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THEsSTOKYOF 
 
 AB^HAM LINCOLN 
 
FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 FOR YOUNG READERS 
 
 Titles Ready 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON By Joseph Walker 
 
 JOHN PAUL JONES By C. C. Fraser 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON By Gene Stone 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN By J. Walker McSpadden 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN By Clare Tree Major 
 
 DAVID CROCKETT By Jane Corby 
 
 ROBERT FULTON By I. N. McFee 
 
 THOMAS A. EDISON By I. N. McFee 
 
 HARRIET B. STOWE By R. B. MacArthur 
 
 MARY LYON By H. O. Stengel 
 
 Other Titles in Preparation 
 
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 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
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 * THEsSTOEY-OF ^ 
 
 * ABMHAM LINCOLN * 
 
 * ^~" BY * 
 J.WdLKEfc, MciPADDEN * 
 
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 BAKSB (&, HOPKINS 
 
 UEWYOI*K NEWADK 
 
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Copyright, 1922 
 BY BARSE & HOPKINS 
 
 PRIJTTED IX THE TJ. 9. A. 
 
 AUG -2 72 
 
 I r. 677736 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The story of Abraham Lincoln's life is one 
 that will never grow old. It is one that makes 
 every fairy tale seem paltry by comparison. 
 No Aladdin depending for his fortune upon 
 a genie of the lamp can hope to rival in interest 
 this humble backwoods boy who rose by his 
 own efforts to the leadership of a great nation. 
 His life story is a constant inspiration to every 
 other boy in the land — and will continue so for 
 countless generations. 
 
 This book tries to avoid, on the one hand, 
 the formal biography with its bristling array 
 of names and dates; and on the other, the 
 panegyric of praise. It is a story-telling ac- 
 count emphasizing the picturesque and human 
 phases of his career. It tries to depict the 
 boy and man as the friend and neighbor that 
 Lincoln himself tried to be all through life. 
 
 The present writer is by birth and education 
 a Southerner. His father was a Confederate 
 soldier. Never in that Southern home or com- 
 munity does he recall having heard an unkind 
 word against the person or character of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. The South was not long in 
 recognizing, after the War, that had Lincoln 
 been spared, the wounds of strife would have 
 
PREFACE 
 
 been healed many years earlier than they were. 
 May we be pardoned this personal reference 
 and tribute to a great Southerner, who also had 
 the world vision of the brotherhood of man. 
 
 J. W. M. 
 
 Montclair, N. J. 
 Lincoln's Birthday, 
 1922. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A Home in the Wilderness 
 
 II. Life on a Frontier Farm . 
 
 III. Living from Hand to Mouth 
 
 IV. Better Times Ahead 
 
 V. New Faces and Scenes 
 
 VI. Striking Out for Himself 
 
 VII. A Start in Public Life 
 
 VIII. Lincoln, the Lawyer . 
 
 IX. Lincoln, the Legislator . 
 
 X. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 
 
 XL The " Rail - Splitter " is Nomi 
 
 NATED FOR PRESIDENT 
 
 XII. A Red-Hot Election . 
 
 XIII. A Captain in a Storm . 
 
 XIV. The First Days of War . 
 
 XV. The Commander-in-Chief 
 
 XVI. Lincoln's Home Life . 
 
 XVII. The Emancipation Proclamation 
 
 XVIII. Gettysburg 
 
 XIX. Lincoln is Re-elected 
 
 XX. The Closing Scene 
 
 XXI. A Nation's Grief 
 
 page 
 9 
 14 
 19 
 26 
 36 
 45 
 55 
 63 
 73 
 81 
 
 93 
 105 
 116 
 121 
 128 
 135 
 141 
 150 
 159 
 167 
 175 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Abraham Lincoln Frontispiece 
 
 From a portrait front life 
 
 FACING PACE 
 
 Lincoln as a Lawyer 64s 
 
 From a daguerreotype owned by 
 Robert T. Lincoln 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln 78 
 
 From a rare daguerreotype 
 
 Leaders of the Civil War 168 
 
 Lincoln, Porter, Far rag at, Sherman, 
 Thomas, Grant, and Sheridan 
 
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 
 LINCOLN 
 
 A HOME IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 "Are we nearly there, Tom?" 
 
 "Purty nigh, I reckon. If we only had a 
 trail, we could make it easy by sundown." 
 
 The speakers were a pioneer woman and her 
 husband, in the wilds of Kentucky. The time 
 was a little over a century ago. The woman 
 was perched insecurely on the seat of a prairie 
 "schooner" — a clumsy-looking wagon with 
 bulging white canvas top, drawn by two 
 patient oxen. Her husband trudged on ahead 
 of the team, striving to clear some sort of a 
 road. But it was slow work at best ; and even 
 the lumbering beasts had to stop from time to 
 time to await his efforts. 
 
 The man, Tom Lincoln, was clad in rough 
 homespun with fringed leggings, moccasins on 
 
10 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 his feet, and a coon-skin cap on his head. His 
 tall, spare, but vigorous frame was that of the 
 typical frontiersman. 
 
 By the side of his wife, in the wagon, were 
 two children — a girl of about seven and a boy 
 two years younger. Nancy, the little girl, was 
 plainly tired out from their toilsome journey; 
 but her small brother, Abraham, still looked 
 about him with eyes of interest. 
 
 It was a wild and picturesque country that 
 they were traversing — one which, a few short 
 years before, had been held by the Indians as 
 one of their favorite hunting grounds, and 
 occasional bands still wandered that way. The 
 woods were full of wild fowl and other small 
 game, to say nothing of occasional bear and 
 deer. The land was rolling, and cut across by 
 gullies or ravines, down one of which, as they 
 neared their destination, a swift, clear stream 
 made its way. Knob Creek was its name, and 
 later on the boy was to become well acquainted 
 with it. It formed the northern boundary of 
 the new piece of land which Tom Lincoln was 
 clearing, and finally flowed into Salt River, a 
 stream which empties into the Ohio River 
 about twenty-five miles west of Louisville. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 11 
 
 The Lincoln family was making one of many- 
 moves. Tom Lincoln had been more or less 
 of a wanderer all his life; and while a well- 
 meaning sort of person, had never stuck to 
 anything or any place long enough to "make 
 good." He was a carpenter by trade, but 
 lack of work had forced him back to till the 
 soil, like all his pioneer neighbors. 
 
 A few years before our story opens, he had 
 married a girl in Elizabethtown, a village 
 where he plied his trade as a carpenter. Her 
 name was Nancy Hanks, and she was a tall, 
 dark-haired, attractive girl, with more culture 
 and education than the average frontier lass. 
 They had lived very happily, although not far 
 removed from want, in a little cabin in the 
 town, and here their first child, Nancy, was 
 born. 
 
 Tom had managed to secure a piece of land 
 on Nolin Creek, and he decided to try his hand 
 at farming. His friends and neighbors gath- 
 ered at the "log-rolling," as was the custom in 
 those days, and soon they had erected a small 
 cabin built entirely of logs. It had only one 
 window, one door, no floor other than the hard- 
 beaten clay, and an outside chimney made of 
 
12 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 poles and clay. But humble and plain though 
 it was, it was quite as "homey" and comfortable 
 as the majority of the settlers' homes in that 
 section. Out on the frontier no one "put on 
 airs." 
 
 This simple log cabin near what is now 
 Hodgensville, Kentucky, was destined to 
 fame. Its very timbers were to be lovingly 
 preserved by a later generation. For here, on 
 February 12, 1809, the boy, Abraham Lincoln, 
 was born. 
 
 During those first few years, he and his sis- 
 ter had few of the ordinary comforts of life. 
 The cabin was bare of everything except a few 
 cooking utensils and simple pieces of furniture, 
 such as the father himself constructed. But a 
 big roaring fire blazed on the hearth of cold 
 nights ; and Tom's rifle kept the table supplied 
 with meat. Their mother, too, was a wonderful 
 cook and a good housekeeper; and many a 
 story did she tell them by the fireside — most 
 often tales from the Bible. So the boy and 
 girl were happy and contented in their wilder- 
 ness home. 
 
 When Abraham was nearly five his father 
 was again seized with the wanderlust. He 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 13 
 
 found the land unproductive, and he heard of 
 some better land about fifteen miles away, at 
 Knob Creek. The little log cabin was accord- 
 ingly forsaken for a new one of about the same 
 pattern. Moving was a simple process, so far 
 as household effects was concerned, but there 
 were no roads, and the heavy, springless wagon 
 was anything but easy to move across the 
 rough country. It must have been a happy 
 little family indeed, which alighted just as 
 dusk was settling, and looked around the new 
 clearing that was thenceforth to be "home." 
 
 "Well, we're hy'ar," drawled Tom Lincoln, 
 as he began to unspan the oxen. 
 
II 
 
 LIFE ON A FRONTIER FARM 
 
 Work was not long in finding the boy and 
 girl of those days. By the time Abraham 
 Lincoln was five years old, he had taken up his 
 share of the daily duties. He carried in loads 
 of wood, as his father chopped it. He picked 
 up chips. He fetched water. He followed his 
 father up one row and down another, dropping 
 seeds in the new furrows. 
 
 One such planting time he never forgot. 
 Through a long hot afternoon he went 
 patiently from one corn hill to another, drop- 
 ping two pumpkin seeds in every other hill. 
 Visions of the long, trailing vines and the 
 golden fruit of autumn may have come to 
 hearten them at their task. But, that night, 
 when they had come home, footsore and weary, 
 a heavy rain descended, flooding the valley and 
 washing out every one of their precious seed. 
 It was just another stroke of ill-luck which 
 seemed to follow Tom Lincoln all his life. 
 
 14 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15 
 
 Later he grew discouraged, instead of bucking 
 up against it and fighting all the harder; and 
 folks began to call him "shiftless." 
 
 The two children, between-whiles of their 
 daily work, had some schooling. A small dis- 
 trict school was opened near them, and with 
 other boys and girls they attended for about 
 three months in the year. The teaching was of 
 the simplest; the blue-backed speller, an 
 arithmetic, a writing copy book, and a hickory 
 switch being about all that were used. 
 
 The benches were made of split logs, turned 
 flat side up, and with pegs for legs. There 
 were no blackboards nor slates. Two of the 
 wandering school-teachers who came their way 
 for a few short weeks were Zachariah Riney 
 and Caleb Hazel. They were Abraham's first 
 teachers, but the boy learned a great deal more 
 from his mother at home, than from them. She 
 it was who first taught him to write his name 
 in sprawling characters, and spell his way 
 slowly through the Bible and Aesop's Fables. 
 
 Tom Lincoln, the father, tried to learn, too 
 — but he was too tired, and his brain was too 
 old to make much progress. While he did not 
 discourage education for his children, he felt 
 
16 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 that the ax and the rifle were more useful in 
 the wilderness than the pen. 
 
 The boy, Abraham, found some fun in life, 
 despite the hard work. He and Nancy had 
 many a ramble together. At school he met a 
 boy of about his own age, Austin Gallagher, 
 who lived not many miles away. The two lads 
 visited back and forth constantly, and their 
 favorite time for excursions afield was on Sun- 
 day afternoons. They learned to snare rab- 
 bits, and to throw stones with unerring aim at 
 partridges. They learned to follow the tracks 
 of animals, to know the call of birds, to locate 
 the pool where the biggest fish disported, the 
 glen where the finest berries were to be found. 
 They would have made wonderful Boy Scouts 
 of a later day, for they had the finest possible 
 training ground — the primitive woods them- 
 selves. 
 
 Once, Abraham had a narrow escape. He 
 and Austin were walking a log across Knob 
 Creek, when Abraham slipped and fell in. 
 The stream was swollen from recent rains, and 
 was not only deep but swift. With rare pres- 
 ence of mind, Austin seized a long tree limb, 
 and held it out to his struggling friend. Abra- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17 
 
 ham had just strength to seize it, and was 
 painfully hauled ashore. He was more dead 
 than alive, and Austin was thoroughly- 
 frightened. 
 
 "I rolled and pounded him in dead earnest," 
 he said afterwards, "then I got him by the 
 arms and shook him, while the water poured 
 out of his mouth. By this means I at last 
 brought him to, and soon he was all right." 
 
 One other incident is treasured of Lincoln's 
 early days, and he himself related it. 
 
 "Do you remember anything about the War 
 of 1812?" he was once asked. 
 
 "Nothing about the war itself," he replied. 
 "But once when I was a boy of about five or 
 six, I was going along the road, on my way 
 home from a fishing trip. I had one small fish 
 — it may have been my first one, I do not now 
 know. I met a soldier — and into my mind 
 flashed one of my mother's precepts — to be 
 kind to the soldiers because they fought and 
 were willing to die for their country. So I 
 turned and gave my one small fish to the 
 soldier!" 
 
 When the boy was seven years old, his father 
 decided to move again — this time to Indiana, 
 
18 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 where, he heard, the soil was still richer. Tom 
 Lincoln was of the type to whom the place just 
 around the corner was always better than the 
 one he had. Indiana had but recently been ad- 
 mitted as a State, and plenty of land was 
 available for settlers. So he sold his Knob 
 Creek farm for a small amount of ready money 
 and some barrels of whiskey (the latter being 
 a ready means of barter both with Indians and 
 settlers) , put his worldly possessions on a raft, 
 and floated down to the Ohio River, in search 
 of his new home. 
 
 Poor, patient Nancy Hanks Lincoln must 
 have viewed with misgiving this uprooting of 
 another home; or she may have taken it with 
 the calm fortitude of the pioneer wife. She 
 prepared to pack up their household effects, 
 while Tom went on ahead to locate a new home 
 to the North. 
 
Ill 
 
 LIVING FROM HAND TO MOUTH 
 
 Tom Lincoln's bad luck still pursued him. 
 He made his way up into Indiana partly by 
 boat, and partly afoot. Once his boat cap- 
 sized and his cargo went overboard; but the 
 river was shallow here, and it was recovered. 
 Later he was able to convert it into the cash 
 that he so much needed. 
 
 He went inland from Thompson's Ferry, 
 and finally reached a site about fifteen miles 
 away, on Little Pigeon Creek, which struck 
 his fancy. It was really virgin forest, but to 
 his practised eye it showed great possibilities. 
 But, oh, the labor involved before a home could 
 be made! There was literally nothing but 
 forest and undergrowth. But, undaunted, he 
 made his way back nearly a hundred miles to 
 Knob Creek, got his family and belongings 
 together, and once more they set forth. 
 
 To the patient mother it may have been a 
 dubious move; but to the children it was a 
 
 19 
 
20 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 joyous adventure. They were not afraid of 
 hardship. There had been hardships a-plenty 
 in their old home. They did not know where 
 they were going but, like the Southern darky, 
 they were "on their way." It was the fall of 
 the year and Nature had donned her prettiest 
 robes. There were nuts and berries in the 
 woods, and always abundant game. 
 
 The Lincoln family traveled like gypsies, 
 going slowly and camping along in likely spots. 
 On rainy nights they slept under the cover of 
 their lumbering ox-cart. On clear nights they 
 had a big blazing fire in the open. They 
 crossed the Ohio River, team and all, on a 
 ferry-boat. The final lap of their journey was 
 through the pathless woods, and must have 
 been slow going indeed. 
 
 At last after weeks of wandering they drew 
 up into the little clearing that was now their 
 only "home." 
 
 They reached the new location too late in the 
 year to build a log cabin, but they made a 
 lean-to, faced toward the south, and by hang- 
 ing skins over the opening and making a huge 
 fire-place and rude chimney at the open end, 
 they managed to keep comfortable. It was the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21 
 
 sort of shelter that pioneers often made when 
 they first located and, nestling in the deep 
 woods, which served as a wind-brake, could be 
 made fairly weather tight. 
 
 But with winter facing them, there was no 
 time for any hands to idle, however young. 
 Tom turned to his boy and put an ax in his 
 hand. 
 
 "Hy'ar, Abe," he said. "You'll never l'arn 
 any younger. Get busy on them saplin's" — 
 indicating the thicket of underbrush which lay 
 around their shack. 
 
 Abraham was then about seven years old, but 
 he tackled the job manfully. Years after, in 
 writing about it, he said that it "was a region 
 with many bears and other wild animals still 
 in the woods, and the clearing away of the sur- 
 plus wood was the great task ahead. Abraham, 
 though very young, was large for his age, and 
 had an ax put in his hands at once; and from 
 that time till within his twenty-third year he 
 was almost constantly handling that most use- 
 ful instrument." 
 
 During the next twelvemonth they lived 
 almost from hand to mouth. Each day the 
 problem was to provide food, fuel and water. 
 
22 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Unfortunately, the new home site had no 
 spring or running water, and the children had 
 to carry water nearly a mile. Tom Lincoln 
 would shoulder his gun in the morning and go 
 in search of game, while the others would fol- 
 low the endless round of duties of a camp. 
 Once Abraham killed a wild turkey which had 
 come too near the camp, and they had a feast. 
 But he was never much of a hunter — he dis- 
 liked to kill things — although he could prepare 
 the skins and cure the meat. And he became 
 an expert axman. 
 
 With spring came a huge pile of new 
 duties. The ground must be cleared, stumps 
 cleared away, the soil plowed and sowed. To 
 increase the difficulty there were many stones 
 to be removed. Painfully they prepared a 
 small plot of land, and while waiting for their 
 crops to grow they set about building a log 
 cabin. By autumn it was finished, except for 
 door and windows, and they moved in with 
 great satisfaction. It was like getting home 
 again, for a log cabin was the best house that 
 they knew. 
 
 Scarcely had they moved out of their half- 
 shelter camp, when some relatives moved into 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 
 
 it. They were a man and wife, Thomas and 
 Betsey Sparrow, and a grandson, Dennis 
 Hanks. Betsey was a sister of Mrs. Lincoln, 
 and the two women were glad indeed to have 
 this companionship in the wilderness. The boy 
 Dennis was somewhat older than Abraham, 
 but they speedily became great friends. He 
 had longed for a boy chum ever since bidding 
 farewell to Austin. 
 
 The little clearing, under the combined 
 efforts of the two families, began to look like 
 home. Their ground had produced some corn 
 and vegetables, and enough fodder to support 
 a cow and a few hogs. They faced the second 
 winter on Pigeon Creek in much better shape 
 than the first — although the new cabin still 
 lacked a floor or covers for its windows and 
 door. That seemed to be a trait of Tom Lin- 
 coln's — never quite to finish a thing. 
 
 But just at this time, when the skies seemed 
 brighter, a dreadful misfortune fell upon them. 
 An epidemic called the "milk fever" swept 
 through the country, and both the Sparrows 
 and Mrs. Lincoln took sick and died. Poor 
 Nancy Lincoln ! As she lay there at rest in her 
 rude pine box, her hands were folded peace- 
 
24 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 fully for the first time in many weary months 
 — ever since, indeed, as a bride she had first 
 faced the wilderness. But she was only one of 
 thousands of other pioneer mothers, who toiled 
 and suffered that their children and children's 
 children might have a real home. 
 
 Forlornly, Abraham and his sister followed 
 the little funeral procession out to a wooded 
 knoll, half a mile away, where the burial was 
 made. It was a dismal day indeed; only half 
 a dozen neighbors were present, and there was 
 not even a funeral service, as the epidemic had 
 been severe and no preacher was available. To 
 Abraham this was the hardest blow of all. He 
 brooded over the fact that no prayer was said 
 over the body of his mother ; and several years 
 later when a minister was in the neighborhood, 
 he persuaded him to go out to the little knoll. 
 Together they knelt down and repeated: 
 
 "The Lord hath given and the Lord hath 
 taken away. Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord!" 
 
 Then Abraham Lincoln went back to his 
 work with something like peace in his heart. 
 For his mother's spirit must have been near 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25 
 
 him that day. And that spirit knew, in the 
 years to come, that this boy growing up in the 
 wilderness would be her own best monument. 
 
IV 
 
 BETTER TIMES AHEAD 
 
 That winter, in which Abraham passed his 
 tenth year, was dismal and wretched. Nancy 
 tried her best to take her dead mother's place, 
 but she was only twelve and not very strong. 
 She could cook after a fashion, but not sew. 
 Their mother, with her fund of evening stories 
 and good cheer, was gone, and desolate indeed 
 were those shut-in days. Abraham spoke of 
 them in later years as "pretty pinching times." 
 
 Tom Lincoln looked at his motherless chil- 
 dren and shook his head. Something must be 
 done. One day he bade them good-bye, and 
 told them he was going on business to Eliza- 
 bethtown. Arriving there, he called on a 
 widow, Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he 
 had known in childhood. He lost no time in 
 coming straight to the point of his visit. 
 
 "Sarah," he said, "you are a widow woman 
 and I am a widow man. Our children are 
 
 26 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 
 
 growing up — yours without a father and mine 
 without a mother. I come down here a-pur- 
 pose to marry you. I knowed you as a gal and 
 you knowed me as a boy. I'll do by you the 
 best I know how. What do you say?" 
 
 This honest, straightforward wooing had its 
 effect. The widow accepted. They were 
 married, and she packed up her household 
 effects — which were in much better shape than 
 Tom Lincoln's — and accompanied him back to 
 the Indiana clearing. 
 
