. “‘I suppose the Indians out there call Minneboohoo, don’t they? They ought to, if Laughing Water is Minnehaha in their language.’”...

45 minute read

Read Chapter

PETER CARTWRIGHT’S DESCRIPTION OF LINCOLN.

PETER CARTWRIGHT’S DESCRIPTION OF LINCOLN.

Peter Cartwright, the famous and eccentric old Methodist preacher, who used to ride a church circuit, as Mr. Lincoln and others did the court circuit, did not like Lincoln very well, probably because Mr. Lincoln was not a member of his flock, and once defeated the preacher for Congress. This was Cartwright’s description of Lincoln: “This Lincoln is a man six feet four inches tall, but so angular that if you should drop a plummet from the center of his head it would cut him three times before it

47 minute read

Read Chapter

NO DEATHS IN HIS HOUSE.

NO DEATHS IN HIS HOUSE.

A gentleman was relating to the President how a friend of his had been driven away from New Orleans as a Unionist, and how, on his expulsion, when he asked to see the writ by which he was expelled, the deputation which called on him told him the Government would do nothing illegal, and so they had issued no illegal writs, and simply meant to make him go of his own free will. “Well,” said Mr. Lincoln, “that reminds me of a hotel-keeper down at St. Louis, who boasted that he never had a death in h

57 minute read

Read Chapter

PAINTED HIS PRINCIPLES.

PAINTED HIS PRINCIPLES.

The day following the adjournment of the Baltimore Convention, at which President Lincoln was renominated, various political organizations called to pay their respects to the President. While the Philadelphia delegation was being presented, the chairman of that body, in introducing one of the members, said: “Mr. President, this is Mr. S., of the second district of our State,—a most active and earnest friend of yours and the cause. He has, among other things, been good enough to paint, and presen

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DIGNIFYING THE STATUTE.

DIGNIFYING THE STATUTE.

Lincoln was married—he balked at the first date set for the ceremony and did not show up at all—November 4, 1842, under most happy auspices. The officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Dresser, used the Episcopal church service for marriage. Lincoln placed the ring upon the bride’s finger, and said, “With this ring I now thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” Judge Thomas C. Browne, who was present, exclaimed, “Good gracious, Lincoln! the statute fixes all that!” “Oh, well,” drawled

54 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN CAMPAIGN MOTTOES.

LINCOLN CAMPAIGN MOTTOES.

The joint debates between Lincoln and Douglas were attended by crowds of people, and the arrival of both at the places of speaking were in the nature of a triumphal procession. In these processions there were many banners bearing catch-phrases and mottoes expressing the sentiment of the people on the candidates and the issues. The following were some of the mottoes on the Lincoln banners:...

40 minute read

Read Chapter

GIVING AWAY THE CASE.

GIVING AWAY THE CASE.

Between the first election and inauguration of Mr. Lincoln the disunion sentiment grew rapidly in the South, and President Buchanan’s failure to stop the open acts of secession grieved Mr. Lincoln sorely. Mr. Lincoln had a long talk with his friend, Judge Gillespie, over the state of affairs. One incident of the conversation is thus narrated by the Judge: “When I retired, it was the master of the house and chosen ruler of the country who saw me to my room. ‘Joe,’ he said, as he was about to leav

1 minute read

Read Chapter

POSING WITH A BROOMSTICK.

POSING WITH A BROOMSTICK.

Mr. Leonard Volk, the artist, relates that, being in Springfield when Lincoln’s nomination for President was announced, he called upon Mr. Lincoln, whom he found looking smiling and happy. “I exclaimed, ‘I am the first man from Chicago, I believe, who has had the honor of congratulating you on your nomination for President.’ Then those two great hands took both of mine with a grasp never to be forgotten, and while shaking, I said, ‘Now that you will doubtless be the next President of the United

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“BOTH LENGTH AND BREADTH.”

“BOTH LENGTH AND BREADTH.”

During Lincoln’s first and only term in Congress—he was elected in 1846—he formed quite a cordial friendship with Stephen A. Douglas, a member of the United States Senate from Illinois, and the beaten one in the contest as to who should secure the hand of Miss Mary Todd. Lincoln was the winner; Douglas afterwards beat him for the United States Senate, but Lincoln went to the White House. During all of the time that they were rivals in love and in politics they remained the best of friends person

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” RECITES A SONG.

“ABE” RECITES A SONG.

Lincoln couldn’t sing, and he also lacked the faculty of musical adaptation. He had a liking for certain ballads and songs, and while he memorized and recited their lines, someone else did the singing. Lincoln often recited for the delectation of his friends, the following, the authorship of which is unknown:...

30 minute read

Read Chapter

“MANAGE TO KEEP HOUSE.”

“MANAGE TO KEEP HOUSE.”

Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, introduced his brother, William T. Sherman (then a civilian) to President Lincoln in March, 1861. Sherman had offered his services, but, as in the case of Grant, they had been refused. After the Senator had transacted his business with the President, he said: “Mr. President, this is my brother, Colonel Sherman, who is just up from Louisiana; he may give you some information you want.” To this Lincoln replied, as reported by Senator Sherman himself: “Ah! How are the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

General Grant told this story about Lincoln some years after the War:

General Grant told this story about Lincoln some years after the War:

“Just after receiving my commission as lieutenant-general the President called me aside to speak to me privately. After a brief reference to the military situation, he said he thought he could illustrate what he wanted to say by a story. Said he: “‘At one time there was a great war among the animals, and one side had great difficulty in getting a commander who had sufficient confidence in himself. Finally they found a monkey by the name of Jocko, who said he thought he could command their army i

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“DON’T KILL HIM WITH YOUR FIST.”

“DON’T KILL HIM WITH YOUR FIST.”

Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln’s time in Washington, was a powerful man; his strength was phenomenal, and a blow from his fist was like unto that coming from the business end of a sledge. Lamon tells this story, the hero of which is not mentioned by name, but in all probability his identity can be guessed: “On one occasion, when the fears of the loyal element of the city (Washington) were excited to fever-heat, a free fight near the old National Theatre occurred a

4 minute read

Read Chapter

COULD BE ARBITRARY.

COULD BE ARBITRARY.

Lincoln could be arbitrary when occasion required. This is the letter he wrote to one of the Department heads: “You must make a job of it, and provide a place for the bearer of this, Elias Wampole. Make a job of it with the collector and have it done. You can do it for me, and you must.” There was no delay in taking action in this matter. Mr. Wampole, or “Eli,” as he was thereafter known, “got there.”...

45 minute read

Read Chapter

A GENERAL BUSTIFICATION.

A GENERAL BUSTIFICATION.

Many amusing stories are told of President Lincoln and his gloves. At about the time of his third reception he had on a tight-fitting pair of white kids, which he had with difficulty got on. He saw approaching in the distance an old Illinois friend named Simpson, whom he welcomed with a genuine Sangamon county (Illeenoy) shake, which resulted in bursting his white kid glove, with an audible sound. Then, raising his brawny hand up before him, looking at it with an indescribable expression, he sai

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MAKING QUARTERMASTERS.

MAKING QUARTERMASTERS.

H. C. Whitney wrote in 1866: “I was in Washington in the Indian service for a few days before August, 1861, and I merely said to President Lincoln one day: ‘Everything is drifting into the war, and I guess you will have to put me in the army.’ “The President looked up from his work and said, good-humoredly: ‘I’m making generals now; in a few days I will be making quartermasters, and then I’ll fix you.’”...

46 minute read

Read Chapter

In the “Diary of a Public Man” appears this jocose anecdote:

In the “Diary of a Public Man” appears this jocose anecdote:

“Mr. Lincoln walked into the corridor with us; and, as he bade us good-by and thanked Blank for what he had told him, he again brightened up for a moment and asked him in an abrupt kind of way, laying his hand as he spoke with a queer but not uncivil familiarity on his shoulder, ‘You haven’t such a thing as a postmaster in your pocket, have you?’ “Blank stared at him in astonishment, and I thought a little in alarm, as if he suspected a sudden attack of insanity; then Mr. Lincoln went on: ‘You s

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HE “SKEWED” THE LINE.

HE “SKEWED” THE LINE.

When a surveyor, Mr. Lincoln first platted the town of Petersburg, Ill. Some twenty or thirty years afterward the property-owners along one of the outlying streets had trouble in fixing their boundaries. They consulted the official plat and got no relief. A committee was sent to Springfield to consult the distinguished surveyor, but he failed to recall anything that would give them aid, and could only refer them to the record. The dispute therefore went into the courts. While the trial was pendi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“WHEREAS,” HE STOLE NOTHING.

“WHEREAS,” HE STOLE NOTHING.

One of the most celebrated courts-martial during the War was that of Franklin W. Smith and his brother, charged with defrauding the government. These men bore a high character for integrity. At this time, however, courts-martial were seldom invoked for any other purpose than to convict the accused, and the Smiths shared the usual fate of persons whose cases were submitted to such arbitrament. They were kept in prison, their papers seized, their business destroyed, and their reputations ruined, a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NOT LIKE THE POPE’S BULL.

NOT LIKE THE POPE’S BULL.

President Lincoln, after listening to the arguments and appeals of a committee which called upon him at the White House not long before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, said: “I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope’s bull against the comet.”...

33 minute read

Read Chapter

COULD HE TELL?

COULD HE TELL?

A “high” private of the One Hundred and Fortieth Infantry Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, wounded at Chancellorsville, was taken to Washington. One day, as he was becoming convalescent, a whisper ran down the long row of cots that the President was in the building and would soon pass by. Instantly every boy in blue who was able arose, stood erect, hands to the side, ready to salute his Commander-in-Chief. The Pennsylvanian stood six feet seven inches in his stockings. Lincoln was six feet fou

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DARNED UNCOMFORTABLE SITTING.

DARNED UNCOMFORTABLE SITTING.

“Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” of March 2nd, 1861, two days previous to the inauguration of President-elect Lincoln, contained the caricature reproduced here. It was intended to convey the idea that the National Administration would thereafter depend upon the support of bayonets to uphold it, and the text underneath the picture ran as follows: OLD ABE: “Oh, it’s all well enough to say that I must support the dignity of my high office by force—but it’s darned uncomfortable sitting, I can

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“WHAT’S-HIS-NAME” GOT THERE.

“WHAT’S-HIS-NAME” GOT THERE.

General James B. Fry told a good one on Secretary of War Stanton, who was worsted in a contention with the President. Several brigadier-generals were to be selected, and Lincoln maintained that “something must be done in the interest of the Dutch.” Many complaints had come from prominent men, born in the Fatherland, but who were fighting for the Union. “Now, I want Schimmelpfennig given one of those brigadierships.” Stanton was stubborn and headstrong, as usual, but his manner and tone indicated

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A REALLY GREAT GENERAL.

A REALLY GREAT GENERAL.

“Do you know General A—?” queried the President one day to a friend who had “dropped in” at the White House. “Certainly; but you are not wasting any time thinking about him, are you?” was the rejoinder. “You wrong him,” responded the President, “he is a really great man, a philosopher.” “How do you make that out? He isn’t worth the powder and ball necessary to kill him so I have heard military men say,” the friend remarked. “He is a mighty thinker,” the President returned, “because he has master

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“SHRUNK UP NORTH.”

“SHRUNK UP NORTH.”

There was no member of the Cabinet from the South when Attorney-General Bates handed in his resignation, and President Lincoln had a great deal of trouble in making a selection. Finally Titian F. Coffey consented to fill the vacant place for a time, and did so until the appointment of Mr. Speed. In conversation with Mr. Coffey the President quaintly remarked: “My Cabinet has shrunk up North, and I must find a Southern man. I suppose if the twelve Apostles were to be chosen nowadays, the shrieks

52 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN ADOPTED THE SUGGESTION.

LINCOLN ADOPTED THE SUGGESTION.

It is not generally known that President Lincoln adopted a suggestion made by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in regard to the Emancipation Proclamation, and incorporated it in that famous document. After the President had read it to the members of the Cabinet he asked if he had omitted anything which should be added or inserted to strengthen it. It will be remembered that the closing paragraph of the Proclamation reads in this way: “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act o

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

It was the President’s overweening desire to accommodate all persons who came to him soliciting favors, but the opportunity was never offered until an untimely and unthinking disease, which possessed many of the characteristics of one of the most dreaded maladies, confined him to his bed at the White House. The rumor spread that the President was afflicted with this disease, while the truth was that it was merely a very mild attack of varioloid. The office-seekers didn’t know the facts, and for

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TOO MANY PIGS FOR THE TEATS.

TOO MANY PIGS FOR THE TEATS.

An applicant for a sutlership in the army relates this story: “In the winter of 1864, after serving three years in the Union Army, and being honorably discharged, I made application for the post sutlership at Point Lookout. My father being interested, we made application to Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War. We obtained an audience, and were ushered into the presence of the most pompous man I ever met. As I entered he waved his hand for me to stop at a given distance from him, and then put these

4 minute read

Read Chapter

GREELEY CARRIES LINCOLN TO THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

GREELEY CARRIES LINCOLN TO THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

No sooner was Abraham Lincoln made the candidate for the Presidency of the Republican Party, in 1860, than the opposition began to lampoon and caricature him. In the cartoon here reproduced, which is given the title of: “The Republican Party Going to the Right House,” Lincoln is represented as entering the Lunatic Asylum, riding on a rail, carried by Horace Greeley, the great Abolitionist; Lincoln, followed by his “fellow-cranks,” is assuring the latter that the millennium is “going to begin,” a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LAST TIME HE SAW DOUGLAS.

THE LAST TIME HE SAW DOUGLAS.

Speaking of his last meeting with Judge Douglas, Mr. Lincoln said: “One day Douglas came rushing in and said he had just got a telegraph dispatch from some friends in Illinois urging him to come out and help set things right in Egypt, and that he would go, or stay in Washington, just where I thought he could do the most good. “I told him to do as he chose, but that probably he could do best in Illinois. Upon that he shook hands with me, and hurried away to catch the next train. I never saw him a

51 minute read

Read Chapter

HURT HIS LEGS LESS.

HURT HIS LEGS LESS.

Lincoln was one of the attorneys in a case of considerable importance, court being held in a very small and dilapidated schoolhouse out in the country; Lincoln was compelled to stoop very much in order to enter the door, and the seats were so low that he doubled up his legs like a jackknife. Lincoln was obliged to sit upon a school bench, and just in front of him was another, making the distance between him and the seat in front of him very narrow and uncomfortable. His position was almost unbea

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A LITTLE SHY OR GRAMMAR.

A LITTLE SHY OR GRAMMAR.

When Mr. Lincoln had prepared his brief letter accepting the Presidential nomination he took it to Dr. Newton Bateman, the State Superintendent of Education. “Mr. Schoolmaster,” he said, “here is my letter of acceptance. I am not very strong on grammar and I wish you to see if it is all right. I wouldn’t like to have any mistakes in it.”. The doctor took the letter and after reading it, said: “There is only one change I should suggest, Mr. Lincoln, you have written ‘It shall be my care to not vi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS FIRST SATIRICAL WRITING.

HIS FIRST SATIRICAL WRITING.

Reuben and Charles Grigsby were married in Spencer county, Indiana, on the same day to Elizabeth Ray and Matilda Hawkins, respectively. They met the next day at the home of Reuben Grigsby, Sr., and held a double infare, to which most of the county was invited, with the exception of the Lincolns. This Abraham duly resented, and it resulted in his first attempt at satirical writing, which he called “The Chronicles of Reuben.” The manuscript was lost, and not recovered until 1865, when a house belo

6 minute read

Read Chapter

LIKELY TO DO IT.

LIKELY TO DO IT.

An officer, having had some trouble with General Sherman, being very angry, presented himself before Mr. Lincoln, who was visiting the camp, and said, “Mr. President, I have a cause of grievance. This morning I went to General Sherman and he threatened to shoot me.” “Threatened to shoot you?” asked Mr. Lincoln. “Well, (in a stage whisper) if I were you I would keep away from him; if he threatens to shoot, I would not trust him, for I believe he would do it.”...

45 minute read

Read Chapter

“THE ENEMY ARE ‘OURN’”

“THE ENEMY ARE ‘OURN’”

Early in the Presidential campaign of 1864, President Lincoln said one night to a late caller at the White House: “We have met the enemy and they are ‘ourn!’ I think the cabal of obstructionists ‘am busted.’ I feel certain that, if I live, I am going to be re-elected. Whether I deserve to be or not, it is not for me to say; but on the score even of remunerative chances for speculative service, I now am inspired with the hope that our disturbed country further requires the valuable services of yo

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“AND—HERE I AM!”

“AND—HERE I AM!”

An old acquaintance of the President visited him in Washington. Lincoln desired to give him a place. Thus encouraged, the visitor, who was an honest man, but wholly inexperienced in public affairs or business, asked for a high office, Superintendent of the Mint. The President was aghast, and said: “Good gracious! Why didn’t he ask to be Secretary of the Treasury, and have done with it?” Afterward, he said: “Well, now, I never thought Mr.—— had anything more than average ability, when we were you

54 minute read

Read Chapter

SAFE AS LONG AS THEY WERE GOOD.

SAFE AS LONG AS THEY WERE GOOD.

At the celebrated Peace Conference, whereat there was much “pow-wow” and no result, President Lincoln, in response to certain remarks by the Confederate commissioners, commented with some severity upon the conduct of the Confederate leaders, saying they had plainly forfeited all right to immunity from punishment for their treason. Being positive and unequivocal in stating his views concerning individual treason, his words were of ominous import. There was a pause, during which Commissioner Hunte

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“SMELT NO ROYALTY IN OUR CARRIAGE.”

“SMELT NO ROYALTY IN OUR CARRIAGE.”

On one occasion, in going to meet an appointment in the southern part of the Sucker State—that section of Illinois called Egypt—Lincoln, with other friends, was traveling in the “caboose” of a freight train, when the freight was switched off the main track to allow a special train to pass. Lincoln’s more aristocratic rival (Stephen A. Douglas) was being conveyed to the same town in this special. The passing train was decorated with banners and flags, and carried a band of music, which was playin

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HELL A MILE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

HELL A MILE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

Ward Lamon told this story of President Lincoln, whom he found one day in a particularly gloomy frame of mind. Lamon said: “The President remarked, as I came in, ‘I fear I have made Senator Wade, of Ohio, my enemy for life.’ “‘How?’ I asked. “‘Well,’ continued the President, ‘Wade was here just now urging me to dismiss Grant, and, in response to something he said, I remarked, “Senator, that reminds me of a story.”’ “‘What did Wade say?’ I inquired of the President. “‘He said, in a petulant way,’

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS “GLASS HACK”

HIS “GLASS HACK”

President Lincoln had not been in the White House very long before Mrs. Lincoln became seized with the idea that a fine new barouche was about the proper thing for “the first lady in the land.” The President did not care particularly about it one way or the other, and told his wife to order whatever she wanted. Lincoln forgot all about the new vehicle, and was overcome with astonishment one afternoon when, having acceded to Mrs. Lincoln’s desire to go driving, he found a beautiful barouche stand

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LEAVE HIM KICKING.

LEAVE HIM KICKING.

Lincoln, in the days of his youth, was often unfaithful to his Quaker traditions. On the day of election in 1840, word came to him that one Radford, a Democratic contractor, had taken possession of one of the polling places with his workmen, and was preventing the Whigs from voting. Lincoln started off at a gait which showed his interest in the matter in hand. He went up to Radford and persuaded him to leave the polls, remarking at the same time: “Radford, you’ll spoil and blow, if you live much

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“WHO COMMENCED THIS FUSS?”

“WHO COMMENCED THIS FUSS?”

President Lincoln was at all times an advocate of peace, provided it could be obtained honorably and with credit to the United States. As to the cause of the Civil War, which side of Mason and Dixon’s line was responsible for it, who fired the first shots, who were the aggressors, etc., Lincoln did not seem to bother about; he wanted to preserve the Union, above all things. Slavery, he was assured, was dead, but he thought the former slaveholders should be recompensed. To illustrate his feelings

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” LITTLE JOKE.

“ABE’S” LITTLE JOKE.

When General W. T. Sherman, November 12th, 1864, severed all communication with the North and started for Savannah with his magnificent army of sixty thousand men, there was much anxiety for a month as to his whereabouts. President Lincoln, in response to an inquiry, said: “I know what hole Sherman went in at, but I don’t know what hole he’ll come out at.” Colonel McClure had been in consultation with the President one day, about two weeks after Sherman’s disappearance, and in this connection re

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHAT SUMMER THOUGHT.

WHAT SUMMER THOUGHT.

Although himself a most polished, even a fastidious, gentleman, Senator Sumner never allowed Lincoln’s homely ways to hide his great qualities. He gave him a respect and esteem at the start which others accorded only after experience. The Senator was most tactful, too, in his dealings with Mrs. Lincoln, and soon had a firm footing in the household. That he was proud of this, perhaps a little boastful, there is no doubt. Lincoln himself appreciated this. “Sumner thinks he runs me,” he said, with

47 minute read

Read Chapter

A USELESS DOG.

A USELESS DOG.

When Hood’s army had been scattered into fragments, President Lincoln, elated by the defeat of what had so long been a menacing force on the borders of Tennessee was reminded by its collapse of the fate of a savage dog belonging to one of his neighbors in the frontier settlements in which he lived in his youth. “The dog,” he said, “was the terror of the neighborhood, and its owner, a churlish and quarrelsome fellow, took pleasure in the brute’s forcible attitude. “Finally, all other means having

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ORIGIN OF THE “INFLUENCE” STORY.

ORIGIN OF THE “INFLUENCE” STORY.

Judge Baldwin, of California, being in Washington, called one day on General Halleck, then Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces, and, presuming upon a familiar acquaintance in California a few years since, solicited a pass outside of our lines to see a brother in Virginia, not thinking that he would meet with a refusal, as both his brother and himself were good Union men. “We have been deceived too often,” said General Halleck, “and I regret I can’t grant it.” Judge B. then went to Stanton, an

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FELT SORRY FOR BOTH.

FELT SORRY FOR BOTH.

Many ladies attended the famous debates between Lincoln and Douglas, and they were the most unprejudiced listeners. “I can recall only one fact of the debates,” says Mrs. William Crotty, of Seneca, Illinois, “that I felt so sorry for Lincoln while Douglas was speaking, and then to my surprise I felt so sorry for Douglas when Lincoln replied.” The disinterested to whom it was an intellectual game, felt the power and charm of both men....

42 minute read

Read Chapter

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

“What made the deepest impression upon you?” inquired a friend one day, “when you stood in the presence of the Falls of Niagara, the greatest of natural wonders?” “The thing that struck me most forcibly when I saw the Falls,” Lincoln responded, with characteristic deliberation, “was, where in the world did all that water come from?”...

35 minute read

Read Chapter

“LONG ABE” FOUR YEARS LONGER.

“LONG ABE” FOUR YEARS LONGER.

The second election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States was the reward of his courage and genius bestowed upon him by the people of the Union States. General George B. McClellan was his opponent in 1864 upon the platform that “the War is a failure,” and carried but three States—New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky. The States which did not think the War was a failure were those in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, all the Western commonwealths, West Virginia, Tennessee, Lou

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“ALL SICKER’N YOUR MAN.”

“ALL SICKER’N YOUR MAN.”

A Commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands was to be appointed, and eight applicants had filed their papers, when a delegation from the South appeared at the White House on behalf of a ninth. Not only was their man fit—so the delegation urged—but was also in bad health, and a residence in that balmy climate would be of great benefit to him. The President was rather impatient that day, and before the members of the delegation had fairly started in, suddenly closed the interview with this remark: “Gen

58 minute read

Read Chapter

EASIER TO EMPTY THE POTOMAC.

EASIER TO EMPTY THE POTOMAC.

An officer of low volunteer rank persisted in telling and re-telling his troubles to the President on a summer afternoon when Lincoln was tired and careworn. After listening patiently, he finally turned upon the man, and, looking wearily out upon the broad Potomac in the distance, said in a peremptory tone that ended the interview: “Now, my man, go away, go away. I cannot meddle in your case. I could as easily bail out the Potomac River with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army.”.

51 minute read

Read Chapter

HE WANTED A STEADY HAND.

HE WANTED A STEADY HAND.

When the Emancipation Proclamation was taken to Mr. Lincoln by Secretary Seward, for the President’s signature, Mr. Lincoln took a pen, dipped it in the ink, moved his hand to the place for the signature, held it a moment, then removed his hand and dropped the pen. After a little hesitation, he again took up the pen and went through the same movement as before. Mr. Lincoln then turned to Mr. Seward and said: “I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning, and my right arm is almost p

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN SAW STANTON ABOUT IT.

LINCOLN SAW STANTON ABOUT IT.

Mr. Lovejoy, heading a committee of Western men, discussed an important scheme with the President, and the gentlemen were then directed to explain it to Secretary of War Stanton. Upon presenting themselves to the Secretary, and showing the President’s order, the Secretary said: “Did Lincoln give you an order of that kind?” “He did, sir.” “Then he is a d—d fool,” said the angry Secretary. “Do you mean to say that the President is a d—d fool?” asked Lovejoy, in amazement. “Yes, sir, if he gave you

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MRS. LINCOLN’S SURPRISE.

MRS. LINCOLN’S SURPRISE.

A good story is told of how Mrs. Lincoln made a little surprise for her husband. In the early days it was customary for lawyers to go from one county to another on horseback, a journey which often required several weeks. On returning from one of these trips, late one night, Mr. Lincoln dismounted from his horse at the familiar corner and then turned to go into the house, but stopped; a perfectly unknown structure was before him. Surprised, and thinking there must be some mistake, he went across

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MENACE TO THE GOVERNMENT.

MENACE TO THE GOVERNMENT.

The persistence of office-seekers nearly drove President Lincoln wild. They slipped in through the half-opened doors of the Executive Mansion; they dogged his steps if he walked; they edged their way through the crowds and thrust their papers in his hands when he rode; and, taking it all in all, they well-nigh worried him to death. He once said that if the Government passed through the Rebellion without dismemberment there was the strongest danger of its falling a prey to the rapacity of the off

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TROOPS COULDN’T FLY OVER IT.

TROOPS COULDN’T FLY OVER IT.

On April 20th a delegation from Baltimore appeared at the White House and begged the President that troops for Washington be sent around and not through Baltimore. President Lincoln replied, laughingly: “If I grant this concession, you will be back tomorrow asking that no troops be marched ‘around’ it.” The President was right. That afternoon, and again on Sunday and Monday, committees sought him, protesting that Maryland soil should not be “polluted” by the feet of soldiers marching against the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PAT WAS “FORNINST THE GOVERNMENT.”

PAT WAS “FORNINST THE GOVERNMENT.”

The Governor-General of Canada, with some of his principal officers, visited President Lincoln in the summer of 1864. They had been very troublesome in harboring blockade runners, and they were said to have carried on a large trade from their ports with the Confederates. Lincoln treated his guests with great courtesy. After a pleasant interview, the Governor, alluding to the coming Presidential election said, jokingly, but with a grain of sarcasm: “I understand Mr. President, that everybody vote

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“CAN’T SPARE THIS MAN.”

“CAN’T SPARE THIS MAN.”

One night, about eleven o’clock, Colonel A. K. McClure, whose intimacy with President Lincoln was so great that he could obtain admittance to the Executive Mansion at any and all hours, called at the White House to urge Mr. Lincoln to remove General Grant from command. After listening patiently for a long time, the President, gathering himself up in his chair, said, with the utmost earnestness: “I can’t spare this man; he fights!” In relating the particulars of this interview, Colonel McClure sa

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS TEETH CHATTERED.

HIS TEETH CHATTERED.

During the Lincoln-Douglas joint debates of 1858, the latter accused Lincoln of having, when in Congress, voted against the appropriation for supplies to be sent the United States soldiers in Mexico. In reply, Lincoln said: “This is a perversion of the facts. I was opposed to the policy of the administration in declaring war against Mexico; but when war was declared I never failed to vote for the support of any proposition looking to the comfort of our poor fellows who were maintaining the digni

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“AARON GOT HIS COMMISSION.”

“AARON GOT HIS COMMISSION.”

President Lincoln was censured for appointing one that had zealously opposed his second term. He replied: “Well, I suppose Judge E., having been disappointed before, did behave pretty ugly, but that wouldn’t make him any less fit for the place; and I think I have Scriptural authority for appointing him. “You remember when the Lord was on Mount Sinai getting out a commission for Aaron, that same Aaron was at the foot of the mountain making a false god for the people to worship. Yet Aaron got his

50 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AND THE MINISTERS.

LINCOLN AND THE MINISTERS.

At the time of Lincoln’s nomination, at Chicago, Mr. Newton Bateman, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois, occupied a room adjoining and opening into the Executive Chamber at Springfield. Frequently this door was open during Mr. Lincoln’s receptions, and throughout the seven months or more of his occupation he saw him nearly every day. Often, when Mr. Lincoln was tired, he closed the door against all intruders, and called Mr. Bateman into his room for a quiet talk. On o

7 minute read

Read Chapter

HARDTACK BETTER THAN GENERALS.

HARDTACK BETTER THAN GENERALS.

Secretary of War Stanton told the President the following story, which greatly amused the latter, as he was especially fond of a joke at the expense of some high military or civil dignitary. Stanton had little or no sense of humor. When Secretary Stanton was making a trip up the Broad River in North Carolina, in a tugboat, a Federal picket yelled out, “What have you got on board of that tug?” The severe and dignified answer was, “The Secretary of War and Major-General Foster.” Instantly the pick

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GOT THE PREACHER.

GOT THE PREACHER.

A story told by a Cabinet member tended to show how accurately Lincoln could calculate political results in advance—a faculty which remained with him all his life. “A friend, who was a Democrat, had come to him early in the canvass and told him he wanted to see him elected, but did not like to vote against his party; still he would vote for him, if the contest was to be so close that every vote was needed. “A short time before the election Lincoln said to him: ‘I have got the preacher, and I don

53 minute read

Read Chapter

BIG JOKE ON HALLECK.

BIG JOKE ON HALLECK.

