.mule- 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was a colorful figure and 
 James S. Tippett has brought out in his biogra- 
 phy all action and incidents that vividly portray 
 his life. In his youth, he was a ferryboat op- 
 erator, farmer, clerk, postmaster, soldier, store 
 owner, deputy surveyor, and lawyer. And in 
 all his work he demonstrates those character- 
 istics for which he is still admired. 
 
 Story appeal is high because of the almost 
 continuous action and many interesting and 
 humorous anecdotes. The two-color illustrations 
 by George D. Armstrong visualize accurately 
 the period in which Lincoln lived. 
 
 Grades: 5-8 
 List Price: $1.48 
 
 BECKLEY-CflRDY COmPflflY 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 presented by 
 
 Marion D. Pratt Estate 
 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnhuOOtipp 
 
FOREVER GREAT SERIES 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 ROBERT E. LEE 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
Abrahama 
 Lincoln 
 
 Humble and Qreat 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES S. TIPPETT 
 
 Illustrations by 
 George D* Armstrong 
 
 BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
 
 Chicago 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1951, 
 
 BY BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
Contents 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. Beyond the Gap 1 
 
 II. Log Cabins 13 
 
 III. Growing Up in Indiana 27 
 
 IV. Sangamontown to New Orleans . . 41 
 V. New Salem Days 51 
 
 VI. Volunteer Soldier . 65 
 
 VII. Finding the Right Road ..... 73 
 VIII. A. Lincoln, Attorney at Law ... 87 
 
 IX. The Long Climb 103 
 
 X. Great and Terrible Heights . . . .119 
 
 XI. The Heavy Burden Is Put Down . .133 
 
 Important Events in the Lifetime 
 of Abraham Lincoln 150 
 
j" 5 ^^ 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 Beyond the Gap 
 
 Westward and northwestward in New York, 
 in Pennsylvania, in Maryland, in Virginia and 
 in West Virginia, in North and South Carolina, 
 and in Georgia, the mountains rise. Beyond the 
 mountains, sloping downward to the Missis- 
 sippi River and away to the west, is an im- 
 mense expanse of land. There Abraham Lin- 
 coln was born. There he lived and worked 
 most of his life. There he lies buried. 
 
 1 
 
This land west of the mountains is rich and 
 fertile, a land of rolling hills and broad prairies, 
 of mountain ranges and bluegrass pastures. 
 Sunshine blesses and burns this region in the 
 growing season. Terrible snows and blizzards 
 descend upon it in the winter. 
 
 Forests of hard and soft woods covered the 
 land once, except where the prairies stretched 
 green and billowing. No man could find his 
 way through the trackless woods without hack- 
 ing a pathway, nor could he return that same 
 way if he had not left a blaze upon the trees as 
 he went. Sycamores, walnuts, hickories, oaks, 
 maples, elms, pines, and spruces lifted their 
 heads in these forests. Huge trunks rose from 
 tangles of underbrush and vines. 
 
 Mighty rivers drain the waters from this 
 region southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The 
 great Mississippi stretches for more than two 
 thousand miles from the Great Lakes to the 
 Gulf. From the east the Ohio River flows into 
 the Mississippi. A thousand other smaller 
 rivers and streams and creeks flow ceaselessly: 
 
 2 
 
the Cumberland and the Tennessee, the Ken- 
 tucky and the Wabash, the Platte, the Illinois, 
 the Chicago, the Fox, and the Sangamon, 
 Nolin's Creek, Knob Creek, Anderson's Creek. 
 They are names of song and legend, names 
 interwoven in Lincoln's story. 
 
 Ancestors of Abraham Lincoln had been 
 among the settlers who had moved westward, 
 ever westward, first beyond the Atlantic from 
 England, then beyond the coastal settlements, 
 and finally beyond the Cumberland Gap itself. 
 
 The Lincolns had come in 1637 to Massa- 
 chusetts, the second of the original colonies 
 to be settled permanently. There were Lincoln 
 men who bore Biblical names such as Levi, 
 Mordecai, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Thomas, and 
 John. Some of them stayed in Massachusetts; 
 others drifted on into New Jersey and Penn- 
 sylvania. Some of them grew prosperous. 
 
 In 1758 John Lincoln went down into Vir- 
 ginia. He was one of those who prospered, for 
 he gave his third son over two hundred acres 
 of land in Rockingham County, Virginia. This 
 
 3 
 
son, Abraham, was to be especially remem- 
 bered because of his grandson and namesake. 
 
 Rockingham County is in the Valley of Vir- 
 ginia. Pioneers seeking new homes came down 
 a highway from Philadelphia, into the Valley 
 of Virginia, and through the Cumberland Gap. 
 Beyond this pass in the Appalachian Mountains 
 lay the westward lands that were waiting to 
 be settled. 
 
 Kentucky was the goal of many of the first 
 pioneers, but life there was hazardous. In 1784 
 about thirty thousand settlers lived in Ken- 
 tucky. Most of them had made their homes 
 within fifty-two forts, or stations of refuge. 
 Palisades of logs enclosed these forts, and 
 heavy log gates barred the way to intruders. 
 Each fort was separated from the surrounding 
 forest by a clearing in which the stumps still 
 stood. The tracts of land that the settlers 
 hoped to claim were largely uncharted and 
 uncleared. Homes were rude cabins, one little 
 better than another. A family in that danger- 
 ous time did not own more stock or possessions 
 
 4 
 
than were absolutely necessary. Indians might 
 come raiding at any time. 
 
 John Lincoln's third son, Abraham, heard 
 of the rich new land. He went to have a look 
 and he liked what he saw. He bought several 
 large tracts of Kentucky land from the govern- 
 ment, entered them, and made good his claim. 
 After selling his Virginia farm, Lincoln moved 
 his wife, Anna, and their five children to their 
 new home beyond the Cumberland Gap. 
 
 One morning in 1784 Lincoln and three of 
 his sons went to the edge of a small clearing 
 and began to work. One of the sons, Thomas, 
 was only six years old, but he was considered 
 old enough to help his brothers. Frontier chil- 
 dren had to share in work early, and they had 
 to become accustomed to such constant dangers 
 as the presence of hostile Indians. 
 
 Suddenly, without warning, a shot rang out 
 from the underbrush at the edge of the clear- 
 ing, and the father dropped to the ground, 
 dead. The two older brothers ran for help, one 
 to the cabin, the other to the fort. Little 
 
 5 
 
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 V<^%,'/ 
 
 Thomas was left alone. From a peephole in 
 the cabin, Mordecai, the older brother, saw an 
 Indian about to lift the boy. Seizing a gun, 
 he took aim and fired at the Indian, who fell. 
 Thomas ran to the house. Assistance arrived 
 from the fort and the Indians withdrew. 
 
 After the father's tragic death, the mother 
 was unable to keep the family together. A 
 record tells that when Thomas was ten years 
 old he was "a wandering laboring boy." This 
 
 6 
 
meant that he made his living by doing farm 
 work and any odd jobs he could find. He did 
 not attend school and what was written in 
 books was a mystery to him. 
 
 Tom Lincoln grew to be a powerful man of 
 medium height. He knew only the hard life 
 of a pioneer in a backwoods country, and the 
 easier life east of the Cumberland Gap seemed 
 unnatural and soft to him. 
 
 Most of the pioneers could not read or write. 
 All their energies were needed for clearing their 
 land of trees, planting a few crops among the 
 matted roots, and protecting their rough homes. 
 Time left after these activities could be used 
 for making crude furniture, singing, story- 
 telling, and an occasional visit. 
 
 By the time Tom Lincoln was twenty-five 
 he had saved enough money to buy a farm in 
 Hardin County, Kentucky. On June 12, 1806, 
 he married Nancy Hanks, a slender, dark, sad- 
 looking girl of twenty-three. Her mother had 
 come from Virginia, but Nancy had been raised 
 by Betsy Sparrow, an aunt. 
 
 7 
 
At first Tom did not take his wife to live 
 on his farm. He tried to make a living in 
 Elizabethtown. There, in a log cabin home, 
 the Lincolns' daughter, Sarah, was born. 
 
 Tom Lincoln was unsuccessful in Elizabeth- 
 town and he decided to move his family to the 
 Hardin County farm. Tom was a pioneer and 
 this time, as many times later, he believed that 
 by moving on he could do better. He was a 
 restless man, as were most of his friends. 
 
 So Tom Lincoln moved his wife, Nancy, his 
 year-old daughter, Sarah, and their few pos- 
 sessions to his farm. Their new home was 
 about fourteen miles from Elizabethtown but 
 only three from Hodgenville, a backwoods set- 
 tlement that was even smaller and poorer than 
 the town from which the Lincolns had come. 
 
 Perhaps even to Tom Lincoln the farm aid 
 not look too promising. The earth was white, 
 thin, and washed out. "Mighty ornery land," 
 was the way Nancy's cousin, Dennis Hanks, 
 described it. And so it was. Ledges of rock 
 showed themselves down a slope from the cabin 
 
site. A cold, clear spring gushed from these 
 rock ledges and gave the farm the name Sink- 
 ing Spring. The spring, shaded by a grove of 
 trees, was about the only thing to recommend 
 the farm. 
 
 A log cabin had already been built on the 
 farm. It was made of logs roughly fitted to- 
 gether by hand. The logs had been cut and 
 the cabin built where the trees had stood. 
 The shingles which covered the roof had been 
 split from shorter logs into thin clapboards. 
 Inside there was but one room poorly lighted 
 by the door and a single window. Hard-packed 
 earth made the floor. Against one wall was 
 a large chimney made of logs daubed together 
 with clay and sticks. 
 
 Tom Lincoln was said to have had a good 
 set of tools. An ax for chopping and hewing 
 and an auger for boring holes were probably 
 among them. Tom knew enough about car- 
 pentry to make the rough furniture for his 
 cabin. He used slabs of wood crudely smoothed 
 with an ax for tables and chairs. The bed 
 
 9 
 
was a mere framework fastened to one side 
 of the cabin wall. To construct it, Tom had 
 bored holes into a log of the wall at the right 
 height and fitted poles into them for the head 
 and the foot. Two posts held up the outside 
 corners, and a pole was used to make the out- 
 side of the bed. Thin strips of bark and skin 
 were lashed across the framework. They sup- 
 ported the covering of leaves, corn husks, or 
 dried grass upon which the family slept. Skins 
 were the chief coverings for the sleepers. 
 
 
Nancy Lincoln did her cooking in the fire- 
 place. She hung a heavy iron pot, or Dutch 
 oven, over the flames, and set a skillet in the 
 hot wood coals. Tom supplied her with game 
 and fish, but it was her task to make the coarse 
 corn meal for the daily corn bread. 
 
 In the log cabin on Sinking Spring farm on 
 Big South Fork of Nolin's Creek, a second 
 child was born to Tom and Nancy Lincoln on 
 February 12, 1809. He was named Abraham 
 for Tom Lincoln's father who had been killed 
 by the Indians. 
 
 The family remained at Sinking Spring until 
 Abraham, or "Abe," was four years old. Then 
 a land dispute forced them to move. They 
 went to a smaller farm on Knob Creek, fifteen 
 miles from Sinking Spring. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Log Cabins 
 
 Knob Creek farm was still in the backwoods, 
 but it was not as remote as Abe's first home 
 had been. Near the farm was the road that ran 
 from Louisville, Kentucky, to Nashville, Ten- 
 nessee. The road was a busy one and it must 
 have fascinated the little boy. Abe saw wagons 
 loaded with freight, stagecoaches carrying pas- 
 sengers, and covered wagons drawn by ox 
 
 13 
 
teams. There were men on horseback and men 
 on foot. Many of these travelers were in search 
 of new homes in the West. Some were tired 
 soldiers returning from the War of 1812. 
 
 Abe met many of the people who traveled 
 along the road and they talked to him. He 
 heard of the vast world that lay far beyond 
 Kentucky. He heard of other frontier farms, 
 of pioneer towns, and of cities. 
 
 One day Abe was walking along the road. 
 He had been fishing and he was on his way 
 home with the single fish he had caught. Some- 
 one else was trudging along the road, too, a 
 man who had done his share of soldiering in 
 the War of 1812. 
 
 Often at home Abe had heard the older 
 people talk of the hardships the soldiers had 
 suffered, not only in the war itself, but in the 
 days that followed. Soldiers deserved whatever 
 anyone could do for them — that was what the 
 grown-ups said. Abe remembered those words 
 and so it happened that a surprised soldier 
 found himself with a present of a fish, a present 
 
 14 
 
from a black-haired little woods boy. Perhaps 
 Abe darted off before the soldier could thank 
 him, but as young as he was, Abe had shown 
 that he wanted to share the troubles of others. 
 
 That is one of the few things really known 
 about the boy's early years, but other things 
 can be guessed. Abe must have helped his 
 father and mother at many simple tasks. He 
 ran to fetch the tools when his father needed 
 them. He carried water to workers in the 
 field. He picked berries from vines in the 
 woods and he dropped seeds in the plowed fields. 
 
 Abe had time to explore the countryside. 
 He roamed the woods and watched rabbits and 
 raccoons and partridges. He caught fish and 
 raked out crawfish and mussels from the creeks. 
 He went wading and swimming. His active 
 body grew strong. 
 
 Abe began school while the family still lived 
 on Knob Creek farm. Schools in the backwoods 
 beyond the Gap were uncertain. Sometimes 
 the scholars lived so far away that they could 
 not attend regularly. Sometimes there were 
 
 15 
 
not enough pupils to pay a teacher to open a 
 school. If a teacher appeared, a school might 
 be opened; if none came, the school remained 
 closed. The schoolmaster might be a preacher, 
 a Catholic missionary, or just a wanderer who 
 had a little learning. 
 
 Sarah and Abe's first teacher was Zachariah 
 Riney. School days for the Lincoln children 
 were, however, very few and Abe may have 
 learned only a little about reading in his first ex- 
 perience with a teacher and books. Abe became 
 
 16 
 
a fairly good reader but there were not many 
 books for him to read. In addition to the Bible, 
 Abe knew Aesop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, and 
 Pilgrim's Progress. Mrs. Lincoln encouraged 
 Sarah and Abe to learn as much as they could. 
 On long winter days she told her children 
 Bible stories, fairy tales, and country legends. 
 
 Although men in the backwoods of the new 
 state of Kentucky seemed remote from the 
 rest of the nation they were not so isolated 
 that hard times in the East did not affect them. 
 The War of 1812 had been costly to the young 
 nation and many bad years followed it. 
 
 The Government in Washington tried to help. 
 To settlers it offered, on credit, lands in the 
 wilderness north of the Ohio River. By enter- 
 ing the land and building a cabin, a man might 
 have farmland for two dollars an acre. He 
 could pay for his farm whenever he could 
 get the money together. 
 
 News of land to be had so easily was wel- 
 come to many Kentuckians. There had been 
 trouble about titles to land, and some settlers 
 
 17 
 
lost their farms. Other backwoodsmen dis- 
 liked the fact that slavery was permitted in 
 the state. They felt that this gave a poor 
 man less chance to become prosperous. There 
 was much talk about moving on, and Indiana 
 (or "Indianny" as the backwoodsmen pro- 
 nounced it) was often mentioned. 
 
 Thomas Lincoln was one of the restless back- 
 woodsmen. Hunger for adventure and the de- 
 sire for a better place to live were in his bones. 
 Tom was a "mover." Tom's brother Josiah 
 lived near Big Blue River in Indiana and it 
 was through Josiah that Tom heard enough 
 to make him eager to leave Kentucky. 
 
