Footprints of Abraham Lincoln - Presenting many interesting fact, reminiscences and

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Title: Footprints of Abraham Lincoln - Presenting many interesting fact, reminiscences and - illustrations never before published
Author: Hobson, J. T.
Language: English
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[Illustration: THE RAIL-SPLITTER]

FOOTPRINTS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

PRESENTING

Many Interesting Facts, Reminiscences
and Illustrations Never Before
Published

BY
J. T. HOBSON, D.D., LL.B.,
_Author of "The Lincoln Year Book."_

Nineteen Hundred and Nine
THE OTTERBEIN PRESS
DAYTON, OHIO

[Illustration: THE AUTHOR.]

DEDICATION

_To all my Kindred, Friends, and Acquaintances among
whom are Fellow Ministers, Teachers, Students,
Pupils, Parishioners, though Widely
Scattered, and to All Who Cherish
the Memory of_
=Abraham Lincoln=

_The Apostle of Human Liberty, Who Bound the Nation
and Unbound the Slave, This Little Volume
is Respectfully Dedicated by_
=THE AUTHOR=

INTRODUCTION

Everything pertaining to the life of Abraham Lincoln is of undying
interest to the public.

It may at first appear unnecessary, if not presumptuous, to add another
volume to the already large number of books in Lincoln literature.
Hitherto efforts have been made by the biographer, the historian, and
the relic-hunter to gather everything possible connected with the life
of Lincoln.

If an apology is needed in presenting this volume to the public, it
may be said that it has fallen as a rare opportunity to the author,
during the passing years, to gather some well-authenticated facts,
reminiscences, and illustrations which have never before appeared in
connection with the history of this great man.

Like many others, I have always taken great interest in the life and
work of Abraham Lincoln. There are some special reasons for this, upon
my part, aside from my interest in the lives of great men, and the
magnetic charm which surrounds the name and fame of the most eminent
American and emancipator of a race.

The name, "Abraham Lincoln," is connected with my family history,
and with one of my first achievements with pen and ink. Because of
an affliction in early life, I was, for two or three years, unable
to attend the public schools. At home I learned to make figures and
letters with slate and pencil, as other writing material was not so
common then as now. The first line I ever wrote with pen and ink was at
home, at the age of ten, under a copy on foolscap paper, written by my
sainted mother, "Abraham Lincoln, President, 1861."

After the birth of John the Baptist, there was considerable controversy
among the kinsfolk as to what name he should bear. The father, old
Zacharias, was appealed to, and when writing material was brought him,
he settled the matter by writing, "John." On the 7th of May, 1863, when
a boy baby was horn in our old home, the other children and I were
very anxious to know what name would be given the little stranger.
We appealed to father. He did not say, but called for the old family
Bible, pen and ink. He turned to the "Family Record," between the Old
and the New Testaments. I stood by and saw him write, with pen and blue
ink, the name, "Abraham Lincoln Hobson."

I was born in due time to have the good fortune to become acquainted
with a number of persons who personally knew Mr. Lincoln in his early
life in Indiana, and heard them tell of their associations with him,
and their words were written down at the time. I am also familiar with
many places of historic interest where the feet of Abraham Lincoln
pressed the earth. I resided for a time near the old Lincoln farm in
Spencer County, Indiana, on which the town of Lincoln City now stands.
I have often visited the near-by grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the
"angel mother" of the martyred President; have stood by the grave of
Sally Grigsby, his only sister, at the Little Pigeon Cemetery, one
mile and a half south of the Lincoln farm; have been in the Lincoln
home at Springfield, Illinois; have seen Ford's Theater building, in
Washington, where he was shot; have stood in the little rear room, in
the first story of the house across the street, where he died; have
been in the East Room of the White House, where his body lay in state;
and have reverently stood at his tomb where his precious dust rests in
peace in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, Illinois.

This volume can hardly claim the dignity of a biography, for many
important facts in the life of Mr. Lincoln are omitted, the object
being to set forth some unpublished facts, reminiscences, and
illustrations to supplement larger histories written by others.
However, it was necessary to refer to some well-known facts in order
to properly connect the new material never before in print. It was
necessary, in some instances, to correct some matters of Lincoln
history which later and more authentic information has revealed.

The illustrations were secured mainly for this publication, and none,
so far as I know, except the frontispiece, has ever appeared in any
other book on Lincoln. I am indebted to a number of persons who have
assisted me in securing information and photographs, most of whom are
mentioned in the body of the book.

This being the centennial year of Abraham Lincoln's birth, it is
with feelings of genuine pleasure and profound reverence that the
opportunity is here given me to exhibit some "footprints" from the
path of one whose life is imprinted in imperishable characters in the
history of the great American republic. The excellent principles and
noble conduct that characterized his life should be an inspiration to
all. As Longfellow says:

"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints in the sands of time."

J. T. HOBSON.

_Lake City, Iowa, February 19, 1909._

ILLUSTRATIONS

Abraham Lincoln.

The Author.

Jacob S. Brother, who when a boy lived in the Kentucky Lincoln
cabin.

United Brethren Church on Indiana Lincoln farm.

Rev. Allen Brooner, an associate of Lincoln in Indiana.

Mr. and Mrs. Captain Lamar, who knew Lincoln in Indiana.

Honorable James Gentry, of Indiana.

Elizabeth Grigsby, one of the double wedding brides in Indiana.

Ruth Jennings Huff, daughter of Josiah Crawford.

Rifle Gun owned jointly by Lincoln and Brooner in Indiana.

David Turnham, the Indiana Constable, and wife.

George W. Turnham, son of David Turnham.

William D. Armstrong, defended by Lincoln in 1858.

Hannah Armstrong, who boarded Lincoln; he later defended her son.

Walker and Lacey, associated with Lincoln in the Armstrong case.

Moses Martin, still living, signed Lincoln's temperance pledge in
1847.

Major J. B. Merwin, still living, campaigned Illinois with Lincoln
for prohibition in 1854-55.

Rev. R. L. McCord, who named Lincoln as his choice for President,
in 1854.

Site of the old still-house in Indiana, where Lincoln worked.

Triplets, yet living, named by Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln's mill.

CHRONOLOGY

Born in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809.

Moved to Spencer County, Indiana, in 1816.

His mother, Nancy, died October 5, 1818, aged 35 years.

His father married Sarah Bush Johnson, 1819.

Moved to Illinois, March, 1830.

Captain in Black Hawk War, in 1832.

Appointed postmaster at New Salem, Illinois, in 1833.

Elected to Illinois Legislature in 1834, 1836, 1838, 1840.

Admitted to the bar in 1837.

Presidential elector on Whig ticket, 1840, 1844.

Married to Miss Mary Todd, November 4, 1842.

Elected to Congress in 1846, 1848.

His father, Thomas, died January 17, 1851, aged 73 years.

Canvassed Illinois for State prohibition in 1855.

Debated with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858.

Nominated for President at Chicago, May 16, 1860.

Elected President, November 6, 1860.

Inaugurated President, March 4, 1861.

Issued call for 75,000 volunteers, April 15, 1861.

Issued Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.

His address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863.

Renominated for President at Baltimore, June, 1864.

Reëlected President, November 8, 1864.

Reinaugurated President, March 4, 1865.

Shot by John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865.

Died April 15, 1865.

Buried at Springfield, Illinois, May 3, 1865.

CONTENTS

Dedication 3

Introduction 4

Illustrations 7

Chronology of Abraham Lincoln 8

CHAPTER I.

LINCOLN'S BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE IN KENTUCKY.

Unpromising Cradles—Site of the Log Cabin—Tangled History
Untangled—Jacob S. Brother's Statement—Speaking with
Authority-The Lincolns Move to Knob Creek—"The Lincoln Farm
Association" 13

CHAPTER II.

THE LINCOLNS MOVE TO INDIANA.

Early Hardships—"Milk Sickness"—Death of Lincoln's Mother—Henry
and Allen Brooner's Recollections—Second Marriage of Thomas
Lincoln—Marriage of Sarah Lincoln—Redmond D. Grigsby's
Recollections—Death of Sarah Grigsby—Mrs. Lamar's
Recollections—Captain Lamar's Interesting
Reminiscences—Honorable James Gentry Interviewed 17

CHAPTER III.

INDIANA ASSOCIATES AND INCIDENTS.

The Double Wedding—One of the Brides Interviewed—"The Chronicles
of Reuben"—Josiah Crawford's Daughter—The Lincoln-Brooner Rifle
Gun—David Turnham, the Indiana Constable—The "Revised Statutes
of Indiana" 26

CHAPTER IV.

THE EMIGRATION TO ILLINOIS.

Preparations for Removal—Recollections of Old Acquaintances—The
Old Indiana Home—Blocks from the Old House—The Cedar Tree—More
Tangled History Untangled—Mr. Jones' Store—Various Experiences
in Illinois—Recollections of an Old Friend 32

CHAPTER V.

LINCOLN VISITS THE OLD INDIANA HOME.

Lincoln an Admirer of Henry Clay—A Whig Elector—Goes to
Indiana—Makes Speeches—Old Friends and Old-Time Scenes—Writes
a Poem 36

CHAPTER VI.

LINCOLN AND THE ARMSTRONG CASE.

Famous Law Cases—The Clary Grove Boys—The Wrestling Contest—Jack
and Hannah Armstrong—Trial of Their Son for Murder—Lincoln's
Tact, and the Acquittal—Letters from the Surviving Attorney in
the Case—More Tangled History Untangled—Unpublished Facts
Connected with Parties in the Case 39

CHAPTER VII.

LINCOLN'S TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES.

Promise Made to His Mother—Writes a Temperance Article Before
Leaving Indiana—Mr. Wood and Mr. Farmer—Did Lincoln Sell
Whisky—His Great Temperance Address—Testimony of
Associates—Moses Martin's Letter—The Internal Revenue Bill 51

CHAPTER VIII.

LINCOLN AS A PROHIBITIONIST.

Major J. B. Merwin and Abraham Lincoln—They Together Canvass
Illinois for State Prohibition in 1854-55—Lincoln's Arguments
Against the Saloon—Facts Omitted by Lincoln
Biographers—President Lincoln, Generals Scott and Butler
Recommend Merwin's Temperance Work in the Army—The President
Sends Merwin on a Mission to New York the Day of the
Assassination—Proposition for Freedmen to Dig the Panama
Canal—Lincoln's Last Words to Merwin—Merwin's Characteristic
Address at Lincoln's Tomb—"Lincoln the Christian
Statesman"—Merwin Living at Middlefield, Connecticut 57

CHAPTER IX.

LINCOLN AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

An Ancient Institution—The Evils of Slavery—Lincoln Always
Opposed to Slavery—Relic of "Cruel Slavery Days"—Discussions,
Laws, and Compromises—The Missouri Compromise—The Fugitive
Slave Law—The Kansas-Nebraska Bill—Lincoln Aroused—He Answers
Douglas—R. L. McCord Names Lincoln as His Candidate for
President—A New Political Party—"Bleeding Kansas"—The Dred
Scott Decision—"The Underground Railroad"—The John Brown
Raid—The Approaching Crisis 68

CHAPTER X.

THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATES.

Candidates for the United States Senate—Seven Joint Debates—The
Paramount Issue—The "Divided House"—"Acts of a Drama"—Douglas
Charged Lincoln with Selling Whisky—Lincoln's Denial—A
Discovery—Site of the Old Still House in Indiana—Douglas
Elected—Lincoln the Champion of Human Liberty 77

CHAPTER XI.

LINCOLN NOMINATED AND ELECTED PRESIDENT.

Rival Candidates—Great Enthusiasm—Lincoln's Temperance Principles
Exemplified—Other Nominations—A Great Campaign—Lincoln's Letter
to David Turnham—Lincoln's Election—Secession—Lincoln
Inaugurated—Douglas 83

CHAPTER XII.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL WAR.

The Beginning—Personal Recollections—The War Spirit—Progress of
the War—The Emancipation Proclamation—A Fight to
Finish—Lincoln's Kindness—He Relieves a Young Soldier—He Names
Triplets Who Are Yet Living—His Reëlection—The Fall of
Richmond—Appomattox—Close of the Rebellion 87

CHAPTER XIII.

DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Personal Recollections—The Tragic Event—Mr. Stanton—A Nation in
Sorrow—The Funeral—The Interment at Springfield, Illinois—The
House in Which President Lincoln Died—Changed Conditions—The
South Honors Lincoln—A United People—A Rich Inheritance 93

CHAPTER XIV.

UNPUBLISHED OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS.

A Discovery—Documents of Historic Value—Lincoln Owned Land in
Iowa—Copy of Letters Patent from United States, under James
Buchanan, to Abraham Lincoln, in 1860—Copy of Deed Executed by
Honorable Robert T. Lincoln and Wife, in 1892—Other
Transfers—The Present Owner 100

CHAPTER XV.

CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF LINCOLN'S BIRTH.

Preparations—General Observance—President Roosevelt Lays
Corner-stone of Lincoln Museum at Lincoln's Birthplace—Extracts
from Addresses at Various Places—Closing Tribute 105

Footprints of Abraham Lincoln

CHAPTER I.

Lincoln's Birth and Early Life in Kentucky

Unpromising Cradles—Site of the Log Cabin—Tangled History
Untangled—Jacob S. Brother's Statement—Speaking with
Authority—The Lincolns Move to Knob Creek—The Lincoln Farm
Association.

It has been said truly that God selects unpromising cradles for his
greatest and best servants. On a cold winter night, a hundred years
ago, in a floorless log cabin, the emancipator of a race was born. Like
the Redeemer of mankind, there was "no room" in the mansions of the
rich and the great for such a child to be born.

Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, natives of Virginia, were married
by Rev. Jesse Head, a minister of the Methodist Church, June 12,
1806, near Beechland, Washington County, Kentucky. They settled at
Elizabethtown, Hardin County, where their first child, Sarah, was born,
February 10, 1807. In 1808 they moved to a farm containing one hundred
and ten acres, on the south fork of Nolin Creek, two miles south of
Hodgenville, Hardin County, and fifty miles south of Louisville.
Hodgenville afterward became, and is now the county-seat of Larue
County, as that part of the territory now embraced in Larue County was
set off from Hardin County in 1843. Here, on the twelfth of February,
1809, Abraham Lincoln was born.

The Hodgenville and Magnolia public highway runs through the farm.
The site of the old log cabin in which Lincoln was born is about
five hundred yards west of the road, and a short distance from the
well-known "Rock Spring." The old Kirkpatrick mill, on Nolin Creek,
is but a short distance away. The cabin, of course, is no longer in
existence, although various publications have printed pictures of it,
as though it were still standing on the original spot. Misleading
statements have also been published that the original cabin has been
placed on exhibition in various cities. Other publications, with more
caution, have pictured it as the _alleged_ log cabin in which Lincoln
was born.

Evidence is here introduced to untangle tangled history. Jacob
S. Brother, now in his ninetieth year, resides at Rockport, the
county-seat of Spencer County, Indiana, on the Ohio River, fifteen
miles south of Lincoln City, the site of the Lincoln farm in Indiana.
Mr. Brother is a highly-respected Christian gentleman. I have known him
for many years. On the thirtieth of March, 1899, when visiting him,
he incidentally told me that his father purchased the Lincoln farm
in Kentucky, and that the family lived in the cabin in which Abraham
Lincoln was born. On the eighth of September, 1903, I again visited
him, and, at my request, he gave a fuller statement, which I wrote out,
and then read it to him, all of which he said was correct, and is here
submitted:

"My name is Jacob S. Brother. My father's name was Henry, but he
was generally known as 'Harry.' I was born in Montgomery County,
Kentucky, March 8, 1819. In the year 1827, when I was eight years
old, my father purchased the old farm on which Abraham Lincoln
was born, in Kentucky. He purchased it of Henry Thomas. We
lived in the house in which Lincoln was born. After some years,
my father built another house almost like the first house. The
old house was torn down, and, to my knowledge, the logs were
burned for fire-wood. Later he built a hewed log house, and the
second old house was used as a hatter-shop. My father followed
the trade of making hats all his life. The pictures we often see
of the house in which Lincoln was born are pictures of the first
house built by my father. He died in the hewed log house, and my
youngest brother, Joseph, was born in the same house three weeks
after father's death. Some time after father's death, mother,
I, and the other children moved to near St. Joe, Missouri. The
brother born on the Lincoln farm enlisted in the Southern army,
and was captured at Lookout Mountain, and taken to Camp Morton,
Indianapolis, as a prisoner. My oldest brother, George, who was
a surgeon in the Union army, went to Washington City to see
President Lincoln, in order to get a reprieve for his brother.
Among other things, he told the President that his brother and he
(the President) were born on the same farm. I do not know how much
weight this had with the President, but my brother was reprieved.
I left Missouri to avoid going into the Confederate army, and came
to Rockport, Indiana, in 1863, where I have ever since resided."

At the time of this interview, I had with me some newspaper and
magazine articles, with illustrations, descriptive of the old Lincoln
farm in Kentucky, including the "Rock Spring," Nolin Creek, the old
watermill, Hodgenville, and other places, which were read and shown the
old gentleman. He was perfectly familiar with all the points named, and
mentioned a number of other items. When the name of the creek, near
the farm, was pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, he
said, "We always pronounced it No-lin´" (with the accent on the second
syllable). All these statements are entitled to credit, as there could
have been no object in making any false representations.

When Abraham was about four years old the Lincolns moved from the Rock
Spring farm to a farm on Knob Creek, in the eastern part of what is now
Larue County. Here a little boy, younger than Abraham, was buried.

Of late years considerable interest has been given to Lincoln's
birthplace. "The Lincoln Farm Association" has been organized and
incorporated, and the farm purchased by a group of patriotic citizens
who believe that the people of our country should, through affiliating
with the organization, develop the farm into a national park,
embellished by an historical museum. Mrs. Russell Sage has contributed
$25,000 for this purpose, and others are contributing. It is hoped that
this most worthy enterprise may be successful, and thus further honor
the immortal emancipator, and that the place will be dedicated to peace
and good will to all, where North, South, East, and West may find a
common ground of pride and fellowship.

[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN]

CHAPTER II.

The Lincolns Move to Indiana

Early Hardships—"Milk Sickness"—Death of Lincoln's
Mother—Henry and Allen Brooner's Recollections—Second Marriage
of Thomas Lincoln—Marriage of Sarah Lincoln—Redmond P.
Grigsby's Recollections—Death of Sarah Grigsby—Mrs. Lamar's
Recollections—Captain Lamar's Interesting
Reminiscences—Honorable James Gentry Interviewed.

Thomas Lincoln moved with his family to southern Indiana in the fall of
1816. There were two children, Sarah and Abraham, the former nine, and
the latter seven years old. The family located in what was then Perry
County. By a change in boundary made in 1818, that part of the county
was made a part of the new county of Spencer. The location was one mile
and a half east of where Gentryville now stands, and fifteen miles
north of the Ohio River. The town of Lincoln City is now located on the
farm, and is quite a railroad connecting point. Here the family lived
fourteen years. The county was new, and the land was not of the best
quality. The family was subject to the toils and privations incident to
pioneer life. Lincoln, long afterward, in referring to his early days
in Indiana, said they were "pretty pinching times."