When General Halleck was Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces, with headquarters at Washington, President Lincoln unconsciously played a big practical joke upon that dignified officer. The President had spent the night at the Soldiers’ Home, and the next morning asked Captain Derickson, commanding the company of Pennsylvania soldiers, which was the Presidential guard at the White House and the Home—wherever the President happened to be—to go to town with him. Captain Derickson told the story i

1 minute read

Read Chapter

STORIES BETTER THAN DOCTORS.

STORIES BETTER THAN DOCTORS.

A gentleman, visiting a hospital at Washington, heard an occupant of one of the beds laughing and talking about the President, who had been there a short time before and gladdened the wounded with some of his stories. The soldier seemed in such good spirits that the gentleman inquired: “You must be very slightly wounded?” “Yes,” replied the brave fellow, “very slightly—I have only lost one leg, and I’d be glad enough to lose the other, if I could hear some more of ‘Old Abe’s’ stories.”...

48 minute read

Read Chapter

SHORT, BUT EXCITING.

SHORT, BUT EXCITING.

William B. Wilson, employed in the telegraph office at the War Department, ran over to the White House one day to summon Mr. Lincoln. He described the trip back to the War Department in this manner: “Calling one of his two younger boys to join him, we then started from the White House, between stately trees, along a gravel path which led to the rear of the old War Department building. It was a warm day, and Mr. Lincoln wore as part of his costume a faded gray linen duster which hung loosely arou

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MR. BULL DIDN’T GET HIS COTTON.

MR. BULL DIDN’T GET HIS COTTON.

Because of the blockade, by the Union fleets, of the Southern cotton ports, England was deprived of her supply of cotton, and scores of thousands of British operatives were thrown out of employment by the closing of the cotton mills at Manchester and other cities in Great Britain. England (John Bull) felt so badly about this that the British wanted to go to war on account of it, but when the United States eagle ruffled up its wings the English thought over the business and concluded not to fight

2 minute read

Read Chapter

STICK TO AMERICAN PRINCIPLES.

STICK TO AMERICAN PRINCIPLES.

President Lincoln’s first conclusion (that Mason and Slidell should be released) was the real ground on which the Administration submitted. “We must stick to American principles concerning the rights of neutrals.” It was to many, as Secretary of the Treasury Chase declared it was to him, “gall and wormwood.” James Russell Lowell’s verse expressed best the popular feeling: We give the critters back, John, Cos Abram thought ‘twas right; It warn’t your bullyin’ clack, John, Provokin’ us to fight. T

53 minute read

Read Chapter

USED “RUDE TACT.”

USED “RUDE TACT.”

General John C. Fremont, with headquarters at St. Louis, astonished the country by issuing a proclamation declaring, among other things, that the property, real and personal, of all the persons in the State of Missouri who should take up arms against the United States, or who should be directly proved to have taken an active part with its enemies in the field, would be confiscated to public use and their slaves, if they had any, declared freemen. The President was dismayed; he modified that part

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” ON A WOODPILE.

“ABE” ON A WOODPILE.

Lincoln’s attempt to make a lawyer of himself under adverse and unpromising circumstances—he was a bare-footed farm-hand—excited comment. And it was not to be wondered. One old man, who was yet alive as late as 1901, had often employed Lincoln to do farm work for him, and was surprised to find him one day sitting barefoot on the summit of a woodpile and attentively reading a book. “This being an unusual thing for farm-hands in that early day to do,” said the old man, when relating the story, “I

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TAKING DOWN A DANDY.

TAKING DOWN A DANDY.

In a political campaign, Lincoln once replied to Colonel Richard Taylor, a self-conceited, dandified man, who wore a gold chain and ruffled shirt. His party at that time was posing as the hard-working bone and sinew of the land, while the Whigs were stigmatized as aristocrats, ruffled-shirt gentry. Taylor making a sweeping gesture, his overcoat became torn open, displaying his finery. Lincoln in reply said, laying his hand on his jeans-clad breast: “Here is your aristocrat, one of your silk-stoc

59 minute read

Read Chapter

WHEN OLD ABE GOT MAD.

WHEN OLD ABE GOT MAD.

Soon after hostilities broke out between the North and South, Congress appointed a Committee on the Conduct of the War. This committee beset Mr. Lincoln and urged all sorts of measures. Its members were aggressive and patriotic, and one thing they determined upon was that the Army of the Potomac should move. But it was not until March that they became convinced that anything would be done. One day early in that month, Senator Chandler, of Michigan, a member of the committee, met George W. Julian

54 minute read

Read Chapter

WANTED TO “BORROW” THE ARMY.

WANTED TO “BORROW” THE ARMY.

During one of the periods when things were at a standstill, the Washington authorities, being unable to force General McClellan to assume an aggressive attitude, President Lincoln went to the general’s headquarters to have a talk with him, but for some reason he was unable to get an audience. Mr. Lincoln returned to the White House much disturbed at his failure to see the commander of the Union forces, and immediately sent for two general officers, to have a consultation. On their arrival, he to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

YOUNG “SUCKER” VISITORS.

YOUNG “SUCKER” VISITORS.

After Mr. Lincoln’s nomination for the Presidency, the Executive Chamber, a large, fine room in the State House at Springfield, was set apart for him, where he met the public until after his election. As illustrative of the nature of many of his calls, the following incident was related by Mr. Holland, an eye-witness: “Mr. Lincoln being in conversation with a gentleman one day, two raw, plainly-dressed young ‘Suckers’ entered the room, and bashfully lingered near the door. As soon as he observed

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“AND YOU DON’T WEAR HOOPSKIRTS.”

“AND YOU DON’T WEAR HOOPSKIRTS.”

An Ohio Senator had an appointment with President Lincoln at six o’clock, and as he entered the vestibule of the White House his attention was attracted toward a poorly clad young woman, who was violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her distress. She said she had been ordered away by the servants, after vainly waiting many hours to see the President about her only brother, who had been condemned to death. Her story was this: She and her brother were foreigners, and orphans. They had been

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LIEUTENANT TAD LINCOLN’S SENTINELS.

LIEUTENANT TAD LINCOLN’S SENTINELS.

President Lincoln’s favorite son, Tad, having been sportively commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Army by Secretary Stanton, procured several muskets and drilled the men-servants of the house in the manual of arms without attracting the attention of his father. And one night, to his consternation, he put them all on duty, and relieved the regular sentries, who, seeing the lad in full uniform, or perhaps appreciating the joke, gladly went to their quarters. His brother objected; but Ta

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DOUGLAS HELD LINCOLN’S HAT.

DOUGLAS HELD LINCOLN’S HAT.

When Mr. Lincoln delivered his first inaugural he was introduced by his friend, United States Senator E. D. Baker, of Oregon. He carried a cane and a little roll—the manuscript of his inaugural address. There was moment’s pause after the introduction, as he vainly looked for a spot where he might place his high silk hat. Stephen A. Douglas, the political antagonist of his whole public life, the man who had pressed him hardest in the campaign of 1860, was seated just behind him. Douglas stepped f

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE DEAD MAN SPOKE.

THE DEAD MAN SPOKE.

Mr. Lincoln once said in a speech: “Fellow-citizens, my friend, Mr. Douglas, made the startling announcement to-day that the Whigs are all dead. “If that be so, fellow-citizens, you will now experience the novelty of hearing a speech from a dead man; and I suppose you might properly say, in the language of the old hymn: “‘Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound.’”...

39 minute read

Read Chapter

MILITARY SNAILS NOT SPEEDY.

MILITARY SNAILS NOT SPEEDY.

President Lincoln—as he himself put it in conversation one day with a friend—“fairly ached” for his generals to “get down to business.” These slow generals he termed “snails.” Grant, Sherman and Sheridan were his favorites, for they were aggressive. They did not wait for the enemy to attack. Too many of the others were “lingerers,” as Lincoln called them. They were magnificent in defense, and stubborn and brave, but their names figured too much on the “waiting list.” The greatest fault Lincoln f

1 minute read

Read Chapter

OUTRAN THE JACK-RABBIT.

OUTRAN THE JACK-RABBIT.

When the Union forces were routed in the first battle of Bull Run, there were many civilians present, who had gone out from Washington to witness the battle. Among the number were several Congressmen. One of these was a tall, long-legged fellow, who wore a long-tailed coat and a high plug hat. When the retreat began, this Congressman was in the lead of the entire crowd fleeing toward Washington. He outran all the rest, and was the first man to arrive in the city. No person ever made such good us

3 minute read

Read Chapter

“FOOLING” THE PEOPLE.

“FOOLING” THE PEOPLE.

Lincoln was a strong believer in the virtue of dealing honestly with the people. “If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens,” he said to a caller at the White House, “you can never regain their respect and esteem. “It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.”...

43 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE, YOU CAN’T PLAY THAT ON ME.”

“ABE, YOU CAN’T PLAY THAT ON ME.”

The night President-elect Lincoln arrived at Washington, one man was observed watching Lincoln very closely as he walked out of the railroad station. Standing a little to one side, the man looked very sharply at Lincoln, and, as the latter passed, seized hold of his hand, and said in a loud tone of voice, “Abe, you can’t play that on me!” Ward Lamon and the others with Lincoln were instantly alarmed, and would have struck the stranger had not Lincoln hastily said, “Don’t strike him! It is Washbu

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS “BROAD” STORIES.

HIS “BROAD” STORIES.

Mrs. Rose Linder Wilkinson, who often accompanied her father, Judge Linder, in the days when he rode circuit with Mr. Lincoln, tells the following story: “At night, as a rule, the lawyers spent awhile in the parlor, and permitted the women who happened to be along to sit with them. But after half an hour or so we would notice it was time for us to leave them. I remember traveling the circuit one season when the young wife of one of the lawyers was with him. The place was so crowded that she and

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SORRY FOR THE HORSES.

SORRY FOR THE HORSES.

When President Lincoln heard of the Confederate raid at Fairfax, in which a brigadier-general and a number of valuable horses were captured, he gravely observed: “Well, I am sorry for the horses.” “Sorry for the horses, Mr. President!” exclaimed the Secretary of War, raising his spectacles and throwing himself back in his chair in astonishment. “Yes,” replied Mr., Lincoln, “I can make a brigadier-general in five minutes, but it is not easy to replace a hundred and ten horses.”...

49 minute read

Read Chapter

MILD REBUKE TO A DOCTOR.

MILD REBUKE TO A DOCTOR.

Dr. Jerome Walker, of Brooklyn, told how Mr. Lincoln once administered to him a mild rebuke. The doctor was showing Mr. Lincoln through the hospital at City Point. “Finally, after visiting the wards occupied by our invalid and convalescing soldiers,” said Dr. Walker, “we came to three wards occupied by sick and wounded Southern prisoners. With a feeling of patriotic duty, I said: ‘Mr. President, you won’t want to go in there; they are only rebels.’ “I will never forget how he stopped and gently

1 minute read

Read Chapter

COLD MOLASSES WAS SWIFTER.

COLD MOLASSES WAS SWIFTER.

“Old Pap,” as the soldiers called General George H. Thomas, was aggravatingly slow at a time when the President wanted him to “get a move on”; in fact, the gallant “Rock of Chickamauga” was evidently entered in a snail-race. “Some of my generals are so slow,” regretfully remarked Lincoln one day, “that molasses in the coldest days of winter is a race horse compared to them. “They’re brave enough, but somehow or other they get fastened in a fence corner, and can’t figure their way out.”...

49 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN CALLS MEDILL A COWARD.

LINCOLN CALLS MEDILL A COWARD.

Joseph Medill, for many years editor of the Chicago Tribune, not long before his death, told the following story regarding the “talking to” President Lincoln gave himself and two other Chicago gentlemen who went to Washington to see about reducing Chicago’s quota of troops after the call for extra men was made by the President in 1864: “In 1864, when the call for extra troops came, Chicago revolted. She had already sent 22,000 troops up to that time, and was drained. When the call came there wer

4 minute read

Read Chapter

THEY DIDN’T BUILD IT.

THEY DIDN’T BUILD IT.

In 1862 a delegation of New York millionaires waited upon President Lincoln to request that he furnish a gunboat for the protection of New York harbor. Mr. Lincoln, after listening patiently, said: “Gentlemen, the credit of the Government is at a very low ebb; greenbacks are not worth more than forty or fifty cents on the dollar; it is impossible for me, in the present condition of things, to furnish you a gunboat, and, in this condition of things, if I was worth half as much as you, gentlemen,

57 minute read

Read Chapter

STANTON’S ABUSE OF LINCOLN.

STANTON’S ABUSE OF LINCOLN.

President Lincoln’s sense of duty to the country, together with his keen judgment of men, often led to the appointment of persons unfriendly to him. Some of these appointees were, as well, not loyal to the National Government, for that matter. Regarding Secretary of War Stanton’s attitude toward Lincoln, Colonel A. K. McClure, who was very close to President Lincoln, said: “After Stanton’s retirement from the Buchanan Cabinet when Lincoln was inaugurated, he maintained the closest confidential r

5 minute read

Read Chapter

THE NEGRO AND THE CROCODILE.

THE NEGRO AND THE CROCODILE.

In one of his political speeches, Judge Douglas made use of the following figure of speech: “As between the crocodile and the negro, I take the side of the negro; but as between the negro and the white man—I would go for the white man every time.” Lincoln, at home, noted that; and afterwards, when he had occasion to refer to the remark, he said: “I believe that this is a sort of proposition in proportion, which may be stated thus: ‘As the negro is to the white man, so is the crocodile to the neg

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN WAS READY TO FIGHT.

LINCOLN WAS READY TO FIGHT.

On one occasion, Colonel Baker was speaking in a court-house, which had been a storehouse, and, on making some remarks that were offensive to certain political rowdies in the crowd, they cried: “Take him off the stand!” Immediate confusion followed, and there was an attempt to carry the demand into execution. Directly over the speaker’s head was an old skylight, at which it appeared Mr. Lincoln had been listening to the speech. In an instant, Mr. Lincoln’s feet came through the skylight, followe

1 minute read

Read Chapter

IT WAS UP-HILL WORK.

IT WAS UP-HILL WORK.

Two young men called on the President from Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln shook hands with them, and asked about the crops, the weather, etc. Finally one of the young men said, “Mother is not well, and she sent me up to inquire of you how the suit about the Wells property is getting on.” Lincoln, in the same even tone with which he had asked the question, said: “Give my best wishes and respects to your mother, and tell her I have so many outside matters to attend to now that I have put that case

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LEE’S SLIM ANIMAL.

LEE’S SLIM ANIMAL.

President Lincoln wrote to General Hooker on June 5, 1863, warning Hooker not to run any risk of being entangled on the Rappahannock “like an ox jumped half over a fence and liable to be torn by dogs, front and rear, without a fair chance to give one way or kick the other.” On the 10th he warned Hooker not to go south of the Rappahannock upon Lee’s moving north of it. “I think Lee’s army and not Richmond is your true objective power. If he comes toward the upper Potomac, follow on his flank, and

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“MRS. NORTH AND HER ATTORNEY.”

“MRS. NORTH AND HER ATTORNEY.”

In the issue of London “Punch” of September 24th, 1864, President Lincoln is pictured as sitting at a table in his law office, while in a chair to his right is a client, Mrs. North. The latter is a fine client for any attorney to have on his list, being wealthy and liberal, but as the lady is giving her counsel, who has represented her in a legal way for four years, notice that she proposes to put her legal business in the hands of another lawyer, the dejected look upon the face of Attorney Linc

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SATISFACTION TO THE SOUL.

SATISFACTION TO THE SOUL.

In the far-away days when “Abe” went to school in Indiana, they had exercises, exhibitions and speaking-meetings in the schoolhouse or the church, and “Abe” was the “star.” His father was a Democrat, and at that time “Abe” agreed with his parent. He would frequently make political and other speeches to the boys and explain tangled questions. Booneville was the county seat of Warrick county, situated about fifteen miles from Gentryville. Thither “Abe” walked to be present at the sittings of the c

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WITHDREW THE COLT.

WITHDREW THE COLT.

Mr. Alcott, of Elgin, Ill., tells of seeing Mr. Lincoln coming away from church unusually early one Sunday morning. “The sermon could not have been more than half way through,” says Mr. Alcott. “‘Tad’ was slung across his left arm like a pair of saddlebags, and Mr. Lincoln was striding along with long, deliberate steps toward his home. On one of the street corners he encountered a group of his fellow-townsmen. Mr. Lincoln anticipated the question which was about to be put by the group, and, taki

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“TAD” GOT HIS DOLLAR.

“TAD” GOT HIS DOLLAR.

No matter who was with the President, or how intently absorbed, his little son “Tad” was always welcome. He almost always accompanied his father. Once, on the way to Fortress Monroe, he became very troublesome. The President was much engaged in conversation with the party who accompanied him, and he at length said: “‘Tad,’ if you will be a good boy, and not disturb me any more until we get to Fortress Monroe, I will give you a dollar.” The hope of reward was effectual for awhile in securing sile

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TELLS AN EDITOR ABOUT NASBY.

TELLS AN EDITOR ABOUT NASBY.

Henry J. Raymond, the famous New York editor, thus tells of Mr. Lincoln’s fondness for the Nasby letters: “It has been well said by a profound critic of Shakespeare, and it occurs to me as very appropriate in this connection, that the spirit which held the woe of Lear and the tragedy of “Hamlet” would have broken had it not also had the humor of the “Merry Wives of Windsor” and the merriment of the “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” “This is as true of Mr. Lincoln as it was of Shakespeare. The capacity

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LONG AND SHORT OF IT.

LONG AND SHORT OF IT.

On the occasion of a serenade, the President was called for by the crowd assembled. He appeared at a window with his wife (who was somewhat below the medium height), and made the following “brief remarks”: “Here I am, and here is Mrs. Lincoln. That’s the long and the short of it.”...

32 minute read

Read Chapter

MORE PEGS THAN HOLES.

MORE PEGS THAN HOLES.

Some gentlemen were once finding fault with the President because certain generals were not given commands. “The fact is,” replied President Lincoln, “I have got more pegs than I have holes to put them in.”...

25 minute read

Read Chapter

“WEBSTER COULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE.”

“WEBSTER COULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE.”

Lincoln “got even” with the Illinois Central Railroad Company, in 1855, in a most substantial way, at the same time secured sweet revenge for an insult, unwarranted in every way, put upon him by one of the officials of that corporation. Lincoln and Herndon defended the Illinois Central Railroad in an action brought by McLean County, Illinois, in August, 1853, to recover taxes alleged to be due the county from the road. The Legislature had granted the road immunity from taxation, and this was a c

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN MET CLAY.

LINCOLN MET CLAY.

When a member of Congress, Lincoln went to Lexington, Kentucky, to hear Henry Clay speak. The Westerner, a Kentuckian by birth, and destined to reach the great goal Clay had so often sought, wanted to meet the “Millboy of the Slashes.” The address was a tame affair, as was the personal greeting when Lincoln made himself known. Clay was courteous, but cold. He may never have heard of the man, then in his presence, who was to secure, without solicitation, the prize which he for many years had unsu

1 minute read

Read Chapter

REMINDED “ABE” OF A LITTLE JOKE.

REMINDED “ABE” OF A LITTLE JOKE.

President Lincoln had a little joke at the expense of General George B. McClellan, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency in opposition to the Westerner in 1864. McClellan was nominated by the Democratic National Convention, which assembled at Chicago, but after he had been named, and also during the campaign, the military candidate was characteristically slow in coming to the front. President Lincoln had his eye upon every move made by General McClellan during the campaign, and when refere

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS DIGNITY SAVED HIM.

HIS DIGNITY SAVED HIM.

When Washington had become an armed camp, and full of soldiers, President Lincoln and his Cabinet officers drove daily to one or another of these camps. Very often his outing for the day was attending some ceremony incident to camp life: a military funeral, a camp wedding, a review, a flag-raising. He did not often make speeches. “I have made a great many poor speeches,” he said one day, in excusing himself, “and I now feel relieved that my dignity does not permit me to be a public speaker.”...

44 minute read

Read Chapter

THE MAN HE WAS LOOKING FOR

THE MAN HE WAS LOOKING FOR

Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the committee to advise Lincoln of his nomination, and who was himself a great many feet high, had been eyeing Lincoln’s lofty form with a mixture of admiration and possibly jealousy. This had not escaped Lincoln, and as he shook hands with the judge he inquired, “What is your height?” “Six feet three. What is yours, Mr. Lincoln?” “Six feet four.” “Then,” said the judge, “Pennsylvania bows to Illinois. My dear man, for years my heart has been aching f

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS CABINET CHANCES POOR.

HIS CABINET CHANCES POOR.

Mr. Jeriah Bonham, in describing a visit he paid Lincoln at his room in the State House at Springfield, where he found him quite alone, except that two of his children, one of whom was “Tad,” were with him. “The door was open. “We walked in and were at once recognized and seated—the two boys still continuing their play about the room. “Tad” was spinning his top; and Lincoln, as we entered, had just finished adjusting the string for him so as to give the top the greatest degree of force. He remar

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE GENERAL WAS “HEADED IN”

THE GENERAL WAS “HEADED IN”

A Union general, operating with his command in West Virginia, allowed himself and his men to be trapped, and it was feared his force would be captured by the Confederates. The President heard the report read by the operator, as it came over the wire, and remarked: “Once there was a man out West who was ‘heading’ a barrel, as they used to call it. He worked like a good fellow in driving down the hoops, but just about the time he thought he had the job done, the head would fall in. Then he had to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SUGAR-COATED.

SUGAR-COATED.

Government Printer Defrees, when one of the President’s messages was being printed, was a good deal disturbed by the use of the term “sugar-coated,” and finally went to Mr. Lincoln about it. Their relations to each other being of the most intimate character, he told the President frankly that he ought to remember that a message to Congress was a different affair from a speech at a mass meeting in Illinois; that the messages became a part of history, and should be written accordingly. “What is th

1 minute read

Read Chapter

COULD MAKE “RABBIT-TRACKS.”

COULD MAKE “RABBIT-TRACKS.”

When a grocery clerk at New Salem, the annual election came around. A Mr. Graham was clerk, but his assistant was absent, and it was necessary to find a man to fill his place. Lincoln, a “tall young man,” had already concentrated on himself the attention of the people of the town, and Graham easily discovered him. Asking him if he could write, “Abe” modestly replied, “I can make a few rabbit-tracks.” His rabbit-tracks proving to be legible and even graceful, he was employed. The voters soon disc

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN PROTECTED CURRENCY ISSUES.

LINCOLN PROTECTED CURRENCY ISSUES.

Marshal Ward Lamon was in President Lincoln’s office in the White House one day, and casually asked the President if he knew how the currency of the country was made. Greenbacks were then under full headway of circulation, these bits of paper being the representatives of United State money. “Our currency,” was the President’s answer, “is made, as the lawyers would put it, in their legal way, in the following manner, to-wit: The official engraver strikes off the sheets, passes them over to the Re

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S APOLOGY TO GRANT.

LINCOLN’S APOLOGY TO GRANT.

“General Grant is a copious worker and fighter,” President Lincoln wrote to General Burnside in July, 1863, “but a meagre writer or telegrapher.” Grant never wrote a report until the battle was over. President Lincoln wrote a letter to General Grant on July 13th, 1863, which indicated the strength of the hold the successful fighter had upon the man in the White House. It ran as follows: “I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. “I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN SAID “BY JING.”

LINCOLN SAID “BY JING.”

Lincoln never used profanity, except when he quoted it to illustrate a point in a story. His favorite expressions when he spoke with emphasis were “By dear!” and “By jing!” Just preceding the Civil War he sent Ward Lamon on a ticklish mission to South Carolina. When the proposed trip was mentioned to Secretary Seward, he opposed it, saying, “Mr. President, I fear you are sending Lamon to his grave. I am afraid they will kill him in Charleston, where the people are excited and desperate. We can’t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

IT TICKLED THE LITTLE WOMAN.

IT TICKLED THE LITTLE WOMAN.

Lincoln had been in the telegraph office at Springfield during the casting of the first and second ballots in the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and then left and went over to the office of the State Journal, where he was sitting conversing with friends while the third ballot was being taken. In a few moments came across the wires the announcement of the result. The superintendent of the telegraph company wrote on a scrap of paper: “Mr. Lincoln, you are nominated on the third ballot,

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“SHALL ALL FALL TOGETHER.”

“SHALL ALL FALL TOGETHER.”

After Lincoln had finished that celebrated speech in “Egypt” (as a section of Southern Illinois was formerly designated), in the course of which he seized Congressman Ficklin by the coat collar and shook him fiercely, he apologized. In return, Ficklin said Lincoln had “nearly shaken the Democracy out of him.” To this Lincoln replied: “That reminds me of what Paul said to Agrippa, which, in language and substance, was about this: ‘I would to God that such Democracy as you folks here in Egypt have

2 minute read

Read Chapter

DEAD DOG NO CURE.

DEAD DOG NO CURE.

Lincoln’s quarrel with Shields was his last personal encounter. In later years it became his duty to give an official reprimand to a young officer who had been court-martialed for a quarrel with one of his associates. The reprimand is probably the gentlest on record: “Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss of self-control. Yiel

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“THOROUGH” IS A GOOD WORD.

“THOROUGH” IS A GOOD WORD.

Some one came to the President with a story about a plot to accomplish some mischief in the Government. Lincoln listened to what was a very superficial and ill-formed story, and then said: “There is one thing that I have learned, and that you have not. It is only one word—‘thorough.’” Then, bringing his hand down on the table with a thump to emphasize his meaning, he added, “thorough!”...

39 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CABINET WAS A-SETTIN’.

THE CABINET WAS A-SETTIN’.

Being in Washington one day, the Rev. Robert Collyer thought he’d take a look around. In passing through the grounds surrounding the White House, he cast a glance toward the Presidential residence, and was astonished to see three pairs of feet resting on the ledge of an open window in one of the apartments of the second story. The divine paused for a moment, calmly surveyed the unique spectacle, and then resumed his walk toward the War Department. Seeing a laborer at work not far from the Execut

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A BULLET THROUGH HIS HAT.

A BULLET THROUGH HIS HAT.

A soldier tells the following story of an attempt upon the life of Mr. Lincoln “One night I was doing sentinel duty at the entrance to the Soldiers’ Home. This was about the middle of August, 1864. About eleven o’clock I heard a rifle shot, in the direction of the city, and shortly afterwards I heard approaching hoof-beats. In two or three minutes a horse came dashing up. I recognized the belated President. The President was bareheaded. The President simply thought that his horse had taken frigh

2 minute read

Read Chapter

NO KIND TO GET TO HEAVEN ON.

NO KIND TO GET TO HEAVEN ON.

Two ladies from Tennessee called at the White House one day and begged Mr. Lincoln to release their husbands, who were rebel prisoners at Johnson’s Island. One of the fair petitioners urged as a reason for the liberation of her husband that he was a very religious man, and rang the changes on this pious plea. “Madam,” said Mr. Lincoln, “you say your husband is a religious man. Perhaps I am not a good judge of such matters, but in my opinion the religion that makes men rebel and fight against the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE ONLY REAL PEACEMAKER.

THE ONLY REAL PEACEMAKER.

During the Presidential campaign of 1864 much ill-feeling was displayed by the opposition to President Lincoln. The Democratic managers issued posters of large dimensions, picturing the Washington Administration as one determined to rule or ruin the country, while the only salvation for the United States was the election of McClellan. We reproduce one of these 1864 campaign posters on this page, the title of which is, “The True Issue; or ‘That’s What’s the Matter.’” The dominant idea or purpose

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE APPLE WOMAN’S PASS.

THE APPLE WOMAN’S PASS.

One day when President Lincoln was receiving callers a buxom Irish woman came into the office, and, standing before the President, with her hands on her hips, said: “Mr. Lincoln, can’t I sell apples on the railroad?” President Lincoln replied: “Certainly, madam, you can sell all you wish.” “But,” she said, “you must give me a pass, or the soldiers will not let me.” President Lincoln then wrote a few lines and gave them to her. “Thank you, sir; God bless you!” she exclaimed as she departed joyful

55 minute read

Read Chapter

SPLIT RAILS BY THE YARD.

SPLIT RAILS BY THE YARD.

It was in the spring of 1830 that “Abe” Lincoln, “wearing a jean jacket, shrunken buckskin trousers, a coonskin cap, and driving an ox-team,” became a citizen of Illinois. He was physically and mentally equipped for pioneer work. His first desire was to obtain a new and decent suit of clothes, but, as he had no money, he was glad to arrange with Nancy Miller to make him a pair of trousers, he to split four hundred fence rails for each yard of cloth—fourteen hundred rails in all. “Abe” got the cl

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE QUESTION OF LEGS.

THE QUESTION OF LEGS.

Whenever the people of Lincoln’s neighborhood engaged in dispute; whenever a bet was to be decided; when they differed on points of religion or politics; when they wanted to get out of trouble, or desired advice regarding anything on the earth, below it, above it, or under the sea, they went to “Abe.” Two fellows, after a hot dispute lasting some hours, over the problem as to how long a man’s legs should be in proportion to the size of his body, stamped into Lincoln’s office one day and put the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A Union officer in conversation one day told this story:

A Union officer in conversation one day told this story:

“The first week I was with my command there were twenty-four deserters sentenced by court-martial to be shot, and the warrants for their execution were sent to the President to be signed. He refused. “I went to Washington and had an interview. I said: “‘Mr. President, unless these men are made an example of, the army itself is in danger. Mercy to the few is cruelty to the many.’ “He replied: ‘Mr. General, there are already too many weeping widows in the United States. For God’s sake, don’t ask m

57 minute read

Read Chapter

GOD NEEDED THAT CHURCH.

GOD NEEDED THAT CHURCH.

In the early stages of the war, after several battles had been fought, Union troops seized a church in Alexandria, Va., and used it as a hospital. A prominent lady of the congregation went to Washington to see Mr. Lincoln and try to get an order for its release. “Have you applied to the surgeon in charge at Alexandria?” inquired Mr. Lincoln. “Yes, sir, but I can do nothing with him,” was the reply. “Well, madam,” said Mr. Lincoln, “that is an end of it, then. We put him there to attend to just s

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE MAN DOWN SOUTH.

THE MAN DOWN SOUTH.