 What whoops of joy were exchanged when 
 Abraham and Nancy greeted their new mother 
 and brother and sisters ; for the three Johnston 
 children were near their own ages ! And what 
 a transformation did the new mother work in 
 their home ! She began with the children them- 
 selves, and with soap and water gave them such 
 a scrubbing as they had not had in months. 
 She gave them clothes that were not full of 
 holes. She brought real feather-beds with her, 
 to replace the worn corn-shuck mattresses. 
 She had some few pieces of serviceable furni- 
 ture, and she made Tom Lincoln get busy and 
 finish that long-promised floor, the door and 
 windows. Best of all, she won the affection of 
 
28 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 both the Lincoln children, so that they came to 
 love her quite as their own mother. 
 
 The better times ahead, for which Nancy 
 Hanks Lincoln had longed, began to dawn for 
 the new home. Every year saw a little more 
 land cleared, a little more grain laid by for the 
 winter, and a few more live stock. Settlers 
 began to move in closer to them, until a thriv- 
 ing little community arose. With this came 
 many opportunities for Tom to ply his trade 
 as a carpenter. Many a piece of furniture or 
 bit of house finishing was he enabled to do. 
 With the coming of easier times his old careless 
 ways were laid aside. His second wife saw to 
 it that they did not return. 
 
 Meanwhile, young Abe Lincoln was growing 
 straight and tall, like one of the sycamore sap- 
 lings of the clearing. Working early and late 
 out in the open, swinging ax or hoe in all sorts 
 of weather, had made him strong and hardy. 
 At fourteen he was as tall as the average man, 
 and could "lick" most of them. He seemed 
 all arms and legs, with big heavy hands and 
 feet, but he was not nearly so clumsy as he 
 looked. He learned to use his father's kit of 
 tools, and he often did odd jobs for the neigh- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29 
 
 bors. And everywhere he went he made 
 friends, because he worked willingly and was 
 always good-natured. 
 
 What troubled him most, at this time, was 
 his lack of schooling. The school terms were 
 extremely short, and woefully inadequate to a 
 boy as ambitious as Abraham. He confided 
 his desire to get an education to his second 
 mother, and found her a willing ally. From 
 the first she seems to have sensed that this awk- 
 ward, long-legged boy was cut out for some- 
 thing better than a backwoods carpenter. She 
 stood between the boy and his father more 
 than once when the latter lost his patience, on 
 coming home and finding Abe reading instead 
 of "tending to his work." 
 
 "Let him alone, Tom," she would plead. 
 "He's just got to have book learnin'. It was 
 born in him." 
 
 "Almighty gosh!" the disgusted man would 
 snort. "Here he won't l'arn the carpenter 
 trade, an' there's folks all over the county 
 needin' work done. What good can he do with 
 his book 1'arnin', I'd like to know?" 
 
 "Well, he might be a teacher, or a lawyer, 
 or a preacher," she ventured. 
 
30 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Tom snorted again. 
 
 "Yes, and starve to death at all three of 
 em! What's the use of wastin' time when 
 there's work to do!" 
 
 That was Tom Lincoln's attitude, and his 
 son was never able to change it. The boy was 
 forced to hide his books in the daytime ; but at 
 night he was unmolested, and by the blazing 
 pine-knots on the hearth he would stretch out 
 at full length reading some history or geog- 
 raphy, or working out sums of arithmetic on a 
 piece of shingle or the back of the broad fire 
 shovel, with charcoal. When he by chance was 
 able to borrow from the slender stock of books 
 in the vicinity he was happy indeed; and he 
 read and reread the precious volume before 
 returning it. One of the books which fell into 
 his hands belonged to a schoolmaster, Josiah 
 Crawford, and reached the boy just at the 
 moment to fire his imagination and direct 
 his whole life. It was Weems's "Life of 
 Washington," now considered out of date in 
 its facts and style. As the boy Lincoln read 
 of that other boy who had been a surveyor in 
 the Virginia forests, and had worked his way 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 31 
 
 up to the leadership of a new nation, his own 
 deep-set eyes glowed with a new light, and his 
 hand unconsciously grasped the book a little 
 tighter. 
 
 One night after he had been reading this 
 book, he carried it up to his attic bed with 
 him. There was a hole in the roof, and a rain- 
 storm set in, which found a leak right over this 
 precious volume. In the morning he was dis- 
 mayed to find it water-soaked. He dried it out 
 as best he could and carried it back to the 
 teacher, with an apology and an offer to make 
 the damage good. The irate master said that 
 the book was ruined, and that Lincoln owed 
 him seventy-five cents for it, which he could 
 pay by working three days at pulling fodder. 
 The boy did so, but felt repaid, for the book 
 then belonged to him. 
 
 Other treasured volumes were the Bible, 
 which he had early learned at his first mother's 
 knee. Its dignity and simplicity of style un- 
 doubtedly colored his own later marvelous com- 
 mand of words. He read Aesop's Fables, 
 also, and Pilgrim's Progress. Whenever he 
 heard others use words, or allude to facts that 
 
32 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 he could not understand, he could not rest until 
 he got to the bottom of them. As he himself 
 said, later: 
 
 "I remember how, when a mere child, I used 
 to get irritated when anybody talked to me 
 in a way I could not understand. I do not 
 think I ever got angry at anything else in my 
 life ; but that always disturbed my temper, and 
 has ever since. I can remember going to my 
 little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk 
 of an evening with my father, and spending no 
 small part of the night walking up and down 
 and trying to make out what was the exact 
 meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. 
 I could not sleep, although I tried to, when I 
 got on such a hunt for an idea, until I had 
 caught it ; and when I thought I had got it, I 
 was not satisfied until I had repeated it over 
 and over; until I had put it in language plain 
 enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to 
 comprehend. This was a kind of passion with 
 me, and it has stuck by me ; for I am never easy 
 now, when I am handling a thought, till I 
 have bounded it north, and bounded it south, 
 and bounded it east, and bounded it west." 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 33 
 
 This little self -revealing glimpse shows us" 
 both his early hunger for knowledge and his 
 constant desire to express his own ideas clearly 
 and simply, so that all could understand. It 
 was the secret of his great success later as a 
 campaign orator. 
 
 But altogether, Abraham's days at school, 
 from his seventh to his seventeenth year, would 
 not have made a full year. His father had a 
 habit of "needing him," just about the time a 
 term was well started. The boy could earn 
 twenty- five cents a day on outside jobs, and 
 Tom felt that it would be a sin and shame to let 
 such opportunities go begging. Neverthe- 
 less, here and there, Abe did get some school- 
 ing. He attended the district school infre- 
 quently, where some of the pupils laughed at 
 his scarecrow appearance. But he speedily 
 won their respect both in the classroom and on 
 the playground. He was a natural-born 
 speller, and was eagerly chosen for the Friday 
 spelling contests from the old "blue back" 
 book. He could outrun and outwrestle any 
 boy. He always played fair, and they picked 
 him for umpire. And he had a constant fund 
 
34 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 of droll stories, many of which he had inherited 
 from his father, and which he would relate with 
 a delicious dialect and pantomime. 
 
 They tell of him, in these early days, that his 
 chief fault — almost his only one — was to let 
 story-telling interfere with his work. He 
 would drop his ax or saw any time to tell a 
 story; so perhaps his father had some excuse 
 for his impatience. One of his chief joys was 
 to go to mill. In those days every farm-hoy 
 had to take his corn and wheat to the nearest 
 mill to be ground, and then return home with 
 the flour. Often they had to wait their turn, 
 which suited Abe exactly. He was soon sur- 
 rounded by an eager group of listeners, to 
 whom he held forth with a seemingly inex- 
 haustible supply of yarns. 
 
 One day while waiting at the mill his horse 
 grew skittish. He walked over behind the 
 animal, exclaiming, "Whoa there, you — " But 
 before he could complete his sentence the horse 
 let fly with a heel and knocked him senseless. 
 For an hour or more he lay there like dead, and 
 many of his friends thought he was killed. But 
 at last they revived him, when he sat up, call- 
 ing, "old hussy!" 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 35 
 
 He had completed his sentence exactly from 
 the place where it was broken off when the 
 horse kicked him ! 
 
 If there is a moral to this little story, Lin- 
 coln might have said that it is: "Never start 
 anything that you can't finish!" 
 
NEW FACES AND SCENES 
 
 When Lincoln was eighteen he had reached 
 his full height, six feet, four inches. He must 
 have been an even more impressive figure then, 
 than he was in later life, for he had not had 
 time to round out any of the hollows in his 
 angular frame. His head sat high up on a 
 slender neck which had an enormous "Adam's 
 apple." The head itself was surmounted by a 
 tousled shock of dark hair, which never by 
 any chance was kept smooth, due to his habit 
 of using the locks for a towel, or to tug at, 
 when in search of ideas. His legs were of 
 tremendous length, for a boy. Once when 
 asked how long he thought legs really ought to 
 be, he replied, "Well, I reckon about long 
 enough to reach from the body to the ground!" 
 
 His mother often jested with him about his 
 height, saying that she was afraid he would 
 mark up her ceiling ; for by this time, you must 
 know, their cabin had arrived at the dignity of 
 
 36 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 37 
 
 whitewash, both inside and out. Abraham re- 
 solved to turn the jest upon her, and one day, 
 in her absence, brought home with him a small 
 boy, whose feet he carefully blackened. Then 
 turning him upside down in his own strong 
 arms, he assisted the little fellow to walk 
 across the ceiling. When Mrs. Lincoln came 
 home and saw those footprints, she didn't know 
 whether to laugh or cry; but the funny side 
 struck her first, and she forgave her joke- 
 loving son when he assured her he intended to 
 whitewash the ceiling again anyhow. 
 
 The young man's love of a joke came to be a 
 local byword. But he was never accused of 
 doing anything mean or underhand. This and 
 his love of books were set aside as marks of 
 queerness. They accused him of trying to plow 
 with one hand, while the other held onto a book 
 which he busily devoured! But everybody 
 liked him, because he was cheerful and always 
 willing to help out at any log-rolling or other 
 local festivity. 
 
 And how strong he was! He could cut 
 down two trees while the next man cut one. 
 He cut and split rails all day — "and good rails, 
 too," as he afterwards averred. He could 
 
38 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 hoist a log that baffled the efforts of two men. 
 
 A small town arose, a couple of miles away 
 from the Lincoln farm, which was called Gen- 
 tryville. At this time it was little more than 
 a village containing a general store, in which 
 one might find anything from carpet tacks to 
 molasses, and where the farm products might 
 be exchanged for other necessities. A man by 
 the name of Jones ran this store, and he asked 
 Abe to clerk for him. The young man gladly 
 accepted. It was the sort of thing that he 
 liked. A country store of this type was a 
 community center. Here people came in to 
 swap views on any subject, from the weather 
 to how to run the government. The weekly 
 paper from Louisville arrived here. Politics 
 was a lively topic of discussion, then as always, 
 and the tall youth behind the counter, as he 
 weighed sugar or measured calico, got his first 
 schooling in this topic, of which he was one 
 day to be past master. 
 
 Another venture which attracted him, be- 
 cause of the possibility of meeting new people 
 and also earning money, was to take a boat- 
 load of produce down the river to New Orleans, 
 and sell it. He had got this idea first while, 
 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 39 
 
 as a lad of seventeen, he worked a ferry back 
 and forth at the mouth of Anderson Creek, on 
 the Ohio. The river steamers were beginning 
 to make regular trips on the Ohio and Mis- 
 sissippi ; and as he watched these big, ungainly- 
 craft he was seized with a consuming desire to 
 see the world. But what other boy has not 
 been a victim of the same travel fever? Lin- 
 coln also watched the barges and other flat- 
 boats making their leisurely way down stream. 
 These boats usually had a tent or shack on 
 board for the crew, and the latter consisted of 
 two men to manage the sweeps or long oars 
 which kept the craft in the center of the cur- 
 rent. Lender good conditions, they could make 
 about six miles an hour; and once at St. Louis 
 or New Orleans they sold their entire outfit, 
 boat and cargo, and came back by steamer. 
 
 Lincoln diligently tended his crops that sum- 
 mer, and built a flatboat to carry them. His 
 job as clerk in Jones's store postponed his 
 voyage, however, and about the time he was 
 ready to try it again, he had an opportunity 
 to ship on another boat. But there is another 
 incident of this time that is worth repeating, 
 especially as it is told in Lincoln's own words. 
 
40 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "I was about eighteen years of age ... we 
 had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, 
 sufficient produce, as I thought, to justify me 
 in taking it down the river to sell. After much 
 persuasion I had got the consent of my mother 
 to go, and had constructed a flatboat large 
 enough to take a few barrels of things we had 
 gathered to New Orleans. A steamer was go- 
 ing down the river. We have, you know, no 
 wharves on the western streams, and the cus- 
 tom was, if passengers were at any of the 
 landings they were to go out in a boat, the 
 steamer stopping and taking them on board. 
 I was contemplating my new boat, and won- 
 dering whether I could make it stronger or 
 improve it in any part, when two men with 
 trunks came down to the shore in carriages, 
 and looking at the different boats, singled out 
 mine and asked, 'Who owns this?' I answered 
 modestly, 'I do.' 'Will you,' said one of them, 
 'take us and our trunks out to the steamer?' 
 'Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have 
 the chance of earning something, and supposed 
 that each of them would give me a couple of 
 bits. The trunks were put in my boat, the 
 passengers seated themselves on them, and I 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 41 
 
 sculled them out to the steamer. They got on 
 board and I lifted the trunks and put them on 
 the deck. The steamer was about to put on 
 steam again, when I called out, 'You have 
 forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from 
 his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on 
 the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely be- 
 lieve my eyes as I picked up the money. You 
 may think it was a very little thing, and in 
 these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it 
 was a most important incident in my life. I 
 could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had 
 earned a dollar in less than a day; that by 
 honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a 
 more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that 
 time." 
 
 Lincoln's keen hunger for books at this time 
 has been often mentioned by his former neigh- 
 bors. Anything in the shape of a book fas- 
 cinated him. He would walk fifty miles to 
 borrow one, and would sit up late at night 
 copying long extracts from its pages, into 
 books of his own manufacture. His pens were 
 made from wild turkey quills, and his ink from 
 poke-berry or brier-root. One man in Gentry- 
 ville owned a copy of the Statutes of Indiana, 
 
42 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 and Lincoln nosed it out, as a terrier would a 
 bone. It contained the laws of the State and 
 also the Declaration of Independence and Con- 
 stitution of the United States. Abe read this 
 with his accustomed thoroughness, and it may 
 have given him his first incentive to become a 
 lawyer. 
 
 Another incident showing the wide range of 
 his reading for those days is related by a 
 woman who, as a girl, was a schoolmate of 
 Lincoln's. He had earned her gratitude by 
 helping her out in a spelling contest. When 
 she was on the point of spelling "defied" with 
 a "y," he pointed to his own eye just in time 
 to save her from going down to defeat. She 
 was a good-looking girl near his own age, and 
 the lanky backwoodsman took a decided 
 "shine" to her. But one day all his hopes for 
 her favor went tumbling. It was all due to a 
 casual remark she made while they were taking 
 an evening stroll. 
 
 "Look, Abe," she said, "the sun is going 
 down." 
 
 "Reckon not," was the unguarded reply; 
 "it's us coming up, that's all." 
 
 "Don't you suppose I've got eyes?" she 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 43 
 
 replied indignantly. "We're standing still, 
 and the sun's going down." 
 
 "It just looks that way," Abe remonstrated. 
 "The sun's as still as a tree, and we're just 
 swinging around it. When it's down we're up, 
 and when we're up it's down — that's all." 
 
 "Abe, you talk like a consarned fool," the 
 girl answered, and walked away with a toss of 
 her head, to show her disgust at his "stuck-up 
 rarnin'." 
 
 At last Lincoln had his long-dreamed-of 
 opportunity of going to New Orleans. Mr. 
 Gentry, the leading citizen of Gentryville, had 
 been attracted by the boy, as he saw him clerk- 
 ing in the store, and now asked Abe to go on a 
 boat he was sending down. Gentry's own son 
 was going also, and Abe was offered eight 
 dollars a month and his passage back, for the 
 trip. We can well believe that the boy jumped 
 at the chance. In those days it meant more 
 than a trip to Europe does now. 
 
 The two young men had "the time of their 
 lives" on this trip. There was plenty of hard 
 work managing the cumbersome craft, as it 
 was seized by capricious cross currents, eddies, 
 or rapids. But the work only added zest to 
 
44 
 
 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 the adventure. They disposed of their cargo 
 at a good profit, spent a little time sight-seeing 
 around the historic old city, and then came 
 back by steamer as first-class passengers. 
 
 This trip, with its novelty and ever-changing 
 scenes, filled Lincoln with the desire to see 
 more of the world. He talked seriously of 
 becoming a river pilot, but was persuaded to 
 stay with his father until he was twenty-one. 
 
 
VI 
 
 STRIKING OUT FOR HIMSELF 
 
 "Sarah, I reckon as how we'd better pull up 
 stakes again," Tom Lincoln remarked one 
 morning. 
 
 They had been discussing another move — 
 this time to Illinois. The farm on Pigeon 
 Creek, while giving them a living, had done 
 little else; and Tom Lincoln's naturally rest- 
 less spirit longed for a change of scene. 
 
 "John Hanks writes me that he can get a 
 mighty fine piece of land, on the Sangamon, 
 for a dollar and a quarter an acre," he con- 
 tinued. "It sounds good, and I shore am tired 
 of plowin' up rocks." 
 
 "All right, Tom," replied Mrs. Lincoln. 
 "What do you say, Abe?" she asked, turning 
 to him. 
 
 Abe had just been reading the letter from 
 their Cousin John. It did indeed sound allur- 
 ing. For several reasons he was more than 
 
 45 
 
46 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 willing to go. His sister Nancy (also known 
 as Sarah, after her second mother), had 
 recently died. It was the second deep grief 
 which had come into his life. Then, too, the 
 "milk sickness" epidemic had broken out 
 again, and Pigeon Creek seemed unhealthful. 
 
 "I'm willing to go," he said. 
 
 So it was decided, and in the spring of 
 1830, when Abe was just turned twenty-one, 
 they turned their faces westward. Abe him- 
 self had been making plans as to what he 
 should do when he became a man, but he post- 
 poned them until his family should be settled 
 in their new home. It was fortunate for them 
 all that he did remain with them on this move, 
 for it required their united efforts to carry it 
 through without mishap. The roads, such as 
 they were, had sunk deep in mud and water 
 from the spring rains, and the heavy wagons 
 were constantly mired up. Nothing but Abe's 
 tremendous strength and unflagging courage 
 pulled them through. 
 
 One little incident of this journey gives us a 
 glimpse of Abe's tender heart. A dog had 
 broken through the thin ice of a stream and 
 was in imminent danger of drowning. Despite 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 47 
 
 the family's protests, Abe rolled up his trousers 
 and waded out into the treacherous, icy stream, 
 and rescued the dog. 
 
 Abe did a stroke of business for himself on 
 the way. Before leaving Gentryville he pur- 
 chased a stock of small household supplies — 
 pins, needles, combs, brushes, pans, and the 
 like — from Mr. Jones. He sold them along 
 the way, and eventually disposed of all, doub- 
 ling his money in the venture. ^ 
 
 At last they reached the site of their new 
 home, near that of their Cousin John and about 
 ten miles west of Decatur. The spot looked 
 attractive, and they set to work with high 
 hopes. Most of that summer and winter Abe 
 helped his father, with only occasional side 
 jobs. They got their cabin up and weather- 
 tight before the cold weather set in, and it was 
 lucky they did so. That winter was famous 
 for its severity. A deep snow fell, followed 
 by a prolonged cold spell. There was much 
 suffering in the sparsely-settled community. 
 But the Lincolns managed to weather the 
 storm. 
 
 With the coming of another spring, Abe 
 felt that it was high time to strike out for him- 
 
48 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 self. The breaking of home ties was not easy, 
 but it comes to every young man. Abe had 
 been an obedient son, and had gotten along 
 well with his father, without either of them 
 fully understanding the other. But between 
 him and his stepmother a deep sympathy and 
 affection existed. 
 
 "Our minds were always open, the one to 
 the other," she said later. And although she 
 had children of her own, she added that "Abe 
 was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see." 
 
 So with a "God bless you, my son," from 
 both the elder Lincolns, Abe bade them good- 
 bye, and struck out into the world on his own 
 account. 
 
 His first venture was toward river naviga- 
 tion — shipping goods downstream, and thus 
 making use of the natural highways. As there 
 were almost no roads, he saw that the rivers 
 were the only means of communication. The 
 Sangamon River, which flowed by their farm, 
 was cluttered up with driftwood ; but Abe saw 
 that if it were cleared, it would open up the 
 whole interior of the state. Just about this 
 time the candidate for some state office came 
 through the country, stump-speaking, and he 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 49 
 
 talked about this very thing, the opening up 
 of the rivers. When he got through, one of 
 Abe's friends declared loudly that Abe Lin- 
 coln could make a better speech than that. 
 
 "Speech! — Abe Lincoln! — Speech!" the 
 crowd shouted; and the candidate had per- 
 force to second the invitation. 
 
 The big, ungainly young man shambled for- 
 ward, and a grin went around the crowd. 
 They were going to have some fun. But be- 
 fore Abe had said a dozen sentences they 
 stopped smiling and sat up to listen. It was 
 his first speech in public on a public question, 
 but it caught the crowd. They cheered him to 
 the echo. 
 