Peter Brooner came with his family to the same community two years
before, and Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, who reared Mrs. Lincoln and her
cousin, Dennis Hanks, came one year later than the Lincolns.

A peculiar disease, called "the milk sickness," prevailed in the
community in 1818. Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs.
Brooner, and others died of this disease near the same time. Thomas
Lincoln, having learned the carpenter and cabinet-maker's trade in
Kentucky, made all their coffins from green lumber sawed with a
whip-saw. Their bodies were laid to rest on the little hill a few
hundred yards south of the Lincoln home.

Peter Brooner had two sons, Henry and Allen. I became acquainted with
these brothers twenty-two years ago. I was pastor of a church at Dale,
three miles from Lincoln City, two years, near where Allen lived, and
of a country church near where Henry lived. I was frequently at their
homes. They both knew Abraham Lincoln quite well. The Thomas Lincoln
and Peter Brooner homes were only one-half mile apart. Henry was five
years older, and Allen was four years younger than Abraham. "Uncle
Henry," as he was always called, gave me the following items, which I
wrote at the time, and have preserved the original notes:

"I was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, February 7, 1804.
We came to Indiana in 1814, when Allen was one year old. No man
has lived longer in the State than I have, for I have lived in
it ever since it became a State, and before. The Lincoln family
came to Indiana two years later, and we lived one-half mile apart.
During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln often came to see
her, and died just one week after my mother's death. I remember
very distinctly that when Mrs. Lincoln's grave was filled, my
father, Peter Brooner, extended his hand to Thomas Lincoln and
said, 'We are brothers, now,' meaning that they were brothers in
the same kind of sorrow. The bodies of my mother and Mrs. Lincoln
were conveyed to their graves on sleds. I often stayed all night
at Thomas Lincoln's. Dennis Hanks and his sister Sophia lived
with Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, and at their deaths Dennis and
his sister heired the estate. I helped drive up the stock on the
day of the sale of the property. Dennis Hanks married Lincoln's
step-sister. I often went with Lincoln on horseback to Huffman's
Mill, on Anderson Creek, a distance of sixteen miles. He had a
great memory, and for hours he would tell me what he had read."

Henry Brooner died April 4, 1890, two years after the above statements
were given, at the age of eighty-six. Everybody loved and respected
"Uncle Henry." Reference will be made in another chapter to further
statements made by him on the same occasion.

Allen Brooner was nine years younger than his brother Henry. He was
born in Kentucky, October 22, 1813. He was a minister in the United
Brethren Church more than fifty years. Among other items, he gave me
the following, which were written at the time:

"During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln, the mother of
Abraham Lincoln, came to see her. Mother said, 'I believe I
will have to die.' Mrs. Lincoln said, 'Oh, you may outlive me.'
She died just one week from the death of my mother. This was in
October, 1818. I was five years old when mother died. I remember
some one came to me in the night and told me my mother was dead.
Thomas Lincoln made mother's coffin, and sawed the lumber with
a whip-saw to make the coffin. She was taken on a sled to the
graveyard on a hill, one quarter of a mile south of where Lincoln
City now stands. Old man Howell took the corpse. He rode the horse
hitched to the sled, and took me up, and I rode on the horse
before him. I remember that his long beard bothered me. We did not
have wagons in those days. The first wagon I ever saw, my father
made, and it had wooden tires."

Reference will be made again to some facts stated by this associate of
Abraham Lincoln. "Uncle Allen" died at his old home, near Dale, Spencer
County, Indiana, April 2, 1902, in his eighty-ninth year, respected
by all. I am indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Knowlton, for his
photograph, taken at seventy-five years of age.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln died October 5, 1818, when her daughter Sarah was
eleven and her son Abraham was nine years old. Abraham's mother had
taught him to read and write, and, young as he was, he wrote for an
old minister, David Elkin, whom the family had known in Kentucky, to
come and preach his mother's funeral. Some time after, the minister
came and the funeral was preached at the grave where many people had
gathered. The minister stated that he had come because of the letter
he had received from the little son of the dead mother. As I have
stood by that grave, in my imagination I have seen that primitive
congregation—the old minister, the lonely husband, and the two
motherless children, Sarah and Abraham, on that sad occasion.

After the death of Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Dennis Hanks and his
sister Sophia became inmates of the Lincoln home.

For many years Mrs. Lincoln's grave was neglected. But few persons were
buried at that graveyard. In 1879, Mr. P. E. Studebaker, of South Bend,
Indiana, erected a marble slab at the grave, and some of the citizens
of Rockport enclosed it with an iron railing. Later a larger and more
appropriate monument has also been placed at the grave, and several
acres surrounding, forming a park, have been enclosed with an iron
fence. The park is under the control of an association which has been
incorporated.

In December, 1819, Thomas Lincoln went to Kentucky and married a
widow, Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he had known there before coming to
Indiana. She had three children, John, Matilda, and Sarah. She was a
most excellent woman, and proved worthy of a mother's place in the home
of Thomas Lincoln. Dennis Hanks married one of the daughters, and Levi
Hall married the other.

In August, 1826, at the age of nineteen, Sarah Lincoln, or Sally, as
she was commonly called, was married to Aaron Grigsby, the oldest of
a large family of boys. Learning that Redmond D. Grigsby resided near
Chrisney, Spencer County, Indiana, I called upon him October 18, 1898.
After being introduced by a friend, I asked him, "What relation were
you to Aaron Grigsby, who married Abraham Lincoln's sister?" "He was my
oldest brother, sir," answered the old gentleman. He said he was born
in 1818, and was at that time eighty years old. He said that he and
Lincoln were often thrown together, he at the home of his brother and
Lincoln at the home of his sister. Mr. Grigsby said that when Abraham
would start off with other boys, he had often heard Sally admonish him
as to his conduct. Then Abraham would say, "Oh, you be good yourself,
Sally, and Abe will take care of himself." We shall have occasion to
refer to Mr. Grigsby again. He still resides at Chrisney; is now ninety
years of age and quite feeble.

Sally Grigsby died in childbirth January 20, 1828, less than two years
after her marriage. Her body sleeps in the old Pigeon Creek Cemetery,
one mile and a half south of where her mother is buried.

Mrs. Lamar, the wife of Captain Lamar, who resided at Buffaloville, a
short distance east of Lincoln City, said to me, in her home, September
8, 1903:

"I remember old Tommy Lincoln. I sat on his lap many times. I was
at Sally Lincoln's infare dinner. I remember the night she died.
My mother was there at the time. She had a very strong voice, and
I heard her calling father. He awoke the boys and said, 'Something
is the matter.' He went after a doctor, but it was too late. They
let her lay too long. My old aunt was the midwife."

Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County, Indiana. At the same
time, I interviewed Captain John W. Lamar. I copied the date of his
birth from the record in his Bible. He was born December 9, 1822, and
although but a small boy when the Lincolns removed to Illinois, he
remembers Abraham Lincoln quite well. At the time of my interview,
I had a clipping from the Indianapolis _News_ of April 12, 1902,
containing some items pertaining to his recollections of Lincoln, which
were read to him. The clipping is as follows:

"Captain J. W. Lamar, of Buffaloville, Spencer County, a delegate
to the Republican State Convention, knew Abraham Lincoln when the
latter lived in Spencer County. He is past eighty years old, but
his memory is keen, and he is unusually vigorous for a man of his
age. He is six feet tall, broad-shouldered, with flowing white
hair and beard, making him one of the picturesque figures of the
convention crowd. Lincoln is his favorite theme, and he delights
to talk of him.

"'I well remember the first time I saw Abe,' he said. 'My father
took me to Troy, at the mouth of Anderson River, to do a little
trading, and Lincoln was at that time working at the ferry.
Dressed in the frontiersman's coon-skin cap, deerskin shirt, and
home-made trousers, he was indelibly impressed upon my memory as
being one of the gawkiest and most awkward figures I ever saw.
From that time on I saw him very often, as he lived near, and
worked for my father frequently. He and my father and his father
all helped to build the old Pigeon meeting-house, near which
Abe's only sister, Sally, was buried. Tom Lincoln, Abe's father,
often did odd jobs of carpentering for us.

"'One day, about a year after I first saw Lincoln, my father
and I went over to old Jimmy Gentry's store, where the town of
Gentryville now stands. When we got there, I noticed Lincoln out
by an old stump, working very industriously at something. On going
nearer, I saw that he was figuring or writing on a clapboard,
which he had shaved smooth, and was paying no attention to what
was going on around him. My father remarked to me then that Abe
would be somebody some day, but, of course, did not have any idea
how true his words would come out.

"'Many times have I seen him studying at odd moments, with a book
or something to write on, when others were having a good time.
That was what made him so great.

"'In August, before the spring that the Lincoln's left for
Illinois, a township election was held at a log house near
where the town of Santa Fe now stands.... All the men in the
neighborhood were gathered there, and conspicuous among them
was one, Sampson, a braggart and bully. He was storming around,
praising a horse he had.

"'"Why," said he, "I ran him four miles in five minutes this
morning, and he never drew a long breath!"

"'Abe, who was sitting on a rail fence near me, remarked quietly
to him, "I suppose, though, Mr. Sampson, he drew a good many short
ones."

"'This was just the opening Sampson was looking for, so he began
to bluster up to Lincoln. After standing abuse for a few minutes,
Abe told him to hush up or he would take him by the nape of the
neck and throw him over the fence. [At this point the old captain
interrupted my reading, and said, "Lincoln did not say he would
throw him over the fence, but said he would throw him into a pond
of water near by."] This had an effect, and Sampson shut up,
because he knew Abe could, and would do what he said.

"'My father's house was on the road between Gentryville and the
nearest trading-point on the Ohio River, at Troy. To this place
the settlers took their deer and bear hides, venison hams, and
other game, for which they received clothes, powder, and other
necessary articles. Lincoln and his father had constructed a wagon
for old man Gentry, made entirely out of wood, even to the hickory
rims to the wheels.

"'This they loaded with produce, and started for Troy. Arriving
at my father's house, a rain had swollen the creek near there, so
that they decided to stay all night, and wait for the water to
subside. During the night wolves stole nearly all the venison from
the wagon. That which belonged to the Lincolns was not touched,
however; it was in the bottom of the wagon. My father was a very
serious man, and scarcely ever smiled, but Abe, with his droll
ways and pleasant humor, always made him laugh.

"'A great grief, which affected Abe through his life, was
caused by the death of his only sister, Sally. They were close
companions, and were a great deal alike in temperament. About a
year after her marriage to one of the Grigsbys, she died. This
was a hard blow to Abe, who always thought her death was due to
neglect. Abe was in a little smoke-house when the news came to him
that she had died. He came to the door and sat down, burying his
face in his hands. The tears trickled through his large fingers,
and sobs shook his frame. From then on he was alone in the world,
you might say.'"

In addition to the foregoing interesting reminiscences, the captain
related to me other important items, some of which are here given as he
related them:

"Old Si Crawford, the man who loaned Lincoln the book which
was damaged, was my uncle. I remember one time Lincoln came to
our place when my father was sitting on a shaving-horse, doing
some work. Other boys and I were standing near by. Mr. Lincoln,
addressing us, said, 'Well, boys, what have you learned to-day?'
No one answering, he said, 'I wouldn't give a cent for a boy who
doesn't know more to-day than he knew yesterday.' This remark
greatly impressed me, and I have never forgotten it.

"Old Uncle Jimmy Gentry, who founded the town of Gentryville, kept
a store there. He was somewhat illiterate. I remember hearing him
and Major Daniels talking, when the major asked him what per cent.
he was making on the sale of his goods. Uncle Jimmy replied, 'God
bless your soul, I don't know anything about your per cent., but I
know when I buy an article in Louisville for a dollar, and sell it
in Gentryville for two dollars, I double my money every time.'"

Captain Lamar died November 4, 1903, a little more than two months
after my visit to him, at the age of eighty-one. Mrs. Lamar is still
living in Spencer County.

The same day, after leaving the Lamars, I called upon the Honorable
James Gentry, at Rockport. He was the son of James Gentry, the founder
of Gentryville. He was born February 24, 1819, and was ten years
younger than Lincoln. He related much about Lincoln, some things which
will be found in another chapter. He repeated the story about his
brother, Allen Gentry, and Lincoln taking a flatboat, loaded with farm
products, down the Ohio River to New Orleans, the attack of the negroes
and how they were driven away. Mr. Gentry said, "If ever a man was
raised up by Providence, it was Lincoln, for he had no chance." Mr.
Gentry was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Indiana Legislature
of 1871. He gave me his picture, reproduced herein, but it represents
him much younger than when I saw him. He died May 3, 1905, at the age
of eighty-six.

CHAPTER III.

Indiana Associates and Incidents

Reuben Grigsby had quite a family of sons. Aaron, the oldest, who
married Lincoln's sister, and Redmond D., the youngest, have already
been mentioned. Two sons, Reuben and Charles, were married the same
day, the former married in Spencer County and the latter in Dubois, the
adjoining county on the north. A double infare dinner was given at old
Reuben Grigsby's, the day following the marriages. The Grigsbys were
regarded as belonging to the "upper ten" class in those days, for they
lived in a two-story hewed-log house.

On the sixth of April, 1899, I met Elizabeth Grigsby, commonly called
"Aunt Betsy," one of the brides, the widow of Reuben, Jr., at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Justin Banks, near Grandview, Spencer County. She was
in her eighty-seventh year. She was cheerful, and bright in her mind,
and had a good knowledge of current events. I requested her to give
me a sketch of her life, and stated that it might prove useful and
interesting as a matter of history. She thought that, perhaps, what I
said might be true, and cheerfully gave the following:

"My father, Ezekiel Ray, was born in Ireland, and came to America
at the age of three years, and his father settled in Tennessee.
My father and a number of others, among them Mr. Grass and Mr.
Lamar, came to Indiana, and settled where Grandview now stands. My
father died when I was five years old. I had one sister and five
brothers. I was next to the youngest child. My mother remained a
widow, and died twelve years after the death of my father. I had
sixty acres of land left to me, my part of father's estate.

"I was married to Reuben Grigsby on the 15th of April, 1829,
before my seventeenth birthday, which was June 1, following.
Charles, my husband's brother, was married the same day. We had
infare dinner at the home of my husband's father, Reuben Grigsby,
three miles south of Gentryville. My husband and I arrived about
two hours before the other couple arrived. John Johnston, Abraham
Lincoln's step-brother, told a story about a mistake made by the
brothers in going to bed upstairs that night, which led to a fight
between himself and William Grigsby, a brother of the two who were
married. This story told by John Johnston occasioned the writing
of 'The Chronicles of Reuben,' by Abraham Lincoln, a short time
afterward. I saw Lincoln at my father-in-law's two days after our
marriage. He was not a good looking young man.

"Sally Lincoln, Abraham's only sister, married Aaron Grigsby, my
husband's oldest brother, but that was before my marriage. I never
saw her, for she died about three years after her marriage. I have
seen Thomas Lincoln, but was not acquainted with him. My husband
and Abraham Lincoln attended the same school. My husband never had
a sister that he thought more of than he did of Sally Lincoln.

"After our marriage on Thursday, we moved to my place, where
Grandview now is. I have been a member of the United Brethren
Church about forty-five years. My husband joined the church about
eight years before I joined. He was a class-leader for many years.
He died sixteen years ago last January. I have raised eight
children, but only four are living, one son and three daughters.

"I am not much account any more, but I am still here. My health
has been better the past winter than common. My eyesight is good.
I have never used spectacles, but I have trouble sometimes in
threading a fine needle. My teeth are all gone, except two old
snags. I am living on my farm of forty acres, two miles northwest
of Grandview. I have a house of four rooms. I rent my farm and
three rooms, reserving one room for myself. I do my own cooking,
and eat alone."

"Aunt Betsy" died March 27, 1901, two years after the interview
mentioned, in her eighty-ninth year. Her picture, secured for this
book, through her daughter, Mrs. Enco, residing in Spencer County, is a
good one.

"The Chronicles of Reuben," mentioned by "Aunt Betsy," were written
in scripture style, but no copy has been preserved. Thomas Bunton,
an aged citizen of Gentryville, told me that he remembered hearing
the "Chronicles" read when he was a boy. Redmond D. Grigsby told me,
in my interview with him, that he was in possession of them for some
time, but they were lost or destroyed. He said the "Chronicles" were
no credit to Mr. Lincoln. Those purporting to be the "Chronicles"
in Herndon and Weiks' "Life of Lincoln," were written by Herndon as
remembered by Mrs. Crawford, the wife of Josiah Crawford. Dr. W. S.
Bryant, of Dale, told me, some years ago, that he accompanied Herndon,
in 1865, to the Crawford place, when the "Chronicles" were written
as before stated. It had then been thirty-six years since they were
written.

The Grigsbys were much irritated when the "Chronicles" were written,
and have protested against their becoming a matter of history. It is
alleged that they were written to humiliate the Grigsbys for slighting
Lincoln in the invitations to the infare. The account of the fight
between John Johnston and William Grigsby is mentioned in full in
Lamon's "Life of Lincoln," but whether all the details there mentioned
are true no one can say.

The day I visited Captain and Mrs. Lamar, already referred to, at
their request, I visited the captain's cousin, Mrs. Ruth Jennings
Huff, residing in Buffaloville. She was the only surviving child of
Josiah Crawford. She said she was the middle child of five children,
three brothers and one sister. She showed me a corner cupboard made
by Thomas Lincoln and his son Abraham for her father. Her father died
about thirty years before my visit. In the distribution of the property
among the children, among other things, she chose the cupboard. After
telling many things she had heard her parents say about Lincoln, I
ventured to ask if she ever heard of the "Chronicles of Reuben." Her
quick, characteristic reply was, "Lord, yes; I've heard mother tell it
a thousand times." Mrs. Huff died at the residence of her son, S. H.
Jennings, in Rockport, Indiana, December 26, 1906, in her eightieth
year. Mr. Jennings is the present owner of the cupboard referred to,
and he writes me that he would not part with it for any reasonable
price. I am indebted to him for a good photograph of his mother.

In the latter part of the 'twenties, Abraham Lincoln and Henry Brooner
walked to Vincennes, Indiana, a distance of more than fifty miles,
and while there they purchased a rifle gun in partnership for fifteen
dollars. They hunted for game on their way back home. When the Lincolns
moved to Illinois in 1830, Mr. Brooner purchased Mr. Lincoln's interest
in the gun. He kept it until 1872, when he presented it to his adopted
son Samuel, on the day of his marriage. I purchased the gun of Samuel
Brooner, September 7, 1903. Of course, the gun was originally a
"flint-lock." It was changed to shoot with percussion caps. John
F. Martin, now living at Dale, in his seventy-eighth year, and a
son-in-law of Henry Brooner; John W. Kemp, now sixty-three, a justice
of the peace, born and reared on a farm adjoining Henry Brooner, and
Samuel Brooner, each made oath as to their knowledge of the gun. I have
known all these persons for more than twenty years, and know their
testimony to be first class. The gun is now in possession of John E.
Burton, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Nearly all the Lincoln biographies mention the fact that Lincoln
often read and studied the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which he
borrowed of David Turnham, a constable, who lived near the Lincolns in
Indiana. Mr. Turnham's father and family came to Indiana and settled
in Spencer County, in 1819. Turnham and Lincoln went hunting together
and attended the same school, although Turnham was six years older, as
he was born August 2, 1803. "The Revised Statutes," besides containing
the constitution and laws of Indiana, contained the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the United States. No doubt it was
in this book that Lincoln first read those important documents. Mr.
Turnham gave the book to Mr. Herndon in 1865, when he was gathering
material for the "Life of Lincoln." After being in several hands, the
book is now said to be in possession of W. H. Winters, librarian of the
New York Law Institute.