 Once the move had been decided upon, Tom 
 Lincoln began preparations. He sold his Knob 
 Creek farm despite the fact that there was 
 some doubt about his title to it. Since he had 
 had experience both as a carpenter and a river- 
 man, Tom built a boat. This he loaded with 
 his carpenter's tools and a few other posses- 
 sions. He set out on his journey to Indiana 
 alone, leaving Sarah, Abe, and their mother to 
 
 18 
 
wait for his return with a description of the 
 new farm. 
 
 Down the Rolling Fork went Tom Lincoln's 
 rickety boat. Down the Salt River, too, and 
 toward the Ohio. The wide Ohio was a danger- 
 ous river for such a boat, as Tom soon found 
 out. Although he used all his skill, Tom could 
 not prevent his boat from capsizing. His load 
 sank to the river bottom and it was only with 
 difficulty that he fished out his tools and other 
 possessions. After righting his boat and re- 
 loading it, Tom floated down the Ohio to 
 Thompson's Ferry. He was in Indiana! 
 
 Since his boat would be of no further use, 
 Tom sold it at Thompson's Ferry and left his 
 tools and possessions with a settler named 
 Posey. Now he was ready to set out on foot 
 in search of the site for his new home. He 
 made his way as best he could through the 
 dense forest and almost trackless wilderness. 
 Only now and then did he find blazes left by 
 earlier settlers. He did not go far, however, 
 for he found the spot he wanted about sixteen 
 
 19 
 
miles north of the Ohio. It was an eighty-acre 
 strip of land. The soil seemed rich, but trees 
 covered most of the area. It was a challenge 
 and a promise. 
 
 Tom walked back to Knob Creek farm with 
 news of the place he had chosen. He loaded 
 the few remaining household goods on two 
 horses. Thus the family set out for their new 
 home, sometimes riding, perhaps more often 
 walking. Sarah was nine and Abe seven, and 
 the journey might have seemed like an adven- 
 ture had not the hardships of traveling in the 
 winter been great. 
 
 When the Lincolns arrived at Posey's, Tom 
 hired a wagon and loaded it with his carpenter's 
 tools, the scanty clothing and bedding that 
 Nancy had brought, and her few cooking uten- 
 sils. The two horses were hitched to the wagon 
 and the family was ready to push on — only 
 sixteen miles, but by far the hardest traveling 
 they had met. 
 
 Often a road had to be cut through the 
 forest before the horses could move forward. 
 
 20 
 
There were delays and camp was made at night 
 when the family could go no farther. At last 
 they reached the spot Tom had selected. 
 
 The site was beautiful and the soil seemed 
 rich. This much fulfilled Tom's description; 
 but there was no cabin or shelter of any kind, 
 and a still more serious drawback was the 
 absence of any water close by. 
 
 Even the help of a seven-year-old boy was 
 needed under such circumstances. Tom did not 
 plan to build a cabin. His family would have 
 to be satisfied with a "half-faced camp. ,, He 
 
 21 
 
set to work cutting slender poles and Abe 
 did his share by trimming branches from the 
 trees his father chopped. On three sides, poles 
 were laid one upon another around a space 
 about fourteen feet square. The fourth side 
 of this shed-like structure was open. The 
 shelter was covered over with branches and 
 grass. Chinks in the walls were stuffed with 
 clay and sticks. The family kept a fire burn- 
 ing before the open side. 
 
 There was no easy life for "movers" such as 
 the Lincolns. They wintered in the half -faced 
 camp, and in all spent a year there before they 
 moved into a new cabin. Today such a cabin 
 seems a poor home indeed, but to the Lincolns, 
 and especially to the children, it must have 
 seemed safe and comfortable. 
 
 The new cabin had been built by Tom with 
 help from Abe and probably from Sarah and 
 Nancy. It had one room with a loft above. 
 Openings cut in the log walls served for door 
 and window. The floor was bare earth. Pegs 
 were put into holes bored with the auger on 
 
 22 
 
one side of the cabin wall. Up those pegs little 
 Abe climbed at night to his bed of leaves in 
 a corner of the loft. Of course there was a 
 chimney, and Mrs. Lincoln cooked the meals 
 over the coals and flames in the fireplace. 
 
 The old half -faced camp did not go unoc- 
 cupied. Betsy Sparrow and her husband, Tom, 
 came to join the Lincolns. She was the aunt 
 who had raised Abe's mother. By now fields 
 had been cleared and a crop of corn and po- 
 tatoes had been harvested. For perhaps a year 
 life went on more smoothly and pleasantly for 
 the Lincolns than it had since their arrival in 
 the Indiana country. 
 
 Loneliness and isolation were accepted haz- 
 ards of frontier life. Even more frightening, 
 however, was the thought of illness. Doctors 
 were almost unheard of and women had to 
 do what they could with home remedies. No 
 wonder, then, that the news of "milk sick" 
 was heard with dread. This often-fatal disease 
 came from drinking the milk of cows that had 
 grazed on poisonous weeds. 
 
It was the autumn of 1818 when the "milk 
 sick" appeared in southern Indiana and spread 
 toward the settlement where the Lincolns and 
 the Sparrows lived. Tom and Betsy Sparrow 
 became ill and died within a few days of each 
 other. Tom Lincoln made coffins for these two 
 good neighbors, and their burial took place 
 without a funeral ceremony. Preachers, like 
 doctors, were not often to be found in time 
 of need. 
 
 Shortly after this Mrs. Lincoln became ill. 
 There was little the family could do ; they knew 
 of no remedy and the nearest doctor was thirty- 
 five miles away. In less than a week Nancy 
 Hanks Lincoln lay dead. 
 
 Once again Tom was called upon to make a 
 rough coffin. Again the little family followed 
 the path through the woods to the knoll where 
 the Sparrows were buried. With what bewilder- 
 ment Sarah and her nine-year-old brother must 
 have watched at the graveside of their mother. 
 Even by the following summer when a passing 
 preacher was asked to say a funeral service 
 
 24 
 
over her grave the children found it hard to 
 realize their mother would not return. 
 
 Now began "pretty pinching times" for the 
 family, as Abe later said. Sarah did her best 
 to keep the cabin in order. Not only did she 
 have to cook for her father and brother but 
 for an older cousin, Dennis Hanks, as well. 
 Sarah was hardly twelve and the full manage- 
 ment of a frontier home was beyond her ability. 
 The household needed a woman, and Tom came 
 to realize this as the days went by. 
 
 25 
 

 
 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Growing Up in Indiana 
 
 Tom Lincoln knew the very woman he wanted 
 for his new wife. He had known and liked 
 Sally Bush in the days when he had been 
 growing up in Elizabethtown. She had in time 
 married Daniel Johnston who, when he died, 
 left her with three children: John, Sarah, and 
 Matilda. Mrs. Johnston and her family had 
 remained in Elizabethtown. 
 
 27 
 
Tom left Sarah, Abe, and Dennis Hanks in 
 the log cabin on Pigeon Creek in November, 
 1819, and set off for Kentucky to ask Sally 
 Bush Johnston to marry him. He arrived in 
 Elizabeth town on December 1, and matters 
 were quickly arranged. On December 2, he and 
 Sally Johnston were married. A brother-in-law 
 of Tom Lincoln's came with a four-horse team 
 and a wagon to help with the moving. The new 
 Mrs. Lincoln's possessions were loaded into the 
 wagon. She and her three children climbed on. 
 Off the wagon went into the wilds of Indiana. 
 
 It was a great day in the Lincoln household 
 when Sally Bush Lincoln arrived. She must 
 have been surprised to see the poor cabin and 
 the uncared-for children. 
 
 What treasures, in the eyes of those children, 
 were unloaded from the wagon! "One fine 
 bureau, one table, one set of chairs, one large 
 clothes chest, cooking utensils, knives, bedding, 
 and other articles," was the way Dennis Hanks 
 named them. Such things Abe and Sarah had 
 not seen anywhere. 
 
 28 
 
Sally Lincoln was kind and energetic, and 
 she had a way of getting things done. Tom 
 was persuaded to put a window, a door, and a 
 puncheon floor in the cabin. The children were 
 bathed and clothed. Better beds were made 
 for everyone. Abe no longer slept on dried 
 leaves piled in a corner of the loft. He, Dennis 
 Hanks, and John Johnston had comfortable 
 beds and warm coverlets. 
 
 Sally Bush Lincoln gave Abe a comfortable 
 home, but she gave him something else that 
 he valued more. Though the tasks of the day 
 were endless, Sally found time to listen to Abe's 
 ideas. She recognized his intelligence and en- 
 couraged him to learn. She talked with him 
 and gave him information and advice. 
 
 Abe had many ideas and interests and he 
 liked to share them. Going to the mill with 
 a sack of corn was a pleasant task. He did 
 not mind how long he had to wait at the mill. 
 He could talk to the men and boys and learn 
 their ways and what they were thinking. He 
 could listen to their stories and tell some of 
 
 29 
 
his own. Then he could engage in racing, wres- 
 tling, jumping, and weight-lifting. 
 
 Abe liked books. He had already learned to 
 read before his own mother had died. Now 
 from his home on Pigeon Creek he again went 
 to school, walking four or five miles with his 
 sister, Sarah, and the Johnston children. Abe 
 went to school, however, only "by littles' ' and 
 he himself said that all of the days he went to 
 school, if put together, would not amount to 
 more than a year. It was often necessary for 
 him to stop school to work for his father or 
 for neighbors as a hired hand. Nevertheless, 
 he found or made opportunities to read the 
 books he loved. 
 
 In Indiana, Abe's first teacher was Andrew 
 Crawford. He taught reading, writing, simple 
 arithmetic, spelling, and manners. The subjects 
 made little difference. Abe was eager to learn. 
 
 Spelling was easy for Abe. Once he listened 
 to a spelling lesson. The word defied was given 
 the class. One after another the boys and 
 girls tried to spell the word and failed. The 
 
teacher became furious and said he would keep 
 the whole class in until the word was spelled 
 correctly. When Amy Roby's turn came, Abe, 
 who was not in the spelling class, pointed to 
 his eye as she hesitated over the letter follow- 
 ing /. Amy spelled the word correctly and the 
 class was let out. 
 
 Abe became known as the best penman in 
 the community. Some of his old copybooks 
 have been preserved. One sample of his hand- 
 writing shows that he did not know much 
 about capital letters, periods, or commas, at 
 the time he wrote it. 
 
 The clothes Abe wore were typical of the 
 backwoods. His low shoes or moccasins were 
 made of skin or of birch bark with hickory 
 bark for soles. His breeches were of buckskin 
 or of jean, a home-woven cloth. They fitted 
 tightly and ended ten or twelve inches above 
 his shoe tops. His shins, as he recalled, were 
 sometimes blue with cold. He wore shirts of 
 linsey-woolsey, another home-woven cloth, and 
 a cap made of raccoon or possum skin. 
 
 31 
 
Whether young Abe Lincoln was always able 
 to spell words correctly, whether he was a good 
 penman, whether manners meant much to him 
 as a school subject, whether he was gawky 
 and rudely dressed, made little difference. He 
 was a reader. He read everything he could 
 lay his hands on. His ideas grew. 
 
 A book always aroused Abe's curiosity and 
 he would go to great lengths to get one. He 
 often borrowed books from Josiah Crawford, a 
 prosperous farmer living near Gentryville. 
 Weem's Life of George Washington was one of 
 Abe's favorites. He finished reading it late 
 one night and put it for safekeeping between 
 two logs at the side of his bed. Rain fell in 
 the night and the book became wet and dis- 
 colored. Abe went to the home of Mr. Crawford 
 with a heavy heart. He knew that he did not 
 have the money to replace such a valuable 
 book. He felt sure a book about the great 
 hero Washington must be expensive. 
 
 Abe told Mr. Crawford about the book and 
 asked how he could ever make good the damage. 
 
 32 
 
Mr. Crawford liked Abe Lincoln and he knew 
 how much books meant to the boy. 
 
 "Come over and pull fodder for three days 
 and the book is yours," said the farmer. To 
 Abe the request seemed small payment. 
 
 Time for reading was often scarce. Abe 
 was a strong fellow and his labor was impor- 
 tant to Tom Lincoln. In those days a father 
 had a right to his son's labor or to any wages 
 earned by his son until the boy was twenty-one. 
 When Abe was not needed for work on his 
 father's farm he helped out the neighbors for 
 twenty-five cents a day. 
 
 Gentryville, the community nearest Pigeon 
 Creek farm, grew up during the fourteen years 
 that Tom Lincoln and his family lived there. 
 Plenty of people needed the labor of a strong 
 boy. Abe was hired out as a plowman, a hos- 
 tler, a wood chopper, a carpenter, and a chore 
 man. He helped with household tasks, carrying 
 water, and building fires. He and his sister 
 Sarah, both worked at times for Mr. and Mrs. 
 Josiah Crawford. 
 
 33 
 
Abe was strong and he could do a great 
 amount of work in a day, but the neighbors 
 sometimes said he was lazy. Nevertheless, Abe 
 was popular and everyone liked to hear his 
 funny stories. He gossiped and joked with 
 Mrs. Crawford to her great delight. All the 
 neighbors admired his feats of strength. 
 
 In 1825, when Abe Lincoln was sixteen, he 
 was employed by James Taylor who lived at 
 the mouth of Anderson's Creek and ran a ferry 
 there. Abe was hired to run the ferryboat 
 across Anderson's Creek and also across the 
 Ohio River into which the creek flowed. He 
 earned six dollars a month, and he worked 
 there nine months. In addition to the manage- 
 ment of the ferryboat, Abe did all kinds of 
 farm work and helped with some housework. 
 He shared a bed with Green Taylor, his em- 
 ployer's son. Green said that Abe often read 
 until after midnight although he had to be 
 up and at work before daylight. 
 
 The heart and mind of Abraham Lincoln, 
 however, were not in doing chores around the 
 
 34 
 
house, managing a ferryboat, plowing, chop- 
 ping wood, taking care of farm animals, or 
 shocking corn. He had the strength to do 
 these kinds of work and he belonged to a poor 
 family who needed his labor and his wages. 
 Ordinary boys might have been content to do 
 these chores, but Abraham Lincoln was a boy 
 with growing ideas and ambitions. 
 
 Reading, reading, reading! He was always 
 reading when he was not talking or had no 
 
 35 
 
work that must be done. Sometimes he read 
 when he should have been working. John 
 Hanks said that when he and Abe returned 
 to the house from work, Abe would snatch 
 a piece of cornbread from the cupboard, take 
 a book, sit down, put his feet up as high as his 
 head, and read while he munched his bread. 
 At night he would read by the light cast by 
 burning spice wood branches, or pine- wood 
 knots that glowed in the fireplace. 
 
 While Abe always valued books and what 
 they could teach him, he never forgot that he 
 could learn much from the people around him. 
 By 1828 Abe was working as a part-time clerk 
 in the general store at Gentryville. Mr. Jones, 
 the storekeeper, subscribed to a Louisville news- 
 paper. The store was not a busy one and Abe 
 spent many hours discussing the contents of 
 the newspaper with the men and boys who 
 gathered there. 
 
 Politics and national affairs were what in- 
 terested the men most. The election was one 
 topic which was widely discussed. Andrew 
 
 36 
 
Jackson of Tennessee had become President 
 of the United States and, for the first time, 
 a man from the Northwest led the nation. 
 Finally the frontier people were to have their 
 say in national affairs, or so the men in Indiana 
 said to each other. 
 
 There were still arguments over the pro- 
 tective tariff bill passed by Congress just be- 
 fore the new President was elected. This bill 
 placed high taxes on goods bought from foreign 
 countries and thus enabled American industries 
 to sell their products at a profit. Because most 
 factories were located in the northern states, 
 men in the South felt the tariff favored the 
 North. A few men went so far as to say that 
 the tax might be a reason for southern states 
 to withdraw from the Federal Union. 
 