An amusing instance of the President’s preoccupation of mind occurred at one of his levees, when he was shaking hands with a host of visitors passing him in a continuous stream. An intimate acquaintance received the usual conventional hand-shake and salutation, but perceiving that he was not recognized, kept his ground instead of moving on, and spoke again, when the President, roused to a dim consciousness that something unusual had happened, perceived who stood before him, and, seizing his frie

1 minute read

Read Chapter

COULDN’T LET GO THE HOG.

COULDN’T LET GO THE HOG.

When Governor Custer of Pennsylvania described the terrible butchery at the battle of Fredericksburg, Mr. Lincoln was almost broken-hearted. The Governor regretted that his description had so sadly affected the President. He remarked: “I would give all I possess to know how to rescue you from this terrible war.” Then Mr. Lincoln’s wonderful recuperative powers asserted themselves and this marvelous man was himself. Lincoln’s whole aspect suddenly changed, and he relieved his mind by telling a st

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CABINET LINCOLN WANTED.

THE CABINET LINCOLN WANTED.

Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Chicago, was a firm friend of Mr. Lincoln, and went to Springfield to see him shortly before his departure for the inauguration. “It was,” said judge Gillespie, “Lincoln’s Gethsemane. He feared he was not the man for the great position and the great events which confronted him. Untried in national affairs, unversed in international diplomacy, unacquainted with the men who were foremost in the politics of the nation, he groaned when he saw the inevitable War of the Rebe

1 minute read

Read Chapter

Leonard Swett told this eminently characteristic story:

Leonard Swett told this eminently characteristic story:

“I remember one day being in his room when Lincoln was sitting at his table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a pleasant talk he turned quite abruptly and said: ‘Get out of the way, Swett; to-morrow is butcher-day, and I must go through these papers and see if I cannot find some excuse to let these poor fellows off.’ “The pile of papers he had were the records of courts-martial of men who on the following day were to be shot.”...

46 minute read

Read Chapter

“THE BAD BIRD AND THE MUDSILL.”

“THE BAD BIRD AND THE MUDSILL.”

It took quite a long time, as well as the lives of thousands of men, to say nothing of the cost in money, to take Richmond, the Capital City of the Confederacy. In this cartoon, taken from “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” of February 21, 1863, Jeff Davis is sitting upon the Secession eggs in the “Richmond” nest, smiling down upon President Lincoln, who is up to his waist in the Mud of Difficulties. The President finally waded through the morass, in which he had become immersed, got to the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GAVE THE SOLDIER HIS FISH.

GAVE THE SOLDIER HIS FISH.

Once, when asked what he remembered about the war with Great Britain, Lincoln replied: “Nothing but this: I had been fishing one day and caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I met a soldier in the road, and, having been always told at home that we must be good to the soldiers, I gave him my fish.” This must have been about 1814, when “Abe” was five years of age....

40 minute read

Read Chapter

A PECULIAR LAWYER.

A PECULIAR LAWYER.

Lincoln was once associate counsel for a defendant in a murder case. He listened to the testimony given by witness after witness against his client, until his honest heart could stand it no longer; then, turning to his associate, he said: “The man is guilty; you defend him—I can’t,” and when his associate secured a verdict of acquittal, Lincoln refused to share the fee to the extent of one cent. Lincoln would never advise clients to enter into unwise or unjust lawsuits, always preferring to refu

54 minute read

Read Chapter

IF THEY’D ONLY “SKIP.”

IF THEY’D ONLY “SKIP.”

General Creswell called at the White House to see the President the day of the latter’s assassination. An old friend, serving in the Confederate ranks, had been captured by the Union troops and sent to prison. He had drawn an affidavit setting forth what he knew about the man, particularly mentioning extenuating circumstances. Creswell found the President very happy. He was greeted with: “Creswell, old fellow, everything is bright this morning. The War is over. It has been a tough time, but we h

4 minute read

Read Chapter

FATHER OF THE “GREENBACK.”

FATHER OF THE “GREENBACK.”

Don Piatt, a noted journalist of Washington, told the story of the first proposition to President Lincoln to issue interest-bearing notes as currency, as follows: “Amasa Walker, a distinguished financier of New England, suggested that notes issued directly from the Government to the people, as currency, should bear interest. This for the purpose, not only of making the notes popular, but for the purpose of preventing inflation, by inducing people to hoard the notes as an investment when the dema

3 minute read

Read Chapter

MAJOR ANDERSON’S BAD MEMORY.

MAJOR ANDERSON’S BAD MEMORY.

Among the men whom Captain Lincoln met in the Black Hawk campaign were Lieutenant-Colonel Zachary Taylor, Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and Lieutenant Robert Anderson, all of the United States Army. Judge Arnold, in his “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” relates that Lincoln and Anderson did not meet again until some time in 1861. After Anderson had evacuated Fort Sumter, on visiting Washington, he called at the White House to pay his respects to the President. Lincoln expres

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NO VANDERBILT.

NO VANDERBILT.

In February, 1860, not long before his nomination for the Presidency, Lincoln made several speeches in Eastern cities. To an Illinois acquaintance, whom he met at the Astor House, in New York, he said: “I have the cottage at Springfield, and about three thousand dollars in money. If they make me Vice-President with Seward, as some say they will, I hope I shall be able to increase it to twenty thousand, and that is as much as any man ought to want.”...

54 minute read

Read Chapter

In September, 1864, a New York paper printed the following brutal story:

In September, 1864, a New York paper printed the following brutal story:

“A few days after the battle of Antietam, the President was driving over the field in an ambulance, accompanied by Marshal Lamon, General McClellan and another officer. Heavy details of men were engaged in the task of burying the dead. The ambulance had just reached the neighborhood of the old stone bridge, where the dead were piled highest, when Mr. Lincoln, suddenly slapping Marshal Lamon on the knee, exclaimed: ‘Come, Lamon, give us that song about “Picayune Butler”; McClellan has never heard

6 minute read

Read Chapter

“ONE WAR AT A TIME.”

“ONE WAR AT A TIME.”

Nothing in Lincoln’s entire career better illustrated the surprising resources of his mind than his manner of dealing with “The Trent Affair.” The readiness and ability with which he met this perilous emergency, in a field entirely new to his experience, was worthy the most accomplished diplomat and statesman. Admirable, also, was his cool courage and self-reliance in following a course radically opposed to the prevailing sentiment throughout the country and in Congress, and contrary to the advi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS.

The President made his last public address on the evening of April 11th, 1865, to a gathering at the White House. Said he: “We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. “The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. “In the midst of this, however, He from whom all blessings flow must not be forgotten. “Nor must those whose harder part gives us

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NO OTHERS LIKE THEM.

NO OTHERS LIKE THEM.

One day an old lady from the country called on President Lincoln, her tanned face peering up to his through a pair of spectacles. Her errand was to present Mr. Lincoln a pair of stockings of her own make a yard long. Kind tears came to his eyes as she spoke to him, and then, holding the stockings one in each hand, dangling wide apart for general inspection, he assured her that he should take them with him to Washington, where (and here his eyes twinkled) he was sure he should not be able to find

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CASH WAS AT HAND.

CASH WAS AT HAND.

Lincoln was appointed postmaster at New Salem by President Jackson. The office was given him because everybody liked him, and because he was the only man willing to take it who could make out the returns. Lincoln was pleased, because it gave him a chance to read every newspaper taken in the vicinity. He had never been able to get half the newspapers he wanted before. Years after the postoffice had been discontinued and Lincoln had become a practicing lawyer at Springfield, an agent of the Postof

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WELCOMED THE LITTLE GIRLS.

WELCOMED THE LITTLE GIRLS.

At a Saturday afternoon reception at the White House, many persons noticed three little girls, poorly dressed, the children of some mechanic or laboring man, who had followed the visitors into the White House to gratify their curiosity. They passed around from room to room, and were hastening through the reception-room, with some trepidation, when the President called to them: “Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands?” Then he bent his tall, awkward form down, and shook each

55 minute read

Read Chapter

“DON’T SWAP HORSES”

“DON’T SWAP HORSES”

Uncle Sam was pretty well satisfied with his horse, “Old Abe,” and, as shown at the Presidential election of 1864, made up his mind to keep him, and not “swap” the tried and true animal for a strange one. “Harper’s Weekly” of November 12th, 1864, had a cartoon which illustrated how the people of the United States felt about the matter better than anything published at the time. We reproduce it on this page. Beneath the picture was this text: JOHN BULL: “Why don’t you ride the other horse a bit?

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MOST VALUABLE POLITICAL ATTRIBUTE.

MOST VALUABLE POLITICAL ATTRIBUTE.

“One time I remember I asked Mr. Lincoln what attribute he considered most valuable to the successful politician,” said Captain T. W. S. Kidd, of Springfield. “He laid his hand on my shoulder and said, very earnestly: “‘To be able to raise a cause which shall produce an effect, and then fight the effect.’ “The more you think about it, the more profound does it become.”...

42 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” RESENTED THE INSULT.

“ABE” RESENTED THE INSULT.

A cashiered officer, seeking to be restored through the power of the executive, became insolent, because the President, who believed the man guilty, would not accede to his repeated requests, at last said, “Well, Mr. President, I see you are fully determined not to do me justice!” This was too aggravating even for Mr. Lincoln; rising he suddenly seized the disgraced officer by the coat collar, and marched him forcibly to the door, saying as he ejected him into the passage: “Sir, I give you fair

57 minute read

Read Chapter

ONE MAN ISN’T MISSED.

ONE MAN ISN’T MISSED.

Salmon P. Chase, when Secretary of the Treasury, had a disagreement with other members of the Cabinet, and resigned. The President was urged not to accept it, as “Secretary Chase is to-day a national necessity,” his advisers said. “How mistaken you are!” Lincoln quietly observed. “Yet it is not strange; I used to have similar notions. No! If we should all be turned out to-morrow, and could come back here in a week, we should find our places filled by a lot of fellows doing just as well as we did

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“STRETCHED THE FACTS.”

“STRETCHED THE FACTS.”

George B. Lincoln, a prominent merchant of Brooklyn, was traveling through the West in 1855-56, and found himself one night in a town on the Illinois River, by the name of Naples. The only tavern of the place had evidently been constructed with reference to business on a small scale. Poor as the prospect seemed, Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to put up at the place. The supper-room was also used as a lodging-room. Mr. Lincoln told his host that he thought he would “go to bed.” “Bed!” echoed

5 minute read

Read Chapter

IT LENGTHENED THE WAR.

IT LENGTHENED THE WAR.

President Lincoln said, long before the National political campaign of 1864 had opened: “If the unworthy ambition of politicians and the jealousy that exists in the army could be repressed, and all unite in a common aim and a common endeavor, the rebellion would soon be crushed.”...

30 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS THEORY OF THE REBELLION.

HIS THEORY OF THE REBELLION.

The President once explained to a friend the theory of the Rebellion by the aid of the maps before him. Running his long fore-finger down the map, he stopped at Virginia. “We must drive them away from here” (Manassas Gap), he said, “and clear them out of this part of the State so that they cannot threaten us here (Washington) and get into Maryland. “We must keep up a good and thorough blockade of their ports. We must march an army into East Tennessee and liberate the Union sentiment there. Final

1 minute read

Read Chapter

RAN AWAY WHEN VICTORIOUS.

RAN AWAY WHEN VICTORIOUS.

Three or four days after the battle of Bull Run, some gentlemen who had been on the field called upon the President. He inquired very minutely regarding all the circumstances of the affair, and, after listening with the utmost attention, said, with a touch of humor: “So it is your notion that we whipped the rebels and then ran away from them!”...

36 minute read

Read Chapter

WANTED STANTON SPANKED.

WANTED STANTON SPANKED.

Old Dennis Hanks was sent to Washington at one time by persons interested in securing the release from jail of several men accused of being copperheads. It was thought Old Dennis might have some influence with the President. The latter heard Dennis’ story and then said: “I will send for Mr. Stanton. It is his business.” Secretary Stanton came into the room, stormed up and down, and said the men ought to be punished more than they were. Mr. Lincoln sat quietly in his chair and waited for the temp

1 minute read

Read Chapter

STANTON WAS OUT OF TOWN.

STANTON WAS OUT OF TOWN.

The quaint remark of the President to an applicant, “My dear sir, I have not much influence with the Administration,” was one of Lincoln’s little jokes. Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, once replied to an order from the President to give a colonel a commission in place of the resigning brigadier: “I shan’t do it, sir! I shan’t do it! It isn’t the way to do it, sir, and I shan’t do it. I don’t propose to argue the question with you, sir.” A few days after, the friend of the applicant who had presen

1 minute read

Read Chapter

IDENTIFIED THE COLORED MAN.

IDENTIFIED THE COLORED MAN.

Many applications reached Lincoln as he passed to and from the White House and the War Department. One day as he crossed the park he was stopped by a negro, who told him a pitiful story. The President wrote him out a check, which read. “Pay to colored man with one leg five dollars.”...

33 minute read

Read Chapter

OFFICE SEEKERS WORSE THAN WAR.

OFFICE SEEKERS WORSE THAN WAR.

When the Republican party came into power, Washington swarmed with office-seekers. They overran the White House and gave the President great annoyance. The incongruity of a man in his position, and with the very life of the country at stake, pausing to appoint postmasters, struck Mr. Lincoln forcibly. “What is the matter, Mr. Lincoln,” said a friend one day, when he saw him looking particularly grave and dispirited. “Has anything gone wrong at the front?” “No,” said the President, with a tired s

47 minute read

Read Chapter

HE “SET ‘EM UP.”

HE “SET ‘EM UP.”

Immediately after Mr. Lincoln’s nomination for President at the Chicago Convention, a committee, of which Governor Morgan, of New York, was chairman, visited him in Springfield, Ill., where he was officially informed of his nomination. After this ceremony had passed, Mr. Lincoln remarked to the company that as a fit ending to an interview so important and interesting as that which had just taken place, he supposed good manners would require that he should treat the committee with something to dr

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WASN’T STANTON’S SAY.

WASN’T STANTON’S SAY.

A few days before the President’s death, Secretary Stanton tendered his resignation as Secretary of War. He accompanied the act with a most heartfelt tribute to Mr. Lincoln’s constant friendship and faithful devotion to the country, saying, also, that he, as Secretary, had accepted the position to hold it only until the war should end, and that now he felt his work was done, and his duty was to resign. Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the Secretary’s words, and, tearing in pieces the paper conta

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“JEFFY” THREW UP THE SPONGE.

“JEFFY” THREW UP THE SPONGE.

When the War was fairly on, many people were astonished to find that “Old Abe” was a fighter from “way back.” No one was the victim of greater amazement than Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. Davis found out that “Abe” was not only a hard hitter, but had staying qualities of a high order. It was a fight to a “finish” with “Abe,” no compromises being accepted. Over the title, “North and South,” the issue of “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” of December 24th, 18

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DIDN’T KNOW GRANT’S PREFERENCE.

DIDN’T KNOW GRANT’S PREFERENCE.

In October, 1864, President Lincoln, while he knew his re-election to the White House was in no sense doubtful, knew that if he lost New York and with it Pennsylvania on the home vote, the moral effect of his triumph would be broken and his power to prosecute the war and make peace would be greatly impaired. Colonel A. K. McClure was with Lincoln a good deal of the time previous to the November election, and tells this story: “His usually sad face was deeply shadowed with sorrow when I told him

3 minute read

Read Chapter

JUSTICE vs. NUMBERS.

JUSTICE vs. NUMBERS.

Lincoln was constantly bothered by members of delegations of “goody-goodies,” who knew all about running the War, but had no inside information as to what was going on. Yet, they poured out their advice in streams, until the President was heartily sick of the whole business, and wished the War would find some way to kill off these nuisances. “How many men have the Confederates now in the field?” asked one of these bores one day. “About one million two hundred thousand,” replied the President. “O

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NO FALSE PRIDE IN LINCOLN.

NO FALSE PRIDE IN LINCOLN.

General McClellan had little or no conception of the greatness of Abraham Lincoln. As time went on, he began to show plainly his contempt of the President, frequently allowing him to wait in the ante-room of his house while he transacted business with others. This discourtesy was so open that McClellan’s staff noticed it, and newspaper correspondents commented on it. The President was too keen not to see the situation, but he was strong enough to ignore it. It was a battle he wanted from McClell

1 minute read

Read Chapter

EXTRA MEMBER OF THE CABINET.

EXTRA MEMBER OF THE CABINET.

G. H. Giddings was selected as the bearer of a message from the President to Governor Sam Houston, of Texas. A conflict had arisen there between the Southern party and the Governor, Sam Houston, and on March 18 the latter had been deposed. When Mr. Lincoln heard of this, he decided to try to get a message to the Governor, offering United States support if he would put himself at the head of the Union party of the State. Mr. Giddings thus told of his interview with the President: “He said to me t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW LINCOLN WAS ABUSED.

HOW LINCOLN WAS ABUSED.

With the possible exception of President Washington, whose political opponents did not hesitate to rob the vocabulary of vulgarity and wickedness whenever they desired to vilify the Chief Magistrate, Lincoln was the most and “best” abused man who ever held office in the United States. During the first half of his initial term there was no epithet which was not applied to him. One newspaper in New York habitually characterized him as “that hideous baboon at the other end of the avenue,” and decla

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW “FIGHTING JOE” WAS APPOINTED.

HOW “FIGHTING JOE” WAS APPOINTED.

General “Joe” Hooker, the fourth commander of the noble but unfortunate Army of the Potomac, was appointed to that position by President Lincoln in January, 1863. General Scott, for some reason, disliked Hooker and would not appoint him. Hooker, after some months of discouraging waiting, decided to return to California, and called to pay his respects to President Lincoln. He was introduced as Captain Hooker, and to the surprise of the President began the following speech: “Mr. President, my frie

1 minute read

Read Chapter

KEPT HIS COURAGE UP.

KEPT HIS COURAGE UP.

The President, like old King Saul, when his term was about to expire, was in a quandary concerning a further lease of the Presidential office. He consulted again the “prophetess” of Georgetown, immortalized by his patronage. She retired to an inner chamber, and, after raising and consulting more than a dozen of distinguished spirits from Hades, she returned to the reception-parlor, where the chief magistrate awaited her, and declared that General Grant would capture Richmond, and that “Honest Ol

54 minute read

Read Chapter

A FORTUNE-TELLER’S PREDICTION.

A FORTUNE-TELLER’S PREDICTION.

Lincoln had been born and reared among people who were believers in premonitions and supernatural appearances all his life, and he once declared to his friends that he was “from boyhood superstitious.” He at one time said to Judge Arnold that “the near approach of the important events of his life were indicated by a presentiment or a strange dream, or in some other mysterious way it was impressed upon him that something important was to occur.” This was earlier than 1850. It is said that on his

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TOO MUCH POWDER.

TOO MUCH POWDER.

So great was Lincoln’s anxiety for the success of the Union arms that he considered no labor on his part too arduous, and spent much of his time in looking after even the small details. Admiral Dahlgren was sent for one morning by the President, who said “Well, captain, here’s a letter about some new powder.” After reading the letter he showed the sample of powder, and remarked that he had burned some of it, and did not believe it was a good article—here was too much residuum. “I will show you,”

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SLEEP STANDING UP.

SLEEP STANDING UP.

McClellan was a thorn in Lincoln’s side—“always up in the air,” as the President put it—and yet he hesitated to remove him. “The Young Napoleon” was a good organizer, but no fighter. Lincoln sent him everything necessary in the way of men, ammunition, artillery and equipments, but he was forever unready. Instead of making a forward movement at the time expected, he would notify the President that he must have more men. These were given him as rapidly as possible, and then would come a demand for

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ANOTHER BATTLE.

SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ANOTHER BATTLE.

General Meade, after the great victory at Gettysburg, was again face to face with General Lee shortly afterwards at Williamsport, and even the former’s warmest friends agree that he might have won in another battle, but he took no action. He was not a “pushing” man like Grant. It was this negligence on the part of Meade that lost him the rank of Lieutenant-General, conferred upon General Sheridan. A friend of Meade’s, speaking to President Lincoln and intimating that Meade should have, after tha

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN UPBRAIDED LAMON.

LINCOLN UPBRAIDED LAMON.

In one of his reminiscences of Lincoln, Ward Lamon tells how keenly the President-elect always regretted the “sneaking in act” when he made the celebrated “midnight ride,” which he took under protest, and landed him in Washington known to but a few. Lamon says: “The President was convinced that he committed a grave mistake in listening to the solicitations of a ‘professional spy’ and of friends too easily alarmed, and frequently upbraided me for having aided him to degrade himself at the very mo

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MARKED OUT A FEW WORDS.

MARKED OUT A FEW WORDS.

President Lincoln was calm and unmoved when England and France were blustering and threatening war. At Lincoln’s instance Secretary of State Seward notified the English Cabinet and the French Emperor that as ours was merely a family quarrel of a strictly private and confidential nature, there was no call for meddling; also that they would have a war on their hands in a very few minutes if they didn’t keep their hands off. Many of Seward’s notes were couched in decidedly peppery terms, some expre

49 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN SILENCES SEWARD.

LINCOLN SILENCES SEWARD.

General Farnsworth told the writer nearly twenty years ago that, being in the War Office one day, Secretary Stanton told him that at the last Cabinet meeting he had learned a lesson he should never forget, and thought he had obtained an insight into Mr. Lincoln’s wonderful power over the masses. The Secretary said a Cabinet meeting was called to consider our relations with England in regard to the Mason-Slidell affair. One after another of the Cabinet presented his views, and Mr. Seward read an

2 minute read

Read Chapter

BROUGHT THE HUSBAND UP.

BROUGHT THE HUSBAND UP.

One morning President Lincoln asked Major Eckert, on duty at the White House, “Who is that woman crying out in the hall? What is the matter with her?” Eckert said it was a woman who had come a long distance expecting to go down to the army to see her husband. An order had gone out a short time before to allow no women in the army, except in special cases. Mr. Lincoln sat moodily for a moment after hearing this story, and suddenly looking up, said, “Let’s send her down. You write the order, Major

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“You can’t carry on war without blood-letting,” said Lincoln one day.

“You can’t carry on war without blood-letting,” said Lincoln one day.

The President, although almost feminine in his kind-heartedness, knew not only this, but also that large bodies of soldiers in camp were at the mercy of diseases of every sort, the result being a heavy casualty list. Of the (estimated) half-million men of the Union armies who gave up their lives in the War of the Rebellion—1861-65—fully seventy-five per cent died of disease. The soldiers killed upon the field of battle constituted a comparatively small proportion of the casualties....

45 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S TWO DIFFICULTIES.

LINCOLN’S TWO DIFFICULTIES.

London “Punch” caricatured President Lincoln in every possible way, holding him and the Union cause up to the ridicule of the world so far as it could. On August 23rd, 1862, its cartoon entitled “Lincoln’s Two Difficulties” had the text underneath: LINCOLN: “What? No money! No men!” “Punch” desired to create the impression that the Washington Government was in a bad way, lacking both money and men for the purpose of putting down the Rebellion; that the United States Treasury was bankrupt, and th

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WHITE ELEPHANT ON HIS HANDS.

WHITE ELEPHANT ON HIS HANDS.

An old and intimate friend from Springfield called on President Lincoln and found him much depressed. The President was reclining on a sofa, but rising suddenly he said to his friend: “You know better than any man living that from my boyhood up my ambition was to be President. I am President of one part of this divided country at least; but look at me! Oh, I wish I had never been born! “I’ve a white elephant on my hands—one hard to manage. With a fire in my front and rear to contend with, the je

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHEN LINCOLN AND GRANT CLASHED.

WHEN LINCOLN AND GRANT CLASHED.

Ward Lamon, one of President Lincoln’s law partners, and his most intimate friend in Washington, has this to relate: “I am not aware that there was ever a serious discord or misunderstanding between Mr. Lincoln and General Grant, except on a single occasion. From the commencement of the struggle, Lincoln’s policy was to break the backbone of the Confederacy by depriving it of its principal means of subsistence. “Cotton was its vital aliment; deprive it of this, and the rebellion must necessarily

3 minute read

Read Chapter

WON JAMES GORDON BENNETT’S SUPPORT.

WON JAMES GORDON BENNETT’S SUPPORT.

The story as to how President Lincoln won the support of James Gordon Bennett, Sr., founder of the New York Herald, is a most interesting one. It was one of Lincoln’s shrewdest political acts, and was brought about by the tender, in an autograph letter, of the French Mission to Bennett. The New York Times was the only paper in the metropolis which supported him heartily, and President Lincoln knew how important it was to have the support of the Herald. He therefore, according to the way Colonel

2 minute read

Read Chapter

STOOD BY THE “SILENT MAN.”

STOOD BY THE “SILENT MAN.”

Once, in reply to a delegation, which visited the White House, the members of which were unusually vociferous in their demands that the Silent Man (as General Grant was called) should be relieved from duty, the President remarked: “What I want and what the people want is generals who will fight battles and win victories. “Grant has done this, and I propose to stand by him.” This declaration found its way into the newspapers, and Lincoln was upheld by the people of the North, who, also, wanted “g

56 minute read

Read Chapter

A VERY BRAINY NUBBIN.

A VERY BRAINY NUBBIN.

President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward met Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, on February 2nd, 1865, on the River Queen, at Fortress Monroe. Stephens was enveloped in overcoats and shawls, and had the appearance of a fair-sized man. He began to take off one wrapping after another, until the small, shriveled old man stood before them. Lincoln quietly said to Seward: “This is the largest shucking for so small a nubbin that I ever saw.” President Lincoln had a friend

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SENT TO HIS “FRIENDS.”

SENT TO HIS “FRIENDS.”

During the Civil War, Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, had shown himself, in the National House of Representatives and elsewhere, one of the bitterest and most outspoken of all the men of that class which insisted that “the war was a failure.” He declared that it was the design of “those in power to establish a despotism,” and that they had “no intention of restoring the Union.” He denounced the conscription which had been ordered, and declared that men who submitted to be drafted into the army

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GO DOWN WITH COLORS FLYING.

GO DOWN WITH COLORS FLYING.

In August, 1864, the President called for five hundred thousand more men. The country was much depressed. The Confederates had, in comparatively small force, only a short time before, been to the very gates of Washington, and returned almost unharmed. The Presidential election was impending. Many thought another call for men at such a time would insure, if not destroy, Mr. Lincoln’s chances for re-election. A friend said as much to him one day, after the President had told him of his purpose to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ALL WERE TRAGEDIES.

ALL WERE TRAGEDIES.

The cartoon reproduced below was published in “Harper’s Weekly” on January 31st, 1863, the explanatory text, underneath, reading in this way: MANAGER LINCOLN: “Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to say that the tragedy entitled ‘The Army of the Potomac’ has been withdrawn on account of quarrels among the leading performers, and I have substituted three new and striking farces, or burlesques, one, entitled ‘The Repulse of Vicksburg,’ by the well-known favorite, E. M. Stanton, Esq., and the others, ‘T

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“HE’S THE BEST OF US.”

“HE’S THE BEST OF US.”

Secretary of State Seward did not appreciate President Lincoln’s ability until he had been associated with him for quite a time, but he was awakened to a full realization of the greatness of the Chief Executive “all of a sudden.” Having submitted “Some Thoughts for the President’s Consideration”—a lengthy paper intended as an outline of the policy, both domestic and foreign, the Administration should pursue—he was not more surprised at the magnanimity and kindness of President Lincoln’s reply th

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW LINCOLN “COMPOSED.”

HOW LINCOLN “COMPOSED.”

Superintendent Chandler, of the Telegraph Office in the War Department, once told how President Lincoln wrote telegrams. Said he: “Mr. Lincoln frequently wrote telegrams in my office. His method of composition was slow and laborious. It was evident that he thought out what he was going to say before he touched his pen to the paper. He would sit looking out of the window, his left elbow on the table, his hand scratching his temple, his lips moving, and frequently he spoke the sentence aloud or in

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HAMLIN MIGHT DO IT.

HAMLIN MIGHT DO IT.

Several United States Senators urged President Lincoln to muster Southern slaves into the Union Army. Lincoln replied: “Gentlemen, I have put thousands of muskets into the hands of loyal citizens of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Western North Carolina. They have said they could defend themselves, if they had guns. I have given them the guns. Now, these men do not believe in mustering-in the negro. If I do it, these thousands of muskets will be turned against us. We should lose more than we should gai

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE GUN SHOT BETTER.

THE GUN SHOT BETTER.

The President took a lively interest in all new firearm improvements and inventions, and it sometimes happened that, when an inventor could get nobody else in the Government to listen to him, the President would personally test his gun. A former clerk in the Navy Department tells an incident illustrative. He had stayed late one night at his desk, when he heard some one striding up and down the hall muttering: “I do wonder if they have gone already and left the building all alone.” Looking out, t

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LENIENT WITH McCLELLAN.

LENIENT WITH McCLELLAN.

General McClellan, aside from his lack of aggressiveness, fretted the President greatly with his complaints about military matters, his obtrusive criticism regarding political matters, and especially at his insulting declaration to the Secretary of War, dated June 28th, 1862, just after his retreat to the James River. General Halleck was made Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces in July, 1862, and September 1st McClellan was called to Washington. The day before he had written his wife that “as

1 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln was averse to being put up as a military hero.

Lincoln was averse to being put up as a military hero.

When General Cass was a candidate for the Presidency his friends sought to endow him with a military reputation. Lincoln, at that time a representative in Congress, delivered a speech before the House, which, in its allusion to Mr. Cass, was exquisitely sarcastic and irresistibly humorous: “By the way, Mr. Speaker,” said Lincoln, “do you know I am a military hero? “Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk War, I fought, bled, and came away. “Speaking of General Cass’s career reminds me of my own.

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“SURRENDER NO SLAVE.”

“SURRENDER NO SLAVE.”

About March, 1862, General Benjamin F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, advised President Lincoln that he had determined to regard all slaves coming into his camps as contraband of war, and to employ their labor under fair compensation, and Secretary of War Stanton replied to him, in behalf of the President, approving his course, and saying, “You are not to interfere between master and slave on the one hand, nor surrender slaves who may come within your lines.” This was a significant miles

51 minute read

Read Chapter

CONSCRIPTING DEAD MEN.

CONSCRIPTING DEAD MEN.