Twenty years ago I visited the home of David Turnham's widow, now
deceased, who knew Mr. Lincoln, and I was well acquainted with the two
sons, John J. and George W., who then resided at Dale. David Turnham
died August 2, 1884, at the age of eighty-one. I am under obligation
to my esteemed friend, George W. Turnham, now of Evansville, Indiana,
for information concerning his father, for a copy of Lincoln's letter
to his father, found elsewhere in this book, and for his father's and
mother's pictures, which have never before appeared in any publication.

CHAPTER IV.

The Emigration to Illinois

After residing in Indiana fourteen years, and having rather a rough
experience, Thomas Lincoln, through the inducements of others,
concluded to move to Illinois. Abraham was now twenty-one years old.
The farm products were sold to David Turnham. The family started March
1, 1830. Other families accompanied them.

Expressions made to me, and written at the time by different persons
who remembered the departure of the Lincolns, are here given:

Allen Brooner said: "I remember when the Lincoln family left for
Illinois. Abraham and his step-brother, John Johnston, came to my
father's to trade a young horse for a yoke of oxen. The trade was made.
John Johnston did most of the talking."

Redmond D. Grigsby said: "I was twelve years old when the Lincolns left
for Illinois. I helped to hitch the two yokes of oxen to the wagon, and
went with them half a mile."

James Gentry said: "I was eleven years old when the Lincoln family
started to Illinois. They stayed at my father's the night before they
started."

Mrs. Lamar said: "I remember when the Lincolns left for Illinois. All
the neighbors went to see them start. All the surroundings, to my
mind, are as plain as things are now in my kitchen."

The old Indiana house, built by Thomas Lincoln, in 1817, was torn
down, and the logs shipped away, many years ago, except one log.
Isaac Houghland, a reliable man and merchant of Lincoln City, was in
possession of this log, and stated to me that a man by the name of
Skelton said he would make oath that it was one of the logs of the old
Lincoln house. Mr. Houghland kindly gave me two blocks, which I saw his
son chop from the log.

A cedar-tree stands near where the Lincoln house stood. A number of
unreliable stories concerning this tree have been told in various
Lincoln biographies, magazine and newspaper articles. Some state that
the tree was planted by Abraham Lincoln; others, that James Gentry
planted the tree the day the Lincolns started to Illinois, in honor of
his friend, Abraham. James Gentry, many years ago, purchased several
hundred acres of land around and including the Lincoln farm. He told
me, in the interview before mentioned, that he planted the cedar-tree
in 1858. I wrote that fact in his presence, and have preserved
the original paper on which it is written. The tree was planted
twenty-eight years after the Lincolns vacated the premises. Some of the
citizens of Lincoln City do not know the true history of the tree. Some
yet believe Lincoln planted it, and hundreds of visitors have almost
stripped the tree of its twigs and branches with the same delusive
idea. Here is more "tangled history untangled."

William Jones kept a store at Gentryville some years before, and at
the time the Lincolns went away, Abraham often worked for Mr. Jones,
and read newspapers at the store. Before leaving he bought thirty-five
dollars' worth of goods from Mr. Jones to sell on the way out to
Illinois. He wrote back that he doubled his money on the investment.
Mr. Jones was born in Vincennes, Indiana, January 5, 1800. He was a
member of the Indiana Legislature from 1838 to 1841. He was killed
while in command as colonel of the Fifty-third Indiana Regiment, at
Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864. I gather these facts, mainly, from an
article furnished a newspaper by Captain William Jones, of Rockport,
Indiana, a son of Colonel William Jones. I knew Captain Jones at Dale,
many years ago.

The Lincolns were about two weeks on their journey to Illinois. They
first settled near Decatur. Thomas Lincoln moved a time or two after,
and finally settled on Goosenest Prairie, near Farmington, in Coles
County, where he died January 12, 1851, at the age of seventy-three.
Lincoln's step-mother, whom he loved very dearly, died April 10, 1869,
in her eighty-first year, and four years after the death of her famous
step-son.

After his removal to Illinois, Abraham Lincoln did not remain much of
the time at home. I shall not follow his history here in detail. His
rail-splitting proclivities; his Black Hawk War record; his experience
as a merchant and postmaster; his career as a lawyer; his election at
various times to the Illinois Legislature; his election to Congress;
his marriage, and many other matters of history are found in most any
of his numerous biographies. Whatever reference may be made to any of
these periods in his history will be for the purpose of introducing new
material.

The following, relative to some of Lincoln's early experiences in
Indiana, was related to me by one of Lincoln's early Indiana friends,
Allen Brooner:

"I went to Illinois in 1835-36. Most of the time I was there I
worked at the carpenter trade at Petersburg. We were getting
out timber for a mill. The owner made me 'boss.' At that time
Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem. He was also keeping
a store at the time. While I was there, Lincoln made a mistake
in his own favor of five cents in trading with a woman. When he
discovered his mistake, he walked two and a half miles to correct
the mistake. The county surveyor came to see Lincoln while I was
out there, and wanted to make him his deputy. Lincoln said, 'I
know nothing of surveying.' 'But,' said the surveyor, 'they tell
me you can learn anything.' Not long afterward I saw Lincoln out
surveying. When Lincoln would hand me my mail he would often
inquire about the Spencer County people and the old acquaintances.
In his conversation he always put the best construction on
everything."

[Illustration: UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH,

_At Lincoln City, Indiana, on the old Lincoln farm. The author, as
presiding elder, has officiated and preached in this church._]

[Illustration: JACOB S. BROTHER.

_Still living at Rockport, Indiana. When a small boy lived with
his father's family in the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born._]

[Illustration: REV. ALLEN BROONER.

_An old associate of Lincoln in Indiana. Their mothers died one
week apart, and are buried at same place._]

CHAPTER V.

Lincoln Visits the Old Indiana Home

Lincoln an Admirer of Henry Clay—A Whig Elector—Goes to
Indiana—Makes Speeches—Old Friends and Old—Time Scenes—Writes a
Poem.

In 1844, Henry Clay was a candidate for President of the United States,
on the Whig ticket. Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Mr. Clay,
and referred to him as his "beau-ideal of a statesman." He was placed
on the Whig ticket as presidential elector, and made speeches in favor
of Mr. Clay's election. During the canvass he visited his old home and
acquaintances in Indiana for the first time since he left, fourteen
years before, and it was his only visit to the home of his youth.

On the 22d of October, 1898, Thomas Bunton, then seventy-five years
old, said to me: "I heard Lincoln speak in Gentryville in 1844. I saw
him coming to the place of meeting with Mr. Jones. I heard Lincoln
say, 'Don't introduce me to any one; I want to see how many I can
recognize.' He went around shaking hands, and when he came to me he
said, 'This is a Bunton.'"

Captain Lamar said, at the time of my visit to him already mentioned:
"At the close of Lincoln's speech, near Buffaloville, he said,
'Friends and fellow-citizens, I may never see you again, but give us
a protective tariff and you will some day see the greatest nation the
sun ever shone over.' While saying this he pointed to the east and,
raising his hand, he closed the sentence pointing to the west. From the
speaking I went with him to Si Crawford's for dinner. He talked much
about old times, places, and people familiar to him in other days. The
last words Abe said to me were these, 'You are comparatively young, God
bless you, I may never see you again.'"

Mr. Lincoln was so impressed by his visit to the old home that he
wrote a descriptive poem, which is published in some of the Lincoln
biographies. The following letter, written in 1846, explains why he
wrote the poem:

"The piece of poetry of my own which I allude to I was led to
write under the following circumstances: In the fall of 1844,
thinking I might aid to carry the State of Indiana for Mr. Clay,
I went to the neighborhood in that State in which I was raised,
where my mother and my only sister are buried, and from which
I had been about fifteen years. That part of the country is,
within itself, as unpoetical as any spot of the earth; but still,
seeing it and its objects and inhabitants aroused feelings in
me which were certainly poetry, though whether my expression of
these feelings is poetry is quite another question. When I got to
writing, the change of subject divided the thing into four little
divisions, or cantos, the first only of which I send you, and may
send the others hereafter."

"My childhood's home I see again,
And sadden with the view;
And still, as memory crowds my brain,
There's pleasure in it, too.

"Q memory! thou midway world
'Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed, and loved ones lost,
In dreamy shadows rise;

"And, freed from all that's earthly vile,
Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,
Like scenes in some enchanted isle,
All bathed in liquid light.

"As dusky mountains please the eye,
When twilight chases day;
As bugle notes that, passing by,
In distance die away;

"As leaving some grand waterfall,
We, lingering, list its roar;
So memory will hallow all
We've known, but know no more.

"Near twenty years have passed away
Since here I bid farewell
To woods and fields, and scenes of play,
And playmates loved so well;

"Where many were, but few remain,
Of old, familiar things;
But seeing them to mind again
The lost and absent brings.

"The friends I left that parting day,
How changed! as time has sped
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of all are dead.

"I hear the loud survivors tell
How naught from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.

"I range the fields with pensive tread,
And pace the hollow rooms,
And feel (companions of the dead),
I'm living in the tombs."

CHAPTER VI.

Lincoln and the Armstrong Case

Famous Law Cases—The Clary Grove Boys—The Wrestling Contest—Jack
and Hannah Armstrong—Trial of Their Son for Murder—Lincoln's
Tact and the Acquittal—Letters from the Surviving Attorney in
the Case—More Tangled History Untangled—Unpublished Facts
Connected with Parties in the Case.

Lincoln, as a lawyer, was employed in a number of noted cases involving
great interests. One was the defense of a slave girl, Nancy, in 1841,
in the Supreme Court of Illinois, who, through him, was made free.
At this time Mr. Lincoln was only thirty-two years of age. The case
excited great interest, and the decision forever settled the few traces
of slavery which had then existed in southern Illinois.

Another case was the Central Illinois Railroad Company against McLean
County, Illinois, tried at Bloomington. This case was decided in favor
of the railroad. Mr. Lincoln received from the company a fee of $5,000,
the largest fee he ever received.

Another suit in which he was employed was the McCormick Reaper Patent
case, tried in 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here Mr. Lincoln first met
the Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, who was employed on the same side of
the case. Mr. Stanton treated Mr. Lincoln with great disrespect. Mr.
Lincoln overheard him, in an adjoining room, ask, "Where did that
long-armed creature come from, and what can he do in this case?" He
also declared if "that giraffe" was permitted to appear in the case he
would throw up his brief and leave it. He further referred to Lincoln
as a "long, lank creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty linen duster
for a coat, the back of which the perspiration had splotched with
stains that resembled the map of a continent." As there were a number
of attorneys on both sides, it was ordered that only two speeches be
made on each side. This order would exclude either Lincoln or Stanton,
as there were three attorneys on that side of the case. At Lincoln's
suggestion, Stanton quickly decided to speak. Mr. Lincoln was greatly
disappointed, for he had made much preparation. Four years later, Mr.
Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States, and he chose
Mr. Stanton as a member of his cabinet, and they were close friends
during the Civil War.

The most celebrated case in which Mr. Lincoln figured was the Armstrong
case, in 1858. All the Lincoln biographers refer to it, and as I have
some unpublished facts in reference to it and some of the parties
connected with the case, it is here presented at length.

There was near New Salem a band of young men known as the "Clary Grove
Boys." The special tie that united them was physical courage and
strength. Every newcomer of any great strength had to be tested. So
Lincoln was required to go through the ordeal of a wrestling match.
Seeing that he could not be easily floored, Jack Armstrong, their
champion, was chosen to lay Lincoln on his back. Many gathered to
witness the contest, and a number of bets were made. After quite a
spirited engagement, Lincoln won, and was invited to become one of the
company. Jack Armstrong declared, "Abe Lincoln is the best man that
ever broke into the settlement," and he became a lifelong, warm friend
of Lincoln.

Some time after the scuffle, Lincoln found a home, for a time, with
Jack Armstrong, where he read and studied. Armstrong was a farmer, and
a poor man, but he saw genius struggling in the young student, and
welcomed him to his cabin home and rough fare. Mrs. Armstrong, a most
excellent woman, learned to respect Mr. Lincoln, and befriended him in
many ways.

About twenty years after Lincoln's stay in the Armstrong home, William
D. Armstrong, commonly called "Duff," a son of Jack and Hannah
Armstrong, became involved in a difficulty. He was somewhat wild, and
was often in bad company. One night, in August, 1857, in company with
a wild crowd, he went to a camp-meeting, where a row ensued, in which
a man named Metzker received injuries from which he died three days
later. Young Armstrong and another young man, Norris, were arrested,
charged with murder, and put in jail. The community was greatly stirred
over the matter and demanded the speedy punishment of the prisoners. A
short time after "Duff" was placed in jail, his father, Jack Armstrong,
died, and his last request was for his wife to sell everything she
had to clear "Duff." Mrs. Armstrong engaged two lawyers at Havana,
Illinois, and Lincoln, hearing of her troubles, wrote her the following
letter:

"SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, September 18, ——.

"DEAR MRS. ARMSTRONG:—I have just heard of your deep affliction,
and the arrest of your son for murder. I can hardly believe that
he can be guilty of the crime alleged against him. It does not
seem possible. I am anxious that he should have a fair trial, at
any rate; and gratitude for your long-continued kindness to me
in adverse circumstances prompts me to offer my humble services
gratuitously in his behalf. It will afford me an opportunity to
requite, in a small degree, the favors I received at your hand,
and that of your lamented husband, when your roof afforded me
grateful shelter without money and without price.

Yours truly,

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

The first act was to secure a postponement and a change in place of
trial. The trial was held at Beardstown, in May, 1858, only two years
before Mr. Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States,
and the case was watched with great interest. Norris had already been
convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

"When the trial was called the prisoner was pale and emaciated,
with hopelessness written on every feature. He was accompanied by
his half-hoping, half-despairing mother, whose only hope was in a
mother's belief of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God
she worshiped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee
or reward upon earth, had undertaken the case."

A statement of the trial is here taken, with a few changes, from
Barrett's excellent "Life of Lincoln":

"Mr. Lincoln sat quietly by while the large auditory looked on
him as though wondering what he could say in defense of one whose
guilt they regarded as certain. The examination of the witnesses
for the State was begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence,
circumstantial and positive, was introduced, which seemed to
impale the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication.
The strongest evidence was that of a man who belonged to the
rough element, who swore that at eleven o'clock at night he saw
Armstrong strike the deceased on the head, that the moon was
shining brightly, and was nearly full, and that its position in
the sky was just about that of the sun at ten o'clock in the
morning, and that by it he saw Armstrong give the mortal blow.

"The counsel for the defense propounded but few questions, and
those of a character which excited no uneasiness on the part of
the prosecutor—merely, in most cases, requiring the main witness
to be definite as to time and place.

"When the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln
introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impressions
in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though
somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to commit a vicious act;
and to show that a greater degree of ill feeling existed between
the accuser and the accused than the accused and the deceased.

"The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his
opening speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while a
deathly silence pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear,
but moderate tone, began his argument. Slowly and carefully he
reviewed the testimony, pointing out the hitherto unobserved
discrepancies in the statements of the principal witness. That
which had seemed plain and plausible, he made to appear as a
serpent's path. The witness had stated that the affair took place
at a certain hour in the evening, and that, by the aid of the
brightly-shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death blow."

At this point Mr. Lincoln produced an almanac, which showed that at the
time referred to by the witness there was no moon at all, and showed it
to the jury. He then said that the principal witness had testified to
what was absolutely false, and declared his whole story a fabrication.
Lincoln had told no one of his discovery, so that it produced quite a
sensation.

"An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in
the minds of the auditors, and the verdict of 'not guilty' was at
the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with
this intellectual achievement. His whole being had for months been
bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy, and, as the lava
of the overcharged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great
thoughts and burning words leaped from the soul of the eloquent
Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly
that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and
staggered from the court-room, while the audience fancied they
could see the brand upon his brow. Then, in words of thrilling
pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, as fathers of sons who
might become fatherless, and as husbands of wives who might be
widowed, to yield to no previous impressions, no ill-founded
prejudice, but to do his client justice. As he alluded to the debt
of gratitude he owed the boy's dead father and his living widowed
mother, tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to weep. It
was near night when he concluded by saying that if justice was
done,—as he believed it would be,—before the sun should set it
would shine upon his client a free man.

"The jury retired, and the court adjourned for the day. Half an
hour had not elapsed when a messenger announced that the jury
had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the
court-house, and while the prisoner was being brought from the
jail, the court-room was filled to overflowing with citizens
of the town. When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence
reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The foreman
of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court,
delivered the verdict of 'Not guilty.'

"The widow dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up,
and told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. Then
with the words, 'Where is Mr. Lincoln?' he rushed across the room,
and grasped the hand of his deliverer, while his heart was too
full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes toward the west, where
the sun still lingered in view, and then, turning to the youth,
said, 'It is not yet sundown, and you are free.' An eye-witness
says: 'I confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears as
I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I
saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the divine injunction, by comforting
the widowed and the fatherless.'"

A story has been reported that the introduction of an almanac in the
Armstrong trial was a piece of trickery on Lincoln's part; that an
almanac of 1853 was used with all the figure 3's changed to 7's. This
was not necessary, for the almanac of 1857 answered the purpose, and,
besides, Mr. Lincoln was not a dishonest lawyer.

Others have claimed that no almanac was used at all in the trial.
George Cary Eggleston, a noted author, is reported as putting a
discount on it, and intimates that the story arose from an incident
connected with a trial in the early 'fifties at Vevay, Indiana,
witnessed by himself and his brother Edward, the author of the "Hoosier
Schoolmaster," and other popular novels. He says his brother, in
writing the novel, entitled "The Graysons," exercised the novelist's
privilege, and attributed this clever trick to Abraham Lincoln in the
days of his obscurity.

Part First of Honorable J. H. Barrett's "Life of Lincoln" was prepared
for the press in June, 1860, just after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for
the presidency, and only two years after the Armstrong trial, and there
the trial is mentioned in full, with the almanac incident. How does the
George Cary Eggleston account jibe with these facts? His brother Edward
simply stated an historical fact in attributing the almanac incident to
Lincoln, and it was not the exercise of a novelist's fancy.

