IBB siiiiliii^ liiityiBiffi fm m BHhB fO^BBBm^BiS .: \i-^;i>i&'rt . CO o a o CM CO tH O o iH o LO tH as CO tH CO iH LO tH 00 oo 8 OO CM to 00 LO CM tH LO 00 tH t- 1 1 Question | Question | No. 8 | No. 9 | 1 o 5? CO T* -* CM as as as o CM tH as CO tH OO tH tH OO tH > M 6 O a> h> M 6 O •3 H >> M 6 O o d co d w 6 O > CP ,2 d GO d O o co u 03 a d Z 6 u a "3 CQ 40 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER circulated. This would have a tendency to localize the stories. On the other hand the "old residenters" invariably answered "Yes" to the questions, which would go to show that the stories had circulated in the four Kentucky counties for a number of years. The answers to question ten ranged from 1865 to 1922. The answers to the eleventh question clearly show that the stories have not been repeated very much during the past few years. The answers to questions seven and twelve also show that the stories are dying out. A very significant thing is that of the 658 men and women who had heard that Lincoln was an illegitimate child only fourteen wrote out the story that they had heard, as requested in ques- tion fifteen. Most of these stories were the Abra- ham Inlow story of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and came from people who had lived in that county a great number of years. The thing of vast signi- ficance is that not one of the 1116 men and women had heard of anyone who had heard before 1860 the story that Abraham Lincoln was an illegitimate child. Truly they had not, for the story was never told until the throes of a Civil War caused men and women deliberately to invent a story to slander the name of a good, true, virtuous, Christian woman. CHAPTER IV EARLY INFLUENCES Lincoln's Life in Kentucky "A child was born to poverty and toil, Save in the sweet prophecy of mother's love None dreamed of future fame for himl" — Noah Davis. Abraham Lincoln spent the first seven years of his life in the state where he was born. That these were eventful years, crowded full of life and mean- ing, we do not doubt, for we know that little Abe's Knob Creek home was located on the highway that ran from Louisville, Kentucky, to Nashville, Ten- nessee. There was a great amount of traffic on this highway and many people passed by the boy's door. His father and mother, no doubt, often talked about what these people were doing and what they had learned from them. And are we not to believe that Abraham Lincoln, past six, would listen with wide open eyes and ears to all that was said about this great world of adventure? But little Abe did not have to get the information secondhand. These people — pioneers moving ever westward, politicians clamoring for office, soldiers returning home from the War of 1812, peddlers with wares to sell, land schemers with lands to dispose of — all stopped at the Lincoln cabin to talk with Thomas Lincoln. Here, then, in Kentucky, lived a boy on a great highway, pulsing with humanity, people coming, go- ing, with tales to tell of the great world beyond and here was laid that foundation of inquisitiveness so 41 42 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER manifest in that boy during his life in Indiana. How mistaken writers have been in the past in say- ing- that Lincoln always lived out of the current of history! The fact is that he was always in it! 1 The little Mount Baptist Church in Kentucky of which Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were members was strongly opposed to slavery and had waged an open warfare against it. Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married by the Rev. Jesse Head, a Methodist minister, who was a strong foe of slav- ery. Lincoln was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and as Christopher Columbus Graham says in his affidavit published elsewhere in this book, was "just steeped full of notions about the wrongs of slavery and the rights of man, as explained by Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine." There were many anti-slavery people in Kentucky, and in Shelbyville, not far from the home of Abraham Lincoln, father of Thomas Lincoln, there was published an anti-slavery paper. Anti-slavery meeting were held and speeches made against slavery. Anti-slavery literature was scat- tered far and wide, and we may feel sure that it found its way along the much traveled Louisville and Nashville highway and into the home of Thomas Lincoln. Thomas Lincoln was against slavery and we have Abraham Lincoln's own words for it in after life that his father had said that slavery stood opposed to both the Bible and the Declaration of Independence. Here then was a man, upholding the Bible and opposing human slavery, in the presence of a boy whose inquisitive mind was already begin- ning to ask questions. As we shall see, scarcely a year passed, in his new home in Indiana, that did EARLY INFLUENCES 43 not give young Abraham a chance to see and know more about the institution of human slavery. The Lincolns Move to Indiana Kentucky — a part of Virginia — had no official land surveys made by the government. Pioneers simply moved into Kentucky, took up the land, sent in a description of it, and paid for it. Perhaps the land did not overlap other land previously taken and perhaps it did. In case of overlapping, law suits followed. Twice Thomas Lincoln bought land and paid for it, on Nolin Creek and on Knob Creek, and later was sued for trespassing. His trouble over land titles was a big factor in determining his re- moval to Indiana, where lands were surveyed by the government and where there would be no question of rightful ownership. 2 About the first thing that Thomas Lincoln did after he selected his farm in Indiana and marked its corners by brush piles was to walk to Vincennes, the Capital, and attend to the filing of his claim. Here is the evidence of the wit- nesses most competent to speak, setting forth the reason why Thomas Lincoln moved from Kentucky : In his autobiography written in June, 1860, Abra- ham Lincoln says : "This removal was partly on ac- count of slavery, but chiefly on account of the diffi- culty in land titles in Kentucky." 3 And Dennis Hanks says in his most natural way : "Tom got hold o' a better farm after 'while, but he couldn't git a clear title to it, so when Abe was eight year old, and I was eighteen, we all lit out fur Indiany. Kain- tucky was gittin' stuck up, with some folks rich enough to own niggers, so it didn't seem no place fur pore folks any more." 4 44 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Some fifteen miles inland from Troy, Indiana, Thomas Lincoln staked out a claim in a region then occupied by only seven families. He set to work to build his "half faced camp" and in ten days' time is was finished, doubtless with the aid of his neigh- bors. Lincoln then returned to his Kentucky home, walking a distance of over one hundred miles. He made ready to move his family to his new home — his wife and two children, Sarah, age nine, and Abraham, age seven — where they arrived in the latter part of the summer of 1816. The home that awaited them was indeed far from pretentious. It was a one-room pole cabin, fourteen feet square, made of small sapling logs or poles. It had but three sides closed ; the fourth one was left open and a heap of logs was left burning before it during cold weather. The log cabin had neither windows, doors, ceiling, nor floor. The Lin- colns did not bring much furniture with them — a Dutch oven, a skillet, some tinware, and bedding. Thomas Lincoln built a rude bed in one corner of the room on which he and Nancy slept and in an- other corner a pile of leaves furnished the bed for Sarah and Abraham. "Choppin' trees, an' grubbin' roots, an' splittin' rails, an' hunting an' trappin' didn't leave Tom no time to put a puncheon floor in his cabin. It was all he could do to git his fambly enough to eat and to kiver 'em. . . ." 5 Those were "pinching times," no doubt, but we must not forget that nature was bountiful — the woods were full of wild grapes, crab apples, blackberries, and nuts of all kinds; wild game, too, was plentiful — turkeys, geese, ducks, deer, and bears. EARLY INFLUENCES 45 The Marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Sarah Bush Johnston A year after the death of Nancy, which we de- scribed in a previous chapter, Thomas Lincoln re- turned to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and married Sarah Bush Johnston. Speaking of their courtship and marriage, Samuel Haycraft, the veteran clerk of Hardin County, Kentucky, said in 1874: "I was born in this town on the 14th of August, 1795, and have a good memory of persons and things as they existed in 'auld lang syne/ I knew Thomas Lincoln well. His second wife was originally Miss Sally Bush, daughter of Christopher and Hannah Bush, and was raised in Hardin County, half a mile from Elizabethtown. She was married to Daniel Johnston on the 13th of March, 1806, and lived in Elizabethtown, where he died early in April, 1814. . . . His widow continued to live here until the 2nd of December, 1819. Thomas Lincoln returned to this place on the 1st day of December, and in- quired for the residence of Widow Johnston. She lived near the clerk's office. I was the clerk, and informed him how to find her. He was not slow to present himself before her, when the following courtship occurred. He said to her: " 'I am a lone man, and you are a lone woman. I have knowed you from a girl, and you have knowed me from a boy; and I have come all the way from Indiana to ask if you'll marry me right off, as I've no time to lose.' "To which she replied: Tommy Lincoln, I have no objection to marrying you, but I cannot do it right off, for I owe several little debts which must first be paid.' 46 LINCOLN THE IIOOSIER "The gallant man promptly said : 'Give me a list of your debts/ The list was furnished, and the debts were paid the same evening. The next morn- ing, December 2nd, 1819, I issued the license, and the same day they were married, bundled up, and started for home. ,, Sarah Bush Johnston was tall, slender, very good looking, and was taken in those days to be quite a gay and graceful lady. She added much to the com- Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana- — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The cabin home of Abraham Lincoln in Indiana from a drawing made in 1860 while the cabin was still standing fort of Thomas Lincoln's Indiana home and made many needed improvements when she became mis- tress there. 6 She brought with her her household utensils — "one fine bureau, one table, one set of EARLY INFLUENCES 47 chairs, one large clothes-chest, cooking utensils, knives, forks, bedding, and other articles." 7 "She had a f our-hoss wagon-load o' goods — feather pillers an* homespun blankets, an* patchwork quilts, an' chists o' drawers, an' a flax-wheel an' a soap kittle, an' cookin' pots an' pewder dishes — lot o' truck like that 'at made a heap o' diifrunce in a backwoods cabin." 8 She had her husband put a floor in the cabin, hang doors and cut windows, daub up the cracks better between the logs to keep out the cold, and patch the roof. The Lincolns soon had one of the best houses in the country. She also made cloth- ing for the children. Later on, speaking of this, Lincoln said that "it made him feel like somebody." Sarah Bush Lincoln was full of vigor and energy, and as she was physically fit so she was mentally and religiously fit. Such a woman came into the life of little Abe just at the time when the boy needed a friend and counselor. And this she be- came. 9 Lamon says that Dennis Hanks gave, in sub- stance, the following account of Sally Bush Lincoln : "She was a woman of great energy, of remarkable good sense, very industrious and saving, and also very neat and tidy in her person and manners, and knew exactly how to manage children. She took an especial liking to young Abe. Her love for him was warmly returned, and continued to the day of his death. But few children loved their parents as he loved his stepmother. She soon dressed him up in entire new clothes, and from that time on he appeared to lead a new life. He was encouraged by her to study, and any wish on his part was grati- fied when it could be done. The two sets of children 48 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER got along finely together, as if they had all been the children of the same parents. Mrs. Lincoln soon discovered that young Abe was a boy of uncommon natural talents, and that, if rightly trained, a bright future was before him, and she did all in her power to develop those talents." 10 In an interview with Eleanor Atkinson, Dennis Hanks speaking of Sally Bush Lincoln, said: "Aunt Sairy sartainly did have faculty. I reckon we was all purty ragged and dirty when she got there. The first thing she did was to tell me to tote one of Tom's carpenter benches to a place outside the door, near the hoss trough. Then she had me an' Abe an' John Johnston, her boy, fill the trough with spring water. She put out a gourd full of soft soap, and another one to dip water, an' told us boys to wash up for dinner. You just naturally had to be some- body when Aunt Sairy was around. She had Tom build her a loom, an' when she heard o' some lime burners bein' round Gentryville, Tom had to mosey over an' git some lime an' whitewash the cabin. An' he made her an' ash hopper fur lye, an' a chicken- house nothin' could get into. . . . Cracky, but Aunt Sally was some punkins !" n CHAPTER V LINCOLN'S EARLY BIOGRAPHERS Their Mistaken Views of His Environment "O, honest face, which all men knew O tender heart, but known to feiv." —R. H. Stoddard. John E. Iglehart of Evansville, Indiana, says that there were three classes of society in the pio- neer days of Southern Indiana, during the time that Lincoln lived there. First there was the highly in- tellectual class, including public officials, lawyers, doctors, preachers, teachers — a class about whom very little has been written and of whom there was a goodly number. Secondly, there was the great body of the people, solid and substantial, many of whom were intelligent but most of whom had lacked opportunity for an early education, but who seized upon every chance to educate themselves. The vast majority of these were good, honest people with a grim determination to succeed in life. The third class was made up of men of low social, moral, and intellectual life. They were illiterate, rude, vulgar, and often vicious. The historical writers have pictured the history of Southern Indiana as built upon this lower stra- tum of society. This is especially true of Edward Eggleston in his The Hoosier Schoolmaster and of Baynard Rush Hall in his New Purchase. Eggleston described the life of the low class of people living along the Ohio River and did it so well and so thor- oughly that even today, outside of Indiana, "Hoo- 40 50 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER sier" and "Hoopole township, Posey County," when referred to in company, bring forth smiles. The Hoosier Schoolmaster in no manner paints a true pic- ture of the average or the better class of people of Southern Indiana. This book has been and still is widely read and has done the people of Indiana a great injustice. Nothing that has been written so far has been able to counteract and correct this wrong. Historical novels are all too often more "novel" than "history" and this contribution is surely a case in point. Concerning the writings of Baynard Rush Hall, Colonel John E. Iglehart says: "Hairs New Purchase never had any excuse for its publication as it was written, except the undisguised bitterness of a revengeful man. ... It contains, with some interesting descriptions, a strange repe- tition of offensive coarseness of speech and man- ners, traits of the lowest class mentioned, upon which the writer continually dwells, evidently in- tending maliciously to do what was unintentionally accomplished in Eggleston's writings. It is believed that the book has not been extensively read, but it offers an excuse to unfriendly critics of early In- diana people." 1 The East in general, and New England, in parti- cular, has never been friendly to the pioneer West. New England had political and economic reasons for her selfish stand. She opposed Jefferson's pur- chase of Louisiana in 1803 on the ground that new states would be carved out of the territory thus se- cured and that by their admission into the Union, through their representation in Congress, her hold upon the government would be weakened. Then, the cheap land of the West would invite her sturdy ■ .,: :, I.imnhi M ■ LINCOLN'S EARLY BIOGRAPHERS 51 sons to leave her mills and factories and take up homesteads for themselves and to hold them she would have to increase their wages. On the Indian question New England opposed the West and was perfectly contented to protect the poor Indians against the Westerner who was trying to drive them from his midst, forgetting that these same Indians or their ancestry had been driven from their homes in the East. New England opposed the War of 1812 and the actions of Henry Clay and other Western men in upholding the honor of our country. In 1814 the infamous Hartford Convention was held behind locked doors with a view toward breaking up the Union unless the War of 1812 was stopped. New England's commerce was being injured! But the West and the South, where real Americanism was found, triumphed and the war was pushed. When the Hartford Convention was being held, Thomas Lincoln and his family were in Kentucky and little Abe was five years old. They lived in an extremely patriotic state and were seen to move to another just as patriotic. Kentucky's great citizen, Henry Clay, was Speaker of the House of Represen- tatives and filled that body with the fighting spirit that brought on the declaration of war. New Eng- land did not forget these things, and for that reason or for other reasons the New England and Eastern historical writers have been manifestly unfair to the frontier West. Hall's New Purchase well illustrates this attitude. But other writers besides Eggleston and Hall did not know the truth about conditions in Southern In- diana. William H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and biographer, is also a serious offender. The fol- 52 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER lowing statement from Mr. Herndon shows quite conclusively that he did not know the real environ- ment of Abraham Lincoln in Indiana: "To compre- hend Mr. Lincoln we must know in substance not only the facts of his origin, but also the manner of his development. It will always be a matter of won- der to the American people, I have no doubt — as it has been to me— that from such restricted and un- promising opportunities in early life, Mr. Lincoln grew into the great man he was. The foundation for his education was laid in Indiana and in the little town of New Salem in Illinois, and in both places he gave evidence of a nature and character- istics that distinguished him from every associate and surrounding he had." 2 Mr. Jesse Weik says: "Scarcely a month had elapsed after the tragedy at Ford's Theatre, in April, 1865, before Herndon had set out for Ken- tucky and Southern Indiana and begun an investi- gation so vigorous, conscientious, and exhaustive that the world will always be deeply in his debt. He was the first man on the ground and likewise the first man to meet and examine the few material and competent witnesses of Lincoln's advent into the world still living. He pursued his researches with rare vigilance and assiduity, toiling inces- santly ; nor did he cease his labors until he had dug to the very bottom in his search for the truth. Later in compliance with his generous suggestion, I followed him, traversing the same path and visit- ing the same localities; and although I labored to the limit of my zeal and endurance I was never con- scious of having added materially to the store of information he had already accumulated; nor of LINCOLN'S EARLY BIOGRAPHERS 53 encountering anything of a valuable or interesting character which he had not unearthed himself. The truth is the field was so barren of material neither of us could gather much that was significant or trustworthy ; but we consoled ourselves with the re- flection that we had, to the point of exhaustion, ex- plored every avenue that led to accurate or intelli- gent information." 3 That the world does owe much to Herndon and his helper, Mr. Weik, for their work on Lincoln we agree, but Mr. Weik is mistaken when he says that Mr. Herndon carried on in Southern Indiana a "vig- orous and exhaustive" investigation in regard to Lincoln's life there. He did not there dig "to the very bottom in his search for the truth." In fact he did not scratch the surface. Again, Mr. Weik is mistaken when he says : "The truth is the field was so barren of material neither of us could gather much that was significant or trustworthy." It is the hope of the author that this volume will prove that the field was not so barren as Mr. Weik has pictured it to be. Again Mr. Weik is mistaken when he says that they "had, to the point of exhaustion, explored every avenue that led to accurate or in- telligent information." It is the belief of the author that Herndon and Weik could have found a greater amount of material had they taken time to do so. They did not secure facts from competent witnesses, like the office-holding class, doctors, lawyers, judges, and members of the cultured British settlement. Ward Hill Lamon, one of Lincoln's early biogra- phers, says: "Were I to say in this polite age that Abraham Lincoln was born in a condition of life most humble and obscure, and that he was sur- 54 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER rounded by circumstances most unfavorable to cul- ture and to the development of that nobility and purity which his wonderful character afterward dis- played, it would shock the fastidious and superfine sensibilities of the average reader, would be re- garded as prima facie evidence of felonious intent, and would subject me to the charge of being in- spired by an antagonistic animus. In justice to the truth of history, however, it must be acknowledged that such are the facts concerning this great man, regarding whom nothing should be concealed from public scrutiny, either in the surroundings of his birth, his youth, his manhood, or his private and public life and character." 4 Here is a classic from Mr. Lamon's book, page 69, where he speaks of young Lincoln's essay on politics: "This article was consigned, like the others, to Mr. Wood, to be ushered by him before the pub- lic. A lawyer named Pritchard chanced to pass that way, and, being favored with a perusal of Abe's "piece," pithily and enthusiastically declared, 'The world can't beat it !' " Now the "lawyer named Pritchard" who "chanced to pass that way" is none other than the famous Judge John Pitcher of Rock- port. Had Mr. Lamon known anything about the environment of Abraham Lincoln in Indiana he would have known of Judge Pitcher and his eminent services. This book will prove, the author believes, that Mr. Lamon, like most of the writers of Lincoln, is mistaken about the character and the culture of the people of Southern Indiana with whom Lincoln grew to manhood. Instead of being "surrounded by cir- cumstances most unfavorable to culture and to the LINCOLN'S EARLY BIOGRAPHERS 55 development of that nobility and purity which his wonderful character afterward displayed," he grew up among cultured men and women, who helped to lay the foundation for him upon which it was pos- sible to build a pure and noble life. Perhaps Mr. Lamon should not be subjected "to the charge of being inspired by an antagonistic animus," but he should be and is subjected to the charge that he did not know Lincoln in the making and never made any real effort to find out the facts about his early life. One of the latest and best writers on the life of Abraham Lincoln is Rev. William E. Barton. But even he has failed to grasp the environment of Lin- coln in Indiana, for he says: "On this farm in the backwoods in the Pigeon Creek settlement, with eight or ten families as neighbors, and with the primitive village of Gentryville a mile and a half distant, Abraham Lincoln grew to manhood. Ex- cepting for a brief experience as a ferryman on the Ohio River and a trip to New Orleans which he made upon a flatboat, his horizon was bounded by this environment from the time he was eight until he was twenty-one." 5 CHAPTER VI ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOLING In Kentucky "And weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from our quest. To find that all the sages said — Is in the Book our mothers read." — Whittier. When Abraham Lincoln was four years old he attended his first school, in Kentucky. His atten- dance was for a very short time and it is said he went merely to accompany his sister Sarah. His teacher was Zachariah Riney. Abe was seven years old when he attended his next school which was kept by Caleb Hazel. 