 The men, in discussing Jackson's election, 
 probably wondered what the new President 
 thought about the ideas of nullification and 
 secession. Jackson's answer to these ideas, 
 given in a toast in 1830 at Charleston, South 
 Carolina, was: "Our Federal Union! It must 
 
 37 
 
be preserved !" It was an answer that Abraham 
 Lincoln would finally make his own. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln undoubtedly understood 
 what was meant by Federal Union, for when 
 he was about eighteen he had read the Revised 
 Statutes of Indiana. This book contained the 
 Declaration of Independence as well as the 
 Constitution of the United States, the basis of 
 the Federal Union. Next came the Act of Vir- 
 ginia passed in 1783. By this act, Abe learned, 
 Virginia gave to the newly-formed Federal 
 Union the territory northwestward of the Ohio 
 River which the state had owned when it had 
 been one of the thirteen original colonies. Con- 
 tinuing in his book, Abe found the Ordinance 
 of 1787 passed by the Congress of the United 
 States for governing the Northwest Territory. 
 
 In the Ordinance of 1787 Abe discovered the 
 following restriction: ' There shall be neither 
 slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said 
 territory, otherwise than in punishment of 
 crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly 
 convicted. ,, That was another idea for Abe to 
 
 38 
 
consider and discuss. Slavery was becoming 
 a national issue. 
 
 The last of the book was devoted to the 
 Constitution and Revised Laws of Indiana. Abe 
 studied these pages and they meant much to 
 him because at Boonville, fifteen miles from 
 Gentryville, was a court of law. Abe used to 
 walk there and back to hear lawyers present 
 their cases. On his way home Abe may have 
 tried to relate what he had read to what he 
 had just seen and heard. 
 
 Abe had grown to maturity in Indiana. He 
 was now six feet four inches tall with a long 
 lean frame well supplied with hard muscles. 
 His life had been that of a laborer, and his 
 education had been meager; but already the 
 dream of the future was beginning. Abe was 
 coming of age at the time of destiny. 
 
 39 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Sangamontown to New Orleans 
 
 News of a better location was always an in- 
 vitation for a backwoodsman like Tom Lincoln 
 to move on. This time the reports came from 
 John Hanks in Illinois and they tempted Tom 
 to think of a fourth move westward. Rich 
 farms were to be had along the Sangamon 
 River where timberland and prairie met. By 
 the spring of 1830 Tom was ready to move. 
 
 41 
 
Perhaps Tom thought back to the days when 
 he had decided to leave Kentucky. Of the small 
 family that had made that hard trip and set- 
 tled at Knob Creek farm only Tom and Abe 
 were left, for Sarah had died the year after 
 her marriage. 
 
 There were others, however, to accompany 
 Tom and Abe. Now in addition to Sally Bush 
 Lincoln and her son, John Johnston, there 
 were her daughters and their husbands, Dennis 
 Hanks and Levi Hall. 
 
 Tom turned his farm over to James Gentry 
 for whom the little settlement had been named. 
 Dennis and Levi sold their cattle and grain 
 and most of their household goods. In March 
 the group set out for Illinois. 
 
 All the possessions they had kept to take 
 along were packed into heavy wagons. Seven 
 yoke of oxen were hitched to the wagons, and 
 the cavalcade set off. Abe drove one of the 
 teams. The weather was cold; the streams 
 were swollen; the roads were muddy, and 
 frozen at night. Day after weary day the 
 
 42 
 
party struggled through the mud and ice. 
 Often it took long hours to ford a raging 
 stream. Many times Abe got down from the 
 wagon to push a wheel from a mud rut. 
 
 Abe had invested his money, about thirty 
 dollars, in notions to sell along the way. He 
 did a good business, for people were glad to 
 get the needles, pins, thread, buttons, and other 
 small household necessities which he had to 
 sell. A set of knives was the largest item he 
 had. He doubled his money during the two 
 weeks the party traveled. 
 
 John Hanks had logs ready to build a cabin 
 and the men soon had a one-room shelter 
 raised. Tom's family moved into the new cabin 
 and the relatives settled in homes nearby. Abe 
 and the other men set to work clearing and 
 fencing ten acres of land. A crop of corn was 
 harvested that first year. 
 
 This was the last work Abe did for his father. 
 He was twenty-one and ready to make his way 
 alone. His only possessions were the poor 
 clothes he wore. For a year he remained in 
 
 43 
 
the neighborhood, doing whatever odd jobs 
 were to be had. 
 
 Splitting rails was part of the work Abe 
 found. He and another young man split about 
 a thousand rails and were paid in homespun 
 clothing. Abe bargained to make four hundred 
 rails for each yard of jean dyed with walnut 
 bark. His goal was enough cloth to make a 
 pair of breeches. 
 
 By the winter of 1830 Abe had begun to feel 
 impatient with the limited opportunities to be 
 found in the neighborhood of the Sangamon 
 farm. He welcomed an offer from Denton Offutt 
 to help take a boat down the Mississippi to 
 
 44 
 
New Orleans. Offutt was an energetic back- 
 woodsman who planned to start a store in New 
 Salem in the spring of 1831. He had asked 
 John Hanks, an experienced riverman, to take 
 a boatload of cargo to New Orleans. John 
 Hanks had introduced John Johnston and Abe 
 Lincoln to Offutt as good men for the crew. 
 
 Abe had already made one trip to New Or- 
 leans. In March 1828 he and Allen Gentry had 
 taken a flatboat loaded with farm products 
 down the Ohio and Mississippi for Allen's 
 father. The trip had taken about three months. 
 
 Perhaps Abe recalled this earlier trip as he 
 listened to John Hanks discuss the plans made 
 by Offutt. Each man was to receive fifty cents 
 a day and sixty dollars to make the trip. 
 Hanks, Johnston, and Lincoln were to meet 
 Offutt at the mouth of Spring Creek on the 
 Sangamon River where Offutt was to have a 
 boat ready for them. 
 
 When they arrived, Denton Offutt was not 
 there, nor was the boat. The three men walked 
 to Springfield and located Offutt. Since his 
 
 45 
 
cargo was not ready and he had no boat, he 
 hired the men to make the boat themselves at 
 Sangamontown. This small settlement was on 
 the banks of the Sangamon River, about five 
 miles from Springfield. Upon their arrival 
 there Abe and his friends set to work. 
 
 It took four weeks to build the flatboat. 
 During that time Abe became a favorite in 
 the neighborhood. The men and boys of San- 
 gamontown were accustomed to gather for 
 talking and story-telling when they were not 
 at work. There on a peeled log, they sat and 
 whittled and talked. Soon Abe became a reg- 
 ular member of the group. Whenever he ap- 
 peared, the others set him to telling stories. 
 
 When the flatboat was finished the three 
 men prepared to leave Sangamontown. With 
 the help of his two companions and some of 
 his new-found friends, Abe made a canoe to 
 serve as a small boat for the larger craft. As 
 soon as the workers finished the canoe they 
 launched it in the Sangamon River, now swollen 
 from the melted winter snow. 
 
 4G 
 
There was a wild scramble to see who would 
 be the first to try out the canoe. In the strug- 
 gle Abe's helpers were upset in the raging 
 stream. The rush of the river swept the men 
 away and they were almost drowned before 
 they found refuge in an old elm tree in the 
 midst of the flood. The river rushed along on 
 both sides of the men and they were unable to 
 swim to the bank. Quickly, Abe secured a 
 long rope and swung it out over the water. 
 At first the rope fell short, but at last it flew 
 out straight and true. One of the men caught 
 it and Abe soon completed the rescue. A cheer 
 went up from the villagers who had come down 
 to the river bank to watch the excitement. 
 
 At last the flatboat was launched. It was 
 loaded with hogs, corn, and barrels of pork. 
 Urged forward by the current and, at times, by 
 "sails made of planks and cloth, ,, the curious- 
 looking boat made its way down the Sangamon, 
 into the Illinois River, and from there into the 
 Mississippi. The current bore it rapidly past 
 Alton, past St. Louis, and past Cairo. 
 
 47 
 
Early in May the flatboat reached New Or- 
 leans. The crew now numbered only three be- 
 cause John Hanks had been called home. In the 
 month it took to sell the cargo the men had 
 time to explore the city. Those were busy times 
 in New Orleans. Boats of every description 
 tied up at the wharf at St. Mary's Market. 
 It was possible to walk twelve miles over their 
 decks without once going ashore. Every kind 
 of produce was there to sell or buy. Corn, 
 hogs, pork, roots, whiskey, cotton, tobacco: all 
 the products of the land beyond the Gap were 
 displayed. All kinds of men and women were 
 there, too. There were native Americans from 
 backwoods settlements, from centers of cul- 
 ture, from farms, and from cities. There were 
 Creoles, Germans, Spaniards, French, Indians, 
 and Negroes. Even pirates from the bayous 
 and swamps of Louisiana and Mississippi were 
 sometimes in the crowd. 
 
 In New Orleans, Lincoln is said to have first 
 seen an auction of slaves. There were about 
 3,800,000 slaves in the United States at that 
 
 48 
 
time, most of the number owned by a compara- 
 tively small number of families. Many of the 
 slaves were well- treated. Some owners, how- 
 ever, were convinced that slavery was wrong 
 and had freed their slaves. Although some 
 slaves were already freed and others were not 
 unhappy in their slavery, slave auctions and 
 slaves in chains could be seen in the southern 
 states. Slavery was an unattractive business. 
 Abe Lincoln must have given the problem of 
 slavery serious thought as he walked through 
 the streets of New Orleans. 
 
 In June, Denton Offutt, John Johnston, and 
 Abraham Lincoln took passage on a steamer 
 going up the Mississippi to St. Louis. Offutt 
 left when the steamer tied up at St. Louis. 
 
 John Johnston and Abe then made their way 
 to Goose Neck Prairie and the new home Tom 
 Lincoln had set up there. Back on the San- 
 gamon River both Tom and his wife had suf- 
 fered from illness and they had decided to 
 move again. John remained at home, but Abe 
 had other plans. 
 
 49 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 New Salem Days 
 
 Denton Offutt had liked Abraham Lincoln, 
 and his liking increased during the trading 
 trip to New Orleans. Since he needed a good 
 clerk for the store he was planning to open in 
 New Salem, he engaged Lincoln on the trip. 
 
 After a short visit at home, Abe Lincoln 
 started for New Salem in July, 1831. He had 
 no possessions and little education, but he did 
 
 51 
 
 UNIVERSITY Of 
 K11N01S LIBRARY 
 
have a strong body, a sense of humor, and 
 an understanding of men. 
 
 New Salem was a little backwoods settle- 
 ment on the Sangamon River, about fifteen 
 miles from Springfield. Lincoln had seen it on 
 his trip down to New Orleans. The houses 
 were all built of logs. There were two stores, 
 a sawmill, a gristmill, and a tavern. Among 
 the inhabitants were a schoolmaster, a black- 
 smith, a tanner, and a hatter. At New Salem, 
 Lincoln made his first independent home. 
 
 Offutt was not ready for him when he ar- 
 rived, and Abe took what odd jobs he could 
 find until Offutt's plans took form. Lincoln's 
 first job in New Salem was as helper in an elec- 
 tion. At this time in Illinois voting was still 
 done orally. The judges and clerks of the elec- 
 tion sat at a table and had the poll books spread 
 open before them. Each voter walked to the 
 table, told his name and his choice of candi- 
 dates. His vote was recorded in his presence. 
 
 Mentor Graham, the schoolmaster, was act- 
 ing as clerk in the election. His assistant was ill 
 
 52 
 
on the day that the poll books were to be 
 opened, and Mentor Graham needed help. See- 
 ing a tall, lanky stranger near the polling place, 
 he said, "Can you write ?" 
 
 The stranger was Abraham Lincoln and he 
 was employed at once for the day. It did not 
 take much time to write the names of the voters 
 in a poll book in a small settlement like New 
 Salem. Lincoln used his spare time to tell 
 stories and to make new friends. 
 
 A few days after the election, Abe found 
 another job. This time he piloted a flatboat 
 to Beardstown which was between five and ten 
 miles down the Illinois River from the mouth 
 of the Sangamon. 
 
 The goods for the new general store finally 
 arrived. Denton Offutt opened shop in a small 
 log house that overhung the steep riverbank. 
 He offered for sale all the articles needed by 
 backwoodsmen and their families. 
 
 Naturally, in such a small community, the 
 new clerk was not busy much of the time. Of- 
 futt soon leased a mill and made his clerk 
 
 53 
 
superintendent of it. He hired Billy Greene, 
 the son of a neighborhood family, as assistant 
 clerk. There was time for the clerks to talk, 
 tell stories, and meet the Clary's Grove boys. 
 
 Clary's Grove, a small settlement near New 
 Salem, was well known for the gang of young 
 men who lived there. These boys had a repu- 
 tation for fighting, and no tactics were too 
 rough for them to try. The gang had left 
 Lincoln alone at first, for he was not inclined 
 to boast, but trouble was soon brewing. 
 
 Abe's first real encounter with the Clary's 
 Grove boys was brought about by Offutt's brag- 
 ging. He said that Abe could beat any man 
 in New Salem or in Sangamon County in run- 
 ning, jumping, or wrestling. That was some- 
 thing that Abe was called on to prove. 
 
 Jack Armstrong, leader of the Clary's Grove 
 boys, was chosen to challenge Abe. Jack was 
 a short, heavy fellow, with great strength. He 
 expected an easy victory over Abe. It was 
 with surprise that Jack discovered that the 
 tall, lanky stranger possessed equal strength. 
 
 54 
 
When the Clary's Grove boys saw their man 
 getting the worst of the match they swarmed 
 to his aid. By kicking and tripping they nearly 
 got Abe down. Abe's anger was aroused. He 
 caught Jack by the neck and slammed him to 
 the ground. Then, as the gang closed in, Abe 
 defended himself with his two long arms. 
 
 Jack knew that Abe had beaten him fairly. 
 He jumped to his feet, seized Abe's hand, and 
 said, ' 'You're the best feller that ever broke 
 into this settlement." 
 
From that time forward the Clary's Grove 
 boys respected Abe Lincoln. His fame as a 
 strong man and a fighter was established. 
 Everyone knew that he would and could de- 
 fend himself. 
 
 They were to find out other things about 
 Abe Lincoln. Soon the community was talking 
 of his honesty. One woman told how she had 
 bought goods that cost two dollars and twenty 
 cents, according to Abe's reckoning. She paid 
 the amount and took her purchases home. That 
 night, at closing time, Abe checked over the 
 accounts and found that he had charged the 
 woman too much. Although he had made an 
 overcharge of only six and one-fourth cents, he 
 walked several miles in the dark to the woman's 
 house and offered her the amount due. This 
 and other stories of Abe's honesty spread 
 rapidly throughout the village. 
 
 Abe and Billy Greene, the assistant whom 
 Offutt had employed for the store and mill, 
 slept in the loft over the store. The two boys 
 ate their meals at Bowling Green's farm, about 
 
 56 
 
three-quarters of a mile from the store. Every 
 morning they walked to the farm for breakfast. 
 Each noon and each evening at mealtime they 
 repeated the journey. 
 
 Lincoln became fond of both Mr. and Mrs. 
 Green. They returned his affection in equal 
 amount. In the dark days ahead, Abe could 
 always count on a home with them, even when 
 he could not pay the small sum of one dollar 
 a week which they charged boarders. 
 
 Sometimes, when there was nothing to do 
 in the store or the mill, Abe cut down trees 
 and split rails for Offutt. Of course, he spent 
 much time in reading books borrowed from 
 the Greens or from Mentor Graham. 
 