Mr. Lincoln being found fault with for making another “call,” said that if the country required it, he would continue to do so until the matter stood as described by a Western provost marshal, who says: “I listened a short time since to a butternut-clad individual, who succeeded in making good his escape, expatiate most eloquently on the rigidness with which the conscription was enforced south of the Tennessee River. His response to a question propounded by a citizen ran somewhat in this wise: “

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S REJECTED MANUSCRIPT.

LINCOLN’S REJECTED MANUSCRIPT.

On February 5th, 1865, President Lincoln formulated a message to Congress, proposing the payment of $400,000,000 to the South as compensation for slaves lost by emancipation, and submitted it to his Cabinet, only to be unanimously rejected. Lincoln sadly accepted the decision, and filed away the manuscript message, together with this indorsement thereon, to which his signature was added: “February 5, 1865. To-day these papers, which explain themselves, were drawn up and submitted to the Cabinet

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AS A STORY WRITER.

LINCOLN AS A STORY WRITER.

In his youth, Mr. Lincoln once got an idea for a thrilling, romantic story. One day, in Springfield, he was sitting with his feet on the window sill, chatting with an acquaintance, when he suddenly changed the drift of the conversation by saying: “Did you ever write out a story in your mind? I did when I was a little codger. One day a wagon with a lady and two girls and a man broke down near us, and while they were fixing up, they cooked in our kitchen. The woman had books and read us stories, a

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S IDEAS ON CROSSING A RIVER WHEN HE GOT TO IT.

LINCOLN’S IDEAS ON CROSSING A RIVER WHEN HE GOT TO IT.

Lincoln’s reply to a Springfield (Illinois) clergyman, who asked him what was to be his policy on the slavery question was most apt: “Well, your question is rather a cool one, but I will answer it by telling you a story: “You know Father B., the old Methodist preacher? and you know Fox River and its freshets? “Well, once in the presence of Father B., a young Methodist was worrying about Fox River, and expressing fears that he should be prevented from fulfilling some of his appointments by a fres

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PRESIDENT NOMINATED FIRST.

PRESIDENT NOMINATED FIRST.

The day of Lincoln’s second nomination for the Presidency he forgot all about the Republican National Convention, sitting at Baltimore, and wandered over to the War Department. While there, a telegram came announcing the nomination of Johnson as Vice-President. “What,” said Lincoln to the operator, “do they nominate a Vice-President before they do a President?” “Why,” replied the astonished official, “have you not heard of your own nomination? It was sent to the White House two hours ago.” “It i

55 minute read

Read Chapter

“THEM GILLITEENS.”

“THEM GILLITEENS.”

The illustrated newspapers of the United States and England had a good deal of fun, not only with President Lincoln, but the latter’s Cabinet officers and military commanders as well. It was said by these funny publications that the President had set up a guillotine in his “back-yard,” where all those who offended were beheaded with both neatness, and despatch. “Harper’s Weekly” of January 3rd, 1863, contained a cartoon labeled “Those Guillotines; a Little Incident at the White House,” the perso

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“CONSIDER THE SYMPATHY OF LINCOLN.”

“CONSIDER THE SYMPATHY OF LINCOLN.”

Consider the sympathy of Abraham Lincoln. Do you know the story of William Scott, private? He was a boy from a Vermont farm. There had been a long march, and the night succeeding it he had stood on picket. The next day there had been another long march, and that night William Scott had volunteered to stand guard in the place of a sick comrade who had been drawn for the duty. It was too much for William Scott. He was too tired. He had been found sleeping on his beat. The army was at Chain Bridge.

8 minute read

Read Chapter

SAVED A LIFE.

SAVED A LIFE.

One day during the Black Hawk War a poor old Indian came into the camp with a paper of safe conduct from General Lewis Cass in his possession. The members of Lincoln’s company were greatly exasperated by late Indian barbarities, among them the horrible murder of a number of women and children, and were about to kill him; they said the safe-conduct paper was a forgery, and approached the old savage with muskets cocked to shoot him. Lincoln rushed forward, struck up the weapons with his hands, and

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN PLAYED BALL.

LINCOLN PLAYED BALL.

Frank P. Blair, of Chicago, tells an incident, showing Mr. Lincoln’s love for children and how thoroughly he entered into all of their sports: “During the war my grandfather, Francis P. Blair, Sr., lived at Silver Springs, north of Washington, seven miles from the White House. It was a magnificent place of four or five hundred acres, with an extensive lawn in the rear of the house. The grandchildren gathered there frequently. “There were eight or ten of us, our ages ranging from eight to twelve

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A man called upon the President and solicited a pass for Richmond.

A man called upon the President and solicited a pass for Richmond.

“Well,” said the President, “I would be very happy to oblige, if my passes were respected; but the fact is, sir, I have, within the past two years, given passes to two hundred and fifty thousand men to go to Richmond, and not one has got there yet.” The applicant quietly and respectfully withdrew on his tiptoes....

36 minute read

Read Chapter

“PUBLIC HANGMAN” FOR THE UNITED STATES.

“PUBLIC HANGMAN” FOR THE UNITED STATES.

A certain United States Senator, who believed that every man who believed in secession should be hanged, asked the President what he intended to do when the War was over. “Reconstruct the machinery of this Government,” quickly replied Lincoln. “You are certainly crazy,” was the Senator’s heated response. “You talk as if treason was not henceforth to be made odious, but that the traitors, cutthroats and authors of this War should not only go unpunished, but receive encouragement to repeat their t

2 minute read

Read Chapter

FEW, BUT BOISTEROUS.

FEW, BUT BOISTEROUS.

Lincoln was a very quiet man, and went about his business in a quiet way, making the least noise possible. He heartily disliked those boisterous people who were constantly deluging him with advice, and shouting at the tops of their voices whenever they appeared at the White House. “These noisy people create a great clamor,” said he one day, in conversation with some personal friends, “and remind me, by the way, of a good story I heard out in Illinois while I was practicing, or trying to practice

3 minute read

Read Chapter

KEEP PEGGING AWAY.

KEEP PEGGING AWAY.

Being asked one time by an “anxious” visitor as to what he would do in certain contingencies—provided the rebellion was not subdued after three or four years of effort on the part of the Government? “Oh,” replied the President, “there is no alternative but to keep ‘pegging’ away!”...

30 minute read

Read Chapter

BEWARE OF THE TAIL.

BEWARE OF THE TAIL.

After the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, Governor Morgan, of New York, was at the White House one day, when the President said: “I do not agree with those who say that slavery is dead. We are like whalers who have been long on a chase—we have at last got the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how we steer, or, with one ‘flop’ of his tail, he will yet send us all into eternity!”...

41 minute read

Read Chapter

“LINCOLN’S DREAM.”

“LINCOLN’S DREAM.”

President Lincoln was depicted as a headsman in a cartoon printed in “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” on February 14, 1863, the title of the picture being “Lincoln’s Dreams; or, There’s a Good Time Coming.” The cartoon, reproduced here, represents, on the right, the Union Generals who had been defeated by the Confederates in battle, and had suffered decapitation in consequence—McDowell, who lost at Bull Run; McClellan, who failed to take Richmond, when within twelve miles of that city and

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THERE WAS NO NEED OF A STORY.

THERE WAS NO NEED OF A STORY.

Dr. Hovey, of Dansville, New York, thought he would call and see the President. Upon arriving at the White House he found the President on horseback, ready for a start. Approaching him, he said: “President Lincoln, I thought I would call and see you before leaving the city, and hear you tell a story.” The President greeted him pleasantly, and asked where he was from. “From Western New York.” “Well, that’s a good enough country without stories,” replied the President, and off he rode....

59 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN A MAN OF SIMPLE HABITS.

LINCOLN A MAN OF SIMPLE HABITS.

Lincoln’s habits at the White House were as simple as they were at his old home in Illinois. He never alluded to himself as “President,” or as occupying “the Presidency.” His office he always designated as “the place.” “Call me Lincoln,” said he to a friend; “Mr. President” had become so very tiresome to him. “If you see a newsboy down the street, send him up this way,” said he to a passenger, as he stood waiting for the morning news at his gate. Friends cautioned him about exposing himself so o

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS LAST SPEECH.

HIS LAST SPEECH.

President Lincoln was reading the draft of a speech. Edward, the conservative but dignified butler of the White House, was seen struggling with Tad and trying to drag him back from the window from which was waving a Confederate flag, captured in some fight and given to the boy. Edward conquered and Tad, rushing to find his father, met him coming forward to make, as it proved, his last speech. The speech began with these words, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” Havi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW BEFORE.

FORGOT EVERYTHING HE KNEW BEFORE.

President Lincoln, while entertaining a few select friends, is said to have related the following anecdote of a man who knew too much: He was a careful, painstaking fellow, who always wanted to be absolutely exact, and as a result he frequently got the ill-will of his less careful superiors. During the administration of President Jackson there was a singular young gentleman employed in the Public Postoffice in Washington. His name was G.; he was from Tennessee, the son of a widow, a neighbor of

4 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN BELIEVED IN EDUCATION.

LINCOLN BELIEVED IN EDUCATION.

“That every man may receive at least a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance; even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the Scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. “For my part, I desire to see the time when e

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN ON THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.

LINCOLN ON THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.

In a speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 26th, 1857, Lincoln referred to the decision of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, in this manner: “The Chief justice does not directly assert, but plainly assumes as a fact, that the public estimate of the black man is more favorable now than it was in the days of the Revolution. “In those days, by common consent, the spread of the black man’s bondage in the new countries was prohibited; but now Co

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN MADE MANY NOTABLE SPEECHES.

LINCOLN MADE MANY NOTABLE SPEECHES.

Abraham Lincoln made many notable addresses and speeches during his career previous to the time of his election to the Presidency. However, beautiful in thought and expression as they were, they were not appreciated by those who heard and read them until after the people of the United States and the world had come to understand the man who delivered them. Lincoln had the rare and valuable faculty of putting the most sublime feeling into his speeches; and he never found it necessary to incumber h

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHAT AILED THE BOYS.

WHAT AILED THE BOYS.

Mr. Roland Diller, who was one of Mr. Lincoln’s neighbors in Springfield, tells the following: “I was called to the door one day by the cries of children in the street, and there was Mr. Lincoln, striding by with two of his boys, both of whom were wailing aloud. ‘Why, Mr. Lincoln, what’s the matter with the boys?’ I asked. “‘Just what’s the matter with the whole world,’ Lincoln replied. ‘I’ve got three walnuts, and each wants two.’”...

49 minute read

Read Chapter

TAD’S CONFEDERATE FLAG.

TAD’S CONFEDERATE FLAG.

One of the prettiest incidents in the closing days of the Civil War occurred when the troops, ‘marching home again,’ passed in grand form, if with well-worn uniforms and tattered bunting, before the White House. Naturally, an immense crowd had assembled on the streets, the lawns, porches, balconies, and windows, even those of the executive mansion itself being crowded to excess. A central figure was that of the President, Abraham Lincoln, who, with bared head, unfurled and waved our Nation’s fla

2 minute read

Read Chapter

CALLED BLESSINGS ON THE AMERICAN WOMEN.

CALLED BLESSINGS ON THE AMERICAN WOMEN.

President Lincoln attended a Ladies’ Fair for the benefit of the Union soldiers, at Washington, March 16th, 1864. In his remarks he said: “I appear to say but a word. “This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldiers. For it has been said, ‘All that a man hath will he give for his life,’ and, while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country’s cause. “Th

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S “ORDER NO. 252.”

LINCOLN’S “ORDER NO. 252.”

After the United States had enlisted former negro slaves as soldiers to fight alongside the Northern troops for the maintenance of the integrity of the Union, so great was the indignation of the Confederate Government that President Davis declared he would not recognize blacks captured in battle and in uniform as prisoners of war. This meant that he would have them returned to their previous owners, have them flogged and fined for running away from their masters, or even shot if he felt like it.

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TALKED TO THE NEGROES OF RICHMOND.

TALKED TO THE NEGROES OF RICHMOND.

The President walked through the streets of Richmond—without a guard except a few seamen—in company with his son “Tad,” and Admiral Porter, on April 4th, 1865, the day following the evacuation of the city. Colored people gathered about him on every side, eager to see and thank their liberator. Mr. Lincoln addressed the following remarks to one of these gatherings: “My poor friends, you are free—free as air. You can cast off the name of slave and trample upon it; it will come to you no more. “Lib

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” ADDED A SAVING CLAUSE.

“ABE” ADDED A SAVING CLAUSE.

Lincoln fell in love with Miss Mary S. Owens about 1833 or so, and, while she was attracted toward him she was not passionately fond of him. Lincoln’s letter of proposal of marriage, sent by him to Miss Owens, while singular, unique, and decidedly unconventional, was certainly not very ardent. He, after the fashion of the lawyer, presented the matter very cautiously, and pleaded his own cause; then presented her side of the case, advised her not “to do it,” and agreed to abide by her decision. M

54 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW “JACK” WAS “DONE UP.”

HOW “JACK” WAS “DONE UP.”

Not far from New Salem, Illinois, at a place called Clary’s Grove, a gang of frontier ruffians had established headquarters, and the champion wrestler of “The Grove” was “Jack” Armstrong, a bully of the worst type. Learning that Abraham was something of a wrestler himself, “Jack” sent him a challenge. At that time and in that community a refusal would have resulted in social and business ostracism, not to mention the stigma of cowardice which would attach. It was a great day for New Salem and “T

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ANGELS COULDN’T SWEAR IT RIGHT.

ANGELS COULDN’T SWEAR IT RIGHT.

The President was once speaking about an attack made on him by the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War for a certain alleged blunder in the Southwest—the matter involved being one which had fallen directly under the observation of the army officer to whom he was talking, who possessed official evidence completely upsetting all the conclusions of the Committee. “Might it not be well for me,” queried the officer, “to set this matter right in a letter to some paper, stating the facts

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“MUST GO, AND GO TO STAY.”

“MUST GO, AND GO TO STAY.”

Ward Hill Lamon was President Lincoln’s Cerberus, his watch dog, guardian, friend, companion and confidant. Some days before Lincoln’s departure for Washington to be inaugurated, he wrote to Lamon at Bloomington, that he desired to see him at once. He went to Springfield, and Lincoln said: “Hill, on the 11th I go to Washington, and I want you to go along with me. Our friends have already asked me to send you as Consul to Paris. You know I would cheerfully give you anything for which our friends

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN WASN’T BUYING NOMINATIONS.

LINCOLN WASN’T BUYING NOMINATIONS.

To a party who wished to be empowered to negotiate reward for promises of influence in the Chicago Convention, 1860, Mr. Lincoln replied: “No, gentlemen; I have not asked the nomination, and I will not now buy it with pledges. “If I am nominated and elected, I shall not go into the Presidency as the tool of this man or that man, or as the property of any factor or clique.”...

40 minute read

Read Chapter

HE ENVIED THE SOLDIER AT THE FRONT.

HE ENVIED THE SOLDIER AT THE FRONT.

After some very bad news had come in from the army in the field, Lincoln remarked to Schuyler Colfax: “How willingly would I exchange places to-day with the soldier who sleeps on the ground in the Army of the Potomac!”...

27 minute read

Read Chapter

DON’T TRUST TOO FAR

DON’T TRUST TOO FAR

In the campaign of 1852, Lincoln, in reply to Douglas’ speech, wherein he spoke of confidence in Providence, replied: “Let us stand by our candidate (General Scott) as faithfully as he has always stood by our country, and I much doubt if we do not perceive a slight abatement of Judge Douglas’ confidence in Providence as well as the people. I suspect that confidence is not more firmly fixed with the judge than it was with the old woman whose horse ran away with her in a buggy. She said she ‘trust

57 minute read

Read Chapter

HE’D “RISK THE DICTATORSHIP.”

HE’D “RISK THE DICTATORSHIP.”

Lincoln’s great generosity to his leaders was shown when, in January, 1863, he assigned “Fighting Joe” Hooker to the command of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker had believed in a military dictatorship, and it was an open secret that McClellan might have become such had he possessed the nerve. Lincoln, however, was not bothered by this prattle, as he did not think enough of it to relieve McClellan of his command. The President said to Hooker: “I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“MAJOR GENERAL, I RECKON.”

“MAJOR GENERAL, I RECKON.”

At one time the President had the appointment of a large additional number of brigadier and major generals. Among the immense number of applications, Mr. Lincoln came upon one wherein the claims of a certain worthy (not in the service at all), “for a generalship” were glowingly set forth. But the applicant didn’t specify whether he wanted to be brigadier or major general. The President observed this difficulty, and solved it by a lucid indorsement. The clerk, on receiving the paper again, found

50 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULD SEE THE TRACKS.

WOULD SEE THE TRACKS.

Judge Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, said that he never saw Lincoln more cheerful than on the day previous to his departure from Springfield for Washington, and Judge Gillespie, who visited him a few days earlier, found him in excellent spirits. “I told him that I believed it would do him good to get down to Washington,” said Herndon. “I know it will,” Lincoln replied. “I only wish I could have got there to lock the door before the horse was stolen. But when I get to the spot, I can find the tr

51 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” GAVE HER A “SURE TIP.”

“ABE” GAVE HER A “SURE TIP.”

If all the days Lincoln attended school were added together, they would not make a single year’s time, and he never studied grammar or geography or any of the higher branches. His first teacher in Indiana was Hazel Dorsey, who opened a school in a log schoolhouse a mile and a half from the Lincoln cabin. The building had holes for windows, which were covered over with greased paper to admit light. The roof was just high enough for a man to stand erect. It did not take long to demonstrate that “A

2 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln never forgot anyone or anything.

Lincoln never forgot anyone or anything.

At one of the afternoon receptions at the White House a stranger shook hands with him, and, as he did so, remarked casually, that he was elected to Congress about the time Mr. Lincoln’s term as representative expired, which happened many years before. “Yes,” said the President, “You are from—” (mentioning the State). “I remember reading of your election in a newspaper one morning on a steamboat going down to Mount Vernon.” At another time a gentleman addressed him, saying, “I presume, Mr. Presid

2 minute read

Read Chapter

ONLY HALF A MAN.

ONLY HALF A MAN.

As President Lincoln, arm in arm with ex-President Buchanan, entered the Capitol, and passed into the Senate Chamber, filled to overflowing with Senators, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and visitors, the contrast between the two men struck every observer. “Mr. Buchanan was so withered and bowed with age,” wrote George W. Julian, of Indiana, who was among the spectators, “that in contrast with the towering form of Mr. Lincoln he seemed little more than half a man.”...

42 minute read

Read Chapter

GRANT CONGRATULATED LINCOLN.

GRANT CONGRATULATED LINCOLN.

As soon as the result of the Presidential election of 1864 was known, General Grant telegraphed from City Point his congratulations, and added that “the election having passed off quietly... is a victory worth more to the country than a battle won.”...

25 minute read

Read Chapter

“BRUTUS AND CAESAR.”

“BRUTUS AND CAESAR.”

London “Punch” persistently maintained throughout the War for the Union that the question of what to do with the blacks was the most bothersome of all the problems President Lincoln had to solve. “Punch” thought the Rebellion had its origin in an effort to determine whether there should or should not be slavery in the United States, and was fought with this as the main end in view. “Punch” of August 15th, 1863, contained the cartoon reproduced on this page, the title being “Brutus and Caesar.” P

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW STANTON GOT INTO THE CABINET.

HOW STANTON GOT INTO THE CABINET.

President Lincoln, well aware of Stanton’s unfriendliness, was surprised when Secretary of the Treasury Chase told him that Stanton had expressed the opinion that the arrest of the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell, was legal and justified by international law. The President asked Secretary Chase to invite Stanton to the White House, and Stanton came. Mr. Lincoln thanked him for the opinion he had expressed, and asked him to put it in writing. Stanton complied, the President read it c

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” LIKE HIS FATHER.

“ABE” LIKE HIS FATHER.

“Abe” Lincoln’s father was never at loss for an answer. An old neighbor of Thomas Lincoln—“Abe’s” father—was passing the Lincoln farm one day, when he saw “Abe’s” father grubbing up some hazelnut bushes, and said to him: “Why, Grandpap, I thought you wanted to sell your farm?” “And so I do,” he replied, “but I ain’t goin’ to let my farm know it.” “‘Abe’s’ jes’ like his father,” the old ones would say....

41 minute read

Read Chapter

“NO MOON AT ALL.”

“NO MOON AT ALL.”

One of the most notable of Lincoln’s law cases was that in which he defended William D. Armstrong, charged with murder. The case was one which was watched during its progress with intense interest, and it had a most dramatic ending. The defendant was the son of Jack and Hannah Armstrong. The father was dead, but Hannah, who had been very motherly and helpful to Lincoln during his life at New Salem, was still living, and asked Lincoln to defend him. Young Armstrong had been a wild lad, and was of

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” A SUPERB MIMIC.

“ABE” A SUPERB MIMIC.

Lincoln’s reading in his early days embraced a wide range. He was particularly fond of all stories containing fun, wit and humor, and every one of these he came across he learned by heart, thus adding to his personal store. He improved as a reciter and retailer of the stories he had read and heard, and as the reciter of tales of his own invention, and he had ready and eager auditors. Judge Herndon, in his “Abraham Lincoln,” relates that as a mimic Lincoln was unequalled. An old neighbor said: “H

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHY HE WAS CALLED “HONEST ABE.”

WHY HE WAS CALLED “HONEST ABE.”

During the year Lincoln was in Denton Offutt’s store at New Salem, that gentleman, whose business was somewhat widely and unwisely spread about the country, ceased to prosper in his finances and finally failed. The store was shut up, the mill was closed, and Abraham Lincoln was out of business. The year had been one of great advance, in many respects. He had made new and valuable acquaintances, read many books, mastered the grammar of his own tongue, won multitudes of friends, and became ready f

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” NAME REMAINED ON THE SIGN.

“ABE’S” NAME REMAINED ON THE SIGN.

Enduring friendship and love of old associations were prominent characteristics of President Lincoln. When about to leave Springfield for Washington, he went to the dingy little law office which had sheltered his saddest hours. He sat down on the couch, and said to his law partner, Judge Herndon: “Billy, you and I have been together for more than twenty years, and have never passed a word. Will you let my name stay on the old sign until I come back from Washington?” The tears started to Herndon’

1 minute read

Read Chapter

VERY HOMELY AT FIRST SIGHT.

VERY HOMELY AT FIRST SIGHT.

Early in January, 1861, Colonel Alex. K. McClure, of Philadelphia, received a telegram from President-elect Lincoln, asking him (McClure) to visit him at Springfield, Illinois. Colonel McClure described his disappointment at first sight of Lincoln in these words: “I went directly from the depot to Lincoln’s house and rang the bell, which was answered by Lincoln himself opening the door. I doubt whether a wholly concealed my disappointment at meeting him. “Tall, gaunt, ungainly, ill clad, with a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE MAN TO TRUST.

THE MAN TO TRUST.

“If a man is honest in his mind,” said Lincoln one day, long before he became President, “you are pretty safe in trusting him.”...

17 minute read

Read Chapter

“WUZ GOIN’ TER BE ‘HITCHED.”’

“WUZ GOIN’ TER BE ‘HITCHED.”’

“Abe’s” nephew—or one of them—related a story in connection with Lincoln’s first love (Anne Rutledge), and his subsequent marriage to Miss Mary Todd. This nephew was a plain, every-day farmer, and thought everything of his uncle, whose greatness he quite thoroughly appreciated, although he did not pose to any extreme as the relative of a President of the United States. Said he one day, in telling his story: “Us child’en, w’en we heerd Uncle ‘Abe’ wuz a-goin’ to be married, axed Gran’ma ef Uncle

2 minute read

Read Chapter

Replying to an editorial written by Horace Greeley, the President wrote:

Replying to an editorial written by Horace Greeley, the President wrote:

“My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or to destroy slavery. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. “If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. “What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. “I shall

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE SAME OLD RUM.

THE SAME OLD RUM.

One of President Lincoln’s friends, visiting at the White House, was finding considerable fault with the constant agitation in Congress of the slavery question. He remarked that, after the adoption of the Emancipation policy, he had hoped for something new. “There was a man down in Maine,” said the President, in reply, “who kept a grocery store, and a lot of fellows used to loaf around for their toddy. He only gave ‘em New England rum, and they drank pretty considerable of it. But after awhile t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SAVED LINCOLN’S LIFE

SAVED LINCOLN’S LIFE

When Mr. Lincoln was quite a small boy he met with an accident that almost cost him his life. He was saved by Austin Gollaher, a young playmate. Mr. Gollaher lived to be more than ninety years of age, and to the day of his death related with great pride his boyhood association with Lincoln. “Yes,” Mr. Gollaher once said, “the story that I once saved Abraham Lincoln’s life is true. He and I had been going to school together for a year or more, and had become greatly attached to each other. Then s

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULD NOT RECALL A SINGLE WORD.

WOULD NOT RECALL A SINGLE WORD.

In conversation with some friends at the White House on New Year’s evening, 1863, President Lincoln said, concerning his Emancipation Proclamation: “The signature looks a little tremulous, for my hand was tired, but my resolution was firm. “I told them in September, if they did not return to their allegiance, and cease murdering our soldiers, I would strike at this pillar of their strength. “And now the promise shall be kept, and not one word of it will I ever recall.”...

51 minute read

Read Chapter

OLD BROOM BEST AFTER ALL.

OLD BROOM BEST AFTER ALL.

During the time the enemies of General Grant were making their bitterest attacks upon him, and demanding that the President remove him from command, “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” of June 13, 1863, came out with the cartoon reproduced. The text printed under the picture was to the following effect: OLD ABE: “Greeley be hanged! I want no more new brooms. I begin to think that the worst thing about my old ones was in not being handled right.” The old broom the President holds in his right

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GOD WITH A LITTLE “g.”

GOD WITH A LITTLE “g.”

These lines were found written in young Lincoln’s own hand at the bottom of a page whereon he had been ciphering. Lincoln always wrote a clear, regular “fist.” In this instance he evidently did not appreciate the sacredness of the name of the Deity, when he used a little “g.” Lincoln once said he did not remember the time when he could not write....

36 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” LOG.

“ABE’S” LOG.

It was the custom in Sangamon for the “menfolks” to gather at noon and in the evening, when resting, in a convenient lane near the mill. They had rolled out a long peeled log, on which they lounged while they whittled and talked. Lincoln had not been long in Sangamon before he joined this circle. At once he became a favorite by his jokes and good-humor. As soon as he appeared at the assembly ground the men would start him to story-telling. So irresistibly droll were his “yarns” that whenever he’

1 minute read

Read Chapter

IT WAS A FINE FIZZLE.

IT WAS A FINE FIZZLE.

President Lincoln, in company with General Grant, was inspecting the Dutch Gap Canal at City Point. “Grant, do you know what this reminds me of? Out in Springfield, Ill., there was a blacksmith who, not having much to do, took a piece of soft iron and attempted to weld it into an agricultural implement, but discovered that the iron would not hold out; then he concluded it would make a claw hammer; but having too much iron, attempted to make an ax, but decided after working awhile that there was

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A TEETOTALER.

A TEETOTALER.

When Lincoln was in the Black Hawk War as captain, the volunteer soldiers drank in with delight the jests and stories of the tall captain. Aesop’s Fables were given a new dress, and the tales of the wild adventures that he had brought from Kentucky and Indiana were many, but his inspiration was never stimulated by recourse to the whisky jug. When his grateful and delighted auditors pressed this on him he had one reply: “Thank you, I never drink it.”...

43 minute read

Read Chapter

NOT TO “OPEN SHOP” THERE.

NOT TO “OPEN SHOP” THERE.

President Lincoln was passing down Pennsylvania avenue in Washington one day, when a man came running after him, hailed him, and thrust a bundle of papers in his hands. It angered him not a little, and he pitched the papers back, saying, “I’m not going to open shop here.”...

31 minute read

Read Chapter

WE HAVE LIBERTY OF ALL KINDS.

WE HAVE LIBERTY OF ALL KINDS.

Lincoln delivered a remarkable speech at Springfield, Illinois, when but twenty-eight years of age, upon the liberty possessed by the people of the United States. In part, he said: “In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American people, find our account running under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. “We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of cli

8 minute read

Read Chapter

TOM CORWINS’S LATEST STORY.

TOM CORWINS’S LATEST STORY.

One of Mr. Lincoln’s warm friends was Dr. Robert Boal, of Lacon, Illinois. Telling of a visit he paid to the White House soon after Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, he said: “I found him the same Lincoln as a struggling lawyer and politician that I did in Washington as President of the United States, yet there was a dignity and self-possession about him in his high official authority. I paid him a second call in the evening. He had thrown off his reserve somewhat, and would walk up and down the room

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“CATCH ‘EM AND CHEAT ‘EM.”

“CATCH ‘EM AND CHEAT ‘EM.”

The lawyers on the circuit traveled by Lincoln got together one night and tried him on the charge of accepting fees which tended to lower the established rates. It was the understood rule that a lawyer should accept all the client could be induced to pay. The tribunal was known as “The Ogmathorial Court.” Ward Lamon, his law partner at the time, tells about it: “Lincoln was found guilty and fined for his awful crime against the pockets of his brethren of the bar. The fine he paid with great good

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A JURYMAN’S SCORN.

A JURYMAN’S SCORN.

Lincoln had assisted in the prosecution of a man who had robbed his neighbor’s hen roosts. Jogging home along the highway with the foreman of the jury that had convicted the hen stealer, he was complimented by Lincoln on the zeal and ability of the prosecution, and remarked: “Why, when the country was young, and I was stronger than I am now, I didn’t mind packing off a sheep now and again, but stealing hens!” The good man’s scorn could not find words to express his opinion of a man who would ste

47 minute read

Read Chapter

HE “BROKE” TO WIN.

HE “BROKE” TO WIN.

A lawyer, who was a stranger to Mr. Lincoln, once expressed to General Linder the opinion that Mr. Lincoln’s practice of telling stories to the jury was a waste of time. “Don’t lay that flattering unction to your soul,” Linder answered; “Lincoln is like Tansey’s horse, he ‘breaks to win.’”...

31 minute read

Read Chapter

WANTED HER CHILDREN BACK.

WANTED HER CHILDREN BACK.