1 Years later, speaking of his school- ing in Kentucky, Lincoln said that he and his sister Sarah "were sent for short periods to A, B, C schools. . . ." The schoolhuse was about two miles from the Lincoln home; it was a log house fifteen feet square. It is still standing but not as it was when Sarah and Abraham attended, for it is now a part of a comfortable farm house. The slowly accumulating evidence proves that both Riney and Hazel were far better teachers than the scant recorded material in Lincoln's biographies shows. Mr. John J. Barry, editor of Rolling Fork Echo, New Haven, Kentucky, says that Riney was a man of considerable culture, "a gentleman," who taught manners and morals in his school. Mr. Riney was a Catholic, members of that church being nu- merous in that part of Kentucky at that time. One 56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOLING 57 of these Catholic communities was only eight miles away from the Lincoln home, near New Haven. It is now Gethsemane monastery. There was another Catholic community eighteen miles away at Bards- town. In these communities lived many fine, cul- tured people and one of these was Lincoln's school teacher. We may feel sure that Thomas and Nancy Lincoln came in contact with them more or less as they passed back and forth upon the high- way. Who knows but that from these Godly people Nancy Lincoln received a great vision of a great life and transmitted it to her son, whose mind at that time was "wax to receive and marble to retain,' ' when he kneeled at her side during the long winter evenings by the fireside as she poured out to him the stories of the Bible. Caleb Hazel, Lincoln's school teacher, owned a farm adjoining the Lincoln's and was their friend and neighbor. It used to be said that Sister Melania (Buckman) of the Sisters of Nazareth, who was related to the Lincoln family, was Abe's first teacher. The fact that the Lincoln farm was so far from her habita- tion made the story look impossible, but since Rev. Mr. Barton has shown that Lincoln's youth was spent not on that farm but this side Muldraugh's hill, the difficulty that militated against this tradi- tion has been removed. If she had merely taught him to count five, or to recite A and B and C, that fact would have justified the recital. No one can say that it is not true. It is in possession. We may feel quite safe in saying that the amount of learning secured by little Abe in the Kentucky schools was very slight. He, perhaps, learned the alphabet and a few pages of Webster's Elementary 58 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Spelling Book and was able to write out the words he spelled. Among Lincoln's fellow pupils at the school of Zachariah Riney was John B. Hutchins, who later became a Catholic priest; and perhaps Hutchins's half-brother, later the Rev. Charles D. Bowlin of the Order of St. Dominic. Father Hutchins became a celebrated educator and lived until February 9, 1873 ; yet about the only recollection he left us of his school mate is that the child's name was then pronounced Link-horn. Young children's names are even to- day sometimes mispronounced at school both by pu- pils and by teachers. Samuel Haycraft was a schoolmate of Abraham Lincoln when they attended Caleb Hazel's school. Speaking of Mr. Hazel, Mr. Haycraft in 1866 said : "He perhaps could teach spelling and reading and indifferent writing, and possibly could cipher to the rule of three. . . . Abe was a mere spindle of a boy, had his due proportion of harmless mischief, but as we lived in a country abounding in hazel switches, in the virtue of which the master had great faith, Abe of course received his due allowance." 2 Mr. Charles C. Coffin says that Austin Gollaher, who attended school in Kentucky with Lincoln, in- formed him that Riney and Hazel had only a spell- ing book containing spelling words and easy lessons in reading. When the advanced pupils had finished the book they would start over again. In Indiana In Indiana, it is believed, Lincoln attended dif- ferent sessions of school, scattered over a period of years, the first when he was ten years of age, the ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOLING 59 second when he was fourteen, and the third when he was seventeen. He went to school "by littles" and altogether for not more than a year. In his autobiography written in 1860 Lincoln said he w r ent to schools in Indiana kept by Andrew Crawford, — Sweeney, and Azel W. Dorsey but that he did not remember any others. But Mr. Charles T. Baker, editor of the Grand View, Indiana, Monitor, believes that Mr. Lincoln had other teachers in the Hoosier State, including James H. Brown, William Price, John Prosser, and John W. Crooks. The Indiana schools were know as "blab" schools. The name w r as entirely appropriate for the pupils were compelled to study their lessons aloud. This studying aloud was a pedagogical device used by the teacher to see that each pupil was kept at work. It was also used because of the scarcity of textbooks — the teacher read the lesson aloud and then had the pupils recite it after him. In early colonial days that was the way the songs were sung in the churches. As there was but one hymn book, the minister or deacon would read a line of the song and the congregation would sing it ; then another line was read and sung, and so on until the song was finished. It is more than likely that Abe never owned a school textbook of his own while in school and that his voice was among those of the "blab" school following the teacher. But he did more than merely repeat the words; he thought out their meaning; he pondered over them; he committed to memory the choice se- lections that appealed to him. Through his entire life Lincoln read aloud. When he prepared his speeches he recited them over and over again — a habit acquired in the "blab" schools in Indiana. 3 60 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER In his autobiographical sketch written for Mr. Jesse W. Fell, December 20, 1859, Mr. Lincoln, speaking of their new home in Indiana said : "It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild ani- mals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writing and cipherin' " to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wiz- ard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambi- tion for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three. ... I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity." 4 The log schoolhouses in which Lincoln attended school were as poor as were his teachers and their methods of instruction. The furniture was of the rudest kind; the benches were made of puncheon; greased paper was used for window panes. The schools possessed no maps, globes, charts, nor black- boards. The pupils had no slates. Paper was used for writing purposes and each pupil made his own ' 'copy-book" or "sum-book." The ink was home- made — the juices of berries — and the pens were made of goose quills and turkey quills. Arithmetic or ciphering held an important place in the school program. Generally the teacher was the only one who possessed an arithmetic; so the sums were dictated by him to the class and copied by the students in their "sum-books." Young Lin- coln made his "sum-books" out of paper about nine ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOLING 61 by twelve inches in size and sewed the leaves to- gether with twine. His stepmother had several sheets of one of his "sum-books" when Herndon vis- ited her in Charleston, Illinois, in quest of Lincoln material. On one of the pages, Abe had copied the table of Long Measure : "Three barley-corns make one inch, Four inches one hand," etc. On the lower left hand corner of one of the pages young Lincoln had written the following school boy doggerel : "Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be good but god knows When." 5 Mr. William H. Lambert of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, has in his collection of Lincolniana a leaf from Lincoln's "sum-book" made in 1824 when Lin- coln was fifteen years old. It contains five problems in multiplication of the following style: multiply 3,456,782 by 30,406. After securing the answers, the lad proved the correctness of his problems by dividing the answers by the multipliers. At the bottom of the sheet appears in bold script letters — "Abraham Lincoln. Book." 6 By the time Lincoln was seventeen years of age, he was a good penman — the best in the neighbor- hood — and he was a good "arithmeticker," too, able to work all the problems to the "Rule of Three." Referring to this, Mr. Arnold, one of his early bi- ographers, says: "I have in my possession a few pages from his manuscript 'Book of Examples in 62 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Arithmetic' One of these is dated March 1, 1826, and headed 'Discount,' and then follows in his care- ful handwriting*: 'A definition of Discount,' 'Rules for its computation,' 'Proofs and Various Examples,' worked out in figures, etc. ; then 'Interest on money' is treated in the same way, all in his own handwrit- ing. I doubt whether it would be easy to find among scholars of our common or high schools, or any school of boys of the age of seventeen, a better written specimen of this sort of work, or a better knowledge of figures than is indicated by this book of Lincoln's written at the age of seventeen." In these early Indiana schools reading* was a very important subject and fortunately the readers used contained material of a varied nature. Some selections dealt with historical subjects, others with geographical subjects, and others with natural science. There were many lessons of love of coun- try and many selections of a deep moral nature stressing the love of fair play and setting forth the proposition that "might does not make right." Who can doubt that from these readers, and especially from the Kentucky Preceptor of which we shall speak later, young Lincoln learned those great and good lessons that were to remain with him always and guide his every action? Spelling, too, was an important subject. Spell- ing matches were held in the school nearly every day. The entire school would "choose sides" and continue to spell until all the pupils were "spelled down." Often during the long winter evenings the neighborhood would gather at the schoolhouse and have an old-fashioned spelling match. Lincoln be- came a famous speller and was always the first one ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SCHOOLING 63 chosen in the contest. After a while he was not permitted to take part but this did not prevent him from helping his friends to win. On the occasion of one of the Friday afternoon spelling matches, the schoolmaster Crawford gave out the word "de- fied." Two pupils had missed the word when it came to one of Abe's little girl friends, a Miss Robey. She started to spell but hesitated, not knowing whether the word was spelled with "fi" or "fy." She looked at Lincoln who instantly put his finger to his eye. She caught the sign and spelled the word. The spelling craze was given great impetus by Noah Webster's Blue Back Speller, which was widely used at this time all over the country. The pioneer schools of Indiana held Friday after- noon exercises, consisting of declamations, oratory, and dialogues. At the close of the school year a general program of such was given. To these pro- grams the parents came to see their children take part. In all these exercises. Lincoln was easily first — he liked to speak pieces, deliver orations, and take part in dialogues. And then he was the best debater in the frequent contests held in the school during exercises or in the neighborhood after school hours. He often debated such questions as : "Resolved, that fire is more destructive than water" and "Who has the greater right to complain, the negro or the In- dian?" In his arguments he was always clear and logical and often resorted to humorous remarks, causing great merriment. Throughout his life, Lin- coln liked to argue and always seemed to get great pleasure out of it. He was greatly pleased as Presi- dent whenever it was necessary for him to prepare papers that called for the presentation of arguments. 64 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER At the age of eleven, Abe was making public speeches. By the time he was seventeen he was a "stump speaker" of no mean ability. His step- mother said that Abe made so many speeches to the men in the fields and kept them from their work so much that her "husband was forced to break it up with a strong hand." Abe delivered so many speeches to his friends and companions that after a while it was a common saying among them that he liked to "hear his own voice." Again, then, Lincoln acquired in these early Indiana schools a foundation for oratory and debate upon which he built so well that in later life he met and conquered the ablest of all debaters of his day, Stephen A. Douglas, and delivered an oration, the Gettysburg Address, one of the greatest masterpieces in the English language. Andrew Crawford, one of Lincoln's Hoosier school teachers, taught "manners" in his school in addition to the customary three R's. A pupil would retire from the schoolroom and then re-enter, being received at the door by another pupil who conducted him and introduced him to all the ladies and gentle- men in the room. Lincoln went through this experi- ence time and again and we do not doubt but that he profited by it, for we have the statements of the people who knew him as a youth that he was always thoughtful and courteous. Mrs. Josiah Crawford said that Abe was a sensitive lad, never coming where he was not wanted and that he always lifted his hat and bowed when he made his appearance. CHAPTER VII ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION How He Secuked It "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will." — Shakespeare. In this chapter we are to set forth the efforts made by the youthful Lincoln to secure an education. In doing so, we shall use quotations from the state- ments made by men and women of Indiana who knew Lincoln during his boyhood days. We are aware of the fact that it is quite possible for some of these people to have made exaggerated state- ments about Lincoln especially after a lapse of years. Some of the statements may not stand the withering fire of the critics but, in the main, the author be- lieves they are true and are worth reproducing. In no sense can it ever be said that Lincoln's education was interrupted by his schooling. As for schooling, he had about a year of it at different times under at least three different teachers ; but as for education, his whole life was spent in acquiring it. Lincoln's schooling was but a foundation upon which he built. He was an earnest student, a con- stant reader ; a book was ever his companion. Far into the night he would sit by the open fire place and read and study by the blaze of the logs his own axe had split. He would do his arithmetic sums on the wooden fire shovel, using a piece of charcoal for a pencil. When the shovel was completely filled with figures he would shave them off with his jackknife 65 66 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and start over again. The walls of his cabin home were covered with figures. In the summer time he would smooth off a level place on the ground and with a sharpened stick work his arithmetic prob- lems there. He never grew tired of "home work." He would take a book to bed with him at night and stick it between the logs of the wall where it would be handy for him to pick up at the first peep of day. We are all familiar with the story of how a borrowed book thus treated was ruined by a rain that came up in the night. This was Weems's Life of Washington, which Abe had borrowed from Jo- siah Crawford. The story has been given all kinds of twists and slants but the true story is about as follows, told by William Adams of Rockport, In- diana, grandson of Josiah Crawford who told him the story time and again : When young Lincoln found that the rain had damaged the book he went to Crawford and explained the matter and asked him what the book was worth. Crawford replied, "Well, Abe, you come over and pull fodder a couple of days and we will call the accounts even." 1 Other stories have it that Crawford drove a shrewd bargain with Lincoln and was to have him pull fodder for three days. Fortunately we have Lincoln's own words de- scribing the incident to a friend: "At the close of the second day my long arms had stripped away every blade off old Blue Nose's corn, and I reckon Cy ought to be satisfied, at any rate I am but I think he was pretty hard on me." So if Crawford really wished to get three days work out of Lincoln he failed because his corn field was not large enough. 2 Young Lincoln had formed the habit of taking a book with him to the fields when he was ploughing ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 67 or cultivating, or to the woods when he was cutting timber or mauling rails. He had solved correctly the right use of leisure time — he read and studied. The passages in the books that appealed to him most he copied and later he reread them and pondered over them. 3 Speaking of Abe's desire for an education, his stepmother, in an interview with Herndon, said: "I induced my husband to permit Abe to read and study at home as well as at school. . . . Abe was a dutiful son to me always. We took particular care when he was reading not to disturb him, but we let him read on and on until he quit of his own accord." 4 Again Mrs. Lincoln said of her stepson: "Abe read diligently. ... He read every book he could lay his hands on; and when he came across a pas- sage that struck him, he would write it down on boards, if he had no paper, and keep it until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look at it, re- peat it. He had a copy-book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he put down all things and thus preserved them." 5 Captain John Lamar of Spencer County, Indiana, tells a story that one day he and his father were riding to mill and saw on the way a boy sitting on the top of an old stake-and-rider fence so interested in a book he was reading that he did not notice their approach. His father turned to him and said: "John, look at that boy yonder, and mark my words, he will make a smart man out of himself. I may not see it, but you'll see if my words don't come true." That boy was Abraham Lincoln. 6 The old people of Spencer and adjoining counties, who remembered Lincoln in his youth, have made 68 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana, — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. Young Lincoln studying at the end of the corn rows statements similar to those of Captain John Lamar. They remembered him as a studious boy, one apart and different from the other boys of his time. He was eager to learn; he craved an education. John Hanks lived with the Lincoln family for four years, from 1823 to 1827, and is authority for the follow- ing statement: "When Abe and I returned to the house from work he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of cornbread and sit down and read. We grubbed, ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 69 plowed, and worked together barefooted in the fields. Whenever Abe had a chance in the field while at work, or at the house, he would stop and read. He kept the Bible and Aesop's Fables always in reach and read them over and over again." 7 Nathaniel Grigsby says : "Lincoln was always at school quite early and attended to his studies dili- gently. He always stood at the head of his class and passed the rest of us rapidly in his studies. He lost no time at home, and when he was not at work he was at his books." 8 Speaking of Abe's education, Dennis Hanks said : "After he learned to write his name he was scrawl- in* it everywhere. Sometimes he would write it in the sand down by the crick bank and leave it there till the waves would blot it out. ... He read a great deal, and had a wonderful memory — won- derful. Never forgot anything." 9 Again Hanks says of Lincoln : "Seems to me now I never seen Abe after he was twelve 'at he didn't have a book in his hands or in his pocket. He'd put a book inside his shirt an' fill his pants pockets with corn dodgers an' go off to plow or hoe. When noon came he'd set under a tree an' read an' eat. An' when he come to the house at night, he'd tilt a cheer back by the chimbley, put his feet on the rung, an' set on his back-bone an' read. Aunt Sairy always put a candle on the mantle-tree piece fur him, if she had one. An' as like as not Abe'd eat his supper thar, takin' anything she'd give him that he could gnaw at an' read at the same time. . . . Aunt Sairy'd never let the children pester him. She always declared Abe was goin' to be a great man some day, an' she wasn't goin' to have him hendered." t0 70 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER During the fall and winter of 1826, when Lin- coln was seventeen years old, he was in the employ of James Taylor, who managed the ferry across the Ohio River at the mouth of Anderson creek. James Taylor had a son, Green Taylor, about Lincoln's age, with whom Lincoln slept. Many years later, Cap- tain Green B. Taylor stated that Lincoln read the books in their library, sitting up "far into the night." 1X As much as Lincoln liked the association of men and boys and as much as he liked to take part in their sports, he could never be induced to leave a new book until he had read it through. One day Josiah Crawford saw Lincoln stretched out his full length on the floor with a book and with his lower lip "stuck out" as it always was when he was in deep study. He said to him: "Abe, what are you goin' to be?" And the reply came promptly: "I'm going to be President, Uncle Joe." 12 One evening Lincoln and Miss Robey, to whom he was paying marked attention, were sitting on the edge of a boat that was being loaded on Anderson creek with produce that Allen Gentry and Lincoln were to take down the Mississippi to the Southern market. Later that lady, who married Allen Gen- try, related the following conversation that took place that evening: "I said to Abe that the sun was doing down. He said to me 'that's not so ; it don't really go down, it seems so. The earth turns from west to east and the revolution of the earth carries us under; we do the sinking, as you call it. The sun, as to us, is com- paratively still ; the sun's sinking is only an appear- ance.' I replied, 'Abe, what a fool you are !' I know ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 71 now that I was the fool, not Lincoln. I am now thoroughly satisfied that he knew the general laws of astronomy and the movements of the heavenly bodies. He was better read then than the world knows or is likely to know exactly. No man could talk to me as he did that night unless he had known something of geography as well as astronomy. He often commented or talked to me about what he had read, — seemed to read it out of the book as he went along. He was the learned boy among us unlearned folks. He took great pains to explain ; could do it so simply. He was different too." 13 Lincoln learned not only from books but from everything and everybody with whom he came in contact. He knew that real knowledge — real edu- cation — could be secured from any man who could do anything well. He talked to men ; he asked ques- tions ; he listened to arguments ; he was inquisitive ; he wanted to know what was going on in the world about him. To acquire knowledge was his passion. The Lincoln home entertained the ministers as they came for the monthly meeting. With them young Lincoln conversed and from them gained much in- formation. Lincoln would not hesitate to stop his work and engage a stranger in conversation, always asking for news. On one occasion, a man rode up to the Lincoln home to inquire about directions and so anx- ious was Abe to learn the news of his section of the world that he began asking questions before Thomas Lincoln could reply to him. The latter turned to Lincoln and rebuked him, but this did not silence the inquisitive youth who soon plied the stranger with more questions about the news. Thomas Lin- 72 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER coin swung his arm backward and with the wide open hand struck Abe in the mouth, rolling him over on the ground. For a second or two the father had a chance to reply to the stranger but that was about all for Abe was soon on his feet and, at a safe distance from his father, continued asking the stranger for the news. This episode has been over- stressed by certain of the Lincoln biographers to show the rudeness of Thomas Lincoln in general and to lay a foundation to show that Abraham Lin- coln did not honor or respect his father. Dennis Hanks speaks of this or a similar situa- tion in the following words : "Sometimes a preacher, 'r a circuit-ridin' jedge 'r lyyer, 'r stump-speakin' polytician, 'r a school teacher'd come along. When one o' them rode up, Tom'd go out an* say: 'Light, stranger/ like it was polite to do. Then Abe'd come lopin' out on his long legs, throw one over the top rail and begin firm' questions. Tom'd tell him to quit, but it didn't do no good, so Tom'd have to bang him on the side o' his head with his hat. Abe'd go off a spell ... an' whistle like he didn't keer. Tap thinks it ain't polite to ask folks so many questions,' he'd say. 