 Abe could never get enough books. He had 
 learned to read well and to get the basic 
 thoughts or ideas in any book or article. Often 
 he tried to put ideas into written or spoken 
 form, but he did not know much grammar. An 
 ambitious man, a man who wished to serve 
 his country or community in any public way, 
 would need to be able to express himself clearly 
 
 57 
 
and grammatically. Abe recognized that his 
 ignorance of grammar was a handicap and 
 he decided to ask the schoolmaster for help. 
 
 "I've a notion to study English grammar," 
 said Abe. 
 
 "If you expect to go before the public in any 
 capacity, I think it is the best thing you can 
 do," replied Mentor Graham. 
 
 Abe was anxious to begin the study of gram- 
 mar immediately, but Mentor Graham needed 
 his grammar book every day in school. At last, 
 Mentor Graham thought of a place where an- 
 other grammar could be found. He told Abe 
 that Mr. Vaner, who lived six miles away, had 
 one. Abe started off without delay. 
 
 In a short time he returned and announced 
 that he had secured a copy of Kirkman's Gram- 
 mar. He set to work at once to master it. 
 Sometimes he pored over the book while he sat 
 in the shade of a tree. Sometimes customers 
 found him lying stretched out on a counter in 
 the store studying it. When he needed help 
 he went to Mentor Graham, who explained the 
 
 58 
 
difficult parts to him. Soon Abe had mastered 
 the entire book and knew the application of 
 each rule. Mentor Graham knew that he had 
 an excellent student in Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 In March 1832, though he was only twen- 
 ty-three years of age, Abe decided that he 
 would run for the General Assembly in Illinois. 
 He had a handbill printed and distributed to 
 the voters, as follows: 
 
 Fellow Citizens: 
 
 I presume you all know who I am. I am 
 humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solic- 
 ited by many friends to become a candidate 
 for the Legislature. My politics are short 
 and sweet like the old woman's dance. I am 
 in favor of a national bank. I am in favor 
 of the internal improvement system and a 
 high protective tariff. These are my senti- 
 ments and political principles. If elected, I 
 shall be thankful; if not, it will be all the 
 same. 
 
 A. Lincoln 
 
 59 
 
Improvements for the interior country of the 
 United States, such as the opening of canals, 
 and the clearing of river channels were of major 
 interest in 1832. At the time there were 
 few good roads, and water routes were im- 
 portant. The people of New Salem felt that 
 the deepening of the channel of the Sanga- 
 mon should be encouraged. If the river were 
 made navigable, people could travel the quick 
 water route to Beardstown and down the Mis- 
 sissippi to the markets of the world. The back- 
 woods country would then be open to trade. 
 
 Lincoln, like the other candidates for the 
 legislature, followed the custom of issuing a 
 circular to state his ' 'sentiments with regard 
 to local affairs." In addition to describing the 
 legislation he felt to be desirable, Lincoln also 
 told a little about his own personal beliefs: 
 "Every man is said to have his peculiar am- 
 bition. Whether it is true or not, I can say for 
 one, that I have no other so great as that of 
 being truly esteemed by my fellow men by ren- 
 dering myself worthy of their esteem. How far 
 
 60 
 
I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is 
 yet to be developed. I am young, and unknown 
 to many of you. I was born and have ever 
 remained in the humble walks of life. I have 
 no wealthy or powerful relations or friends to 
 recommend me." 
 
 In his circular Lincoln wrote, "I believe the 
 improvement of the Sangamon River to be 
 vastly important and highly desirable to the 
 people of the country." He argued that im- 
 provement of the Sangamon was a less expen- 
 sive venture than the building of a railroad. 
 Soon after the circular was issued came the 
 chance to test the possibilities of navigation 
 on the Sangamon. 
 
 A small steamer was coming up the Sanga- 
 mon River to New Salem and Springfield. The 
 announcement of its coming was joyfully re- 
 ceived. The future of the people along the 
 Sangamon looked rosy. The outside world 
 would be just beyond their doorstep. 
 
 The Talisman made her way upstream at 
 the appointed time. She passed New Salem 
 
 61 
 
after the dam had been cleared away enough 
 to allow her to go through. Boys from the 
 community followed the boat on horseback, 
 riding along the river bank as far as Bogue's 
 Mill where the Talisman tied up. There the 
 boys went aboard the vessel and admired the 
 wonderful decorations. To backwoods boys the 
 little steamer was indeed a splendid ship. 
 
 Soon the waters of the Sangamon began to 
 go down from the high mark that they had 
 reached after the spring thaws and rains. 
 The captain and the other officers decided 
 to head downstream. They knew that if low 
 water caught the Talisman she would have to 
 stay tied up until the next spring. Lincoln and 
 another man were hired to pilot the boat down- 
 stream. With skill, Lincoln and his co-pilot 
 directed the course of the boat at the rate 
 of four miles a day. The Talisman reached 
 Beardstown safely. A few months later the 
 boat caught fire at a wharf on the Mississippi. 
 Her career was ended and so was any attempt 
 to establish steamers on the Sangamon. 
 
 62 
 
The future of New Salem looked black in- 
 deed. Offutt's store was failing and Lincoln 
 knew he would have to look for another job 
 if he were not elected to the legislature. 
 
 Then in April new excitement raged in Illi- 
 nois. It swept not only along the Sangamon 
 but throughout the entire state and through 
 neighboring states and territories as well. 
 Echoes were heard in the nation's capital. 
 War with the Indians threatened. 
 
 63 
 
*>-* 
 
 

 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Volunteer Soldier 
 
 Indians were abroad in the land. Danger 
 drew near as in olden times, and fear swept 
 over the backwoods people. 
 
 White men who were interested in clearing 
 farms and building cities wanted to see all 
 Indians driven across the Mississippi River. 
 As early as 1804 an agreement had been made 
 with a few chiefs whereby they had peaceably 
 
 65 
 
withdrawn to an area now in Iowa. The Indians 
 had, however, reserved the right to hunt and 
 raise corn on their old lands in western Illinois 
 for as long a time as these lands remained 
 unsold to settlers. 
 
 Trouble arose in 1831 when Black Hawk, 
 chief of the Sauk Indians, recrossed the Mis- 
 sissippi with the intention of planting corn and 
 hunting in northwestern Illinois. The settlers 
 there were alarmed and succeeded in forcing 
 the Indians to leave before the tribe could har- 
 vest its crops. The Indians suffered a severe 
 famine, and when the spring of 1832 came, 
 Black Hawk decided to lead his people to join 
 the friendly Winnebagos in Wisconsin. 
 
 The tragic conflict of the Black Hawk War 
 might have been avoided, but a reckless white 
 settler shot and killed an Indian carrying a 
 flag of truce. After this provocation Black 
 Hawk and his men began to attack settlers 
 living near the Wisconsin border. 
 
 The governor of Illinois called for volunteers 
 to put down the uprising begun by Black Hawk. 
 
 66 
 
In Sangamon County a hundred men — Abe 
 Lincoln among them — immediately answered 
 the governor's summons and made ready to 
 join similar volunteer groups. The meeting 
 place was Beardstown, a settlement on the 
 Illinois River forty miles from New Salem. 
 
 The volunteers were a mixed group. Some of 
 them were lean, gawky boys from backwoods 
 farms. Some were rough men like the Clary's 
 Grove boys. Others were clerks, boatmen, mer- 
 chants, lawyers, and teachers. Few men were 
 well-trained as soldiers. Each one equipped 
 himself for military service with what he could 
 get together. No two men were dressed and 
 equipped in the same way. They looked like 
 what they were, untrained volunteers from 
 the backwoods. 
 
 Before proceeding to Beardstown, the men 
 of Sangamon County gathered in a field near 
 Richland, not far from New Salem. The re- 
 cruits felt they needed a captain and decided 
 to choose one. Abraham Lincoln and another 
 man were selected as candidates. 
 
 67 
 
At the command "March," the volunteers as- 
 sembled beside the man they wanted for cap- 
 tain. Three-fourths of the men joined Lincoln. 
 He could not help but feel satisfaction in being 
 chosen, for this was the first time that a group 
 of his fellow men elected him as their leader. 
 
 The captaincy of a group of volunteer back- 
 woods soldiers was not an easy job. The men 
 had little respect for discipline. They were 
 used to taking orders from no one. In reclaim- 
 ing the wilderness and in living the rough life 
 of the frontier, they had learned to depend 
 upon themselves. 
 
 Lincoln's first commands were answered by 
 laughter and disrespect. This lack of discipline 
 did not disturb him, for he was used to the 
 independence of spirit in the backwoodsmen. 
 Lincoln, a backwoodsman himself, laughed off 
 the incident and tried again. 
 
 When Lincoln and his men reached Beards- 
 town they became part of a force of sixteen 
 hundred men. Although it was April the 
 weather was cold and the roads muddy. Heavy 
 
 68 
 
rains had flooded some of the rivers. In the 
 mud and chill of early spring the soldiers had 
 a taste of some of the real hardships of war. 
 
 The men marched from Beardstown to Yel- 
 low Banks on the Mississippi River and then 
 to Fort Dixon on the Rock River. They were 
 now close to the Wisconsin border and they 
 felt they were near action. Then came word 
 of Stillman's defeat. 
 
 Major Stillman was in charge of a company 
 of rangers. Although poorly disciplined, the 
 group was large enough to convince Black 
 Hawk of the wisdom of withdrawing across 
 the Mississippi. In this spirit, Black Hawk 
 sent three Indians to ask for a truce. These 
 truce bearers were heedlessly fired upon and 
 killed by the rangers. Infuriated, Black Hawk 
 and forty of his warriors attacked Major Still- 
 man's men, who fled in disorder. 
 
 Indian resistance was, however, not well or- 
 ganized. Soldiers from Fort Dixon were sent 
 out in an effort to hunt down scattered bands, 
 but actual encounters were few. Lincoln's men 
 
 69 
 
never saw action, and they soon shared the 
 general discontent felt by most of the volun- 
 teers. The men welcomed an order from the 
 governor mustering them out of service. 
 
 Lincoln decided to volunteer again, this time 
 as a private in Captain Elijah He's company. 
 The duties of his new company included carry- 
 ing messages and spying on the Indians. The 
 men had no camp duties and could draw rations 
 as often as they wished. Lincoln found himself 
 better off as a private than he had been as a 
 captain. For a time it even seemed that he 
 might see some action. Word came that the 
 town of Galena was threatened. Captain He's 
 company made a forced march to the town — 
 only to find that the Indians had completely 
 disappeared before the soldiers' arrival. 
 
 In the middle of June, Lincoln's term of en- 
 listment was again up. He volunteered once 
 more, this time under Captain Early. The war 
 was nearly over, but he and his fellow soldiers 
 spent part of July stumbling through forests 
 and wading through swamps in pursuit of 
 
 70 
 
Black Hawk. Fortunately, Lincoln's company 
 had no part in the cruel massacre that ended 
 the war. 
 
 After a little less than four months of service 
 Lincoln was out of the army and far from 
 New Salem. To make matters worse, his horse 
 had been stolen the night before his company 
 disbanded. Lincoln and a companion walked 
 from Black River to Peoria. For food, the men 
 mixed meal and water and baked it in bark 
 rolls placed near their fire. 
 
 At Peoria, Lincoln and his companion bought 
 a canoe. They paddled down the Illinois River 
 to Havana. There they sold the canoe and 
 walked cross-country to New Salem. 
 
 The Black Hawk War was not much of a 
 war, but from his experiences in it Abraham 
 Lincoln learned some of the sufferings that 
 come from dreary days of march and battle. 
 
 71 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Finding the Right Road 
 
 Abraham Lincoln returned to New Salem in 
 July, 1832, after his service as volunteer soldier 
 in the Black Hawk War ended. As election 
 time was drawing near he again took up his 
 race for the state legislature with renewed 
 vigor. Although he was defeated, he was al- 
 ways proud that he had received almost all the 
 votes cast in his home community. 
 
 73 
 
His popularity in the election did not furnish 
 him a job, or food, or clothing. Offutt's store 
 had failed, and Lincoln had no work and no 
 money. His friends in New Salem were kind 
 to him. They enjoyed his talk; they liked 
 everything they knew about him; they felt he 
 was one of them. Lincoln wanted to remain 
 among his friends, but he had to find a way 
 to make his living. 
 
 There were no positions open at the time, 
 but soon an opportunity to become part owner 
 of a store arose. Lincoln entered into partner- 
 ship with William F. Berry, another young man 
 of New Salem. 
 
 One of their competitors was Reuben Rad- 
 ford. He had heard of the roughness and de- 
 structiveness of the Clary's Grove boys and 
 wanted to avoid trouble with them. He tried 
 to place restrictions on their conduct, but the 
 Clary's Grove boys objected to this treatment. 
 One day, when Radford was away and his 
 younger brother was in charge, they came to 
 the store. In a moment their pistols were 
 
 74 
 
whipped out and the stock supply was riddled 
 with bullets. 
 
 When Radford returned and saw the mess, 
 he declared that he was ready to sell out at 
 the first offer. Billy Greene, who had clerked 
 with Abe at the Offutt store, at once made an 
 offer of four hundred dollars. Radford agreed 
 to this price, and Billy gave him twenty-three 
 dollars in cash and a promissory note. 
 
 Lincoln came to the store soon after Billy 
 had made his agreement and helped him take 
 inventory. They found that the goods were 
 worth about nine hundred dollars. Lincoln and 
 Berry offered to buy the store and goods from 
 Billy. They gave him two-hundred and fifty 
 dollars, a horse and bridle, and took over the 
 note that Billy had signed. Within a short 
 time the Lincoln and Berry general store was 
 open for business. 
 
 One day, while Lincoln was cleaning the rub- 
 bish from an old barrel, he found a complete 
 edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, The col- 
 lection of comments upon law and law cases 
 
 75 
 
by the great English lawyer, Blackstone, was 
 a treasure for Abraham Lincoln. He had read 
 and studied the Revised Statutes of Indiana; 
 he had attended court; he had thought of 
 studying law. He therefore read these vol- 
 umes with more interest than he had ever given 
 to any other book. 
 
 He had plenty of time for reading. During 
 the summer, when farmers were busy with their 
 crops, business in the store was slow. It was 
 a common thing for customers to find Lincoln 
 lying on his back with his feet up against a 
 tree reading Blackstone by the hour. 
 
 There were many other interests for young 
 Abraham Lincoln to pursue. James Rutledge, 
 owner of a tavern in New Salem, had or- 
 ganized a debating society. Lincoln became 
 a member and made speeches at some of the 
 meetings. He also became acquainted with 
 Jack Kelso, a school teacher, merchant, and 
 vagabond who loved poetry. Kelso introduced 
 Lincoln to the poetry of Robert Burns and 
 the dramas of William Shakespeare. They 
 
 76 
 
spent many long summer days on the banks 
 of quiet streams reading poetry and talking. 
 
 The business at the store was dwindling. 
 In May, 1833, Lincoln was appointed post- 
 master of New Salem. It was a small job, 
 but it helped to supply him with his board 
 and a few clothes. Since the mail was delivered 
 to New Salem only once a week, Lincoln's 
 duties as postmaster left him free for other 
 kinds of employment. 
 
 Lincoln was offered a job as deputy-surveyor 
 under Calhoun, the county surveyor. Calhoun 
 was a Democrat, and Lincoln a Whig. When 
 he found out that the job would not politically 
 indebt him, Lincoln took it, although he had 
 to learn surveying. The pay was three dollars 
 a day, more than he had ever earned. 
 
 For six months Mentor Graham tutored Lin- 
 coln in geometry and other branches of mathe- 
 matics. At the end of six months Lincoln was 
 ready to begin his job. 
 