In order to secure additional facts in the Armstrong case, I recently
wrote to the postmaster at Havana, Illinois, for the names of the
lawyers, if yet living, who were associated with Mr. Lincoln in the
case. The following letter was received, which is here given for its
historic value:

"HAVANA, ILLINOIS, August 22, 1908.

"REV. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—Your letter directed to the
postmaster of this place, dated August 18, 1908, was handed to
me by the postmaster, Mr. Oscar Harpham, and he requested me to
answer your letter.

"You ask for the names of the lawyers in Havana, who, in
connection with Abraham Lincoln, defended Duff Armstrong in the
Circuit Court of Cass County, Illinois, held in Beardstown, in
1858. In answer, I will state that the undersigned, Lyman Lacey,
Sr., was one of the two lawyers who was employed to defend said
Armstrong. Our firm name was Walker and Lacey, and we were
practicing law in Havana, Mason County, Illinois, at the time in
partnership, and had been so engaged at the time of the trial
since 1856. Mr. Walker's given name was William. In 1865, Mr.
William Walker removed to Lexington, State of Missouri, where he
practiced law, and was county judge part of the time, and, a few
years ago, died.

"I am the only attorney who practiced and was employed to defend
Armstrong, yet alive. I am in the practice of law now, and am in
good health, and on the 9th day of May last was seventy-six years
old. Was about twenty-six years old at the time of trial of the
Armstrong case in Beardstown, and my partner, some years older
than myself, was the senior member of our firm. He attended the
trial in Beardstown with Lincoln. I was not present, but stayed at
home in the office in Havana.

"Mason and Cass counties join, and the crime of killing Metzker,
for which Armstrong was indicted, took place in Mason County, and
the indictment against Armstrong was found in this county, and a
change of venue was taken to Cass County, which was in the same
judicial district.

"I was well acquainted with Hannah Armstrong, mother of "Duff,"
with whom Lincoln had boarded in Menard County, which also joins
Mason, when he was a young man, and before he was a lawyer, That
was the reason Lincoln would not charge anything for defending
her son. Our firm, Walker and Lacey, did not charge her anything
for our services. "Duff" could not pay. His mother employed us
and Lincoln. Lincoln and our firm consulted together about the
defense, and Walker assisted at the trial.

"I would be glad to give you any information in regard to the
trial and the parties in the Armstrong case. It was quite
celebrated, and things have been told that were not true.

"In regard to myself, in 1873 I was elected judge of the Circuit
Court, and elected three times afterwards, and served in all
twenty-four years. By appointment of the Supreme Court of this
State, I served twenty years on the Appellate Court bench. I
retired from the bench in 1897.

"Yours very truly,

"LYMAN LACEY, SR."

After receiving the above letter, I wrote to Judge Lacey for additional
information, and, in reply, received another letter containing
interesting data, which here follows:

"HAVANA, ILLINOIS, September 1, 1908.

"REV. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—Your letter of August 26th, was duly
received, and contents noted. I wish to state to you that William
Duff Armstrong was duly and jointly indicted with James H. Norris
in the Circuit Court of Mason County, Illinois, for the murder
of Metzker, October 3, 1857. Hugh Fullerton, of Mason County,
was State's attorney and prosecutor, and is long since deceased.
Norris was unable to employ an attorney, not having the necessary
means. According to the laws of Illinois, in such case the
circuit judge appoints an attorney at law to defend him, and the
attorney is obliged to defend the prisoner without compensation.
Accordingly the court appointed William Walker, my law partner,
to defend Norris, which he did. Norris was tried before a jury of
twelve men in Mason County, and said jury, on the 5th of November,
convicted him of manslaughter, and fixed the time he should serve
in the penitentiary as eight years, and the judge sentenced him to
serve that time in the penitentiary at hard labor, which he did,
less time gained by good behavior.

"William Duff Armstrong was granted a change of venue, November
5, 1857, to Cass County, Illinois, and was tried the next spring.
William Walker and myself were employed by Hannah Armstrong and
Duff to defend him in Cass County, Illinois. I cannot state for
certain whether 'Aunt Hannah' first sought the advice and help of
Lincoln, or whether Lincoln first volunteered his services, but
my recollection is that she first sought his aid. I understood
after the trial of Duff that Mr. Lincoln told her he would make
no charge for his services, because, he told her, she had spent
more time, while he boarded with her, in darning his stockings
and mending his clothes, than he had in defending her son in the
trial, and as she never charged him anything, he would not charge
her for his services.

"You know that 'Old Abe,' as he was called, was a humorous kind
of a man. At one time when I was in Beardstown, at a term of
court, looking after the Armstrong case, Lincoln was also there,
and the judge, who had to come down on a steamboat from Pekin on
the Illinois River, was long delayed. Lincoln and myself were at
the same hotel in Beardstown, waiting for the judge, when Lincoln
became very uneasy, and walked backward and forward, slowly, at
the door of the hotel, when finally he spelled out—'t-e-j-u-s,
t-e-j-u-s,' pronouncing the word as spelled twice.

"In regard to the almanac question, there was a witness who
testified that after eleven o'clock, when the moon was shining
brightly, he saw Duff Armstrong strike Metzker with a club.
Lincoln and my partner, William Walker, introduced the almanac
of 1857, showing that the moon set before eleven o'clock, which
proved that the witness was swearing to a falsehood as regarded
the shining of the moon. Now some one started the story that
the almanac introduced was not one of the date of 1857, but of
a former date showing the setting of the moon before eleven
o'clock.... My partner, Walker, would have told me about it if
such a trick had been performed at the trial, but he never did.
Some years ago, I examined an almanac of 1857, which showed the
setting of the moon was before eleven o'clock, and that it was the
right almanac to introduce. A year or two before Duff Armstrong
died, I had a conversation with him in Mason City, Mason County,
Illinois, and he said there was no truth in the story that an
almanac of a different date than 1857 was introduced. The above
charge is untrue, and is what I referred to in my former
letter....

"I practiced law with Herndon in the 'fifties and the 'sixties,
and he often talked to me about Lincoln, whom he liked very much,
and afterward wrote his history. [Herndon was Lincoln's law
partner twenty years.]

"At the time of the Armstrong trial, Lincoln was not looked upon
as the great man he is to-day, only that he was a very good and
successful lawyer. No one ever dreamed that he would be President.
He was a man of great common sense, and an amusing story-teller.
He knew how to please the common people, and everybody liked him
personally.

Yours truly,

"LYMAN LACEY, SR."

Miss Ida M. Tarbell says, in _McClure's Magazine_, that Lincoln told
the jury in the Armstrong case that he was not there as a hired
attorney, but to discharge a debt of gratitude. Duff Armstrong said:
"Uncle Abe did his best talking when he told the jury what true friends
my father and mother had been to him in the early days. He told how he
used to go out to Jack Armstrong's and stay for days; how kind mother
was to him; and how, many a time, he had rocked me to sleep in the old
cradle."

J. M. Hobson, now in his eighty-first year, and who, for many years,
has resided in Winterset, Iowa, recently informed me that he was
acquainted with "Aunt Hannah." She was married the second time to
Samuel Wilcox. She died in Winterset, August 15, 1890, at the age of
seventy-nine.

Mr. Hobson further said: "The son that Lincoln took an interest in
was here fifteen or sixteen years ago. His name was William, but they
called him "Duffy." We had a revival meeting at our church, and he
attended. I took an interest in him, and tried to get him to be a
Christian. He did not make a start then, and I do not know whether he
did later or not."

Duff Armstrong was a soldier in the Civil War, and died a widower, in
1899, at his daughter's, near Easton, Mason County, Illinois.

"Aunt Hannah" has a number of relatives in Winterset, Iowa, among them
Mrs. Martha McDonald, her step-daughter and daughter-in-law. She was
first married to Robert, a son of "Aunt Hannah." He died several years
ago. I am indebted to Mrs. McDonald, through J. M. Hobson, for the
excellent picture of "Aunt Hannah" in this book, also for the picture
of "Duff," taken late in life, as an every-day farmer. He was Mrs.
McDonald's step-brother and brother-in-law.

[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN W. LAMAR,

_Who knew Lincoln in Indiana_.]

[Illustration: MRS. CAPT. J. W. LAMAR,

_Yet living in Spencer County, Indiana, who remembers the Lincolns
in Indiana_.]

[Illustration: HONORABLE JAMES GENTRY,

_Son of proprietor of Gentryville, Indiana. Both knew Lincoln in
Indiana_.]

[Illustration: ELIZABETH GRIGSBY,

_One of the brides of a double wedding in Indiana which caused
Lincoln to write the "Chronicles of Reuben."_]

CHAPTER VII.

Lincoln's Temperance Principles

Promise Made to His Mother—Writes a Temperance Article Before
Leaving Indiana—Mr. Wood and Mr. Farmer—Did Lincoln Sell
Whisky?—His Great Temperance Address—Testimony of
Associates—Moses Martin's Letter—The Internal Revenue Bill.

It is well known that Abraham Lincoln was strictly a temperance man.
His early training was on that line. In his maturer years, while a
member of Congress, when urged by an associate to drink on a certain
occasion, he said, "I promised my precious mother only a few days
before she died that I would never use anything intoxicating as a
beverage, and I consider that promise as binding to-day as it was on
the day I made it."

Among his first literary efforts, at his boyhood home in Indiana,
was to write an article on temperance. William Wood, living near by,
was Lincoln's chief adviser in many things. He took a political and
a temperance paper, and Lincoln read them thoroughly. He expressed a
desire to try his hand at writing an article on temperance. Mr. Wood
encouraged him, and the article was written. Aaron Farmer, a noted
minister of the United Brethren Church, often stopped with Mr. Wood,
who was a zealous and devoted member of the same church. Mr. Herndon
and other Lincoln biographers are mistaken in saying that Aaron Farmer
was a minister of the Baptist Church. Henry Brooner told me that he
joined the United Brethren Church at a grove meeting held in that part
of the country by Aaron Farmer, in the fall of 1827.

Lincoln's temperance article was shown Mr. Farmer by Mr. Wood, and he
was so well pleased with it that he sent it to an Ohio paper, in which
it was published. Lincoln, at this time, was seventeen or eighteen
years old. I was acquainted with James, Andrew, Robert, and Charles,
aged sons of William Wood, all of whom knew Lincoln. They have all
passed away. In the year 1888, I officiated at the funeral of Mrs.
Nancy Armstrong, one of Mr. Wood's daughters, at her home, which was
the old home of her father, where Lincoln was always a welcome visitor.
William L. Wood, a grandson of Lincoln's adviser, now living at Dale,
and whom I have known for many years, says his grandfather was a
temperance worker.

Mr. Farmer had a literary turn of mind, and published a paper called
_Zion's Advocate_, at Salem, Indiana, in 1829, but this was about
two years after Lincoln's temperance article was written. The United
Brethren Church organ, the _Religious Telescope_, now published at
Dayton, Ohio, was first published at Circleville, Ohio, in 1834, but
this was still later. Query: In what paper in Ohio was Lincoln's
temperance article printed? Mr. Farmer died March 1, 1839, while
serving as presiding elder of the Indianapolis District. William
Wood, Lincoln's old friend and adviser, died at Dale, Spencer County,
Indiana, December 28, 1867, at the age of eighty-three.

Mr. Lincoln has been charged with selling whisky at New Salem,
Illinois. Let us examine the facts and his own statement. In 1833,
he and Mr. Berry bought out three groceries in New Salem. Berry was
a drinking man and not a suitable partner for Lincoln. At that time
grocery stores usually kept whisky on sale, so the firm had quite
a stock of whisky on hand, along with other commodities. Drinking
was common then. Even some ministers of the gospel would take their
"dram." It appears that Lincoln trusted Berry to run the business.
It is doubtful if Lincoln himself sold whisky, although his name was
connected with the firm. The firm failed. Berry died, leaving Lincoln
the debts to pay.

Mr. Douglas, in his debates with Lincoln, twitted him as having been a
"grocery keeper" and selling whisky. In replying, Lincoln jokingly said
Mr. Douglas was one of his best customers, and said he had left his
side of the counter, while Douglas stuck to his side as tenaciously as
ever. When Lincoln laid aside his jokes he declared that he never sold
whisky in his life. (See Chapter IX.)

Mr. Lincoln often "preached" what he called his "sermon to boys," as
follows: "Don't drink, don't gamble, don't smoke, don't lie, don't
cheat. Love your fellow-men, love God, love truth, love virtue, and be
happy."

On the 22d of February, 1842, he made a strong address before the
Washingtonian Temperance Society, in the Second Presbyterian Church,
Springfield, Illinois, in which he said: "Whether or not the world
would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it
of all intoxicating drinks, seems to me not now an open question.
Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues,
and, I believe, all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts."

Leonard Swett, who, for eleven years was associated with Lincoln in
law in the Eighth Judicial District of Illinois, said, "Lincoln never
tasted liquor, never chewed tobacco or smoked."

The late Philip Clark, of Mattoon, Illinois, an old-time friend of
Lincoln, is reported to have said: "We were together one night in a
country neighborhood, when some one proposed that we all go to church,
close by, to hear the Rev. John Berry preach a temperance sermon. After
listening intently, Abe remarked to me that that subject would some
time be one of the greatest in this country."

In the year 1847, Lincoln made a number of temperance addresses and
circulated a total abstinence pledge, urging persons to sign it. Among
those who signed the pledge presented by Mr. Lincoln were Moses Martin
and Cleopas Breckenridge, who are still living. Recently I wrote to
Mr. Martin, asking him to furnish for this book a statement concerning
his recollections of Lincoln and his temperance speech. He promptly
answered, as follows:

"EDINBURG, ILLINOIS, January 14, 1909.

"MR. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—I heard Abraham Lincoln lecture on
temperance in 1847, at the South Fork schoolhouse. He came out
from Springfield. He had gotten up a pledge. It was called the
Washingtonian pledge. He made a very forcible lecture, the first
temperance lecture I ever heard, and the first one ever delivered
in our neighborhood. It was in the grove, and a large crowd came
out to hear the lecture. Lincoln asked if any one had anything
to say, for it or against it, while he circulated the pledge, he
would hear from them. My old friend, Preston Breckenridge, got
up and made a very forcible talk. He signed the pledge, and all
his children. Cleopas was his son. Nearly every one there signed
it. Preston went out lecturing. I usually went with him and
circulated the pledge copied after Abraham Lincoln's pledge. It
read as follows: 'Whereas, the use of intoxicating liquors as a
beverage is productive of pauperism, degradation, and crime, and
believing it is our duty to discourage that which produces more
evil than good; we, therefore, pledge ourselves to abstain from
the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.' When I signed
Lincoln's pledge I was about nineteen years old. I am now eighty
years old.

"MOSES MARTIN."

At my request, Mr. Martin kindly sent his picture for this book.
Cleopas Breckenridge, who is referred to in Mr. Martin's letter, is
living, in his seventy-third year, at Custer, Illinois. As he has
furnished a statement for other publications, he writes that he prefers
not to furnish it again. It may be said, however, that he was ten years
old when Lincoln, by permission, wrote his name under the pledge, then
placing his hand on the little boy's head, said, "Now, sonny, you keep
that pledge, and it will be the best act of your life." In his long
life, subject to many temptations, Mr. Breckenridge has faithfully kept
his pledge made at Mr. Lincoln's temperance meeting.

On the 29th of September, 1863, in response to an address from the Sons
of Temperance in Washington, President Lincoln said:

"If I were better known than I am, you would not need to be told
that, in the advocacy of the cause of temperance you have a friend
and a sympathizer in me. When I was a young man—long ago—before
the Sons of Temperance as an organization had an existence, I,
in a humble way, made temperance speeches, and I think I may say
that to this day I have never, by my example, belied what I then
said.... I think the reasonable men of the world have long since
agreed that intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the very
greatest, of all evils among mankind. This is not a matter of
dispute, I believe. That the disease exists, and that it is a very
great one, is agreed upon by all. The mode of cure is one about
which there may be differences of opinion."

It is true that President Lincoln, during the awful pressure of the
Civil War, signed the Internal Revenue Bill, (H. R., No. 312,) to raise
money from various sources to support the Government, among which was
the licensing of retail dealers in intoxicating liquors. This bill
was warmly discussed. Some years ago, I read these discussions in the
"Congressional Record," of May 27, 1862. Senators Wilson, Pomeroy,
Harris, and Wilmot opposed the licensing of the sale of intoxicants in
the strongest manner. Mr. Lincoln threatened to veto the bill, but, as
a war measure, and, acting under dire necessity, with the assurance
that the bill would be repealed when the war was over, he reluctantly
signed the bill, July 1, 1862. Up to this time, however, the bill has
never been repealed. There have been some changes made, among which
the word "license" was changed to "special tax," but the import is
practically the same.

CHAPTER VIII.

Lincoln as a Prohibitionist

Major J. B. Merwin and Abraham Lincoln—They Together
Canvass Illinois for State Prohibition in 1854-55—Lincoln's
Arguments Against the Saloon—Facts Omitted by Lincoln's
Biographers—President Lincoln, Generals Scott and Butler
Recommend Merwin's Temperance Work in the Army—The President
Sends Merwin on a Mission to New York the Day of the
Assassination—Proposition for Freedmen to Dig Panama
Canal—Lincoln's Last Words to Merwin—Merwin's Characteristic
Address at Lincoln's Tomb—"Lincoln, the Christian
Statesman"—Merwin Living at Middlefield, Connecticut.

It will, no doubt, be of interest to here introduce a man who, perhaps,
knew Mr. Lincoln as well as any man now living. It is Major J. B.
Merwin, of Middlefield, Connecticut, who is now eighty years old. He
is a noted educator and lecturer. He formerly resided in St. Louis,
Missouri, and was the founder of "The American Journal of Education,"
in that city in 1867. Since that time he has written much and lectured
widely on educational and literary subjects.

Learning of his associations with Mr. Lincoln, that they together
campaigned the State of Illinois for State prohibition in 1854-55,
I wrote Mr. Merwin for some items relative to his acquaintance and
associations with the great emancipator. In his reply, Mr. Merwin said:

"I mail you a very brief résumé of my connection with Mr. Lincoln
from 1854 on, up to the day he was assassinated. This will answer
your query and request, I think, fully. Of course the address made
at the tomb of the great, dear man, on May 26, 1904, was greatly
abridged for lack of space, but many essential points you will be
able to gather from what I send you. And I am glad to do this, for
nearly all his biographers ignore both his prohibition and his
religious work and character."

From what Mr. Merwin furnished, as stated in his letter, the following
facts are here presented:

Mr. Merwin, then a young man, was a temperance lecturer in Connecticut,
in 1851, during which year he and Neal Dow both addressed the
legislature in behalf of State prohibition. A resident of Springfield,
Illinois, then visiting in Hartford, being interested in the question,
gained admittance to this legislative session, and was much pleased
with Mr. Merwin's presentation of the subject. He afterward took it
upon himself to invite Mr. Merwin to visit Springfield and deliver
the same address before the Illinois Legislature. The invitation was
accepted, and the following winter Mr. Merwin began a temperance
campaign in Illinois. His first address was made at the capital.
At this time the legislature was considering the submission of the
prohibition question to the people, and as the question met with great
opposition from the leaders of the two political parties, who feared
to jeopardize the liquor interests, the speaker from the East was not
permitted to address the legislature as a body, and spoke instead in
the representative hall.