'I reckon I wasn't born to be polite, Denny. Thar's so . . . many things I want to know. An' how else am I goin' to git to know 'em?' " 14 The store kept by William Jones at Jonesboro and later at Gentryville and the blacksmith shop by John Baldwin in Gentryville were gathering places for the men on rainy days, during the evenings, on Saturday afternoons, and once a week when the mail arrived from Rockport. Here young Lincoln was sure to be found and here he took part in the various discussions — on politics, on slavery, on religion, and ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 73 on a hundred other subjects. He often entertained the crowd with his mimicry, humor, and anecdotes, in which he was unexcelled. He was especially pro- ficient in mimicking the peculiarities of voice and manners of the transient ministers who preached at the Little Pigeon Creek Church and was never want- ing for an audience on such occasions. But let it be said here once and for all that young Lincoln never made light of the Church or of religion as has been so often recorded by his biographers who took his humor and mimicry for infidelity or atheism. Mr. Herndon tells a story of an amusing inci- dent witnessed by Lincoln in the Little Pigeon Creek Church, which Lincoln often repeated in later years : "The meeting house was located in the woods a mile and a half from our house and some distance from any other residence. Regular services were held only once each month. The preacher on this occasion was an old-line Baptist, and was dressed in coarse linen pantaloons and shirt of the same material. The trousers were manufactured after the old-fashioned style, with baggy legs and flaps in front, commonly spoken of as "barn doors," which were made to attach to the frame without the aid of suspenders. A single button held his shirt in position, and that was at the collar. He arose in the pulpit and in a loud voice announced his text : "I am the Christ whom I shall represent today." About this time a little blue lizard ran up underneath his roomy pantaloons, and the old preacher not wishing to interrupt the steady flow of his sermon slapped away on his legs, expecting to arrest the intruder, but his efforts were unavailing and the little fellow kept ascending higher and higher. Continuing the 74 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER sermon the preacher slyly loosened the button which held the waistband of his pantaloons, and with a kick off came the easy fitting garment. Meanwhile Mr. Lizard had passed the equatorial line and was exploring the part of the preacher's anatomy which lay underneath the back of his shirt. Things by this time were growing interesting, but the sermon kept grinding on. The next movement on the part of the preacher was for the collar button, and with one sweep of his arm off came the tow linen shirt. The congregation sat for an instant as if dazed. At length an old sister in the rear of the room rose up and glancing at the excited object in the pulpit shouted at the top of her voice: "If you represent Christ then I am done with the Bible." 1 ' 5 Each week the postman brought to Mr. Jones the Louisville Journal which was edited by George D. Prentice, a scholarly writer. As Abe was the best reader, he read articles from the paper to the as- sembled crowd. He was often called upon to ex- plain or make clear portions of articles he read. Nathaniel Grigsby is authority for the statement that whenever Lincoln appeared "the boys would gather and cluster around him to hear him talk. He was figurative in his speeches, talks, and conver- sations. He argued much from analogy, and ex- plained things, hard for us to understand, by stories, maxims, tales, and figures. He would point out his lessons or ideas by some story that was plain and near to us in order that we might instantly see the force and bearing of what he said." 16 This Indiana training remained with Lincoln, for all through his life he continued to use stories, illustrations, and figures of speech to bring out a point. He did this ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 75 in his speeches, his letters, and his telegrams. His stories were never told as just mere stories; they had something more back of them. 17 Young Lincoln's talks, speeches, and sermons were of a varied nature and were made to fit his audiences. He could successfully mimic the minis- ter or deliver in all seriousness a campaign speech or an address of an attorney before the jury. His favorite performance was the repetition of the Sun- day sermon to the men and boys in the fields at work on Monday. He would likewise deliver the Sunday sermon to his stepmother whenever she was unable to attend church. On such occasions, the Lincoln household listened to Abe and it was the general opinion that he could do better than the preacher — at least Mrs. Lincoln said that she got more out of his sermons. Lincoln's retentive power was so great that he was able to repeat text and sermon in almost the identical words of the minister. In a conversation with Dennis Hanks, Mr. Hern- don asked him how it came that he and Abe learned so much in Indiana. Hanks replied in substance as follows: "We learned by sight, scent, and hearing. We heard all that was said, and talked over and over the questions heard; wore them slick, greasy, and threadbare. Went to political and other speeches and gatherings, as you do now: we would hear all sides and opinions, talk them over, discuss them, agreeing or diagreeing. Abe, as I said before, was originally a Democrat after the order of Jackson, so was his father, so we all were. ... He preached, made speeches, read for us, explained to us, etc. . . . Abe was a cheerful boy, a witty boy, was humorous always; sometimes would get sad, not very often. 76 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER . . . Lincoln would frequently make political and other speeches to the boys: he was calm, logical, and clear always. He attended trials, went to court always, read the Revised Statutes of Indiana, dated 1824, heard law speeches, and listened to law trials, etc. ... He was always reading, scribbling, writ- ing, ciphering, writing poetry, and the like. ... In Gentry ville . . . Lincoln would go and tell his jokes and stories, etc., and was so odd, original, and hu- morous and witty, that all the people in town would gather around him. He would keep them till mid- night. I would get tired, want to go home, cuss Abe most heartily. Abe was a good talker, a good reader, and was a kind of newsboy." 18 Young Lincoln's favorite study was history or perhaps we had better say the social sciences. He realized, although it may not have been entirely clear to him, that history is more than a mere record of past events; that it "is a social science that re- cords, portrays, and interprets conditions, institu- tions, and events relative to the life of a people, a nation, or a state." Besides history, his major sub- ject, he studied theology, literature, and athletics. But he did not study them in college. His history he secured from the splendid list of books set forth in the following chapter, from readings from the weekly newspapers, and from his conversations with the enlightened men of his community. His litera- ture came from association with some of the most cultured people found anywhere in the West — the pioneer settlers of the British colony. In their homes, Lincoln had a chance to read the productions of the great English writers — Moore, Campbell, Scott, Burns, and others. His athletics was secured ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 77 with the ax and the maul and in this as in history, Bible, and literature he was an apt scholar. His gym was the forest about him just as his laboratory for the social sciences was the country for a radius of many miles around his cabin home — a country filled with many excellent and cultured people. Dr. John Putnam Gulliver of Norwich, Connecti- cut, in a conversation with Abraham Lincoln in 1860 asked him how he explains his power of "putting things" in his public speeches. To this inquiry Lin- coln replied : "I can say this, that among my earliest recollections I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life. But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever since. I can remember going to my little bedroom after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, thought I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over, until I had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me ; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it north, and bounded it south, and bounded it east, and bounded it west. Perhaps that accounts for the characteristic you ob- serve in my speeches, though I never put the two things together before." 19 78 lincoln the hoosier Lincoln Becomes Interested in Law Abraham Lincoln became interested in law and law courts in a very singular way. When he was seventeen he was a ferryman at Anderson creek on the Indiana side of the Ohio river. Just opposite, on the Kentucky side, two brothers, John and Ben- jamin Dill, were licensed ferrymen. Quite often young Lincoln would hear the ferry bell ring on the Kentucky side, and after making sure that the Dill brothers were not going to answer it, would row across the river and give service to the passengers. On one occasion when he thus answered the ferry bell, he was surprised to find himself confronted with John and Benjamin Dill. He was taken before the local 'squire, Samuel Pate, who lived a mile dis- tant down the river. The Dill brothers stated the charges against Lincoln who replied to them upon the request of the 'squire. Lincoln stated that he had rowed passengers from the Kentucky side to the Indiana side of the Ohio river but only after having heard the ferry bell ring time and again without anyone answering it. He informed the 'squire that he did not know that he was trespassing upon the rights of the Dill brothers but on the contrary, thought he was doing them a favor by helping the passengers across the river when they were unable to attend to the business. He furthermore said that had he known he was doing a wrong he would not have done it and that he would not do so again. His honesty and sincerity so impressed the 'squire that the case was dismissed. Another account has it that the Dill brothers had young Lincoln arrested charged with operating a ferry without a license, that Lincoln defended himself and was acquitted by ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 79 the justice as he showed that he never ferried any men across the Ohio but only to the middle of the stream to board a steamer, and that this did not re- quire him to have a Kentucky license. We know that Lincoln did ferry men to the middle of the Ohio to board a steamer for we have that statement from his own lips told to his Cabinet in the story in which he explained how he had earned his first dollar. At any rate the case is recorded in the Kentucky courts and is the first law case in which we find the name of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Pate became interested in Lincoln and invited him to attend a sitting of his court. This Lincoln did and continued to do as long as he worked as ferryman on Anderson creek. Thus, perhaps, Abraham Lincoln got his first lesson in law and law court. But it was not his last for he kept up his interest in law upon his return home from Anderson creek. How he walked to Rockport and Boonville to hear law cases and how Judge Pit- cher and Breckenridge influenced him have been told in another connection. 20 We are indebted to Joseph Gentry for the story of Lincoln's first public address, which in substance is as follows: Two neighbors had quarreled over the possession of a goose and had taken the matter into court. The trial was held in the schoolhouse about a mile distant from the Lincoln home. The entire countryside was present and of course among them was Abraham Lincoln, then seventeen years of age. After the crowd had assembled and before the arrival of the justice and the lawyers, young Lincoln arose and addressed the parties to the law suit, their witnesses, and the crowd in general. He showed them how ridiculous it was for two old 80 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER friends and neighbors to quarrel over "an old grey- goose worth about two bits," saying to them that no matter which one won the suit they both would lose — lose the friendship of each other and cause the neighborhood to be split up by taking sides. In a short time he had the litigants laughing and shak- ing hands and before the justice arrived the case was over and all had departed as friends. Throughout his life Lincoln never dispensed with the manner of speech in which he addressed the Spencer County crowd in the "Gray Goose Case." His fine reasoning and above all his wit were ever with him and were used to placate and harmonize. In his Cincinnati speech he addressed his friends across the river. In his first inaugural address he pleaded again, just as he did thirty-five years before in the log schoolhouse in Southern Indiana for two old friends to remain friends: "You of the North and you of the South, you cannot fight always, and after you have fought with much loss on both sides with no gain . . . can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws?" It has been pointed out time and again by Lin- coln biographers that Lincoln in Illinois worked out a code of ethics for lawyers in which he shows that it should be the duty of lawyers to persuade people to compromise their differences, stating that the winner of a law suit was usually a loser — "in fees, expenses and waste of time." Along this line Lin- coln also said that "as a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough." 21 But let us point out that Lincoln had already worked out in Indiana this code of ethics and had ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S EDUCATION 81 given a real illustration of his ability as a peace- maker when in the "Gray Goose Case" he was suc- cessful in getting two quarreling neighbors to settle their difficulties out of court. In his Illinois code, Lincoln drew upon and enlarged his Indiana code. In fact, the very sentiment that he practiced in the "Gray Goose Case" is found in words in his Illinois code. Then, too, young Lincoln as a judge, umpire, and arbiter of the quarrels among his boyhood asso- ciates in Indiana had ample opportunity to know that the "peacemaker has a superior opportunity of being a good man." CHAPTER VIII THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ The Books Listed "The reading of many books gives pleasure, But the careful study of a few profits most." — J. L. Spalding. During his sessions of school in Indiana, Abra- ham Lincoln read, or had read to him, the following books : Webster's "Old Blue Back" Speller. Dillworth's A Netv Guide to the English Tongue. Pike's Arithmetic. Murray's English Reader. Barclay's Dictionary. The Kentucky Perceptor. During his life in Indiana, Lincoln read the fol- lowing books : The Bible. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Aesop's Fables. Arabian Nights. De Foe's Robinson Crusoe. Weems's Life of Washington. Weems's Life of Marion. Ramsay's Life of Washington. A History of the United States. Speeches of Henry Clay. Life of Benjamin Franklin. 82 THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 83 Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales. Riley's Narrative of the Loss of the Brig Com- merce. Revised Statutes of Indiana. Burns's Poems. Sinbad the Sailor. Scott's Lessons in Elocution. Shakespeare's Poems. Law Books. We are satisfied that this list does not include all the books read by Lincoln. We have his own words for it that he read all the books that he could get hold of within a radius of fifty miles of his home, but, of course, we know that we are not to take this too literally. We have good evidence that he read and studied the above books ; they constitute a good library. Since we are to deal at length with the influence of the most important of these books upon Lincoln, we can say but a word about the others. In his last term of school, Lincoln used Lindley Murray's English Reader which contained both prose and verse. In later years Mr. Lincoln told his law partner, Herndon, that this "was the greatest and most useful book that could be put in the hands of a child at school." 1 We do not know how Lincoln came in possession of Barclay's Dictionary, but his stepmother still had the book in 1865 when Herndon visited her. On tho fly leaf was Lincoln's name in his own handwriting. - Dillworth's A New Guide to the English Tongue, like Webster's "Old Blue Back," was a spelling book 84 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and a reading book combined, containing a number of fables. 3 So familiar was Lincoln with Pilgrim's Progress that he could repeat portions of this great English classic from memory. In Robinon Crusoe he came in contact with "a masterpiece of clear statement." At the home of David Turnham young Lincoln read and re-read two books of which he was very fond — Sinbad the Sailor and Scott's Lessons in Elocution. 4 It was there also that he read the Revised Statutes of Indiana. Dennis Hanks says of Lincoln : " 'Denny,' he'd say, 'the things I want to know is in books. My best friend's the man who'll git me one.' Well, books wasn't so plenty as wild-cats, but I got him one by cuttin' a few cords o' wood. It had a lot o' yarns in it. One I ricollect was about a feller that got near some darned fool rocks, 'at drawed all the nails out o' his boat an' he got a duckin'. . . . Abe'd lay on his stummick by the fire, an' read out loud to me 'n' Aunt Sairy, an' we'd laugh when he did. . . . I reckon Abe read that book a dozen times, an' knowed them yarns by heart." 5 This book was The Arabian Nights. Hanks also says that young Lin- coln learned Henry Clay's speeches by heart. 6 Browne also is the authority that Lincoln read the Life of Henry Clay and that this book, no doubt, helped to make him a follower of that great Whig leader although Lincoln was raised a Democrat and lived among Democrats. 7 Hill says that among young Lincoln's favorite books were Shakespeare's plays. 8 To support this statement we have the following contemporary evi- dence: The John A. Breckenridge family lived on a farm not far from Boonville and about twenty THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 85 miles from Lincoln's home. Lincoln often walked to the Breckenridge home to read and study his law books. Sometimes he would stay all day and all night reading law. One of his favorite reading places was a stump in the yard which the Brecken- ridge family called the "Lincoln Stump." Wesley Hall, a boyhood friend of Lincoln, said that Abe read Shakespeare at the home of Breckenridge and that he had heard him recite selections from that author. When we take up for discussion Lincoln's educational environment and discuss the British Settlement additional evidence will be produced to show that Lincoln did read English prose and poetry. Arnold says that Lincoln read Burns's poems and was familiar with them. The following is another bit of evidence showing the kind of books young Lincoln read: Four miles from Lincoln's home lived a Mr. Hall, a Kentuckian, who had moved to Spencer County some time after the Lincolns came there. Mr. Hall operated a tan- yard where he prepared leather for the Southern markets. At certain times of the year he employed a number of men in his tanyard, among them Thomas Lincoln and son, Abraham. Mr. Hall's son, Wesley, was two years younger than his boyhood friend, Abraham Lincoln. Rev. Murr, who carried on interviews with Wesley Hall, tells a story re- lated to him by Hall that throws light upon the Lin- coln home life. According to the story, young Hall had been sent to the mill beyond Gentryville to have corn ground into grist. He had to "wait his turn" and before he could start home a snow storm arose. We know that the old horse grist mill ground "ex- ceeding slow" for we have young Lincoln's witti- 86 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER cism for it that "his hound pup could eat all the meal it would grind in a day and then bawl for his supper." Fearing to return home, Wesley stayed all night at the Lincoln home and in his conversa- tion with Rev. Murr described his evening there. He had a good supper of cakes, baked potatoes, and fried bacon. After supper Abraham read to the family until bedtime from the Life of Benjamin Franklin. 9 Not only did Abraham Lincoln read the best books but he also had access to current literature. During all of his life in Indiana a newspaper, The Weekly Western Sun and General Advertiser, was published in Vincennes, to which paper Judge Pit- cher was a subscriber. In New Harmony was pub- lished The Gazette from 1825 to 1828 and The Dis- seminator from 1828 to 1829. During these years New Harmony was nationally and internationally known on account of the cultured people who lived there ; there was published in Evansville from 1821 to 1825 The Evansville Gazette; there was published in Louisville, Kentucky, The Louisville Journal. William Jones of Gentryville took this paper and young Lincoln was a regular reader of it. Mr. Jones also took the Terre Haute Register as is shown by the mailing list of that paper as furnished by Mrs. S. C. Hughes, Secretary of the Vigo County Histor- ical Society of Terre Haute, Indiana. 10 We know also that Lincoln borrowed and read "Uncle Wood's" temperance paper. Those writers and biographers of Lincoln who seem to wish to make it appear that he was poorly equipped intellectually when he moved from Indiana to Illinois may well be staggered by their own state- THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 87 merits, for they serve to make Lincoln poorly equipped intellectually when he left Illinois for Washington. As a lawyer in Illinois Lincoln read very few books, not because he did not have access to them, for his law partner, Herndon, had a fair library. Barton states that Lincoln was not only not a great reader of books in Illinois but that he did not buy books. 11 Mr. Gibson W. Harris, a student in Lincoln's law office, is authority for the statement that Lincoln read but little at the office and that there was not "much burning of the midnight oil at his home." 12 Lincoln, himself, once said that he had never read a law book through. 