On the 3rd of January, 1863, “Harper’s Weekly” appeared with a cartoon representing Columbia indignantly demanding of President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton that they restore to her those of her sons killed in battle. Below the picture is the reading matter: COLUMBIA: “Where are my 15,000 sons—murdered at Fredericksburg?” LINCOLN: “This reminds me of a little joke—” COLUMBIA: “Go tell your joke at Springfield!!” The battle of Fredericksburg was fought on December 13th, 1862, between Gene

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SIX FEET FOUR AT SEVENTEEN.

SIX FEET FOUR AT SEVENTEEN.

“Abe’s” school teacher, Crawford, endeavored to teach his pupils some of the manners of the “polite society” of Indiana—1823 or so. This was a part of his system: One of the pupils would retire, and then come in as a stranger, and another pupil would have to introduce him to all the members of the school n what was considered “good manners.” As “Abe” wore a linsey-woolsey shirt, buckskin breeches which were too short and very tight, and low shoes, and was tall and awkward, he no doubt created co

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HAD RESPECT FOR THE EGGS.

HAD RESPECT FOR THE EGGS.

Early in 1831, “Abe” was one of the guests of honor at a boat-launching, he and two others having built the craft. The affair was a notable one, people being present from the territory surrounding. A large party came from Springfield with an ample supply of whisky, to give the boat and its builders a send-off. It was a sort of bipartisan mass-meeting, but there was one prevailing spirit, that born of rye and corn. Speeches were made in the best of feeling, some in favor of Andrew Jackson and som

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW WAS THE MILK UPSET?

HOW WAS THE MILK UPSET?

William G. Greene, an old-time friend of Lincoln, was a student at Illinois College, and one summer brought home with him, on a vacation, Richard Yates (afterwards Governor of Illinois) and some other boys, and, in order to entertain them, took them up to see Lincoln. He found him in his usual position and at his usual occupation—flat on his back, on a cellar door, reading a newspaper. This was the manner in which a President of the United States and a Governor of Illinois became acquainted with

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“PULLED FODDER” FOR A BOOK.

“PULLED FODDER” FOR A BOOK.

Once “Abe” borrowed Weems’ “Life of Washington” from Joseph Crawford, a neighbor. “Abe” devoured it; read it and re-read it, and when asleep put it by him between the logs of the wall. One night a rain storm wet it through and ruined it. “I’ve no money,” said “Abe,” when reporting the disaster to Crawford, “but I’ll work it out.” “All right,” was Crawford’s response; “you pull fodder for three days, an’ the book is your’n.” “Abe” pulled the fodder, but he never forgave Crawford for putting so mu

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PRAISES HIS RIVAL FOR OFFICE.

PRAISES HIS RIVAL FOR OFFICE.

When Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for the Legislature, it was the practice at that date in Illinois for two rival candidates to travel over the district together. The custom led to much good-natured raillery between them; and in such contests Lincoln was rarely, if ever, worsted. He could even turn the generosity of a rival to account by his whimsical treatment. On one occasion, says Mr. Weir, a former resident of Sangamon county, he had driven out from Springfield in company with a political opp

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ONE THING “ABE” DIDN’T LOVE.

ONE THING “ABE” DIDN’T LOVE.

Lincoln admitted that he was not particularly energetic when it came to real hard work. “My father,” said he one day, “taught me how to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it. I’d rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh—anything but work.”...

32 minute read

Read Chapter

THE MODESTY OF GENIUS.

THE MODESTY OF GENIUS.

The opening of the year 1860 found Mr. Lincoln’s name freely mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for the Presidency. To be classed with Seward, Chase, McLean, and other celebrities, was enough to stimulate any Illinois lawyer’s pride; but in Mr. Lincoln’s case, if it had any such effect, he was most artful in concealing it. Now and then, some ardent friend, an editor, for example, would run his name up to the masthead, but in all cases he discouraged the attempt. “In regard to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHY SHE MARRIED HIM.

WHY SHE MARRIED HIM.

There was a “social” at Lincoln’s house in Springfield, and “Abe” introduced his wife to Ward Lamon, his law partner. Lamon tells the story in these words: “After introducing me to Mrs. Lincoln, he left us in conversation. I remarked to her that her husband was a great favorite in the eastern part of the State, where I had been stopping. “‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘he is a great favorite everywhere. He is to be President of the United States some day; if I had not thought so I never would have married

1 minute read

Read Chapter

(Written By Abraham Lincoln.)

(Written By Abraham Lincoln.)

The following article on Niagara Falls, in Mr. Lincoln’s handwriting, was found among his papers after his death: “Niagara Falls! By what mysterious power is it that millions and millions are drawn from all parts of the world to gaze upon Niagara Falls? There is no mystery about the thing itself. Every effect is just as any intelligent man, knowing the causes, would anticipate without seeing it. If the water moving onward in a great river reaches a point where there is a perpendicular jog of a h

3 minute read

Read Chapter

MADE IT HOT FOR LINCOLN.

MADE IT HOT FOR LINCOLN.

A lady relative, who lived for two years with the Lincolns, said that Mr. Lincoln was in the habit of lying on the floor with the back of a chair for a pillow when he read. One evening, when in this position in the hall, a knock was heard at the front door, and, although in his shirtsleeves, he answered the call. Two ladies were at the door, whom he invited into the parlor, notifying them in his open, familiar way, that he would “trot the women folks out.” Mrs. Lincoln, from an adjoining room, w

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULDN’T HOLD TITLE AGAINST HIM.

WOULDN’T HOLD TITLE AGAINST HIM.

During the rebellion the Austrian Minister to the United States Government introduced to the President a count, a subject of the Austrian government, who was desirous of obtaining a position in the American army. Being introduced by the accredited Minister of Austria he required no further recommendation to secure the appointment; but, fearing that his importance might not be fully appreciated by the republican President, the count was particular in impressing the fact upon him that he bore that

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ONLY ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

ONLY ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

A young man living in Kentucky had been enticed into the rebel army. After a few months he became disgusted, and managed to make his way back home. Soon after his arrival, the Union officer in command of the military stationed in the town had him arrested as a rebel spy, and, after a military trial he was condemned to be hanged. President Lincoln was seen by one of his friends from Kentucky, who explained his errand and asked for mercy. “Oh, yes, I understand; some one has been crying, and worke

1 minute read

Read Chapter

COULDN’T LOCATE HIS BIRTHPLACE.

COULDN’T LOCATE HIS BIRTHPLACE.

While the celebrated artist, Hicks, was engaged in painting Mr. Lincoln’s portrait, just after the former’s first nomination for the Presidency, he asked the great statesman if he could point out the precise spot where he was born. Lincoln thought the matter over for a day or two, and then gave the artist the following memorandum: “Springfield, Ill., June 14, 1860 “I was born February 12, 1809, in then Hardin county, Kentucky, at a point within the now county of Larue, a mile or a mile and a hal

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“SAMBO” WAS “AFEARED.”

“SAMBO” WAS “AFEARED.”

In his message to Congress in December, 1864, just after his re-election, President Lincoln, in his message of December 6th, let himself out, in plain, unmistakable terms, to the effect that the freedmen should never be placed in bondage again. “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” of December 24th, 1864, printed the cartoon we herewith reproduce, the text underneath running in this way: UNCLE ABE: “Sambo, you are not handsome, any more than myself, but as to sending you back to your old master

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WHEN MONEY MIGHT BE USED.

WHEN MONEY MIGHT BE USED.

Some Lincoln enthusiast in Kansas, with much more pretensions than power, wrote him in March, 1860 proposing to furnish a Lincoln delegation from that State to the Chicago Convention, and suggesting that Lincoln should pay the legitimate expenses of organizing, electing, and taking to the convention the promised Lincoln delegates. To this Lincoln replied that “in the main, the use of money is wrong, but for certain objects in a political contest the use of some is both right and indispensable.”

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” WAS NO BEAUTY.

“ABE” WAS NO BEAUTY.

Lincoln’s military service in the Back Hawk war had increased his popularity at New Salem, and he was put up as a candidate for the Legislature. A. Y. Ellis describes his personal appearance at this time as follows: “He wore a mixed jean coat, claw-hammer style, short in the sleeves and bob-tailed; in fact, it was so short in the tail that he could not sit on it; flax and tow linen pantaloons and a straw hat. I think he wore a vest, but do not remember how it looked; he wore pot-metal boots.”...

57 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln’s great love for children easily won their confidence.

Lincoln’s great love for children easily won their confidence.

A little girl, who had been told that the President was very homely, was taken by her father to see the President at the White House. Lincoln took her upon his knee and chatted with her for a moment in his merry way, when she turned to her father and exclaimed: “Oh, Pa! he isn’t ugly at all; he’s just beautiful!”...

37 minute read

Read Chapter

BIG ENOUGH HOG FOR HIM.

BIG ENOUGH HOG FOR HIM.

To a curiosity-seeker who desired a permit to pass the lines to visit the field of Bull Run, after the first battle, Lincoln made the following reply: “A man in Cortlandt county raised a porker of such unusual size that strangers went out of their way to see it. “One of them the other day met the old gentleman and inquired about the animal. “‘Wall, yes,’ the old fellow said, ‘I’ve got such a critter, mi’ty big un; but I guess I’ll have to charge you about a shillin’ for lookin’ at him.’ “The str

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE” OFFERS A SPEECH FOR SOMETHING TO EAT.

“ABE” OFFERS A SPEECH FOR SOMETHING TO EAT.

When Lincoln’s special train from Springfield to Washington reached the Illinois State line, there was a stop for dinner. There was such a crowd that Lincoln could scarcely reach the dining-room. “Gentlemen,” said he, as he surveyed the crowd, “if you will make me a little path, so that I can get through and get something to eat, I will make you a speech when I get back.”...

38 minute read

Read Chapter

THEY UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.

THEY UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.

When complaints were made to President Lincoln by victims of Secretary of War Stanton’s harshness, rudeness, and refusal to be obliging—particularly in cases where Secretary Stanton had refused to honor Lincoln’s passes through the lines—the President would often remark to this effect “I cannot always be sure that permits given by me ought to be granted. There is an understanding between myself and Stanton that when I send a request to him which cannot consistently be granted, he is to refuse to

45 minute read

Read Chapter

FEW FENCE RAILS LEFT.

FEW FENCE RAILS LEFT.

“There won’t be a tar barrel left in Illinois to-night,” said Senator Stephen A. Douglas, in Washington, to his Senatorial friends, who asked him, when the news of the nomination of Lincoln reached them, “Who is this man Lincoln, anyhow?” Douglas was right. Not only the tar barrels, but half the fences of the State of Illinois went up in the fire of rejoicing....

37 minute read

Read Chapter

THE “GREAT SNOW” OF 1830-31.

THE “GREAT SNOW” OF 1830-31.

In explanation of Lincoln’s great popularity, D. W. Bartlett, in his “Life and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln,” published in 1860 makes this statement of “Abe’s” efficient service to his neighbors in the “Great Snow” of 1830-31: “The deep snow which occurred in 1830-31 was one of the chief troubles endured by the early settlers of central and southern Illinois. Its consequences lasted through several years. The people were ill-prepared to meet it, as the weather had been mild and pleasant—unprecede

2 minute read

Read Chapter

CREDITOR PAID DEBTORS DEBT.

CREDITOR PAID DEBTORS DEBT.

A certain rich man in Springfield, Illinois, sued a poor attorney for $2.50, and Lincoln was asked to prosecute the case. Lincoln urged the creditor to let the matter drop, adding, “You can make nothing out of him, and it will cost you a good deal more than the debt to bring suit.” The creditor was still determined to have his way, and threatened to seek some other attorney. Lincoln then said, “Well, if you are determined that suit should be brought, I will bring it; but my charge will be $10.”

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HELPED OUT THE SOLDIERS.

HELPED OUT THE SOLDIERS.

Judge Thomas B. Bryan, of Chicago, a member of the Union Defense Committee during the War, related the following concerning the original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation: “I asked Mr. Lincoln for the original draft of the Proclamation,” said Judge Bryan, “for the benefit of our Sanitary Fair, in 1865. He sent it and accompanied it with a note in which he said: “‘I had intended to keep this paper, but if it will help the soldiers, I give it to you.’ “The paper was put up at auction and broug

1 minute read

Read Chapter

EVERY FELLOW FOR HIMSELF.

EVERY FELLOW FOR HIMSELF.

An elegantly dressed young Virginian assured Lincoln that he had done a great deal of hard manual labor in his time. Much amused at this solemn declaration, Lincoln said: “Oh, yes; you Virginians shed barrels of perspiration while standing off at a distance and superintending the work your slaves do for you. It is different with us. Here it is every fellow for himself, or he doesn’t get there.”...

40 minute read

Read Chapter

“BUTCHER-KNIFE BOYS” AT THE POLLS.

“BUTCHER-KNIFE BOYS” AT THE POLLS.

When young Lincoln had fully demonstrated that he was the champion wrestler in the country surrounding New Salem, the men of “de gang” at Clary’s Grove, whose leader “Abe” had downed, were his sworn political friends and allies. Their work at the polls was remarkably effective. When the “Butcherknife boys,” the “huge-pawed boys,” and the “half-horse-half-alligator men” declared for a candidate the latter was never defeated....

39 minute read

Read Chapter

NO “SECOND COMING” FOR SPRINGFIELD.

NO “SECOND COMING” FOR SPRINGFIELD.

Soon after the opening of Congress in 1861, Mr. Shannon, from California, made the customary call at the White House. In the conversation that ensued, Mr Shannon said: “Mr. President, I met an old friend of yours in California last summer, a Mr. Campbell, who had a good deal to say of your Springfield life.” “Ah!” returned Mr. Lincoln, “I am glad to hear of him. Campbell used to be a dry fellow in those days,” he continued. “For a time he was Secretary of State. One day during the legislative va

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW HE WON A FRIEND.

HOW HE WON A FRIEND.

J. S. Moulton, of Chicago, a master in chancery and influential in public affairs, looked upon the candidacy of Mr. Lincoln for President as something in the nature of a joke. He did not rate the Illinois man in the same class with the giants of the East. In fact he had expressed himself as by no means friendly to the Lincoln cause. Still he had been a good friend to Lincoln and had often met him when the Springfield lawyer came to Chicago. Mr. Lincoln heard of Moulton’s attitude, but did not se

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NEVER SUED A CLIENT.

NEVER SUED A CLIENT.

If a client did not pay, Lincoln did not believe in suing for the fee. When a fee was paid him his custom was to divide the money into two equal parts, put one part into his pocket, and the other into an envelope labeled “Herndon’s share.”...

27 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LINCOLN HOUSEHOLD GOODS.

THE LINCOLN HOUSEHOLD GOODS.

It is recorded that when “Abe” was born, the household goods of his father consisted of a few cooking utensils, a little bedding, some carpenter tools, and four hundred gallons of the fierce product of the mountain still....

24 minute read

Read Chapter

RUNNING THE MACHINE.

RUNNING THE MACHINE.

One of the cartoon-posters issued by the Democratic National Campaign Committee in the fall of 1864 is given here. It had the legend, “Running the Machine,” printed beneath; the “machine” was Secretary Chase’s “Greenback Mill,” and the mill was turning out paper money by the million to satisfy the demands of greedy contractors. “Uncle Abe” is pictured as about to tell one of his funny stories, of which the scene “reminds” him; Secretary of War Stanton is receiving a message from the front, descr

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WAS “BOSS” WHEN NECESSARY.

WAS “BOSS” WHEN NECESSARY.

Lincoln was the actual head of the administration, and whenever he chose to do so he controlled Secretary of War Stanton as well as the other Cabinet ministers. Secretary Stanton on one occasion said: “Now, Mr. President, those are the facts and you must see that your order cannot be executed.” Lincoln replied in a somewhat positive tone: “Mr. Secretary, I reckon you’ll have to execute the order.” Stanton replied with vigor: “Mr. President, I cannot do it. This order is an improper one, and I ca

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“RATHER STARVE THAN SWINDLE.”

“RATHER STARVE THAN SWINDLE.”

Ward Lamon, once Lincoln’s law partner, relates a story which places Lincoln’s high sense of honor in a prominent light. In a certain case, Lincoln and Lamon being retained by a gentleman named Scott, Lamon put the fee at $250, and Scott agreed to pay it. Says Lamon: “Scott expected a contest, but, to his surprise, the case was tried inside of twenty minutes; our success was complete. Scott was satisfied, and cheerfully paid over the money to me inside the bar, Lincoln looking on. Scott then wen

3 minute read

Read Chapter

DON’T AIM TOO HIGH.

DON’T AIM TOO HIGH.

“Billy, don’t shoot too high—aim lower, and the common people will understand you,” Lincoln once said to a brother lawyer. “They are the ones you want to reach—at least, they are the ones you ought to reach. “The educated and refined people will understand you, anyway. If you aim too high, your idea will go over the heads of the masses, and only hit those who need no hitting.”...

41 minute read

Read Chapter

NOT MUCH AT RAIL-SPLITTING.

NOT MUCH AT RAIL-SPLITTING.

One who afterward became one of Lincoln’s most devoted friends and adherents tells this story regarding the manner in which Lincoln received him when they met for the first time: “After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery,—my swallow-tail coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an astonishing outfit for a young limb of the law in that settlement), Lincoln said: “‘Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a glance that you were a Virginian; but I don’t think you would

1 minute read

Read Chapter

July 27th, 1863, Lincoln wrote the Postmaster-General:

July 27th, 1863, Lincoln wrote the Postmaster-General:

“Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to you in two cases of postmasterships, sought for widows whose husbands have fallen in the battles of this war. “These cases, occurring on the same day, brought me to reflect more attentively than what I had before done as to what is fairly due from us here in dispensing of patronage toward the men who, by fighting our battles, bear the chief burden of saving our country. “My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifications being equal, they have t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT SCARED.

THE PRESIDENT WAS NOT SCARED.

When told how uneasy all had been at his going to Richmond, Lincoln replied: “Why, if any one else had been President and had gone to Richmond, I would have been alarmed; but I was not scared about myself a bit.”...

27 minute read

Read Chapter

JEFF. DAVIS’ REPLY TO LINCOLN.

JEFF. DAVIS’ REPLY TO LINCOLN.

On the 20th of July, 1864, Horace Greeley crossed into Canada to confer with refugee rebels at Niagara. He bore with him this paper from the President: “To Whom It May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war with the United States, will be received and considered by the executive government of the United States, and will be me

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN WAS a GENTLEMAN.

LINCOLN WAS a GENTLEMAN.

Lincoln was compelled to contend with the results of the ill-judged zeal of politicians, who forced ahead his flatboat and rail-splitting record, with the homely surroundings of his earlier days, and thus, obscured for the time, the other fact that, always having the heart, he had long since acquired the manners of a true gentleman. So, too, did he suffer from Eastern censors, who did not take those surroundings into account, and allowed nothing for his originality of character. One of these cri

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS POOR RELATIONS.

HIS POOR RELATIONS.

One of the most beautiful traits of Mr. Lincoln’s character was his considerate regard for the poor and obscure relatives he had left, plodding along in their humble ways of life. Wherever upon his circuit he found them, he always went to their dwellings, ate with them, and, when convenient, made their houses his home. He never assumed in their presence the slightest superiority to them. He gave them money when they needed it and he had it. Countless times he was known to leave his companions at

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DESERTER’S SINS WASHED OUT IN BLOOD.

DESERTER’S SINS WASHED OUT IN BLOOD.

This was the reply made by Lincoln to an application for the pardon of a soldier who had shown himself brave in war, had been severely wounded, but afterward deserted: “Did you say he was once badly wounded? “Then, as the Scriptures say that in the shedding of blood is the remission of sins, I guess we’ll have to let him off this time.”...

47 minute read

Read Chapter

President Lincoln and Postmaster-General Blair were talking of the war.

President Lincoln and Postmaster-General Blair were talking of the war.

“Blair,” said the President, “did you ever know that fright has sometimes proven a cure for boils?” “No, Mr. President, how is that?” “I’ll tell you. Not long ago when a colonel, with his cavalry, was at the front, and the Rebs were making things rather lively for us, the colonel was ordered out to a reconnaissance. He was troubled at the time with a big boil where it made horseback riding decidedly uncomfortable. He finally dismounted and ordered the troops forward without him. Soon he was star

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PAY FOR EVERYTHING.

PAY FOR EVERYTHING.

When President Lincoln issued a military order, it was usually expressive, as the following shows: “War Department, Washington, July 22, ‘62. “First: Ordered that military commanders within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, in an orderly manner, seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands, for supplies, or for other military purposes; and that while prope

1 minute read

Read Chapter

BASHFUL WITH LADIES.

BASHFUL WITH LADIES.

Judge David Davis, Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and United States Senator from Illinois, was one of Lincoln’s most intimate friends. He told this story on “Abe”: “Lincoln was very bashful when in the presence of ladies. I remember once we were invited to take tea at a friend’s house, and while in the parlor I was called to the front gate to see someone. “When I returned, Lincoln, who had undertaken to entertain the ladies, was twisting and squirming in his chair, and as bashful as

49 minute read

Read Chapter

SAW HUMOR IN EVERYTHING.

SAW HUMOR IN EVERYTHING.

There was much that was irritating and uncomfortable in the circuit-riding of the Illinois court, but there was more which was amusing to a temperament like Lincoln’s. The freedom, the long days in the open air, the unexpected if trivial adventures, the meeting with wayfarers and settlers—all was an entertainment to him. He found humor and human interest on the route where his companions saw nothing but commonplaces. “He saw the ludicrous in an assemblage of fowls,” says H. C. Whitney, one of hi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SPECIFIC FOR FOREIGN “RASH.”

SPECIFIC FOR FOREIGN “RASH.”

It was in the latter part of 1863 that Russia offered its friendship to the United States, and sent a strong fleet of warships, together with munitions of war, to this country to be used in any way the President might see fit. Russia was not friendly to England and France, these nations having defeated her in the Crimea a few years before. As Great Britain and the Emperor of the French were continually bothering him, President Lincoln used Russia’s kindly feeling and action as a means of keeping

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FAVORED THE OTHER SIDE.

FAVORED THE OTHER SIDE.

Lincoln was candor itself when conducting his side of a case in court. General Mason Brayman tells this story as an illustration: “It is well understood by the profession that lawyers do not read authors favoring the opposite side. I once heard Mr. Lincoln, in the Supreme Court of Illinois, reading from a reported case some strong points in favor of his argument. Reading a little too far, and before becoming aware of it, plunged into an authority against himself. “Pausing a moment, he drew up hi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AND THE “SHOW”

LINCOLN AND THE “SHOW”

Lincoln was fond of going all by himself to any little show or concert. He would often slip away from his fellow-lawyers and spend the entire evening at a little magic lantern show intended for children. A traveling concert company was always sure of drawing Lincoln. A Mrs. Hillis, a member of the “Newhall Family,” and a good singer, was the only woman who ever seemed to exhibit any liking for him—so Lincoln said. He attended a negro-minstrel show in Chicago, once, where he heard Dixie sung. It

49 minute read

Read Chapter

“MIXING” AND “MINGLING.”

“MIXING” AND “MINGLING.”

An Eastern newspaper writer told how Lincoln, after his first nomination, received callers, the majority of them at his law office: “While talking to two or three gentlemen and standing up, a very hard looking customer rolled in and tumbled into the only vacant chair and the one lately occupied by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln’s keen eye took in the fact, but gave no evidence of the notice. “Turning around at last he spoke to the odd specimen, holding out his hand at such a distance that our friend h

1 minute read

Read Chapter

TOOK PART OF THE BLAME.

TOOK PART OF THE BLAME.

Among the lawyers who traveled the circuit with Lincoln was Usher F. Linder, whose daughter, Rose Linder Wilkinson, has left many Lincoln reminiscences. “One case in which Mr. Lincoln was interested concerned a member of my own family,” said Mrs. Wilkinson. “My brother, Dan, in the heat of a quarrel, shot a young man named Ben Boyle and was arrested. My father was seriously ill with inflammatory rheumatism at the time, and could scarcely move hand or foot. He certainly could not defend Dan. I wa

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THOUGHT OF LEARNING A TRADE.

THOUGHT OF LEARNING A TRADE.

Lincoln at one time thought seriously of learning the blacksmith’s trade. He was without means, and felt the immediate necessity of undertaking some business that would give him bread. While entertaining this project an event occurred which, in his undetermined state of mind, seemed to open a way to success in another quarter. Reuben Radford, keeper of a small store in the village of New Salem, had incurred the displeasure of the “Clary Grove Boys,” who exercised their “regulating” prerogatives

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN DEFENDS FIFTEEN MRS. NATIONS.

LINCOLN DEFENDS FIFTEEN MRS. NATIONS.

When Lincoln’s sympathies were enlisted in any cause, he worked like a giant to win. At one time (about 1855) he was in attendance upon court at the little town of Clinton, Ill., and one of the cases on the docket was where fifteen women from a neighboring village were defendants, they having been indicted for trespass. Their offense, as duly set forth in the indictment, was that of swooping down upon one Tanner, the keeper of a saloon in the village, and knocking in the heads of his barrels. Li

3 minute read

Read Chapter

AVOIDED EVEN APPEARANCE OF EVIL

AVOIDED EVEN APPEARANCE OF EVIL

Frank W. Tracy, President of the First National Bank of Springfield, tells a story illustrative of two traits in Mr. Lincoln’s character. Shortly after the National banking law went into effect the First National of Springield was chartered, and Mr. Tracy wrote to Mr. Lincoln, with whom he was well acquainted in a business way, and tendered him an opportunity to subscribe for some of the stock. In reply to the kindly offer Mr. Lincoln wrote, thanking Mr. Tracy, but at the same time declining to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

Lincoln wrote a letter on October 2d, 1862, in which he observed:

Lincoln wrote a letter on October 2d, 1862, in which he observed:

“I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than it is, but it does not admit of holidays.”...

18 minute read

Read Chapter

“NEUTRALITY.”

“NEUTRALITY.”

Old John Bull got himself into a precious fine scrape when he went so far as to “play double” with the North, as well as the South, during the great American Civil War. In its issue of November 14th, 1863, London “Punch” printed a rather clever cartoon illustrating the predicament Bull had created for himself. John is being lectured by Mrs. North and Mrs. South—both good talkers and eminently able to hold their own in either social conversation, parliamentary debate or political argument—but he

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DAYS OF GLADNESS PAST.

DAYS OF GLADNESS PAST.

After the war was well on, a patriot woman of the West urged President Lincoln to make hospitals at the North where the sick from the Army of the Mississippi could revive in a more bracing air. Among other reasons, she said, feelingly: “If you grant my petition, you will be glad as long as you live.” With a look of sadness impossible to describe, the President said: “I shall never be glad any more.”...

43 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULDN’T TAKE THE MONEY.

WOULDN’T TAKE THE MONEY.

Lincoln always regarded himself as the friend and protector of unfortunate clients, and such he would never press for pay for his services. A client named Cogdal was unfortunate in business, and gave a note in settlement of legal fees. Soon afterward he met with an accident by which he lost a hand. Meeting Lincoln some time after on the steps of the State-House, the kind lawyer asked him how he was getting along. “Badly enough,” replied Cogdal; “I am both broken up in business and crippled.” The

1 minute read

Read Chapter

(Dispatch to General Grant, August 17th, 1864.)

(Dispatch to General Grant, August 17th, 1864.)

“I have seen your dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. “Hold on with a bulldog grip.”...

21 minute read

Read Chapter

CHEWED THE CUD IN SOLITUDE.

CHEWED THE CUD IN SOLITUDE.

As a student (if such a term could be applied to Lincoln), one who did not know him might have called him indolent. He would pick up a book and run rapidly over the pages, pausing here and there. At the end of an hour—never more than two or three hours—he would close the book, stretch himself out on the office lounge, and then, with hands under his head and eyes shut, would digest the mental food he had just taken....

43 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” YANKEE INGENUITY.

“ABE’S” YANKEE INGENUITY.

War Governor Richard Yates (he was elected Governor of Illinois in 1860, when Lincoln was first elected President) told a good story at Springfield (Ill.) about Lincoln. One day the latter was in the Sangamon River with his trousers rolled up five feet—more or less—trying to pilot a flatboat over a mill-dam. The boat was so full of water that it was hard to manage. Lincoln got the prow over, and then, instead of waiting to bail the water out, bored a hole through the projecting part and let it r

58 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN PAID HOMAGE TO WASHINGTON.

LINCOLN PAID HOMAGE TO WASHINGTON.

The Martyr President thus spoke of Washington in the course of an address: “Washington is the mightiest name on earth—long since the mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. “On that name a eulogy is expected. It cannot be. “To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is alike impossible. “Let none attempt it. “In solemn awe pronounce the name, and, in its naked, deathless splendor, leave it shining on.”...

52 minute read

Read Chapter

STIRRED EVEN THE REPORTERS.

STIRRED EVEN THE REPORTERS.

Lincoln’s influence upon his audiences was wonderful. He could sway people at will, and nothing better illustrates his extraordinary power than he manner in which he stirred up the newspaper reporters by his Bloomingon speech. Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, told the story: “It was my journalistic duty, though a delegate to the convention, to make a ‘longhand’ report of the speeches delivered for the Tribune. I did make a few paragraphs of what Lincoln said in the first eight or te

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHEN “ABE” CAME IN.

WHEN “ABE” CAME IN.

When “Abe” was fourteen years of age, John Hanks journeyed from Kentucky to Indiana and lived with the Lincolns. He described “Abe’s” habits thus: “When Lincoln and I returned to the house from work, he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn-bread, take down a book, sit down on a chair, cock his legs up as high as his head, and read. “He and I worked barefooted, grubbed it, plowed, mowed, cradled together; plowed corn, gathered it, and shucked corn. ‘Abe’ read constantly when he had an

49 minute read

Read Chapter

ETERNAL FIDELITY TO THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY.

ETERNAL FIDELITY TO THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY.

During the Harrison Presidential campaign of 1840, Lincoln said, in a speech at Springfield, Illinois: “Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was last to desert, but that I never deserted her. “I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of political corruption in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velo

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE’S” “DEFALCATIONS.”

“ABE’S” “DEFALCATIONS.”