It was at this meeting that he first met Lincoln, who was immediately
touched by the young speaker's words and enthusiastically accepted
his message. Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Merwin home with him that night,
but, knowing nothing of the character of the man, Mr. Merwin asked the
advice of a friend, who said, "Most certainly, if Mr. Lincoln invites
you, go." Mr. Merwin says: "We were barely inside his door, and even
before he asked me to be seated, he wanted to know if I had a copy of
the Maine law with me. I had, and we spent until four o'clock in the
morning discussing its features." The matter of a prohibition canvass
was outlined, and Mr. Lincoln volunteered to put the whole matter
before Richard Yates, afterwards Illinois' war governor, but who was
then Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance. Mr. Yates was
quick to see the strength of the new idea, and himself arranged the
first series of rallies where Lincoln and Merwin spoke.

The meeting at Jacksonville was presided over by Richard Yates. Among
the places at which they spoke were Bellville, Bloomington, Peoria,
Edwardsville, and Decatur. Mr. Lincoln's political friends were alarmed
for him because of his radicalism on the temperance question, and made
a combined effort to silence him, but he continued in the fight.

Prohibition did not carry in its submission to the people, but it is
said that the votes of forty counties were changed in favor of State
prohibition.

After the campaign of 1854-55, Mr. Merwin's friendship with Lincoln
continued without a break up to the latter's assassination. Soon after
the commencement of the war, Mr. Merwin's unceasing advocacy of the
great reform won him personal recognition, and it was suggested by
prominent military men that he should be officially appointed, and
be permitted the freedom of the camps in the interests of personal
temperance work, need of which was widely evident. What President
Lincoln and Generals Scott and Butler wrote on the back of the
recommendation, as endorsements, is here given. Mr. Merwin has the
original manuscript:

"If it be ascertained at the War Department that the President has
legal authority to make an appointment such as is asked within,
and Gen. Scott is of opinion it will be available for good, then
let it be done.

"July 17, 1861. A. LINCOLN."

"I esteem the mission of Mr. Merwin to this army a happy
circumstance, and request all commanders to give him free access
to all our camps and posts, and also to multiply occasions to
enable him to address our officers and men.

WINFIELD SCOTT,

"July 24, 1861. _Department of Virginia._"

"The mission of Mr. Merwin will be of great benefit to the troops,
and I will furnish him with every facility to address the troops
under my command. I hope the Gen'l commanding the army will give
him such official position as Mr. Merwin may desire to carry out
his object.

"August 8, 1861. B. F. BUTLER, _Maj-Gen. Com'd'g._"

The testimonial to the warm appreciation of Mr. Merwin's usefulness
in the army as a temperance worker is signed by Isaac N. Arnold, O.
H. Browning, Charles Sumner, Alexander W. Randall, W. A. Buckingham,
Richard Yates, James Harlan, Alexander Ramsey, A. B. Palmer, John F.
Potter, J. L. Scripps, Lyman Trumbull, Henry Wilson, J. R. Doolittle,
Austin Blair, Thomas Drummond, James W. Grimes, Samuel J. Kirkwood,
Timothy O. Howe, David Wilmot, and more than one hundred others. They
comprise those of governors, senators, congressmen, and postmasters.

In 1862, President Lincoln again wrote a special order to facilitate
his work at the front, as follows, the original still being in Mr.
Merwin's possession:

"Surgeon General will send Mr. Merwin wherever he may think the
public service may require.

"July 24, 1862. A. LINCOLN."

Throughout the war Mr. Merwin was in close personal touch with the
nation's executive, and had a passport, given him by Mr. Lincoln, which
admitted him to the White House at any time, day or night, except
during the session of the cabinet. On the day of his assassination the
President had Mr. Merwin to dine with him, and that afternoon sent him
on an important mission to New York.

It will be a matter of interest to many to know that Mr. Lincoln
looked very favorably upon a proposal that had been made for the
excavation and completion of the Panama Canal by means of the labor
of the freedmen. Those close to the President at the time were aware
of the fact that he favored the plan, and it was for the purpose of
securing the views of Horace Greeley, of the New York _Tribune_, and
other molders of public thought, in regard to the plan, that he called
Major Merwin to the White House on the fatal Friday, April 14, 1865,
the day that he was shot. After the President had explained this
business to Mr. Merwin, perhaps recalling again those stirring times
ten years before, when he had campaigned with him, he said, "After
reconstruction, the next great question will be the overthrow of the
liquor traffic."

That evening Mr. Merwin was on his way to New York, and the following
morning, as he stepped from the train in that city, he heard the
terrible news of the assassination at Ford's Theater, the night before.

Mr. Merwin says that Mr. Lincoln talked freely with him on the
overthrow of the liquor traffic, and it is his strong conviction that
if his life had been spared, even a decade, he would have emphasized
his lifelong devotion to the temperance cause with an open and decisive
championship of State and National prohibition. The slavery issue had
come unforeseen into his life and swept him heart and soul into the
very vortex of that terrific struggle. As he often expressed it, "there
must be one war at a time," and the one that called him first was not
of his own choosing in point of order.

The abridged address on "Lincoln as a Prohibitionist," delivered by
Major Merwin at the Lincoln Monument, at Springfield, Illinois, May 26,
1904, which he furnished for this book, is here given. It was printed
in the _New Voice_, Chicago, June 16, 1904, to which I am indebted for
a number of the foregoing items, some of which were marked by Major
Merwin with a blue pencil.

After a brief introduction by Mr. Alonzo Wilson, chairman of the State
Prohibition Committee, Mr. Merwin, standing on one of the steps of the
stairway of the monument, with a beautiful flag covering a part of the
balustrade, said:

"We stand to-day in the heart of the continent, midway between the
two oceans, within the shadow of the monument of the man who made
more history—who made greater history than any other person, than
all other persons who lived in the nineteenth century! A leader
of the people, who was great in their greatness, who carried
their burdens, who, with their help, achieved a name and a fame
unparalleled in human history. He broke the shackles of four
millions of slaves. He saved to the world this form of government,
which gives to all our people the opportunity to walk, if they
will, down the corridors of time, arm in arm with the great of
all ages, sheltered and inspired by the flag which has become the
symbol of hope and of freedom to all the world!

"In God's good providence, I came to know him—here in his humble
home in Springfield, in 1854, and before he had come to be the
hero, beloved, glorified, known and loved by all who love liberty.
It was in the autumn of 1854. I was a young man full of all the
enthusiasm of those first Neal Dow triumphs in New England.
Accepting the invitation of friends, I came to Illinois, where the
campaign for State prohibition was getting under way. I reached
Springfield, and one night had the privilege of speaking in the
old State House, where, with legislators and townspeople, I found
an appreciative audience.

"After my address, there were calls of 'Lincoln! Lincoln!
Lincoln!' and turning, I saw, perhaps, the most singular specimen
of a human being rising slowly, and unfolding his long arms and
his long legs, exactly like the blades of a jack-knife. His hair
was uncombed, his coat sleeves were inches shorter than his shirt
sleeves, his trousers did not reach to his socks. First I thought
there was some plan to perpetrate a 'joke' on the meeting, but in
one minute, after the first accents of the pathetic voice were
heard, the crowd hushed to a stillness as profound as if Lincoln
were the only person present, and then this simple, uncouth man
gave to the hushed crowd such a definition of law, its design and
mission, its object and power, such as few present had ever known
or dreamed. Among the points he made were the following:

"Mr. Lincoln asked, 'Is not the law of self-protection the first
law of nature; the first primary law of civilized society?' 'Law,'
he declared, 'is for the protection, conservation, and extension
of right things, of right conduct; not for the protection of evil
and wrong-doing.'

"'The State must, in its legislative action, recognize in the
law enacted this principle—it must make sure and secure these
endeavors to establish, protect, and extend right conditions,
right conduct, righteousness. These conditions will be secured and
preserved, not by indifference, not by a toleration of evils, not
by attempting to throw around any evil the shield of law; never by
any attempt to license the evil.'

"'This sentiment of right conduct for the protection of home, of
state, of church, of individuals must be taken up and embodied
in legislation, and thus become a positive factor, active in
the state. This is the first and most important function in
the legislation of the modern state.' Proceeding, Mr. Lincoln
said: 'This saves the whole, and not a part, with a high, true
conservatism through the united action of all, by all, for all.
The prohibition of the liquor traffic, except for medical and
mechanical purposes, thus becomes the new evangel for the safety
and redemption of the people from the social, political, and moral
curse of the saloon, and its inevitable evil consequences of
drunkenness.'

"Lincoln studied every moral and political issue in this light
and from this standpoint, and, as a result of this practice, he
studied the opposite side of every question in dispute, and hence
he was never surprised by the seeming strength of his opponents,
for he saw at once the moral and legal weakness of wrong and
untenable positions assumed. This it is that throws a flood
of light on his ready and unanswerable repartee by story and
statement. In fact, we have seen, often, that after his statement
of a proposition it needed no argument.

"Honorable Elihu B. Washburn, Lincoln's closest friend, wrote
before he died that 'when the whole truth is disclosed of Mr.
Lincoln's life during the years of 1854-55, it will throw a flood
of new light on the character of Mr. Lincoln, and will add new
luster to his greatness and his patriotism.'

"Mr. Lincoln had, as is well known, made up his mind to retire
from the political arena. He was annoyed, yea, more, he was
disgusted with the low plane on which the politicians, mere
politicians, not statesmen, were trying to conduct the affairs of
the nation.

"Mr. Lincoln was feeling his way up and out of the gloom,
despondency, and melancholy which had to so great an extent
affected his life. There came to him a new light, a new revelation
of destiny in those still creative, or rather recreative days, and
it is this phase of things to which Mr. Washburn refers in the
above lines.

"It is a well-known fact that Mr. Lincoln hesitated to show his
strength of conscience, as he did his wealth of goodness, lest it
be counted as ostentation. He said often in 1854-55, 'The saloon
and the liquor traffic have defenders—but no defense!' With him
men were neither great nor small—they were right or wrong. He
knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong. His expressions and
conduct on this question of the prohibition of the liquor traffic
and the saloon were so firmly anchored on his profound
convictions of right and wrong that they were immutable.

"In that memorable canvass, Mr. Lincoln and myself spoke in
Jacksonville, in Bloomington, in Decatur, in Danville, in
Carlinville, in Peoria, and at many other points.

"The gist of Mr. Lincoln's argument was contained in this fearless
declaration:

"'This legalized liquor traffic, as carried on in the saloons
and grogshops, is the tragedy of civilization. Good citizenship
demands and requires that what is right should not only be made
known, but be made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be
detected and defeated, but destroyed. The saloon has proved itself
to be the greatest foe, the most blighting curse of our modern
civilization, and this is why I am a practical prohibitionist.

"'We must not be satisfied until the public sentiment of this
State, and the individual conscience shall be instructed to look
upon the saloon-keeper and the liquor-seller, with all the license
each can give him, as simply and only a privileged malefactor—a
criminal.'

"Mr. Lincoln used, in advocating the entire prohibition of the
liquor traffic, nearly the same language, and in many instances
the same illustrations that he used later on in his arguments
against slavery. At another place he said:

"'The real issue in this controversy, the one pressing upon
every mind that gives the subject careful consideration, is that
legalizing the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicating liquors
as a beverage is a wrong—as all history and every development of
the traffic proves it to be—a moral, social, and political wrong.'

"It should be stated distinctly, squarely, and fairly, and
repeated often, that Mr. Lincoln was a practical total abstinence
man; wrote for it, worked for it, taught it, both by precept
and by example; and when, from a long and varied experience, he
found that the greed and selfishness of the liquor-dealers and
the saloon-keepers overleaped and disregarded all barriers and
every other restraint, and taught by the lessons of experience
that nothing short of the entire prohibition of the traffic and
the saloon would settle the question, he became an earnest,
unflinching prohibitionist.

"It has been said by those most competent to judge, that Mr.
Lincoln surpassed all orators in eloquence, all diplomats in
wisdom, all statesmen in foresight, and this makes him and his
name a power not to be resisted as a political prohibitionist.

"We do not say much about it, for it is not necessary, but there
were times and occasions when Mr. Lincoln came to be, in his
administration, greater than law—when his wisdom was greater than
the combined wisdom of all the people. The people, the law-makers
had never comprehended the conditions and the situation that
confronted him. He was as great as necessity, and our safety lay
in the fact that he was as just as he was great, and as wise as he
was just. Great in law, but greater in necessity.

"God be praised for the great gifts he showered upon him; God be
praised for the generous use he made of them. In the radiance of
God's light and in the sunshine of his love from out the gates of
pearl which were swung inward to his entrance by those who waited
to welcome him thither, there opened to him that vast and bright
eternity, vivid with God's love. We could wish for a moment the
veil might be parted and we, too, could have vision that such
labor shall be crowned with immortal rest. Hail, brother, and
farewell."

In a letter to me, of late date, Major Merwin writes:

"None of us can get too many views of the good and great Lincoln,
and the world grows better for all we know, or can learn of
him.... I spoke in New Haven last Sunday evening in one of the
largest churches in the old college town. The house was packed
with Yale students and others. The subject was, 'Lincoln, the
Christian Statesman,' emphasizing the religious phase of the
man, much to the surprise of many present. This was the real
source of his strength. He was larger than any or all so-called
'denominations,' and yet a multitude find both comfort and
strength in these various divisions, and Lincoln's heart was glad
it was so."

It should have been stated, in connection with Mr. Merwin's temperance
record in the army, that General Winfield Scott, after hearing several
addresses made by Mr. Merwin from President Lincoln's carriage, to the
regiments gathering in Washington, said to the President, "A man of
such force and moral power to inspire courage, patriotism, faith, and
obedience among the troops is worth more than a half-dozen regiments of
raw recruits."

As before stated, Mr. Merwin is now in his eightieth year, and resides
at Middlefield, Connecticut. In his last letter to me, dated January
14, 1909, referring to the above paragraph, he says, "I am not now
equal to 6,000 men, but am able to tell the story of the plain, great
man, whose name is now, and ever will be a glory on the nation's brow."

[Illustration: THE LINCOLN-BROONER GUN,

_Owned jointly by Abraham Lincoln and Henry Brooner in Indiana. Now
owned by John E. Burton, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin._]

[Illustration: RUTH JENNINGS HUFF,

_Daughter of Josiah Crawford, for whom Lincoln often labored as hired
hand in Indiana._]

[Illustration: DAVID TURNHAM AND WIFE.

_Mr. Turnham, as Constable, loaned Lincoln the Revised Statutes of
Indiana, the first law-book he ever studied._]

CHAPTER IX.

Lincoln and the Slavery Question

An Ancient Institution—The Evils of Slavery—Lincoln Always Opposed
to Slavery—Relic of "Cruel Slavery Days"—Discussions, Laws, and
Compromises—The Missouri Compromise—The Fugitive Slave Law—The
Kansas-Nebraska Bill—Lincoln Aroused—He Answers Douglas—R. L.
McCord Names Lincoln His Candidate for President—A New Political
Party—"Bleeding Kansas"—The Dred Scott Decision—"The Underground
Railroad"—The John Brown Raid—The Approaching Crisis.

It may be wondered what future generations will think when they read
the history of our country and learn that within the memory of many of
those who now live this Government tolerated and protected that "sum
of all villainies"—human slavery. Slavery arose at an early period
in the world's history out of the accident of capture in war. As an
institution it has existed in many countries for ages. Unfortunately,
in the first settling of the United States, slavery was tolerated, and
allowed to spread as the country developed. This was especially true of
the Southern States.

The many attendant evils of slavery cannot here be mentioned. Slaves
were largely kept in ignorance. In some States it was considered a
crime, with heavy penalties, for any white person to teach a colored
person to read or write.

The traffic in human beings, as it then existed, is awful to think of.
Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters were
often sold and separated never to meet again. When the master died, his
negroes were sold to the highest bidder, just like other property.

Abraham Lincoln was always opposed to slavery. When a young man he
witnessed the cruelties of a slave market in New Orleans, where men,
women, and children were sold like brutes. He then and there said, "If
I ever have a chance to hit that institution, I will hit it hard."
In 1837, when he was only twenty-eight years old, he heard a sermon
preached by a noted minister, in Illinois, on the interpretation of
prophecy in its relation to the breaking down of civil and religious
tyranny. The sermon greatly impressed Mr. Lincoln, and he at that
time said to a friend, "Odd as it may seem, when he described those
changes and revolutions, I was deeply impressed that I would be somehow
strangely mixed up with them."

Many slaveholders were otherwise good people, and their slaves
were well treated. Ministers of the gospel and church-members held
slaves. Some of the author's maternal relatives were slaveholders. He
remembers, when a small boy, during "cruel slavery days," hearing his
grandfather relate a conversation he had with a slave while on a late
visit to his slaveholding brothers in Kentucky. The slave, a young man,
was entering some complaint against slavery. Grandfather asked him,
"Is your master kind to you?" "Yes, sir," answered the slave. "Do you
have plenty to eat and wear?" "Oh, yes, sir." "Then why are you not
satisfied?" "Oh, Mr. Todd, freedom, freedom."

I have a letter, dated June 2, 1861, written to my grandfather by one
of his Kentucky brothers. I remember seeing this great uncle in 1865,
when he was visiting in Indiana. He had administered on a brother's
estate. The letter contains the following: "You wrote to know what
I had done with the negroes. I sold them last March, one year ago.
William Hocker bought Dicey and her youngest boy for $1,100. Franklin
Todd, the son of brother Peter, bought the oldest boy for $700. I
bought the second boy, the one born when you were here, for $535." My
great-uncle says, in the same letter, that, on account of governmental
affairs, "property" is not bringing its full value.

The people of the North were generally opposed to slavery, and great
bitterness of feeling was engendered between the Northern and Southern
States. Among the great leaders in the anti-slavery movement were
William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Wendell Phillips, John G.
Whittier, Joshua R. Giddings, William H. Seward, and Charles Sumner.
The institution of slavery had become a great power, and had interwoven
itself into the social, moral, religious, and political fabrics of the
country.

Whenever a territory sought admission into the Union as a State, a
great controversy arose as to whether it should be admitted as a free
or a slave State. The halls of Congress resounded with the eloquence
of great statesmen on both sides of the question, because "there were
giants in those days." A good portion of the time of Congress was taken
in discussing some phase of the slavery question. Bad temper was often
exhibited, and great interests were at stake. On some occasions Henry
Clay would propose a compromise, which being accepted, would have a
tendency to lull the storm which, sooner or later, was to burst forth
in all its fury. Anti-slavery, abolition, and various organizations
were formed.

In the North various opinions existed on the subject of slavery. Some
were opposed to its extension, but did not wish to interfere with it
where it already existed. Others were more ultra, chief of whom was
William Lloyd Garrison, whose motto was to destroy slavery or destroy
the Union. He finally came to the conclusion that the Constitution of
the United States favored slavery, and declared it to be "a covenant
with death and an agreement with hell."