13 David Davis, later member of the Supreme Court of the United States and United States Senator from Illinois, who rode the Illinois circuit with Lincoln, says of him: ". . . He read law books but little, ex- cept when the cause in hand made it necessary- . -" 14 What reading Lincoln did while traveling on the circuit was mainly from school books that he took with him and from light literature. He read little but thought much. It is quite probable that Lincoln read more books in Indiana than he did in Illinois. The Influence of Books Upon Lincoln — The Bible So important, then, are the books that he read during his formative and adolescent periods in In- diana that it is worth while to make a detailed study of a few of them to see how they influenced the formation of his character. The first of these is the Bible and where is there a better book upon which to build the foundation for 88 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER a life! The Bible together with Pilgrim's Progress and Aesop's Fables constituted the library of the Lincolns when they moved from Kentucky to In- diana in 1816. Nancy Lincoln read the Bible to Sarah and Abraham while they were mere children at her knee. We have the statement from Lincoln's associates that as a boy he spent much time reading the Bible. He pored over the Sacred Book until it became a part of his being. He committed to mem- ory many sections of it and often repeated them to the men and boys about. He was learning God's commandments that he might be able to keep them as he was requested to do by his dying mother. His speeches, messages, and state papers show that he knew the Bible. The London Times pronounced Lincoln a seer, stating that his Second Inaugural Address was of such a nature that it might have been a production of one of the prophets of old. That the Bible was used as a textbook in school in Indiana by young Lincoln we can verify by a story from his own lips. Senator Henderson of Missouri called upon President Lincoln at the White House some months before the Emancipation Proc- lamation was issued. The President told the Sen- ator that he was being subjected to great pressure from the abolitionists, especially from Charles Sum- ner, Henry Wilson, and Thaddeus Stevens, who were urging him to free the slaves. President Lincoln then related the following story to Senator Hender- son who told it to former Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson who has since repeated it: "Sumner and Stevens and Wilson simply haunt me. They haunt me with their importunities for a proclamation of emancipation. Wherever I go, and THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 89 whatever way I turn, they are on my trail. And still in my heart I have the deep conviction that the hour has not yet come. "The only schooling I ever had, Henderson, was in a log schoolhouse when reading books and gram- mars were unknown. . . . Our reading was done from the Scriptures, and we stood up in a long line and read in turn from the Bible. Our lesson one day was the story of the faithful Israelites who were thrown into the fiery furnace and delivered by the hand of the Lord without so much as the smell of fire upon their garments. It fell to one little fel- low to read the verse in which occurred, for the first time, the name of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- nego. "Little Bud stumbled on Shadrach, floundered on Meshach, and went all to pieces on Abed-nego. In- stantly the hand of the master dealt him a cuff on the side of the head and left him, wailing and blub- bering, as the next boy in line took up the reading. But before the girl at the end of the line had done reading, he had subsided into sniffles and finally became quiet. His blunder and disgrace were for- gotten by the class until his turn was approaching to read again. Then, like a thunder-clap out of a clear sky, he set up a wail that alarmed the master, who with rather unusual gentleness inquired, 'What's the matter now?' "The little boy pointed with shaking finger to the verse which in a few moments he would be expected to read, and to the three proper names which it con- tained, — " 'Look, master/ he cried, 'there comes them same three fellers again !' " 90 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER As Lincoln told the story he walked to the win- dow overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue, and beckon- ing Senator Henderson to stand beside him, pointed his finger at three men who were then crossing the street to the White House — Charles Sumner, Thad- deus Stevens, and Henry Wilson. Webster's "Blue Back Speller" Noah Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, the "Old Blue Back Speller," was the one great textbook used in the pioneer schools. Lincoln, like Horace Greeley, became a famous speller and was master of the "Old Blue Back." But that speller was more than a speller; it was also a reader. Interspersed among the spelling words were sentences to be read. We doubt not that Lincoln read and re-read every sentence in the book. We have selected, and set forth in the appendix, a few of those that we believe Lincoln might have pondered over and that unques- tionably influenced him. Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables was a great favorite with young Lincoln. In his boyhood days he was fond of illus- trating his arguments and in order to do so drew heavily upon the Fables that gave him such a vast store of knowledge of character and life. Dennis Hanks tells how Abe would lie down in front of the fire with this book in front of him and read to the household. He not only read the Fables but com- mitted them to memory and it is said that he knew the entire book by heart. Speaking of Aesop's Fables, Dennis Hanks says: "He got a little book o' fables some'ers. I reckon it was them stories he read that give him so many yarns to tell. I asked THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 91 him onct after he'd gone to lawin' and could make a jury laugh or cry by firm' a yarn at 'em: " 'Abe/ sez I, 'whar did you git so blamed many lies?' An' he'd always say, 'Denny, when a story l'arns you a good lesson, it ain't no lie. God tells truths in parables. They're easier fur common folks to understand an' ricollect.' His stories were like that. . . ," 15 Time and again throughout his later life he drew upon the philosophy, the parables, and the figures of speech of the Fables to drive home a point he was making. A good example of this is shown in his fight to get the Whigs of Illinois to accept the convention system which the Democrats had already adopted. The Whigs did not like the system and would have none of it, but the Democrats were using it with great success and Lincoln, setting aside all question of right and wrong, argued that in self- defense the Whigs must adopt it. He said: "That union is strength, is a truth that has been known in all ages of the world. That great fabulist and philosopher, Aesop, illustrated it by his fable of the bundle of sticks; and He whose wisdom surpasses that of all philosophers has declared that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' " Here we see that two of the three books (the third being Pil- grim's Progress) that were in the Lincoln home in Indiana — Aesop's Fables and the Bible — were drawn upon in a most practical way. 16 Weems's Life of Washington We have Lincoln's own words for it that Weems's Life of Washington was the first book that aroused his curiosity and interest in his country and a rev- 92 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER erence for the great ideals for which it stood. The book so appealed to him that in later life he said that he considered Washington a God-like charac- ter and not merely a good and wise man. As Lin- coln was traveling to Washington to be inaugurated he made a speech at Trenton, New Jersey, in which he said : "May I be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I men- tion that away back in my childhood, in the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book — such a one as few of the younger members have seen, Weems's Life of Washington. I remem- ber all the accounts there given of the battlefields and struggles for the liberties of the country; and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton. The crossing of the river, the contest with the Hessians, the great hardships endured at that time, all fixed themselves in my memory more than any single Revolutionary event ; and you all know, for you all have been boys, how these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that thing which they struggled for, . . . that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world for all time to come, I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people, shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made." 17 In 1837, when Lincoln was twenty-eight years old, he made a speech to the members of the Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, on the subject THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 93 — "The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions." The following excerpts are taken from this speech : "There is even now something of ill omen among us. I mean the increasing disregard of law which pervades the country, the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts, and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice .... I know the American people are much at- tached to their government. I know they would suffer much for its sake. I know they would endure evils long and patiently before they would think of exchanging it for another. Yet notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disre- garded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affection from the government is a natural consequence, and to that sooner or later it must come. "Here then, is the one point at which danger may be expected. The question recurs, how shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple: let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolu- tion never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. . . . Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling books, and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpits, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. . . . Let it become the political religion . . . ." 18 94 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER In the above speech we can readily see the in- fluence the study of Weems's Life of Washington, which contained Washington's Address of 1796, had on Lincoln. A comparison of these excerpts with the extracts taken from Weems's Life of Washing- ton, set forth in the appendix, will show a striking resemblance. The author firmly believe that the study of Weems's Life of Washington gave young Lincoln his inspiration to write his article on Na- tional Politics. His Illinois speech is an enlargement upon that article. And we believe the guiding hand of Judge Pitcher can be seen in this Illinois speech, for he it was who gave young Lincoln lessons on the necessity for law and order and the observance of the Constitution. The Kentucky Preceptor Lincoln read the Kentucky Preceptor in the home of its owner, Josiah Crawford, for whom the young man worked as a hired hand for twenty-five cents a day. This book was written to teach patriot- ism and high ideals. It was, indeed, a serious book — holding forth great deeds to the youth of the land and showing how men hate tyranny and love free- dom. 19 Mrs. Crawford says that Abe "learned his school orations, speeches, and pieces to write" from the Kentucky Preceptor. 20 Perhaps it was from this school reader that Lincoln got further ideas that slavery was wrong to supplement the teaching of his father, his mother, and his stepmother. The Ken- tucky Preceptor that Lincoln studied in the home of Josiah Crawford was given to his grandson, William Adams of Rockport, Indiana, who in 1865 sold the book to William H. Herndon, Lincoln's bi- ographer. THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 95 The Revised Statutes of Indiana David Turnham, the constable, lived in Gentry- ville, Indiana, and to his home young Lincoln often went to read a book which Mr. Turnham used in his profession. This was the Revised Statutes of In- diana and was, no doubt, the first law book Lincoln ever read. This book turned Lincoln's attention to law and led him to seek out Judge Pitcher and talk with him about law, as well as to borrow law books from him, as we shall see later. It also caused young Lincoln to begin his efforts at oratory, for he felt that a lawyer must be able to talk effectively before judge and jury. 21 The Revised Statutes of Indiana contained the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of In- diana, the Ordinance of 1787 that provided for the governing of the Northwest Territory out of which the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were later formed, a number of statutes that set out the procedure and practice in law and equity when applied to civil government, and an out- line of the organization of the government of a de- mocracy, a state, a congressional district, a county, a township, and a town. Speaking on this subject, John E. Iglehart of Evansville, Indiana, says: "I have had in my law library for fifty years an old copy of the Revised Statutes of Indiana of 182 U, with the names of two generations of lawyers written upon it, a book from the Corydon press, a duplicate in every respect of the statutes which Lincoln borrowed from Turnham .... From the standpoint now of Lincoln's life 96 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and career this . . . book was indeed a great one. The English common law, in the study and practice of which I have spent fifty years of my life, is in my judgment the best system of logic applied to the practical affairs of men which the literature of the world has produced. The system of equity arose out of the conscience of the English judges, and law and equity as outlined in these old statutes repre- sented the evolution of the life of the English peo- ple for one thousand years, and the form of these statutes on court practice and procedure was taken largely from those of the older states. . . . Let the historians answer the question, What more was needed after he had mastered the contents of this volume to equip Abraham Lincoln for the life-work before him, as he later followed it, when in his twenty-second year, on foot, he drove an ox team out of this wilderness to the prairies of Illinois? In a very short time he entered a public career and soon measured to the mastery with the best equipped and ablest men of the state." 22 There can be no doubt that Abraham Lincoln first read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States either from his history while attending the "blab" schools in In- diana or from David Turnham's Revised Statutes of Indiana. We have the best obtainable evidence — Lincoln's own statement — that these two great docu- ments had much influence in moulding his life and character. On February 21 and 22, 1861, while en- route to Washington for his first inauguration, Lin- coln delivered two speeches in Liberty Hall in Phil- adelphia. On February 21 he said: "As it were, to listen THE BOOKS THAT LINCOLN READ 97 to those breathings, rising within the consecrated walls wherein the Constitution of the United States, and, I will add, the Declaration of Independence, were originally framed and adopted. I assure you and your mayor that I had hoped on this occasion, and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I have never asked any- thing that does not breathe from those walls. All my political warfare has been in favor of the teach- ings that come forth from these sacred walls. May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if ever I prove false to those teachings." He said on February 22: "I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence." In the Revised Statutes Lincoln read, no doubt, time and again, the famous Article 6 of the Ordi- nance of 1787: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, other- wise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided al- ways, that any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid." Here young Lincoln got a lasting impression that 98 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER the territories were free but that slavery legally ex- isted in the original thirteen states where it was found. And he clung to this belief, aided by the same interpretation held by Judge Pitcher. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 set aside the Mis- souri Compromise, which forbade slavery in the ter- ritory north and northwest of Missouri, Lincoln was aroused as never before because he believed that slavery should not be allowed to expand. Yet Lin- coln still held firmly the belief that the Constitution protected slavery in the states where it existed and that no one had a right to disturb it there — a belief he held when elected President and which he contin- ued to hold until he saw the necessity of abolishing slavery to preserve the Union. Thus, again, those early Indiana impressions remained with Lincoln throughout his life. We know from Mr. Turnham that Lincoln not only read and studied diligently the Revised Statutes of Indiana but discussed the contents of the book intelligently and had committed to memory the Declaration of Independence and numerous extracts of the Constitution of the United States. He had already read and re-read Weems's Life of Washing- ton and the two books together gave him a good foundation upon which to build his future political thinking — he had quite a thorough understanding how our country was born, the principles upon which it was founded, how it was governed, and of the laws of one of our great states. And shortly after- wards he was reading law from books lent to him by Judge John Pitcher of Rockport and listening to law cases as tried by the great lawyer, Brecken- ridge, in Boonville. CHAPTER IX LINCOLN'S INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT The Men Who Helped to Make Lincoln "Not a demigod or saint Such as fancy loves to paint, But a truly human man Built on a heroic plan." — Hamilton Schuyler. Environment is not everything in a life, but there is no doubt that it plays a great part in the moulding of character especially during the adoles- cent period. Elsewhere we have considered Lin- coln's ancestry and have found that good blood from both sides of his house flowed in his veins. Many of Lincoln's biographers have pictured his life in Indiana as spent among rude, illiterate, and uncultured people. These writers did not know the facts and did not take time to ascertain them. The data were not easily available and they were not searched for. It is said that one of his principal biographers spent a day in Spencer County, Indiana, while another spent three or four days. But the facts are at hand now, thanks to the untiring efforts of men like John E. Iglehart of Evansville, Indiana, and Rev. J. Edward Murr of New Albany, Indiana. Thanks also to the faithful work of some of the descendants of the pioneers of Southern Indiana of Lincoln's time. One of these is Mrs. Bess Ehrmann of Rockport, Indiana, to whom the author is indebted for a great amount of 99 100 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER material concerning Lincoln's neighbors. Mrs. Ehr- mann says : "I have always deeply resented the impression given by many historians and writers that those early pioneers in Spencer County were uncouth, illi- terate people. True there were some such, as there were in all other states, but the brave men who came to make their homes in what was then a vast wilderness were often men of culture and education, many from the aristocratic families of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Massachusetts who have left to their children and children's children heirlooms of linen, silver, furniture, books, historical docu- ments and pictures which prove their ancestry and education. . . ." "Having been born in Spencer County and lived here practically all my life, I have known intimately the children and grandchildren of those early people. My mother told me much of the lives and histories of Spencer County pioneers, as her father, Thomas P. Britton, was one of those who came from Vir- ginia about the year 1825 and my mother was born in one of the few log houses that made up the then little village of Rockport." 1 Mrs. Ehrmann assures us that a great number of Abraham Lincoln's neighbors were highly educated and that he lived his life in Indiana among pioneer aristocrats — aristocrats in the full sense of the term — the most skillful, the best trained, and the most highly cultured and educated. To create a state out of a wilderness, to set up a government, to establish churches and schools, to subdue nature, and to build homes required the work of the most skillful and educated men 2 INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 101 And we are surely mistaken if we think it re- quired only strength and no knowledge and skill on the part of the men to wield the ax and the maul and to plow over stumpy fields, and on the part of the women to care for their household duties without a single one of our many modern conveniences. There are very few women today who have the required knowledge and skill to do what every Hoosier girl in Southern Indiana did in her daily work — carding, spinning, reeling, knitting, and weaving. Abraham Lincoln will be explained and under- stood only when the chapter has been written of the great characters with whom he associated and se- cured his early training in Southern Indiana. This chapter is devoted to that subject and it is the hope of the author that it will set aside forever such state- ments as were set out in a former chapter by Hern- don, Weik, and Lamon as to the barrenness of Lin- coln's life in his youth and early manhood. One of these great characters with whom Lincoln came in contact in Indiana and who left a deep im- press upon his mind and his method of thinking was Judge John Pitcher of Rockport. Of this man Judge Iglehart says : "John Pitcher was one of the greatest trial lawyers in Indiana. . .. Pitcher had Northern ideas on slavery. He was one of the chosen and fit actors in the great drama staged in the wilderness of Southern Indiana. Strong circumstantial evi- dence exists to show that the influences following the Missouri Compromise, which according to Charn- wood so powerfully influenced Lincoln's whole life, were correctly interpreted to him by John Pitcher, whose life, when written, will, I believe, shine in the 102 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER reflected light of the life and ideals of Abraham Lincoln." 3 Mrs. Alice L. Harper Hanby of Posey County, Indiana, says : "Whether or not Lincoln studied law in Pitcher's office at Rockport, Pitcher did loan him books, — moreover law books. This fact is known, more or less completely to many in Posey County. I know it myself, as I was shown the so-called Lin- coln Books — the two volumes of Blackstone in which Lincoln had written his name. I saw them in the early nineties or late eighties . . . , I cannot fix the exact date." "Granting, then, that Lincoln may have studied law in Pitcher's office on some terms or other for a longer or shorter period, one must also allow the contention that during such time or times, Lincoln was subject to influences that had to do, not only with the molding of character and the acquisition of knowledge, legal or otherwise, but which must have given the political bias that proved the corner- stone of Lincoln's rise to power. . . . Pitcher at that times was an Old Line Whig, and later Lin- coln became an Old Line Whig." "In the end, Pitcher became a Democrat, Lincoln a Black Republican, but up to the parting of the ways Pitcher's conservative views may have tem- pered Lincoln's more radical bent. Pitcher was a Union man before, and also after the Civil War, and was early an opponent to the extension of slavery into free territory, as was Lincoln. Both believed in collective vision, and followed it. What was guar- anteed by the Federal Constitution neither would have tampered with, and neither, not even Lincoln, recognized the deeper issues involved, issues that INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 103 doomed the protected institution of slavery. . . . Lincoln, almost throughout his whole career, was governed by the false thesis that slavery should be preserved where it was because of Constitutional provision; — Pitcher's teaching left its impress. He it was that must have instilled that reverence for the Federal Constitution that blinded Lincoln all his days." "If Lincoln chose John Pitcher as his model in the matter of the law, he had, no doubt, ample op- portunity for the study, in private, in debate, at the bar, on the stump (probably), in familiar inter- course, alone or with others, Lincoln had the chance." "The Lincoln books in Pitcher's possession would seem to point unerringly to at least one source of Lincoln's legal equipment. Moreover, Lincoln's su- perior merit as a lawyer was Pitcher's own, that quick seizing of salient points, and centering the attack where none but "Big Guns" are of any avail. Both Lincoln and Pitcher had logic, practically in- vincible. Lincoln had humor as a rival to Pitcher's withering sarcasm. . . . Both minds were essen- tially legal, but so different in character were the two men. . . . The attraction of opposites is some- thing that cannot be measured, and Pitcher's un- usual personality, education, station, disinguished ancestry, etc., could scarcely have failed to impress Lincoln. It would, indeed, be strange had it been otherwise. Pitcher was an exceedingly well read man and a fine conversationalist, and when in the mood could be a very affable companion. He was also of a certain philosophical turn that undoubtedly would have appealed to a mind such as Lincoln's. . . 104 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Hence, in ways we know not of, as in ways we do, John Pitcher doubtless played a large part in the life of Lincoln." 4 In a conversation with Jesse W. Weik, Judge Pitcher told how young Lincoln often walked from his home near Gentryville to Rockport, a distance of fifteen miles, to talk with him about books and the improvement of his education. "I counseled with him," said Pitcher, "and loaned him several books, some of them being law books, which he took home with him to read. I understood he wanted to become a lawyer and I tried to encourage him." 5 Rev. John E. Cox of Evansville, Indiana, was a soldier in the regular army, belonging to a regiment of which Colonel Thomas Gamble Pitcher, son of Judge John Pitcher, was commander. In a paper read before the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society at Evansville, Indiana, February 28, 1923, Mr. Cox told how when he lived at Mt. Vernon, In- diana, he often had talks with Judge Pitcher, then in his eighty-fifth year and how the Judge, know- ing that he was a minister, gave him some good advice : "Of course," he said, "your principal textbook will be the Bible; but you should also read and study the best romance literature, in order to develop your imagination. I gave this advice to the Pentecost boys, and you know that they became noted preach- ers." Continuing, the Judge said : "Speaking of the Bible: I have studied it all my life and have found it a great help in my legal addresses, I have always urged young lawyers to study the Bible along with their law books." And perhaps Judge Pitcher gave this advice to young Abraham Lincoln! INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 105 Mr. Cox told how Judge Pitcher delighted to talk of the boyhood days of Lincoln. On one occasion Mr. Cox asked the Judge what influences did most in shaping the character of Abraham Lincoln. The Judge replied: "First, he had a good mother. Sec- ond, he had a good stepmother. Both women were above the average of their day and times, in char- acter and intelligence. And both instilled into the mind of the boy an ambition to gain knowledge and make a man of himself." 