 Sometimes he would have to be away from 
 New Salem for three or four weeks at a time. 
 
 77 
 
Every surveying trip meant new friends for 
 Lincoln. Men flocked around him wherever he 
 was at work to hear his stories and ideas. No 
 better preparation for a political career could 
 be imagined. 
 
 Often, when Lincoln was starting out to 
 make a survey he would pick up any letters 
 that had arrived, tuck them in his hat, and 
 deliver them on the way. 
 
 People appreciated Lincoln's courtesies and 
 they found it easy to like him. Their politics 
 might differ from his, but they felt that he 
 considered and respected their opinions. They 
 were used to seeing him do many kinds of 
 work: splitting rails, keeping store, helping at 
 the mill, surveying, and handling the post of- 
 fice. They knew his strict sense of honesty. 
 
 The best wishes of his friends, however, did 
 not make Lincoln's business prosper. For one 
 reason and another, matters went from bad 
 to worse with the Berry and Lincoln store. 
 When the store at last failed completely, 
 Lincoln assumed his own debts and those of 
 
 78 
 
several other men who had been connected 
 with the store. Fourteen years passed before 
 Lincoln was able to pay off all of these debts. 
 Although he had been defeated for the state 
 legislature in 1832, Lincoln announced he would 
 be a candidate again in 1834. He made speeches 
 as he traveled the districts doing his survey- 
 ing. He used every chance he had to make 
 speeches at picnics and sales. Many times he 
 talked to groups of men in front of a court- 
 house. The tales about his strength in wres- 
 tling, cutting grain, and settling a fight spread 
 
 79 
 
throughout the state. He was strong and he 
 was popular. In August, 1834, Lincoln was 
 elected to the state legislature. 
 
 The legislature did not meet until December 
 and so Lincoln continued his surveying. He 
 also began to study law in earnest. 
 
 Lincoln had met Major John T. Stuart during 
 the election campaign. Major Stuart had also 
 been elected to the legislature and had en- 
 couraged Lincoln to study law. After the elec- 
 tion Lincoln borrowed Stuart's law books and 
 began to read. He had no one to help him 
 and still depended on surveying to pay his 
 board and clothing bills. When the legislature 
 met, Lincoln closed his law books but he opened 
 them again at the end of the session. 
 
 He secured a set of legal forms and drew 
 up deeds, mortgages, contracts, and all man- 
 ner of legal papers for the people of New Salem. 
 Since there was no practicing lawyer nearer 
 to New Salem than Springfield, Lincoln was 
 often called upon by neighbors to act as legal 
 representative. He did not charge for this 
 
 80 
 
work because he was not actually a lawyer. 
 He felt that it would be good practice if he 
 ever went into law. 
 
 December 1 rolled around at last and Lincoln, 
 dressed in a new suit bought because a friend 
 loaned him the money, arrived in Vandalia for 
 the opening of the legislature. The state capi- 
 tal was seventy-five miles from Springfield. It 
 was a town of eight hundred inhabitants and 
 seemed large to the young man from the small 
 village of New Salem. 
 
 Lincoln observed more than he participated 
 in the first session of the legislature. He made 
 a few motions and resolutions, but no speeches. 
 
 During that winter he met Stephen A. Doug- 
 las, a young fellow member of the legislature. 
 Douglas was hardly five feet tall. Lincoln said 
 that Douglas was the shortest man he had ever 
 seen. The two men, one extremely tall and the 
 other very short, were to see much more of 
 each other as time went on. 
 
 In the spring of 1835 the legislature closed 
 the first session of its term of two years. 
 
 81 
 
Abraham Lincoln went back to New Salem. He 
 again took up his duties as postmaster and as 
 deputy-surveyor, and he resumed his studies 
 of law. In addition, he fell in love. 
 
 For many years Lincoln had known Ann 
 Rutledge, a pretty, young girl of New Salem. 
 She was the daughter of James Rutledge, found- 
 er of the debating society to which Lincoln 
 belonged. She was just eighteen when Lincoln 
 fell in love with her. During their romance 
 Lincoln went away to the legislature, but on 
 his return in the spring of 1835, Ann promised 
 to marry him. 
 
 The marriage did not take place because Ann 
 became ill. She grew steadily worse, and Abe 
 was not allowed to see her until a short time 
 before her death, when they were given an 
 hour together. Ann died on August 25, 1835, 
 and was buried in Concord cemetery, seven 
 miles from New Salem. 
 
 Lincoln was grief-stricken. He walked fre- 
 quently to Ann's grave to mourn. "My heart 
 is buried there," he said to one of his friends. 
 
 82 
 
He was filled with sorrow at the thought of the 
 snow and rain on her grave. 
 
 There seemed to be little that anyone could 
 do for Lincoln. Finally, Bowling Green and his 
 wife, Nancy, took him into their home. There 
 he recovered peace of mind and eventually re- 
 gained an interest in the world around him. 
 
 Lincoln completed his first term in the state 
 legislature and then ran for re-election. Now, 
 although he was only twenty-seven, Lincoln 
 was an active participant in state affairs. He 
 was becoming well known as a member of "The 
 Long Nine." This was an appropriate name for 
 the seven representatives and two senators 
 sent by Sangamon County to the legislature, 
 for each man was over six feet tall. These 
 men were responsible for changing the state 
 capital from Vandalia to Springfield. 
 
 In this same session Lincoln made his stand 
 on other issues clear. Resolutions had been 
 passed stating that the legislature disapproved 
 of abolition societies, that the right of property 
 in slaves was sacred in the slave-holding states, 
 
 83 
 
and that the Congress of the United States had 
 no right to abolish slavery in the District of 
 Columbia. Lincoln and Dan Stone, another 
 member of the Illinois legislature, signed a 
 protest against the resolutions. They declared 
 that they did not approve of abolition societies 
 but that the institution of slavery was founded 
 on both injustice and bad policy. Lincoln was 
 coming close to the problems that would oc- 
 cupy much of his thought during the long 
 climb to the Presidency. 
 
 Up to this time, Lincoln had experience as 
 a deputy-surveyor, a postmaster, a member of 
 the state legislature, and a student of law. 
 His life was rapidly moving toward the time 
 when he must decide what he would become. 
 
 After the legislature adjourned in March, 
 1837, Lincoln sold his surveying instruments, 
 packed his few belongings, borrowed a horse 
 from Bowling Green, and rode away to Spring- 
 field. His New Salem days were over. 
 
 The new state capital had over one thousand 
 inhabitants, yet it was a backwoods town. 
 
 84 
 
Lincoln found the price of bed and furnishings 
 too high and so he gladly accepted the generous 
 invitation of his friend, Joshua Speed, to share 
 his room. He boarded with another friend, 
 William Butler. In 1836 Lincoln had been ad- 
 mitted to the practice of law before the Su- 
 preme Court of Illinois. On April 27, 1837, he 
 entered into a law partnership with Major John 
 T. Stuart. The law firm of Stuart and Lincoln 
 was ready for business in Springfield. 
 
 85 
 
* ***- 
 
 
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 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A. Lincoln, Attorney at Law 
 
 Lincoln found his lifework in law, politics, 
 and public affairs. The foundations of his in- 
 terest in these fields had been laid in his New 
 Salem days, but it was in Springfield that the 
 direction of his career became plain. 
 
 The tall young lawyer soon became a familiar 
 figure in Springfield. The office of Stuart and 
 Lincoln was on the second floor of a building 
 
 87 
 
that housed a courtroom on the first floor. 
 Lincoln's more-frequented headquarters, how- 
 ever, were in Joshua Speed's store. There the 
 politicians and town's talkers gathered to dis- 
 cuss problems of the day. Lincoln still main- 
 tained the stand he had taken in the state 
 legislature in his second term: slavery was 
 wrong in principle, and its practice, if con- 
 tinued, should be confined to those states where 
 it was already established. 
 
 Opponents learned to respect Abraham Lin- 
 coln's ability to speak easily and clearly. Lis- 
 teners were amused when Lincoln drew on his 
 large stock of homely stories and jokes to make 
 an idea plain and memorable. Sometimes, of 
 course, he told stories just for the fun of tell- 
 ing them. Even in later years he retained this 
 habit and broke the tension of difficult decisions 
 by recalling some humorous tale from back- 
 woods days. 
 
 At the elections in 1838 and again in 1840 
 Lincoln was returned to the legislature. He 
 was nominated as speaker by the Whigs for 
 
 88 
 
both terms, but he was defeated each time. 
 There was talk of nominating him for governor 
 but Lincoln decided not to run. He preferred 
 his law practice. 
 
 In 1839 Lincoln met Mary Todd, a vivacious 
 young woman from Kentucky who had be- 
 come popular with the young men in the cap- 
 ital. She had many suitors, Lincoln and 
 Stephen A. Douglas among them. She chose 
 Lincoln, and they were married in a simple 
 ceremony on November 4, 1842. 
 
 For their first year of married life the Lin- 
 colns lived at a small hotel called the Globe 
 Tavern. The young lawyer's income was not 
 large and Mary Lincoln had to be satisfied 
 with such quarters. It must have been a happy 
 day when the Lincolns moved into the pleasant 
 white house that stood at the corner of Eighth 
 and Jackson Streets. The house was of wood, 
 one story and a half high. 
 
 After a time Mrs. Lincoln felt that the fam- 
 ily's position in the community would justify 
 some changes in the house. When Lincoln was 
 
 89 
 
away from Springfield on an extended trip 
 practicing law, she had a second floor added. 
 
 Lincoln, when he returned, could not quite 
 believe his eyes. He went across the street 
 and knocked at a neighbor's door. 
 
 " Who's there ?" the neighbor called out. 
 
 "Abe Lincoln," was the reply. "I am looking 
 for my house. When I went away a few weeks 
 ago, there was only a one-story house there 
 and now it is two. I must be lost." 
 
 The neighbor said that Mrs. Lincoln had 
 added another story during his absence. Lin- 
 coln laughed and went across the street to his 
 own home. 
 
 The law partnership of Stuart and Lincoln 
 lasted from 1837 to 1841. In April of that 
 year Lincoln was invited to become the law 
 partner of Stephen T. Logan. Judge Logan 
 was a serious student of the law, and Lincoln 
 was helped much by association with him. The 
 partnership ended four years later when both 
 Lincoln and Logan ran for the office of United 
 States Congressman. 
 
 90 
 
Soon after the Lincoln-Logan partnership 
 ended, Abraham Lincoln and William H. Hern- 
 don formed a law firm which continued for 
 the rest of Lincoln's life. He and Billy Herndon 
 became fast friends, although they held op- 
 posite views on many questions. The office of 
 the firm was in a brick building which faced 
 the public square. It was shabby, with windows 
 looking out upon a back yard. The furnishings 
 were few and seldom in order. Lincoln kept 
 his important papers in the tall silk hat which 
 he wore. 
 
 The three law partnerships to which Lincoln 
 belonged lasted over a period of nearly thirty 
 years. During that time he practiced law in 
 the courts of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of 
 Illinois, in addition to his political activities. 
 
 Courts in the circuit lasted for nearly six 
 months each year. Judges and lawyers traveled 
 from one place to another to hold court. The 
 lawyers were usually from out of town, and 
 not having offices, they made use of the court- 
 house yard for transacting their affairs. The 
 
 91 
 
taverns and boarding houses in which they 
 stayed when they were traveling around on 
 circuit were often unattractive and uncom- 
 fortable. Lincoln usually took the cheapest 
 boarding place he could find, often sharing a 
 room with the judge or another lawyer. 
 
 "Old Tom," the horse that pulled Lincoln's 
 shabby open buggy from place to place, was 
 as raw-boned and lanky as his owner. The 
 clothes Lincoln wore at court were like those 
 of the ordinary farmer. He always wore a tall 
 silk hat, however, and a short, blue cloak which 
 came down to his hips. He carried a well-worn 
 carpetbag and an old faded umbrella. 
 
 Many amusing stories are told of Lincoln 
 and his law practice. His humor and sense 
 of justice often won cases that seemed lost. 
 
 Lincoln did not demand large prices for his 
 services. His ordinary fees were two dollars 
 and a half, five, ten, fifteen, or twenty-five dol- 
 lars. It took a great many of them to make 
 a good income. At times he believed his part- 
 ners charged too much. Once a woman was 
 
 92 
 
being cheated out of some money which had 
 been left for her support. Lincoln's partner in 
 the case for the woman had set the fee at two 
 hundred and fifty dollars. As the case was 
 won easily, Lincoln felt they had overcharged 
 the woman. At Lincoln's request they re- 
 turned half of the fee to her. There were 
 other cases where no fee at all was asked. 
 
 Lincoln believed in justice, however. On one 
 occasion he won a case for a railroad company 
 after much hard work. When he charged two 
 
 93 
 
thousand dollars for his work the company 
 thought it too much and refused to pay. Lin- 
 coln brought suit for five thousand dollars and 
 won the case. 
 
 During this time, Lincoln was becoming more 
 and more interested in politics. He was earn- 
 ing the confidence of the people which would 
 be of service to him during the troubled days 
 in Washington. 
 
 In 1842 Lincoln refused a nomination for the 
 state legislature because he hoped to go as a 
 Congressman to Washington. He became a can- 
 didate for nomination on the Whig ticket to run 
 for the House of Representatives. Another 
 man was nominated, to Lincoln's great disap- 
 pointment. Many causes had worked against 
 him. Some said that he would represent "pride, 
 wealth, and aristocratic family distinction." 
 That amused him greatly, for he had always 
 emphasized his poor background and his lack 
 of prestige. Once he said of himself, "I am 
 just plain Abraham Lincoln. There is no use 
 trying to make anything else of me." 
 
 94 
 
The chief thing that prevented his nomina- 
 tion for Congress, however, was an agreement 
 made by the Whig politicians of Illinois that 
 various ones of its leaders were to be given 
 turns at being elected to Congress. Lincoln's 
 turn had not come in 1842. 
 
 Lincoln continued his law practice until 1846 
 when he received the Whig nomination and 
 won his seat in Congress. Now he was Con- 
 gressman Lincoln, thirty-seven years old, ready 
 for his first appearance in national politics. 
 
 Congress, however, did not convene until late 
 in 1847. It was a long trip by both stagecoach 
 and train from Springfield to the capital. Lin- 
 coln had decided to take his family with him, 
 and there were his two little boys to keep 
 happy and amused. Robert was four and Eddie 
 a baby. The family welcomed the chance to 
 break their journey by a visit with Mrs. Lin- 
 coln's parents in Kentucky. 
 
 When the Lincolns finally arrived in Wash- 
 ington they found a city that looked very 
 little like the beautiful capital of today. Only 
 
 95 
 
a few streets were paved and there were almost 
 no sidewalks. No one paid any attention to 
 the pigs and chickens that could be seen in 
 almost any part of the city. The Capitol had 
 not been completed and a temporary wooden 
 dome added little to the building's appearance. 
 Most government offices were in houses that 
 had once been private homes and only the 
 Department of the Treasury had its own build- 
 ing under construction. 
 
 The Lincoln family moved into a small hotel. 
 Toward the end of the winter term, however, 
 Mrs. Lincoln and the two little boys again went 
 to her home in Lexington. Lincoln's letters 
 show how much he missed his sons, whom 
 he affectionately called his little rascals. 
 
 During his term in the House of Representa- 
 tives, Lincoln found that there were two much- 
 debated issues. The Whigs were especially 
 critical of President Polk for his direction of 
 the Mexican War. Lincoln upheld this point 
 of view, even though it was not popular with 
 the Illinois voters. 
 