 The campaigner came forward and grasped 
 his hand warmly. "You made a better speech 
 than I did, young fellow!" he was a big enough 
 man to say. 
 
 Not long afterward, a man named Denton 
 Offutt began making preparations to ship a 
 boatload of stuff by river, from a point near 
 Springfield to New Orleans. He asked Abe 
 and two other young men to take charge of the 
 trip, and they willingly consented. They 
 agreed to meet Offutt in Springfield in the 
 
50 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 spring of 1831, and they did so after making 
 a toilsome trip through the flooded country. 
 
 "Sorry, fellows," he greeted them, as the 
 mud-bespattered trio presented themselves at 
 his door, "but I haven't been able to buy a 
 boat." 
 
 That seemed to quash matters, but only for 
 a moment. "Why not build it ourselves ?" Abe 
 inquired. 
 
 "Can you fellows do it?" 
 
 "Sure!" they agreed heartily. 
 
 "Then get busy," returned Offutt. "I'll pay 
 you twelve dollars a month apiece, while she is 
 being built." 
 
 It was work with which all three were 
 familiar, and soon the woodland near Spring- 
 field resounded with the noise of their axes 
 and saws. Abe's knowledge of carpentry 
 stood him in good stead; and in a few weeks' 
 time the boat was ready to launch. It was a 
 clumsy craft, with a rude shelter-house at one 
 end, and its total length was about forty feet. 
 But it looked staunch, and would hold "a raft 
 of stuff." 
 
 The boat, being a new venture for that part 
 of the country, was the talk of the day, and 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 51 
 
 people gathered for miles around to see it start 
 off. The port of departure was a village called 
 New Salem. The craft had been loaded with 
 hogs, pork in barrels, corn, and other produce, 
 and must have looked like a Noah's Ark; but 
 it floated and as the three young men worked 
 the sweeps, away it went down the current, 
 amid the cheers and jocular remarks of the 
 spectators. But alas! in attempting to pass a 
 mill-dam the boat stuck, and started settling 
 at the stern. Water poured in until it began to 
 look like a shipwreck. 
 
 The crowd was particularly diverted at the 
 antics of an extremely tall deckhand, whose 
 trousers were rolled up "about five feet" and 
 who began to direct operations. He first 
 instructed that some of the cargo be carried 
 ashore, and set the example with long strides 
 through the water. Then as the boat slowly 
 raised at one end, he took an auger and bored a 
 hole in the bottom to let the water out. It was 
 the first time anybody had seen a boat baled in 
 that fashion, and their jests turned to cheers. 
 
 "That's a mighty smart chap!" they said. 
 "He'll get there!" 
 
 And he did —if New Orleans was what they 
 
52 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 meant — for Abe and his friends reloaded their 
 boat below the dam, and finally reached their 
 destination without further mishap. 
 
 The month which they spent in the busy 
 Southern port was rich in experiences. In 
 those days people flocked to New Orleans from 
 all parts of the world. There were Indians, 
 Creoles, Spaniards, Mexicans, Frenchmen, 
 freebooters, adventurers, slaves, and the 
 Southern plantation-owners and merchants, all 
 jostling elbows together through the busy 
 streets. So many flatboats were tied up at the 
 wharves, that, it was said, one could walk a 
 mile or more over their tops. 
 
 The slave market was the trading center of 
 the town — a sort of stock exchange. Here 
 black men, women and children were daily 
 offered for sale. The sight of this traffic sick- 
 ened the heart of Abe Lincoln. Turning to his 
 cousin, John Hanks, he said: 
 
 "If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I'll 
 hit it hard!" 
 
 The three young men came back North by 
 steamer, and Offutt was much pleased with 
 their venture. He offered Abe a place in his 
 general store in New Salem, which was 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 53 
 
 accepted. The townspeople welcomed him. 
 They recognized him as the young fellow who, 
 with his trousers rolled up about five feet, 
 had saved the cargo that day on the dam. 
 They soon discovered for themselves his fund 
 of humor and story-telling proclivities. Off utt 
 was so proud of his clerk that he openly 
 boasted that Abe was "the cleverest and 
 strongest fellow in that part of the country." 
 This boast reached the ears of a wild outfit 
 known as the Clary Grove Boys. Their head- 
 quarters was a grove a few miles away from 
 New Salem, and their deeds of terrorism were 
 familiar to more than one hamlet. They were 
 the forerunners of our gangsters of the pres- 
 ent day. 
 
 One day the Clary Grove gang came to town 
 and openly challenged Abe Lincoln to a wrest- 
 ling match with Jack Armstrong, their leader. 
 Abe was not very keen for the contest, but 
 could not very well refuse. Egged on by the 
 crowd, a ring was made in an open spot in 
 front of Offutt's store. Armstrong was a big, 
 heavy-set fellow, and the crowd expected him 
 to make short work of this tall grocery clerk, 
 whose arms hung down like flails. But Lin- 
 
54 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 coin did not have an ounce of superfluous flesh. 
 He was all bone, sinew, and muscle. He 
 wrapped his arms and legs around his oppo- 
 nent in a regular bear hug. Jack saw that he 
 was getting the worst of it, so tried to break 
 away by a foul. Abe had been in a good 
 humor up to this point, but now lost his temper. 
 Holding Jack at arm's length, he shook him 
 as a terrier would a rat, until his teeth rattled. 
 The gang rushed to their leader's assistance, 
 and it looked for awhile like a free-for-all fight. 
 But Armstrong stopped the others, and held 
 out his hand to Lincoln. 
 
 "You beat me fair and square, young feller!" 
 he said, "and I'm for you. You're the best 
 feller that ever broke into camp!" 
 
 Armstrong later became one of Lincoln's 
 staunchest friends. 
 
VII 
 
 A START IN PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 Many stories cluster about Lincoln's name 
 in these New Salem days. Indeed, about no 
 other person in history have so many tales been 
 told. It was at this time that he won his nick- 
 name of ''Honest Abe," which stuck to him all 
 through life. He was so careful not to cheat 
 a customer, that it became a standing joke. 
 One evening a woman who lived several miles 
 away came into the store to make a few pur- 
 chases. After she had gone, Abe found that 
 he had overcharged her by six cents. That 
 night he walked out to her house to return her 
 money. 
 
 His duties at the store were not enough to 
 take all his time ; so he looked around for some- 
 thing more to study. He talked it over with 
 the schoolmaster, who suggested that he take 
 up English Grammar. 
 
 "You talk pretty well on your feet, Abe," 
 
 55 
 
56 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Mr. Graham said, "but you make a lot of mis- 
 takes in speech." 
 
 "I reckon I do," admitted Abe; "but I can 
 unlearn 'em, can't I?" 
 
 "Yes," said the teacher. "Here's a book on 
 English Grammar. Study it thoroughly, and 
 when you come to a tight place, I will help 
 
 you." 
 
 Abe needed no second invitation but took 
 that book home and made its contents his own. 
 How thoroughly he did it is proved by the mas- 
 terly simplicity of his "Gettysburg Address" 
 and other documents of later lif e. 
 
 "That was easy," he told the astonished 
 Graham, a few weeks later. "If that's a 
 science, I guess I'll tackle another." 
 
 Encouraged by his friends, he decided to 
 enter state politics, and announce himself as a 
 candidate for State Legislature. Already we 
 can see in which direction his ambitions lay. 
 And with his characteristic directness he went 
 straight after the thing he wanted. But just 
 at this time another diversion occurred which 
 promised to be more exciting. 
 
 One morning in April, 1832, a rider dashed 
 through the streets of New Salem, scattering 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 57 
 
 handbills issued by the Governor. It was a 
 call for volunteers to repel an invasion of +he 
 Sac Indians, led by a famous chief, Black 
 Hawk. The Black Hawk War, as it came to 
 be known, was the last Indian disturbance 
 in that section of the country. It was put 
 down without much bloodshed; but for a 
 time it threatened to be serious. 
 
 The young men around New Salem 
 promptly began drilling, and among them 
 were many of Jack Armstrong's gang. Jack 
 and Abe Lincoln had become good friends. 
 When the company was formed, they chose 
 Abe as captain. It was a surprise to him, and 
 he afterwards declared that nothing in his life 
 ever pleased him more. 
 
 As a matter of fact, his company saw no 
 actual fighting. The Indians had either been 
 disposed of before his men got there, or else 
 retreated without giving battle — as Indians 
 have a way of doing. The militia saw plenty 
 of the hardships of campaigning, with little 
 excitement to relieve it. After two or three 
 months of fruitless chasing around the coun- 
 try, the militia disbanded. Lincoln's horse 
 was stolen from him, when he was up in Michi- 
 
58 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 gan territory, about two hundred miles from 
 home, and he had to find his way back as best 
 he could, partly on foot, partly by paddling 
 down the streams. 
 
 While his military life brought him no glory, 
 it was another link in the chain of experience. 
 It taught him leadership of men. 
 
 As soon as he got back from the Indian 
 war, he picked up his campaign for State Leg- 
 islature at the very point where he had dropped 
 it. He began making stump speeches — some 
 of which were literally so — and he entered into 
 the give-and-take of those rough political times 
 with gusto. The candidate for public office 
 must be as rough and ready as his crowd. His 
 speeches were liable to be interrupted at any 
 point by questions or heckling; and if he was 
 not quick at repartee, he stood no chance with 
 the crowd. Sometimes there were free-for-all 
 fights between the candidate's friends and the 
 other side. 
 
 On one occasion, it is related that Lincoln 
 was in the midst of a fiery plea for the improve- 
 ment of their rivers, when he noticed one of 
 his followers getting the worst of it in the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 59 
 
 throng. Abe jumped down from the wagon, 
 on which he was speaking, grabbed the other 
 fellow by the trousers and coat collar and 
 threw him "about twelve feet away." Then 
 he calmly climbed back into the wagon and 
 resumed his speech as readily as if he had only 
 stopped for the usual glass of water of some 
 orators. 
 
 Lincoln was not elected this time; but out 
 of the three hundred votes cast in and around 
 New Salem, he got two hundred and seventy- 
 seven — surely a fine record for a young, un- 
 tried man who only two years before had come 
 driving an ox-team into the town, his sole 
 possessions being a much- worn jeans suit and 
 an ax. 
 
 Undaunted by the result of the election, 
 Abe went back to his natural forte, store- 
 keeping. He and another young man, Wil- 
 liam Berry, started a general store, having 
 bought out two rivals. Although they thus 
 cornered the trade of the town, there were 
 many dull hours, when Abe had the chance to 
 follow up his passion for reading. Like all 
 general stores, theirs was accustomed to trad- 
 
60 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 ing, or swapping one commodity for another. 
 This did him at least one good turn, as he him- 
 self afterwards related: 
 
 "One day a man who was migrating to the 
 West drove up in front of my store with a 
 wagon which contained his family and house- 
 hold plunder. He asked me if I would buy an 
 old barrel for which he had no room in his 
 wagon, and which he said contained nothing of 
 special value. I did not want it, but to oblige 
 him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a 
 dollar for it. Without further examination I 
 put it away in the store, and forgot all about it. 
 Some time after, in overhauling things, I came 
 upon the barrel, and emptying it upon the floor 
 to see what it contained, I found at the bottom 
 of the rubbish a complete edition of Black- 
 stone's 'Commentaries.' I began to read 
 those famous works, and I had plenty of time ; 
 for during the long summer days, when the 
 farmers were busy with their crops, my custo- 
 mers were few and far between. The more I 
 read the more intensely interested I became. 
 Never in my whole life was my mind so thor- 
 oughly absorbed. I read until I devoured 
 them." 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 61 
 
 This was Lincoln's first grounding in the 
 study of law. So absorbed was he that he often 
 forgot his other duties. One day a farmer 
 drove up to the store to make a trade, and 
 watched with much interest the lank figure of 
 Abe sprawled out on the ground in the shade 
 of a tree. As the shadow shifted, Abe rolled 
 over a little, automatically, to keep inside of it. 
 But his eyes remained glued to the book. The 
 farmer watched him for some time, then spat 
 tobacco juice at a blue-bottle fly on the ground, 
 and broke the silence. 
 
 "What you readin'?" 
 
 "Ain't readin'; I'm studyin'," replied Abe, 
 without looking up. 
 
 "What you studyin' ?" 
 
 "Law," answered the prostrate figure. 
 
 "Gosh a-mighty!" was the disgusted re- 
 sponse. 
 
 It is not surprising that, with Abe immersed 
 in law, and his partner Berry being a drinking 
 man, the store should not succeed. It failed, 
 leaving Lincoln saddled with debt, which he 
 was some years in paying. But he never 
 sought to evade any part of it, although a 
 portion of it, relating to the two rival stores 
 
62 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 which had been purchased, was not justly his. 
 
 Just at tins time an entirely new line of 
 work — surveying — was offered him. He had 
 not studied this subject, but went at it so 
 eagerly that in six weeks he was able to handle 
 a transit and level with the best of them. As 
 the country was becoming developed, the 
 official surveyor, John Calhoun, was swamped 
 with work, and was glad to employ Abe as his 
 assistant. 
 
 His work of surveying forms an interesting 
 parallel to George Washington's first work; 
 and doubtless Lincoln recalled the fact when he 
 thought over the life-story told in the beloved 
 book by Parson Weems, which had so fired his 
 dreams in boyhood. The other boy surveyor 
 had finally come to the White House. Why 
 not he? 
 
 As though in line for this ambition, he 
 announced himself again a candidate for the 
 Illinois State Legislature, when the next elec- 
 tion rolled around, in 1834. And this time 
 he was elected. 
 
VIII 
 
 LINCOLN THE LAWYER 
 
 "Abe, why don't you try for the bar?" 
 
 The question was asked by Major Stuart, 
 one of his friends of the Black Hawk War. 
 Stuart had heard of his reading Blackstone, 
 and, himself a rising young lawyer of Spring- 
 field, was willing to help him. 
 
 ''Do you think I could do it?" asked Abe, 
 with a gleam in his eyes. The practice of law 
 had been looming up of late as the one great 
 thing in life. 
 
 "Of course you can do it !" replied his friend. 
 "I'll lend you books, and get back of you." 
 
 It was a noble offer, and the Major was as 
 good as his word. New Salem was twenty 
 miles from Springfield, but the young surveyor 
 walked back and forth two or three times a 
 week — and always with a law volume held out 
 in front of his nose. They tell yet of seeing 
 the tall young fellow striding by, seeing noth- 
 
 63 
 
64 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 ing but his law book, and as like as not reading 
 its text aloud. 
 
 Another job that he worked in with his sur- 
 veying at this time was that of village post- 
 master. Many of the letters he carried in 
 his hat. 
 
 It was not long before his neighbors began 
 to give him small legal jobs, such as drawing 
 up contracts, making wills, witnessing signa- 
 tures, and the like, for some of which he 
 obtained modest fees, and for others nothing — 
 unless it was their vote at the next election ! 
 
 His stick-to-itiveness again had its reward. 
 In 1836, when he was twenty-seven, he was 
 admitted to the bar of the State. He had 
 already served one term of three months in 
 the Legislature, and had been reelected. With 
 this public service, his surveying, his post office, 
 and his studies, he had hardly allowed the grass 
 to grow under his feet. Now he felt that he 
 must burn some of his bridges behind him, and 
 remove to Springfield. 
 
 It meant a good deal to him. He had lived 
 in the little town six years, and knew every 
 man, woman, child, and dog in the community. 
 His living, though scanty, was assured. If 
 
LINCOLN AS A LAWYER 
 From a daguerreotype owned by Robert T. Lincoln 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 65 
 
 he moved to the larger place, where he was 
 unknown, he might starve to death, waiting 
 for a law practice. 
 
 There was another personal reason why he 
 was willing to leave his home town. It was the 
 tragedy of his first love affair. 
 
 A few years before, Abe had met the daugh- 
 ter of the local innkeeper, a lovely girl, Ann 
 Rutledge by name. Between the two had 
 sprung up a warm friendship, which on his 
 part had ripened into love. But Ann became 
 engaged to another man, named McNeill, who 
 went East soon after to seek his fortune. At 
 first McNeill wrote frequently ; then his letters 
 became fewer, and finally ceased altogether. 
 
 After an interval, Lincoln felt free to con- 
 fess his own love, but the distressed girl would 
 not at first listen to him. She still believed in 
 the absent lover. Later she agreed to give 
 Lincoln an answer and, it is believed, promised 
 to marry him. But before they could plan for 
 their wedding day, her health began to fail. 
 Day by day he beheld her growing paler and 
 more listless under that dread disease, con- 
 sumption, or "lung fever," as it was then called. 
 In August, 1835, she passed away. 
 
66 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Lincoln was like a man dazed. For days he 
 wandered about, scarcely speaking to any one. 
 He had idolized Ann, and his whole future had 
 been centered around her. It was years before 
 he could bear to hear her name spoken. As a 
 boy he had been subject to spells of moodiness; 
 and this grief gave his mind that curious tinge 
 of melancholy which was noticeable through- 
 out his life. 
 
 It was with a heavy heart that he packed his 
 few belongings into a pair of saddle-bags slung 
 across the back of a hired horse, told his New 
 Salem neighbors good-bye, and rode away. 
 Luckily he found a good friend, the day he 
 reached Springfield, in James Speed, a store- 
 keeper about his own age. 
 
 "Don't board out," he advised Lincoln. 
 "Get you a room somewhere, furnish it your- 
 self, and cook your own meals." 
 
 "But where can I get it?" asked Abe. 
 
 "Right here over my store," answered 
 Speed. "I've got a big room that we can fix 
 up together." 
 
 Lincoln threw one long leg over the horse, 
 dismounted, took his saddle-bags, and strode 
 after Speed upstairs to the room in question. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 67 
 
 Then he cast the bags down upon the floor. 
 
 "Well, Speed, I'm moved!" he said. 
 
 Another friend in need was Major John T. 
 Stuart, of whom we have already spoken. 
 Stuart had believed in Lincoln ever since the 
 Indian campaign, and now invited him to enter 
 his law office as a partner. It was a wonderful 
 chance, because Stuart already had a practice 
 and influence, also social position and polish, — 
 all of which Lincoln lacked. 
 
 And now a new career opened up for him. 
 Gone were his backwoods days — his rail-split- 
 ting, his store-keeping, his surveying. He had 
 got his feet at last upon the bottom rung of 
 the ladder that was to lead him up into nation- 
 wide prominence. Of course, it was still many 
 years off. There were days and weeks of 
 struggle ahead of him yet — months when he 
 wondered if he was ever going to get out of 
 debt and stand as a man among men. But he 
 never swerved from his work. 
 
 At first only small cases came to him, but 
 little by little he began to get a reputation as 
 a first-class pleader, a man who could win 
 juries. He had it in his favor that he under- 
 stood men, and he would talk to the twelve 
 
68 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 men picked at random for the jury box, just 
 as he formerly argued things out with the folks 
 who came into his store to trade. He used 
 words that they could understand, and he saw 
 to it that the opposing counsel never confused 
 the issue. Nothing would arouse his ire more 
 than for the other side to misrepresent or con- 
 fuse the facts. Jumping to his full height, 
 towering over everybody else in the room, he 
 would shout: 
 
 "Your Honor, that ain't so — and I can 
 prove it!" 
 
 He would never take a case in which he did 
 not believe himself, and for this reason, as well 
 as his sincerity, he usually won. 
 
 There are literally hundreds of stories told 
 of those years of law practice, which lasted for 
 a quarter of a century — from 1836 to 1860. 
 Books have been made up of these anecdotes, 
 and they are interesting reading indeed. Very 
 often they have their element of humor, for 
 Lincoln dearly loved a joke. Again they were 
 dramatic or unexpected. One story is con- 
 nected with Jack Armstrong, the bully whom 
 Lincoln thrashed, and who became his friend. 
 
 Years afterward, Jack's son, growing up to 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 69 
 
 manhood, got into a fight one evening and was 
 accused of the murder of a man. The mother 
 came pleading with Lincoln to save her son 
 from the gallows. Lincoln was "up to his 
 neck" in public affairs at that time, but he 
 could not turn a deaf ear to such a plea. 
 
 The evidence, as summed up, was damag- 
 ing. One witness in particular swore that he 
 had seen the boy strike the fatal blow, "by the 
 light of the moon." Under cross-examination, 
 he stuck to this point that he could see him 
 clearly by the moonlight. 
 
 In Lincoln's closing plea he dwelt on his own 
 friendship for the boy's family, and how they 
 had befriended him when he was poor and 
 needed help. He said that the prisoner was 
 his mother's only support now, and that noth- 
 ing serious had been charged against him 
 hitherto except that he was a little wild. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen of the jury," he concluded, 
 "you are asked to hang this poor boy — to 
 bring down his mother's gray hairs in sorrow 
 to the grave — because a witness has testified 
 that he saw him strike the fatal blow — by the 
 light of the moon. Gentlemen" (here Lincoln 
 suddenly pulled an almanac out of his pocket) 
 
70 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "I have looked up the moon's phases, on the 
 fatal night — and there was no moon!" 
 
 The prisoner was freed, and when the 
 mother, now weeping tears of joy, asked Lin- 
 coln what was his fee, he replied : 
 
 "Nothing at all. It has been a great joy 
 to me to repay some of your kindness in my 
 own early days." 
 