Lincoln could not rest for as instant under the consciousness that, even unwittingly, he had defrauded anybody. On one occasion, while clerking in Offutt’s store, at New Salem, he sold a woman a little bale of goods, amounting, by the reckoning, to $2.20. He received the money, and the woman went away. On adding the items of the bill again to make himself sure of correctness, he found that he had taken six and a quarter cents too much. It was night, and, closing and locking the store, he started

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HE WASN’T GUILELESS.

HE WASN’T GUILELESS.

Leonard Swett, of Chicago, whose counsels were doubtless among the most welcome to Lincoln, in summing up Lincoln’s character, said: “From the commencement of his life to its close I have sometimes doubted whether he ever asked anybody’s advice about anything. He would listen to everybody; he would hear everybody; but he rarely, if ever, asked for opinions. “As a politician and as President he arrived at all his conclusions from his own reflections, and when his conclusions were once formed he n

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SWEET, BUT MILD REVENGE.

SWEET, BUT MILD REVENGE.

When the United States found that a war with Black Hawk could not be dodged, Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, issued a call for volunteers, and among the companies that immediately responded was one from Menard county, Illinois. Many of these volunteers were from New Salem and Clary’s Grove, and Lincoln, being out of business, was the first to enlist. The company being full, the men held a meeting at Richland for the election of officers. Lincoln had won many hearts, and they told him that he mus

2 minute read

Read Chapter

DIDN’T TRUST THE COURT.

DIDN’T TRUST THE COURT.

In one of his many stories of Lincoln, his law partner, W. H. Herndon, told this as illustrating Lincoln’s shrewdness as a lawyer: “I was with Lincoln once and listened to an oral argument by him in which he rehearsed an extended history of the law. It was a carefully prepared and masterly discourse, but, as I thought, entirely useless. After he was through and we were walking home, I asked him why he went so far back in the history of the law. I presumed the court knew enough history. “‘That’s

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HANDSOMEST MAN ON EARTH.

HANDSOMEST MAN ON EARTH.

One day Thaddeus Stevens called at the White House with an elderly woman, whose son had been in the army, but for some offense had been court-martialed and sentenced to death. There were some extenuating circumstances, and after a full hearing the President turned to Stevens and said: “Mr. Stevens, do you think this is a case which will warrant my interference?” “With my knowledge of the facts and the parties,” was the reply, “I should have no hesitation in granting a pardon.” “Then,” returned M

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THAT COON CAME DOWN.

THAT COON CAME DOWN.

“Lincoln’s Last Warning” was the title of a cartoon which appeared in “Harper’s Weekly,” on October 11, 1862. Under the picture was the text: “Now if you don’t come down I’ll cut the tree from under you.” This illustration was peculiarly apt, as, on the 1st of January, 1863, President Lincoln issued his great Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the United States forever free. “Old Abe” was a handy man with the axe, he having split many thousands of rails with its keen edge. As the

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WROTE “PIECES” WHEN VERY YOUNG.

WROTE “PIECES” WHEN VERY YOUNG.

At fifteen years of age “Abe” wrote “pieces,” or compositions, and even some doggerel rhyme, which he recited, to the great amusement of his playmates. One of his first compositions was against cruelty to animals. He was very much annoyed and pained at the conduct of the boys, who were in the habit of catching terrapins and putting coals of fire on their backs, which thoroughly disgusted Abraham. “He would chide us,” said “Nat” Grigsby, “tell us it was wrong, and would write against it.” When ei

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH.”

“TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH.”

John A. Logan and a friend of Illinois called upon Lincoln at Willard’s Hotel, Washington, February 23d, the morning of his arrival, and urged a vigorous, firm policy. Patiently listening, Lincoln replied seriously but cheerfully: “As the country has placed me at the helm of the ship, I’ll try to steer her through.”...

36 minute read

Read Chapter

GRAND, GLOOMY AND PECULIAR.

GRAND, GLOOMY AND PECULIAR.

Lincoln was a marked and peculiar young man. People talked about him. His studious habits, his greed for information, his thorough mastery of the difficulties of every new position in which he was placed, his intelligence on all matters of public concern, his unwearying good-nature, his skill in telling a story, his great athletic power, his quaint, odd ways, his uncouth appearance—all tended to bring him in sharp contrast with the dull mediocrity by which he was surrounded. Denton Offutt, his o

55 minute read

Read Chapter

ON THE WAY TO GETTYSBURG.

ON THE WAY TO GETTYSBURG.

When Lincoln was on his way to the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, an old gentleman told him that his only son fell on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and he was going to look at the spot. Mr. Lincoln replied: “You have been called on to make a terrible sacrifice for the Union, and a visit to that spot, I fear, will open your wounds afresh. “But, oh, my dear sir, if we had reached the end of such sacrifices, and had nothing left for us to do but to place garlands on the graves of those who have

1 minute read

Read Chapter

STOOD UP THE LONGEST.

STOOD UP THE LONGEST.

There was a rough gallantry among the young people; and Lincoln’s old comrades and friends in Indiana have left many tales of how he “went to see the girls,” of how he brought in the biggest back-log and made the brightest fire; of how the young people, sitting around it, watching the way the sparks flew, told their fortunes. He helped pare apples, shell corn and crack nuts. He took the girls to meeting and to spelling school, though he was not often allowed to take part in the spelling-match, f

59 minute read

Read Chapter

A MORTIFYING EXPERIENCE.

A MORTIFYING EXPERIENCE.

A lady reader or elocutionist came to Springfield in 1857. A large crowd greeted her. Among other things she recited “Nothing to Wear,” a piece in which is described the perplexities that beset “Miss Flora McFlimsy” in her efforts to appear fashionable. In the midst of one stanza in which no effort is made to say anything particularly amusing, and during the reading of which the audience manifested the most respectful silence and attention, some one in the rear seats burst out with a loud, coars

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NO HALFWAY BUSINESS.

NO HALFWAY BUSINESS.

Soon after Mr. Lincoln began to practice law at Springfield, he was engaged in a criminal case in which it was thought there was little chance of success. Throwing all his powers into it, he came off victorious, and promptly received for his services five hundred dollars. A legal friend, calling upon him the next morning, found him sitting before a table, upon which his money was spread out, counting it over and over. “Look here, Judge,” said he. “See what a heap of money I’ve got from this case

2 minute read

Read Chapter

DISCOURAGED LITIGATION.

DISCOURAGED LITIGATION.

Lincoln believed in preventing unnecessary litigation, and carried out this in his practice. “Who was your guardian?” he asked a young man who came to him to complain that a part of the property left him had been withheld. “Enoch Kingsbury,” replied the young man. “I know Mr. Kingsbury,” said Lincoln, “and he is not the man to have cheated you out of a cent, and I can’t take the case, and advise you to drop the subject.” And it was dropped....

46 minute read

Read Chapter

GOING HOME TO GET READY.

GOING HOME TO GET READY.

Edwin M. Stanton was one of the attorneys in the great “reaper patent” case heard in Cincinnati in 1855, Lincoln also having been retained. The latter was rather anxious to deliver the argument on the general propositions of law applicable to the case, but it being decided to have Mr. Stanton do this, the Westerner made no complaint. Speaking of Stanton’s argument and the view Lincoln took of it, Ralph Emerson, a young lawyer who was present at the trial, said: “The final summing up on our side

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“THE ‘RAIL-SPUTTER’ REPAIRING THE UNION.”

“THE ‘RAIL-SPUTTER’ REPAIRING THE UNION.”

The cartoon given here in facsimile was one of the posters which decorated the picturesque Presidential campaign of 1864, and assisted in making the period previous to the vote-casting a lively and memorable one. This poster was a lithograph, and, as the title, “The Rail-Splitter at Work Repairing the Union,” would indicate, the President is using the Vice-Presidential candidate on the Republican National ticket (Andrew Johnson) as an aid in the work. Johnson was, in early life, a tailor, and he

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“FIND OUT FOR YOURSELVES.”

“FIND OUT FOR YOURSELVES.”

“Several of us lawyers,” remarked one of his colleagues, “in the eastern end of the circuit, annoyed Lincoln once while he was holding court for Davis by attempting to defend against a note to which there were many makers. We had no legal, but a good moral defense, but what we wanted most of all was to stave it off till the next term of court by one expedient or another. “We bothered ‘the court’ about it till late on Saturday, the day of adjournment. He adjourned for supper with nothing left but

2 minute read

Read Chapter

ROUGH ON THE NEGRO.

ROUGH ON THE NEGRO.

Mr. Lincoln, one day, was talking with the Rev. Dr. Sunderland about the Emancipation Proclamation and the future of the negro. Suddenly a ripple of amusement broke the solemn tone of his voice. “As for the negroes, Doctor, and what is going to become of them: I told Ben Wade the other day, that it made me think of a story I read in one of my first books, ‘Aesop’s Fables.’ It was an old edition, and had curious rough wood cuts, one of which showed three white men scrubbing a negro in a potash ke

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CHALLENGED ALL COMERS.

CHALLENGED ALL COMERS.

Personal encounters were of frequent occurrence in Gentryville in early days, and the prestige of having thrashed an opponent gave the victor marked social distinction. Green B. Taylor, with whom “Abe” worked the greater part of one winter on a farm, furnished an account of the noted fight between John Johnston, “Abe’s” stepbrother, and William Grigsby, in which stirring drama “Abe” himself played an important role before the curtain was rung down. Taylor’s father was the second for Johnston, an

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“GOVERNMENT RESTS IN PUBLIC OPINION.”

“GOVERNMENT RESTS IN PUBLIC OPINION.”

Lincoln delivered a speech at a Republican banquet at Chicago, December 10th, 1856, just after the Presidential campaign of that year, in which he said: “Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion can change the government practically just so much. “Public opinion, on any subject, always has a ‘central idea,’ from which all its minor thoughts radiate. “That ‘central idea’ in our political public opinion at the beginning was, and until recently has continued to be,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HURRY MIGHT MAKE TROUBLE.

HURRY MIGHT MAKE TROUBLE.

Up to the very last moment of the life of the Confederacy, the London “Punch” had its fling at the United States. In a cartoon, printed February 18th, 1865, labeled “The Threatening Notice,” “Punch” intimates that Uncle Sam is in somewhat of a hurry to serve notice on John Bull regarding the contentions in connection with the northern border of the United States. Lincoln, however, as attorney for his revered Uncle, advises caution. Accordingly, he tells his Uncle, according to the text under the

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SAW HIMSELF DEAD.

SAW HIMSELF DEAD.

This story cannot be repeated in Lincoln’s own language, although he told it often enough to intimate friends; but, as it was never taken down by a stenographer in the martyred President’s exact words, the reader must accept a simple narration of the strange occurrence. It was not long after the first nomination of Lincoln for the Presidency, when he saw, or imagined he saw, the startling apparition. One day, feeling weary, he threw himself upon a lounge in one of the rooms of his house at Sprin

17 minute read

Read Chapter

EVERY LITTLE HELPED.

EVERY LITTLE HELPED.

As the time drew near at which Mr. Lincoln said he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation, some clergymen, who feared the President might change his mind, called on him to urge him to keep his promise. “We were ushered into the Cabinet room,” says Dr. Sunderland. “It was very dim, but one gas jet burning. As we entered, Mr. Lincoln was standing at the farther end of the long table, which filled the center of the room. As I stood by the door, I am so very short, that I was obliged to look up t

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ABOUT TO LAY DOWN THE BURDEN.

ABOUT TO LAY DOWN THE BURDEN.

President Lincoln (at times) said he felt sure his life would end with the War. A correspondent of a Boston paper had an interview with him in July, 1864, and wrote regarding it: “The President told me he was certain he should not outlast the rebellion. As will be remembered, there was dissension then among the Republican leaders. Many of his best friends had deserted him, and were talking of an opposition convention to nominate another candidate, and universal gloom was among the people. “The N

2 minute read

Read Chapter

Horace Greeley said, some time after the death of President Lincoln:

Horace Greeley said, some time after the death of President Lincoln:

“After the Civil War began, Lincoln’s tenacity of purpose paralleled his former immobility; I believe he would have been nearly the last, if not the very last, man in America to recognize the Southern Confederacy had its armies been triumphant. He would have preferred death.”...

29 minute read

Read Chapter

“PUNCH” AND HIS LITTLE PICTURE.

“PUNCH” AND HIS LITTLE PICTURE.

London “Punch” was not satisfied with anything President Lincoln did. On December 3rd, 1864, after Mr. Lincoln’s re-election to the Presidency, a cartoon appeared in one of the pages of that genial publication, the reproduction being printed here, labeled “The Federal Phoenix.” It attracted great attention at the time, and was particularly pleasing to the enemies of the United States, as it showed Lincoln as the Phoenix arising from the ashes of the Federal Constitution, the Public Credit, the F

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FASCINATED By THE WONDERFUL

FASCINATED By THE WONDERFUL

Lincoln was particularly fascinated by the wonderful happenings recorded in history. He loved to read of those mighty events which had been foretold, and often brooded upon these subjects. His early convictions upon occult matters led him to read all books tending’ to strengthen these convictions. The following lines, in Byron’s “Dream,” were frequently quoted by him: Those with whom he was associated in his early youth and young manhood, and with whom he was always in cordial sympathy, were tho

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“WHY DON’T THEY COME!”

“WHY DON’T THEY COME!”

The suspense of the days when the capital was isolated, the expected troops not arriving, and an hourly attack feared, wore on Mr. Lincoln greatly. “I begin to believe,” he said bitterly, one day, to some Massachusetts soldiers, “that there is no North. The Seventh Regiment is a myth. Rhode Island is another. You are the only real thing.” And again, after pacing the floor of his deserted office for a half-hour, he was heard to exclaim to himself, in an anguished tone: “Why don’t they come! Why d

51 minute read

Read Chapter

GRANT’S BRAND OF WHISKEY.

GRANT’S BRAND OF WHISKEY.

Lincoln was not a man of impulse, and did nothing upon the spur of the moment; action with him was the result of deliberation and study. He took nothing for granted; he judged men by their performances and not their speech. If a general lost battles, Lincoln lost confidence in him; if a commander was successful, Lincoln put him where he would be of the most service to the country. “Grant is a drunkard,” asserted powerful and influential politicians to the President at the White House time after

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS FINANCIAL STANDING.

HIS FINANCIAL STANDING.

A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln, some years before he became President, for information as to the financial standing of one of his neighbors. Mr. Lincoln replied: “I am well acquainted with Mr.—— and know his circumstances. First of all, he has a wife and baby; together they ought to be worth $50,000 to any man. Secondly, he has an office in which there is a table worth $1.50 and three chairs worth, say, $1. Last of all, there is in one corner a large rat hole, which will bear looking

51 minute read

Read Chapter

THE DANDY AND THE BOYS.

THE DANDY AND THE BOYS.

President Lincoln appointed as consul to a South American country a young man from Ohio who was a dandy. A wag met the new appointee on his way to the White House to thank the President. He was dressed in the most extravagant style. The wag horrified him by telling him that the country to which he was assigned was noted chiefly for the bugs that abounded there and made life unbearable. “They’ll bore a hole clean through you before a week has passed,” was the comforting assurance of the wag as th

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“SOME UGLY OLD LAWYER.”

“SOME UGLY OLD LAWYER.”

A. W. Swan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, told this story on Lincoln, being an eyewitness of the scene: “One day President Lincoln was met in the park between the White House and the War Department by an irate private soldier, who was swearing in a high key, cursing the Government from the President down. Mr. Lincoln paused and asked him what was the matter. ‘Matter enough,’ was the reply. ‘I want my money. I have been discharged here, and can’t get my pay.’ Mr. Lincoln asked if he had his papers,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

GOOD MEMORY OF NAMES.

GOOD MEMORY OF NAMES.

The following story illustrates the power of Mr. Lincoln’s memory of names and faces. When he was a comparatively young man, and a candidate for the Illinois Legislature, he made a personal canvass of the district. While “swinging around the circle” he stopped one day and took dinner with a farmer in Sangamon county. Years afterward, when Mr. Lincoln had become President, a soldier came to call on him at the White House. At the first glance the Chief Executive said: “Yes, I remember; you used to

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SETTLED OUT OF COURT.

SETTLED OUT OF COURT.

When Abe Lincoln used to be drifting around the country, practicing law in Fulton and Menard counties, Illinois, an old fellow met him going to Lewiston, riding a horse which, while it was a serviceable enough animal, was not of the kind to be truthfully called a fine saddler. It was a weatherbeaten nag, patient and plodding, and it toiled along with Abe—and Abe’s books, tucked away in saddle-bags, lay heavy on the horse’s flank. “Hello, Uncle Tommy,” said Abe. “Hello, Abe,” responded Uncle Tomm

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FIVE POINTS SUNDAY SCHOOL.

THE FIVE POINTS SUNDAY SCHOOL.

When Mr. Lincoln visited New York in 1860, he felt a great interest in many of the institutions for reforming criminals and saving the young from a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unattended, the Five Points House of Industry, and the superintendent of the Sabbath school there gave the following account of the event: “One Sunday morning I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man enter the room and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, and his countenance exp

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SENTINEL OBEYED ORDERS.

SENTINEL OBEYED ORDERS.

A slight variation of the traditional sentry story is related by C. C. Buel. It was a cold, blusterous winter night. Says Mr. Buel: “Mr. Lincoln emerged from the front door, his lank figure bent over as he drew tightly about his shoulders the shawl which he employed for such protection; for he was on his way to the War Department, at the west corner of the grounds, where in times of battle he was wont to get the midnight dispatches from the field. As the blast struck him he thought of the numbne

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHY LINCOLN GROWED WHISKERS.

WHY LINCOLN GROWED WHISKERS.

Perhaps the majority of people in the United States don’t know why Lincoln “growed” whiskers after his first nomination for the Presidency. Before that time his face was clean shaven. In the beautiful village of Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, there lived, in 1860, little Grace Bedell. During the campaign of that year she saw a portrait of Lincoln, for whom she felt the love and reverence that was common in Republican families, and his smooth, homely face rather disappointed her. She sai

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AS A DANCER.

LINCOLN AS A DANCER.

Lincoln made his first appearance in society when he was first sent to Springfield, Ill., as a member of the State Legislature. It was not an imposing figure which he cut in a ballroom, but still he was occasionally to be found there. Miss Mary Todd, who afterward became his wife, was the magnet which drew the tall, awkward young man from his den. One evening Lincoln approached Miss Todd, and said, in his peculiar idiom: “Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you the worst way.” The young woman

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SIMPLY PRACTICAL HUMANITY.

SIMPLY PRACTICAL HUMANITY.

An instance of young Lincoln’s practical humanity at an early period of his life is recorded in this way: One evening, while returning from a “raising” in his wide neighborhood, with a number of companions, he discovered a stray horse, with saddle and bridle upon him. The horse was recognized as belonging to a man who was accustomed to get drunk, and it was suspected at once that he was not far off. A short search only was necessary to confirm the belief. The poor drunkard was found in a perfect

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HAPPY FIGURES OF SPEECH.

HAPPY FIGURES OF SPEECH.

On one occasion, exasperated at the discrepancy between the aggregate of troops forwarded to McClellan and the number that same general reported as having received, Lincoln exclaimed: “Sending men to that army is like shoveling fleas across a barnyard—half of them never get there.” To a politician who had criticised his course, he wrote: “Would you have me drop the War where it is, or would you prosecute it in future with elder stalk squirts charged with rosewater?” When, on his first arrival in

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A FEW “RHYTHMIC SHOTS.”

A FEW “RHYTHMIC SHOTS.”

Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln’s time in Washington, accompanied the President everywhere. He was a good singer, and, when Lincoln was in one of his melancholy moods, would “fire a few rhythmic shots” at the President to cheer the latter. Lincoln keenly relished nonsense in the shape of witty or comic ditties. A parody of “A Life on the Ocean Wave” was always pleasing to him: Lincoln could not control his laughter when he heard songs of this sort. He was fond of n

1 minute read

Read Chapter

OLD MAN GLENN’S RELIGION.

OLD MAN GLENN’S RELIGION.

Mr. Lincoln once remarked to a friend that his religion was like that of an old man named Glenn, in Indiana, whom he heard speak at a church meeting, and who said: “When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad; and that’s my religion.” Mrs. Lincoln herself has said that Mr. Lincoln had no faith—no faith, in the usual acceptance of those words. “He never joined a church; but still, as I believe, he was a religious man by nature. He first seemed to think about the subject when our boy Wi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LAST ACTS OF MERCY.

LAST ACTS OF MERCY.

During the afternoon preceding his assassination the President signed a pardon for a soldier sentenced to be shot for desertion, remarking as he did so, “Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than under ground.” He also approved an application for the discharge, on taking the oath of allegiance, of a rebel prisoner, in whose petition he wrote, “Let it be done.” This act of mercy was his last official order....

53 minute read

Read Chapter

JUST LIKE SEWARD.

JUST LIKE SEWARD.

The first corps of the army commanded by General Reynolds was once reviewed by the President on a beautiful plain at the north of Potomac Creek, about eight miles from Hooker’s headquarters. The party rode thither in an ambulance over a rough corduroy road, and as they passed over some of the more difficult portions of the jolting way the ambulance driver, who sat well in front, occasionally let fly a volley of suppressed oaths at his wild team of six mules. Finally, Mr. Lincoln, leaning forward

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A CHEERFUL PROSPECT.

A CHEERFUL PROSPECT.

The first night after the departure of President-elect Lincoln from Springfield, on his way to Washington, was spent in Indianapolis. Governor Yates, O. H. Browning, Jesse K. Dubois, O. M. Hatch, Josiah Allen, of Indiana, and others, after taking leave of Mr. Lincoln to return to their respective homes, took Ward Lamon into a room, locked the door, and proceeded in the most solemn and impressive manner to instruct him as to his duties as the special guardian of Mr. Lincoln’s person during the re

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THOUGHT GOD WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM.

THOUGHT GOD WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM.

Professor Jonathan Baldwin Turner was one of the few men to whom Mr. Lincoln confided his intention to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation. Mr. Lincoln told his Illinois friend of the visit of a delegation to him who claimed to have a message from God that the War would not be successful without the freeing of the negroes, to whom Mr. Lincoln replied: “Is it not a little strange that He should tell this to you, who have so little to do with it, and should not have told me, who has a great dea

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AND A BIBLE HERO.

LINCOLN AND A BIBLE HERO.

A writer who heard Mr. Lincoln’s famous speech delivered in New York after his nomination for President has left this record of the event: “When Lincoln rose to speak, I was greatly disappointed. He was tall, tall, oh, so tall, and so angular and awkward that I had for an instant a feeling of pity for so ungainly a man. He began in a low tone of voice, as if he were used to speaking out of doors and was afraid of speaking too loud. “He said ‘Mr. Cheerman,’ instead of ‘Mr. Chairman,’ and employed

2 minute read

Read Chapter

BOY WAS CARED FOR.

BOY WAS CARED FOR.

President Lincoln one day noticed a small, pale, delicate-looking boy, about thirteen years old, among the number in the White House antechamber. The President saw him standing there, looking so feeble and faint, and said: “Come here, my boy, and tell me what you want.” The boy advanced, placed his hand on the arm of the President’s chair, and, with a bowed head and timid accents, said: “Mr. President, I have been a drummer boy in a regiment for two years, and my colonel got angry with me and tu

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE JURY ACQUITTED HIM

THE JURY ACQUITTED HIM

One of the most noted murder cases in which Lincoln defended the accused was tried in August, 1859. The victim, Crafton, was a student in his own law office, the defendant, “Peachy” Harrison, was a grandson of Rev. Peter Cartwright; both were connected with the best families in the county; they were brothers-in-law, and had always been friends. Senator John M. Palmer and General John A. McClelland were on the side of the prosecution. Among those who represented the defendant were Lincoln and Sen

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TOOK NOTHING BUT MONEY.

TOOK NOTHING BUT MONEY.

During the War Congress appropriated $10,000 to be expended by the President in defending United States Marshals in cases of arrests and seizures where the legality of their actions was tested in the courts. Previously the Marshals sought the assistance of the Attorney-General in defending them, but when they found that the President had a fund for that purpose they sought to control the money. In speaking of these Marshals one day, Mr. Lincoln said: “They are like a man in Illinois, whose cabin

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NAUGHTY BOY HAD TO TAKE HIS MEDICINE.

NAUGHTY BOY HAD TO TAKE HIS MEDICINE.

The resistance to the military draft of 1863 by the City of New York, the result of which was the killing of several thousand persons, was illustrated on August 29th, 1863, by “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” over the title of “The Naughty Boy, Gotham, Who Would Not Take the Draft.” Beneath was also the text: MAMMY LINCOLN: “There now, you bad boy, acting that way, when your little sister Penn (State of Pennsylvania) takes hers like a lady!” Horatio Seymour was then Governor of New York,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WOULD BLOW THEM TO H—-.

WOULD BLOW THEM TO H—-.

Mr. Lincoln had advised Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, commanding the United States Army, of the threats of violence on inauguration day, 1861. General Scott was sick in bed at Washington when Adjutant-General Thomas Mather, of Illinois, called upon him in President-elect Lincoln’s behalf, and the veteran commander was much wrought up. Said he to General Mather: “Present my compliments to Mr. Lincoln when you return to Springfield, and tell him I expect him to come on to Washington as soon a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“YANKEE” GOODNESS OF HEART.

“YANKEE” GOODNESS OF HEART.

One day, when the President was with the troops who were fighting at the front, the wounded, both Union and Confederate, began to pour in. As one stretcher was passing Lincoln, he heard the voice of a lad calling to his mother in agonizing tones. His great heart filled. He forgot the crisis of the hour. Stopping the carriers, he knelt, and bending over him, asked: “What can I do for you, my poor child?” “Oh, you will do nothing for me,” he replied. “You are a Yankee. I cannot hope that my messag

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WALKED AS HE TALKED.

WALKED AS HE TALKED.

When Mr. Lincoln made his famous humorous speech in Congress ridiculing General Cass, he began to speak from notes, but, as he warmed up, he left his desk and his notes, to stride down the alley toward the Speaker’s chair. Occasionally, as he would complete a sentence amid shouts of laughter, he would return up the alley to his desk, consult his notes, take a sip of water and start off again. Mr. Lincoln received many congratulations at the close, Democrats joining the Whigs in their complimenta

1 minute read

Read Chapter

The Virginia (Ill.) Enquirer, of March 1, 1879, tells this story:

The Virginia (Ill.) Enquirer, of March 1, 1879, tells this story:

“John McNamer was buried last Sunday, near Petersburg, Menard county. A long while ago he was Assessor and Treasurer of the County for several successive terms. Mr. McNamer was an early settler in that section, and, before the town of Petersburg was laid out, in business in Old Salem, a village that existed many years ago two miles south of the present site of Petersburg. “‘Abe’ Lincoln was then postmaster of the place and sold whisky to its inhabitants. There are old-timers yet living in Menard

4 minute read

Read Chapter

A “FREE FOR ALL.”

A “FREE FOR ALL.”

Lincoln made a political speech at Pappsville, Illinois, when a candidate for the Legislature the first time. A free-for-all fight began soon after the opening of the meeting, and Lincoln, noticing one of his friends about to succumb to the energetic attack of an infuriated ruffian, edged his way through the crowd, and, seizing the bully by the neck and the seat of his trousers, threw him, by means of his strength and long arms, as one witness stoutly insists, “twelve feet away.” Returning to th

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THREE INFERNAL BORES.

THREE INFERNAL BORES.

One day, when President Lincoln was alone and busily engaged on an important subject, involving vexation and anxiety, he was disturbed by the unwarranted intrusion of three men, who, without apology, proceeded to lay their claim before him. The spokesman of the three reminded the President that they were the owners of some torpedo or other warlike invention which, if the government would only adopt it, would soon crush the rebellion. “Now,” said the spokesman, “we have been here to see you time

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S MEN WERE “HUSTLERS.”

LINCOLN’S MEN WERE “HUSTLERS.”

In the Chicago Convention of 1860 the fight for Seward was maintained with desperate resolve until the final ballot was taken. Thurlow Weed was the Seward leader, and he was simply incomparable as a master in handling a convention. With him were Governor Morgan, Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, with William M. Evarts as chairman of the New York delegation, whose speech nominating Seward was the most impressive utterance of his life. The Bates men (Bates was afterwards Lincoln’s Attorney-

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A SLOW HORSE.

A SLOW HORSE.

On one occasion when Mr. Lincoln was going to attend a political convention one of his rivals, a liveryman, provided him with a slow horse, hoping that he would not reach his destination in time. Mr. Lincoln got there, however, and when he returned with the horse he said: “You keep this horse for funerals, don’t you?” “Oh, no,” replied the liveryman. “Well, I’m glad of that, for if you did you’d never get a corpse to the grave in time for the resurrection.”...

42 minute read

Read Chapter

DODGING “BROWSING PRESIDENTS.”

DODGING “BROWSING PRESIDENTS.”

General McClellan, after being put in command of the Army, resented any “interference” by the President. Lincoln, in his anxiety to know the details of the work in the army, went frequently to McClellan’s headquarters. That the President had a serious purpose in these visits McClellan did not see. “I enclose a card just received from ‘A. Lincoln,’” he wrote to his wife one day; “it shows too much deference to be seen outside.” In another letter to Mrs. McClellan he spoke of being “interrupted” b

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A GREENBACK LEGEND.

A GREENBACK LEGEND.

At a Cabinet meeting once, the advisability of putting a legend on greenbacks similar to the In God We Trust legend on the silver coins was discussed, and the President was asked what his view was. He replied: “If you are going to put a legend on the greenback, I would suggest that of Peter and Paul: ‘Silver and gold we have not, but what we have we’ll give you.’”...

37 minute read

Read Chapter

GOD’S BEST GIFT TO MAN.

GOD’S BEST GIFT TO MAN.

One of Mr. Lincoln’s notable religious utterances was his reply to a deputation of colored people at Baltimore who presented him a Bible. He said: “In regard to the great book, I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for this book we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable to man are contained in it.”...

45 minute read

Read Chapter

SCALPING IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

SCALPING IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

When Lincoln was President he told this story of the Black Hawk War: The only time he ever saw blood in this campaign, was one morning when, marching up a little valley that makes into the Rock River bottom, to reinforce a squad of outposts that were thought to be in danger, they came upon the tent occupied by the other party just at sunrise. The men had neglected to place any guard at night, and had been slaughtered in their sleep. As the reinforcing party came up the slope on which the camp ha

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MATRIMONIAL ADVICE.