 96 
 
The second issue that caused discussion was 
 
 slavery. Some Representatives were for the 
 
 immediate abolishment of all slavery in the 
 District of Columbia. Lincoln, while opposed 
 to slavery, took a moderate view and believed 
 
 that slavery should be ended gradually and 
 
 that slave owners should be compensated by 
 
 the government if they freed their slaves. The 
 
 session of Congress closed without the passage 
 
 of any legislation on the slave issue. 
 
 Although he would have liked re-election at 
 the end of his two years in Congress, it was 
 the turn of another Whig leader to go to Wash- 
 ington. Lincoln returned to his law practice 
 in Springfield, but he had gained greatly in 
 his knowledge of how the Federal Government 
 carried on its business. 
 
 Lincoln settled down to the practice of law 
 even more seriously than before. Again he 
 went about with judges and lawyers over the 
 Eighth Circuit. He became better and better 
 known in Illinois. His close personal associa- 
 tions with the men on the Eighth Judicial 
 
 97 
 
Circuit did much to make him a candidate for 
 President in 1860. 
 
 For a while after Lincoln's return from Con- 
 gress it seemed that his political career was 
 over. He practiced law as if that were to be 
 his work for the remainder of his life. Then 
 the question of extending slavery into new 
 territories came up, and Lincoln plunged into 
 the conflict. 
 
 The slavery question had long been one of 
 national concern. The Ordinance of 1787 had 
 said that slavery should not exist in the North- 
 west Territory. Then, when Missouri wanted 
 to be admitted to the Federal Union as a state, 
 a compromise was necessary. Each side gave 
 up some of its points in order to come to an 
 agreement. As a result, in 1820 Missouri came 
 into the Union as a slave state, but slavery was 
 forbidden in any other territory acquired by 
 the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern 
 boundary of Missouri. 
 
 At the end of the Mexican War a large 
 amount of new territory became part of the 
 
 98 
 
United States. California asked to be admitted 
 to the Federal Union as a free state in 1850. 
 This was favored by free states, opposed by 
 slave states. Each side was forced to give up 
 something in the Compromise of 1850, said by 
 some to repeal the Missouri Compromise. 
 
 In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from 
 Illinois, sponsored a bill in Congress that left 
 no doubt about the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise of 1820. By Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska 
 Bill each new state was left free to determine 
 whether it should enter the Union as a slave 
 or free state. This was the doctrine of popular 
 sovereignty, the right of the citizens living 
 within a state to decide what was best for the 
 state without interference from the national 
 government. Men who opposed slavery feared 
 the doctrine of popular sovereignty because 
 they thought that slavery might thus be ex- 
 tended into areas where it had been excluded 
 by the Missouri Compromise. 
 
 It was this question that brought Lincoln 
 back into politics and conflict with Douglas. 
 
 99 
 
Lincoln was running for the state legislature 
 in 1854 and Douglas was running for reelection 
 to the United States Senate. 
 
 The state fair was held in Springfield in 
 October each year, and Douglas arranged to 
 speak there, defending his support of the Kan- 
 sas-Nebraska Bill. Lincoln answered him the 
 following day with a speech that was received 
 with enthusiasm. Cheers echoed through the 
 hall where he spoke. Douglas answered him 
 the next day, and so the contest between the 
 two men started. Twelve days later at Peoria, 
 Lincoln replied to Douglas in a speech that is 
 one of the first great statements of his career. 
 
 In the Peoria speech on October 16, 1854, 
 Lincoln reviewed the whole history of the na- 
 tion where questions of slavery were con- 
 cerned. Although he argued that slavery was 
 wrong, he thought it could not be disturbed 
 where it already existed. Slavery, however, 
 must not be allowed to spread, he stated. 
 
 The Peoria speech showed Lincoln's view 
 on another point. He wanted to be fair to the 
 
 100 
 
states where many slaves were owned. He 
 favored re-establishing the Missouri Compro- 
 mise and argued: "We thereby restore the 
 national faith, the national confidence, the 
 national feeling of brotherhood . . . The South 
 ought to join in doing this. The peace of the 
 nation is as dear to them as to us. In mem- 
 ories of the past and hopes of the future, they 
 share as largely as we . . . Let North and 
 South — let all Americans — let all lovers of 
 liberty everywhere join in the great and good 
 work." 
 
 After the Peoria speech, Lincoln and Doug- 
 las stopped their debating. In the campaign 
 of 1854 Douglas was defeated in his race for 
 the Senate of the United States. Lincoln was 
 elected to the state legislature. 
 
 101 
 

 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Long Climb 
 
 It is a long climb from membership in a state 
 legislature to the Presidency of the nation. 
 Without knowing it, Lincoln had been prepar- 
 ing for this steep ascent all his life. His readi- 
 ness to learn from others, his ability to examine 
 an idea fairly, and his complete integrity won 
 the respect of men around him. His kindliness, 
 his lack of pretense, and his humor made 
 
 103 
 
people feel that he would consider the smallest 
 problems as well as the largest with genuine 
 interest. His shrewdness and political skill 
 were also not to be overlooked. 
 
 Even with these outstanding characteristics 
 Lincoln might not have made the long climb 
 had there been no unrest in the political parties 
 of the 1850's. The questions of slavery and the 
 power of the Federal Union were becoming of 
 such importance that the lines were breaking 
 down between the two established parties, the 
 Whigs and the Democrats. Lincoln had run 
 on the Whig ticket and had won, but elsewhere 
 Whig candidates were less successful, and the 
 party's increasing weakness was apparent. 
 
 Opposition to Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
 united many men who had before, as Whigs 
 and Democrats, been unable to agree on other 
 questions. In 1854 these men formed a new 
 political organization, the Republican party. 
 The party declared itself against slavery and 
 the extension of slavery into any of the terri- 
 tories. Even in the first year, the new party's 
 
 104 
 
candidates won in a number of state elections, 
 and the Democrats found themselves faced with 
 a surprisingly strong rival. The Whig party 
 quickly collapsed. 
 
 At first Lincoln was not sure that he could 
 go along with the principles of the Republican 
 party. He was afraid of its abolitionist ten- 
 dencies because, while he opposed slavery as 
 a moral evil, he felt that it was one that could 
 not be corrected by headlong action that would 
 create new abuses. He had expressed himself 
 against the establishment of slavery in the 
 new territories and for the gradual wiping out 
 of slavery everywhere. 
 
 At last in the summer of 1856 Lincoln de- 
 cided that he belonged to the new party and 
 at the Illinois convention he made a fiery 
 speech. He pointed out that while the North, 
 as represented by the Republican party, would 
 not fight on the slavery issue, it would fight 
 to preserve the Federal Union. Lincoln became 
 a recognized leader of the Republican party 
 in Illinois. 
 
 105 
 
During this time of political activity, Lin- 
 coln continued his law practice. He was a 
 familiar figure on the Eighth Judicial Circuit 
 and in Springfield. 
 
 People were used to seeing Lincoln walking 
 along with one small son on his shoulders and 
 another swinging at his coattails. Neighbors 
 sometimes found Lincoln romping on the floor 
 with the children, and they said among them- 
 selves that Lincoln spoiled his sons. These 
 same friends knew, however, how deeply the 
 Lincolns had mourned the death of little Eddie. 
 The birth of two other sons, Willie and Thomas, 
 could not quite wipe out this sorrow. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln was a gracious hostess and 
 ambitious that her husband should succeed 
 socially as well as politically. Perhaps she was 
 occasionally impatient with his manners or 
 his lack of interest in his clothes, but she was 
 nevertheless proud of his ability to get along 
 with everyone, rich and poor alike. 
 
 Lincoln was chosen at the Republican state 
 convention in Springfield as their candidate 
 
 106 
 
for the United States Senate. He declared: 
 "A house divided against itself cannot stand. 
 I believe this government cannot endure per- 
 manently half slave and half free. I do not ex- 
 pect 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." 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas was again seeking elec- 
 tion to the United States Senate on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket. A series of seven debates to be 
 held in different towns in Illinois was arranged 
 between Lincoln and Douglas. 
 
 The debates were on the principles of popular 
 sovereignty. Many people heard Lincoln and 
 Douglas, and newspapers reported the speeches. 
 The debate received nationwide attention. 
 
 Lincoln's shrewdest tactic in the debates was 
 his question to Douglas whether people in a 
 territory could lawfully exclude slavery. This 
 question meant disaster for Douglas no matter 
 how he chose to answer. If he said that slavery 
 could be excluded, then he went against the 
 
 107 
 
Supreme Court's famous decision that held an 
 owner had a legal right to a slave even though 
 the slave might be taken to a free territory. 
 If Douglas answered that slavery could not 
 be excluded, then he renounced his own Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill in which each territory had the 
 right to choose whether it should be free or 
 slave. Douglas answered that a territory could 
 exclude slavery and he thereby lost the con- 
 fidence of the South. His answer split the 
 Democratic party and in 1860 it lost him the 
 nomination for President. 
 
 When the debates were over, Lincoln had 
 become nationally famous. Douglas won the 
 Senate seat, but Lincoln won something that 
 was to be more important to him, the leader- 
 ship of the Republican party. 
 
 Lincoln was asked to speak in Ohio and 
 Kansas and in both states he made a favorable 
 impression. Then an invitation came to speak 
 at Cooper Union in New York City. He ac- 
 cepted, and appeared on February 27, 1860, 
 before a distinguished audience. He reviewed 
 
 108 
 
questions of the day in a convincing, polished 
 manner. There was not a hint of backwoods 
 politics about his speech. The audience was 
 pleased and enthusiastic. 
 
 From New York, Lincoln went to Harvard 
 to visit his son Robert who was a student 
 there. In response to many calls, he made 
 speeches in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New 
 Hampshire. He became known for his earnest 
 manner, his fair-minded attitude, and his un- 
 derstanding of the vital issues of the time. 
 
 On the ninth and tenth of May, 1860, the 
 Republican state convention met in Decatur, 
 Illinois. Lincoln was present as a spectator. 
 During the course of the meeting, his cousin 
 John Hanks entered the convention hall, bring- 
 ing with him a banner on top of two small 
 rails. The words on the banner were: 
 TWO RAILS 
 From a lot made by John Hanks 
 and Abe Lincoln in 1830 
 
 The old man's entrance was greeted with 
 ringing applause and Lincoln was called on for 
 
 110 
 
a speech. He admitted that he and John Hanks 
 had split rails in the Sangamon Bottom in 
 1830 and raised a great laugh by his amusing 
 speech. His political friends were pleased. 
 
 Before it ended its meeting, the convention 
 passed this resolution: " Abraham Lincoln is 
 the first choice of the Republican party of 
 Illinois for the Presidency." It instructed its 
 delegates to try to secure his nomination for 
 that office at the Republican national conven- 
 tion to be held in Chicago on May 16, 1860. 
 
 Lincoln was not present at the Chicago meet- 
 ing. He stayed in Springfield and went often to 
 the office of the telegraph company where he 
 waited for news. 
 
 The Wigwam, where the convention met, was 
 a large, temporary, wooden building. It was 
 packed to the doors. William H. Seward was 
 a favorite with many of the delegates and his 
 name was the first presented to the convention. 
 A storm of applause greeted his nomination. 
 Then Lincoln's name was presented. Friends 
 of his had packed the hall and yelled lustily. 
 
 ill 
 
The ovation for Lincoln was tremendous and 
 every time his name was mentioned the crowd 
 roared for him. Seward was ahead in votes 
 on the first ballot and Lincoln was second. 
 On the second ballot, Lincoln made gains, al- 
 though Seward was still ahead. Then delegates 
 began to change their votes. On the third 
 ballot Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was nomi- 
 nated as the candidate of the Republican party 
 for President. 
 
 All Springfield turned out to congratulate 
 Lincoln. There were parades and bands. In 
 all of the excitement Lincoln, the person most 
 concerned, remained calmest. 
 
 In the election canvass which followed, Lin- 
 coln remained at home. He made no speeches, 
 but he kept busy writing letters to friends 
 and members of the party who could help 
 him win. He was a wise politician. On Novem- 
 ber 6, 1860, he was elected sixteenth President 
 of the United States. 
 
 The Democrats would have elected their can- 
 didate, if all the votes cast by both branches 
 
 112 
 
of the Democratic party had been given to one 
 man; but the Democratic party had split. Lin- 
 coln had received nearly two million of the 
 votes of the people. The Democratic candi- 
 dates together had received nearly one million 
 votes more. 
 
 It was not a united nation for which the 
 new President would direct policies. To make 
 matters worse, he had four months to wait 
 before he took office while President James 
 Buchanan served the remainder of his term. 
 It was a period of anxiety. 
 
 During the election campaign some Southern 
 leaders had declared that if a Republican can- 
 didate for President was elected then the 
 Southern states should no longer try to com- 
 promise with the North. It would be time to 
 withdraw from the Union and to establish a 
 new government. 
 
 Lincoln was elected and the South Carolina 
 legislature almost immediately called a state 
 convention that formally voted to secede from 
 the Union. By February the state governments 
 
 113 
 
of Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Ala- 
 bama, and Texas had followed South Carolina. 
 These states saw no reason why they should 
 not leave the Union since they regarded the 
 Constitution as a voluntary agreement in effect 
 only so long as they desired to uphold it. 
 
 Many states in the West had a different opin- 
 ion about the Federal Union. They thought 
 that its rights were greater than the rights of 
 any individual state and that the Federal Union 
 could not be dissolved by the action of a 
 minority of its citizens. This attitude was 
 shared by the North where a strong national 
 feeling had arisen as industry prospered. 
 
 President Buchanan believed that no state 
 had the right to secede, but he declared in his 
 annual message to Congress that the Constitu- 
 tion gave no power to the Federal Government 
 to force a state to stay in the Union. 
 
 The President-elect was powerless to act. 
 Speaking about Buchanan's actions, Lincoln 
 said: "He's giving the case away and I can't 
 stop him," 
 
 114 
 
The country was in a frenzy of fear. Even 
 those who had elected Lincoln did not know 
 what he could or would do. 
 
 Office seekers crowded around Lincoln in the 
 temporary office which had been assigned him 
 in the state capitol in Springfield, but he cleared 
 up his private and public affairs. 
 
 He told Billy Herndon, his partner, to let 
 their law sign stay as it was, for he expected 
 to take up law again if he ever returned. 
 Shortly before he left for Washington, he 
 traveled across the state to say good-by to 
 his stepmother. Because a little girl had writ- 
 ten to him that he would look better if he 
 had a beard, he grew one. 
 
 Lincoln completed the appointments to his 
 Cabinet and finished writing his inaugural 
 speech. On February 11, 1861, the President- 
 elect and his family and official guard were 
 ready to leave for Washington. 
 
 Lincoln made a farewell address to his 
 friends who came to the station to see him 
 off. Although they were proud of his success, 
 
 115 
 
they were sad when the train bore him away. 
 His words left a tragic echo: 
 
 "My friends: No one, not in my situation, 
 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 man to an old man. Here my 
 children 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 con- 
 fidently hope that all will yet be well. To His 
 care commending you, as I hope in your prayers 
 you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
 farewell." 
 
 Crowds came out to hear Lincoln speak along 
 the way to the White House. He spoke briefly 
 
 116 
 
at Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pitts- 
 burgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York 
 City, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg. A reported 
 plot to assassinate him caused his guard to 
 persuade him to cancel plans for a speech in 
 Baltimore and go directly to Washington. 
 
 Lincoln arrived in the nation's capital early 
 on the morning of February 23, 1861, and went 
 directly to Willard's Hotel. There he was busy 
 with many affairs until his inauguration. 
 