 Hardworking though he was, Lincoln never 
 made much money in the practice of law. 
 Many of his clients were poor, and he never 
 could be persuaded to charge large fees. If 
 his sympathies were aroused, he would work 
 just as hard on a hundred-dollar case, as 
 though it were a million. Once a widow came 
 to him, asking him to bring an action for dam- 
 ages against the railroad company for kill- 
 ing her cow. The company heard of this suit 
 and sent their agent to Lincoln with a counter- 
 proposition. They offered him five hundred 
 dollars, a large sum for those days, if he would 
 defend the company. They felt that it would 
 be a bad precedent to set, if the company were 
 sued every time a stray cow was killed. 
 
 "But I have already promised the widow to 
 take her case," said Lincoln. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 71 
 
 "Tell her you've reconsidered. Even if she 
 wins, she can't possibly pay you any such fee 
 as this" — shoving a check for five hundred 
 dollars in front of Lincoln. 
 
 "No!" exclaimed the young lawyer. "I 
 can't go back on my word. I'll take her case, 
 and I'll win it!" 
 
 And he did. 
 
 So successful was he as a pleader before the 
 bar, that his winning of cases became prover- 
 bial. His droll turns of wit and his knowledge 
 of human nature — to say nothing of his ability 
 to get the legal aspect of the case — made him a 
 tower of strength to his clients. But he never 
 rested on his reputation. His boyhood habit 
 of reading far into the night was still kept up. 
 
 In 1855, twenty years after he had begun 
 to read law, and his reputation was state-wide, 
 he was called to Cincinnati to assist in a cele- 
 brated lawsuit. The McCormick Harvester 
 Company was suing another company for an 
 infringement of patent, and some of the ablest 
 lawyers in the country had been retained on 
 the case. That Lincoln was chosen was in itself 
 a compliment; but when he presented himself 
 in Cincinnati, with his somewhat uncouth out- 
 
72 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 fit, the dapper Eastern lawyers would have 
 none of him. They did not reject his services 
 utterly, but they kept him in the background, 
 and did not permit him to speak in court. One 
 of these lawyers, Edwin M. Stanton, was, a 
 few years later, selected by Lincoln for the 
 post of Secretary of War in his Cabinet — 
 which shows, if nothing else, that Lincoln was 
 too big a man to harbor a grudge. He could 
 recognize ability, and he saw in this first 
 "big" case that these polished Easterners had 
 several things which he lacked. After the case 
 was settled, he remarked to a friend : 
 
 "I'm going home to study law." 
 
 "Why, Mr. Lincoln," remonstrated the 
 other. "What are you talking about? You 
 are at the head of the Illinois bar now." 
 
 "Yes, but that's as far as I'll ever get, unless 
 I study up law, and can meet these Eastern 
 chaps on their own ground. I'll go back and 
 study some more, I reckon — and one of these 
 fine days I'll be ready for them!" 
 
IX 
 
 LINCOLX THE LEGISLATOR 
 
 Lincoln was elected to the State Legislature 
 in 1834 — when he was twenty-five — and was 
 reelected for other terms of about three 
 months each. The capital at that time was 
 Vandalia, in the southern part of the state ; and 
 as the central and northern sections began to 
 be built up, there were loud complaints from 
 the lawmakers at having to travel so far. 
 
 Springfield, in Sangamon County, was cen- 
 trally located, and while it lacked communica- 
 tions and was still only a small town, it pre- 
 sented some natural advantages as a future 
 capital. So, at least, thought Lincoln and the 
 other men elected from Sangamon County. 
 There were nine of them in all, — every man 
 Jack of them over six feet tall and weighing 
 about two hundred pounds. They came to be 
 known as the "Long Nine," and they rushed 
 the Springfield capital project like a husky 
 
 73 
 
74 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 football team. They finally won, and the chief 
 credit fell to the longest, lankiest member of 
 the team, Abe Lincoln. 
 
 When he came up for reelection in 1836 
 there was a lively campaign. Like every other 
 lawgiver, his past record came up for attack. 
 He had already taken his stand on such burn- 
 ing questions as slavery and abolition. No 
 matter whether folks agreed with him or not, 
 they knew where to find him. 
 
 One day, after making a red-hot speech, a 
 man in the crowd, named Forquer, undertook 
 to take him down a peg. Forquer was himself 
 an able man, gifted with a sarcastic tongue, but 
 had been a political turncoat, and, it was whis- 
 pered, always looked out for his own pocket — 
 like some politicians of the present day. 
 Forquer had recently decorated his house with 
 a lightning-rod, then a novelty in that part of 
 the country. 
 
 After "skinning Abe alive," as he thought, 
 in a lively speech, Forquer sat down. Then 
 Lincoln took the stand again, refuting his 
 arguments and ending : 
 
 "The gentleman commenced his speech by 
 saying that I would have to be taken down, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 75 
 
 and he was sorry the task devolved upon him. 
 I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks 
 and trade of a politician ; but live long or die 
 young, I would rather die now than, like the 
 gentleman, change my politics and, simultane- 
 ously with the change, receive an office worth 
 three thousand dollars a year, and then have to 
 erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect 
 a guilty conscience from an offended God!" 
 
 This brought such shouts of laughter from 
 the delighted crowd, that it was not hard to 
 find the man who had been "taken down." 
 
 His ability to divert ridicule from himself 
 and on to the shoulders of the other fellow was 
 a tremendous asset with him always; but on 
 one occasion he went a little too far. He had 
 aroused the political enmity of a pompous 
 man named Shields, and could not resist satiriz- 
 ing him in a letter to the local paper, signed 
 "Aunt Rebecca." The incident might have 
 ended there, had not a young lady in whom 
 Lincoln was specially interested — Mary Todd 
 — taken it up. Mary and a girl friend wrote 
 other letters about Shields, over the same 
 "Aunt Rebecca" signature. 
 
 Shields, in a towering rage, sought the editor 
 
76 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 of the paper and demanded the writer's name. 
 When the editor reported this to Lincoln, he 
 answered : "Keep the young ladies' names out 
 of this. Tell him I did it." 
 
 A challenge to a duel was immediately forth- 
 coming, and Lincoln was perplexed. He did 
 not believe in duels, but he did not see a way 
 to avoid this one. It was his privilege to choose 
 the weapons, so he chose cavalry broadswords 
 of the largest size. Shields had, perforce, to 
 accept, although he was a thickset man, about 
 half as tall as Lincoln. 
 
 They chose seconds and met for the duel at 
 the spot agreed upon. Lincoln looked serious, 
 and waved his big weapon around in the air, to 
 test it, in a careless sort of way. Shields didn't 
 like the looks of things, but was brave enough 
 to stand his ground. Finally, as a last flourish, 
 Abe reached up and clipped a twig off a tree- 
 branch, seemingly about ten feet above his 
 head. It was so far out of the reach of every- 
 body else present, that the seconds could not 
 restrain their laughter. Just then a boatload 
 of friends of both parties pulled up hastily, 
 and by their efforts peace was restored. But 
 Lincoln never forgot the lesson of his one duel, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 77 
 
 and was exceedingly careful thereafter how he 
 trod on others' pet corns. 
 
 In 1840 he had refused reelection to the 
 Legislature, thinking that it was time for him 
 to stand for a higher office. He wanted to go 
 to United States Congress, and announced 
 himself as a Whig candidate. But he was 
 defeated for the nomination. Two of his 
 friends and legal associates, Hardin and Baker, 
 were also candidates, and Lincoln felt that he 
 could not fight them. Hardin was chosen; 
 and Lincoln then did an unprecedented thing 
 by moving that Baker be listed as the choice of 
 the convention two years hence. This was 
 quickly done, and thus made it impossible for 
 Hardin to succeed himself. Baker conse- 
 quently was chosen in 1844. When his term 
 was up, in 1846, Lincoln again announced his 
 own candidacy, and the others evidently 
 thought that "turn about was fair play," for 
 they elected him by a rousing majority. 
 
 Meanwhile, in 1844, he was made a presi- 
 dential elector, in the candidacy of Henry 
 Clay. Lincoln had been a lifelong admirer of 
 the famous Kentucky orator and statesman, 
 and now stumped Illinois with enthusiasm, in 
 
78 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 his behalf. He also went over into Indiana, 
 and on one occasion spoke in his old home town 
 of Gentryville. As the friends and neighbors 
 of his boyhood clustered around his buckboard 
 and clasped his hand, he was so deeply stirred 
 that for several minutes he could not utter a 
 word. 
 
 Lincoln had been spurred on to higher polit- 
 ical ambitions by the same young woman who 
 had been partially the cause of his duel. Mary 
 Todd was a Kentucky girl, lively and viva- 
 cious and fond of society. She had been much 
 sought after, but had seemed to prefer the 
 society of the tall, awkward lawyer, to other 
 more polished swains. She looked beyond his 
 crude exterior, and openly predicted a bril- 
 liant future for him. They became engaged 
 to be married, but for a time the engagement 
 was broken off. Lincoln was afraid that there 
 was too great disparity between them. She 
 had had many social advantages that he had 
 been denied. He was utterly miserable, after 
 he made this decision. His old brooding 
 melancholy seized him again. He found that 
 he could not be happy without her; and their 
 disagreement was patched up, after a few 
 
^sS^ 
 
 /- 
 
 MRS. LINCOLN 
 From a rare daguerreotype 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 79 
 
 months. They were quietly married, Novem- 
 ber 4, 1842, and two years later they bought a 
 house in Springfield. 
 
 The young wife supplied just the added 
 inspiration that Lincoln needed at this time. 
 She coached him in social etiquette, made him 
 get clothes of more fashionable cut, and in 
 many little ways groomed him for the larger 
 public life just ahead. When he finally 
 removed to Washington, in 1847, to take his 
 seat in Congress, he had acquired much of that 
 dignity and poise for which he was so marked 
 in later years. 
 
 Lincoln's term in Congress was limited to 
 two years, and he was not reelected. He had 
 not made himself popular enough with his 
 constituents. For one thing, he had taken a 
 stand against the Mexican War, declaring that 
 the United States was the aggressor and in 
 the wrong. Of course, such a stand was 
 decidedly unpopular, but Lincoln would not 
 truckle, or hide his sentiments, as a weaker 
 man would have done. Then, at the conclusion 
 of the war, when Texas and the larger territory 
 to the north was added to the Union, Lincoln 
 aroused still wider enmity by declaring that it 
 
80 
 
 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 should all be free — that is, that no more slave- 
 holding states should be admitted. It was a 
 dangerous question, which wrecked more than 
 one political career, and, seemingly, Lincoln's 
 among them. But we shall see that it later 
 gave him his national opportunity. 
 
 Now, his tenure of office over, he returned 
 home cheerfully, and took up again the prac- 
 tice of law. 
 
X 
 
 THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES 
 
 Back during the days when Lincoln was a 
 raw young legislator, in Vandalia, Illinois, he 
 met another young fellow just earning his 
 spurs in politics. His name was Stephen A. 
 Douglas. Stephen was short, and Abraham 
 tall, but Stephen was no mean antagonist in 
 any contest, as Abraham soon discovered. The 
 two learned early to respect each other, though 
 they never became close friends. 
 
 Douglas came of better social stock than 
 Lincoln, and had been given more advantages. 
 His star rose steadily and rapidly, and bade 
 fair to eclipse that of Lincoln totally. By the 
 time the latter had served one brief term in 
 Congress and gone back to retirement, 
 Douglas was senior Senator from Illinois and 
 a figure of national prominence. It was 
 openly predicted that he would one day be 
 president: His friends called him the "Little 
 Giant." 
 
 81 
 
82 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 If there was any envy in Lincoln's breast at 
 this turn of fortune's wheel, he did not show it. 
 He threw his whole energies back into the prac- 
 tice of law, and so interested did he become 
 that it is likely, if he had been offered a local 
 or state office, he would have declined it. For 
 five years he thus worked, his law partner 
 being at this time Herndon, of Springfield. 
 The firm achieved a reputation that was state- 
 wide. 
 
 But just then something happened which 
 threw Lincoln neck-and-crop back into na- 
 tional politics — and this time "for keeps." 
 
 A bill was introduced into Congress to 
 repeal the Missouri Compromise. This Com- 
 promise was an agreement which the people of 
 the United States had entered into some thirty 
 years before, and which provided that all 
 states above a certain latitude should be 
 "free" states — that is, no slave-holding should 
 be allowed in them. Now with the admission 
 of other Western states north of Missouri, 
 efforts were being made to break down this 
 agreement, and leave it to the new states them- 
 selves to determine whether their citizens 
 should own slaves, or not. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 83 
 
 Douglas was a member of the committee at 
 Washington, which prepared bills for the 
 admission of Kansas and Nebraska. With his 
 eye to a future nomination for President, he 
 sought to curry favor with the South by tack- 
 ing on an amendment to the above effect. 
 
 "This is right," he said; "it is what is meant 
 by States' Rights. Let the states themselves 
 decide." 
 
 But if his move made friends in the South, 
 it made enemies in the North. A roar of pro- 
 test went up, and the clamor was by no means 
 least in his home state, Illinois. Douglas 
 found it advisable to hasten home and "mend 
 his fences." 
 
 Lincoln was one whom the proposed repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise had worked up to 
 fever heat. We have already seen how he 
 hated slavery, ever since that far-off day in 
 New Orleans when he promised himself to hit 
 it hard, if he ever got the chance. This seemed 
 one of the chances, and as he rode back and 
 forth over his circuit, visiting one court after 
 another, he expressed himself vehemently 
 whenever he could find a listener. One of his 
 friends tells of seeing him sitting on the edge 
 
84 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 of his bed in the early morning, clad only in a 
 long white nightshirt. 
 
 "I tell you," Lincoln broke out when he saw 
 that his friend was awake, "I tell you that this 
 country cannot exist much longer, half slave 
 and half free." 
 
 "Oh, go back to sleep, Abe," was the reply. 
 
 But Lincoln refused to go back to sleep now 
 — in the political sense. He was thoroughly 
 awake. Meanwhile, Douglas was having a 
 hard time of it. He tried to speak in Chicago, 
 and they howled him down. He argued half 
 the night with them. It was a new experience 
 for the Little Giant, whose persuasive tongue 
 had long since won him the esteem of men. 
 
 Be it said to Douglas's credit that he was no 
 coward. He went on a speech-making tour of 
 the state and won a respectful if not altogether 
 successful hearing. Men's minds were still 
 divided on this vexed subject of slavery — as 
 they had been ever since the United States had 
 become a nation; for the Constitution had 
 remained silent on the question. 
 
 In October, of the memorable year 1854, 
 Douglas came to Springfield. 
 
 "Why," he argued, "shall we try to impose 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 85 
 
 our wills upon the people of Kansas and 
 Nebraska ? Why not give them the same privi- 
 leges that other states have enjoyed — to make 
 their own laws and mind their own affairs?" 
 
 It was the time of the annual state fair, and 
 crowds from the surrounding country had 
 flocked in. Lincoln had been chosen to answer 
 him, and the gist of his argument was : 
 
 "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." And he went 
 on to say: "What my opponent means is, if 
 you do not object to my taking my hog to 
 Nebraska, therefore I must not object to your 
 taking your slave. I admit this is perfectly 
 logical — if there is no difference between hogs 
 and negroes!" 
 
 Lincoln spoke for three hours on this mo- 
 mentous occasion, and it is regarded as one of 
 the most important speeches of his whole 
 career. It was, in effect, the throwing of his 
 glove into the political arena. 
 
 Douglas sat in the front row of the crowd, 
 with folded arms, and was visibly perturbed as 
 the speaker drove home one argument after 
 
86 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 another, with long sweeps of his arms, as 
 though he were splitting rails. When the 
 speech was over, he came up and congratulated 
 Lincoln, with perhaps just a trace of patronage 
 in his manner. 
 
 "Lincoln, you know a lot more about this 
 subject than I gave you credit for," he said. 
 "You are giving me more trouble than the 
 whole United States Senate." 
 
 Douglas realized this fact even more keenly 
 a few days later. They met again at Peoria, 
 and again Lincoln's "terrible earnestness" 
 mingled with his sudden flashes of humor, 
 caught the crowd. Douglas had remarked in 
 his speech, "The Whigs are all dead." 
 
 After he sat down, Lincoln did not immedi- 
 ately get up, but sat still for a few moments 
 with face averted. Finally he arose and 
 drawled: "Mr. Douglas remarked awhile ago 
 that the Whigs are all dead. If this be so, 
 fellow-citizens, you will now experience the 
 novelty of hearing a speech from a dead man ; 
 and I suppose you might properly say, in the 
 language of the old hymn : 
 
 " 'Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound!' ' 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 87 
 
 The audience fairly howled with delight at 
 this thrust; and from the start of his speech 
 Lincoln held their close attention. Douglas 
 saw defeat staring him in the face, if this sort 
 of thing was to go on. 
 
 "Let's call it quits, Lincoln," he said. And 
 for the time being they called the debates off. 
 But the honors for the first round rested with 
 the rail-splitter. 
 
 The next few months saw politics at a fever 
 heat throughout the nation. Slavery had come 
 to be the one and only political issue. Douglas 
 found that he could not keep out of it, and 
 neither could Lincoln. The latter worked like 
 a beaver to line up the Whigs solidly on the 
 question, and as it did not seem possible, a new 
 party was formed, called the Republican 
 Party. This was in May, 1856, and Lincoln 
 was one of its founders. Again he made a 
 great speech — so earnest, so magnetic, so 
 impelling, that at its close the audience rose 
 as one person, cheering like crazy men. The 
 reporters down at the press tables threw aside 
 their pencils before the speech was half done, 
 and entirely forgot their tasks in the general 
 tumult. For this reason, no notes were ever 
 
88 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 preserved of this effort, and it has gone down 
 to history as "Lincoln's Lost Speech." One 
 of the reporters afterwards declared: "If Mr. 
 Lincoln was six feet four inches high, usually, 
 at Bloomington that day he was seven feet 
 high, and inspired at that!" 
 
 But while the actual words of this famous 
 speech were lost, its message burned its way 
 into the hearts of its hearers. Lincoln was 
 recognized as one of the standard-bearers of 
 the new party. At its first national conven- 
 tion, that year, he was nominated for Vice- 
 President, and received one hundred and ten 
 votes. 
 
 While the new party did not make much 
 headway on its own account, that first year, it 
 did accomplish a good deal in the way of house- 
 cleaning. It carried the Illinois elections, and 
 for the first time in his political career Douglas 
 received a crushing defeat. 
 
 Douglas himself did not come up for re- 
 election to the Senate until two years later, 
 and this time he could not avoid further debate 
 with Lincoln, because the latter had been 
 nominated as the candidate to oppose him. 
 Seven debates were arranged for, in this cam- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 89 
 
 paign, and Douglas entered them in somewhat 
 bad grace. He had won nation-wide fame as 
 one of the most skillful debaters in the United 
 States Senate, but somehow or other he had 
 not seemed to get along very well with his 
 home people, since Abraham Lincoln had got 
 into the fight. 
 
 The two men were well matched as speakers, 
 but were utterly dissimilar in their methods. 
 Douglas was a foot shorter than Lincoln, a 
 trifle stout, but attractive of face, voice, and 
 manner. His voice had a pleasing quality 
 which won his hearers. He cleverly avoided 
 direct issues wherever possible, and was for 
 compromise. His last speech in the Senate, 
 which had won him many friends both North 
 and South, concluded with these words: 
 
 "If Kansas wants a slave-constitution, she 
 has a right to it; if she wants a free-state con- 
 stitution, she has a right to it. It is none of 
 my business which way the slavery clause is 
 decided. I care not whether it is voted up or 
 down!" 
 
 Lincoln, on the contrary, was blunt in his 
 speech, and went straight to the point. He 
 had stated his political creed a short while be- 
 
90 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 fore, in a speech which many of his friends had 
 urged him to omit or tone down, as they said it 
 would kill him politically. He had said : 
 
 " '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 oppo- 
 nents 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 ulti- 
 mate 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." 
 
 It was because of this speech and others like 
 it, that the Southern states came to regard 
 Lincoln as their bitterest foe — a man to be 
 defeated at any cost. Therefore, the coming 
 contest between him and Douglas for a seat in 
 the Senate attracted national interest. Large 
 crowds came to hear the debates, and news- 
 papers all over the country reported them. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 91 
 
 At first Douglas adopted a condescending 
 attitude toward Lincoln, as much as to inti- 
 mate that it was an honor for a famous Sena- 
 tor to debate with him at all. 
 
 "Why, I knew Lincoln twenty years ago 
 here in the State Legislature," he said. "He 
 means well, but what has he ever done? You 
 folks sent him to Congress for two years, but 
 he couldn't get reelected." 
 
 Lincoln came back at him by charging that 
 he was trying to carry water on both shoulders 
 — to please both the North and the South. 
 And to prove this, Lincoln propounded a 
 series of questions which did, in fact, get the 
 wily Little Giant into a tight corner. He 
 could not answer them directly without offend- 
 ing one side or the other. He "side-stepped" 
 most of them, but on the whole leaned toward 
 the North in his answers. 
 
 So clever was Douglas that, despite the fact 
 that Lincoln had the better of the arguments, 
 Douglas retained his seat in the Senate. He 
 was chosen by the State Legislature, instead 
 of by the voters direct, for they esteemed him 
 the "safer man." He was still in line for the 
 
92 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 presidency, while Lincoln was feared as a radi- 
 cal. Lincoln went back home again to resume 
 the practice of law. 
 