In 1820 the territory of Missouri sought admission into the Union.
The question as to whether it should be admitted as a free or a slave
State was so warmly and violently discussed in Congress that many
were alarmed lest it would lead to the dissolution of the Union. The
territory was finally admitted as a slave State, but on the express
condition that slavery would forever be excluded from all that part of
the territory of the United States lying north of 36 degrees and 30
minutes. This provision was known as "the Missouri Compromise."

In 1850 the "Fugitive Slave Law" was passed by Congress, which was,
in part, to the effect that it was a penal offense to render any
accommodations, assistance, or show any favors whatever to runaway
slaves; also that officers were empowered to compel citizens, in the
North as well as in the South, to assist in the capture of such slaves.

As the Missouri Compromise forever excluded slavery from the
northwestern territories, the "forever" terminated when Congress, in
May, 1854, passed the celebrated Kansas-Nebraska Bill, introduced by
Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic Senator from Illinois. Its main
provision was that each territory seeking admission into the Union
might decide by vote of its inhabitants whether it should be admitted
as a free or a slave State. This virtually repealed the Missouri
Compromise, which Douglas had declared "to be sacred," and a law which
"no human hand should destroy." This act was considered such a flagrant
violation of a trust, breaking down all legal barriers to the possible
spread of slavery, that it aroused great indignation throughout the
North.

Mr. Lincoln, just prior to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as
already stated by Mr. Merwin in the last chapter, had become inactive
in politics, and had given himself more fully to the practice of law.
In furnishing a short biography of himself for a friend, in 1859,
he said, "I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise aroused me again." He now saw the great danger of
slavery enlarging its territory indefinitely, and was alarmed at the
serious nature of the situation.

When Mr. Douglas discovered the unpopularity of his famous bill, he
hastened to Springfield and other places in Illinois, to explain
matters. On the 4th of October, 1854, he spoke in the State House at
the time of the State Fair. It was expected that Lyman Trumbull, a
noted Whig politician of Illinois, would reply, but he did not appear.
Seeing the coast clear, Mr. Douglas spread himself, and made a great
speech. He was small in stature and somewhat bombastic in his style
of delivery. He was popularly known among his friends as the "Little
Giant." Mr. Lincoln had been urged to reply to Mr. Douglas, and, after
some persuasion, consented to do so. That day he made his first great
political speech. It is stated that "all the smothered fires of his
broody days and nights and years burst forth in a power and with an
eloquence which even those who knew him best had not so much as hoped
for." Among other things, he said:

"My distinguished friend, Douglas, says it is an insult to the
emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska to suppose that they are not
able to govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of
this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met
and answered. I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is
competent to govern himself, _but I deny his right to govern any
other person without that person's consent_."

I now introduce to my readers one who heard Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln
on that occasion, fifty-four years ago. It is Rev. R. L. McCord, now
in his seventy-ninth year. He is an intelligent and highly-respected
citizen of Lake City, Iowa, and one of my most valued parishioners. I
shall let Mr. McCord speak for himself:

"I was then twenty-four years of age, and in my second year as a
student in the Illinois Congregational College at Jacksonville,
thirty miles west of Springfield. Some of my college mates and I
heard Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln speak in the State House, in
the fall of 1854. The people were wearied with the lengthy speech
of Judge Douglas. When Mr. Lincoln began his reply, for about
fifteen minutes he kept the audience in an uproar of laughter and
applause. Then he waded into the subject of 'free speech, free
soil, and free men,' much to the confusion of the man who 'didn't
care whether slavery was voted up or down.' During Mr. Lincoln's
reply, Judge Douglas several times interrupted him, saying he
was misrepresented. Mr. Lincoln, in his good nature, allowed
him to explain a number of times. At one point he was very much
worked up, and, pointing his finger at Mr. Lincoln, vehemently
demanded a chance to explain. In a very excited manner, Judge
Douglas tried to set himself right, using about fifteen minutes
of Mr. Lincoln's time. After he was through, Mr. Lincoln spread
his mouth, and, with a broad smile, said, 'I believe the "Little
Giant" is somewhat agitated,' and, without further attention to
the judge, proceeded with his speech. I was so impressed with Mr.
Lincoln's speech that on leaving the State House, I said to my
college mates, 'Lincoln is my candidate for President at the next
election.' This was six years before Mr. Lincoln was nominated at
Chicago. The next evening, with my college mates, we called upon
Mr. Lincoln at his home and complimented him for his great speech.
He received us kindly, shook hands with us, and thanked us for our
call. This was my first meeting with Mr. Lincoln, but I met him
and heard him speak a number of times afterward."

This speech of Mr. Lincoln's was a noted one, and nearly all his
biographers mention it, but it has not been left on record, except
in small extracts. Mr. McCord's statement, made for this book, is
interesting, and all will be glad to see the picture of his friendly
and intellectual face as it now appears.

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and its effects was the means
of the destruction of the Whig party, to which Mr. Lincoln belonged,
the disruption of other party lines, and the organization of a new
party with Abraham Lincoln as its acknowledged leader, which in a few
years was to decide the destinies of the United States Government.
It also had the effect of bringing about a state of civil war in
Kansas. Thousands of pro- and anti-slavery people flocked to Kansas
to help decide the destiny of that territory. Illegal votes, bogus
legislatures, mobs, murders, incendiary acts, and general lawlessness
were some of the fruits of Mr. Douglas' famous bill for popular
sovereignty, better known as "squatter sovereignty."

In 1857, Chief-Justice Taney of the United States Supreme Court, with
a majority of his associates, decided on a test case, known as the
"Dred Scott Case," that when the Constitution of the United States
was formed and adopted, a negro slave was not a person, but simply a
piece of property,—a thing,—and that his master could lawfully take his
slaves anywhere he pleased, just as he could his horses and his cattle.

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Dred Scott
Decision greatly aroused the North. Some declared that the latter
two laws should not be carried out. This increased the hostility of
the South. Many persons in the North assisted in what was called the
"underground railroad"—secretly assisting slaves on their way to Canada
for freedom.

When a small boy, just beginning to read, I remember seeing at my
Grandfather Todd's, in southern Indiana, copies of the Louisville
_Journal_ (now the _Courier-Journal_) with whole columns of
short advertisements, offering rewards for runaway slaves. Such
advertisements could easily be recognized at a glance, for each one had
a small picture of a slave with a carpet-sack on his back making long
strides for liberty.

The leading opponents of slavery were bitterly hated and persecuted.
William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in the city of Boston, and it was
with great difficulty that his life was saved. Elijah P. Lovejoy, who
published an anti-slavery paper at Alton, Illinois, was shot down by a
mob while defending his property and pleading for free speech. Charles
Sumner, because of a speech he made, was brutally assaulted while
sitting in his chair in the United States Senate, and was so beaten
that he was compelled to give up his seat in Congress for four years.

It was well known that neither moral suasion nor the ordinary political
methods would ever do away with the curse of slavery. The people of
the North debated, prayed, preached, and voted against slavery, while
the people of the South were equally zealous in defending slavery,
contending it was a divine institution.

While matters were in such an unsettled condition a great explosion
occurred in the fall of 1859 which startled the entire nation. John
Brown, who had rendered valuable service in keeping slavery out of
Kansas, with an armed force of seventeen men, made a raid upon Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, captured the United States arsenal, and for some time
held the United States army at bay before he was captured. He had
planned for a general insurrection among the slaves, believing that
their emancipation depended largely upon themselves. Brown's plans were
forced before he was ready. It was a rash act, and was not approved
by the North, but strongly condemned. Brown and others who survived
the conflict were executed for inciting an insurrection, murder, and
treason. Brown was a brave and sincere man, but fanatical. As the
explosion of the _Maine_ hastened the Spanish-American War, so the John
Brown raid was an important link in the chain of events to hasten the
downfall of slavery. Seward's "irrepressible conflict" was at hand, and
his "higher law" was soon to prevail.

CHAPTER X.

The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were candidates for the
United States Senate from Illinois. Mr. Douglas, who was a Democrat,
had already served as Senator, and was a candidate for reëlection.
Mr. Lincoln was the Republican nominee. Both had had considerable
experience in politics. Arrangements were made between them to jointly
discuss the political issues at seven different places, namely, Ottawa,
August 21; Freeport, August 27; Jonesboro, September 15; Charlestown,
September 18; Galesburg, October 7; Quincy, October 13, and Alton,
October 15.

These were the most noted public debates in American history. The
slavery question, with its various side issues, was the chief topic
of discussion. These debates were listened to by immense concourses
of people, and excited the interest of the whole country. Mr. Lincoln
assumed that slavery was wrong, and opposed the extension of it, while
Mr. Douglas, without considering the moral phase of the question, was
in favor of leaving to the vote of the inhabitants of a territory
whether it should become a State with or without slavery.

Mr. Lincoln's "divided house" argument, first used at Springfield, in
June, when he was nominated for Senator, was one of the strongest
applications of scripture ever given. He said:

"We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated
with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end
to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that
agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.
In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been
reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'
I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do
not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either
the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push
it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States,
old as well as new—North as well as South."

In the course of the debates, Mr. Lincoln said of slavery:

"The real issue in this controversy—the one pressing upon every
mind—is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon
the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that
does not look upon it as a wrong.... Because we think it wrong, we
propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong. We
deal with it as any other wrong, in so far as we can prevent it
from growing any larger, and so deal with it that in the run of
time there may be some promise of an end to it."

Because of the great principles involved, and the wide notoriety of
these debates, Mr. Lincoln said, at Quincy:

"I was aware, when it was first agreed that Judge Douglas and I
were to have these seven joint discussions, that they were the
successive acts of a drama—perhaps I should say, to be enacted,
not merely in the face of audiences like this, but in the face
of the nation, and, to some extent, by my relation to him, and
not from anything in myself, in the face of the world; and I am
anxious that they should be conducted with dignity and in good
temper, which would be befitting the vast audiences before which
it was conducted."

In the first debate, at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas said, in reference to the
early career of himself and Mr. Lincoln in Illinois:

"I have known him for nearly twenty-five years. There were many
points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. We
were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in
a strange land. I was a school teacher in the town of Winchester,
and he a flourishing grocery-keeper in the town of Salem."

It has been stated, in Chapter VII., that in those days to be a
"grocery-keeper" implied the selling of whisky. In his reply, Mr.
Lincoln, using the third person, said:

"The judge is woefully at fault about his early friend Lincoln
being a 'grocery-keeper.' I don't know as it would be a great sin
if I had been; but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery
anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the latter
part of one winter in a little still-house up at the head of a
hollow."

Here Lincoln plainly denies ever keeping a grocery, but the query
arises, Where did he "work the latter part of one winter in a little
still-house, up at the head of a hollow"? In all the numerous Lincoln
biographies I have ever examined I have never seen any reference to its
location. But I have located the place.

Reference has been made to Henry Brooner, one of Lincoln's early
associates in Indiana. At the time of giving the other items, more than
twenty years ago, already mentioned, "Uncle Henry" made this statement,
written at the time, the original still preserved:

"When I was about twenty-five years old [1829], Abraham Lincoln
came to my house, where I now live, and left an article of
agreement for me to keep. At that time, one mile north of here,
there was a distillery owned by John Dutton. He employed John
Johnston, Lincoln's step-brother, to run it that winter, and
Lincoln left the article of agreement between the parties for me
to keep."

"Oh, Uncle Henry," said I, "find that paper, and I will give you ten
dollars for it." He said his house burned afterward, and all his
papers were destroyed. He afterward built a brick house near the same
foundation.

When "Uncle Henry" gave me this item, I had not read the celebrated
Lincoln and Douglas debates, and, therefore, knew nothing of Lincoln's
statement that he had worked at a still-house. When I read the debates,
fifteen years later, and saw Lincoln's reference to his having "worked
the latter part of one winter at a little still-house, up at the head
of a hollow," I was at once struck with what "Uncle Henry" had told me.
This certainly decides the fact that Lincoln had reference to the time
when he worked at the Dutton distillery, when his step-brother, John
Johnston, run it the winter before the Lincolns left for Illinois, in
1830.

John Kemp, my old friend and a highly-respected citizen, now
sixty-three years old, who was born and reared on a farm adjoining
Henry Brooner, told me in July, 1903, in Washington, Indiana, that
north of the old Brooner farm there is an old farm still known as
the "Dutton farm," and that he remembered seeing, often, when a small
boy, near a spring, an old, dilapidated building called the "old
still-house." He had never heard of John Johnston or of Abraham Lincoln
working there, for that was before he was born. "Uncle Henry" had been
dead thirteen years, but I had the record of the statement he made to
me.

On a bright afternoon, September 7, 1903, Mr. Kemp took me in his buggy
to see the place. The farm was then owned by John and Harmon Steineker,
and is on the old Fredonia and Princeton highway, four miles southwest
of Huntingburg, Dubois County, Indiana. Here is the "Dutton farm," and
here is a spring in the barn lot. Just across the road, to the right,
is where the old "still-house" stood, and there is the "hollow" running
down through the forest. As I viewed the scene, I felt something within
me akin to what old Archimedes felt when he discovered the solution to
an important mathematical problem, and exclaimed, "Eureka! Eureka!" ("I
have found it! I have found it!").

In the joint debates between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, the latter
carried the most popular applause, but the former made the deeper and
more lasting impressions. Douglas was greeted with the loudest cheers,
but when Lincoln closed, the people seemed sober and serious. As a
result of the canvass, Mr. Lincoln had a majority of four thousand of
the popular vote of the State, but it is stated that the legislative
districts were so construed that Douglas received a majority of the
ballots in the legislature, and was, therefore, returned to the United
States Senate. The debates brought Mr. Lincoln to the front as an able
and eloquent champion of human liberty and prepared the way for his
nomination and election to the presidency of the United States.

[Illustration: WILLIAM D. ARMSTRONG,

_Of the Armstrong Case. Defended by Lincoln in 1858. This picture was
taken late in life, as an every-day farmer._]

[Illustration: HANNAH ARMSTRONG,

_Wife of Jack Armstrong, and mother of "Duff," whom Lincoln defended._]

[Illustration:

HONORABLE WILLIAM WALKER.

HONORABLE LYMAN LACEY, SR.

_These lawyers were associated with Mr. Lincoln in the celebrated
Armstrong Case. Mr. Lacey is still living at Havana, Illinois. Mr.
Walker died several years ago._]

CHAPTER XI.

Lincoln Nominated and Elected President

Rival Candidates—Great Enthusiasm—Lincoln's Temperance Principles
Exemplified—Other Nominations—A Great Campaign—Lincoln's
Letter to David Turnham—Lincoln's Election—Secession—Lincoln
Inaugurated—Douglas.

Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate for President
of the United States, at Chicago, Illinois, May 18, 1860. Salmon P.
Chase, William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, William L. Dayton, and Edward
Bates were the opposing candidates for the nomination. Mr. Lincoln
was nominated on the third ballot. The nomination was afterward made
unanimous. The nomination was made amid great applause. It has been
said that the scene baffled all human description. Mr. Lincoln was the
second Republican candidate for the Presidency, General John C. Fremont
being the first, who was nominated in 1856.

Mr. Lincoln was at his home in Springfield, Illinois, when he was
nominated. His strong temperance principles were again exemplified
when the committee formally notified him of his nomination. Some of
his Springfield friends, knowing that he did not keep or use liquors,
thought he would have nothing of the kind on hands to refresh the
committee, and offered to furnish what was needed. Mr. Lincoln thanked
them for their offer, and said, "Gentlemen, I cannot allow you to do
what I will not do myself."

After the committee had notified him of his nomination, and he had
responded, accepting the nomination, he said that, as an appropriate
conclusion to an interview so important and interesting as that which
had transpired, he supposed good manners would require that he should
treat the committee with something to drink. Soon a servant entered
bearing a large waiter containing several glasses, and a large pitcher
in the midst, and placed it on the center-table. Mr. Lincoln arose and,
gravely addressing the company, said: "Gentlemen, we must pledge our
mutual healths in the most healthy beverage which God has given to man.
It is the only beverage I have ever used or allowed in my family, and
I cannot conscientiously depart from it on the present occasion—it is
pure Adam's ale from the spring." And, taking a glass, he touched it to
his lips, and pledged them his highest respects in a cup of cold water.

The Democratic party was divided. The Northern Democrats nominated
Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln's old political rival. The Southern
Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky. A third party,
called the "Union party," nominated John Bell, of Tennessee. The
campaign that followed was a remarkable one. "The magic words, 'Old
Abe' and 'Honest Old Abe,' were on thousands of banners."

During the campaign, Mr. Lincoln wrote a letter to his old friend,
David Turnham, the constable of Spencer County, Indiana, from whom he
borrowed the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," mentioned in Chapter III.
This letter is now given to the general public for the first time:

"SPRINGFIELD, ILLS., Oct. 23, 1860.

"_David Turnham_, _Esq._,

"MY DEAR OLD FRIEND: Your kind letter of the 17th is received. I
am indeed very glad to hear you are still living and well. I well
remember when you and I last met, after a separation of fourteen
years, at the Cross Road voting place, in the fall of 1844. It is
now sixteen years more, and we are both no longer young men.

"I suppose you are a grandfather, and I, though married much later
in life, have a son nearly grown.

"I would much like to visit the old home, and old friends of my
boyhood, but I fear the chance of doing so soon is not very good.

"Your friend and sincere well-wisher,

"A. LINCOLN."

The election was held on the sixth of November, 1860, and the result
showed a popular vote for Lincoln of 1,857,600; for Douglas, 1,365,976;
for Breckenridge, 847,953, and for Bell, 590,631. In the electoral
college, Lincoln received 180 votes, Breckenridge, 72, Bell 39, and
Douglas 12.

Because of an election of a Northern man for President, and fearing
their "peculiar institution" was in danger, the Southern States began
the organization of the Southern Confederacy, and when Mr. Lincoln was
inaugurated, March 4, 1861, seven Southern States had passed ordinances
of secession, followed later by four other States. Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi, was chosen President of the Southern Confederacy.

Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address was noted for its sentiments of good
will and forbearance, yet he strongly indicated his purpose to maintain
the Union. He stated that he had no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
interfere with slavery where it then existed, and that the people of
the South could have no war unless they became the aggressors.

Stephen A. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln's old political rival, and who was
also a presidential candidate at the time of Mr. Lincoln's election,
held Mr. Lincoln's hat while he read his inaugural address, and stated
to those near him, "If I can't be President, I can hold his hat."
James Parton, the historian, said of Mr. Douglas: "On the breaking
out of the Rebellion, in 1861, Stephen A. Douglas gave his hand to
President Lincoln and engaged to stand by him in his efforts to save
the country. But his days were numbered. During his herculean labors of
the previous year he had sustained himself by deep draughts of whisky;
and his constitution gave way at the very time when a new and nobler
career opened up before him." He died in Chicago, June 3, 1861, at the
age of forty-eight years, and only three months after Mr. Lincoln's
inauguration.

CHAPTER XII.