MATRIMONIAL ADVICE.

For a while during the Civil War, General Fremont was without a command. One day in discussing Fremont’s case with George W. Julian, President Lincoln said he did not know where to place him, and that it reminds him of the old man who advised his son to take a wife, to which the young man responded: “All right; whose wife shall I take?”...

33 minute read

Read Chapter

OWED LOTS OF MONEY.

OWED LOTS OF MONEY.

On April 14, 1865, a few hours previous to his assassination, President Lincoln sent a message by Congressman Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President during General Grant’s first term, to the miners in the Rocky Mountains and the regions bounded by the Pacific ocean, in which he said: “Now that the Rebellion is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly the amount of our National debt, the more gold and silver we mine, we make the payment of that debt so much easier. “Now I am going to encourage that in ever

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ON THE LORD’S SIDE.”

“ON THE LORD’S SIDE.”

President Lincoln made a significant remark to a clergyman in the early days of the War. “Let us have faith, Mr. President,” said the minister, “that the Lord is on our side in this great struggle.” Mr. Lincoln quietly answered: “I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation may be on the Lord’s side.”...

47 minute read

Read Chapter

WANTED TO BE NEAR “ABE.”

WANTED TO BE NEAR “ABE.”

It was Lincoln’s custom to hold an informal reception once a week, each caller taking his turn. Upon one of these eventful days an old friend from Illinois stood in line for almost an hour. At last he was so near the President his voice could reach him, and, calling out to his old associate, he startled every one by exclaiming, “Hallo, ‘Abe’; how are ye? I’m in line and hev come for an orfice, too.” Lincoln singled out the man with the stentorian voice, and recognizing a particularly old friend,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

GOT HIS FOOT IN IT.

GOT HIS FOOT IN IT.

William H. Seward, idol of the Republicans of the East, six months after Lincoln had made his “Divided House” speech, delivered an address at Rochester, New York, containing this famous sentence: “It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must, and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation.” Seward, who had simply followed in Lincoln’s steps, was defeated for the Presidenti

1 minute read

Read Chapter

SAVED BY A LETTER.

SAVED BY A LETTER.

The chief interest of the Illinois campaign of 1843 lay in the race for Congress in the Capital district, which was between Hardin—fiery, eloquent, and impetuous Democrat—and Lincoln—plain, practical, and ennobled Whig. The world knows the result. Lincoln was elected. It is not so much his election as the manner in which he secured his nomination with which we have to deal. Before that ever-memorable spring Lincoln vacillated between the courts of Springfield, rated as a plain, honest, logical W

5 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS FAVORITE POEM.

HIS FAVORITE POEM.

Mr. Lincoln’s favorite poem was “Oh! Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?” written by William Knox, a Scotchman, although Mr. Lincoln never knew the author’s name. He once said to a friend: “This poem has been a great favorite with me for years. It was first shown to me, when a young man, by a friend. I afterward saw it and cut it from a newspaper and learned it by heart. I would give a great deal to know who wrote it, but I have never been able to ascertain.”...

46 minute read

Read Chapter

FIVE-LEGGED CALF.

FIVE-LEGGED CALF.

President Lincoln had great doubt as to his right to emancipate the slaves under the War power. In discussing the question, he used to like the case to that of the boy who, when asked how many legs his calf would have if he called its tail a leg, replied, “five,” to which the prompt response was made that calling the tail a leg would not make it a leg....

35 minute read

Read Chapter

A STAGE-COACH STORY.

A STAGE-COACH STORY.

The following is told by Thomas H. Nelson, of Terre Haute, Indiana, who was appointed minister to Chili by Lincoln: Judge Abram Hammond, afterwards Governor of Indiana, and myself arranged to go from Terre Haute to Indianapolis in a stage-coach. As we stepped in we discovered that the entire back seat was occupied by a long, lank individual, whose head seemed to protrude from one end of the coach and his feet from the other. He was the sole occupant, and was sleeping soundly. Hammond slapped him

3 minute read

Read Chapter

THE “400” GATHERED THERE.

THE “400” GATHERED THERE.

Lincoln had periods while “clerking” in the New Salem grocery store during which there was nothing for him to do, and was therefore in circumstances that made laziness almost inevitable. Had people come to him for goods, they would have found him willing to sell them. He sold all that he could, doubtless. The store soon became the social center of the village. If the people did not care (or were unable) to buy goods, they liked to go where they could talk with their neighbors and listen to stori

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ONLY LEVEL-HEADED MEN WANTED.

ONLY LEVEL-HEADED MEN WANTED.

Lincoln wanted men of level heads for important commands. Not infrequently he gave his generals advice. He appreciated Hooker’s bravery, dash and activity, but was fearful of the results of what he denominated “swashing around.” This was one of his telegrams to Hooker: “And now, beware of rashness; beware of rashness, but, with energy and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories.”...

41 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS FAITH IN THE MONITOR.

HIS FAITH IN THE MONITOR.

When the Confederate iron-clad Merrimac was sent against the Union vessels in Hampton Roads President Lincoln expressed his belief in the Monitor to Captain Fox, the adviser of Captain Ericsson, who constructed the Monitor. “We have three of the most effective vessels in Hampton Roads, and any number of small craft that will hang on the stern of the Merrimac like small dogs on the haunches of a bear. They may not be able to tear her down, but they will interfere with the comfort of her voyage. H

6 minute read

Read Chapter

HER ONLY IMPERFECTION.

HER ONLY IMPERFECTION.

At one time a certain Major Hill charged Lincoln with making defamatory remarks regarding Mrs. Hill. Hill was insulting in his language to Lincoln who never lost his temper. When he saw his chance to edge a word in, Lincoln denied emphatically using the language or anything like that attributed to him. He entertained, he insisted, a high regard for Mrs. Hill, and the only thing he knew to her discredit was the fact that she was Major Hill’s wife....

47 minute read

Read Chapter

THE OLD LADY’S PROPHECY.

THE OLD LADY’S PROPHECY.

Among those who called to congratulate Mr. Lincoln upon his nomination for President was an old lady, very plainly dressed. She knew Mr. Lincoln, but Mr. Lincoln did not at first recognize her. Then she undertook to recall to his memory certain incidents connected with his ride upon the circuit—especially his dining at her house upon the road at different times. Then he remembered her and her home. Having fixed her own place in his recollection, she tried to recall to him a certain scanty dinner

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW THE TOWN OF LINCOLN, ILL., WAS NAMED.

HOW THE TOWN OF LINCOLN, ILL., WAS NAMED.

The story of naming the town of Lincoln, the county seat of Logan county, Illinois, is thus given on good authority: The first railroad had been built through the county, and a station was about to be located there. Lincoln, Virgil Hitchcock, Colonel R. B. Latham and several others were sitting on a pile of ties and talking about moving a county seat from Mount Pulaski. Mr. Lincoln rose and started to walk away, when Colonel Latham said: “Lincoln, if you will help us to get the county seat here,

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“OLD JEFF’S” BIG NIGHTMARE.

“OLD JEFF’S” BIG NIGHTMARE.

“Jeff” Davis had a large and threatening nightmare in November, 1864, and what he saw in his troubled dreams was the long and lanky figure of Abraham Lincoln, who had just been endorsed by the people of the United States for another term in the White House at Washington. The cartoon reproduced here is from the issue of “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” of December 3rd, 1864, it being entitled “Jeff Davis’ November Nightmare.” Davis had been told that McClellan, “the War is a failure” candid

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S LAST OFFICIAL ACT.

LINCOLN’S LAST OFFICIAL ACT.

Probably the last official act of President Lincoln’s life was the signing of the commission reappointing Alvin Saunders Governor of Nebraska. “I saw Mr. Lincoln regarding the matter,” said Governor Saunders, “and he told me to go home; that he would attend to it all right. I left Washington on the morning of the 14th, and while en route the news of the assassination on the evening of the same day reached me. I immediately wired back to find out what had become of my commission, and was told tha

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LAD NEEDED THE SLEEP.

THE LAD NEEDED THE SLEEP.

A personal friend of President Lincoln is authority for this: “I called on him one day in the early part of the War. He had just written a pardon for a young man who had been sentenced to be shot for sleeping at his post. He remarked as he read it to me: “‘I could not think of going into eternity with the blood of the poor young man on my skirts.’ Then he added: “‘It is not to be wondered at that a boy, raised on a farm, probably in the habit of going to bed at dark, should, when required to wat

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“MASSA LINKUM LIKE DE LORD!”

“MASSA LINKUM LIKE DE LORD!”

By the Act of Emancipation President Lincoln built for himself forever the first place in the affections of the African race in this country. The love and reverence manifested for him by many of these people has, on some occasions, almost reached adoration. One day Colonel McKaye, of New York, who had been one of a committee to investigate the condition of the freedmen, upon his return from Hilton Head and Beaufort called upon the President, and in the course of the interview said that up to the

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW LINCOLN TOOK THE NEWS.

HOW LINCOLN TOOK THE NEWS.

One of Lincoln’s most dearly loved friends, United States Senator Edward D. Baker, of Oregon, Colonel of the Seventy-first Pennsylvania, a former townsman of Mr. Lincoln, was killed at the battle of Ball’s Bluff, in October, 1861. The President went to General McClellan’s headquarters to hear the news, and a friend thus described the effect it had upon him: “We could hear the click of the telegraph in the adjoining room and low conversation between the President and General McClellan, succeeded

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PROFANITY AS A SAFETY-VALVE.

PROFANITY AS A SAFETY-VALVE.

Lincoln never indulged in profanity, but confessed that when Lee was beaten at Malvern Hill, after seven days of fighting, and Richmond, but twelve miles away, was at McClellan’s mercy, he felt very much like swearing when he learned that the Union general had retired to Harrison’s Landing. Lee was so confident his opponent would not go to Richmond that he took his army into Maryland—a move he would not have made had an energetic fighting man been in McClellan’s place. It is true McClellan follo

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WHY WE WON AT GETTYSBURG.

WHY WE WON AT GETTYSBURG.

President Lincoln said to General Sickles, just after the victory of Gettysburg: “The fact is, General, in the stress and pinch of the campaign there, I went to my room, and got down on my knees and prayed God Almighty for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this was His country, and the war was His war, but that we really couldn’t stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And then and there I made a solemn vow with my Maker that if He would stand by you boys at Gettysburg I would sta

56 minute read

Read Chapter

HAD TO WAIT FOR HIM.

HAD TO WAIT FOR HIM.

President Lincoln, having arranged to go to New York, was late for his train, much to the disgust of those who were to accompany him, and all were compelled to wait several hours until the next train steamed out of the station. President Lincoln was much amused at the dissatisfaction displayed, and then ventured the remark that the situation reminded him of “a little story.” Said he: “Out in Illinois, a convict who had murdered his cellmate was sentenced to be hanged. On the day set for the exec

1 minute read

Read Chapter

PRESIDENT AND CABINET JOINED IN PRAYER.

PRESIDENT AND CABINET JOINED IN PRAYER.

On the day the news of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court-House was received, so an intimate friend of President Lincoln relates, the Cabinet meeting was held an hour earlier than usual. Neither the President nor any member of the Cabinet was able, for a time, to give utterance to his feelings. At the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln all dropped on their knees, and offered, in silence and in tears, their humble and heartfelt acknowledgments to the Almighty for the triumph He had granted to the

46 minute read

Read Chapter

BELIEVED HE WAS A CHRISTIAN.

BELIEVED HE WAS A CHRISTIAN.

Mr. Lincoln was much impressed with the devotion and earnestness of purpose manifested by a certain lady of the “Christian Commission” during the War, and on one occasion, after she had discharged the object of her visit, said to her: “Madam, I have formed a high opinion of your Christian character, and now, as we are alone, I have a mind to ask you to give me in brief your idea of what constitutes a true religious experience.” The lady replied at some length, stating that, in her judgment, it c

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WITH THE HELP OF GOD.

WITH THE HELP OF GOD.

Mr. Lincoln once remarked to Mr. Noah Brooks, one of his most intimate personal friends: “I should be the most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool if I for one day thought that I could discharge the duties which have come upon me, since I came to this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is stronger and wiser than all others.” He said on another occasion: “I am very sure that if I do not go away from here a wiser man, I shall go away a better man, from having learned here w

53 minute read

Read Chapter

TURNED TEARS TO SMILES.

TURNED TEARS TO SMILES.

One night Schuyler Colfax left all other business to go to the White House to ask the President to respite the son of a constituent, who was sentenced to be shot, at Davenport, for desertion. Mr. Lincoln heard the story with his usual patience, though he was wearied out with incessant calls, and anxious for rest, and then replied: “Some of our generals complain that I impair discipline and subordination in the army by my pardons and respites, but it makes me rested, after a hard day’s work, if I

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S LAST WRITTEN WORDS.

LINCOLN’S LAST WRITTEN WORDS.

As the President and Mrs. Lincoln were leaving the White House, a few minutes before eight o’clock, on the evening of April 14th, 1865, Lincoln wrote this note: “Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come to see me at 9 o’clock a. m., to-morrow, April 15th, 1865.”...

30 minute read

Read Chapter

WOMEN PLEAD FOR PARDONS.

WOMEN PLEAD FOR PARDONS.

One day during the War an attractively and handsomely dressed woman called on President Lincoln to procure the release from prison of a relation in whom she professed the deepest interest. She was a good talker, and her winning ways seemed to make a deep impression on the President. After listening to her story, he wrote a few words on a card: “This woman, dear Stanton, is a little smarter than she looks to be,” enclosed it in an envelope and directed her to take it to the Secretary of War. On t

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN WISHED TO SEE RICHMOND.

LINCOLN WISHED TO SEE RICHMOND.

The President remarked to Admiral David D. Porter, while on board the flagship Malvern, on the James River, in front of Richmond, the day the city surrendered: “Thank God that I have lived to see this! “It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four years, and now the nightmare is gone. “I wish to see Richmond.”...

41 minute read

Read Chapter

SPOKEN LIKE A CHRISTIAN.

SPOKEN LIKE A CHRISTIAN.

Frederick Douglass told, in these words, of his first interview with President Lincoln: “I approached him with trepidation as to how this great man might receive me; but one word and look from him banished all my fears and set me perfectly at ease. I have often said since that meeting that it was much easier to see and converse with a great man than it was with a small man. “On that occasion he said: “‘Douglass, you need not tell me who you are. Mr. Seward has told me all about you.’ “I then saw

4 minute read

Read Chapter

“LINCOLN GOES IN WHEN THE QUAKERS ARE OUT”

“LINCOLN GOES IN WHEN THE QUAKERS ARE OUT”

One of the campaign songs of 1860 which will never be forgotten was Whittier’s “The Quakers Are Out:—” Speaking of this song (with which he was greatly pleased) one day at the White House, the President said: “It reminds me of a little story I heard years ago out in Illinois. A political campaign was on, and the atmosphere was kept at a high temperature. Several fights had already occurred, many men having been seriously hurt, and the prospects were that the result would be close. One of the can

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HAD CONFIDENCE IN HIM—“BUT—.”

HAD CONFIDENCE IN HIM—“BUT—.”

“General Blank asks for more men,” said Secretary of War Stanton to the President one day, showing the latter a telegram from the commander named appealing for re-enforcements. “I guess he’s killed off enough men, hasn’t he?” queried the President. “I don’t mean Confederates—our own men. What’s the use in sending volunteers down to him if they’re only used to fill graves?” “His dispatch seems to imply that, in his opinion, you have not the confidence in him he thinks he deserves,” the War Secret

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW HOMINY WAS ORIGINATED.

HOW HOMINY WAS ORIGINATED.

During the progress of a Cabinet meeting the subject of food for the men in the Army happened to come up. From that the conversation changed to the study of the Latin language. “I studied Latin once,” said Mr. Lincoln, in a casual way. “Were you interested in it?” asked Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State. “Well, yes. I saw some very curious things,” was the President’s rejoinder. “What?” asked Secretary Seward. “Well, there’s the word hominy, for instance. We have just ordered a lot of that stuf

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS IDEA’S OLD, AFTER ALL.

HIS IDEA’S OLD, AFTER ALL.

One day, while listening to one of the wise men who had called at the White House to unload a large cargo of advice, the President interjected a remark to the effect that he had a great reverence for learning. “This is not,” President Lincoln explained, “because I am not an educated man. I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man not to have grown up among books.” “Men of force,” the visitor answered, “can get on pretty well without books. They do their own thinking instead of adopting wh

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN’S FIRST SPEECH.

LINCOLN’S FIRST SPEECH.

Lincoln made his first speech when he was a mere boy, going barefoot, his trousers held up by one suspender, and his shock of hair sticking through a hole in the crown of his cheap straw hat. “Abe,” in company with Dennis Hanks, attended a political meeting, which was addressed by a typical stump speaker—one of those loud-voiced fellows who shouted at the top of his voice and waved his arms wildly. At the conclusion of the speech, which did not meet the views either of “Abe” or Dennis, the latte

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“ABE WANTED NO SNEAKIN’ ‘ROUND.”

“ABE WANTED NO SNEAKIN’ ‘ROUND.”

It was in 1830, when “Abe” was just twenty-one years of age, that the Lincoln family moved from Gentryville, Indiana, to near Decatur, Illinois, their household goods being packed in a wagon drawn by four oxen driven by “Abe.” The winter previous the latter had “worked” in a country store in Gentryville and before undertaking the journey he invested all the money he had—some thirty dollars—in notions, such as needles, pins, thread, buttons and other domestic necessities. These he sold to familie

6 minute read

Read Chapter

DIDN’T EVEN NEED STILTS.

DIDN’T EVEN NEED STILTS.

As the President considered it his duty to keep in touch with all the improvements in the armament of the vessels belonging to the United States Navy, he was necessarily interested in the various types of these floating fortresses. Not only was it required of the Navy Department to furnish seagoing warships, deep-draught vessels for the great rivers and the lakes, but this Department also found use for little gunboats which could creep along in the shallowest of water and attack the Confederates

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS PLACE?”

“HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS PLACE?”

“It seems to me,” remarked the President one day while reading, over some of the appealing telegrams sent to the War Department by General McClellan, “that McClellan has been wandering around and has sort of got lost. He’s been hollering for help ever since he went South—wants somebody to come to his deliverance and get him out of the place he’s got into. “He reminds me of the story of a man out in Illinois who, in company with a number of friends, visited the State penitentiary. They wandered a

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“TAD” INTRODUCES “OUR FRIENDS.”

“TAD” INTRODUCES “OUR FRIENDS.”

President Lincoln often avoided interviews with delegations representing various States, especially when he knew the objects of their errands, and was aware he could not grant their requests. This was the case with several commissioners from Kentucky, who were put off from day to day. They were about to give up in despair, and were leaving the White House lobby, their speech being interspersed with vehement and uncomplimentary terms concerning “Old Abe,” when “Tad” happened along. He caught at t

3 minute read

Read Chapter

MIXED UP WORSE THAN BEFORE.

MIXED UP WORSE THAN BEFORE.

The President told a story which most beautifully illustrated the muddled situation of affairs at the time McClellan’s fate was hanging in the balance. McClellan’s work was not satisfactory, but the President hesitated to remove him; the general was so slow that the Confederates marched all around him; and, to add to the dilemma, the President could not find a suitable man to take McClellan’s place. The latter was a political, as well as a military, factor; his friends threatened that, if he was

3 minute read

Read Chapter

“LONG ABE’S” FEET “PROTRUDED OVER.”

“LONG ABE’S” FEET “PROTRUDED OVER.”

George M. Pullman, the great sleeping-car builder, once told a joke in which Lincoln was the prominent figure. In fact, there wouldn’t have been any joke had it not been for “Long Abe.” At the time of the occurrence, which was the foundation for the joke—and Pullman admitted that the latter was on him—Pullman was the conductor of his only sleeping-car. The latter was an experiment, and Pullman was doing everything possible to get the railroads to take hold of it. “One night,” said Pullman in tel

2 minute read

Read Chapter

COULD LICK ANY MAN IN THE CROWD.

COULD LICK ANY MAN IN THE CROWD.

When the enemies of General Grant were bothering the President with emphatic and repeated demands that the “Silent Man” be removed from command, Mr. Lincoln remained firm. He would not consent to lose the services of so valuable a soldier. “Grant fights,” said he in response to the charges made that Grant was a butcher, a drunkard, an incompetent and a general who did not know his business. “That reminds me of a story,” President Lincoln said one day to a delegation of the “Grant-is-no-good” sty

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS WAY TO A CHILD’S HEART.

HIS WAY TO A CHILD’S HEART.

Charles E. Anthony’s one meeting with Mr. Lincoln presents an interesting contrast to those of the men who shared the emancipator’s interest in public affairs. It was in the latter part of the winter of 1861, a short time before Mr. Lincoln left for his inauguration at Washington. Judge Anthony went to the Sherman House, where the President-elect was stopping, and took with him his son, Charles, then but a little boy. Charles played about the room as a child will, looking at whatever interested

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“LEFT IT THE WOMEN TO HOWL ABOUT ME.”

“LEFT IT THE WOMEN TO HOWL ABOUT ME.”

Donn Piatt, one of the brightest newspaper writers in the country, told a good story on the President in regard to the refusal of the latter to sanction the death penalty in cases of desertion from the Union Army. “There was far more policy in this course,” said Piatt, “than kind feeling. To assert the contrary is to detract from Lincoln’s force of character, as well as intellect. Our War President was not lost in his high admiration of brigadiers and major-generals, and had a positive dislike f

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HE’D RUIN ALL THE OTHER CONVICTS.

HE’D RUIN ALL THE OTHER CONVICTS.

One of the droll stories brought into play by the President as an ally in support of his contention, proved most effective. Politics was rife among the generals of the Union Army, and there was more “wire-pulling” to prevent the advancement of fellow commanders than the laying of plans to defeat the Confederates in battle. However, when it so happened that the name of a particularly unpopular general was sent to the Senate for confirmation, the protest against his promotion was almost unanimous.

3 minute read

Read Chapter

IN A HOPELESS MINORITY.

IN A HOPELESS MINORITY.

The President was often in opposition to the general public sentiment of the North upon certain questions of policy, but he bided his time, and things usually came out as he wanted them. It was Lincoln’s opinion, from the first, that apology and reparation to England must be made by the United States because of the arrest, upon the high seas, of the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell. The country, however (the Northern States), was wild for a conflict with England. “One war at a time,”

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“DID YE ASK MORRISSEY YET?”

“DID YE ASK MORRISSEY YET?”

John Morrissey, the noted prize fighter, was the “Boss” of Tammany Hall during the Civil War period. It pleased his fancy to go to Congress, and his obedient constituents sent him there. Morrissey was such an absolute despot that the New York City democracy could not make a move without his consent, and many of the Tammanyites were so afraid of him that they would not even enter into business ventures without consulting the autocrat. President Lincoln had been seriously annoyed by some of his ge

2 minute read

Read Chapter

GOT THE LAUGH ON DOUGLAS.

GOT THE LAUGH ON DOUGLAS.

At one time, when Lincoln and Douglas were “stumping” Illinois, they met at a certain town, and it was agreed that they would have a joint debate. Douglas was the first speaker, and in the course of his talk remarked that in early life, his father, who, he said, was an excellent cooper by trade, apprenticed him out to learn the cabinet business. This was too good for Lincoln to let pass, so when his turn came to reply, he said: “I had understood before that Mr. Douglas had been bound out to lear

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“FIXED UP” A BIT FOR THE “CITY FOLKS.”

“FIXED UP” A BIT FOR THE “CITY FOLKS.”

Mrs. Lincoln knew her husband was not “pretty,” but she liked to have him presentable when he appeared before the public. Stephen Fiske, in “When Lincoln Was First Inaugurated,” tells of Mrs. Lincoln’s anxiety to have the President-elect “smoothed down” a little when receiving a delegation that was to greet them upon reaching New York City. “The train stopped,” writes Mr. Fiske, “and through the windows immense crowds could be seen; the cheering drowning the blowing off of steam of the locomotiv

1 minute read

Read Chapter

EVEN REBELS OUGHT TO BE SAVED.

EVEN REBELS OUGHT TO BE SAVED.

The Rev. Mr. Shrigley, of Philadelphia, a Universalist, had been nominated for hospital chaplain, and a protesting delegation went to Washington to see President Lincoln on the subject. “We have called, Mr. President, to confer with you in regard to the appointment of Mr. Shrigley, of Philadelphia, as hospital chaplain.” The President responded: “Oh, yes, gentlemen. I have sent his name to the Senate, and he will no doubt be confirmed at an early date.” One of the young men replied: “We have not

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TRIED TO DO WHAT SEEMED BEST.

TRIED TO DO WHAT SEEMED BEST.

John M. Palmer, Major-General in the Volunteer Army, Governor of the State of Illinois, and United States Senator from the Sucker State, became acquainted with Lincoln in 1839, and the last time he saw the President was at the White House in February, 1865. Senator Palmer told the story of his interview as follows: “I had come to Washington at the request of the Governor, to complain that Illinois had been credited with 18,000 too few troops. I saw Mr. Lincoln one afternoon, and he asked me to c

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“HOLDING A CANDLE TO THE CZAR.”

“HOLDING A CANDLE TO THE CZAR.”

England was anything but pleased when the Czar Alexander, of Russia, showed his friendship for the United States by sending a strong fleet to this country with the accompanying suggestion that Uncle Sam, through his representative, President Lincoln, could do whatever he saw fit with the ironclads and the munitions of war they had stowed away in their holds. London “Punch,” on November 7th, 1863, printed the cartoon shown on this page, the text under the picture reading in this way: “Holding a c

1 minute read

Read Chapter

NASHVILLE WAS NOT SURRENDERED.

NASHVILLE WAS NOT SURRENDERED.

“I was told a mighty good story,” said the President one day at a Cabinet meeting, “by Colonel Granville Moody, ‘the fighting Methodist parson,’ as they used to call him in Tennessee. I happened to meet Moody in Philadelphia, where he was attending a conference. “The story was about ‘Andy’ Johnson and General Buell. Colonel Moody happened to be in Nashville the day it was reported that Buell had decided to evacuate the city. The rebels, strongly re-inforced, were said to be within two days’ marc

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HE COULDN’T WAIT FOR THE COLONEL.

HE COULDN’T WAIT FOR THE COLONEL.

General Fisk, attending a reception at the White House, saw waiting in the ante-room a poor old man from Tennessee, and learned that he had been waiting three or four days to get an audience, on which probably depended the life of his son, under sentence of death for some military offense. General Fisk wrote his case in outline on a card and sent it in, with a special request that the President would see the man. In a moment the order came; and past impatient senators, governors and generals, th

3 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN PRONOUNCED THIS STORY FUNNY.

LINCOLN PRONOUNCED THIS STORY FUNNY.

The President was heard to declare one day that the story given below was one of the funniest he ever heard. One of General Fremont’s batteries of eight Parrott guns, supported by a squadron of horse commanded by Major Richards, was in sharp conflict with a battery of the enemy near at hand. Shells and shot were flying thick and fast, when the commander of the battery, a German, one of Fremont’s staff, rode suddenly up to the cavalry, exclaiming, in loud and excited terms, “Pring up de shackasse

2 minute read

Read Chapter

JOKE WAS ON LINCOLN.

JOKE WAS ON LINCOLN.

Mr. Lincoln enjoyed a joke at his own expense. Said he: “In the days when I used to be in the circuit, I was accosted in the cars by a stranger, who said, ‘Excuse me, sir, but I have an article in my possession which belongs to you.’ ‘How is that?’ I asked, considerably astonished. “The stranger took a jackknife from his pocket. ‘This knife,’ said he, ‘was placed in my hands some years ago, with the injunction that I was to keep it until I had found a man uglier than myself. I have carried it fr

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE OTHER ONE WAS WORSE.

THE OTHER ONE WAS WORSE.

It so happened that an official of the War Department had escaped serious punishment for a rather flagrant offense, by showing where grosser irregularities existed in the management of a certain bureau of the Department. So valuable was the information furnished that the culprit who “gave the snap away” was not even discharged. “That reminds me,” the President said, when the case was laid before him, “of a story about Daniel Webster, when the latter was a boy. “When quite young, at school, Danie

2 minute read

Read Chapter

“I’D A BEEN MISSED BY MYSE’F.”

“I’D A BEEN MISSED BY MYSE’F.”

The President did not consider that every soldier who ran away in battle, or did not stand firmly to receive a bayonet charge, was a coward. He was of opinion that self-preservation was the first law of Nature, but he didn’t want this statute construed too liberally by the troops. At the same time he took occasion to illustrate a point he wished to make by a story in connection with a darky who was a member of the Ninth Illinois Infantry Regiment. This regiment was one of those engaged at the ca

4 minute read

Read Chapter

IT ALL “DEPENDED” UPON THE EFFECT.

IT ALL “DEPENDED” UPON THE EFFECT.

President Lincoln and some members of his Cabinet were with a part of the Army some distance south of the National Capital at one time, when Secretary of War Stanton remarked that just before he left Washington he had received a telegram from General Mitchell, in Alabama. General Mitchell asked instructions in regard to a certain emergency that had arisen. The Secretary said he did not precisely understand the emergency as explained by General Mitchell, but had answered back, “All right; go ahea

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TOO SWIFT TO STAY IN THE ARMY.

TOO SWIFT TO STAY IN THE ARMY.

There were strange, queer, odd things and happenings in the Army at times, but, as a rule, the President did not allow them to worry him. He had enough to bother about. A quartermaster having neglected to present his accounts in proper shape, and the matter being deemed of sufficient importance to bring it to the attention of the President, the latter remarked: “Now this instance reminds me of a little story I heard only a short time ago. A certain general’s purse was getting low, and he said it

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ADMIRED THE STRONG MAN.

ADMIRED THE STRONG MAN.

Governor Hoyt of Wisconsin tells a story of Mr. Lincoln’s great admiration for physical strength. Mr. Lincoln, in 1859, made a speech at the Wisconsin State Agricultural Fair. After the speech, in company with the Governor, he strolled about the grounds, looking at the exhibits. They came to a place where a professional “strong man” was tossing cannon balls in the air and catching them on his arms and juggling with them as though they were light as baseballs. Mr. Lincoln had never before seen su

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WISHED THE ARMY CHARGED LIKE THAT.