 When a friend asked him how he felt over 
 the election, he said he felt like .the overgrown 
 boy who had stubbed his toe. 
 
 "It hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too 
 big to cry!" 
 
XI 
 
 THE "RAIL-SPLITTER" IS NOMINATED FOR 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 While on the face of it Lincoln was beaten 
 in his debates with Senator Douglas, keen 
 observers who looked beneath the surface 
 thought differently. 
 
 "Watch that man!" they said, indicating the 
 tall form of the Springfield lawyer. "The 
 country will hear from him yet." 
 
 Others were boasting loudly : ' 'We have two 
 giants here in Illinois — the Little Giant and 
 the Big Giant!" 
 
 Folks back East commenced to take notice of 
 affairs in Illinois, and the editors of local news- 
 papers began to receive requests for details 
 regarding this man from Sangamon County, 
 who so ably held his own with Douglas. 
 
 "Why, Douglas is one of the best debaters 
 in the Senate," they said. "He has been con- 
 sidered a match for Daniel Webster, Henry 
 
 93 
 
94 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Clay, Charles Sumner, and Robert Hayne. 
 Who is this Abraham Lincoln that has caused 
 him so much trouble?" 
 
 Born of these inquiries and the curiosity of 
 Eastern people to get better acquainted 
 with him, Lincoln received an invitation to 
 address a public meeting in Brooklyn. He 
 accepted and made careful preparations for 
 it, although naturally somewhat nervous. 
 When he reached New York, however, he 
 found public interest was so aroused that the 
 meeting had been transferred to Cooper Union, 
 one of the largest auditoriums in the city. This 
 did not tend to make him any more comforta- 
 ble, but it did arouse his fighting blood. 
 
 On the stage and in the audience that night 
 were men of prominence in politics, art, and 
 letters — such men as Horace Greeley, of the 
 Tribune; William Cullen Bryant, of the Post, 
 and George William Curtis, of Harpers 
 Magazine. The whole audience, while friendly, 
 was a critical one; and when the towering, 
 loose- jointed man from the West came for- 
 ward and was introduced, a quiet smile went 
 around. He might do for the rough-and- 
 ready West, they thought ; but for New York, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 95 
 
 or Massachusetts — well, that was a different 
 matter. 
 
 However, they settled themselves back in 
 their chairs for an evening's entertainment. 
 Lincoln's fame as a story-teller had preceded 
 him. They expected to be amused, at any 
 rate. They were unprepared for what actually 
 happened. 
 
 Lincoln began in a low and somewhat hesi- 
 tating voice. He looked at them earnestly and 
 spoke simply and directly. He did not smile 
 and, wonder of wonders, he did not crack a 
 single joke. He took his text from a remark 
 of Douglas's, on the subject of slavery: 
 
 "Our fathers, when they framed the Gov- 
 ernment under which we live, understood this 
 question just as well, and even better than we 
 do now." 
 
 Douglas had meant to imply that "our 
 fathers" had deliberately written slavery into 
 the law of the land. Lincoln set himself to 
 expose the fallacy of such an argument. He 
 traced out, step by step, the progress of the 
 Constitution in its making and adoption ; then 
 spoke in detail of the men who had signed it, 
 and proved by historic fact that a majority of 
 
96 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 these men had personally opposed slavery, but 
 had not made an issue of it at the time, because 
 of the difficulty of getting the Constitution 
 ratified at all. 
 
 As the speaker warmed to his theme, his 
 awkwardness of manner and hesitation of 
 speech passed away. He was a man trans- 
 formed. His voice rang out like a trumpet. 
 He cited history fluently and without reference 
 to notes. "No compromise!" was his plea. 
 Let the Republican Party cease to traffic with 
 this evil. 
 
 "All they ask we could readily grant, if we 
 thought slavery right," he affirmed. "All we 
 ask they could as readily grant, if they thought 
 it wrong." 
 
 Yes, there lay the whole difficulty — the ques- 
 tion as to whether slave-holding was right or 
 wrong. He closed with an appeal which was 
 almost a prayer : 
 
 "Let us have faith that right makes might; 
 and in that faith let us to the end dare to do 
 our duty as we understand it." 
 
 When he had ended, the audience sat for a 
 moment as if spellbound — hypnotized by the 
 tremendous power and earnestness of this man. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 97 
 
 Then the hall fairly rocked with applause. 
 Men crowded around the platform to congratu- 
 late him. Horace Greeley remarked to a 
 friend that it was one of the finest examples 
 of sustained oratory he had ever heard, or ever 
 expected to hear. He had listened to Web- 
 ster's famous "Reply to Hayne" in the Senate, 
 but he regarded this speech as greater. 
 
 The next day the New York papers were 
 full of this meeting and speech; and Lincoln's 
 face — till then unfamiliar to them — appeared 
 in large display. It was a face which they and 
 the country at large were destined never after 
 to forget. 
 
 Lincoln went by invitation to several cities 
 in New England, speaking to large and admir- 
 ing throngs. They took to him from the first. 
 This Eastern trip undoubtedly paved the way 
 for the nomination for the presidency which 
 was soon to be his. 
 
 It goes without saying, that the folks back 
 home were immensely proud of his Eastern 
 success. 
 
 "Told you so," they said, when such papers 
 as Harper's Weekly came out with Lincoln's 
 picture taking up the entire front page. 
 
98 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Not long thereafter, the State Convention 
 of his party was held at Decatur. It was in 
 May, 1860, and just prior to the National Con- 
 vention which was to take place at Chicago. 
 Lincoln's friends thought that the latter fact 
 was a strong point in their favor ; and that if he 
 won the state nomination, he would get the 
 national. Others, however, argued that Lin- 
 coln was too "new" a man — that he wouldn't 
 stand a show against such polished and experi- 
 enced statesmen as William H. Seward and 
 Salmon P. Chase. It looked as though Lin- 
 coln's old rival, Douglas, would get the Demo- 
 cratic nomination, and with the South behind 
 him it would require the strongest candidate 
 that the Republicans could produce, to beat 
 him. 
 
 But whatever doubt his friends had, as to 
 the success of the State Convention, was soon 
 swept away. The delegates had no more than 
 settled down to business, when a commotion 
 was heard at the entrance. Everybody turned 
 their heads and craned their necks to see what 
 was up. Down the aisle came a strange pro- 
 cession. It was led by two men, carrying a 
 couple of fence rails on their shoulders. One 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 99 
 
 of these men was John Hanks, a cousin of 
 Lincoln, and the man who had induced Tom 
 Lincoln to move to Illinois from Indiana. 
 From the rails dangled a banner bearing these 
 words : 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 The Rail Candidate 
 For President in 1860. 
 Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made 
 in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe 
 Lincoln — whose father was the 
 first pioneer of Macon County. 
 
 This little homely touch was like spark to 
 tinder. The convention — like political con- 
 ventions will — went wild with enthusiasm, and 
 was easily stampeded to Lincoln. Here was a 
 man who had faced poverty, and who had never 
 been afraid to toil with his hands. During the 
 demonstration Lincoln sat on the stage blush- 
 ing like a schoolboy. When called on for a 
 speech he merely said, pointing to the banner : 
 
 "I suppose I am expected to reply to that. 
 I cannot say whether I made those rails or not, 
 but I am quite sure I have made a great many 
 just as good." 
 
100 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 The next week, the National Convention 
 met in Chicago ; and you may be sure that Lin- 
 coln's friends did not neglect to call the atten- 
 tion of the delegates to the fact that they had a 
 "favorite son." Flags and streamers were 
 hung everywhere with "Vote for the Rail 
 Splitter," "Honest Abe, our Choice," and the 
 like. 
 
 An immense building called "The Wig- 
 wam," and capable of seating 10,000 people, 
 had been built for the occasion. No sooner 
 had the vast throng been "called to order," 
 than this big political pot began to seethe and 
 bubble and overflow into little groups, each 
 working earnestly for its candidate. To call 
 such a gathering "to order" was a huge joke — 
 but everybody was too busy to see it! 
 
 Politics that year was at fever heat. Every- 
 body sensed that the fate of the nation — at any 
 rate, its peace — hinged upon the events of the 
 next few months. 
 
 On the first ballot, William H. Seward led, 
 as was expected. He was New York's favorite 
 son, and an able and brilliant man. That 
 he was to serve later with such fine dis- 
 tinction as Secretary of State, the most im- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 101 
 
 portant post in Lincoln's Cabinet, indicates the 
 caliber of the man. Lincoln, who was his 
 nearest competitor on this ballot, presented a 
 sharp contrast to his opponent. It was the 
 rough-and-ready West against the cultured 
 East again. 
 
 Seward's strength was exhausted on the first 
 ballot. The second showed a decided drift 
 toward the "Rail Splitter." The third ballot 
 decided it. Lincoln had received the required 
 number of votes. An eye-witness, Mr. F. B. 
 Carpenter, gives a graphic picture of this 
 dramatic occasion: 
 
 "The scene surpassed description. Men 
 had been stationed upon the roof of the Wig- 
 wam to communicate the result of the different 
 ballots to the thousands outside, far outnum- 
 bering the packed crowd inside. To these men 
 one of the secretaries shouted, 'Fire the salute ! 
 Lincoln is nominated!' Then, as the cheering 
 inside died away, the roar began on the out- 
 side and swelled up from the excited masses 
 like the noise of many waters. This the 
 insiders heard, and to it they replied. Thus 
 deep called to deep with such a frenzy of sym- 
 pathetic enthusiasm that even the thundering 
 
102 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 salute of cannon was unheard by many on the 
 platform. 
 
 "When the excitement had partly subsided, 
 Mr. Evarts of New York arose, and in appro- 
 priate words expressed his grief that Seward 
 had not been nominated. He then moved that 
 the nomination of Abraham Lincoln be made 
 unanimous. Governor John A. Andrews, of 
 Massachusetts, and Hon. Carl Schurz, of Wis- 
 consin, seconded the motion, and it was carried. 
 Then the enthusiasm of the multitude burst out 
 anew. A large banner, prepared by the Penn- 
 sylvania delegation, was conspicuously dis- 
 played, bearing the inscription, 'Pennsylvania 
 good for twenty thousand majority for the 
 people's candidate, Abe Lincoln.' Delegates 
 tore up the sticks and boards bearing the names 
 of their several states, and waved them aloft 
 over their heads. A brawny man jumped upon 
 the platform and, pulling his coat sleeves up to 
 his elbows, shouted: 'I can't stop! Three 
 times three more cheers for our next President, 
 Abe Lincoln!' A full-length portrait of the 
 candidate was produced upon the platform. 
 Mr. Greeley telegraphed to the New York 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 103 
 
 Tribune: 'There was never another such scene 
 in America.' 
 
 "Chicago went wild. One hundred guns 
 were fired from the top of the Tremont House. 
 At night the city was in a blaze of glory. Bon- 
 fires, processions, torchlight, fireworks, illumi- 
 nations and salutes filled the air with noise and 
 the eye with beauty. 'Honest Old Abe' was 
 the utterance of every man in the streets. The 
 Illinois delegation before it separated 'resolved' 
 that the millennium had come." 
 
 The scenes of joy and enthusiasm in Chi- 
 cago were duplicated in every city and town in 
 Illinois. They had all come to look upon the 
 tall Springfield lawyer as a personal friend. 
 In Springfield the town gave itself up to cele- 
 bration. A salute of one hundred guns was 
 fired. 
 
 Meanwhile, what of "Honest Old Abe" 
 himself? He had not gone to the convention, 
 but remained quietly at home. It is doubtful, 
 however, whether he could transact much busi- 
 ness of his own in those trying days. He was 
 talking to a friend in the street, when a boy 
 came dashing up to him with the message that 
 
104 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 he was nominated. Lincoln glanced at it, then 
 thrust the paper in his pocket, saying: 
 
 "There is a little woman down the street who 
 will be pleased to know about this. I think I 
 will go and tell her." 
 
XII 
 
 A KED-H0T ELECTION 
 
 The presidential election in that year, 1860, 
 has been spoken of ever since as one of the 
 most exciting events in our nation's history. 
 The hullabaloo which greeted Lincoln's nom- 
 ination in Chicago was but a foretaste of the 
 days to come. The whole country seemed to 
 be on beam ends. Everybody recognized that 
 now at last they were going to settle the ques- 
 tion of slavery, one way or another, forever. 
 
 So divided were people's opinions, both 
 North and South, that no less than four parties 
 put out candidates. One was for compromise 
 with the slave states; another was for letting 
 them settle their own affairs; while a third 
 tried to ignore the question of slavery alto- 
 gether ! Only the party which nominated Lin- 
 coln came out flat-f ootedly against slavery. It 
 was him against the field, but the fact that the 
 field was split up added greatly to his chances 
 of election. 
 
 Lincoln himself stayed at home, and did no 
 
 105 
 
106 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 campaigning other than an occasional speech 
 to some visiting delegation. But his adherents 
 were by no means idle. Prominent men of the 
 North — among them Seward and Chase, who 
 had been defeated by him for the nomination 
 — went campaigning through the country. 
 Clubs, called the "Wide-Awake Boys," were 
 organized in nearly every city and town of the 
 North. One of their specialties was torchlight 
 parades. Those were the days of the dripping 
 kerosene torch, and many a good suit was 
 ruined in the cause ! The marches would pro- 
 ceed in a zigzag line in imitation of a rail fence. 
 They would carry fence rails, and banners with 
 pictures of "Honest Abe" and "The Rail- 
 Splitter." In Springfield they held a monster 
 parade in August, with Wide-Awake Clubs 
 from points two hundred or more miles away. 
 They marched past Lincoln's door 75,000 
 strong — a line eight miles long ! 
 
 Meanwhile, Douglas, Lincoln's old-time 
 rival, was not idle. He also had been nom- 
 inated for president by one wing of the 
 Democratic Party, and he traveled through the 
 South speaking eloquently and winning many 
 votes. Down there excitement ran no less 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 107 
 
 high. "Anything to beat Lincoln!" was the 
 cry. Leaders openly predicted that if Lincoln 
 were elected, the Southern States would with- 
 draw from the Union. Douglas himself did 
 not advocate this. While he preached States' 
 Rights, he still hoped that the Union might be 
 held together by compromise. 
 
 Election Day brought the crisis to a head. 
 Lincoln was elected, receiving a total of 
 1,857,610 votes. Douglas, his nearest rival, re- 
 ceived 1,291,574 votes; Breckenridge, 850,082; 
 and Bell, 646,124. Lincoln's electoral vote was 
 180, while that of the other three combined 
 was 123. But the election had been sectional. 
 Lincoln's votes were all north of the Mason 
 and Dixon's line. Fifteen Southern States 
 gave him no electoral vote; and nine did not 
 give him a single popular vote ! It was indeed 
 a house divided against itself. But while the 
 result was disappointing to Lincoln, from this 
 standpoint, it made him all the more deter- 
 mined to hold the Union together at any cost. 
 
 "We won't leave the Union, and they 
 shan't!" he declared in one of his speeches. 
 
 The thrill of actually being elected President 
 — his boyhood's dream come true— vanished 
 
108 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 before the stern realities which he now faced. 
 No sooner was the vote counted, and Lincoln 
 declared elected, than the Southern States 
 made good their threat to secede. South Caro- 
 lina was the first, withdrawing formally from 
 the Union in December — only a few weeks 
 after the election. Her example was followed 
 by Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, 
 Louisiana, and Texas. Delegates from these 
 States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and 
 organized the Confederate States of America. 
 They chose Jefferson Davis for President, and 
 Alexander H. Stephens for Vice-President. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lincoln could do nothing to 
 prevent this movement. Although elected, he 
 had not yet taken his seat. The retiring Pres- 
 ident, Buchanan, was unwilling to move on so 
 momentous a question, during his last few 
 weeks in office. Many Northern men, in fact, 
 among whom was Horace Greeley, voiced the 
 opinion that the Southern States were within 
 their rights in seceding. More than once a 
 similar movement had been contemplated by a 
 Northern state, and this policy was one of the 
 chief principles of the Abolitionists. The Con- 
 stitution itself was silent on the matter. It had 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 109 
 
 been formed by a voluntary union of sovereign 
 states. 
 
 So let us not be too harsh in our judgment 
 of the South, in its act of secession. 
 
 With Lincoln, however, there could be no 
 halfway measures. He had made his attitude 
 perfectly plain all along. In a letter written 
 at this time, he says : 
 
 "My opinion is, that no State can in any 
 way lawfully get out of the Union without the 
 consent of the others ; and that it is the duty of 
 the President and other government func- 
 tionaries to run the machine as it is." 
 
 Meanwhile the home of the President-elect 
 was like a besieged fortress. Hundreds came 
 to see him, urging him to do this, that, or the 
 other thing. No two seemed to agree. Thou- 
 sands of letters and telegrams poured in upon 
 him — some praising him, some "blaming him, 
 some threatening him. He held public recep- 
 tions in the Governor's room, in the Capitol at 
 Springfield. Again he would lock himself in, 
 to work over his inaugural address ; or to close 
 up his law practice. 
 
 Pointing to the sign hanging over his office 
 door, he said, one day, to Herndon, his partner: 
 
110 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "Let it hang there, won't you? If I live I'm 
 coming back some time, and then we'll go right 
 on practicing law as if nothing had happened." 
 
 Herndon gripped his hand. "All right, 
 Lincoln," he said; "I never hope to have an- 
 other partner like you. That shingle will hang 
 there undisturbed." 
 
 Lincoln also paid a visit to his aged step- 
 mother, and their leave-taking was affecting. 
 His father had been dead ten years. He never 
 lived to see his son reach national fame. But 
 Lincoln had never been drawn to his father, 
 who did not understand him, as he was to 
 this second mother, who did. She was 
 immensely proud of her famous son, but also 
 greatly alarmed for his safety. She had heard 
 that there had been threats made against his 
 life — as indeed there had — and she was afraid 
 that she would never see him again. 
 
 When Lincoln boarded the train at Spring- 
 field on that memorable day in February, 1861, 
 to go to Washington, his friends clustered 
 around his coach for a final handshake and 
 word. His little parting talk to them was 
 almost like a prayer. This is what he said : 
 
 "My Friends : ~No one, not in my situation, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN ill 
 
 can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this 
 parting. To this place, and the kindness of 
 these people, I owe everything. Here I have 
 lived a quarter of a century and have passed 
 from a young to an old man. Here my chil- 
 dren have been born, and one is buried. I now 
 leave, not knowing when or whether ever I 
 may return, with a task before me greater than 
 that which rested upon Washington. Without 
 the assistance of that Divine Being who ever 
 attended him, I cannot succeed. With that 
 assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, 
 who can go with me, and remain with you, and 
 be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope 
 that all will yet be well. To His care com- 
 mending you, as I hope in your prayers you 
 will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
 farewell." 
 
 One other incident of his inaugural journey 
 is especially worth calling to mind. Among 
 Lincoln's many correspondents after he was 
 elected president was a little girl named Grace 
 Bedell. Her father was a Republican, her 
 two brothers Democrats, but she followed her 
 father's lead and was an enthusiastic adherent 
 of Lincoln. At that time, as all during his 
 
112 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 early manhood, Lincoln was clean-shaven. 
 She studied his pictures during the campaign, 
 and decided in her childish heart that this was 
 the reason why her brothers were against him. 
 If he only had a growth of whiskers, like her 
 father, she was sure that her brothers would 
 vote for him ! 
 
 So possessed was she with this idea that she 
 wrote him very frankly about it, asking him if 
 he couldn't let his whiskers grow. Then feel- 
 ing afraid that she had taken the time of a 
 very big and busy man, she ended her letter 
 by saying : 
 
 "If you have no time to answer my letter, 
 will you allow your little girl to reply for you?" 
 
 Perhaps her scoffing brothers had put doubt 
 into the childish heart. Of course, the presi- 
 dent-elect was too busy to write to a little girl! 
 But anxiously she watched the mails for a 
 reply — and sure enough, it came. Her trem- 
 bling ringers tore open the letter, and this is 
 what it said: 
 
 "Springfield, Illinois, 
 "October 19, 1860. 
 "My dear little Miss : 
 
 "Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth 
 is received. I regret the necessity of saying I 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 113 
 
 have no daughter. I have three sons; one 
 seventeen; one nine, and one seven years of 
 age. They, with their mother, constitute the 
 whole family. As to whiskers, having never 
 worn any, do you think people would call it a 
 piece of silly affectation, if I should begin 
 now? 
 
 "Your very sincere well-wisher, 
 
 "A Lincoln." 
 
 It so happened that on the journey to 
 Washington, the train stopped for a few 
 minutes at the town where the little girl lived. 
 Lincoln, with his mind busied with constant 
 speech-making on this trip, and meeting thou- 
 sands of people, still remembered the incident, 
 and said: 
 
 "I have a little correspondent in this place. 
 I would like to meet her." 
 
 "What is her name?" inquired the people 
 near by. 
 
 "Grace Bedell," he answered. 
 
 The crowd began to call, "Grace Bedell! Is 
 Grace Bedell present?" 
 