President Lincoln and the Civil War

The Beginning—Personal Recollections—The War Spirit—Progress of
the War—The Emancipation Proclamation—A Fight to
Finish—Lincoln's Kindness—He Relieves a Young Soldier—He Names
Triplets Who Are Still Living—His Reëlection—The Fall of
Richmond—Appomatox—Close of the Rebellion.

On the 12th of April, 1861, after Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, the
first outbreak of the Civil War was the bombardment of Fort Sumter on
the part of the South. President Lincoln at once called for volunteers
to suppress the rebellion.

Although but a small boy at the time, I remember when the war began.
It was the greatest civil war in human history, and will always be
associated with Abraham Lincoln. I remember the excitement it produced
where I resided in southern Indiana and throughout the whole country.
I recall the floating flag, the mournful sound of the drum, and the
plaintive music of the fife when volunteers were enlisting for the
defense of the nation. The neighbors talked war, the newspapers were
filled with war news. The war spirit entered into the plays of the
children. Elder fifes, old tin wash-boilers for drums, wooden guns and
bayonets, and rudely-constructed flags were much in evidence in the
mimic drilling and marching. How patriotically the little boys sang, as
did some of their sires in the sunny South:

"The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the stars,
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom!"

How the schoolboys played war in the autumn! The forts were made of old
fence rails and logs, and how they were bombarded with cannon-balls of
green walnuts, and how the "rebels" were routed and some captured! In
the winter-time how the snow-balls would fly as the two armies stood in
battle array!

What a sad day it was when the news came that our "circuit rider,"
a young minister, who had so often been in our home, and who had
enlisted, was killed at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in May, 1863.

Early in 1865, I saw my name in print for the first time by writing a
letter for publication in the _Children's Friend_, published at Dayton,
Ohio, in which I made the statement, "I am a Union boy fourteen years
old, and wish the war was over."

After the war had continued a year and a half, with victories and
defeats on both sides, the President, on the 22d of September, 1862,
issued the provisional Emancipation Proclamation, which was to the
effect that the South would be given from that time up to the first
of January, 1863, to lay down their arms, keep their slaves, and find
their proper places in the Union, otherwise a proclamation would be
issued to set at liberty their slaves. The South did not accept the
overtures of President Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued. It was issued as a war measure, upon military necessity, and
on the condition that the traitor forfeits his property. After this
the war, upon the part of the North, was not only to suppress the
rebellion, but for the purpose of abolishing slavery, and the South
fought not only to preserve the Confederacy, but for the institution of
slavery itself. It was now a fight to finish upon both sides, and to
settle great principles and interests.

Those were times that tried men's souls, but none were so tried as was
the soul of him who stood at the helm and guided the ship of state in
that stormy period of our country's history.

Throughout the war Mr. Lincoln was very kind and forbearing in his
dealings with all classes of men. Many a deserter owed his life to the
pardoning power of President Lincoln, one of whom I knew personally
for many years. Besides his heavy duties as President, under such
extraordinary circumstances, he went to extra trouble in relieving
persons in many cases who came to him for help. George W. Wolf, an
upright and influential citizen, who resides near Georgetown, Floyd
County, Indiana, was corporal of Company C, of the Eighty-first Indiana
Regiment, in the Civil War, and afterward sergeant of the Seventh
Veteran Reserve Corps. At his home, November 26, 1904, he related to me
the following incident, which came under his observation, showing the
kind nature of President Lincoln:

"A young soldier, about twenty years of age, belonging to an
Illinois regiment, was taken sick on the field, and sent to a
hospital. For some time after his partial recovery he was not able
for field service, and was put in the First Battalion Reserve
Corps, which was in camp in the rear of the President's mansion.
He came to me one day and said: 'Sergeant, what would you do if
you had been sent from your company to a hospital, and then sent
here, and could draw no money from the paymaster on account of not
having a descriptive roll?'

"'I would send for it,' said I.

"'I have sent for it two or three times, but it never came,' said
he.

"'Then I would go and see Uncle Abe,' said I.

"'What,' said he, 'a private soldier go up and see the President?
Would he notice me?'

"'Yes,' I replied, 'and I will go with you.'

"The next morning we secured a pass, and went to see the
President. The young man was very nervous. After waiting a few
minutes, we were admitted to the President's room. Mr. Lincoln,
after dropping his feet from a table, said, 'Well, soldiers, what
can I do for you?'

"Before entering, I told the young man he must do his own talking,
but I answered, 'This soldier wants to see you about getting pay
for his service.'

"Mr. Lincoln, after a short conversation, wrote the name of the
soldier, his regiment, when he enlisted, that he had received but
one payment, that he had tried more than once, and had failed.
Then Mr. Lincoln said, 'I will see to it.'

"The next day, about noon, the young soldier was ordered to go to
the paymaster and draw his money. He received all his pay, and a
bounty beside, for he had been without pay for two years. After
receiving his money he joyfully took off his cap, threw it up in
the air, and exclaimed, 'Boys, if they don't treat you right, go
to Old Abe, and he will make it right.'"

In the _Farm and Fireside_, published at Springfield, Ohio, of March
7, 1906, appeared an article written by J. L. Graff, concerning a
set of triplets, yet living, who were named by President Lincoln.
The family name is Haskins. The picture of the triplets appeared in
connection with the article. The names given by Mr. Lincoln were Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, and
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. Recently I wrote a
letter addressed to the triplets, in care of Abraham Lincoln Haskins,
enclosing the article and their picture, asking for the verification of
the facts stated and for other information. In due time I received the
following letter:

"BARABOO, WISCONSIN, January 17, 1909.

"REV. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—I received a letter from you asking
if I was one of the Haskins triplets. Yes, sir; I am. We were born
May 24, 1861, and named by Abraham Lincoln. We are all alive and
well. I am sorry to say that I have no picture of us three, and
never had them taken but once in our lives, and the one that I
had I sent to Mr. J. L. Graff, of Chicago. One brother is here in
Baraboo, the other is in Coleman, Michigan, whose name is Simon.
That picture you sent is an exact picture of us. A Mr. Cole,
editor of the Baraboo _News_, tried to find the letter that Mr.
Lincoln wrote to my folks. All that he could find out was that it
was in some museum in Washington. I wish we could get it, for I
would highly prize it. We boys never saw it. He wrote to my father
and asked him if it was true that he was the father of three
boys of the same age. He wrote and told him it was so; then Mr.
Lincoln wrote again, saying that he would be pleased to name us.
Father wrote and told him that he would be pleased to have him
name us. He said the first should be named Abraham Lincoln, the
second Gideon Welles, and the third Simon Cameron. We were born
in Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont. My mother's name, before
she was married, was Louisa E. Grace, and if there ever was a
Christian she was the very best one. If there is anything more I
can do for you I will be very glad to do so. I feel proud of my
name, and try hard to honor it in every respect.

"Yours, with respect,

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN HASKINS."

I feel sure the reader will be pleased to see in this book the picture
of the triplets, yet living, who were named by President Lincoln.

Mr. Lincoln was reëlected President of the United States, November 8,
1864, and entered upon his second term March 4, 1865. General George
B. McClellan was the Democratic candidate. The London _Spectator_
declared the second inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln to be the noblest
political document known to history.

In the meantime the war was being industriously prosecuted. Important
victories, with some reverses, came to the North from time to time. The
rebellion finally collapsed in the fall of Richmond, Virginia, April 3,
and the surrender of General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Court
House, April 9, 1865.

Mr. Nichols, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says:

"The spontaneous and universal rejoicings of the people of the
country at the complete overthrow of the rebellion were such as
had never been witnessed before on any continent. Men laughed,
cried, shouted, shook hands with each other; there were parades
by day and at night. America was illuminated by discharge of
fireworks and thousands of torchlight processions. The war was
over. Peace stretched her white wings over our beloved land."

CHAPTER XIII.

Death of President Lincoln

On the 15th of April, 1865, my father came hurriedly into the house
with the exclamatory interrogation, addressed to mother, "Guess who's
dead!" Mother at once thought of her old father, and asked if it were
he. Then came the startling news, "Lincoln is killed!" What a shock
it was to our family, as it was to thousands of others. We looked at
the little two-year-old boy of the household who bore the President's
name, and, with childish superstition, wondered if he would suffer any
disadvantages because of the murder of President Lincoln.

On Friday evening, April 14, the President was in attendance at
Ford's Theater, on Tenth Street, in Washington, D. C. The proceeds of
the entertainment were to be given to a charity benefit, and it was
widely advertised that the President and wife, with General Grant and
others would be present. John Wilkes Booth, a fanatic and Southern
sympathizer, shot the President in the head at 10:15. He at once became
unconscious, and never regained consciousness. He was carried across
the street to a house, where he died the next morning at 7:23. Mrs.
Lincoln, the son Robert T., Private Secretary John Hay, several members
of the cabinet, surgeons, Rev. Dr. Gurley, Senator Charles Sumner, and
others were present when the end came.

No one, outside of the family, was so deeply moved at the striking
down of the President as was Mr. Stanton. It will be remembered that
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton first met in 1857, at the trial of the
McCormick Reaper Patent case, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and that at the
trial Stanton slighted Mr. Lincoln and made uncomplimentary remarks
about him. Four years later, President Lincoln chose Mr. Stanton a
member of his cabinet, making him Secretary of War. Their relations
were very close during the war period up to the time of Mr. Lincoln's
death.

F. B. Carpenter, in his book, "Six Months at the White House," says:

"A few days before the President's death, Secretary Stanton
tendered his resignation of the War Department. He accompanied the
act with a 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 containing his resignation, and
throwing his arms about the secretary, he said, 'Stanton, you have
been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not
for you to say when you will no longer be needed here.' Several
friends of both parties were present on the occasion, and there
was not a dry eye that witnessed the scene."

When Lincoln fell, Stanton was almost heart-broken, and as he knelt by
his side was heard to say to himself: "Am I indeed left alone? None may
now ever know or tell what we have suffered together in the nation's
darkest hours." When the surgeon-general said to him that there was
no hope, he could not believe it, and passionately exclaimed, "No, no,
general; no, no!"

When Lincoln expired, and just after prayer by Doctor Gurley, Stanton
was the first to break the silence, saying, "Now he belongs to the
ages."

At the death of President Lincoln the nation was suddenly turned from
demonstrations of great joy, on account of the closing of the war, to
intense grief and unutterable horror. W. O. Stoddard says, "It was as
if there had been a death in every home throughout the land." J. H.
Barrett says:

"Never before was rejoicing turned into such sudden and
overwhelming sorrow. A demon studying how most deeply to wound
the greatest number of hearts, could have devised no act for
his purpose like that which sent Abraham Lincoln to his grave.
No man's loss could have been so universally felt as that of a
father, brother, friend. Many a fireside was made lonely by this
bereavement. Sadness and despondency seized upon all. Men ceased
business, and workmen returned home with their dinner buckets
unopened. The merchants left their counting-rooms for the privacy
of their dwellings. A gloom, intensified by the transition from
the pomp and rejoicing of the day before, settled impenetrably on
every mind. Bells sadly tolled in all parts of the land. Mourning
drapery was quickly seen from house to house on every square of
the national capital; and all the chief places of the country
witnessed, by spontaneous demonstration, their participation in
the general sorrow. In every loyal pulpit, and at every true altar
throughout the nation, the great public grief was the theme of
earnest prayer and discourse on the day following. One needs not
to dwell on what no pen can describe, and on what no adult living
on that day can ever forget."

Funeral services were conducted in the East Room of the White House
on Wednesday, April 19, by Doctor Gurley, of the Presbyterian Church.
Andrew Johnson, the successor of President Lincoln, by proclamation,
recommended that memorial services be held that day throughout the
United States. I kept my first diary that year, and made the following
entry for that day:

"Abraham Lincoln's funeral preached; order to hold meeting at
every church in the U. S. Heard David Swartz preach in Clear
Spring. 2 Samuel, 3 chapter, 38 verse. The minister was a
Methodist, and the words of the text were, 'Know ye not that there
is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?'"

The remains of President Lincoln were taken to his old home,
Springfield, Illinois, for interment. An address was there delivered by
Mr. Lincoln's highly-esteemed friend, Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. A large monument, appropriate to the memory of him
who "bound the nation and unbound the slave," marks the place where his
body lies in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The three-story brick building in which President Lincoln died in
Washington City is still standing. The lower story is used by Mr. O. H.
Oldroyd, containing the Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial Collection, consisting
of more than three thousand articles pertaining to the martyred
President. I visited this house, May 23, 1901. In some pictures of the
house in which Lincoln died there is a flag floating from a window in
the second story, and in others the third story, with the statement
that the flag indicates the room in which President Lincoln died.
Neither is correct. He died in a small room on the first floor, in the
rear part of the building.

It is now nearly forty-four years since Abraham Lincoln died. There have
been great changes in our country during that time. The South now
vindicates Lincoln, and realizes that he was their friend. Peace and
good will now prevail between the North and the South, cemented by the
blood of Lincoln.

Joseph H. Bradley, chaplain National Soldiers' Home of Virginia, in
a communication to the _Ram's Horn_, quotes from a letter written by
General William G. Webb, a Christian ex-Confederate:

"Abraham Lincoln was a great and good man, and was raised up by
God to preserve this nation as one and indivisible, and to give
freedom to the slaves. As a Confederate, I could not see it;
and after our defeat it took me some time to grasp it; but it
became very plain to me after a while. God has a great work for
this nation to do, and Mr. Lincoln was, like Washington, one of
his instruments to prepare the people for this mission which the
United States is to accomplish toward the enlightenment, freedom,
and Christianization of the world."

I heard a lecture on Abraham Lincoln at Corydon, Indiana, March 17,
1899, by Henry Watterson, the talented editor of the Louisville
_Courier-Journal_ and ex-Confederate, in which he said, "If Lincoln
was not inspired of God, then there is no such thing on earth as
special providence or the interposition of divine power in the affairs
of men."

In 1903, the State of Mississippi, the second State to pass an
ordinance of secession, and the home of Jefferson Davis, President of
the Southern Confederacy, requested Honorable Robert T. Lincoln to
furnish a picture of his father to hang in the new capitol building at
Jackson. The request was as follows:

"We of the South now realize the greatness and the goodness of the
character of Abraham Lincoln, and would honor his memory. Nothing
that we could do would add to his fame. We can, however, show our
respect and love for him. Permit me, therefore, in the name of the
State, to invite you to place a portrait of President Lincoln in
the new capitol of Mississippi; that it may symbolize his love for
his country, his devotion to duty, and his heartfelt sympathy for
the Southern people."

Abraham Lincoln loved the South. He was Southern born. At his last
cabinet meeting, on the date of his death, he advised that forbearance,
clemency, and charity should be the controlling principles in dealing
with difficult problems awaiting practical solution.

What a rich inheritance we have in the example and deeds, the pen and
voice of Abraham Lincoln. What an inspiration his noble life should
be to struggling young men who trace the footsteps in his eventful
history, and learn the motives that prompted him in all his actions.

Not long since I received a communication from a stranger, a poor
orphan boy in far-away Turkey. He lives in Konia, the ancient Iconium,
mentioned in the New Testament. He says: "I have read in some books
about Lincoln. I love and admire him as one of the greatest men that
ever have been lived on earth." His appeal for an opportunity to know
more about Lincoln was pathetic.

Many years ago a young man said:

"I was only a child when Abraham Lincoln died, but I cannot think
of his death without feeling the same pain I would feel if it had
been my father. I never saw him, and yet it seems that I knew him
and loved him personally. I am sure I am a better man because
Lincoln lived. His straightforward, simple, truthful life puts all
meaner lives to shame."

O. H. Oldroyd, editor of the "Lincoln Memorial Album," says:

"His fame is world-wide and stands in history more lasting than a
monument of brass. His words will continue to sound through the
ages as long as the flowers shall bloom or the waters flow."

Another writer says:

"We hear Lincoln's words in every schoolhouse and college, in
every cabin, and at every public meeting. We read them in every
newspaper, school-book, and magazine, and they are all in favor
of right, liberty, and truth, and of honesty and reverence for
God. His words, some of them as familiar as the Bible, are on the
tongues of the people, shaping the national character."

Bishop Newman said:

"There is no name more deserving of imperishable fame than Abraham
Lincoln. He is embalmed in song, recorded in history, eulogized
in panegyric, cast in bronze, sculptured in marble, painted on
canvas, enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, and lives in
the memories of mankind."

[Illustration: GEORGE W. TURNHAM,

_Of Evansville, Indiana, son of the Indiana constable who loaned
Lincoln the Revised Statutes of Indiana. Mr. Turnham has a letter
written to his father by Lincoln in 1860, and printed in this volume._]

[Illustration: MOSES MARTIN.

_Mr. Martin signed a temperance pledge presented by Abraham Lincoln in
1847. Mr. Martin resides at Edinburg, Illinois, and is eighty years of
age._]

[Illustration: MAJOR J. B. MERWIN,

_Who canvassed Illinois with Lincoln for State Prohibition in 1854-55,
and was associated with Mr. Lincoln till the day of his death. Major
Merwin now resides at Middleburg, Conn._]

[Illustration: REV. R. L. McCORD,

_Of Lake City, Iowa, who named Lincoln as his candidate for President
after hearing him speak at Springfield, Illinois, in 1854._]

CHAPTER XIV.

Unpublished Official Documents

A few months ago I learned through a newspaper that Abraham Lincoln, at
the time of his death, owned land in the State of Iowa, by virtue of
his having served in the Black Hawk War of 1832. He was given a land
script, good for one hundred and twenty acres, which he located in what
is now Crawford County, Iowa. Having never heard of this before, I went
to Denison, the county-seat, and, through the law and abstract office
of Shaw, Sims & Kuehnle, obtained the information where the records
could be found in the county recorder's office. The above-named Shaw is
the Honorable Leslie M. Shaw, ex-Governor of Iowa and ex-Secretary of
the United States Treasury under President Roosevelt.

Through the kindness of the county recorder, W. E. Terry, I was allowed
to copy the records in the case. Probably Abraham Lincoln never saw the
land, but because of their historical value the records are here given.
The first is the letters-patent from the United States to Abraham
Lincoln. Record D, page 18. Original Entry, page 125.

"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

"_To All Whom, These Presents Shall Come, Greeting_:

"WHEREAS, In pursuance of the Act of Congress, approved March
3, 1855, entitled An Act, in addition to certain Acts, Granting
Bounty Land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged
in the military service of the United States, There has been
deposited in the General Land Office, Warrant No. 68645, for
120 acres of land in favor of Abraham Lincoln, Captain Illinois
Militia, Black Hawk War, with evidence that the same has been duly
located upon the east half of the northeast quarter, and northwest
quarter of the northeast quarter of section eighteen, in Township
eighty-four, north of Range thirty-nine west, in the district of
Lands subject to sale at Council Bluffs, Iowa, containing one
hundred and twenty acres, according to the official plat of the
survey of the said land returned to the General Land Office by the
Surveyor General, the said tract having been located by the said
Abraham Lincoln.

"Know ye, That there is, therefore, granted by the United States
unto the said Abraham Lincoln, heirs, and assigns forever.