6 Another great lawyer with whom young Lincoln came into contact was John A. Breckenridge of Boonville. Lincoln often walked from his home to Boonville to hear this lawyer plead his cases. Mrs. Eldora Minor Raleigh says that Breckenridge lent Lincoln law books and the two men became close friends. 7 We know, too, that young Lincoln often visited in the home of the Breckenridges and would sometimes stay all day and all night reading law. We have stated before that Wesley Hall says that Lincoln also read Shakespeare in the Breckenridge home. Lincoln himself ascribes to Breckenridge the high ideals of his youth in oratory. In his desire to know law we have noted that young Lincoln attended court at Rockport and Boon- ville. On one occasion, a murder had been com- mitted and the defendant had employed a famous lawyer, John Breckenridge, of Kentucky, to defend him. When this news reached Gentryville, a crowd of men went to Boonville to hear the case, and among them was Abraham Lincoln. Breckenridge made a powerful address, and during a recess of the court, members of the bar pressed forward and con- gratulated him. Lincoln, too, was moved by the 106 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER speech and desired to show his appreciation. Push- ing forward he presented his hand to Breckenridge who turned his back upon him, not thinking it proper to recognize an uncouth youth dressed in buckskin breeches! Many years later the two men met again. When Mr. Breckenridge was presented to the President, Lincoln did not turn his back upon him but grasped his outstretched hand, saying as he did so: "Oh, yes I know Mr. Breckenridge. I heard you address a jury in a murder trial at Boon- ville, Indiana, when I was a boy. I remember that I thought at the time it was a great speech, and if I could make a speech like that I would be very happy" 8 Twenty miles from Lincoln's home, near Boon- ville, lived Ratliff Boone, United States Congress- man of Lincoln's district, which at that time in- cluded Southwestern Indiana. From 1825 to 1839, except for one term, 1827-1829, Boone was in Con- gress. Abraham Lincoln at that time was a young man interested in the study of law. Thomas Lin- coln was a Jackson Democrat and a supporter of Boone. He had known Boone when they lived in Kentucky and perhaps Boone's removal to Indiana in 1809 had something to do with Lincoln's removal to that state in 1816 and with his settling where he did — a short distance from Boone's home — just as the removal of Daniel Boone from Virginia to Ken- tucky had something to do with the removal of Abraham Lincoln, father of Thomas Lincoln, from the former to the latter state. Mrs. Josiah Crawford is authority for the state- ment made to William H. Herndon that young Lin- INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 107 coin sang the following campaign song in the elec- tion of 1828 between Jackson and Adams: "Let auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind, May Jackson be our president, And Adams left behind." Abraham Lincoln was a pronounced Jackson Democrat and had he been a voter in 1828 would have cast his vote for "Old Hickory." At the age of twenty-one when he moved from Indiana to Illi- nois he was still a Democrat but not a "still Demo- crat." He had not been in Illinois long, according to a story told by John Hanks, when he was about to whip a man who had cast a disparaging remark about Jackson. We may feel quite safe in saying that Abraham Lincoln, eager as he was for oratory and politics at the age of twenty, had come into contact with Con- gressman Ratliff Boone. Boone was the Congress- man of the British settlers and we may believe that he knew quite well his intellectual constituents in that neighborhood — the Wheelers, Ingles, Maidlows, Hornbrooks, Hillyards, Parretts, and others. He knew, too, of the splendid libraries in the homes of these families. Is it too much to believe that Lin- coln might have learned of this mine of informa- tion from his Congressman, if from no other source ? Boone had a peculiar style of campaigning which must have appealed to Lincoln. It is said that "he always came home in the spring, laid off the corn rows for his sons, and then returned to Washing- ton." 9 ". . . When out electioneering for office Colonel Boone would stop at a crossroads blacksmith 108 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER shop and while his competitor presented his claims for the blacksmith's support, Boone would pound out a setting of horse shoe nails, some chain links or clevises for the blacksmith, thus showing that he was not above labor and knew how to handle tools." "For thirty years Colonel Boone was closely identified with county, state, and national politics. From a historical standpoint he was more than a local celebrity. . . . Colonel Boone's contemporary associates were Jonathan Jennings, Benjamin Parke, Isaac Blackford, General W. Johnston, Nathaniel Ewing, John Johnson, Henry Vanderburgh, William Hendricks, William Henry Harrison, John H. Thompson, David Dale Owen, James Noble, Henry P. Coburn, Elisha Embree, Robert M. Evans, and many others whose names are recorded in the official rolls of the state." 10 Something of the culture of Southern Indiana can be seen by the mere enumeration of the great men produced in that part of the state — men who lived in Lincoln's neighborhood and close to him in time as well as in space. ". . . The private secretary to Mr. Lincoln, Ma- jor John Hay, who later became one of our greatest Secretaries of State, was born a few miles north of where Lincoln lived ; and within fifteen miles from the birthplace of Hay and a few miles to the east of Lincoln there lived Walter Q. Gresham, afterward an eminent jurist, a great soldier and also a Secre- tary of State. Here resided Eads, of Eads jetties fame; and it was from this portion of the state that there came Generals Harrison, Hovey, Wal- lace, Burnside, Rosecrans and others of Civil War fame; the Lanes — James, Joseph, and Henry S. INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 109 And what shall we say of Generals Jefferson C. Davis, John Tipton, Governor Jennings and Joaquin Miller; of writers, jurists, orators, educators and statesmen, who subdued this wilderness, fought val- iantly at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Antietam, Gettysburg; or marched with Sherman to the sea? Among such a people capable of producing and rearing these, and such as these, Mr. Lincoln spent those years between seven and twenty-one. If we may be permitted to assume that the Almighty desired early to surround His destined leader through a terrible Civil War with those influences best calculated to bring about the deliverance of a people in bondage, as well as preserve the unity and continuity of a great nation, by taking him to a free state among a people who had strong convictions against human slavery, then we may see no departure from His ancient methods in dealing with His chosen." 11 The author has set forth, at length, in the ap- pendix, a list of men who lived in Spencer and ad- joining counties, all of whom young Lincoln could have known and many of whom we know influenced his life. The mere reading of this list will convince one that Lincoln spent the formative period of his life among highly cultured people. The British Settlement Perhaps no person is a better authority on the history of Southern Indiana during the period when the Lincolns lived there than is John E. Iglehart of Evansville, Indiana. He has made a careful and extensive study of the British settlement located a few miles from the Lincoln homestead. He knew personally some of those early colonizers and many 110 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER of their children. From conversation and corres- pondence with them he has gathered much valuable information about the people of Southern Indiana. The British settlers came to the United States during the period of reconstruction in Europe fol- lowing the Napoleonic wars. Economic conditions in their home lands were bad and taxes were oppres- sive. Those Englishmen, "who having something left to be robbed of, and wishing to preserve it, were looking toward America as a place of refuge from the boroughmongers and the Holy Alliance." 12 Political conditions were likewise bad for Eng- land was in no wise a democracy. The Reform bill of 1832 — a first step on the road to political democ- racy — was yet several years in the future. Nor did the English government take a liberal view in reli- gious matters. The Corporation Act of 1661 and the Test Act of 1673 kept the dissenting Protestants from holding office because of the necessity of tak- ing sacrament according to the rules of the Church of England — a thing they would not do. These acts were not repealed in England until 1828, eleven years after the beginning of the British settlement in Southern Indiana. The British settlement was made in 1817 by Saunders Hornbrook, Jr., and named Saundersville in his honor. To it the next year moved many Eng- lish, Irish, and Scotch-Irish emigrants. Among the English were Edward Maidlow and John Ingle. Of the latter we are told he was "a most intelligent and respectable Hampshire farmer, who brought con- siderable capital and English habits and feelings the best in the world." 13 John Ingle was a very active leader in all community affairs. INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 111 The oldest son of John Ingle of Saundersville was John Ingle, Jr., born in England in 1812 but reared in the British settlement. John Ingle, Jr., took an active part in railroad building in Southern Indiana, was the first secretary and the superin- tendent of the railroad and soon became its presi- dent. He was the first president of the first tele- graph line establish south of Vincennes and west of Louisville; he was active in organizing a company for mining coal; he helped to promote the Wabash and Erie canal from Lake Erie to Evansville; he was the first president of the first public library in Evansville; he was Sunday school superintendent for nearly twenty years of the leading Methodist Church of Evansville — the present Trinity Church. He was a tower of strength intellectually, morally, and religiously. "His moral character and reputa- tion were without blemish in the community. . . . In public charity and benevolence he was liberal to the full limit of his ability, always a leader; and his pastor said of him at his funeral that he always carried with him an order from John Ingle Jr., for a load of coal for the suffering poor, but he was not permitted to give the name of the donor." 14 Among the Irish who came in 1818 were the Mc Johnstons and Hillyards. Richard and Joseph Wheeler and Robert Parrett, who were English, and the Erskines, who were Sotch-Irish, came in 1819. They all located a few miles east of Saundersville, the original English settlement. "All of them were strong men and natural leaders, who became and remained during their lives the center of a large circle in the Saundersville community exercising wide and permanent influence. The Parretts and 112 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Wheelers were men cast in the same mould, highly- educated for the time, bringing with them in the wilderness English culture and the stern principles of right, truth, and morality, which were taught in the doctrines and life of John Wesley." 15 In two years' time the British settlement had fifty-three families who had taken up twelve thou- sand eight hundred acres of land and had capital to the amount of eighty thousand dollars. 16 By 1821, four years after its inception, the settlement con- tained over one hundred families or from five hun- dred to seven hundred people. It had no definite bounds, but as time went on there was a tendency for the settlers to drift southward toward Evans- ville, along the high ground, as this was considered more healthful. In 1826 we find Saundersville de- scribed as "a flourishing . . . town in Vanderburgh County." 17 The British settlers took an active part in the upbuilding of their community and of neighboring communities. They were interested in turn-pike and canal construction, in the improvement of agri- culture, in educational and religious work. They took a fine and determined stand for law and order and wished to erect their homes on a Christian civil- ization. 18 Upon these early British pioneers, the surrounding country and the city of Evansville and other cities depended for a period of fifteen years for educated ministers. 10 Rev. Wheeler and Rev. Parrett were highly educated Wesleyan ministers and for a generation their influence for a mighty good was felt among the people. These British settlers were "men of capital, of industry, of sober and regular pursuits; men of re- INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 113 flection, who apprehended approaching evils; men of upright and conscientious minds, to whose happi- ness civil and religious liberty were essential." 20 They came "as pioneers and citizens of a democratic republic, where the oppressive burden of rents, tithes, poor rates and taxes from which they fled, practically had no existence. They came, too, like the Pilgrims of old, to seek freedom from oppression, including freedom to worship God." 21 A number of these early pioneers were Puritans who "believed implicitly in God's providence in the affairs of men, and that moral forces rule the world. The moral and religious supremacy of the Indiana settlement was early one of its distinguishing features." Such were the men who gave "color and tone to the so- ciety, manners and customs of the people with whom they mingled." 22 The British settlers did not look upon themselves as Britishers in America but rather as Americans and they located in what has been termed the most American of our states. They came into contact and mingled freely with the other two elements of society — the backwoodsmen of the South, coming into Indiana through Kentucky, who made up the great bulk of the people, and a rela- tively few men from the East — from New England, New York, and the other Atlantic Coast States. "In the enforcement of the law, the grand juries were the source of power, and much of the time the leading and dominating men upon the grand jury were from the British settlement, and at all times there were representatives of that settlement upon the grand jury. In like manner this element was prominent in the trial of cases on the regular panel of the jury of the court, which tried men indicted 114 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER for offenses against the law. In matters of public opinion in support of the law, there were a number of men in the settlement who were very influential and of great value in supporting the administration of justice. Particularly among these were Robert Parrett and Joseph Wheeler, ministers of the gospel, whose careers formed a very important part of the development of this community for a period of thirty years." 23 Birbeck, one of the founders of the British colony in Illinois, lived in Princeton while his colony was being put in shape for him. He wrote quite exten- sively his Notes on America. The Edinburgh Re- view commented upon Birbeck's Notes on America as follows: "The rapidity with which new settlements are formed in this manner, is illustrated by Mr. Bir- beck's whole book; but nothing tends more clearly to show it than the state of society which he found in Princeton, where he took up his abode while his land was preparing to receive him. This is a small town, placed at the further limit of Indiana, and founded only two years before our author's arrival. It contained fifty houses; was the county town of the district; and contained (says Mr. B.) as many 'well informed, genteel people, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, as any county town I am ac- quainted with/ 'I think/ he adds, 'there are half as many individuals who are entitled to that distinc- tion as there are houses; and not one decidedly vi- cious character, nor one that is not able and willing to maintain himself/ " 24 Mr. John E. Iglehart, who, perhaps, is the best living authority on this question, says that the above is the fairest written account Court est/ Mrs. J. T. Hohson, Odon, Iihdiana. Major J. B. Merwin, who was associated with Abraham Lincoln in their fight for prohibition ourtesy Judge Itoscoe Kiper, Boonville, Indiana. Entrance to Lincoln Park, burial place of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Lincoln City, Indiana INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 115 that he has seen of the common people of Southern Indiana of the period of our study. The above de- scription is that of the people of a neighborhood ad- joining the Lincoins and at a time when Abraham Lincoln was nine years of age. Judge James Hall, who spent his life among the pioneer people of the West, has written a number of books on western life. In his Romance of West- ern History he substantiates what Birbeck has said about the early pioneers of Southern Indiana. Nor are we still wanting in additional proof. Rev. Isaac Reid, a Presbyterian minister, lived in Southern In- diana from about 1818 to 1828. He describes the people of his section as intelligent and cultured and the equal in intellectual attainments of any people of the old Northwest. 25 The British settlers at Saunders ville, forty miles west of Lincoln's home, and those at Blue Grass, thirty miles west of his home, brought with them a great many books of English prose and poetry — those of Moore, Campbell, Scott, Burns, Shakes- peare. Lincoln had every opportunity to know of these libraries and the author believes that he not only knew of them but that he made use of them. "Very recently there came into the custody of Mrs. Bertha Cox Amstrong a considerable portion of the library of James Cawson, a civil engineer and school teacher from London, who brought into the English settlement in 1818 a library from England, to which he added continuously while in America. This li- brary has been donated to the Vanderburgh County Museum and Historical Society. . . . Mrs. Arm- strong is a great-grand-daughter of George Potts, who married a sister of Mrs. Cawson. . . ." 2fi 116 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER James Anthony established a mill in the Lincoln neighborhood that was sold to a Mr. Negley about 1819. The mill became more or less of a social cen- ter for old and young of both sexes. The owners of the mill kept a list of its patrons and in the list are found the names of many of the people from the British settlement. It is quite possible that young Lincoln came into contact with those people at the mill. 27 Luke Grant, a member of the British Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The Lincoln Mill near his Indiana home INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 117 settlement, built a mill at Millersburgh in 1825, not far from the Lincoln home. And is it not likely that Lincoln found himself going to this mill quite often and talking to Mr. Grant? We can readily believe that in this way, Lincoln came to know of the peo- ple of the British settlement, and knowing of them, found occasion to go to their homes and read from their libraries. 28 The English settlement was known to the read- ers of the Evansville Gazette, for that paper carried a notice of a public dinner to be held at the home of Samuel Scott in the English settlement, the purpose of which was to celebrate "with becoming spirit the glorious independence of America." 29 The Evans- ville Gazette circulated in Lincoln's neighborhood and thus we record another possible way for Lin- coln to become acquainted with the intellectual men of the British settlement. The pioneers of the settlement began, in 1822, to meet each Saturday afternoon at the home of Mr. Hornbrook for the purpose of reading and dis- cussing papers on agriculture and kindred subjects. Speaking of these meeting Mr. Hornbrook wrote: "It was the intention to hold more general meetings the next year, for the county, to a greater extent." 30 We doubt not that Congressman Ratliff Boone knew of these meetings as they were held from year to year and, perhaps, if in no other way, Lincoln learned of them from him. The Owenite Settlement Fifty miles west of the Lincoln home was the town of New Harmony in Posey County. In 1825 Robert Owen of Scotland purchased the town site 118 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER together with thousands of acres of adjacent land from a religious society — the Rappites. Owen, who is known as the father of English Socialism, pro- posed to establish a "New Social Order" in the New World — a communistic society. He gathered about him many brilliant and learned people, especially scientists. Owen and his followers came down the Ohio River on their boat, "The Philanthropist/' in January, 1826, at the very time Lincoln was run- ning the ferry across the river at the mouth of An- derson creek. The Owenites made special efforts to "sell" their plan to the people of the countryside. They printed and scattered pamphlets, sent out agents, and published material in The New Har- mony Gazette which was circulated far and wide. That this paper reached Lincoln's neighborhood we cannot doubt, for in 1822 a highway was built from New Harmony to Boonville, centering at Saunders- ville. Then, too, considering the river traffic, fifty miles was a short distance to a pioneer or to a propa- gandist. For five years the Owenites kept up their propaganda, stressing free, universal education, and social, religious, and political freedom. Let us say in passing that Robert Owen gave in a material and substantial way his noble ideals to the Old World by the establishment of Infant Schools in Scotland in 1799. There in New Lanark he set up schools for the poor children who worked for him in his factories. He sought to give them an educa- tion — moral, physical, and intellectual training — to prevent them from becoming men and women steeped in ignorance. In 1816 Owen's Infant School idea was transplanted to the United States and in a few years' time New England towns were estab- INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 119 lishing Infant Schools open the year round and ad- mitting children at the age of four. A mere enumeration of the names of the men and women who came to New Harmony on "The Philanthropist" justifies the name — "The Boat Load of Knowledge:" Robert Owen, founder of the community of New Harmony. Robert Dale Owen, oldest son, statesman. William Maclure, geologist, philanthropist. Thomas Say, naturalist, zoologist. Charles Alexander Lesueur, artist, scientist. Gerard Troost, geologist. William Phiquepal d'A r u s m o n t, Pestalozzian teacher. Mme. Marie Duclos Fretageot, Pestalozzian teacher. Achille Emery Fretageot, her son. Dr. Samuel Chase, chemist. Mrs. Chase, his wife, artist. Oliver Evans, Jr., made first cast plows in Indiana. John Beal, cabinet maker. Mrs. John Beal, his wife. Baby daughter (afterwards Mrs. Caroline Lichten- berger) . Pierre Lazare Duclos, nephew of Mme. Fretageot. Virginia Poulard Dupalais, beautiful member of society. Victor Dupalais, her brother from Philadelphia. Cornelius Tiebout, printer and engraver. Caroline Tiebout, his daughter. John Speakman and family, scientist. Capt. Donald MacDonald, admirer of Mr. Owen. Miss Lucy Way Sistaire (Mrs. Thomas Say), artist. Two little sisters, pupils of Mme. Fretageot. 