 And soon far back in the rear the throng 
 began to make way for a very timid, but very 
 excited little girl who came forward. And 
 how radiantly happy she was, as she reached 
 
114 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 the steps of the President's car, when that 
 great man bent down and took her up in his 
 arms and kissed her blushing cheeks ! 
 
 "See, my dear," he said. "I have taken your 
 advice and begun to grow a beard!" 
 
 At Columbus, after a short speech, such was 
 the delight of the crowd that the President- 
 elect was almost mobbed. An eye witness 
 thus recalls the scene : "People plunged at his 
 arms with frantic enthusiasm, and all the in- 
 finite variety of shakes, from the wild and irre- 
 pressible pump-handle movement to the dead 
 grip, was executed upon the devoted dexter 
 and sinister of the President. Some glanced 
 at his face as they grasped his hand; others 
 invoked the blessings of heaven upon him; 
 others with hats crushed over their eyes seized 
 his hands in a convulsive grasp, and passed on 
 as if they had not the remotest idea who, what, 
 or where they were!" 
 
 Lincoln stopped at several cities along the 
 way to make short speeches. He urged the 
 preservation of the Union at any cost, but 
 never did he make any bitter remarks against 
 the South. This had been true of his whole 
 campaign. He hated slavery as an institution, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 115 
 
 but he never made personal or vindictive 
 attacks. 
 
 Nevertheless, threats against his own safety 
 continued, and he yielded to the entreaties of 
 friends and did not go straight through to 
 Washington as planned. A plot against his 
 life had been discovered in Baltimore, so he 
 returned to Philadelphia and entered Wash- 
 ington quietly by another train. 
 
XIII 
 
 A CAPTAIN IN A STORM 
 
 The new captain of the Ship of State took 
 command during a storm. Or, as Emerson 
 put it, "The new pilot was hurried to the helm 
 in a tornado." 
 
 As we have already seen, he faced a divided 
 nation. The Southern Confederacy was an 
 accomplished fact. How should he deal with 
 it? The whole world held its breath and lis- 
 tened to his inaugural message. 
 
 That message did not equivocate. It stated 
 in clear, simple words the new President's 
 position. But there still was no rancor or 
 hatred. Lincoln never forgot that he himself 
 was from the South, and he hailed those of the 
 South as brothers, not enemies. But his atti- 
 tude, while friendly, was firm. 
 
 "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-coun- 
 trymen, and not in mine, is the momentous 
 issue of civil war. The Government will not 
 assail you. You can have no conflict without 
 being yourselves the aggressors. . . . We are 
 
 116 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 117 
 
 not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
 enemies. Though passion may have strained, 
 it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
 mystic cords of memory, stretching from every 
 battlefield and patriot grave to every living 
 heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
 will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when 
 again touched, as surely they will be, by the 
 better angels of our nature." 
 
 These were the closing words of an address 
 which was delivered with almost pathetic 
 earnestness. Lincoln was, in fact, pleading 
 with the South. Then Chief Justice Taney 
 stepped forward, and the new President took 
 solemn oath to preserve, protect, and defend 
 the Constitution of his country. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was now President of the 
 United States. 
 
 Among the first to congratulate him was 
 Senator Douglas. His rival had been one of a 
 small guard of honor who escorted him from 
 the Senate Chamber, and had held Lincoln's 
 hat for him during the inaugural address. 
 Now in the hearty handclasp all differences 
 were forgotten, and Douglas promised — and 
 afterwards gave him — his staunch friendship. 
 
118 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 One of Lincoln's first official acts was the 
 selection of his Cabinet. William H. Seward, 
 who had been his closest political rival at 
 Chicago, accepted the post of Secretary of 
 State; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; 
 Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; 
 Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb 
 B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior; Mont- 
 gomery Blair, Postmaster General, and 
 Edward Bates, Attorney- General. 
 
 These selections did not entirely meet the 
 approval of his party, as they were of different 
 political creeds. But Lincoln replied: 
 
 "The times are too grave and perilous for 
 ambitious schemes and personal rivalries. I 
 need the aid of all of these men. They enjoy 
 the confidence of their several States and sec- 
 tions, and they will strengthen the adminis- 
 tration." 
 
 He was now, as at all times, ready to sink 
 his personal feelings in the question of per- 
 sonal associates, for the larger good. More 
 than one of these men had been rivals, and not 
 always friendly rivals, of his. Seward for a 
 time was openly scornful of Lincoln's ability. 
 He regarded him as a back-country lawyer 
 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 119 
 
 with no experience in national affairs. At 
 first, Seward said that he would not take the 
 State portfolio. Later when he reconsidered 
 and accepted, it was in a spirit of condescen- 
 sion to his chief. Not many days after taking 
 office, Seward sent Lincoln a letter entitled, 
 "Some Thoughts for the President's Consider- 
 ation." The tone of this letter was so pre- 
 sumptuous that Lincoln forebore to reply in 
 writing. It, in effect, advised the President to 
 be guided by him, Seward, if he was not to 
 make mistakes. But the next time Seward 
 came into his office Lincoln handed the letter 
 back to its writer quietly, with the comment : 
 
 "I guess you didn't mean all of that, 
 Seward." 
 
 The Secretary of State recognized, after 
 this interview, that Lincoln was his own mas- 
 ter ; and served him in the stormy days to come 
 with patriotic zeal. 
 
 Lincoln's ability to turn his critics and 
 enemies into devoted friends was constantly 
 illustrated during the next four years of war. 
 It was one of the secrets of his success during 
 the most trying period of the nation's history. 
 To cite only one other of many striking illus- 
 
120 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 trations — the personnel of his cabinet was 
 changed, after a few months, to make Edwin 
 M. Stanton Secretary of War. Stanton had 
 been Attorney General in Buchanan's Cabi- 
 net, and was one of the most outspoken and 
 scornful of Lincoln's critics. He doubtless 
 still remembered the ungainly lawyer who had 
 been shoved into the background in the 
 Cincinnati law case. The President was 
 well aware of this, but it did not deter him 
 from inviting Stanton to take this highly 
 important position as head of the War Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Lincoln knew that Stanton was one of the 
 ablest men he could pick — which was proved 
 by after events — and he never let the fact that 
 Stanton had been hostile to him and had ridi- 
 culed him openly, deter him a moment from 
 inviting Stanton to become one of his official 
 family. The offer came as a complete surprise, 
 and Stanton's acceptance was no less sur- 
 prising. 
 
 When asked why he did it, Stanton replied 
 bluntly, "I will help make Abe Lincoln Pres- 
 ident of the United States." 
 
 And he did. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE FIRST DAYS OF WAR 
 
 Not for long was the new administration 
 allowed to continue in peace. Only a month 
 went by — and then came the opening guns ! 
 
 Lincoln had told the South in his inaugural 
 address that if there was to be a fight, they in 
 the South would have to start it. They evi- 
 dently took him at his word. 
 
 On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter, on the 
 coast at Charleston, South Carolina, was fired 
 upon, and the next day it surrendered. This 
 was the first blow of the bloody Civil War, 
 which for the next four years was to engulf 
 our country. The story of this great conflict 
 has been often told. We will not attempt to 
 trace its events here, except to show its reac- 
 tion upon the President himself. 
 
 Lincoln at once issued a call for 75,000 men 
 to "suppress the rebellion." It was believed 
 that the prompt despatch of Federal troops to 
 Charleston might quell the disturbance. But 
 
 121 
 
122 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 the whole South was aflame, and the Pres- 
 ident's call for troops added fuel to the fire. 
 Four more States threw in their fortunes with 
 the seven which already formed the Confed- 
 eracy. And besides these there were three or 
 four "Border States," such as Maryland, Ken- 
 tucky, and Missouri, which did not join either 
 side, but were even more dangerous because 
 of that fact. 
 
 It did not take Lincoln and his advisers long 
 to realize that they were not facing a local 
 rebellion. It was a war — and the 75,000 
 troops first called for would be a mere hand- 
 ful. The call had been for three months only 
 — not long enough to season them for active 
 duty. 
 
 The North awakened slowly to the danger. 
 Recruiting camps sprang up, and men began 
 drilling. But many said, "Oh, the trouble will 
 be over long before I get there!" It was the 
 same remark which was often heard at the 
 outbreak of the World War of our own day; 
 but wars have an unhappy faculty of persist- 
 ing — especially when they have long smol- 
 dered under the surface. 
 
 Mass-meetings were held in churches, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 123 
 
 schools, and public squares to arouse the peo- 
 ple. It is interesting to note that one of the 
 most active campaigners was Senator Doug- 
 las. He was tireless. On the very same plat- 
 forms in Illinois, where he had met Lincoln 
 and had told the people to let each State decide 
 for itself, he now preached Lincoln's famous 
 text, "The Lmion must be preserved at all 
 costs!" Douglas was sincere in this change of 
 heart; and so indefatigable was he, that he 
 literally wore himself out speechmaking. He 
 was taken suddenly ill, and died before the 
 first battle of the war was fought. 
 
 Meanwhile, what of Lincoln himself at this 
 time? We cannot do better than peep into his 
 office in company with an eye-witness (Con- 
 gressman I. N. Arnold) , who thus describes it : 
 "The room which Lincoln used as an office 
 was on the second floor of the White House. 
 It was about twenty-five by forty feet in size. 
 In the center, on the west, was a large, white 
 marble fireplace, with big, old-fashioned brass 
 andirons, and a large and high brass fender. 
 A wood fire was burning in cool weather. The 
 furniture of this room consisted of a large oak 
 table covered with cloth, and it was around this 
 
124 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 table that the Cabinet sat when it held its meet- 
 ings. Near the end of the table, and between 
 the windows, was another table, on the west 
 side of which the President sat in a large arm- 
 chair. The only books usually found in this 
 room were the Bible, the United States 
 Statutes, and a copy of Shakespeare. A bell- 
 cord within reach of the President's hand 
 extended to the Secretary's office. A mes- 
 senger, who stood at the door, took in the 
 cards and names of visitors. 
 
 "Here, in this plain room, Lincoln spent 
 most of his time while President. Here he 
 received everyone, from the Chief Justice and 
 Lieutenant-General to the private soldier and 
 humblest citizen. Sometimes there would be a 
 crowd awaiting their turn. While thus wait- 
 ing, the ringing laugh of Mr. Lincoln would 
 be heard by the waiting and impatient crowd. 
 Here, day after day, often from early morning 
 to late at night, he sat, listened, talked, and 
 decided. He was patient, just, considerate, 
 and hopeful. The people came to him as to a 
 father. He saw everyone, and many wasted 
 his precious time. Governors, Senators, Con- 
 gressmen, officers, clergymen, bankers, mer- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 125 
 
 chants — all classes approached him with fa- 
 miliarity. This incessant labor, the study of 
 the great problems he had to decide, the worry 
 of constant importunity, the quarrels of the 
 officers of the army, the care, anxiety, and 
 responsibility of his position, wore upon his 
 vigorous frame." 
 
 Lincoln himself realized that too much of 
 his time was taken up with petty details, such 
 as listening to office-seekers. He said, "I am 
 like a man so busy in letting rooms at one end 
 of his house, that he cannot stop to put out 
 the fire that is burning at the other!" 
 
 Not the least of his pressing troubles were 
 his relations with foreign nations. After the 
 South declared war, it looked as though Eng- 
 land and France might side with her. Seward 
 wrote a despatch to England which was so 
 dictatorial that it might easily have precipi- 
 tated matters, although he felt that the United 
 States had just grievance. Lincoln took his 
 despatch and toned it down, at the next Cabi- 
 net meeting, until it was more tactful, without 
 receding from our position. Seward was 
 broad-gauge enough to recognize the improve- 
 ment. He saw that Lincoln was a master at 
 
126 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 statecraft, and he remarked later, "The Presi- 
 dent is the best of us all." 
 
 Meanwhile both sides were "itching" for a 
 jBght. The Northern troops poured into 
 Washington from every direction, until the 
 whole city resembled an armed camp. The 
 Southern forces advanced to meet it, and came 
 So close that they menaced the capital itself. 
 
 At a place called Bull Run, in Virginia, a 
 few miles south of Washington, the opposing 
 armies met. Many public officials and other 
 sightseers followed the army down from the 
 city, to see the fight. It was almost like a gala 
 occasion. But, alas ! The untrained Northern 
 troops were badly routed. They turned and 
 fled in mad haste back to Washington, and 
 their flight was encumbered by the wagons and 
 impedimenta of the sightseers. If the South- 
 ern army had pressed its advantage, it is likely 
 that they would have seized Washington. 
 
 In the North all was dismay and confusion. 
 The new army had been scattered like chaff 
 before the wind. Lincoln had to listen to so 
 many excuses from army officers, that he 
 remarked drily, "I see — we whipped the enemy 
 and then ran away from him!" 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 127 
 
 Lincoln had no patience with excuses. He 
 went to work at once to build a real army — 
 changing the personnel of officers, calling for 
 half a million volunteers, and half a billion dol- 
 lars. This time Congress responded — and the 
 country as well. The entire North became one 
 vast drilling ground, overnight. The farmer 
 forsook his plow, the mechanic his tools, the 
 clerk his counter. A marching song was heard 
 which constantly swelled in volume — 
 
 "We are coming, Father Abraham, five 
 hundred thousand strong!" 
 
XV 
 
 THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 
 
 Lincoln wisely decided that the defeat at 
 Bull Run was due to the greenness of the 
 troops. They needed more training. So he 
 placed the command in the hands of General 
 George B. McClellan, an experienced drill- 
 master. 
 
 All that summer and fall of 1861, the new 
 commander worked with his army. He did his 
 task intelligently and well; and presently his 
 troops drilled and behaved like seasoned sol- 
 diers. Men and supplies poured in daily, and 
 every request made by McClellan was granted. 
 But as the weeks and months went by, and 
 nothing was done except drill, the country 
 began to get impatient. They wanted to see 
 the sting of the defeat at Bull Run wiped out. 
 Of course, McClellan was acting cautiously, in 
 order to prevent a recurrence of the same blun- 
 
 128 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 129 
 
 der ; but people thought he leaned too much on 
 the side of caution. 
 
 Even the patient President, who often 
 visited the camp across the Potomac, let fall a 
 significant hint one day: 
 
 "If McClellan is through with the Army, 
 I'd like to borrow it for the afternoon!" 
 
 Again one day when Lincoln visited the 
 camp, and the general kept him waiting for 
 half an hour, an indignant friend urged the 
 President to resent such presumption. But 
 Lincoln only replied : 
 
 "I will hold McClellan's horse, if he will only 
 give us a victory." 
 
 Seeing that McClellan was taking his own 
 time, Lincoln began quietly to exercise his own 
 powers as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 
 Other sections of it were in the field, stretched 
 clear across to the Mississippi, and beginning 
 a cautious movement southward. Lincoln be- 
 gan to get into personal touch with all these 
 divisions. The telegraph office was across the 
 street from the White House, and he insti- 
 tuted the practice of slipping quietly over there 
 in the evenings, and often remaining there 
 half the night reading the stack of telegrams 
 
130 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 on military matters. He found out all he could 
 about the men in charge. For example, he 
 began to notice the brilliant work in the West 
 of an unknown officer, U. S. Grant. He 
 studied maps of each strategic point. He read 
 books on tactics. He began to send little words 
 of encouragement or of criticism. Every 
 officer in that long chain which the North was 
 seeking to stretch around the South soon began 
 to feel that the eye of the President was upon 
 him personally — as indeed it was. 
 
 In the beginning of the war the Confed- 
 erates, as the Southerners were called, had the 
 best of it. Their generals were men of dash 
 and impetuosity — always willing to "take a 
 chance." "Stonewall" Jackson was famed for 
 his surprise attacks. The commanding gen- 
 eral, Robert E. Lee, was a past master in tac- 
 tics and strategy. Against such men as these, 
 McClellan's caution made a poor show. While 
 beloved of his men, the country at large began 
 to turn against him. They called him "the Vir- 
 ginia creeper." 
 
 Lincoln constantly tried to instil into his 
 officers the snap and dash which were making 
 the Confederates so successful. Once when 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 131 
 
 General Lee had stretched his army out across 
 Virginia in the endeavor to protect as many 
 points as possible, Lincoln telegraphed to Gen- 
 eral Hooker, then commanding the Army of 
 the Potomac : 
 
 "If the head of Lee's army is at Martins- 
 burg, and the tail of it on the plank road be- 
 tween Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 
 the animal must be very slim somewhere. 
 Could you not break him?" 
 
 Lincoln was very anxious for McClellan to 
 march upon Richmond, the capital of the Con- 
 federacy, but the winter wore away and still 
 uie general made excuses. Finally Lincoln 
 lost patience, and asserted his own authority. 
 He ordered a general advance of all the armies, 
 and the date set was Washington's Birthday — 
 February 22, 1862. The entire North ap- 
 plauded. Now it looked at last as though the 
 war was going on. 
 
 While other armies took the field, still 
 McClellan lingered. It was actually April 
 when he set his force of one hundred thousand 
 men in motion ; and even then he did not march 
 straight across country to Richmond, as Lin- 
 coln advised. He took a roundabout route, 
 
132 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 called the Peninsular Campaign, because he 
 went down the Potomac to the sea. But in so 
 doing he left the way open for an attack on 
 Washington; and Lincoln knew that Lee was 
 too shrewd a general to miss seeing such an 
 opening. Lincoln consequently ordered back 
 a part of the army; and when McClellan's 
 campaign came to an inglorious close, he 
 blamed the President for "interfering"! 
 
 This year of 1862 was one of doubt and dis- 
 couragement to Lincoln and the North. There 
 were only two or three bright spots to relieve 
 the gloom. One was the victory by sea at New 
 Orleans, of the Union ships under Farragut. 
 Another was the capture of Fort Donelson on 
 the Mississippi by Grant, whose memorable 
 message to the besieged of "unconditional sur- 
 render"! went ringing through the North, 
 and caused him to be nicknamed Uncondi- 
 tional Surrender Grant — a name which proved 
 prophetic. 
 
 However, in Virginia — at Washington's 
 backdoor, so to speak — there was one defeat 
 after another. Lincoln tried first McClellan, 
 then Burnside, then Hooker, but all were 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 133 
 
 unsuccessful in stopping Lee. It is true that 
 McClellan won a victory at Antietam, but he 
 failed to follow up his advantage, and Lee 
 withdrew his army intact, later inflicting a 
 crushing defeat upon the Union forces at 
 Fredericksburg. This was near the end of that 
 fateful year. 
 
 Lincoln became at times terribly depressed 
 over the situation. It looked as though noth- 
 ing could save the Union, and of course many 
 people blamed him as the visible head. His 
 path was beset with difficulties. His officers 
 wrangled; his Cabinet wrangled; but by al- 
 most superhuman efforts he kept both ma- 
 chines in action. 
 
 But when he was alone, he sometimes seemed 
 to shrivel up with misery. Gone was the merry 
 hearted boy who could always joke and laugh; 
 and in his stead sat the big, huddled-up figure 
 of a man who bore a nation's burdens. Lincoln 
 had inherited a streak of melancholia which 
 often beset him. Now he tried a strange anti- 
 dote. A friend one day found him reading 
 some of the humorous stories of Artemas 
 Ward, and chuckling over them. 
 
134 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "Why, Mr. Lincoln!" the friend took it upon 
 himself to say; "can you find time to laugh, 
 when the country is in such straits?" 
 
 "If I didn't find time to laugh once in a 
 while," was the reply, "I believe I should go 
 crazy!" 
 
XVI 
 
 Lincoln's home life 
 
 No story of Lincoln would be complete 
 without some mention of his home life, both at 
 Springfield and Washington. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln lived simply and 
 quietly in a frame dwelling in Springfield, 
 neither better nor worse than the homes of their 
 neighbors. She was a careful housekeeper and 
 manager, and undoubtedly aided her husband 
 to acquire much of the polish which was his as 
 President. But Lincoln never outgrew many 
 of the habits which were his from pioneer days, 
 and which must have tried his wife sorely. He 
 was always careless as to his attire, and this 
 was the more noticeable from his great stature. 
 
 Even after he rose to prominence in Spring- 
 field it was no unusual sight to see him chop- 
 ping his own wood, carrying water, going 
 downtown with the basket on his arm, to mar- 
 
 135 
 
136 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 ket, or sweeping off the front porch. He did 
 anything his hands found to do — and he 
 enjoyed doing it. And he was always ready 
 to exchange a "howdy" with a neighbor over 
 the back fence. These same simple manners 
 he later took into the White House, to the 
 despair of his wife and of punctilious officials. 
 But Lincoln was always his simple, unaffected 
 self. 
 
 As children came into their home, he proved 
 a devoted father. Perhaps he remembered his 
 own lonely childhood, and resolved to make up 
 the deficit to his own children. There were 
 three boys, Robert, Willie, Thomas, or "Tad," 
 and in their babyhood he might often be seen 
 wheeling their carriage tirelessly up and down 
 the block in front of their home. As they grew 
 into childhood, he would romp delightedly with 
 them in all their games; or sprawl out at full 
 length under the shade of some tree and tell 
 them Indian stories. Lincoln loved all chil- 
 dren, and many are the pleasing stories told in 
 this regard. 
 