"In Testimony, whereof, I, James Buchanan, President of the United
States of America, have caused these Letters to be made Patent,
and the seal of the General Land Office to be hereto affixed.

"[SEAL.]

"Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the tenth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Sixty, and of the Independence of the United States the
Eighty-fifth.

"By the President: JAMES BUCHANAN.

"By J. B. LEONARD, _Sec._

"G. W. GRANGER, _Recorder of the General Land Office_.

"Recorded vol. 468, page 53."

The following copy of the warranty deed from Robert T. Lincoln and
wife to Henry Edwards is recorded in Deed Record 13, page 208. Robert
T. Lincoln at this time was minister from the United States to Great
Britain, under President Benjamin Harrison's administration:

"WARRANTY DEED.

"Filed April 26, A. D. 1892, at 2:10 P.M., W. W. Cushman, Recorder.

"_Know All Men by These Presents_:

"That we, Robert T. Lincoln and Mary H. Lincoln, his wife, of
Cook County, and State of Illinois, in consideration of the sum
of Thirteen Hundred Dollars ($1,300) to us in hand paid by Henry
Edwards, of Crawford County, and State of Iowa, do hereby sell
and convey unto the said Henry Edwards the following described
premises, situated in the County of Crawford, and State of Iowa,
to-wit:

"The east half of the northeast quarter, and the northwest quarter
of the northeast quarter of section eighteen (18) in Township
eighty-four (84), north of Range thirty-nine (39), west of the
Principal Meridian.

"And we covenant with the said Henry Edwards that we hold said
premises by good and perfect title, that we have good right and
lawful authority to sell and convey the same, that they are
free and clear of all liens and all encumbrances, whatsoever,
excepting the taxes levied, or to be levied, for the year 1892,
and excepting also a lease of said land expiring on or about the
fourth day of May, A. D. 1894, and we covenant to warrant and
defend the title to said premises against the lawful claims of
all persons, whomsoever, excepting as against the said taxes, and
the said lease, the obligation and discharge of both of which are
hereby assumed by the said Henry Edwards.

"The said Robert T. Lincoln hereby declares that his title to said
land is wholly by descent, and derived as follows, namely:

"That Abraham Lincoln, the patentee of said land, died on the 15th
day of April, 1865, intestate, leaving heirs surviving, his widow,
Mary Lincoln, and his two sons, Robert T. Lincoln and Thomas
Lincoln, and no other heirs; that said Thomas Lincoln died on the
15th day of July, A. D. 1871, in the nineteenth year of his age,
intestate, and unmarried, leaving him surviving as his only heirs
his mother, said Mary Lincoln, and his brother, said Robert T.
Lincoln; that said Mary Lincoln died on the 16th day of July, A.
D. 1882, intestate, and a widow, leaving her surviving as her sole
heir, said Robert T. Lincoln; and that the estate of said Abraham
Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Mary Lincoln were successively duly
administered according to law in the county court of Sangamon
County, in the State of Illinois, and that all claims against them
were duly paid and discharged.

"Signed the twenty-second day of March, A. D. 1892.

"ROBERT T. LINCOLN.
"MARY H. LINCOLN.

"UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

"Legation of the United States of America at London on this 22d
day of March, A. D. 1892, before me Larz Anderson, a secretary of
the Legation of the United States of America at London, aforesaid,
came Robert T. Lincoln and Mary H. Lincoln, his wife, personally
to me known to be the identical persons whose names are affixed
to the above instrument as grantors thereof, and acknowledged the
execution of the same to be their voluntary act and deed for the
purpose therein expressed.

"Witness my hand and the seal of said Legation the day and year
last above written.

"The Legation of the United States of America to Great Britain.

LARZ ANDERSON,
"_Secretary of Legation_."

On the 20th of April, 1892, the above-named Henry Edwards sold the land
to Enoch T. Cochran, consideration $1,500. Recorded May 2, 1892, Deed
Book 12, page 624.

On the 20th of October, 1892, Enoch T. Cochran sold the land to the
present owner, Peter F. Jepsen, consideration $1,925. Recorded October
24, 1892, Deed Book 15, page 135.

I copied the foregoing records in the recorder's office, in Dennison,
Crawford County, Iowa, in the afternoon of May 22, 1908. Mr. Jepsen,
the present owner of the land, is a retired German farmer and resides
in Denison. I called at his home after I had copied the records. He
came to the United States in 1867, and is proud of the fact that he
is the owner of the land that Abraham Lincoln owned. The land joins
another farm which Mr. Jepsen owns, where he formerly resided, in
Goodrich Township, about seven miles northwest of Denison. The present
veteran county surveyor, Moses Henry, told me that he surveyed the land
Lincoln owned, and that it is now valued at one hundred dollars per
acre.

[Illustration: THE OLD STILL-HOUSE SITE

_In Indiana, where Lincoln worked the latter part of the winter before
going to Illinois, in March, 1830._]

[Illustration:

GIDEON WELLS HASKINS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN HASKINS

SIMON CAMERON HASKINS

_Triplets named by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. They are still living._]

[Illustration: HOUSE IN WHICH LINCOLN DIED]

[Illustration: LINCOLN'S MILL]

CHAPTER XV.

Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of Lincoln's Birth

Preparations—General Observance—President Roosevelt Lays
Corner-stone of Lincoln Museum at Lincoln's Birthplace—Extracts
from Addresses at Various Places—Closing Tribute.

Never, perhaps, in the history of mankind has such general recognition
been given to the anniversary of any man's birth as was given to
the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on Friday,
February 12, 1909. For weeks in advance the newspapers, both religious
and secular, and the magazines were decorated with his pictures, and
other pictures illustrating many scenes in his life. The recollections
of personal friends and acquaintances, war incidents, stories,
anecdotes, and his personal traits were placed on record, with various
announcements and programs for the coming anniversary, showed the great
interest attached to his name and his history.

The day was made a national holiday by Congress and the proclamation
of the President, supplemented by legislatures and governors of many
States. The event was celebrated, almost without exception, by all
the common schools, colleges, and universities throughout the nation.
Churches, Grand Army posts, Young Men's Christian Associations,
the various temperance organizations, clubs, trades unions, and
almost every form of organized bodies celebrated the day. Courts
and legislatures adjourned and joined in the general anniversary
exercises, or held separate exercises. The wheels of the general
Government at Washington, D. C., stopped to recognize the great
memorial day. Business in many places was practically suspended in
honor of the day. In every community, town, and city the praises of
Lincoln were heard.

Orations delivered by great and undistinguished men and women,
pertaining to many phases of Lincoln's life and character, were given.
Prayers, religious and patriotic songs were heard. Pictures, flowers,
flags, parades, and banquets were greatly in evidence. The Gettysburg
address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the second inaugural address,
Lincoln's favorite poem, "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be
proud?" with many other selections, were recited and read.

The Southern people, as well as the Northern, joined in the general
exercises of the day. The colored people were enthusiastic in showing
their appreciation of what Mr. Lincoln had done for their race. In many
cities in foreign countries, including London, Berlin, Honolulu, and
Rome, the anniversary was observed.

The center of attraction was the celebration at Lincoln's birthplace,
on the farm three miles from Hodgenville, Larue County, Kentucky. A
large tent had been erected for the occasion, with a platform inside
for the speakers. In front of the platform was placed a rebuilt little
cabin, sixteen feet square, which had itinerated in many parts of the
country and exhibited as the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born.
The little cabin, set in flowers contributed by the school children
of Kentucky, and decorated with the national colors, very fitly
illustrated the kind of a cabin in which the great emancipator was
born. When Lincoln was born in a log cabin on that spot, no one could
imagine that a future President was born there, and that a hundred
years later another President would stand on the same spot to assist in
celebrating his birth.

Five extra trains came from Louisville to Hodgenville, bearing persons
from various points in the United States. These were conveyed by
carriages to the place of celebration. The day there was rainy, but the
foreign and local attendance was estimated at eight thousand. Among the
distinguished persons present were President Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt,
and daughter, Miss Ethel; Mr. Loeb, the President's private secretary;
Ex-Governor Joseph Folk, of Missouri, president of the Lincoln Farm
Association; Governor A. E. Willson, of Kentucky; General James G.
Wilson, and Luke E. Wright, Secretary of War.

There were various committees, guards and police. Good order
prevailed. All lines of the North and the South were blotted out in
representation, men of both sections taking part in the exercises.
Twenty-six negro citizens, appointed by Governor Willson, as a
reception committee, represented their race.

After prayer, Ex-Governor Folk, of Missouri, president of the Lincoln
Farm Association, said, in part:

"Here, on this farm, one hundred years ago to-day, was born the
strongest, strangest, gentlest character the republic has ever
known. His work was destined to have a more far-reaching influence
than any that went before him. Until recently this spot which
should be hallowed by every American, was unnoticed and abandoned.
Inspired by the idea that due regard for the apostle of human
liberty who sprang from this soil demanded the preservation of
his birthplace, a few patriotic men organized the Lincoln Farm
Association, to purchase this property and to erect upon it a
memorial to that simple, but sublime life that here came into the
world. This association is purely patriotic in its purposes, and
the movement has met with a ready response from every section of
the nation. In revering the name of Lincoln, there is now no North
or South, or East or West. There is but one heart in all, and that
the heart of patriotic America. So the memorial to be erected
here, by South as well as North, will not only be in memory of
Lincoln, but it will be a testimony that the fires of hatred
kindled by the fierce civil conflict of nearly half a century ago,
are dead, and from the ashes has arisen the red rose of patriotism
to a common country and loyalty to a common flag."

President Roosevelt, in behalf of the nation, said, in part:

"He lived in days that were great and terrible, when brother
fought against brother for what each sincerely deemed to be the
right. In a contest so grim the strong men who alone can carry
it through are rarely able to do justice to the deep convictions
of those with whom they grapple in mortal strife. At such times
men see through a glass darkly; to only the rarest and loftiest
spirits is vouchsafed that clear vision which gradually comes to
all, even to the lesser, as the struggle fades into distance, and
wounds are forgotten, and peace creeps back to the hearts that
were hurt. But to Lincoln was given this supreme vision. He did
not hate the man from whom he differed. Weakness was as foreign as
wickedness to his strong, gentle nature; but his courage was of
a quality so high that it needed no bolstering of dark passion.
He saw clearly that the same high qualities, the same courage and
willingness for self-sacrifice, and devotion to the right as it
was given them to see the right, belonged both to the men of the
North and to the men of the South. As the years roll by, and as
all of us, wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal pride in the
valor and self-devotion alike of the men who wore the blue and the
men who wore the gray, so this whole nation will grow to feel a
peculiar sense of pride in the man whose blood was shed for the
union of his people, and for the freedom of a race. The lover of
his country and of all mankind; the mightiest of the mighty men
who mastered the mighty days, Abraham Lincoln."

Governor Willson, in behalf of Kentucky, for her greatest son, said, in
part:

"We have met here on this farm where he was born, in memory of
Abraham Lincoln, to know for ourselves and to prove to the world,
by a record made to endure, and deep graven on these acres, that
the love of country and of its nobly useful citizens are not
dreams, nor idle words, but indeed living, stirring, and breathing
feelings. Abraham Lincoln is claimed by all humanity and all time
as the type of the race best showing forth the best in all men in
all conditions of life.

"Here are met to-day, with equal zeal to do him honor, soldiers
of the war for and against the Union, heroes of the Union and the
Confederacy, Americans all, no one less pledged than the other,
not only by the bond of the covenant of our law, but alike by the
dearest feelings of his heart and fervor of his blood, to our
united country and its beautiful flag."

General James G. Wilson, of New York, who was in the Union Army, spoke
fitting words in behalf of the Union, while General Luke E. Wright, who
was in the Confederate Army, now Secretary of War, spoke fitting words
in behalf of the Confederacy.

President Roosevelt laid the corner-stone of the Lincoln Museum, which
is to be built of limestone and white marble. He spread white cement
with a silver trowel where the stone was to set. The stone, weighing
three thousand pounds, was placed in position with a derrick. A number
of articles were deposited in a leaden box placed in the stone before
it was set, among which was the life of Lincoln written by President
Roosevelt and the speeches delivered on the occasion.

In connection with the depository of articles, an aged negro, Isaac T.
Montgomery, of Mississippi, said to have been at one time a slave of
Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, was assigned
the appropriate honor of depositing in the box a copy of President
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. In doing this he made a brief
speech, in which he referred to himself "as one of the former millions
of slaves to whom Lincoln gave freedom, and the representative of
10,000,000 grateful negro citizens."

The cabin in which it is alleged Abraham Lincoln was born will be
kept in the memorial building. It is expected that the building will
be dedicated in April, by William H. Taft, who will be inaugurated
President of the United States, March 4, 1909.

The spot where Abraham Lincoln was born will, for coming ages, be the
most sacred shrine in all this great country, whose government he died
to save.

At Lincoln City, Spencer County, Indiana, where the Lincolns lived
fourteen years after moving from Kentucky, and before moving to
Illinois, and where Abraham's mother lies buried, exercises were held.
The school children of Evansville, Indiana, raised money to purchase a
flag, and the school children of Indianapolis sent a wreath of flowers,
both of which were placed on Mrs. Lincoln's grave. A procession of one
hundred school children of Lincoln City, headed by Principal Curtis Cox
and the other teachers, marched to the grave, where the exercises were
held.

At Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln's old home, and where his body
rests in the great monument erected to his memory, imposing exercises
were held in various places well worthy of the man. Mr. Lincoln was
instrumental in having the State capital moved from Vandalia to
Springfield. Ambassador Jusserand of France, Senator Dolliver of Iowa,
Ambassador Bryce of England, and William J. Bryan were among the
distinguished visitors, and who delivered addresses. A most impressive
feature of the occasion was the scene at Lincoln's tomb, when Robert T.
Lincoln, son of the martyred President, stood beside the sarcophagus in
which the body of his great father rests. Here his mother, brothers,
and a son named Abraham Lincoln are also entombed. He stood in silent
meditation with tear-dimmed eyes, with Ambassadors Jusserand, Bryce,
Senator Dolliver, W. J. Bryan, and many other distinguished persons
gathered about. In his speech, Ambassador Bryce said, in part:

"Of the personal impression he made on those who knew him, you
will hear from some of the few yet living who can recollect
him. All I can contribute is a reminiscence of what reached us
in England. I was an undergraduate student in the University
of Oxford when the Civil War broke out. Well do I remember the
surprise when the Republican National Convention nominated him
as a candidate for the presidency, for it had been expected that
the choice would fall upon William H. Seward. I recollect how it
slowly dawned upon Europeans in 1862 and 1863 that the President
could be no ordinary man, because he never seemed cast down by the
reverses which befell his arms, because he never let himself be
hurried into premature action, nor feared to take so bold a step
as the Emancipation Proclamation was when he saw that the time had
arrived. And, above all, I remember the shock of awe and grief
which thrilled all Britain when the news came that he had perished
by the bullet of an assassin....

"To you, men of Illinois, Lincoln is the most famous and worthy of
all those who have adorned your commonwealth. To you, citizens of
the United States, he is the President who carried you through a
terrible conflict and saved the Union. To us in England he is one
of the heroes of the race whence you and we sprung. We honor his
memory as you do; and it is fitting that one who is privileged
here to represent the land from which his forefathers came should
bring on behalf of England a tribute of admiration for him and of
thankfulness to the Providence which gave him to you in your hour
of need.

"Great men are the noblest possession of a nation, and are potent
forces in the molding of national character. Their influence lives
after them, and if they be good as well as great, they remain as
beacons lighting the course of all who follow them. They set for
succeeding generations the standards of public life. They stir the
spirit and rouse the energy of the youth who seek to emulate their
virtues in the service of the country."

At Washington City all Government and leading business houses were
closed. The Senate adjourned until Monday, but in the House, Lincoln's
famous Gettysburg speech was read by Representative Boutell, of
Illinois. Appropriate exercises were held at Howard University, where
a large negro student body witnessed the unveiling of a large painting
of the "Underground Railroad." Secretary of the Interior Garfield and
other speakers were on the program.

In Boston, the city sometimes called the literary "hub of the
universe," Senator Lodge gave an address on the life and work of Mr.
Lincoln before the Massachusetts Legislature. At a meeting held in the
evening in Symphony Hall, John D. Long, former Secretary of the Navy,
gave an address, and Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of
the Republic," read a poem she had written for the occasion, depicting
Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the leader of the nation.

In Chicago, the metropolis of Lincoln's adopted State, fifty public
meetings were held in his honor. The city was fairly buried beneath
flags, buntings, and pictures of Lincoln. Show-windows were filled with
war relics and Lincoln mementoes. Streets were crowded with marchers
and military bands. Standing bareheaded in Lincoln Park, in sight of
the Lincoln Statue, a group of Civil War veterans fired a presidential
salute. Dexter Pavilion, at night, was crowded, while a chorus of one
thousand voices sang patriotic songs.

At Gettysburg, where Lincoln delivered his classic address dedicating
the national cemetery, November 19, 1863, the day was duly observed.
The principal exercises were held on the campus of Gettysburg College,
near Seminary Ridge, where much of the first and second days' fighting
occurred during the great battle. Lincoln's Gettysburg address was read
by Judge Samuel McSwope.

At Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Vice-President Fairbanks said, in part:

"Who, among all the men of his day, has produced utterances so
classic and lofty and which will survive so long as many of the
speeches of Mr. Lincoln? It is impossible to think that schools,
colleges, or universities could have increased the intellectual
or moral nature of Lincoln. He was the marvelous product of the
great school of nature. He kept close to nature's heart, close to
the people, close to the soul.... His life was spent in the field
of conflict. In his youth he struggled with nature. At the bar he
contended for the rights of his clients. In the wider field of
politics he fought with uncommon power to overthrow the wrong and
enthrone the right. He fought not for the love of contest, but for
the love of truth. By nature he was a man of peace. He did not
like to raise his hand against his fellow-man. He instinctively
loved justice, right, and liberty. His soul revolted at the
thought of injustice and wrong. His conscience impelled him to
uphold the right wherever it was denied his fellow-man. He could
not do otherwise."

In New York City the celebration was the most hearty and widespread of
its kind ever seen there. The city's official celebration was held in
Cooper Union, in the hall in which Lincoln made his great speech called
the "Cooper Union Speech," delivered in 1860. Addresses were delivered
by Joseph H. Choate and Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott. At a great club meeting,
Booker T. Washington delivered an address, and referred to himself as
"one whom Lincoln found a piece of property and made into an American
citizen."

In closing this little volume as an humble tribute to the memory of
Abraham Lincoln, I desire to say that, while Mr. Lincoln possessed so
many excellent traits of character, the most significant and worthy one
was his constant anxiety, as he expressed it, to know and do the will
of God. This, in the providence of God, is what made him truly great.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ Transcriber's Note: ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved to the end ¦
¦ of chapters. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like ¦
¦ this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, ¦
¦ =like this=. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ References added to the list of illustrations: House in which ¦
¦ Lincoln died and Lincoln's mill. ¦
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Footprints of Abraham Lincoln - Presenting many interesting fact, reminiscences and - illustrations never before published" ***

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