 117 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Great and Terrible Heights 
 
 Lincoln had achieved the great and terrible 
 heights of the Presidency only to find himself 
 immediately faced with the possibility that 
 the United States that had elected him might 
 no longer exist. Were not seven states trying 
 to establish a new nation of their own? What 
 he would say in his inaugural address was of 
 the greatest significance. 
 
 119 
 
General Winfield Scott, in charge of arrange- 
 ments for the inauguration, feared that Lincoln 
 would be assassinated before he could begin his 
 term of office. On the day of the inauguration, 
 Lincoln was surrounded by soldiers and ma- 
 rines. They accompanied the carriage in which 
 he rode from Willard's Hotel to the Capitol. 
 They were stationed everywhere in the halls of 
 the Capitol and among the crowd. 
 
 Men thought Lincoln might denounce the 
 South in his inaugural address. They were 
 wrong. He believed in friendship, not enmity, 
 and maintained that both sections of the coun- 
 try could better settle their differences within 
 the framework of the national government than 
 they could as two hostile and rival nations. 
 He made it clear that action against the United 
 States Government was in reality action against 
 the people who, under the Constitution, have 
 the right to make their own laws. He asked 
 that no action be taken hastily and said: 
 
 "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-coun- 
 trymen, and not in mine, is the momentous 
 
 120 
 
issue of civil war. The government will not 
 assail you. You can have no conflict without 
 being yourselves the aggressors. You have 
 no oath registered in heaven to destroy the 
 government, while I shall have the most solemn 
 one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it.' 
 
 "I am loath to close. We are not enemies, 
 but friends. We must not be enemies. Though 
 passion may have strained, it must not break 
 our bonds of affection. ,, 
 
 Abraham Lincoln read his speech in a clear, 
 distinct voice which could be heard by all the 
 vast number of people who had come to hear 
 and to see. When his speech was finished, he 
 raised his hand and took the oath of office 
 which made him President of the United States. 
 He was immediately taken by carriage to the 
 White House. The slow, slow passing of the 
 four years that he would live there had begun. 
 
 East and west, north and south, the feeling 
 that war might come lay over the land. The 
 seven seceding states had formed their own 
 government called the Confederate States of 
 
 121 
 
America and Jefferson Davis had been elected 
 president. The question of secession was being 
 debated in Virginia, Missouri, Arkansas, North 
 Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland. 
 It would take careful management to keep 
 those border states in the Federal Union and 
 to bring the Confederate States back into it. 
 
 Some people, even in the North, favored 
 letting states secede if they wished. In the 
 South all people did not agree. Arguments 
 throughout the entire nation were bitter. 
 
 Men differed most sharply over the question 
 of Federal forts in the South. The seven 
 seceding states, depending upon the theory 
 of states rights, had taken over Federal prop- 
 erty and forts within their borders. To those 
 who upheld the Union this was a challenge 
 to open conflict. 
 
 Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay was one of 
 the forts in question. The fort's commander, 
 Captain Anderson, was unwilling to turn his 
 command over to the South Carolina govern- 
 ment. On the morning of March 5, the day 
 
 122 
 
<rpr»- 
 
 after his inauguration, Lincoln received a letter 
 from Captain Anderson asking for provisions. 
 Without provisions, the captain wrote, the fort 
 would have to be surrendered. 
 
 Lincoln firmly believed that it was his duty 
 to uphold Federal laws. He saw no choice but 
 to send reinforcements to Fort Sumter. This 
 he did ; the fort was fired upon and easily taken 
 by Confederate forces. The War between the 
 States had begun. 
 
At this time of crisis the new President 
 could find almost no place of privacy. He 
 and Mrs. Lincoln and their two younger sons, 
 Willie and Tad, as Thomas was called, occupied 
 the second floor at the west end of the White 
 House. Robert was a student at Harvard and 
 was seldom at home. The east end of the 
 second floor of the White House was turned 
 into offices for the President's personal use. 
 The first floor rooms were used for receptions 
 and state affairs. 
 
 Whenever President Lincoln went from his 
 living quarters to his offices on the second 
 floor, he was exposed to crowds of office seekers. 
 The halls were crowded from morning until 
 night. The President's secretaries tried to pro- 
 tect him from the public as much as possible. 
 Administrative officers were often given power 
 to make the appointments to certain offices, 
 but President Lincoln made himself available 
 to anyone at any time. Wherever he appeared, 
 claimants for office rushed upon him. During 
 the days when decisions about Fort Sumter 
 
 124 
 
were being made and when the war clouds 
 were darkening, the President referred to the 
 demands of office seekers upon him, declaring, 
 "I feel like a man letting lodgings at one end 
 of the house while the other end is on fire." 
 
 Before he had come to Washington, Lincoln 
 had decided upon his Cabinet. He had ap- 
 pointed William H. Seward Secretary of State. 
 Seward was an ambitious man and he had little 
 confidence in the new President's ability. Less 
 than a month after the inauguration, Seward 
 sent Lincoln a letter in which he impatiently 
 complained that time had gone by and nothing 
 had been done. Seward then outlined a plan 
 of action and offered to carry it out. 
 
 President Lincoln wrote him a letter in reply. 
 He thanked Seward courteously for his sug- 
 gestions and said how much the President must 
 depend upon his chosen helpers. He said also 
 that when decisions had been reached, after 
 all sides had been heard and the arguments 
 carefully weighed, the President was the one 
 to see that they were carried out. Not only 
 
 125 
 
Secretary Seward but people everywhere were 
 soon to learn that guiding rule. 
 
 Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, Virginia 
 seceded. Confederate forces encamped on Ar- 
 lington Heights just across the Potomac River 
 from Washington. From the White House win- 
 dows the troops could easily be seen. Panic 
 seized the city's inhabitants. Women and chil- 
 dren were sent out of the nation's capital. Mrs. 
 Lincoln was urged to take Willie and Tad out 
 of danger. She refused. "I am as safe as Mr. 
 Lincoln and I shall not leave him," she said. 
 
 President Lincoln anxiously waited for Fed- 
 eral troops to arrive in Washington. Some of 
 them, coming from the north, were fired upon 
 as they passed through Baltimore. Four sol- 
 diers were killed and many were wounded. 
 
 A group of prominent men from Baltimore 
 came to ask President Lincoln not to let troops 
 march through Maryland. He answered, "We 
 must have troops; and, as they can neither 
 crawl under Maryland nor fly over it, they must 
 come across it." He handled the situation with 
 
 126 
 
skill and patience, and Maryland was saved for 
 the Union. 
 
 Troops continued to be slow in arriving. The 
 President walked the floor, saying over and 
 over, "Why don't they come? Why don't they 
 come?" At last Federal soldiers began to ap- 
 pear in Washington. The Confederate forces 
 drew farther off. The capital breathed easier. 
 
 At first President Lincoln had no chief of 
 staff for his military forces. Then in July, 
 1861, General George B. McClellan, who had 
 helped to take some of the western counties 
 in Virginia for the Federal Union, was ap- 
 pointed chief of staff. Supporters of the Presi- 
 dent hailed the appointment. 
 
 McClellan came to take charge of the Federal 
 forces around Washington and to have general 
 command of the whole conduct of the war. 
 He was a good organizer and he established 
 order among the soldiers who poured into the 
 Federal army. Great things were expected of 
 him. It was an immense task to equip and 
 train the 310,000 men who had joined the army. 
 
 127 
 
He did this job well, but he was not successful 
 in carrying out military operations. Although 
 President Lincoln pressed him for action, he 
 delayed and delayed, with the excuse that he 
 was not ready and did not have enough men. 
 
 On July 21 the Battle of Bull Run was won 
 by the Confederate forces. Federal troops fled 
 in a rout. Soldiers poured through Washington 
 on the way to safety. Disaster faced the Union, 
 and the North realized that any hope of a quick 
 defeat of the Confederacy was gone. In time, 
 order was established and the defense of Wash- 
 ington again seemed sure. President Lincoln's 
 own great calmness and energy in the face of 
 disaster had greatly helped to reassure the 
 nation, but the situation looked dark indeed at 
 the end of the first year of war. 
 
 More and more trouble descended upon the 
 President. Simon Cameron, the Secretary of 
 War, became involved in scandals over war 
 contracts. President Lincoln investigated the 
 charges and decided that Cameron was not 
 guilty, but that he was better suited to other 
 
 128 
 
duties. He was replaced by Edward M. Stanton. 
 In making this choice Lincoln overlooked the 
 personal disdain Stanton had sometimes ex- 
 hibited toward him. Stanton seemed the best 
 man for the Cabinet post and Lincoln appointed 
 him Secretary of War. 
 
 The cares of a great office at a time of ter- 
 rible crisis weighed constantly upon President 
 Lincoln. Only his romps with the children, his 
 attendance at the theater, his stories, and a few 
 books of humor relieved the strain in moments 
 of deepest gloom. He spent much more time 
 in the halls of the White House, pacing rest- 
 lessly and anxiously back and forth at night 
 in his slippered feet while he waited for news 
 from the war or laid plans for campaigns and 
 battles, than he did laughing and playing with 
 his two boys. 
 
 Nor was the President spared a personal 
 tragedy at this time. His son Willie died in 
 February of the second year in the White 
 House. President Lincoln was so affected by 
 grief that, for more than a month, even the 
 
 129 
 
great duties he had to attend to were some- 
 times partly neglected. 
 
 Two pieces of news cheered President Lincoln 
 and the North during the second year of the 
 war. Most of the Confederate forces were 
 cleared from Missouri and Kentucky. Those 
 two border states were once more held by the 
 Federal Union. Also, the ironclad Monitor, a 
 new ship on which the President had placed 
 great reliance, had met and defeated the Mer- 
 rimac, a Confederate battleship which had been 
 a real threat to the Federal naval power. 
 
 These victories were unfortunately followed 
 by reversals. General McClellan who had been 
 placed in charge of the Federal armies, was 
 very slow in taking any effective action. 
 President Lincoln was finally driven to exert 
 his powers as commander in chief to demand 
 that McClellan make decisive use of his men. 
 The Federal forces continued to make a poor 
 showing and McClellan was replaced by a suc- 
 cession of generals, none of whom proved to 
 be outstanding. 
 
 130 
 
The victory by Confederate forces at Fred- 
 ericksburg added to the feeling of confidence 
 in the South as much as it did to the feeling 
 of calamity in the North. The year 1862, the 
 second one of the war, ended with only dark- 
 ness and trouble facing President Lincoln's 
 administration. 
 
 131 
 
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 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Heavy Burden Is Put Down 
 
 Men fighting side by side may oppose a com- 
 mon enemy even though they hope to achieve 
 different goals by doing so. Lincoln and many 
 of the men around him found themselves in 
 this position. 
 
 To Lincoln, the primary goal to be won in 
 the conflict was the reestablishment of the 
 Federal Union. To many others, however, this 
 
 133 
 
outcome was less important than the abolition 
 of slavery. These people, unlike Lincoln, spent 
 little time in questioning whether the national 
 government actually had the power to free 
 the slaves. 
 
 Lincoln made his point of view plain in a 
 letter to Horace Greeley, the famous aboli- 
 tionist editor of the New York Tribune. Lin- 
 coln wrote: "My paramount object in this 
 struggle is to save the Union and is not either 
 to save or destroy slavery . . . What I do about 
 slavery and the colored race, I do because it 
 helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, 
 I forbear because I do not believe it would 
 help save the Union." 
 
 Delegations of important citizens came to 
 Washington to persuade Lincoln to act, but 
 he refused. This did not mean, however, that 
 he was not trying to find a fair solution to 
 the problem of freeing the slaves. He worked 
 out a plan for paying for the slaves in all the 
 border states not at war with the Federal 
 Union. This was not accepted by Congress, 
 
 134 
 
although some other measures were taken. 
 Slavery was abolished in the District of Colum- 
 bia and in all territories. 
 
 In July Lincoln read to his Cabinet a draft 
 of a Proclamation of Emancipation, and it 
 was decided that the proclamation should be 
 made public as soon as Federal troops won 
 a victory. This happened at the battle of 
 Antietam and so, on September 22, Lincoln 
 issued his Emancipation Proclamation. 
 
 The Proclamation did not free the slaves 
 immediately; rather it warned that on January 
 1, 1863, all slaves in territories under arms 
 against the Federal Union would be freed. This 
 was a wartime measure taken on the basis of 
 military necessity under the President's author- 
 ity as commander in chief of the armed forces. 
 The actual abolition of slavery throughout the 
 whole United States was accomplished, as Lin- 
 coln desired, by the Thirteenth Amendment 
 to the Constitution. 
 
 The year 1863 found many people speaking 
 despairingly of the Union cause. There were 
 
 135 
 
serious military defeats in the first half of 
 the year. Suddenly in July the picture changed 
 and two important victories, Gettysburg and 
 Vicksburg, were won. 
 
 In October there were many reasons to be- 
 lieve that the Union would be maintained. 
 President Lincoln therefore found it fitting to 
 proclaim the first national Thanksgiving for 
 the last Thursday in November. 
 
 Plans were also made for impressive cere- 
 monies to accompany the dedication of a nation : 
 al cemetery at the battlefield of Gettysburg. 
 Edward Everett, a famous New England orator, 
 was the chief speaker, but the President was 
 also asked to speak a few appropriate words. 
 
 November 19 was a bright, sunshiny day. 
 Thousands had come to see the ceremonies and 
 to hear the speeches. Troops and wounded 
 soldiers who had fought there in July returned. 
 Plain, average American citizens as well as 
 leaders of the nation had come. 
 
 Edward Everett spoke for two hours and 
 thrilled the crowd. He delivered a brilliant 
 
 136 
 
speech in his best style. What he said has been 
 forgotten. The President arose and spoke for 
 a few minutes only. His speech was simple 
 and short. He delivered it quietly. The people 
 who heard it were disappointed. They had ex- 
 pected a longer speech, delivered in a grand 
 manner. To most of them the President had 
 failed to measure up to his opportunity. 
 
 Lincoln's Gettysburg address was published 
 in the next day's newspapers. Thoughtfully 
 reading over the President's words, people came 
 to recognize the address for what it is, a great 
 expression of faith in the Union. In a few para- 
 graphs he expressed his deepest belief: 
 
 "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
 brought forth on this continent a new nation, 
 conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- 
 sition 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 
 
 137 
 
field as a final resting-place for those who 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 brave 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. It is for us, the living, rather, to be 
 dedicated here to the unfinished work which 
 they who fought here have thus far so nobly 
 advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi- 
 cated 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 
 government of the people, by the people, for 
 the people, shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 138 
 
In that speech the President dedicated him- 
 self and the people of the Union to renewed 
 effort to bring the war to a close. Although 
 the year 1863 had seen some important vic- 
 tories for the Federal forces, the war was not 
 at an end. General Robert E. Lee was still 
 successfully guarding Richmond. 
 
 After General Ulysses S. Grant won an im- 
 portant battle at Vicksburg, President Lincoln 
 sent him congratulations. Soon after that the 
 Federal forces won a victory at Lookout Moun- 
 tain, Tennessee. With the southwestern area 
 
 139 
 
cleared, General Grant could be sent to Virginia 
 where General Lee was encamped. 
 
 In 1864, Lincoln appointed Grant general in 
 chief of all military operations. Grant then 
 began the campaign against the Confederates 
 in their last important stronghold in Virginia. 
 The job that he undertook was a hard one. 
 
 President Lincoln eagerly watched for every 
 bit of news about the war. When important 
 battles were being fought, he never left the 
 telegraph office, a practice he had followed 
 since the beginning of the war. The telegraph 
 office was across the lawn from the White 
 House in a room of the War Department. A 
 special file of telegrams was kept there for 
 the President so that he could go over at 
 any time, day or night, to read and reread 
 the messages. The strain upon him was never- 
 ending. Sometimes it seemed that his beloved 
 Union might be lost. 
 