 After the Lincoln family removed to the 
 White House you may well believe that the 
 boys had lots of fun. Robert, however, was 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 137 
 
 several years older than the rest, and was in 
 college. Willie was ten and Tad was eight at 
 this time. Each of them had a pet goat and a 
 wagon, and they went driving all over the lawn 
 and out into Pennsylvania Avenue. It is even 
 related that they drove into the White House, 
 and interrupted more than one solemn conclave 
 there. But the echoes of their merry voices 
 must have been an agreeable antidote to more 
 than one anxious heart, in that trying time. 
 Certainly Lincoln himself did not want to curb 
 their spirits. He let them do pretty much as 
 they pleased. More than once he shocked some 
 dignified Senator by getting down on hands 
 and knees, and joining in their sports. 
 
 The year 1862 was one of the darkest in 
 Lincoln's whole life. The Union army was 
 suffering reverse after reverse in this second 
 year of the war. And just at this time, Willie 
 Lincoln sickened and died. The father's grief 
 was terrible to see, although its outward signs 
 were quickly suppressed. Added to his 
 frequent spells of melancholia, and the worry 
 over the war, it required his most heroic efforts 
 to preserve a courageous front during this 
 trying year. 
 
138 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Because of the loss of Willie, Lincoln 
 spoiled Tad more than ever. But the boy 
 became his constant companion, his shadow. 
 When Lincoln took a trip to one of the army 
 camps, Tad was sure to go along, and he was 
 a great favorite with the soldiers. 
 
 Even Secretary Stanton, the stern head of 
 the War Department, unbent when Tad came 
 into the room. One day he actually appointed 
 the lad a lieutenant in the regular army. Tad 
 accepted the appointment with due solemnity, 
 and insisted upon having a uniform made, 
 chevrons and all. He drilled the special squad 
 of soldiers detailed to guard the White House, 
 but once when they did not quite suit him, he 
 dismissed the lot of them, and set about recruit- 
 ing a new guard from the gardeners around the 
 grounds. 
 
 At another time, Tad decided to go in busi- 
 ness for himself, and invested his small capital 
 in cakes, apples, and popcorn. He set up a 
 stand just inside the gate to the White House 
 grounds, and proceeded to hawk his wares in 
 approved style. As the Senators, Congress- 
 men, diplomats, or army officers came by, they 
 recognized the small merchant and willingly 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 139 
 
 dropped a coin into his waiting hat. He trans- 
 acted business nearly all morning before his 
 scandalized mother got wind of it, and closed 
 up the shop. But by that time the hat jingled 
 merrily with coins. 
 
 It is interesting to note that Lincoln never 
 sat with his family for a portrait, and that the 
 only member who was ever photographed with 
 him was Tad. Brady, the famous war photog- 
 rapher, caught the two together one day — Tad 
 standing at his father's knee, and both absorbed 
 in the pages of a book. It was not a posed 
 picture; the photographer snapped them 
 unawares; and the result is one of the most 
 pleasing and familiar of the Lincoln portraits. 
 
 Mr. John Hay, who as a young man was 
 one of Lincoln's private secretaries at this time, 
 gives us some amusing stories of Tad and his 
 father. 
 
 "Let him run," said the latter. "He has 
 time enough to learn his letters and get pokey. 
 Bob was just such a little rascal, and now he is 
 a very decent boy." 
 
 Tad was always "busy." He liked to get up 
 things. Once he organized a minstrel show 
 among some of his playmates. It was called 
 
140 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "The Black Statue," and was held in one of 
 the upstairs rooms of the White House! A 
 penny was the entrance fee, and it may well be 
 believed that there was a crowd on hand to see 
 the show. 
 
 When Lincoln rode in an open carriage 
 down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol for 
 the second inaugural, Tad was in the seat 
 beside him. He was, in a sense, the mascot of 
 the administration. It seemed as though, after 
 the loss of Willie, Lincoln could not bear to let 
 this other boy out of his sight. 
 
 Mascot or not, we know that Tad Lincoln 
 did his bit toward winning the war, in his love 
 and devotion to his over-burdened father. 
 
XVII 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Lincoln one day to the 
 members of his Cabinet, "I have called you 
 together to-day to consider a matter of very 
 grave importance. But before getting down to 
 business, I would like to read you a funny 
 yarn I ran across, the other day." 
 
 He produced a small book from the tail 
 pocket of his voluminous coat, and waved it at 
 them. 
 
 "Ever read anything by Artemas Ward?" 
 he asked. "He certainly is a droll fellow!" 
 
 The Cabinet officers looked around at each 
 other blankly. "Queer time for a joke!" they 
 thought. Here was the nation facing a des- 
 perate crisis, and the President called them to- 
 gether to read a joke to them! 
 
 But Lincoln opened the pages of his joke 
 book as calmly as if they were all out on a 
 picnic. 
 
 141 
 
142 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "Listen to this one," he said; and proceeded 
 to read a short "side-splitter." Seward smiled 
 in a dignified manner. Chase indulged in a 
 chuckle. Others laughed more or less con- 
 strainedly. Only Stanton sat erect and de- 
 fiant; he never understood this mood of 
 Lincoln's. 
 
 The President laid aside his book; and as it 
 hit the table he straightened up to his towering 
 height of six feet, four inches. Gone was the 
 merry twinkle in his eye, and his face took on a 
 dignified earnestness. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "I am about to ask 
 your consent to an action of far-reaching 
 import. As you know, my fight from the first 
 has been against slavery. Now I believe the 
 time has come to declare the slaves free." 
 
 Then he went on to outline the advantages 
 in a military as well as moral way, of such 
 an action. After much debate, the Cabinet 
 agreed to his point of view, and the famous 
 document now known as the Emancipation 
 Proclamation was given to the world. It 
 stated that on the first day of January, 1863, 
 all the slaves in States in rebellion should be 
 "then, thenceforward and forever free." It 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 143 
 
 also stated that the United States would 
 "recognize and maintain" this freedom. 
 
 The country at large received this procla- 
 mation with varying emotions. Of course, in 
 the South it was laughed at. "If Lincoln 
 wants the slaves, let him come and get them!" 
 they said; and prepared to fight harder than 
 ever. Many in the North disapproved of 
 emancipation — at least until the issues of war 
 were settled. "We did not go into this thing to 
 free slaves, but to preserve the Union," they 
 said. Many soldiers deserted, on this account, 
 and there was much murmuring in ranks. The 
 possibility of accepting the black man as an 
 equal struck them with dismay. 
 
 The Border States — those neither on the 
 Northern nor the Southern side — were not 
 affected by the proclamation. By its terms 
 they could go on holding slaves if they desired. 
 So altogether, it was a mixed-up business, and 
 no man could foretell whether this move would 
 be good or bad, from a political view. 
 
 But the negroes themselves, as the news 
 slowly seeped through to them, that they were 
 really free, were wild with joy. They hailed 
 Lincoln as their deliverer — a second Moses 
 
144 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 come to lead them out of the house of bondage 
 and into the Promised Land. One old colored 
 woman likened him to another great Bible 
 character. She presented herself at the door 
 of the White House one day, and waited 
 patiently until the President should appear. 
 When he finally did come out, he saw her 
 standing there, and with his unvarying cour- 
 tesy to high or low, he asked her if he could do 
 anything for her. 
 
 "I jes waitin' round to see Abraham de 
 Second," she replied. 
 
 "Abraham the Second?" he asked. "Why, 
 who is that?" 
 
 "Well, suh, de good book done tell us all 
 about Abraham de First. But I wants to see 
 Abraham de Second, de man dat set us all free 
 — bress de Lawd!" 
 
 "Well, here he is," answered the President — 
 "such as he is !" 
 
 The woman knelt down and a look of adora- 
 tion came into her eyes. Without another 
 word she began to cry, and seizing the hem of 
 his coat she kissed it. 
 
 Lincoln turned away hastily, and there were 
 tears in his own eyes as he went down the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 145 
 
 street. Perhaps he thought of that other day 
 in New Orleans when as a mere boy he had 
 watched the buying and selling of human 
 slaves, and had promised himself to "hit it 
 hard." He had kept his word. 
 
 No story of Lincoln would be complete with- 
 out a glimpse of the tender heart he bore for 
 all his soldiers — "his boys," as he called them. 
 He was a frequent visitor at the army hospital 
 in Washington, and many a sufferer was 
 cheered by a word or handclasp. He visited 
 them in the camps near the city, and would 
 stop as readily to greet a private and ask how 
 he was faring, as the highest officer. When 
 the boys came through the city on furlough, it 
 was a favorite practice of theirs to call at the 
 White House ; and the President was never too 
 busy to see them. 
 
 He could not bear to see a soldier shot for 
 dereliction of duty, and his constant pardons of 
 offenses like desertion or sleeping at post got 
 him into much hot water with Stanton and 
 others of the War Department. They felt 
 that his pardons would break down discipline. 
 
 Once as he signed a pardon for a young sol- 
 
146 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 dier, sentenced to be shot for sleeping on senti- 
 nel duty, he said: "I could not think of going 
 into eternity with the blood of that poor young 
 man on my hands. It is not to be wondered at 
 that a boy raised on a farm, probably in the 
 habit of going to bed at dark, should, when 
 required to watch, fall asleep; and I cannot 
 consent that he be shot for such an act." 
 
 After the boy was reprieved he came in 
 person to thank the President. Lincoln placed 
 his hand on his shoulder, and said: "My boy, 
 I am going to send you back to your regiment. 
 But how are you going to pay my bill?" 
 
 "I haven't much money, Mr. President, but 
 I will do anything you say," stammered the 
 soldier. 
 
 "It is not money I want," said Lincoln; 
 "but I want your promise that, come what 
 may, you will never again shirk a duty. If 
 when you come to die you can say, C I have kept 
 my promise,' then my bill will be paid." 
 
 A few weeks later the young soldier was 
 killed, fighting bravely at Fredericksburg. 
 Next his heart was a photograph of Lincoln, 
 and on it he had written: "God bless Presi- 
 dent Lincoln." He had kept his promise. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 147 
 
 A Union officer relates this anecdote: "The 
 first week of my command there were twenty- 
 four deserters sentenced by court-martial to be 
 shot, and the warrants for their execution were 
 sent to the President to be signed. He refused. 
 I went to Washington and had an interview. 
 I said, 'Mr. President, unless these men are 
 made an example of, the army itself is in dan- 
 ger. Mercy to the few is cruelty to the many.' 
 He replied, 'Mr. General, there are already 
 too many weeping widows in the United 
 States. For God's sake, don't ask me to add 
 to the number, for I won't do it!' " 
 
 His ready sympathy for "his boys" endeared 
 him to them. They were ready to go through 
 fire and water for him. On his visits to camp 
 he did not disdain to pause and "swap a 
 yarn." One joke which he picked up and was 
 fond of relating in the dignified Stanton's pres- 
 ence was to the effect that the latter on a tour 
 of inspection in North Carolina was on a tug 
 boat passing up a river, when the picket chal- 
 lenged them. 
 
 "Who goes there?" he asked. 
 
 "The Secretary of War and Major-General 
 Foster," was the reply. 
 
148 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "We've got secretaries and generals enough 
 up here already," was the reply. "Why don't 
 you bring us up some hardtack?" 
 
 On one visit to McClellan's camp, a big 
 dress parade was planned. Lincoln was 
 invited to ride the lines with the general, and 
 accepted. The staff officers smiled in their 
 sleeves at this, for McClellan was one of the 
 finest horsemen in the army, and they fancied 
 the President would cut a ridiculous figure 
 beside him. A spirited black horse was 
 brought to the President, but the moment he 
 seized the reins the staff officers began to "take 
 notice." He quieted the plunging animal with 
 a word, and easily sprang into the saddle. 
 Down between the lines they went, the Pres- 
 ident managing his horse with one hand, riding 
 easily, and returning the salutes. 
 
 McClellan, on his own well-broken mount, 
 led the way and finally paused near a group of 
 big guns, which presently went off with a 
 tremendous explosion. Then the bands struck 
 up, "Hail to the Chief !" The soldiers cheered. 
 The big black horse curvetted, as well he might. 
 But there sat Lincoln, as though he and the 
 horse were one — the bridle rein held in one 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 149 
 
 hand, his silk hat in the other, smiling and 
 acknowledging the salute. 
 
 "Gosh! He sure can ride!" muttered one 
 soldier. 
 
 "He sure can," said another. "If we only 
 had old Abe to lead us, something would 
 happen!" 
 
 And probably he was right. 
 
XVIII 
 
 GETTYSBURG 
 
 Lincoln tried, one after another, three gen- 
 erals for the Army of the Potomac, but none 
 of them was a match for General Lee. After 
 the crushing defeat which the latter admin- 
 istered to Burnside at Fredericksburg, the 
 Confederates advanced across the Potomac 
 into Pennsylvania. They were carrying the 
 fight into the enemy's country. 
 
 Lincoln removed Burnside and put Meade 
 in command. His orders were terse. 
 
 "Go get Lee!" was the word. 
 
 Meade started in pursuit and overtook Lee 
 at Gettysburg. The date was July 1, 1863 — 
 one of the most momentous in the annals of 
 our nation. The Southern forces, flushed with 
 victory, did not seek to avoid the combat, 
 though they were outnumbered. This was not 
 the first time they had met superior numbers of 
 
 150 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 151 
 
 Northern troops. The battle began on that 
 July morning and for three days it raged. 
 Back and forth surged the contending lines, 
 high deeds of bravery being shown on both 
 sides, and terrible was the slaughter. 
 
 Back in Washington, the President fairly 
 haunted the telegraph office. He could not 
 wait for the messages to be decoded and relayed 
 to him in due course. He sat alongside of the 
 operator and himself deciphered the messages 
 as they came in. During those three terrible 
 days he scarcely stopped for sleep or food. By 
 the end of the third day he was so utterly worn 
 out, that Stanton took a hand. 
 
 "Go home, Mr. President," he said gently 
 but firmly. "Go home, and I myself will stay 
 by the instrument and keep you advised." 
 
 Lincoln, too tired to protest, went, and soon 
 was sleeping as one dead to the world. 
 
 About midnight, the clicker sounded the 
 news that the Union forces had won the victory, 
 and that Lee's army was in full retreat. Stan- 
 ton seized the message, dashed across the street, 
 went past the sentry at the White House door, 
 and up the steps two at a time, and pounded on 
 the door of Lincoln's room. 
 
152 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "Who's there?" called the President. 
 
 "Stanton!" was the reply. 
 
 Lincoln bounded out of bed and without 
 waiting to dress, opened the door, revealing, as 
 Stanton afterwards said, a figure clad in the 
 shortest nightshirt and sporting the longest 
 pair of legs he ever saw. 
 
 "We've won!" Stanton managed to gasp 
 out, for he was short-winded from his run. 
 
 He did not need to say more, for Lincoln 
 had read the news in his face. Grabbing Stan- 
 ton by the shoulders he danced madly with him 
 around the room — and Stanton danced too! 
 Then Lincoln sat down on a trunk and, still in 
 his nightshirt, proceeded to study that precious 
 telegram. 
 
 "We've won!" he cried, echoing Stanton's 
 call. "Meade's got him! Now if he will only 
 follow Lee up and crush him, the war will be 
 over in ninety days." 
 
 But for some strange reason, Meade, like 
 McClellan and the rest, did not follow up his 
 advantage. True, his army was weary from 
 three days of fighting, but it was still stronger 
 than Lee's shattered columns. Even when Lee 
 was forced to divide his troops to cross the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 153 
 
 Potomac, still Meade did not strike. And 
 once in Virginia, Lee reformed his army. 
 
 Some whispered that there was "politics" in 
 Meade's inaction. Like McClellan, he was 
 willing to "embarrass" the President, espe- 
 cially since the Emancipation Proclamation, 
 which had been severely criticized. We do not 
 know to-day how much truth there was in such 
 statements, but we do know that Meade held 
 Lee in the hollow of his hand, and let him get 
 away. 
 
 Lincoln's first flush of enthusiasm over this 
 victory gave way to despair. Was he never to 
 find a general who could do things— carry 
 them through to a finish? And he began to 
 think of a certain "Unconditional Surrender" 
 Grant who was still hammering away in the 
 West— aided and abetted by a dashing officer, 
 Phil Sheridan. 
 
 On the very day that the news of Gettysburg 
 went broadcast to the nation, July 4, 1863— 
 and a great Fourth of July it was!— Grant 
 telegraphed that the forts at Vicksburg, Miss- 
 issippi had fallen before his troops. They held 
 the key to the great river, and the "Father of 
 Waters went unvexed to the sea." 
 
154 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 The news of these two victories fired the 
 North with fresh hope. They silenced for the 
 moment Lincoln's own critics — for he had 
 borne the brunt of all the dissatisfaction, as 
 head of the nation. They also put at rest the 
 persistent rumors that England was going to 
 recognize the Confederacy, which move had 
 seemed imminent more than once. 
 
 When Lincoln saw that Meade was not 
 going to strike back at Lee, he called General 
 Halleck, who was Grant's superior, from the 
 West, to take charge of the Eastern forces. 
 Grant himself he made Commander-in-Chief 
 in the West. It was the first step to the 
 supreme command of the LTnion forces which 
 Grant later obtained, and which, as we all 
 know, was to prove the final checkmate for 
 Lee. Grant had many enemies, especially 
 among the politicians at Washington. But 
 when they came buzzing around Lincoln with 
 their disparaging remarks, his only answer 
 was, "I cannot spare this man. He fights!" 
 
 Grant did fight. He took up affairs in the 
 West with an energy and promptness which 
 convinced Lincoln that he had found his man 
 at last. Ordered to relieve the shut-in Union 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 155 
 
 forces at Chattanooga, Grant promptly moved 
 east and in the brilliant battle "above the 
 clouds," at Lookout Mountain, split the South- 
 ern armies in two. Then he sent Sherman on 
 his march through Georgia to the sea. 
 
 So the summer and fall of 1863 saw brighter 
 skies for the Union than at any time since the 
 war had started. In a spirit of thanksgiving 
 as well as of devotion to the dead, a national 
 cemetery was dedicated on the field of Gettys- 
 burg, where so many thousands had laid down 
 their lives. 
 
 A multitude met on a gray November day 
 to witness the dedication exercises. A large 
 chorus of trained voices furnished the music; 
 and Edward Everett, a brilliant New England 
 orator, had been chosen as the speaker of 
 the occasion. The President was expected to 
 attend and would deliver "a few appro- 
 priate remarks." Though pressed with official 
 duties, Lincoln set out for Gettysburg at the 
 appointed time, and, it is said, scribbled the 
 few words of his "appropriate remarks" on a 
 scrap of paper. 
 
 For two hours the polished Everett held the 
 attention of the audience, pouring forth all the 
 
156 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 eloquence and fire for which he was famous. 
 It was a great address. The crowd applauded. 
 The choir sang another song. And then the 
 tall form of Lincoln arose, with his familiar 
 "stovepipe" hat, and a long scarf around his 
 shoulders, such as he often wore. 
 
 In a voice trembling with emotion and yet 
 gaining in clearness after the first words, he 
 began to speak. Then after only two or three 
 minutes, when the crowd had just begun to 
 get keyed up to his message — he sat down 
 again! 
 
 The crowd was disappointed. "Is that all?" 
 they asked each other. 
 
 Secretary Seward was no less disappointed. 
 He leaned over and whispered to Everett, "He 
 has made a failure, and I am sorry for it. He 
 is tired out. His speech does not do him 
 justice." 
 
 Lincoln himself, when he looked over that 
 silent throng, felt that he had failed. He had 
 not had time to prepare any special message, 
 but he had tried to give them a few sentences 
 straight from his heart and soul. 
 
 And that was precisely what he had done. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 157 
 
 As soon as his "Gettysburg Address" was 
 flashed to the world, people read it, and reread 
 it. They have been reading and reciting it ever 
 since, for it has been acclaimed a master- 
 piece, a model of terse English and trenchant 
 thought. 
 
 Edward Everett himself recognized this, as 
 soon as he saw the speech in type. He sat 
 down and wrote Lincoln the following gen- 
 erous and graceful tribute : 
 
 "I should be glad if I could flatter myself 
 that I came as near the central idea of the 
 occasion in two hours, as you did in two 
 minutes." 
 
 This is what Lincoln said on that day: 
 
 "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
 brought forth on this continent a new nation, 
 conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
 proposition that all men are created equal. 
 
 "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, 
 testing whether that nation, or any nation so 
 conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 
 We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 
 We have come to dedicate a portion of that 
 field, as a final resting-place for those who 
 
158 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 here gave their lives that that nation might 
 live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
 we should do this. 
 
 "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — 
 we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this 
 ground. The hrave men, living and dead, who 
 struggled here, have consecrated it far above 
 our poor power to add or detract. The world 
 will little note nor long remember what we say 
 here, but it can never forget what they did 
 here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedi- 
 cated here to the unfinished work which they 
 who fought here have thus far so nobly ad- 
 vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
 to the great task remaining before us — that 
 from these honored dead we take increased 
 devotion to that cause for which they gave the 
 last full measure of devotion; that we here 
 highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
 died in vain ; that this nation, under God, shall 
 have a new birth of freedom ; and that govern- 
 ment of the people, by the people, for the 
 people, shall not perish from the earth." 
 