120 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Amedie Defour, pupil of A. P. cTArusmont in Paris. Charles Balque, pupil of A. P. cTArusmont in Paris. Alexis cTArusmont, pupil of A. P. cTArusmont in Paris. Allen Ward, larger pupil, afterwards a teacher. Mark Penrose, larger pupil, afterwards a teacher. Belthazar Obernasser, Swiss artist. Space will not permit a detailed account of these famous men and women, who became Lincoln's neighbors, but in order to prove our contention that Lincoln did not live in the cramped cultural environ- ment as pictured by Eggleston, Hall, Herndon, Weik, Lamon, and others, we are justified in setting forth in the appendix a brief account of a few of them. Did Lincoln know of the Owenite Settlement? Dennis Hanks says he did and he speaks of the mat- ter in the following words: "When Abe was about seventeen, somethin' happened that druv him nigh crazy. Thar was a feller come over from England — Britisher, I reckon — an* spoke in Congress about a settlemint he was goin' to lay out on the Wabash, buyin' out some loony Dutch religious fellers that had mills an' schools thar. Now, mebbe you think 'at us folks livin' in the backwoods didn't know what was goin' on in the world. Well, you'd be mighty mistaken about that. We kep' track o' Congress fur one thing. Thar wasn't much to talk about but poly- tics, an' we thrashed over everything in argymints at the cross-roads stores. . . . Polytics had sort o' followed us over the Gap trail an' roosted in the clearin's. Thar was Henry Clay in Kaintucky an' Old Hick'ry in Tennessee, at it tooth an' nail, an' we all tuk sides. INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT 121 So when this furrin feller spoke in Congress about the gyarden o' Eden he was goin' to fence in on the Wabash, we soon heerd about it. Boats brung news every week. An' one day arly in win- ter, a big keel-boat come down from Pittsburgh over the Ohio. They called it 'the boatload o' knowledge/ it had sich a passel o' books an' machines an' men o' larnin' on it. Then little rowboats an' rafts crossed over from Kaintucky, an' ox teams an* pack- horses went through Gentryville an* struck across kentry to — to — plague on it! Abe'd tell you in a minute — "New Harmony, Robert Owen's colony ?" sug- gested the interviewer. "That's it! Thar wasn't sca'cely anything else talked about fur a spell. . . . "Denny, thar's a school an' thousands o' books thar, an' fellers that knows everything in creation,' he'd say, his eyes as big 'n' hungry as a hootowl's." 31 Perhaps this hungry boy feasted more on the knowledge of Robert Owen's settlement than the world knows. The ideals of Robert Owen became the ideals of Lincoln, and there is no doubt in the writer's mind that Owen's "New Social Order" sank deep into the mind of the Emancipator — for his greatest work in life was to give to the world a new social order — one built not upon the theory that "might makes right" but upon the "Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man." The author likewise believes that young Lincoln learned from the Pestalozzian teachers of the Owenite settlement the beautiful sentiment of Pestalozzi who strove to substitute for the brutal discipline of the school- room — and the world — a loving discipline. 122 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER The author has been engaged for the past sev- eral years in research work, which, when success- fully completed, as he now knows it will be, will prove beyond any question of a doubt that Abraham Lincoln not only knew of the Owenite Settlement at New Harmony but that he read the books of its li- brary and became acquainted with the teachings of its great men. The author is not quite ready to give his discoveries to the public in this work but will do so in a later book — The Education of Abraham Lincoln in Indiana. Lincoln's physical environment seems to have been as poorly understood and appreciated by his early biographers as was his human environment. He said in later life that he had read every book that he could get within a radius of fifty miles of his home. Within this radius were several cities of culture — Vincennes, Evansville, Princeton, New Harmony, Boonville, Rockport, Troy, and Corydon, the capital of Indiana until 1825. In these cities lived many cultured people with books and libraries. Lincoln's access to these cities was relatively good. From 1824 on there was a stage coach running from Evansville through Princeton to Vincennes, making a trip each way once a week. There were public roads from Princeton to New Harmony; from Evansville to Boonville; from Evansville to Prince- ton and Vincennes through Saundersville, the seat of the British settlement; from Evansville to New Harmony; from Corydon to Evansville, passing by the Lincoln farm and through the present town of Gentryville. In 1822 a road was built from New Harmony to Boonville, extending from the Warrick County line to the Posey County line. CHAPTER X LINCOLN AS A WRITER Character of His Writings "Fate that is given to all men partly shaped Is man's to alter till he die." — John Masefield. As a young man in Indiana Abraham Lincoln not only read a great deal but he wrote some. He wrote an essay upon kindness to animals and an- other upon the horrors of war, influenced, no doubt, by the material he had read in the Kentucky Precep- tor and the "Old Blue Back." Surely those Indiana school books left a deep impress upon Abraham Lin- coln and helped to mold his life. Who knows but that his inaugural addresses and his famous Gettys- burg Address have their roots deeply buried in those old Hoosier readers. It might be well today if our schools were supplied with material that would edu- cate the heart more, as well as the head and hand ! Not far from Lincoln's home lived a neighbor, William Wood, who was a subscriber for two papers — one a political paper and the other a temperance and religious publication. Lincoln borrowed the the papers and read them carefully and thought- fully. The influence of the temperance paper upon Lincoln was undoubtedly great, for we know that he was a strong temperance advocate, who never drank, yet who lived at a time when drinking was an almost universal custom, even among women and ministers. Lincoln believed so strongly in temper- ance that he wrote an article on that subject and 123 124 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER showed it to Mr. Wood who said "for sound sense it was better than anything in the paper." The article made such a favorable impression upon Aaron Farmer, a local preacher, that he sent it to a tem- perance journal in Ohio where it was accepted and published. 1 As Lincoln borrowed and read "Uncle Wood's" temperance journal and was influenced by it to write an article on temperance, so from William Jones, the Gentryville storekeeper, he borrowed and read the Louisville Journal and through it was influ- enced to write an article on National Politics. The following excerpts are taken from Lincoln's article : "The American government is the best form of gov- ernment for an intelligent people; it ought to be kept sound and preserved forever. . . . General edu- cation should be fostered and carried all over the country; and the Constitution should be saved, the Union perpetuated and the laws revered, respected, and enforced." 2 Young Lincoln showed his writing to "Uncle Wood," who in turn, showed it to Judge John Pit- cher of Rockport, one of the greatest men of South- ern Indiana. Upon reading the article, Judge Pit- cher said : "The world can't beat it." When "Uncle Wood" told Lincoln what Pitcher had said about his production, the young writer was highly elated. He decided to call on Judge Pitcher and later did so. Pitcher took a decided interest in Lincoln. His in- fluence upon him is traced in another section of this book. In his first political campaign in Illinois, two years after leaving Indiana, Lincoln, in 1832, came out boldly in a circular for an education for all the LINCOLN AS A WRITER 125 people, no matter how poor, sufficient to enable them "to read the Scriptures and other works, both of a moral and religious nature, for themselves. ,, Surely his Indiana training, both in an educational and re- ligious way, is evident here. Lincoln wrote several little ditties and jingles, among them the following lines about Johny Konga- pod, a Kickapoo Indian, who was supposed to have them for an epitaph : "Here lies poor Johny Kongapod; Have mercy on him, gracious God, As he would do if he was God, And you were Johny Kongapod." 3 In the same copy-book in which Abe wrote the lines: "Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be good but god knows When" appears the following written at a later date: "Time ! What an empty vapor 'tis ! And days how swift they are ! Swift as an Indian arrow, Fly on like a shooting-star. The present moment just is here, Then slides away in haste, That we can never say they're ours, But only say are past." 4 Lincoln's sister, Sarah, had married Aaron Grigsby, but the relation between him and the Grigsbys was not very friendly. His sister died of childbirth in 1828, within two years of her mar- riage. In April, 1829, Reuben and Charles Grigsby, brothers of Aaron Grigsby, married Betsy Ray and 126 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Matilda Hawkins, respectively. The older Grigsbys, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Grigsby, gave a great infare to their sons and daughters-in-law. It was an old- fashioned feast and dance and they indulged also in the ancient custom of putting the bridal party to bed. To this great event Abraham Lincoln was not invited. He felt the sting of the slight so much that he gave way to satire and sarcasm and wrote in a rude scriptural style what he called "The First Chronicles of Reuben." They are printed in Hern- don's Lincoln. Abe's wit and satire in writing found rich fields in the various happenings of the neighborhood. He wrote about a church trial in which Brother Harper and Sister Gordon were seeking judgment. The ar- ticle has been pronounced "exceedingly humorous and witty" and received a warm reception and a coarse laugh by the rustics at Jones's grocery store and Baldwin's blacksmith shop. 5 . Lincoln did not like Josiah Crawford any too well, for Crawford made him pull fodder two days to pay for Weems's Life of Washington, and often "docked" him whenever he lost time at his work. But Abe evened up matters with "old Cy" by making his nose come down in history. Crawford's nose was exceedingly large and crooked and was more or less blue. Upon this nose, Lincoln cast his satire, making his attack in "Chronicles" and in song — with the net result that Josiah Crawford became known far and wide as old "Blue Nose." Until quite recently it has been generally be- lieved that young Lincoln wrote the following song, and that the Lincoln family sang it at the wedding of Sarah Lincoln and Aaron Grigsby in 1826 : 8 LINCOLN AS A WRITER 127 Adam and Eve's Wedding Song "When Adam was created He dwelt in Eden's shade, As Moses has recorded, And soon an Eve was made. Ten thousand times ten thousand Of creatures swarmed around Before a bride was formed, And yet no mate was found. The Lord then was not willing The man should be alone, But caused a sleep upon him, And took from him a bone. And closed the flesh in that place of; And then he took the same, And of it made a woman, And brought her to the man. Then Adam he rejoiced To see his loving bride, — A part of his own body, The product of his side. This woman was not taken From Adam's feet, we see; So he must not abuse her, The meaning seems to be. This woman was not taken From Adam's head, we know; To show she must not rule him, 'Tis evidently so. 128 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER This woman she was taken From under Adam's arm ; So she must be protected From injuries and harm." But now we are assured that young Lincoln is not the author of the above poem. John E. Iglehart of Evansville, Indiana, says that he remembers his mother reciting all of the above poem, and to make sure that his memory had not failed him he had three other people — who were brought up in his home — corroborate him. Mr. Iglehart's mother was born in England in 1817 and at the age of five came with her widowed mother to the British settlement at Saundersville, in Southern Indiana. His mother in her youth had learned to recite the English nur- sery rhymes and the poems of Campbell, Moore, and Burns. Among the poems that she learned was the above which Herndon says was given to him by Mrs. Josiah Crawford, who believed young Lincoln had written it. As a matter of fact Lincoln had recited it to Mrs. Crawford but he was not its author. How did he come in possession of it? In the light of Mr. Iglehart's statements, would it not be reasonable to say that Lincoln must have heard it either directly or indirectly from some of the people of the British settlement or he must have read it from some of their books? If this is so, then Lincoln did come in contact with the people of this settlement and knew of their splendid libraries of the finest English prose and poetry. And knowing of these libraries are we not to suppose that he availed himself of their use, hungry as he was for knowledge V Young Lincoln wrote a bit of romance once. The setting of the story is found in an accident that hap- LINCOLN AS A WRITER 129 pened to some settlers who were passing the Lin- coln home. Lincoln, in later years, told the story in the following words to Mr. T. W. S. Kidd, editor of the "Morning Monitor" of Springfield, Illinois: "Did you ever write out a story in your mind? I did when I was a little codger. One day a wagon with a lady and two girls and a man broke down near us, and while they were fixing up, they cooked in our kitchen. The woman had books and read us stories, and they were the first I had ever heard. I took a great fancy to one of the girls; and when they were gone I thought of her a great deal, and one day when I was sitting out in the sun by the house I wrote out a story in my mind. I thought I took my father's horse and followed the wagon, and finally I found it, and they were surprised to see me. I talked with the girl and persuaded her to elope with me; and that night I put her on my horse, and we started off across the prairie. After several hours we came to a camp; and when we rode up we found it was the one we had left a few hours before, and we went in. The next night we tried again, and the same thing happened — the horse came back to the same place; and then we concluded we ought not to elope. I stayed until I persuaded her father to give her to me. I always meant to write that story out and publish it, and I began once; but I concluded that it was not much of a story. But I think that was the beginning of love with me." 8 Thus, with many other things, love began with Abraham Lincoln in his childhood days in Southern Indiana. Not only during his boyhood days but through- out his life Lincoln wrote rhymes and verses. In 130 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 1844 he was a Presidential elector on the Whig ticket. During the campaign he visited Spencer County, Indiana, and made speeches in behalf of Henry Clay, the Whig candidate for President. On this occasion he visited the graves of his mother and sister in Spencer County and shortly afterwards wrote this poem: "My childhood's home I see again, And sadden with the view; And still as memory crowds my brain, There's pleasure in it, too. "0 Memory ! Thou midway world, 'Twixt earth and paradise, Where things decayed and loved ones lost, In dreamy shadows rise. "And, freed from all that's earthly, vile, Seem hallowed, pure and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle, All bathed in liquid light. "As dusky mountains please the eye, When twilight chases day; As bugle notes that, passing by, In distance die away ; "As leaving some grand waterfall, We, lingering, list its roar ; So memory will hallow all We've known, but know no more. "Near twenty years have passed away, Since here I bid farewell To woods and fields, and scenes of play, And playmates loved so well; LINCOLN AS A WRITER 131 "Where many were, but few remain, Of old, familiar things ; But seeing them to mind again The lost and absent brings. "The friends I left that parting day, How changed ! as time has sped Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray, And half of all are dead. "I hear the loud survivors tell How naught from death could save, Till every sound appears a knell, And every spot a grave. "I range the fields with pensive tread, And pace the hollow rooms, And feel (companions of the dead), I'm living in the tombs." Young Lincoln never was a singer although he liked music very much. He was always glad to have Dennis Hanks or some one else sing for him. And Dennis was always willing, especially if he had stayed too long at the grocery store and partaken too freely of the ever-flowing beverage. In later years Lincoln told Herndon that he doubted that "he really knew what the harmony of sound was." At the Little Pigeon Creek Church, Lincoln joined in the singing as best he could. The songs were from Watt's and Dupuy's hymn books and included such titles as these : "Am I a Soldier of the Cross," "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours," "There is a Foun- tain Filled with Blood," and "Alas, and did my Sav- iour Bleed?" 9 132 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Abe sang the following song, "John Anderson's Lamentations," in which it is believed he interpo- lated some of his own lines : "0 sinners! poor sinners, take warning by me: The fruits of transgression behold now, and see; My soul is tormented, my body confined, My friends and dear children left weeping behind. "Much intoxication my ruin has been, And my dear companion hath barbarously slain; In yonder cold graveyard, the body doth lie ; Whilst I am condemned, and shortly must die. "Remember John Anderson's death, and reform Before death overtakes you, and vengeance comes on. My grief's overwhelming; in God I must trust: I am justly condemned; my sentence is just. "I am waiting the summons in eternity to be hurled ; Whilst my poor little orphans are cast on the world. I hope my kind neighbors their guardians will be, And Heaven, kind Heaven, protect them and me." 10 CHAPTER XI ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RELIGION His Early Home Training "There lies more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds." — Tennyson. Lincoln was brought up by parents who lived during the time of the great camp meetings as con- ducted by Peter Cartwright. His parents were deeply religious and worshipped God and read his Word. The Bible was Lincoln's great book in his youth and it remained so all through his life. Build- ing a life upon the Bible and prayer, it is no won- der that Philip Brooks could later say that in Lin- coln was "vindicated the greatness of real goodness and the goodness of real greatness. "* The family altar in the Lincoln home was never taken down. Regardless of what was on the table, not a meal was ever eaten in the Lincoln cabin that thanks were not returned by Thomas or Nancy Lin- coln or Sarah Bush Lincoln. One day during those "pinching times" when potatoes were the only food served and his father had returned thanks, young Abe spoke up and said: "Dad, I call these mighty poor blessings." 2 Speaking of the influence of the Bible upon Abraham Lincoln Mr. L. E. Chittenden says: "Ex- cept the instructions of his mother, the Bible more powerfully controlled the intellectual development of the son than all other causes combined. He mem- orized many of its chapters and had them perfectly 133 134 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER at his command. Early in his professional life he learned that the most useful of all books to the public speaker was the Bible. After 1857 he seldom made a speech which did not contain quotations from the Bible." 3 "Thus even before he came into his 'teens, Lin- coln had developed a mature sense of responsibility to God, which never failed to find expression in rev- erent obedience to God's laws as he understood them ; of responsibility to man in every relationship of life, particularly to his kindly father and his two devoted mothers, alike motherly to him and consecrated to his upbringing in "the fear and admonition of the Lord." 4 "The spirit life of the Bible was built into Lincoln's boyhood, expanded in his young manhood, ripened in his middle age, sustained him when sor- rows seared his soul, and gave to him a grip upon God, man, freedom, and immortality. The influence of the Bible upon him gave him reverence for God and his will ; for Christianity and its Christ ; for the Holy Spirit and its help ; for prayer and its power ; for praise and its purpose ; for the immortal impulse and its inspiration." 5 "We see in Lincoln's deep religious nature the effect of his early training, and in those direct ap- peals to and communications with God we see not only an abiding faith and trust in God but also something of the spirit of revival, the intense reli- gious emotionalism of those great meetings of his boyhood out of which came much of definite convic- tion, of faith and of trust in God." 6 So thoroughly was the importance of the reading of the Bible impressed upon Lincoln's mind that he ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RELIGION 135 gave an address before the Bible Society of Spring- field, Illinois, in which he advocated having the Bible placed in the possession of every family in the state. And no one was better qualified to advocate this mea- sure ; the work of Nancy Lincoln was firmly laid. One of Lincoln's favorite Bible quotations was from the Prophet Micah : "What doth the Lord re- quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" This bit of Scripture his mother read to him; then he read it himself; then he acted upon it. His whole life is but a review of that teaching which this great man received in his humble home in Southern Indiana. Throughout his life he loved justice, yea, justice tempered with mercy. It would require an entire volume to record his acts prompted by biblical lore, while he was President of the United States during the period of the Civil War. He, who is familiar with the acts of this man of God in prayer, knows all too well that he did walk humbly with his God ! In its foundation Lincoln's religious belief was Calvinistic, predestinarian ; the kind that he heard the preachers expound in the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church in Spencer County, Indiana. He could not accept the supernatural birth of Christ. But because he did not accept all the teachings of any church is no reason that he was an infidel as he has been called by Herndon. 7 Herndon is an authority, if we needed any, that the Baptist preaching of Lincoln's boyhood made him a life-long fatalist. He emerged into manhood with the convictions that "whatever is to be will be." Mrs. Lincoln declared that this was his answer to threats concerning his assassination; that it had 136 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER been his lifelong creed and continued still to be the ruling dogma of his life." 8 The Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church Abraham Lincoln attended the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church in Spencer County, Indiana. He never allied himself with that church although his father, his mother, his stepmother, and his sister were Baptists. Tradition has it he was janitor of the church but we have no proof of his being jani- tor. But we do know that he helped to build the church which was erected in 1820 under the direc- tion of Thomas Lincoln who was the boss of the carpenters. Young Lincoln, then eleven years old, helped to fell the trees from which the lumber was made that went into the building. Speaking of this famous little Baptist Church, Miss Ida D. Arm- strong says: "The church, which stood one mile west of what is now Lincoln City, was built of logs with a stick and mud chimney. It was a long, narrow building one and a half stories high, having a very, very large fireplace on one side of the building, with a pulpit made of roughly hewn boards. It had a win- dow (with no glass but heavy wooden shutters, im- mediately behind it) at one end of the structure, and a ladder leading to the upper story where the people who came great distances might stay over night. Split logs, with wooden pegs for legs, and a puncheon floor, were also features of this church, the logs of which were sold and used in the build- ing of a barn." 9 That Lincoln knew the teachings of the little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church we have no doubt; ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RELIGION 137 and that he pondered these well we likewise have no doubt, for certainly he connected them with his Bible reading. On the first page in the minutes- book which is in the possession of Louis Varner of Boonville, Indiana, are set down the articles of faith of his church : "We believe in one God the father the word and the Holy Ghost, who hath created all things that are created by the word of his power for his pleasure. "We believe the old and new Testaments are the word of God and there are everything contained therein necessary for our salvation and rule of faith and practice. "We believe in the fall of man in his public head and that is incapable of recovery unless restored by Christ. . . . "We believe the righteous will persevere through grace to glory, and none of them finally fall away. "We believe in a general resurrection of the just and unjust and the joys of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked are eternal. "We believe that good works are the fruits of Grace and follow after justification. "We believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ and that true believ- ers are the only proper subjects and the only proper mode of Baptism is immersion. "We believe the washing of feet is a command to be complied with when opportunity serves. "We believe it is our duty severally to support the Lord's table and that we ought to administer the Lord's supper at least twice a year. "We believe that no minister ought to preach the gospel, that is not called and sent of God, and 138 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER ^ Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The Little Pigeon Creek Church grave yard in Spencer County, Indiana, the burial place of Lincoln's sister, Sarah they are to be proved by hearing them, and we al- low of none to preach amongst us but such as are well recommended and that we ought to contribute to him who faithfully labors among us in word and doctrines according to our several abilities of our temporal things." 