 During the course of the war President Lin- 
 coln took every possible occasion to visit sol- 
 diers in the field, in camp, and in hospitals. 
 
 140 
 
He heard their complaints; he shared their 
 agonies. On his field visits he often got out 
 of his carriage and went up and down the 
 lines shaking hands with the soldiers. "God 
 bless you," he would say. The soldiers finally 
 came to call him "Father Abraham," for they 
 knew that he cared about their hardships and 
 wished to help them. 
 
 During this time of great trouble, Lincoln's 
 first four-year term of office was completed 
 and he faced the ordeal of an election in war- 
 time. The war was lasting much longer than 
 anyone had expected. Lincoln did not want 
 the country to "swap horses in midstream." 
 He thought that his policies were the best for 
 the nation. He decided to run for re-election. 
 
 Horace Greeley and others tried to find a 
 man who could defeat Lincoln. Efforts were 
 made to get General Grant to run against him, 
 but Grant said that the Federal Government 
 was lucky to have a man like President Lincoln 
 at its head. Other men were approached as 
 possible candidates. General McClellan was 
 
 141 
 
finally nominated, but Abraham Lincoln was 
 elected for a second term. 
 
 In his second inaugural address Lincoln spoke 
 of the war that had come, of its cost, and of 
 the hopes each side had held. Although a 
 Union victory was almost certain, Lincoln pro- 
 jected no plans for punishing those who had 
 tried to destroy the nation. Instead, he said: 
 
 "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 his orphan 
 — to do all which may achieve and cherish a 
 just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and 
 with all nations." 
 
 At last the war drew to a close. Because 
 of blockades the Confederate States could not 
 get supplies. Northern industries were turning 
 out huge amounts of equipment. Manpower 
 in the South was running low, but this was 
 no problem for the North. General Sherman 
 
 142 
 
had cut the Confederate States in two by his 
 march from Atlanta to the sea. In January 
 Federal forces took Fort Fisher, thus leav- 
 ing Wilmington, North Carolina, unprotected. 
 Charleston, South Carolina, was taken in Feb- 
 ruary. Only the poorly-equipped and weary 
 army of General Lee in Virginia and a few 
 scattered independent groups continued to re- 
 sist. In early April, Petersburg was taken and 
 then General Grant captured Richmond. April 
 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomat- 
 tox Courthouse. Throughout the night the 
 telegraph sent out the news that the war was 
 almost over. 
 
 Although he was a hard man in war, General 
 Grant wanted peace, and gave generous terms 
 for the surrender of the Confederate forces. 
 When the surrender document was signed, he 
 said, with the President's later approval, that 
 he would allow every man in the Confederate 
 army to claim a horse or a mule and take it 
 home. He knew that those men would return 
 to homes and lands which had been overrun 
 
 143 
 
by two armies. The South had been made 
 desolate. The men would find it hard to make 
 a living without work animals. 
 
 When the news of Lee's surrender reached 
 them, the people in Northern cities went wild. 
 Schools were dismissed and all business was 
 stopped. Flags and bunting appeared every- 
 where. Immense crowds gathered. 
 
 A large crowd met on the grounds around 
 the White House and clamored for a sight of 
 the President. He appeared at one of the win- 
 dows and read what was to be his last public 
 address. Two of his statements showed his 
 great joy in the end of the war and his serious 
 thought for the task of rebuilding the nation. 
 He said, "We meet this evening not in sorrow 
 but in gladness of heart . . . Let us all join 
 in doing the acts necessary to restoring the 
 proper practical relations between these states 
 and the Union . . ." 
 
 For more than four years many persons had 
 accused Lincoln of softness toward the slave 
 owners and of faulty management of the war. 
 
 144 
 
In their jubilation over the peace they forgot 
 how they had criticized him. He and General 
 Grant had wanted peace and now at last it 
 had come. They were heroes in the North. 
 
 When talk of punishment for the leaders of 
 the Confederacy reached him, President Lincoln 
 said, "No one need expect I will take part in 
 hanging or killing these men, even the worst 
 of them . . . Enough lives have been sacrificed ; 
 we must extinguish our resentments if we 
 expect harmony and union/' 
 
 He had already been busy working out plans 
 for readmitting the Southern states to partici- 
 pation in the life of the republic. He had never 
 really considered them as anything but mem- 
 bers of the Federal Union who were to be 
 reconciled to it. Lincoln faced the problem of 
 reinstating them in the Union that had been 
 preserved at the cost of so much property and 
 so many brave men. 
 
 During the four years of conflict President 
 Lincoln had suffered deeply, grieving for the 
 whole nation's agony. The look of amusement 
 
 145 
 
that had often lighted his eyes in the past was 
 replaced by one of sorrow. His face grew hag- 
 gard and gray. Once he was moved to say, 
 "I think I shall never be glad again.' ' The 
 burden of the war was indeed a heavy one, 
 and the President stooped under it. 
 
 The news of Lee's surrender brought a change 
 in Lincoln's whole appearance. Although the 
 difficulties of establishing fair peace terms lay 
 ahead, Lincoln rejoiced in knowing that the 
 Union had been saved. 
 
 On April 14, he and his Cabinet met to dis- 
 cuss matters relating to rebuilding the states 
 that had seceded and fought against the Fed- 
 eral Union. Secretary Stanton said of him that 
 day, "He was more cheerful and happy than 
 I had ever seen him." 
 
 On the evening of that same day, President 
 and Mrs. Lincoln with two young companions 
 attended a performance of Our American Cousin, 
 a popular play of the time, at Ford's Theater. 
 There Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. 
 Booth and the other conspirators had laid their 
 
 146 
 
plot well. The shot was fatal. President Lin- 
 coln slumped over. He did not regain conscious- 
 ness and died early on the morning of April 15. 
 The nation was plunged into sorrow. 
 
 On April 18 Abraham Lincoln lay in state 
 in the East Room of the White House. More 
 than twenty-five thousand hushed and grief- 
 stricken people filed slowly past him. 
 
 The next day funeral services were held from 
 the same room. Lincoln's sons, Robert and Tad, 
 were there. Mrs. Lincoln was too crushed by 
 grief to be present. Solemn and precious words 
 were read from the Bible, that book from which 
 Lincoln had taken so many words to make 
 them a living part of his own speeches. 
 
 On April 20 he was taken to the Capitol of 
 the nation. Black horses led the procession. 
 Troops on foot and on horseback followed. All 
 the pomp and grandeur which a deeply sor- 
 rowing nation could assemble made the pro- 
 cession from the White House to the Capitol 
 memorable. Great crowds of mourners passed 
 slowly into the Capitol. 
 
 147 
 
On April 21 the funeral train began the long 
 journey back to Springfield over the same route 
 which Lincoln had followed in coming to the 
 White House. 
 
 At times the same engines and crew that 
 had drawn the train upon which he had made 
 his triumphal trip drew his funeral train. Bal- 
 timore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, 
 Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Cleveland, Columbus, 
 Indianapolis, Chicago! In each city, groups of 
 mourners met the train. More than seven mil- 
 lion sorrowing people came to say farewell. 
 
 The sad journey was completed at Spring- 
 field. There, on May 3, Lincoln's old friends 
 came to pay their respects. 
 
 Restoring peace and prosperity fell upon 
 other shoulders than those of the man who 
 had grown stooped but had never faltered 
 under the burden. Advisers around him might 
 doubt and become discouraged, but Lincoln's 
 faith in the Union remained firm. 
 
 What determined this devotion? As a young 
 man growing up in the backwoods of America, 
 
 148 
 
Lincoln learned how men value freedom. As 
 a lawyer and legislator he found that freedom 
 is protected by the laws men make to govern 
 themselves. When he achieved the Presidency, 
 Lincoln believed that it was his responsibility 
 to preserve and guarantee the freedoms in- 
 cluded in the Constitution, the basis of Federal 
 Union. Before his death, he knew that he had, 
 even at the cost of war, kept faith with his 
 ideal of freedom for all men by preserving the 
 Federal Union. 
 
 Abe Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, Captain Lin- 
 coln, Mr. Lincoln, President Lincoln! Shrines 
 and monuments recall his greatness. His simple 
 ways, even when he was surrounded by gran- 
 deur, his clear honest words that have come 
 down in letters and speeches, his steadfastness 
 of action in the presence of great danger, make 
 him forever great. 
 
 149 
 
IMPORTANT EVENTS 
 IN THE LIFETIME OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 1809 — February 12, Abraham Lincoln is born to Thomas 
 and Nancy Hanks Lincoln in Hardin County, Kentucky. 
 
 1812-14— The War of 1812 is fought by the United States 
 and Great Britain. 
 
 1813 — The Lincolns move to Knob Creek farm, Kentucky. 
 
 1816 — Thomas Lincoln takes his family to Indiana. 
 
 1818 — Nancy Lincoln, Abe's mother, dies. 
 
 1819 — Thomas Lincoln marries Sarah Bush Johnston who 
 becomes an understanding- stepmother to his children. 
 
 1820 — By the Compromise of 1820, Missouri is admitted 
 to the Union as a slave state while Maine enters as 
 a free state ; slavery is prohibited north of the southern 
 boundary of Missouri. 
 
 1825 — Abe Lincoln, at sixteen, operates a ferryboat 
 across Anderson's Creek and the Ohio River. 
 
 1828 — Lincoln makes his first trip to New Orleans. 
 Andrew Jackson is elected President, the first man 
 from the frontier to hold this office. 
 
 1829 — The Lincoln family migrates to Illinois. 
 
 1831 — Lincoln makes a second trip to New Orleans and 
 on his return settles in New Salem, Illinois. 
 
 1832 — Lincoln becomes a candidate for the Illinois gen- 
 eral assembly. He volunteers in the Black Hawk War, 
 in July returns to New Salem, and is defeated in his 
 political campaign. He and William Berry open a store. 
 
 150 
 
Congress passes a new tariff act. South Carolina, in 
 opposition to the tariff, threatens to secede. 
 
 1833 — Lincoln is appointed postmaster of New Salem and 
 becomes deputy-surveyor of Sangamon County. He 
 widens his circle of friends, studies law. 
 
 The tariff is lowered, checking South Carolina's threat 
 to secede. 
 
 1834 — Lincoln is elected to the Illinois general assembly 
 which meets at Vandalia. 
 
 1835 — Lincoln returns to New Salem after the legisla- 
 ture adjourns. In August, Ann Rutledge dies. 
 
 1836 — September 9, at twenty-seven, Lincoln receives a 
 license to practice law. 
 
 1837 — In his second term in the general assembly Lincoln 
 aids in making Springfield the capital of Illinois. He 
 enters a law partnership with Major John T. Stuart. 
 
 The nation suffers a period of hard times. 
 
 1841 — Stephen T. Logan and Lincoln become law partners. 
 
 1842 — November 4, Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln 
 are married. Lincoln refuses renomination for the 
 state legislature. 
 
 1843 — Robert, first of Lincoln's four sons, is born. 
 
 1845 — William Herndon and Lincoln form a law firm. 
 
 1846 — Lincoln, a prosperous lawyer of thirty-seven, is 
 elected to Congress. His second son, Edward, is born. 
 
 1846-48 — The United States and Mexico go to war over 
 western territories. 
 
 1847 — Serving in Washington, Congressman Lincoln criti- 
 cizes President Polk's conduct of the Mexican War. 
 
 151 
 
1849 — Lincoln renews his law practice in Spring-field. 
 
 1850 — William Lincoln is born; Edward Lincoln dies. 
 
 The Compromise of 1850 admits California as a free 
 state, but provides a strong fugitive slave law. It 
 abolishes slave trade in the District of Columbia. 
 
 1853 — Thomas Lincoln, often called Tad, is born. 
 
 1854 — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill by Stephen Douglas is 
 passed and allows territories to decide whether they 
 will become free or slave states. 
 
 Lincoln and Douglas debate at Springfield on popular 
 sovereignty. 
 
 The Whig Party collapses. The Republican Party is 
 formed. 
 
 At Peoria, Illinois, Lincoln makes his first great public 
 address against the spread of slavery. He is elected to 
 the state legislature. 
 
 1856 — Lincoln joins the Republican Party and receives 
 attention as a rising leader. 
 
 1857 — The Supreme Court declares the Missouri Compro- 
 mise unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision. 
 
 1858 — Lincoln and Douglas debate on popular sovereignty 
 in campaigning for the United States Senate. Lincoln 
 opposes slavery, declaring, "a house divided against it- 
 self cannot stand." He loses the election but gains 
 national fame. 
 
 1859 — John Brown's raid warns the nation that slavery 
 is becoming a dangerous issue. 
 
 I860— February 27, at Cooper Union, New York City, 
 Lincoln speaks for conservative anti-slavery policies 
 and wins the favor of Eastern Republicans. 
 
 152 
 
May 16, Lincoln is nominated at Chicago as the Repub- 
 lican candidate for President. 
 
 November 6, Lincoln is elected President and Hannibal 
 Hamlin Vice-President. 
 
 December 20, South Carolina secedes from the Union 
 to protest the election of a Republican President. 
 
 1861 — In February, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Geor- 
 gia, Louisiana, and Texas join South Carolina to form 
 the Confederate States with Jefferson Davis president. 
 
 February 11, Lincoln leaves Springfield and on March 
 4 is inaugurated President at Washington, D. C. 
 
 President Lincoln decides to support Fort Sumter, 
 South Carolina, in spite of the Confederacy's opposition 
 to Federal forts within its borders. 
 
 April 12, Confederate troops fire on Fort Sumter. The 
 War between the States begins. 
 
 In July, Lincoln appoints General B. McClellan chief 
 of staff. 
 
 July 21, Confederate forces under General Stonewall 
 Jackson win the Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 Lincoln appoints Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War. 
 
 1862 — In the spring Lincoln orders McClellan to march 
 on Richmond, Virginia, but McClellan's overcaution 
 leads to defeat in the Seven Days' Battle. 
 
 Confederates under General Robert E. Lee are repulsed 
 at Antietam by McClellan's troops. Lincoln issues the 
 Emancipation Proclamation September 22 to become 
 effective January 1, 1863. 
 
 The Union ironclad Monitor turns back the Confederate 
 ironclad Merrimac. 
 
 153 
 
torious^tlhiS'r 06 "^ 1 U ' ysses S - Grant »™ vie- 
 lonous at khiloh, Tennessee. Confederates nn^r t „„ 
 
 win a battle at Fredericksburg, Virginia 
 Willie Lincoln dies. 
 
 1863-January 1 the Emancipation Proclamation frees 
 all slaves held in the seceded states. 
 
 Lee^Ta!. fZ?*^ ™ d Union forces defeat 
 i-ee s troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 
 
 18 U 4 „T»» in ,rmy.'""' 0i '" < ' """ w™" 1 ta <*<«< »' the 
 Lincoln is re-elected President. 
 
 General William Sherman's Union troops capture At- 
 lanta m September and Savannah in December 
 
 ^ervln 1 J, a " u T a T rv t th / Thirteenth Amendment makes slav- 
 ery m the United States illegal. 
 
 Battles at Fort Fisher and Charleston, South Carolina 
 and Petersburg, Virginia, are won by Union forces 
 April 3 Lee is forced to abandon Richmond. He sur- 
 
 £&£: 2-SSt *•"* '» G ™' - *»«»«"* 
 
 April 14, Lincoln and the Cabinet meet to plan the re 
 naSTt l^Ttater "**" ^ * ™ l 
 dtpUonr^ng 111 ^ ^ naU ° n b * M a ^ iod <* 
 Soil the b ° dy ° f LinC ° ln iS buried at S Pringfield, 
 
 154