XIX 
 
 LINCOLN IS REELECTED 
 
 The year 1864 was another momentous one 
 in Lincoln's life. He had finally placed Grant 
 at the head of the Union forces, and people 
 thought that now the South would be brought 
 to its knees. But Lee and Johnston still 
 proved too resourceful for their opponents, as 
 was proved in the bloody battles of the Wilder- 
 ness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor. Grant 
 lost 50,000 men in a single month. But he shut 
 his lips grimly, and issued this famous mes- 
 sage: 
 
 "I propose to fight it out on this line if it 
 takes all summer." 
 
 More men must be forthcoming, however, 
 and since volunteering had fallen off, Lincoln 
 was forced to resort to conscription. In New 
 York City such opposition was encountered 
 that the Draft Riots resulted, many lives were 
 
 159 
 
160 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 lost, and 10,000 troops had to be sent there to 
 restore order. 
 
 How different from the drafts of our own 
 day, made necessary by the World War ! We 
 submitted all over the country to this stern 
 necessity as a matter of course. 
 
 But one result of the draft in Lincoln's day 
 was to imperil seriously his chances of reelec- 
 tion to the presidency. The elections were to 
 be held in the fall. He had bitter rivals in his 
 own party, chief of whom was Salmon P. 
 Chase, who left the Cabinet in order to oppose 
 him. But Chase's own State, Ohio, favored 
 Lincoln. He received the nomination, with 
 Andrew Johnson, war Governor of Tennessee, 
 as Vice-President. Johnson, like Lincoln, had 
 been a poor boy in his youth, and had run a 
 tailor shop in Greenville. 
 
 When the committee informed Lincoln of 
 his nomination, he said quizzically: "I do not 
 allow myself to suppose that the Convention 
 have concluded that I am either the greatest or 
 the best man in America ; but rather they have 
 concluded it is not best to swap horses while 
 crossing a stream; and have further concluded 
 that I am not so poor a horse but that they 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 161 
 
 might make a botch of it if they tried to swap." 
 The homely phrase, "Don't swap your 
 horses while crossing a stream," instantly 
 caught on, and was used with telling effect in 
 the campaign which ensued. Folks thought 
 that, after all, Lincoln might be right. With 
 him still in office, and the stubborn Grant who 
 was going "to fight it out if it took all summer" 
 — they felt they had a team they could not 
 afford to swap. 
 
 The other party nominated — of all persons 
 — McClellan! That general had nursed a 
 grudge against Lincoln ever since the opening 
 of the war, and now saw his opportunity to get 
 square. His platform promised a speedy end- 
 ing of the war, but advised a truce and a peace- 
 ful agreement. Four years of bloodshed was 
 enough, they said. Let's patch up our dif- 
 ferences with the Southern States, and be 
 friends. Many prominent men of Lincoln's 
 own party indorsed this idea, and for a time it 
 looked as though McClellan might be elected. 
 Lincoln himself took no part in the campaign. 
 He was so rushed with war duties that he had 
 no time; and he had come to view the result 
 with some indifference. 
 
162 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 "If the people want somebody else, let them 
 have him," he said. 
 
 His attention was called to the fact that a 
 cabal was at work against him in the army. 
 Others of the disgruntled generals whom he 
 had felt forced to remove from the leadership 
 were making speeches for McClellan. 
 
 "Let them speak all they want to," he 
 replied. "Supporting General McClellan 
 for the presidency is not a violation of the 
 army regulations ; and as a question of taste in 
 choosing between him and me — well, I'm the 
 longest, but he's better looking!" 
 
 McClellan, however, was not "better-look- 
 ing" to the voters of the country; and Lincoln 
 was reelected by a popular majority of half a 
 million votes. When the result was announced, 
 Lincoln, who was over at the War Department 
 cracking jokes and apparently unmindful of 
 the election, turned to an orderly and said : 
 
 "Send the word over to Madam. She will 
 be more interested than I am." 
 
 Just as on the former occasion in Spring- 
 field, his first thought in this moment of 
 triumph was of his wife. 
 
 When the South saw that Lincoln's policies 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 163 
 
 were to continue, and that their armies were 
 gradually getting the worst of it, they asked 
 for a peace parley with him in person at Hamp- 
 ton Roads. They sent their Vice-President, 
 Alexander H. Stephens, to meet him and Lin- 
 coln, against the advice of his friends, went 
 down to the conference. But it came to 
 naught, as the first demand made by the South- 
 erners was the recognition of the Confederacy, 
 and to that Lincoln would never consent. 
 
 However, when he went back to Washington 
 he did try to launch a project which he had 
 long considered. He told his Cabinet that he 
 wanted to ask Congress to appropriate four 
 hundred million dollars to buy the slaves from 
 the South. This was on condition that they 
 would lay down their arms and reenter the 
 Union. 
 
 Lincoln had long felt that since the slaves 
 were property, it would be fairer to the owners 
 to purchase this property and then free the 
 slaves. But to a man his Cabinet opposed the 
 idea. So determined were they that the Pres- 
 ident said sorrowfully: "Very well, gentle- 
 men, I see you are all opposed to me. I will 
 not send the message." 
 
164 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Instead, they prepared an amendment to the 
 Constitution, which forbade slavery within the 
 borders of the United States, and after Con- 
 gress passed it, the requisite number of States 
 ratified it. 
 
 At his New Year's reception, January 1, 
 1865, and the last that he was ever to hold, hun- 
 dreds of negroes clustered in the White House 
 lawn hesitating to enter but desirous of greet- 
 ing this man who had done so much for them. 
 It was late in the day when the crowd of white 
 persons thinned out, and the negroes began 
 timidly to come in. Lincoln was very tired 
 from a day of hand-shaking, but when he 
 heard of the crowd of negroes outside, he said, 
 "Tell them all to come in." 
 
 And in they flocked, crowding about him, 
 kissing his hands or his coat, weeping, and 
 calling on Heaven to bless him. The colored 
 race has always been sentimental and childlike. 
 They had come to regard Lincoln as their 
 earthly savior and almost more than mortal. 
 As the President saw this crowd of simple folk 
 looking to him as to a god he must have felt a 
 great joy — and a great responsibility. 
 
 But already the negro was beginning to 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 165 
 
 show his sense of responsibility. Negro regi- 
 ments had been recruited which gave a good 
 account of themselves. And in the second in- 
 augural procession these negro troops marched 
 with soldierly bearing. Negro schools were 
 being started, and other civic bodies or- 
 ganized. 
 
 This second inaugural, March 4, 1865, was 
 even more solemn and impressive than had been 
 the first one, four years before, when an untried 
 man was being inducted into office. The 
 country was still at war, but the general feel- 
 ing was that it must end soon. And Lincoln 
 had measured up to his task. 
 
 In his present speech he sounded the same 
 note he had struck four years earlier. He held 
 no hatred toward any party or section, but 
 again stated that his object had been to live up 
 to his oath and protect the Union. 
 
 "Both parties deprecated war," he said. 
 "But one of them would make war rather than 
 let the nation survive, and the other would 
 accept war rather than let it perish. And the 
 war came." 
 
 And he ended with these memorable words : 
 
 "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, 
 
166 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 that this mighty scourge of war may speedily 
 pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue 
 until all the wealth piled by the bondman's 
 two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil 
 shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
 drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
 drawn with the sword, as was said three thou- 
 sand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The 
 judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
 altogether.' 
 
 "With malice toward none, with charity for 
 all ; with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
 to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
 work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds ; 
 to care for him who shall have borne the battle, 
 and for his widow and for his orphan ; to do all 
 which may achieve and cherish a just and last- 
 ing peace among ourselves, and with all 
 nations." 
 
XX 
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE 
 
 After that second inaugural great events 
 trod rapidly upon one another's heels. The 
 great war was nearing its final stages. Sher- 
 man had ended his victorious march to the sea, 
 and was now pressing back north, driving 
 Johnston, the Confederate general, before 
 him. Sheridan had cleaned up the Shenan- 
 doah Valley with a dash and brilliancy which 
 recalled the feats of Stonewall Jackson, the 
 Southern leader, who had lost his life. Grant 
 still pounded on Lee and had finally forced 
 him back to Richmond. The Southern ar- 
 mies, shut in between Grant and Sherman, 
 were like wheat between the upper and nether 
 millstone. 
 
 About this time Lincoln decided to take a 
 vacation. But he chose to spend it behind the 
 lines. With Mrs. Lincoln and their small son, 
 
 167 
 
168 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Tad, he went down the Potomac and up 
 the James rivers, to Grant's headquarters, near 
 Petersburg. He remained there ten days and 
 enjoyed the army life hugely. It also enabled 
 him to escape the throng of office-seekers 
 which so constantly beset him in Washington. 
 
 Much of the time during his visit he spent 
 on the steamer, River Queen, and here, late 
 in March, occurred a memorable meeting be- 
 tween him, Generals Grant and Sherman, and 
 Admiral Porter, who commanded the navy. 
 As they discussed plans for the next engage- 
 ments, Lincoln exclaimed more than once, 
 "Must more blood be shed? Cannot this last 
 bloody battle be avoided?" 
 
 General Sherman adds this personal tribute : 
 "When I left Mr. Lincoln I was more than 
 ever impressed by his kindly nature, his deep 
 and earnest sympathy with the afflictions of the 
 whole people. I felt that his earnest desire was 
 to end the war speedily, without more blood- 
 shed or devastation, and to restore all the men 
 of both sections to their homes. In the lan- 
 guage of his second inaugural address, he 
 seemed to have 'charity for all, malice toward 
 none.' " 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 169 
 
 This same trait of forbearance was brought 
 out a few days later, when the stronghold of 
 Petersburg fell into the hands of Union troops. 
 Lincoln and Porter visited the city and, with 
 General Grant, sat for nearly two hours watch- 
 ing the troops pass by. It was a famous group, 
 and the soldiers and citizens greeted them with 
 hearty cheers. Lincoln's face, which had 
 grown so haggard and careworn during the 
 months of strife, seemed years younger. He 
 laughed and joked like a boy. Presently a 
 throng of Southern prisoners of war passed by. 
 But, far from being dejected, they were laugh- 
 ing and joking among themselves. Each had 
 a huge chunk of bread and meat — the first real 
 food they had had in days. Moreover, most of 
 them were Virginians and were going back to 
 their homes. When they caught sight of Lin- 
 coln, they at once recognized him, but greeted 
 him in friendly fashion and he waved his hand 
 in return. Admiral Porter himself describes 
 this scene: 
 
 " 'That's Old Abe,' said one in a low voice. 
 'Give the old fellow three cheers,' said another. 
 While a third called out, 'Hello, Abe, your 
 bread and meat's better than popcorn !' It was 
 
170 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 all good-natured and not meant in unkindness. 
 I could see no difference between them and our 
 own men, except that they were ragged and 
 attenuated for want of wholesome food. They 
 were as happy a set of men as ever I saw. 
 They could see their homes looming up before 
 them in the distance, and knew that the war 
 was over. 
 
 " 'They will never shoulder a musket again 
 in anger,' said the President, 'and if Grant is 
 wise he will leave them their guns to shoot 
 crows with. It would do no harm.' ' 
 
 It is pleasant to note that Grant had the 
 same idea, and when the surrender of Lee 
 came, only a few days later, he refused the 
 latter's proffered sword, shook hands with him 
 instead, fed his men, and told them to go back 
 home and start plowing! 
 
 When news came that Richmond had fallen, 
 Lincoln said, "The whole of this last four years 
 seems like a horrid nightmare. I must see 
 Richmond." And visit it he did, with only 
 a small bodyguard, walking freely around 
 the streets of this shattered Southern town, 
 although at any moment a bullet from some 
 skulking enemy might have laid him low. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 171 
 
 Indeed, he heard of many threats of assas- 
 sination during these troubled days, but paid 
 no attention to them. On his return to 
 Washington, Mrs. Lincoln remarked, "Please 
 be careful. Washington is filled with our 
 enemies." 
 
 Turning to her quickly, he said, "Don't use 
 that word. We have no enemies now." 
 
 He had already put the war in the back- 
 ground and was willing to accept any man, 
 North or South, as his friend. We have pre- 
 viously noted the fact that both he and Mrs. 
 Lincoln were Southern by birth. Two of her 
 brothers fought on the Southern side, and one 
 of them was dangerously wounded at Shiloh. 
 While he lay ill, Mrs. Lincoln was called upon, 
 as mistress of the White House, to open a ball 
 in celebration of this victory. 
 
 But many a home had been divided by this 
 dread war, and Lincoln was anxious to forget 
 the "nightmare" as quickly as possible. He 
 repeatedly urged his generals to "be lenient," 
 and it was furthest from his desires to inflict 
 any penalty whatever upon the South or its 
 leaders. Had his life been spared, the history 
 of the South after the war, and of that tragedy 
 
172 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 called ''Reconstruction," would have been dif- 
 ferent. For there were those in Congress who 
 thought that the Southern States should be 
 treated like "conquered provinces." 
 
 The glad tidings of Lee's surrender came on 
 April 9. Five days later, Lincoln had his 
 regular Cabinet meeting. The whole text of 
 his discourse was reconciliation. There were 
 to be no reprisals, no punishments of any sort, 
 he said. If the leaders of the late Confederacy 
 wanted to leave the country, they might do so. 
 If they wanted to remain as fellow-citizens, 
 that also was their privilege. 
 
 "Gentlemen, they are our brothers," he said. 
 
 And every member of the Cabinet went 
 away that day marveling at the bigness of 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 That night, by way of relaxation, Lincoln 
 went with Mrs. Lincoln and a party of friends 
 to Ford's Theater, to attend a farce called 
 "Our American Cousin." The party was late 
 in arriving, and the play had already begun 
 when they entered the upper boxes reserved 
 for them. The audience recognized the Pres- 
 ident by rising and waving their handkerchiefs 
 and applauding, until he was seated. He 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 173 
 
 acknowledged their cheers, and sat down to 
 enjoy the play. A great load was off his mind, 
 and for the first time since becoming President 
 he felt carefree and happy. 
 
 The third act of the play was on, and all, 
 including the President, were laughing at the 
 droll situation, when suddenly a pistol shot was 
 heard, and a moment later a man sprang from 
 the rail of the President's box to the stage 
 below. The man was a half-crazed actor, John 
 Wilkes Booth, who thought that by this bloody 
 deed he had "avenged the S outh. ' ' But instead 
 he had struck down one who might have 
 been the South's best friend. Booth waved 
 his smoking weapon, shouting, "Sic semper 
 tyrannis!" — then sprang back of the stage and 
 made his escape. 
 
 For a moment no one sensed the import of 
 this interruption. Then like a shudder a 
 whisper ran through the house: 
 
 "The President is shot! He is dying I" 
 
 All eyes turned to the Presidential box. All 
 its occupants were in wild commotion, except 
 one still figure, over whom Mrs. Lincoln bent 
 sobbing. He sat with head bent forward upon 
 his breast — unconscious. 
 
174 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 Past the throng which was now in wild 
 uproar they carried the limp figure to a lodg- 
 ing-house nearby, and laid it upon the bed. 
 Physicians were hastily summoned, and every- 
 thing that mortal man could do was done to 
 restore the spark of life. But the fatal bullet 
 had pierced his brain, and Lincoln never recov- 
 ered consciousness. The next morning shortly 
 after sunrise he breathed his last. 
 
 Stanton turned to the others around the bed- 
 side, his rugged face contorted with grief. In 
 a hoarse whisper, he said : 
 
 "Now he belongs to the Ages!" 
 
XXI 
 
 a nation's grief 
 
 When the news was flashed from state to 
 state that Lincoln was slain, the whole nation 
 paused in horror and amazement. It could 
 not be true, they said ! 
 
 The great war-President had made many 
 enemies and critics both North and South, in 
 that titanic struggle of four years. Any mor- 
 tal man would have done so. But now that he 
 was stricken down, they began to realize what 
 manner of man he was. 
 
 In the South, after the first feeling of 
 exultation on the part of the most bitterly 
 partisan, they began to see Lincoln in his true 
 light, as a genuine friend of the South. They 
 were destined to see this more and more, in 
 the bitter years that were to follow, and to 
 regret that his gentle, forgiving spirit did not 
 brood over the troubled waters of Washington. 
 
 175 
 
176 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 In the North, people gave themselves over 
 to unrestrained expressions of grief. Some 
 went along the street weeping unrestrainedly. 
 Others who were total strangers to one an- 
 other stopped and talked together like brothers 
 over the loss of a father. In thousands of 
 homes emblems of mourning were displayed. 
 Business was completely suspended. 
 
 A scene in Philadelphia, when the news first 
 reached there, was typical of occurrences all 
 over the land. 
 
 "We had taken our seats in the early car to 
 ride downtown," says an eye-witness, "men 
 and boys going to work. The morning papers 
 had come up from town as usual, and the men 
 unrolled them to read as the car started. The 
 eye fell on the black border and ominous col- 
 umn lines. Before we could speak, a good 
 Quaker at the head of the car broke out in 
 horror: 
 
 " 'My God! What's this? Lincoln is assas- 
 sinated!' 
 
 "The driver stopped the car, and came in to 
 hear the awful tidings. There stood the car, 
 mid-street, as the heavy news was read in the 
 gray dawn of that ill-fated day. Men bowed 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 177 
 
 their heads in their hands, and on the straw- 
 covered floor hot tears fell fast. Silently the 
 driver took the bells from his horses, and we 
 started like a hearse city- ward. 
 
 "What a changed city since the day before! 
 Then all was joy over the end of the war; now 
 we were plunged in a deeper gulf of woe. The 
 sun rose on a city smitten and weeping. All 
 traffic stood still; the icy hand of death lay 
 flat on the heart of commerce, and it gave not a 
 throb. Men stood by their open stores saying, 
 with hands on each other's shoulders, 'Our 
 President is dead! Our President is dead!' ' 
 
 A regiment of negro soldiers formed the 
 guard of honor for the funeral procession from 
 the White House to the Capitol, where the 
 casket lay in state in the rotunda. There for 
 hours the citizens passed by silently to look 
 for the last time upon the homely but beloved 
 face. Many went out the door sobbing aloud 
 and without restraint. 
 
 A special funeral car, entirely draped in 
 black, but with glass sides permitting a view 
 within, carried the casket back by rail along 
 the same route which Lincoln had followed 
 when he came to Washington to be in- 
 
178 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 augurated. The highest officers of the Army 
 and Navy and deputations from the Senate 
 and House of Representatives acted as honor- 
 ary escort. 
 
 The scene in the Capitol at Washington was 
 repeated at the Pennsylvania Capitol. The 
 State set aside an official day of mourning. In 
 New York City half a million persons filed by 
 to pay a last tribute to the martyred president. 
 At Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and 
 Cleveland, other stops were made, where 
 countless thousands thronged about the casket. 
 But the most pathetic mourners of all were 
 those of the countryside and way stations 
 where the car did not stop, who sat by the 
 railroad track all day long to wait and watch 
 for its coming, and who, perchance, threw 
 garlands of flowers at the black-draped car as 
 it sped by. 
 
 No conqueror of old was ever accorded such 
 a triumph, marching in at the head of his 
 legions, as was the mortal remains of Abraham 
 Lincoln on the way back to his Illinois home. 
 
 In the State Capitols of Ohio and Indiana 
 — at Columbus and Indianapolis — official 
 honors were paid his memory. Next came 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 179 
 
 Chicago, where was such an outpouring that it 
 seemed as if the entire city were there. And 
 finally they stopped at the Springfield Capitol, 
 where his home folks received and paid homage 
 to their own. 
 
 After a simple funeral service, the coffin- 
 lid was closed for the last time. There was a 
 hymn, a prayer, a brief address, and the read- 
 ing of Lincoln's own Second Inaugural Ad- 
 dress, with its lofty words of closing: 
 
 "With malice toward none, with charity for 
 all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
 to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
 work we are in; to bind up the nation's 
 wounds; to care for him who shall have borne 
 the battle, and for his widow and for his 
 orphan; to do all which may achieve and cher- 
 ish a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
 and with all nations." 
 
 It was a fitting summing-up of Lincoln's 
 own life work. He had striven to bind up the 
 nation's wounds— to achieve a just and lasting 
 peace. And no man— not even his bitterest 
 enemy— when once he came to know that gen- 
 
180 FAMOUS AMERICANS 
 
 erous heart could accuse Lincoln of "malice" 
 or lack of "charity for all." 
 
 Lincoln's body was laid to rest in Oak Ridge 
 Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, on March 14, 
 1865. 
 
 Years after, a grateful nation transported 
 the timbers of his humble birthplace from 
 Hodgensville, Kentucky, piece by piece, and 
 set them up again within a splendid memorial 
 building at Washington. It is there not so 
 much to honor Lincoln, for he needs no such 
 monument to-day, as to serve as an example 
 and incentive to every other young American. 
 "Here," it seems to say, "is what one poor, 
 ignorant, backwoods boy accomplished I" 
 
 James Russell Lowell has eloquently voiced 
 this theme in his Ode to Lincoln: 
 
 "Nature, they say, doth dote, 
 And cannot make a man 
 Save on some worn-out plan, 
 Repeating us by rote; 
 For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw, 
 And choosing sweet clay from the breast 
 Of the unexhausted West, 
 With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, 
 iWise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 181 
 
 "Great captains, with their guns and drums 
 Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
 But at last silence comes; 
 These all arc gone, and, standing like a tower, 
 Our children shall behold his fame, 
 
 The kindly, earnest, brave, fore-seeing man, 
 Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
 New birth of our new soil, the first American." 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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