10 Young Lincoln did not profess Christianity; he did not join church, yet daily he read God's Word and gave himself to prayer. He was honest ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RELIGION 130 and truthful ; we have the statements from his neighbors that he did not drink intoxicating liquors nor use tobacco; he did not gamble; he did not use intemperate language; he was kind and courteous to everything and everybody; no better neighbor ever lived; there was no accommodation he would not grant; there was nothing he would not do to succor one in distress; he was considerate of the rights of others; he was a friend of the lowly and the needy ; he would bind up the broken pinion of a helpless bird as he would care for the wound of a devoted friend; yet according to the standards of those times and these, Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. CHAPTER XII LINCOLN AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION Indiana Influence "One fire was on his spirit, one resolve — To send a keen ax to the root of wrong, Clearing a free way for the feet of God." — Edwin Markham. In David Turnham's Revised Statutes of Indiana, Lincoln read the Ordinance of 1787 which contained the following section : "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof a party shall have been duly convicted ; provided al- ways that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, as aforesaid." Here young Lincoln came into contact with the slavery question, know- ing that slavery had been forbidden in the North- west Territory but legally recognized and protected in the original states where it existed. We have every reason to believe that Lincoln knew of the preamble of the freedom papers of Ed- ward Coles, issued July 4, 1819. Coles was a rich Virginia planter who had an intense hatred for the slavery system. He moved to Southern Illinois, pur- chased a large tract of land, returned to Virginia, sold his home there, and in company with his slaves returned to Illinois. On the way he announced to 140 LINCOLN AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION 141 his slaves that they were free and that each family was to have a quarter section of land that he had purchased for them and that he was to care for them until they got settled in their homes. This story was known up and down the Ohio Valley; so much so that the anti-slavery men never tired of repeating the preamble of Cole's famous freedom papers: "Not believing that man can have of right property in his fellow man, but that on the contrary all man- kind are endowed by nature with equal right, I do therefore by these presents restore to that inalienable liberty of which he (or she) has been deprived." That Lincoln as a youth came into contact with anti-slavery literature we have not the slightest doubt. Slavery and emancipation were live issues in Southern Indiana from the time of the Missouri Compromise, 1820. These questions were being dis- cussed during those years in which Lincoln's mind was inquiring into all phases of every subject that interested him. We feel sure that Judge Pitcher had talked with him about the question of slavery. Pitcher took the Northern viewpoint on that subject but at the same time was an ardent supporter of the Constitution. From this great jurist young Lin- coln received valuable help in his study of the slav- ery question and the relation the Federal Constitu- tion bore to it. During the years 1822-1824 there was carried on in Illinois a strenuous contest between the pro- slavery and the anti-slavery forces. Speeches were made over the state; the pulpit took up the fight; newspapers engaged in the struggle; pamphlets pro and con were printed and circulated far and wide. 142 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER We may feel sure that the echoes of this struggle reached Spencer County, Indiana. In 1816, Charles Osborne establish an abolition newspaper in Ohio. Three years later he started his crusade in Indiana against the institution of slavery. Although In- diana entered the Union as a free state in 1816, there were, at the time Osborne began his fight against slavery, one hundred and ninety slaves in the state, most of them in the southwestern part, in the neighborhood of the Lincolns. In 1822 the Aboli- tion Intelligencer was established at Shelbyville, about one hundred miles from Gentryville. From some or all of these sources Lincoln came into con- tact with the slavery question. Lincoln's first real insight into the institution of slavery was at the age of seventeen. He had been working as ferryman at the mouth of Anderson creek and during his leisure hours, when not on the ferry, he set out and tended a field of tobacco, a short distance below the present town of Troy. He also built a flatboat on which he expected to take his crop south. He refers to this flatboat in the story to his Cabinet members of how he earned his first dollar. When Lincoln learned that a Mr. Ray was preparing to go south with a flat boat load of produce, he struck up a bargain with him by which Ray was to take Lincoln's tobacco and Lincoln was to go along "at the oar." For this information we are indebted to William Forsythe, who was born in Troy, Indiana, and who knew Lincoln well when he was ferryman at Anderson creek. Mr. Forsythe told the story to Rev. Murr, his pastor. Rev. Murr states that Jefferson Ray, son of the flatboatman, substantiated the story as related by Forsythe. 1 LINCOLN AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION 143 Two years later, at the age of nineteen, Lincoln made a second trip down the Mississippi River, this time with Allen Gentry. Speaking of these river trips Dennis Hanks said during an interview with Eleanor Atkinson : "It was fur to git money to buy books, that Abe tuk them v'yages on the flatboats. He was all fur bein' a riverman fur a while. Tom owned Abe's time till he was twenty-one an* didn't want him to go. He was too vallyble fur chores. . . . Well, him an' Abe struck up some kind o' dicker, an' Abe went off down the river, fur fifty cents a day, an' a bonus. It was big wages, but he never went but twict." 2 In the New Orleans slave market Lincoln saw the institution of slavery at close range. And there the iron went into his blood. It is said that he ex- claimed: "If I ever get a chance to hit that thing, I will hit it hard!" We cannot feel sure that Lin- coln ever said these words but no doubt he was moved and deeply stirred by what he saw. Com- menting on this Mr. Gregg says: "Who was Abra- ham Lincoln to hit the thing a blow? He was only a boatman, a splitter of rails, a teamster, a back- woodsman. . . Why did he utter these words? . . . Was it not . . . the mind and heart and power of God planted by heredity and early training in the depths of his being and abiding there with a holy impatience waiting for the clock of destiny to strike?" 3 Yes, it was! The Bible readings by his mother to the lad at her knee were striking home. At a tender age Lincoln was already remembering his mother's last words. And have we not said that Thomas Lincoln and his wife, Nancy, were steeped full of Thomas Jefferson's ideals that all men were 144 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER free and equal ! Their teachings were going home, and with the hand of God, were raising a boy to be the emancipator of a race. Surely the great works of Lincoln's later life can be traced back directly to his humble home in Southern Indiana! In the year 1837 the Illinois State Legislature passed resolutions disapproving "of the formation of abolition societies and of the doctrine promul- gated by them" and also stating that the Federal Constitution upheld slavery in the states where it existed and that Congress had no right to "abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the con- sent of the citizens of said District." Lincoln re- fused to cast his vote for the resolutions. He be- lieved with the Illinois Assembly that Congress had no power to interfere with slavery in the states but thought that it did have power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Lincoln believed that all public expressions of slavery should include a state- ment that the institution was wrong. In protest to the resolutions he wrote a resolution of his own which was signed by himself and one other member of the state legislature: "They believe that the in- stitution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils." 4 Miss Ida Tarbell says of the first of the Lincoln- Douglas debates: "For vigor, compactness, logic, solid information one would have to go far to find the equal of this first speech of Lincoln's against the extension of slavery. It is packed with ideas, satu- rated with familiarity with the history and develop- ment of the thing. It is the kind of expression that LINCOLN AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION 145 comes only from long living with a subject. It dem- onstrates beyond question, it seems to me, that Lin- coln from his boyhood had been, both consciously and unconsciously, observing and turning over the exhibits of what he regarded as a tremendous na- tional wrong/' 5 The writer is convinced that young Lincoln's mind was made up on the slavery question both as to its moral and constitutional aspects before he left Indiana. The teachings of his father, his mother, his stepmother, Jesse Head, the Bible, Judge Pitcher, Robert Owen, the abolition literature, and the con- tact with the great and good men of the English settlement had left a deep impress upon his mind. Lincoln's passion for that which is true and right — taught to him by his mother as she read the Word of God — remained with him throughout his life. It is clearly set forth in his Cooper Institute speech, delivered February 27, 1860: "If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it are themselves wrong and should be silenced and swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly object to its universality. If it is wrong they (pro-slavery advocates) cannot justly insist upon its extension. All they ask we could readily grant, if we thought slavery right. All we ask they could readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole controversy." 6 When Rev. Murr interviewed James Gentry on Lincoln's views on slavery he received the reply that Lincoln always was against slavery. 7 CHAPTER XIII LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS Occupations of Young Lincoln A peaceful life: — to hear the low Of pastured herds. Or woodman's axe that, blow on blow, Fell sweet as rhythmic words. And yet there stirred within his breast A faithful pulse, that, like a roll Of drums, made high above his rest A tumult in his soul. — James Whitcomb Riley. It has been said that if character is to come to its best it must have a sound physical basis. Cer- tainly then Abraham Lincoln's character should have come to its best for he was given a strong body filled with ^ 3 i blood. Lincoln was perhaps the strongest man in Southern Indiana. We have two bits of evi- dence to show this. William Richardson and some other men were building a corn crib and were at work making hand spikes with which to carry some heavy timbers that were to be used in the crib. It happened that Lincoln appeared at that moment. He asked what the hand spikes were to be used for and when informed said he could shoulder and carry the timbers himself. It was no sooner said than done. In telling of this feat, Richardson said that it would have taken three or four men to put the timbers in place. Richardson tells of another feat of strength performed by Lincoln. Preparations were being made to move a chicken house when 146 LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 147 Lincoln picked up the building and carried it. Mr. Richardson said the house would weigh "at least six hundred pounds." 1 But there were many strong men in Southern Indiana. The conquest of nature; subduing the wilderness with the ax and the maul gave excellent physical training. Many of Lincoln's companions could leap an eight rail fence and jump a bar held level with the tops of their heads. It was not un- common for the young men in a deer hunt to tramp thirty miles a day through deep snow. Speaking of Abe's power and strength Dennis Hanks said : "My, how he could chop ! His ax would flash and bite into a sugar tree or sycamore and down it would come. If you heard him fellin' trees in a clearin' you would say there was three men at work, the way the trees fell." 2 The true story of the life of Lincoln the youth must include the work done by him. In later years, writing of his father's removal from Kentucky to Indiana, Lincoln says: "He settled in an unbroken forest, and the clearing away of surplus wood was the great task ahead. Abraham, though very young, was large for his age, and had an ax put into his hands at once ; and from that till within his twenty- third year he was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument — less, of course, in plowing and harvesting season." 3 As a boy and as a young man Lincoln did many different kinds of work for his parents. He helped to clear the ground of trees and underbrush and maul rails. He drove the team, plowed the ground, planted, cultivated, and harvested it. He helped to cut the grain with the sickle, thresh it with the flail, 148 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and clean it by fanning it with a sheet. He fed the stock and ran errands. He was especially fond of going to mill to have the corn ground into grist. He was a handy boy about the house, always seeing Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth,, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. Gentryville, Indiana, the neighborhood in which young Lincoln did many kinds of work things to be done and doing them without being told. His father taught him carpentry and cabinet- making. We have seen elsewhere that he helped his father build the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church. Tradition has it that there are still in the Gentry- LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 149 ville neighborhood houses which young Lincoln helped to build — those of the Lamar, Jones, Gentry, Crawford, Richardson, and Turnham families. 4 But recent research shows that most of the buildings constructed in the days of the youth of Abraham Lincoln are no longer standing. We have evidence that young Lincoln not only worked at the trade of carpentry but also at that of cabinet making. A cupboard, made by Thomas Lin- coln and his son, is still to be seen in the Spencer County, Indiana, Courthouse. On the cupboard the following note is pasted : "This cupboard was made for Elizabeth Crawford by Thomas Lincoln and his son, Abraham, while they lived near Lincoln City, Spencer County, Indiana." During the year 1826, when Lincoln was seven- teen years old, he spent several months as a ferry- man, working for James Taylor, at six dollars per month. It is very likely that while working on the Ohio young Lincoln had heard of General La Fay- ette whose boat had been wrecked in the river at Rock Island, a few miles above Troy, in 1825. On the Ohio Lincoln came into contact with the inces- sant traffic up and down the river. All that traffic was of the leisure kind where nobody was in a hurry. The boats tied up and the men offered their wares for sale. The steamboats stopped to take on and let off passengers. They brought the news from "up river" or "down river" as the case may be and we are not to be surprised that Lincoln urged them to tell that news should they show any hesitancy to do so. Today when our railroads are our chief ar- teries of commerce and trade, we can scarcely re- alize how teeming in life was a river town in the 150 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER time of Lincoln — a constant stream of people and boats kept coming and going; here were travelers seeking new homes or returning to their old ones; here, too, were boats laden with produce to be sold down river ; here, too, sad to relate, was a boat filled with human freight for the slave market of New Orleans. It was while working as ferryman on the Ohio that Lincoln made his first dollar. He afterwards told of the incident to members of his Cabinet: "I was standing at the steamboat landing contemplat- ing my new boat, and wondering how I might im- prove it, when a steamer approached coming down the river. At the same time two passengers came to the river bank and wished to be taken out to the packet with their luggage. They looked among the boats, singled out mine, and asked me to scull them to the boat. Sometime prior to this I had con- structed a small boat in which I planned to carry some produce South which had been gathered chiefly by my own exertions. We were poor and in them days people down South who did not own slaves were reckoned as scrubs. When I was requested to scull these men out to the steamer, I gladly did so, and after seeing them and their trunks on board, and the steamer making ready to pass on, I called out to the men: "You have forgotten to pay me." They at once each threw a half dollar in the bottom of the boat in which I was standing. You gentlemen may think it was a very small matter, and in the light of things now transpiring it was, but I assure you it was one of the most important incidents of my life. I could scarcely believe my eyes. It was difficult for me to realize that I, a poor boy, had LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 151 Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. Site of the ferry landing at Rockport, Indiana, where Lincoln embarked for his flat boat trip to New Orleans earned a dollar in less than a day. The world seemed wider and fairer before me. I was a more hopeful and confident being from that time." Lincoln's river experience gained as ferryman made it possible for him to take a trip down river to New Orleans. Writing of this flatboat trip Lin- coln, in later years, says: "When he was nineteen, still residing in Indiana, he made his first trip upon 152 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER a flatboat to New Orleans. He was a hired hand merely, and he and a son of the owner, without other assistance, made the trip. The nature of part of the "cargo load/' as it was called, made it necessary for them to linger and trade along the sugarcoast, and one night they were attacked by seven negroes with intent to kill and rob them. They were hurt some in the melee but succeeded in driving the ne- groes from the boat and then 'cut cable/ 'weighed anchor/ and left." 5 For this trip, Mr. Gentry, the owner of the cargo, paid Lincoln the sum of eight dollars a month and his passage home on a steam- boat. Lincoln was not only ferryman for Mr. Taylor across the Ohio and at Anderson creek but he also helped the Taylor family with various tasks. He did the farm work, ground the corn with the hand- mill, helped with the house work, and built the fires of mornings. Lincoln was a much sought after "hand" at butchering time. He butchered for the Taylor, Wood, Duthan, and McDaniels families, re- ceiving for his hard work the magnificent sum of thirty-one cents a day — six cents more than the cus- tomary price for ordinary work. He worked for Josiah Crawford on the farm; helped to build the first Crawford cabin, dug and walled a well, split rails, and thrashed for him, receiving pay at the rate of twenty-five cents a day. 6 In 1827, when he was eighteen years of age, in company with his stepbrother, John D. Johnston, Lincoln went to Louisville, Kentucky, where they worked for a short time on the Portland Canal, which was then being built around the falls of the Ohio River. Lincoln was paid for his work in silver LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 153 dollars and he managed to save most of them and proudly displayed them to his friends in Spencer County. 7 At odd times Lincoln worked at Jones's store in Gentryville. He drove a team for Jones, unpacked the boxes of merchandise, butchered the hogs, and salted the meat for which he received the sum of thirty cents a day. Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The site of Jones's store near Gentryville, Indiana The women in the homes where young Lincoln worked as a "hired man" in Indiana always liked to have him around because he was so thoughtful in doing the little things about the house — bringing in wood, filling up the water bucket, sweeping the floor, etc. — things that he did willingly and cheerfully for his mother and stepmother. Nor did Lincoln forget this kind of work in his own home in Illinois. He always helped with the house work; cut the wood 154 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and kindling, built the fires and kept them going, brought in the water, swept the floors, cleaned the walks, and ran the errands. His early training and practice in Indiana never left him during his en- tire life. In order to have meal for their bread and cakes, it was necessary for the pioneers to go ever so often to the mill to have their corn ground. We have stated elsewhere that it is probable that young Lin- coln came in contact at the Negley mill with the people of the British settlement. We know that Lin- coln often went to Gordon's mill and to Hoffman's mill. He was always pleased to take these trips for it gave him a chance to come into contact with men of whom he could inquire the news. It was at Gor- don's mill one day that Lincoln suffered a serious accident. When his "turn" came, late in the after- noon, he hitched his mare to the sweep and was urging her on with a gad. He had just started to apply a few words — "get up here" — along with the application of the switch, when the mare kicked him in the face and he did not finish his sentence. He was rendered unconscious and his father called and took him home. Toward morning he regained con- sciousness and upon doing so at once said — "you old hussy" — , finishing the sentence that he had started the afternoon before. In later years Lin- coln often discussed the incident and reasoned out just why upon regaining consciousness he had ut- tered the words he did. 8 Lincoln, as we have seen, had a varied experi- ence in work in Indiana. He was a day laborer, a farm hand, a grocery clerk, a carpenter, and a ferry- man. He saw the value of work and the dignity of LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 155 labor. This attitude toward labor he held through- out the rest of his life, and these ideals — grubbed out of his rough work in the hills of Southern In- diana — stood him in good stead in his famous de- bates with Stephen A. Douglas. There his great heart poured out the perfect tribute to labor and to the men who work! Again Lincoln, the Hoosier, spoke to a nation and the nation understood! His position in the Douglas debates was intensified in the Emancipation Proclamation in which Lincoln, the Hoosier, spoke to a world and the world under- stood! And the roots of the Emancipation Procla- mation can be traced to the teachings young Lincoln received on Hoosier soil. Was Abraham Lincoln Lazy? As a boy and as a young man was Abraham Lin- coln lazy? This question is easy to ask and not hard to answer. He has been pictured by many writers and biographers as shiftless and lazy, but so has his father been so pictured. In his youth Lincoln lived in a frontier neighborhood where hard work was found for everybody. Under these condi- tions, a young man at the age of seventeen, eighteen, or twenty-one, stretched out in the shade of a tree reading a book might well be called lazy by some people. For him to prefer to read and study or to engage in conversation with a man like Judge Pit- cher instead of joining the crowd in rough sport or pastime would surely give occasion for some one to say he was lazy. For him to frequent Jones's store or Baldwin's blacksmith shop to read the Louisville Journal or hear stories told and yarns spun would surely be evidence for those who wished to say that 156 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER he was lazy. But strangely enough the proof is all the other way. Rev. Murr in his talks and conversa- tions with the men and women who knew Lincoln best as a youth did not find a single person who would say that Abraham Lincoln was lazy. They stated that "he was ever ready to turn his hand at anything, no matter much what, and was always at work if there was any work to be had." 9 To be anxious to secure an education, to prepare himself to be somebody in this world did not seem to his boyhood friends to be sufficient evidence for them to brand Lincoln as being lazy. That some of his biographers have done so is evidence that in this, as in other matters, they made no serious effort to ascertain facts. As a youth Abraham Lincoln was lazy if by laziness we mean reading, studying, thinking, pondering. Yet during his fourteen years of life in Indiana, from the ages of seven to twenty-one, we do not doubt that Lincoln did more physical work than any other boy of his neighbor- hood. Abraham Lincoln was not lazy ; no lazy youth would have made the effort or paid the price that he did to put himself in a position to be of service to humanity. Lincoln's Sports and Recreation We have the testimony of his boyhood friends that "Lincoln as a boy was jolly and lively, enter- ing into all of their boyish sports heartily." The youths in those days played "town ball," "stink base," "chicken," wrestling, jumping the half ham- mon, the broad jump, running foot races, etc. Horseshoe pitching was a favorite pastime. Feats of strength were often held, such as throwing a LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 157 heavy maul, and lifting a dead weight as a log or a rock. In these tests Lincoln was always first as he was in wrestling. He joined the other men and boys of the neighborhood in coon and 'possum hunt- ing at nights. He enjoyed these sports somewhat, but the companionship and conversation of the men more. He fished some but he was not fond of the sport especially when he could not talk or engage in conversation. Sitting on the bank of a stream by himself had no charms for young Lincoln. Oftimes the different settlements of Southern Indiana bragged of the "fastest horse in the country" and the argument was settled by a race. To these "brag races" Lincoln went, for there were to be found men and boys and in them he was interested. Lincoln was an attendant at all the social func- tions of the neighborhood—weddings, infares, char- ivaris, and burials; corn huskings, apple parings, log rollings, and barn raisings; debates between ri- val politicians and preachers, the literaries, declama- tory contests, and spelling matches. And he was sure to be on hand at a political speaking, "whoop- ing it up" for the Democrats in general and "Old Hickory" in particular. 