WISHED THE ARMY CHARGED LIKE THAT.

A prominent volunteer officer who, early in the War, was on duty in Washington and often carried reports to Secretary Stanton at the War Department, told a characteristic story on President Lincoln. Said he: “I was with several other young officers, also carrying reports to the War Department, and one morning we were late. In this instance we were in a desperate hurry to deliver the papers, in order to be able to catch the train returning to camp. “On the winding, dark staircase of the old War D

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“UNCLE ABRAHAM” HAD EVERYTHING READY.

“UNCLE ABRAHAM” HAD EVERYTHING READY.

“You can’t do anything with them Southern fellows,” the old man at the table was saying. “If they get whipped, they’ll retreat to them Southern swamps and bayous along with the fishes and crocodiles. You haven’t got the fish-nets made that’ll catch ‘em.” “Look here, old gentleman,” remarked President Lincoln, who was sitting alongside, “we’ve got just the nets for traitors, in the bayous or anywhere.” “Hey? What nets?” “Bayou-nets!” and “Uncle Abraham” pointed his joke with his fork, spearing a

55 minute read

Read Chapter

NOT AS SMOOTH AS HE LOOKED.

NOT AS SMOOTH AS HE LOOKED.

Mr. Lincoln’s skill in parrying troublesome questions was wonderful. Once he received a call from Congressman John Ganson, of Buffalo, one of the ablest lawyers in New York, who, although a Democrat, supported all of Mr. Lincoln’s war measures. Mr. Ganson wanted explanations. Mr. Ganson was very bald with a perfectly smooth face. He had a most direct and aggressive way of stating his views or of demanding what he thought he was entitled to. He said: “Mr. Lincoln, I have supported all of your mea

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A SMALL CROP.

A SMALL CROP.

Chauncey M. Depew says that Mr. Lincoln told him the following story, which he claimed was one of the best two things he ever originated: He was trying a case in Illinois where he appeared for a prisoner charged with aggravated assault and battery. The complainant had told a horrible story of the attack, which his appearance fully justified, when the District Attorney handed the witness over to Mr. Lincoln, for cross-examination. Mr. Lincoln said he had no testimony, and unless he could break do

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“NEVER REGRET WHAT YOU DON’T WRITE.”

“NEVER REGRET WHAT YOU DON’T WRITE.”

A simple remark one of the party might make would remind Mr. Lincoln of an apropos story. Secretary of the Treasury Chase happened to remark, “Oh, I am so sorry that I did not write a letter to Mr. So-and-so before I left home!” President Lincoln promptly responded: “Chase, never regret what you don’t write; it is what you do write that you are often called upon to feel sorry for.”...

45 minute read

Read Chapter

A VAIN GENERAL.

A VAIN GENERAL.

In an interview between President Lincoln and Petroleum V. Nasby, the name came up of a recently deceased politician of Illinois whose merit was blemished by great vanity. His funeral was very largely attended. “If General —— had known how big a funeral he would have had,” said Mr. Lincoln, “he would have died years ago.”...

33 minute read

Read Chapter

DEATH BED REPENTANCE.

DEATH BED REPENTANCE.

A Senator, who was calling upon Mr. Lincoln, mentioned the name of a most virulent and dishonest official; one, who, though very brilliant, was very bad. “It’s a good thing for B——” said Mr. Lincoln, “that there is such a thing as a deathbed repentance.”...

37 minute read

Read Chapter

NO CAUSE FOR PRIDE.

NO CAUSE FOR PRIDE.

A member of Congress from Ohio came into Mr. Lincoln’s presence in a state of unutterable intoxication, and sinking into a chair, exclaimed in tones that welled up fuzzy through the gallon or more of whiskey that he contained, “Oh, ‘why should (hic) the spirit of mortal be proud?’” “My dear sir,” said the President, regarding him closely, “I see no reason whatever.”...

37 minute read

Read Chapter

THE STORY OF LINCOLN’S LIFE

THE STORY OF LINCOLN’S LIFE

When Abraham Lincoln once was asked to tell the story of his life, he replied: “It is contained in one line of Gray’s ‘Elegy in a Country Churchyard’: “‘The short and simple annals of the poor.’” That was true at the time he said it, as everything else he said was Truth, but he was then only at the beginning of a career that was to glorify him as one of the heroes of the world, and place his name forever beside the immortal name of the mighty Washington. Many great men, particularly those of Ame

2 minute read

Read Chapter

A YOUTHFUL POET.

A YOUTHFUL POET.

On one of the pages of this quaint book he had written these four lines of schoolboy doggerel: The poetic spirit was strong in the young scholar just then for on another page of the same book he had written these two verses, which are supposed to have been original with him: Another specimen of the poetical, or rhyming ability, is found in the following couplet, written by him for his friend, Joseph C. Richardson: In all, Lincoln’s “schooling” did not amount to a year’s time, but he was a consta

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MADE SPEECHES WHEN A BOY.

MADE SPEECHES WHEN A BOY.

When he was but a barefoot boy he would often make political speeches to the boys in the neighborhood, and when he had reached young manhood and was engaged in the labor of chopping wood or splitting rails he continued this practice of speech-making with only the stumps and surrounding trees for hearers. At the age of seventeen he had attained his full height of six feet four inches and it was at this time he engaged as a ferry boatman on the Ohio river, at thirty-seven cents a day. That he was

3 minute read

Read Chapter

ASSISTANT PILOT ON A STEAMBOAT.

ASSISTANT PILOT ON A STEAMBOAT.

In his first public speech, which had already been delivered, Lincoln had contended that the Sangamon river was navigable, and it now fell to his lot to assist in giving practical proof of his argument. A steamboat had arrived at New Salem from Cincinnati, and Lincoln was hired as an assistant in piloting the vessel through the uncertain channel of the Sangamon river to the Illinois river. The way was obstructed by a milldam. Lincoln insisted to the owners of the dam that under the Federal Const

1 minute read

Read Chapter

“CAPTAIN LINCOLN” PLEASED HIM.

“CAPTAIN LINCOLN” PLEASED HIM.

At this period in his career the Blackhawk War broke out, and Lincoln was one of the first to respond to Governor Reynold’s call for a thousand mounted volunteers to assist the United States troops in driving Blackhawk back across the Mississippi. Lincoln enlisted in the company from Sangamon county and was elected captain. He often remarked that this gave him greater pleasure than anything that had happened in his life up to this time. He had, however, no opportunities in this war to perform an

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FAILURE AS A BUSINESS MAN.

FAILURE AS A BUSINESS MAN.

Lincoln’s next business venture was with William Berry in a general store, under the firm name of Lincoln &amp; Berry, but did not take long to show that he was not adapted for a business career. The firm failed, Berry died and the debts of the firm fell entirely upon Lincoln. Many of these debts he might have escaped legally, but he assumed them all and it was not until fifteen years later that the last indebtedness of Lincoln &amp; Berry was discharged. During his membership in this fi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GAINS FAME AS A STORY TELLER.

GAINS FAME AS A STORY TELLER.

It was about this time, too, that Lincoln’s fame as a story-teller began to spread far and wide. His sayings and his jokes were repeated throughout that section of the country, and he was famous as a story-teller before anyone ever heard of him as a lawyer or a politician. It required no little moral courage to resist the temptation that beset an idle young man on every hand at that time, for drinking and carousing were of daily and nightly occurrence. Lincoln never drank intoxicating liquors, n

59 minute read

Read Chapter

SURVEYOR WITH NO STRINGS ON HIM.

SURVEYOR WITH NO STRINGS ON HIM.

John Calhoun was at that time surveyor of Sangamon county. He had been a lawyer and had noticed the studious Lincoln. Needing an assistant he offered the place to Lincoln. The average young man without any regular employment and hard-pressed for means to pay his board as Lincoln was, would have jumped at the opportunity, but a question of principle was involved which had to be settled before Lincoln would accept. Calhoun was a Democrat and Lincoln was a Whig, therefore Lincoln said, “I will take

2 minute read

Read Chapter

A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE.

A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE.

The following year Lincoln again ran for the Legislature, this time as an avowed Whig. Of the four successful candidates, Lincoln received the second highest number of votes. When Lincoln went to take his seat in the Legislature at Vandalia he was so poor that he was obliged to borrow $200 to buy suitable clothes and uphold the dignity of his new position. He took little part in the proceedings, keeping in the background, but forming many lasting acquaintances and friendships. Two years later, w

3 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FAMOUS “LONG NINE.”

THE FAMOUS “LONG NINE.”

The other candidates elected with Lincoln were Ninian W. Edwards, John Dawson, Andrew McCormick, “Dan” Stone, William F. Elkin, Robert L. Wilson, “Joe” Fletcher, and Archer G. Herndon. These were known as the “Long Nine.” Their average height was six feet, and average weight two hundred pounds. This Legislature was one of the most famous that ever convened in Illinois. Bonds to the amount of $12,000,000 were voted to assist in building thirteen hundred miles of railroad, to widen and deepen all

1 minute read

Read Chapter

BEGINS TO OPPOSE SLAVERY.

BEGINS TO OPPOSE SLAVERY.

At this early stage in his career Abraham Lincoln began his opposition to slavery which eventually resulted in his giving liberty to four million human beings. This Legislature passed the following resolutions on slavery: “Resolved by the General Assembly, of the State of Illinois: That we highly disapprove of the formation of Abolition societies and of the doctrines promulgated by them. “That the right of property in slaves is sacred to the slave-holding States by the Federal Constitution, and

2 minute read

Read Chapter

BEGINS TO PRACTICE LAW.

BEGINS TO PRACTICE LAW.

At the end of this session of the Legislature, Mr. Lincoln decided to remove to Springfield and practice law. He entered the office of John T. Stuart, a former comrade in the Blackhawk War, and in March, 1837, was licensed to practice. Stephen T. Logan was judge of the Circuit Court, and Stephen A. Douglas, who was destined to become Lincoln’s greatest political opponent, was prosecuting attorney. When Lincoln was not in his law office his headquarters were in the store of his friend Joshua F. S

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS FIRST JOINT DEBATE.

HIS FIRST JOINT DEBATE.

Arrangements were at once made for a joint debate between the leading Democrats and Whigs to take place in a local church. The Democrats were represented by Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas. The Whig speakers were Judge Logan, Colonel E. D. Baker, Mr. Browning and Lincoln. This discussion was the forerunner of the famous joint-debate between Lincoln and Douglas, which took place some years later and attracted the attention of the people throughout the United States. Although Mr. Lincoln was

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MARRIES A SPRINGFIELD BELLE.

MARRIES A SPRINGFIELD BELLE.

Among the social belles of Springfield was Mary Todd, a handsome and cultivated girl of the illustrious descent which could be traced back to the sixth century, to whom Mr. Lincoln was married in 1842. Stephen A. Douglas was his competitor in love as well as in politics. He courted Mary Todd until it became evident that she preferred Mr. Lincoln. Previous to his marriage Mr. Lincoln had two love affairs, one of them so serious that it left an impression upon his whole future life. One of the obj

1 minute read

Read Chapter

STORY OF ANNE RUTLEDGE.

STORY OF ANNE RUTLEDGE.

Lincoln’s first love, however, had a sad termination. The object of his affections at that time was Anne Rutledge, whose father was one of the founders of New Salem. Like Miss Owen, Miss Rutledge was also born in Kentucky, and was gifted with the beauty and graces that distinguish many Southern women. At the time that Mr. Lincoln and Anne Rutledge were engaged to be married, he thought himself too poor to properly support a wife, and they decided to wait until such time as he could better his fi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS DUEL WITH SHIELDS.

HIS DUEL WITH SHIELDS.

Just previous to his marriage with Mary Todd, Mr. Lincoln was challenged to fight a duel by James Shields, then Auditor of State. The challenge grew out of some humorous letters concerning Shields, published in a local paper. The first of these letters was written by Mr. Lincoln. The others by Mary Todd and her sister. Mr. Lincoln acknowledged the authorship of the letters without naming the ladies, and agreed to meet Shields on the field of honor. As he had the choice of weapons he named broads

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FORMS NEW PARTNERSHIP.

FORMS NEW PARTNERSHIP.

Before this time Mr. Lincoln had dissolved partnership with Stuart and entered into a law partnership with Judge Logan. In 1843 both Lincoln and Logan were candidates for nomination for Congress and the personal ill-will caused by their rivalry resulted in the dissolution of the firm and the formation of a new law firm of Lincoln &amp; Herndon, which continued, nominally at least, until Mr. Lincoln’s death. The congressional nomination, however, went to Edward D. Baker, who was elected. Two

1 minute read

Read Chapter

DEFEATS PETER CARTWRIGHT FOR CONGRESS.

DEFEATS PETER CARTWRIGHT FOR CONGRESS.

Mr. Lincoln’s opponent on the Democratic ticket was no less a person than old Peter Cartwright, the famous Methodist preacher and circuit rider. Cartwright had preached to almost every congregation in the district and had a strong following in all the churches. Mr. Lincoln did not underestimate the strength of his great rival. He abandoned his law business entirely and gave his whole attention to the canvass. This time Mr. Lincoln was victorious and was elected by a large majority. When Lincoln

1 minute read

Read Chapter

MAKES SPEECHES FOR “OLD ZACH.”

MAKES SPEECHES FOR “OLD ZACH.”

In the national convention at Philadelphia, in 1848, Mr. Lincoln was a delegate and advocated the nomination of General Taylor. After the nomination of General Taylor, or “Old Zach,” or “rough and Ready,” as he was called, Mr. Lincoln made a tour of New York and several New England States, making speeches for his candidate. Mr. Lincoln went to New England in this campaign on account of the great defection in the Whig party. General Taylor’s nomination was unsatisfactory to the free-soil element,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

DECLINES A HIGH OFFICE.

DECLINES A HIGH OFFICE.

Just before the close of his term in Congress Mr. Lincoln was an applicant for the office of Commissioner of the General Land Office, but was unsuccessful. He had been such a factor in General Taylor’s election that the administration thought something was due him, and after his return to Illinois he was called to Washington and offered the Governorship of the Territory of Oregon. It is likely he would have accepted this had not Mrs. Lincoln put her foot down with an emphatic no. He declined a p

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AS A LAWYER.

LINCOLN AS A LAWYER.

When he returned to active practice he saw at once that the courts had grown more learned and dignified and that the bar relied more upon method and system and a knowledge of the statute law than upon the stump speech method of early days. Mr. Herndon tells us that Lincoln would lie in bed and read by candle light, sometimes until two o’clock in the morning, while his famous colleagues, Davis, Logan, Swett, Edwards and Herndon, were soundly and sometimes loudly sleeping. He read and reread the s

2 minute read

Read Chapter

TELLING STORIES ON THE CIRCUIT.

TELLING STORIES ON THE CIRCUIT.

The court circuit in those days was the scene of many a story-telling joust, in which Lincoln was always the chief. Frequently he would sit up until after midnight reeling off story after story, each one followed by roars of laughter that could be heard all over the country tavern, in which the story-telling group was gathered. Every type of character would be represented in these groups, from the learned judge on the bench down to the village loafer. Lincoln’s favorite attitude was to sit with

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LION IS AROUSED TO ACTION.

THE LION IS AROUSED TO ACTION.

While Lincoln took a mild interest in politics, he was not a candidate for office, except as a presidential elector, from the time of leaving Congress until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. This repeal Legislation was the work of Lincoln’s political antagonist, Stephen A. Douglas, and aroused Mr. Lincoln to action as the lion is roused by some foe worthy of his great strength and courage. Mr. Douglas argued that the true intent and meaning of the act was not to legislate slavery into any t

2 minute read

Read Chapter

SEEKS A SEAT IN THE SENATE.

SEEKS A SEAT IN THE SENATE.

Mr. Lincoln made no secret at this time of his ambition to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. Against his protest he was nominated and elected to the Legislature, but resigned his seat. His old rival, James Shields, with whom he was once near to a duel, was then senator, and his term was to expire the following year. A letter, written by Mr. Lincoln to a friend in Paris, Illinois, at this time is interesting and significant. He wrote: “I have a suspicion that a Whig has been elected

3 minute read

Read Chapter

HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The year after Mr. Trumbull’s election to the Senate the Republican party was formally organized. A state convention of that party was called to meet at Bloomington May 29, 1856. The call for this convention was signed by many Springfield Whigs, and among the names was that of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln’s name had been signed to the call by his law partner, but when he was informed of this action he endorsed it fully. Among the famous men who took part in this convention were Abraham Lincoln,

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RAIL-SPLITTER vs. THE LITTLE GIANT.

THE RAIL-SPLITTER vs. THE LITTLE GIANT.

No record of Abraham Lincoln’s career would be complete without the story of the memorable joint debates between the “Rail-Splitter of the Sangamon Valley” and the “Little Giant.” The opening lines in Mr. Lincoln’s speech to the Republican Convention were not only prophetic of the coming rebellion, but they clearly made the issue between the Republican and Democratic parties for two Presidential campaigns to follow. The memorable sentences were as follows: “A house divided against itself cannot

2 minute read

Read Chapter

WERE LIKE CROWDS AT A CIRCUS.

WERE LIKE CROWDS AT A CIRCUS.

All the meetings of the joint debate were attended by immense crowds of people. They came in all sorts of vehicles, on horseback, and many walked weary miles on foot to hear these two great leaders discuss the issues of the campaign. There had never been political meetings held under such unusual conditions as these, and there probably never will be again. At every place the speakers were met by great crowds of their friends and escorted to the platforms in the open air where the debates were he

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS BUCKEYE CAMPAIGN.

HIS BUCKEYE CAMPAIGN.

After the close of this canvass, Mr. Lincoln again devoted himself to the practice of his profession, but he was destined to remain but a short time in retirement. In the fall of 1859 Mr. Douglas went to Ohio to stump the state for his friend, Mr. Pugh, the Democratic candidate for Governor. The Ohio Republicans at once asked Mr. Lincoln to come to the state and reply to the “Little Giant.” He accepted the invitation and made two masterly speeches in the campaign. In one of them, delivered at Ci

3 minute read

Read Chapter

FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK.

FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK.

Later in the year Mr. Lincoln also spoke in Kansas, where he was received with great enthusiasm, and in February of the following year he made his great speech in Cooper Union, New York, to an immense gathering, presided over by William Cullen Bryant, the poet, who was then editor of the New York Evening Post. There was great curiosity to see the Western rail-splitter who had so lately met the famous “Little Giant” of the West in debate, and Mr. Lincoln’s speech was listened to by many of the ab

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FIRST NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT.

FIRST NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT.

The Republican National Convention of 1860 met in Chicago, May 16, in an immense building called the “Wigwam.” The leading candidates for President were William H. Seward of New York and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Among others spoken of were Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania. On the first ballot for President, Mr. Seward received one hundred and seventy-three and one-half votes; Mr. Lincoln, one hundred and two votes, the others scattering. On the first ballot, Vermont

3 minute read

Read Chapter

FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

The election was scarcely over before it was evident that the Southern States did not intend to abide by the result, and that a conspiracy was on foot to divide the Union. Before the Presidential election even, the Secretary of War in President Buchanan’s Cabinet had removed one hundred and fifty thousand muskets from Government armories in the North and sent them to Government armories in the South. Before Mr. Lincoln had prepared his inaugural address, South Carolina, which took the lead in th

2 minute read

Read Chapter

GOOD-BYE TO THE OLD FOLK.

GOOD-BYE TO THE OLD FOLK.

Early in February, before leaving for Washington, Mr. Lincoln slipped away from Springfield and paid a visit to his aged step-mother in Coles county. He also paid a visit to the unmarked grave of his father and ordered a suitable stone to mark the spot. Before leaving Springfield, he made an address to his fellow-townsmen, in which he displayed sincere sorrow at parting from them. “Friends,” he said, “no one who has never been placed in a like position can understand my feelings at this hour, no

2 minute read

Read Chapter

THE “SECRET PASSAGE” TO WASHINGTON.

THE “SECRET PASSAGE” TO WASHINGTON.

Throughout his entire life, Abraham Lincoln’s physical courage was as great and superb as his moral courage. When Mr. Pinkerton and Mr. Judd urged the President-elect to leave for Washington that night, he positively refused to do it. He said he had made an engagement to assist at a flag raising in the forenoon of the next day and to show himself to the people of Harrisburg in the afternoon, and that he intended to keep both engagements. At Philadelphia the Presidential party was met by Mr. Sewa

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HIS ELOQUENT INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

HIS ELOQUENT INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

The wonderful eloquence of Abraham Lincoln—clear, sincere, natural—found grand expression in his first inaugural address, in which he not only outlined his policy toward the States in rebellion, but made that beautiful and eloquent plea for conciliation. The closing sentences of Mr. Lincoln’s first inaugural address deservedly take rank with his Gettysburg speech: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen,” he said, “and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government wi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FOLLOWS PRECEDENT OF WASHINGTON.

FOLLOWS PRECEDENT OF WASHINGTON.

In selecting his Cabinet, Mr. Lincoln, consciously or unconsciously, followed a precedent established by Washington, of selecting men of almost opposite opinions. His Cabinet was composed of William H. Seward of New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon E. Welles of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior; Montgomery Blair of Maryland, Postmaster-Genera

1 minute read

Read Chapter

GREATER DIPLOMAT THAN SEWARD.

GREATER DIPLOMAT THAN SEWARD.

The War of the Rebellion revealed to the people—in fact, to the whole world—the many sides of Abraham Lincoln’s character. It showed him as a real ruler of men—not a ruler by the mere power of might, but by the power of a great brain. In his Cabinet were the ablest men in the country, yet they all knew that Lincoln was abler than any of them. Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, was a man famed in statesmanship and diplomacy. During the early stages of the Civil War, when France and England were

1 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN A GREAT GENERAL.

LINCOLN A GREAT GENERAL.

Throughout the four years of war, Mr. Lincoln spent a great deal of time in the War Department, receiving news from the front and conferring with Secretary of War Stanton concerning military affairs. Mr. Lincoln’s War Secretary, Edwin M. Stanton, who had succeeded Simon Cameron, was a man of wonderful personality and iron will. It is generally conceded that no other man could have managed the great War Secretary so well as Lincoln. Stanton had his way in most matters, but when there was an impor

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE IN GRANT.

ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE IN GRANT.

It was not until General Grant had been made Commander-in-Chief that President Lincoln felt he had at last found a general who did not need much advice. He was the first to recognize that Grant was a great military leader, and when he once felt sure of this fact nothing could shake his confidence in that general. Delegation after delegation called at the White House and asked for Grant’s removal from the head of the army. They accused him of being a butcher, a drunkard, a man without sense or fe

1 minute read

Read Chapter

REASONS FOR FREEING THE SLAVES.

REASONS FOR FREEING THE SLAVES.

The crowning act of Lincoln’s career as President was the emancipation of the slaves. All of his life he had believed in gradual emancipation, but all of his plans contemplated payment to the slaveholders. While he had always been opposed to slavery, he did not take any steps to use it as a war measure until about the middle of 1862. His chief object was to preserve the Union. He wrote to Horace Greeley that if he could save the Union without freeing any of the slaves he would do it; that if he

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HARD TO REFUSE PARDONS.

HARD TO REFUSE PARDONS.

In the conduct of the war and in his purpose to maintain the Union, Abraham Lincoln exhibited a will of iron and determination that could not be shaken, but in his daily contact with the mothers, wives and daughters begging for the life of some soldier who had been condemned to death for desertion or sleeping on duty he was as gentle and weak as a woman. It was a difficult matter for him to refuse a pardon if the slightest excuse could be found for granting it. Secretary Stanton and the commandi

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A FUN-LOVING AND HUMOR-LOVING MAN.

A FUN-LOVING AND HUMOR-LOVING MAN.

It was once said of Shakespeare that the great mind that conceived the tragedies of “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” etc., would have lost its reason if it had not found vent in the sparkling humor of such comedies as “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Comedy of Errors.” The great strain on the mind of Abraham Lincoln produced by four years of civil war might likewise have overcome his reason had it not found vent in the yarns and stories he constantly told. No more fun-loving or humor-loving man than Ab

5 minute read

Read Chapter

WARNINGS OF HIS TRAGIC DEATH.

WARNINGS OF HIS TRAGIC DEATH.

From early youth, Mr. Lincoln had presentiments that he would die a violent death, or, rather, that his final days would be marked by some great tragic event. From the time of his first election to the Presidency, his closest friends had tried to make him understand that he was in constant danger of assassination, but, notwithstanding his presentiments, he had such splendid courage that he only laughed at their fears. During the summer months he lived at the Soldiers’ Home, some miles from Washi

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN AT THE THEATRE.

LINCOLN AT THE THEATRE.

The manager of the theatre had invited the President to witness a performance of a new play known as “Our American Cousin,” in which the famous actress, Laura Keane, was playing. Mr. Lincoln was particularly fond of the theatre. He loved Shakespeare’s plays above all others and never missed a chance to see the leading Shakespearean actors. As “Our American Cousin” was a new play, the President did not care particularly to see it, but as Mrs. Lincoln was anxious to go, he consented and accepted t

2 minute read

Read Chapter

LAMON’S REMARKABLE REQUEST.

LAMON’S REMARKABLE REQUEST.

Probably one reason why Mr. Lincoln did not particularly care to go to the theatre that night was a sort of half promise he had made to his friend and bodyguard, Marshal Lamon. Two days previous he had sent Lamon to Richmond on business connected with a call of a convention for reconstruction. Before leaving, Mr. Lamon saw Mr. Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, and asked him to persuade Mr. Lincoln to use more caution about his personal safety, and to go out as little as possible while Lamon

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HOW LINCOLN WAS MURDERED.

HOW LINCOLN WAS MURDERED.

The assassination of President Lincoln was most carefully planned, even to the smallest detail. The box set apart for the President’s party was a double one in the second tier at the left of the stage. The box had two doors with spring locks, but Booth had loosened the screws with which they were fastened so that it was impossible to secure them from the inside. In one door he had bored a hole with a gimlet, so that he could see what was going on inside the box. An employee of the theatre by the

4 minute read

Read Chapter

BOOTH BRANDISHES HIS DAGGER AND ESCAPES.

BOOTH BRANDISHES HIS DAGGER AND ESCAPES.

The box was draped with the American flag, and, in jumping, Booth’s spurs caught in the folds, tearing down the flag, the assassin falling heavily to the stage and spraining his ankle. He arose, however, and walked theatrically across the stage, brandished his knife and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” and then added, “The South is avenged.” For the moment the audience was horrified and incapable of action. One man only, a lawyer named Stuart, had sufficient presence of mind to leap upon the stag

1 minute read

Read Chapter

WALT WHITMAN’S DESCRIPTION.

WALT WHITMAN’S DESCRIPTION.

Walt Whitman, the poet, has sketched in graphic language the scenes of that most eventful fourteenth of April. His account of the assassination has become historic, and is herewith given: “The day (April 14, 1865) seems to have been a pleasant one throughout the whole land—the moral atmosphere pleasant, too—the long storm, so dark, so fratricidal, full of blood and doubt and gloom, over and ended at last by the sunrise of such an absolute national victory, and utter breaking down of secessionism

15 minute read

Read Chapter

BOOTH FOUND IN A BARN.

BOOTH FOUND IN A BARN.

Booth, accompanied by David C. Herold, a fellow-conspirator, finally made his way into Maryland, where eleven days after the assassination the two were discovered in a barn on Garrett’s farm near Port Royal on the Rappahannock. The barn was surrounded by a squad of cavalrymen, who called upon the assassins to surrender. Herold gave himself up and was roundly cursed and abused by Booth, who declared that he would never be taken alive. The cavalrymen then set fire to the barn and as the flames lea

1 minute read

Read Chapter

BOOTH SHOT BY “BOSTON” CORBETT.

BOOTH SHOT BY “BOSTON” CORBETT.

The last orders given to the squad pursuing Booth were: “Don’t shoot Booth, but take him alive.” Just as Booth started to the door of the barn this order was disobeyed by a sergeant named Boston Corbett, who fired through a crevice and shot Booth in the neck. The wounded man was carried out of the barn and died four hours afterward on the grass where they had laid him. Before he died he whispered to Lieutenant Baker, “Tell mother I died for my country; I thought I did for the best.” What became

1 minute read

Read Chapter

FATE OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

FATE OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

The conspiracy to assassinate the President involved altogether twenty-five people. Among the number captured and tried were David C. Herold, G. W. Atzerodt, Louis Payne, Edward Spangler, Michael O’Loughlin, Samuel Arnold, Mrs. Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd, a physician, who set Booth’s leg, which was sprained by his fall from the stage box. Of these Herold, Atzerodt, Payne and Mrs. Surratt were hanged. Dr. Mudd was deported to the Dry Tortugas. While there an epidemic of yellow fever broke out an

2 minute read

Read Chapter

HENRY WARD BEECHER’S EULOGY.

HENRY WARD BEECHER’S EULOGY.

No final words of that great life can be more fitly spoken than the eulogy pronounced by Henry Ward Beecher: “And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than when alive. The nation rises up at every stage of his coming. Cities and States are his pall-bearers, and the cannon speaks the hours with solemn progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. “Is Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? Is any man that was ever fit to live dead? Disenthralled of flesh, risen to the unobstructed sp

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S FAMILY.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S FAMILY.

Abraham Lincoln was married on November 4, 1842, to Miss Mary Todd, four sons being the issue of the union. Robert Todd, born August 1, 1843, removed to Chicago after his father’s death, practiced law, and became wealthy; in 1881 he was appointed Secretary of War by President Garfield, and served through President Arthur’s term; was made Minister to England in 1889, and served four years; became counsel for the Pullman Palace Car Company, and succeeded to the presidency of that corporation upon

7 minute read

Read Chapter

LINCOLN MONUMENT AT SPRINGFIELD.

LINCOLN MONUMENT AT SPRINGFIELD.

The remains of Abraham Lincoln rest beneath a magnificent monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Ill. Before they were deposited in their final resting place they were moved many times. On May 4, 1865, all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln was deposited in the receiving vault at the cemetery, until a tomb could be built. In 1876 thieves made an unsuccessful attempt to steal the remains. From the tomb the body of the martyred President was removed later to the monument. A flight of iron st

3 minute read

Read Chapter