10 On one occasion when Lincoln was working as ferryman at the mouth of Anderson creek, he at- tended a neighborhood corn husking. The men "chose up sides" and divided the pile of corn equally between them, the object being to see which side would finish husking its pile first and thus win the contest. During the evening, Lincoln directed a series of humorous remarks toward one of the con- testants on the opposing side. The man was unable to stand this fire, and giving way to his anger, 158 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER threw an ear of corn with full force at Lincoln. The ear hit Lincoln in the breast and made a scar which he carried with him to his grave. Ordinarily this would have been a signal for a fight but Lincoln controlled himself and the incident passed off. The men and boys of Southern Indiana celebrated New Year's after the following fashion : At midnight they would assemble in front of a farmhouse and choose one of their members to recite the "New Year's Speech," a bit of doggerel wishing the reci- pient a happy and prosperous New Year. After the speech, the crowd would be invited into the house where they made merry eating and drinking. Then they would be off to another farmhouse, repeat the same performance, and continue it all night long. In the New Year celebration, Lincoln was in his element, seizing the opportunity to be with men and boys as well as the chance to deliver a "New Year's Speech" publicly. Dennis Hanks has given us considerable infor- mation about Lincoln's sports and recreation while a youth in Indiana. Mr. Herndon interviewed Hanks and also had him put his statements in writ- ing, numbering his questions and asking Dennis to number his answers. Their correspondence is now in the possession of Mr. Jesse W. Weik of Green- castle, Indiana. The following is one of Dennis's letters just as he wrote it: December 24, 1865. You speak of my letter written with a pencil, the Reason of this was my Ink was frose. part first, we ust to play 4 Corner Bull pen and what we cald cat. I No that you No what it LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 159 is and throwing a mall over our Sholders Back- wards, hopping the half hamen, Restling and so on. 2nd what Religious Songs. The only Song Book was Dupees old Song Book. I Recollect Very well 2 Songs that we ust to Sing, that was "Oh, when shall I see jesus and Rain with him aBove." the next was "How teageous and tasteless the hour when jesus No Longer I see." I have tried to find one of these Books But cant find it. it was a Book used by the old predestina- rian Baptists in 1820. this is my Recollection aBout it at this time, we Never had any other the Next was in the fields "Hail Collumbia Happy Land if you aint Broke I will Be Damned" and "the turpen turk that Scorns the world and struts aBout with his whiskers Curld for No other man But himself to See" and all such as this. Abe youst to try to Sing pore old Ned But he Never could Sing Much." 11 Young Lincoln never became a famous hunter or marksman. For proof of this we have his own words: "A few days before the completion of his eighth year, in the absence of his father, a flock of wild turkeys approached the new log cabin, and Abraham, with a rifle gun, standing inside, shot through a crack and killed one of them. He has never since pulled a trigger on any larger game." 12 While Lincoln was by no means a Nimrod he did enjoy coon hunting and we are indebted to Herndon for the following coon story: "His father had at home a little yellow house dog, which invar- iably gave the alarm if the boys undertook to slip away unobserved after night had set in — as they sometimes did — to go coon hunting. One evening 160 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Abe and his stepbrother, John Johnston, with the usual complement of boys required in a successful coon hunt, took the insignificant little cur with them. They located the coveted coon, killed him, and then in a sportive vein sewed the hide on the diminutive dog. The latter struggled vigorously during the operation of sewing on, and being released from the hands of his captors made a bee-line for home. Other large and more important canines, on the way, scenting coon, tracked the little animal home, and possibly mistaking him for real coon, speedily demolished him. The next morning . . . Thomas Lincoln discovered lying in his yard the lifeless re- mains of yellow "Joe", with strong proof of coon- skin accompaniment." "Father was much incensed at his death," ob- served Mr. Lincoln, in relating the story, "but as John and I, scantily protected from the morning wind, stood shivering in the doorway, we felt as- sured little yellow Joe would never be able again to sound the call for another coon hunt." 13 Lincoln as a Story Teller Throughout his life Lincoln was a famous story teller. The lawyers of the Illinois bar, who rode circuit with him, have testified to his ability as a "spinner of yarns." His cabinet members and rep- resenatives of foreign countries time and again broke out in laughter at the stories told by this strange and unfathomed man. Where did he get this great store of yarns and stories? One place in general — Spencer County, Indiana ; — three places in particular — Baldwin's blacksmith shop, Jones's gro- cery store, and his own cabin home, for be it re- LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 161 membered that his father, Thomas Lincoln, was no mean story teller, nor was Dennis Hanks who lived with them, nor many of the men who visited at the Lincoln's and spent the long winter evenings at their fireside. Lincoln always had a story for every occasion. His friends, who troubled him for office during his Presidency, were sent away without office but in a good humor by means of his stories. His enemies, too, were often conquered in the same way. He was a master in stopping a conversation that he did not wish to continue, and he could have some one else start one, that he did not wish to start, by telling a story. History tells how Lincoln, during his cabinet meetings, often told stories, many of which were considered crude by some of his cabinet officers. Just before he announced his intentions of publish- ing the Emancipation Proclamation he read to his cabinet a chapter from Artemus Ward. He com- bined the sublime with the ridiculous; the comical with the serious. He had always done this ; we have evidence that he practiced it in his boyhood days in Indiana. On one occasion he was asked by "Granny Hanks" to read to her from the Bible. He did so but he mixed in with the Bible story some of the stories from Pilgrim's Progress and other books that he had read. "Granny" grew somewhat suspi- cious and after a while she stopped Abe, saying to him: "Abe, I've hearn the Bible read a great many times in my life, but I niver yet hearn them things in it afore." Lincoln was caught and acknowledged it to the great merriment of the young folk present. Then he read the Bible right to "Granny." 14 162 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Dennis Hanks said: "Abe was never sassy or quarrelome. I've seen him walk into a crowd of sawin' rowdies and tell some droll yarn and bust them all up. It was the same after he got to be a lawyer. All eyes was on him whenever he riz. There was sumthin' peculiarsome about him." 16 Speaking of Lincoln Judge Gillespie says: "No one would ever think of 'putting in' when he was talking. He could illustrate any subject, it seemed to me, with an appropriate and amusing anecdote. He did not tell stories merely for the sake of telling them, but rather by way of illustration of some- thing that had happened or been said. There seemed to be no end of his fund of stories." 16 Lincoln's Boyhood Fights On the frontier there were many rude men much given to quarreling and fighting. Lincoln was often thrown into company with them and had to learn "to do in Rome as the Romans do." Here the strength and prowess of his great and towering body stood him in stead. On one occasion young Lincoln was being tormented by an older boy who was backed up by a crowd of boys. It was agreed that they were to make a charge upon him expecting of course to see him flee but they had reckoned with- out their host. He knocked down the first, second, and third assailant in rapid succession and dared the others to come on. When they decided not to, he gave them a dose of their own medicine and com- menced to torment them. On another occasion, when he was sixteen years old, he had a fight with William Grigsby. The fight arose over the possession of a pup which Lincoln Courtesy Judge Roscoe Kiper, Boonville, Indiana. The Old Pigeon Creek Baptist Church, which Thomas Lincoln and his son Abraham assisted in building, Spencer County, Indiana Courtesy Judge Roscoe Kiper, Boonville, Indiana. Monument to Nancy Hanks Lincoln LINCOLN'S VOCATIONS AND AVOCATIONS 163 and Grigsby each claimed a neighbor had promised him. Grigsby dared Lincoln to fight. Lincoln knew he could whip Grigsby and told him so, but offered to put up John Johnston, his stepbrother, who was nearer Grigsby's size, and let them fight for the pup. It was agreed and the fight started. Before long it appeared that Johnston was no match for Grigsby and Lincoln stepping in, took Grigsby by the collar and trousers and threw him far over the heads of the crowd. He then invited the entire Grigsby crowd to come on and fight but they decided not to accept the invitation. We are indebted for this story to Rev. J. Edward Murr who received it from Wesley Hall, James Gentry, Redmond Grigsby, and Joseph Gentry who were eye-witnesses to the fight. The fight took place on the spot now occupied by the depot of the Southern Railroad at Lincoln City, dis- tant some one hundred and fifty yards west of the Lincoln home. In fairness to young Lincoln let it be said that the pup did belong to him, that Grigsby knew that it did, and that this fact explains why Lincoln interfered in the fight when he had agreed to let Grigsby and Johnston fight it out. 17 But Lincoln and Grigsby became good friends — a friendship that lasted throughout life as is shown by the following incident: During the Civil War a local bully of Gentryville, Indiana, was heap- ing abuse upon the head of President Lincoln when William Grigsby made him swallow his words. Later Grigsby said: "No man can talk about Abe around here unless he expects to take a lickin\" And old Bill Grigsby said what he meant and meant what he said. Young Lincoln had several fights in Spencer 164 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER County. He did not particularly like to fight; he was not quarrelsome in the least and was never looking for trouble, but if it came he stood his ground and was able to "tote his own skillet/' as was the saying of the day. At sixteen or seventeen Lincoln was nearly six feet four inches tall and of great strength. His prowess was known all over the country and this, perhaps, kept him out of a great number of fights for it was said he was "too big to fight a boy and too young to fight a man." Lincoln was capable of getting "mighty mad," but then he was just as capable of getting over his "mad spell." Every fight he had in his boyhood days ended with the closest of friendship for his opponents. This characteristic he carried with him to his grave. In his second inaugural address 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 in 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 lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." At a cabinet meeting, a few hours before his assassination, it was urged that severe measures be taken against the leaders of the Confederacy. Here Lincoln again showed that he bore malice toward none when he refused to give his consent to the taking of more lives. 18 CHAPTER XIV LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS His Personal Appearance "Eyes of a smouldering fire, heart of a lion at bay, Patience to plan for tomorrow, valor to serve for today, Mournful and mirthful and tender, quick as a flash with a jest, Hiding with gibe and great laughter the ache That was dull in his breast" — Margaret Elizabeth Sangster. In this chapter we shall set forth the character- istics acquired by the youthful Lincoln in Indiana and show how these remained with him throughout his life. Abraham Lincoln's dress during the fourteen years of his life in Indiana was like that of his neighbors about him — no better, no worse. It con- sisted of buckskin breeches, sewed with whang strips so left as to make an ornamental fringe; a blouse that fit loosely ; and a coonskin cap that inevit- ably had a tail dangling down. Young Lincoln grew so rapidly — he was nearly six feet four at the age of seventeen — that his clothes never fitted him and he always appeared to be crammed into them. His blouse sleeves came about half way between his el- bows and his wrists and his breeches about half way between his knees and his ankles. Many years af- terwards, speaking of his short breeches, Lincoln said that his ankles had been exposed to the weather so long "that his shin bone was permanently blue." In August, 1826, Abe, then seventeen years of 165 166 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER age, in company with Dennis Hanks and Squire Hall, who had married the daughters of Abe's stepmother, went to Posey's Landing on the Ohio River, about twelve miles distant from their home, to cut wood for fuel for the boats plying the river. They cut nine cords of wood, and as money was very scarce were paid nine yards of white domestic valued at twenty-five cents per yard. Dennis Hanks is our authority for saying that "out of this, Abe had a shirt made, and it was positively the first white shirt which, up to that time, he had ever owned or worn." 1 At the age of seventeen, Lincoln weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds, was of wiry frame, vigorous, and powerful. He had very large hands and feet and long arms and legs, so much in con- trast to his slender body and rather small head. Kate Gentry, one of his schoolmates, described him as having a skin "shrivelled and yellow." 2 Lincoln was not handsome ; he never became so. He was extremely awkward in his sports which pro- voked much fun and merriment. He had a peculiar lumbering gait in walking, taking exceptionally long strides with his exceptionally long legs. He was slightly pigeon-toed. Thomas Lincoln often re- marked that "Abe looked like he had been chopped out with an ax and needed the jack plane to smooth him down." 3 Dennis Hanks, who knew the youthful Lincoln as well as any man, describes him as follows : "When Abe was nineteen he was as tall as he was ever goin' to be, I reckon. He was the ganglin'est, awkward- est feller that ever stepped over a ten-rail, snake- fence. He had to duck to git through a door an' LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 167 'peared to be all j'ints. . . . Aunt Sairy often told Abe 'at his feet bein' clean didn't matter so much, because she could scour the floor, but he'd better wash his head, or he'd be a rubbin' dirt off on her nice whitewashed rafters. "That put an idy in his head, I reckon. Several of us older ones was married then, an' thar was always a passel o' youngsters 'round the place. One day Abe put 'em up to wadin' in the mud-puddle by the hoss-trough. Then he tuk 'em one by one, turned 'em upside down an' walked 'em acrost the ceilin', them ascreamin' fit to kill. "Aunt Sairy come in, an' it was so blamed funny she set down an' laughed, though she said Abe'd oughter to be spanked. I don't know how far he had to go fur more lime, but he whitewashed the ceilin' all over again. Aunt Sairy said many a time 'at Abe'd never made her a mite o' trouble, 'r spoke a cross word to 'er sence she come into the house. He was the best boy she ever seen." 4 David Turnham, speaking of Lincoln, says in a letter to Herndon: "As he shot up, he seemed to change in appearance and action. Although quick- witted and ready with an answer, he began to ex- hibit deep thoughtfulness, and was so often lost in studied reflection we could not help noticing the strange turn in his actions. He disclosed rare timid- ity and sensitiveness, especially in the presence of men and women, and although cheerful enough in the presence of the boys, he did not appear to seek our company as earnestly as before." 5 "What do we know about the Abraham Lincoln who in 1830 took simultaneous leave of Indiana and his boyhood. . . .? He was a tall, awkward, un- 168 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER couth backwoodsman, strong of muscle, temperate and morally clean. He had physical strength and was not a bully; was fond of a fight but fought fairly and as a rule on the side of weakness and of right. He was free from bad habits of all kinds, was generous, sympathetic, and kind of heart. He was as yet uninfluenced by any woman except his own dead mother and his stepmother. He . . . had sufficient leadership to proclaim himself "the big buck of the lick" and to have that declaration pass unchallenged. He was a great hulking backwoods- man, with vague and haunting aspirations after something better and larger than he had known or seemed likely to achieve." 6 Lincoln's Kindness Kindness for everything and everybody; sym- pathy for the down-trodden, the oppressed, and the helpless were marked traits in Abraham Lincoln, the boy. These traits of character are shown by the following incidents which the writer has selected from a long list of similar ones : We are indebted to Mrs. Polly Agnew, whose maiden name was Richardson, for a story about Abraham Lincoln that shows the true metal in the young man. The story is in substance as follows: The Richardsons moved into Spencer County some time after the Lincolns. They floated down the Ohio River and landed at the site of the present town of Grand View. They at once set out to seek their new home site in the wilderness and about noon-day decided upon the choice of their farm. The men folk — father and son — soon built a brush home in the woods, and leaving the mother and LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 169 daughter there, returned with their wagon to the boat to bring another load of their goods. After their departure a storm came up. Night was ap- proaching, yet the men had not returned. Suddenly a tall figure appeared out of the woods, wearing buckskin breeches, a hunting shirt, a coon-skin cap, and carrying a gun. He approached the ladies in a pleasant manner saying that he lived north of them a short distance, and learning that strangers were moving into the settlement, thought he would come down and see them and offer his services. Upon being told by the women that the men folk had re- turned to the river for another load of their goods, the stranger replied to them that he felt sure they would be unable to get back that night as the rain would prevent them. He then informed the ladies that he would stay and protect them during the night. Mrs. Richardson and daughter were at a loss to know what to do for they thought the man might be up to no good. The stranger began to gather brush and when asked what he meant by doing so, replied that it would be necessary to have a bon- fire to frighten away the wolves and bears. Shortly after nightfall the howling of the wolves could be heard in the distance and in a short time they ven- tured near. The stranger invited the women to come out and see their green eyes. They did so, and were much frightened, not now at the presence of the stranger but at the wild beasts of the forest. The young protector urged the women to go into the house and go to sleep saying that he would stand guard over them. They did as he suggested and in the morning the young man announced to them that in case the men did not get back that day he 170 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER would return in the evening and again stay on guard. Such was the youthful Lincoln! 7 One day Abe was delivering one of his "ser- mons" to the members of the household in the grove near their home when his stepbrother, John John- ston, in company with some other men and boys, came up. They had picked up a land terrapin in their rambles over the fields and, desiring to see it walk, placed some live coals upon its back. Abe quickly left his sermon and remonstrated against the cruel treatment afforded the helpless turtle. In the midst of the fun Johnston picked the turtle up and threw it against a tree, breaking its shell. As the poor turtle lay dying, Lincln seized the oppor- tunity to deliver an exhortation on "Cruelty to Ani- mals" in which he pointed out that "an ant's life is just as sweet to it as our lives are to us." Young Lincoln's whole soul was so imbued with the words of the Prophet Micah that his mercy was extended not only to mankind but to the animals as well. When the Lincolns moved from Indiana to Illinois it was necessary for them to ford the streams. After thus crossing one of the streams it was noticed that the dog had failed to follow and was whining on the opposite shore. It was sug- gested to go on and leave him but Abe pulled off his shoes and waded back through the icy waters say- ing that he could not think "of abandoning even a dog." Lincoln said he was amply repaid for his kindness by the gratitude shown by the little crea- ture 8 One night Lincoln saw an intoxicated man lying along the road side. He picked him up from the frozen ground and carried him on his back a long LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 171 distance to shelter and worked over him until he revived. The man later was always fond of say- ing that "it was mighty clever of Abe to tote me so far that cold night." 9 Lincoln loved the helpless man he aided; but he despised the intoxicating li- quors that made him drunk. Later on we find Lin- coln in a similar position, not despising the slave owners but the institution of slavery. A story is told and a true one, how a friend one day came to Lincoln to borrow a "biled" shirt. Lin- coln said to him: "I have but two, the one I have just taken off and the one I have on. Which will you take?" 10 This kindness, mercy, and sympathy so peculiar to Lincoln, the Hoosier boy, was a marked charac- teristic of Lincoln, the man. History is full of stories how as President his great heart melted time and again at the cruelty of war and how he could not bear to order the execution of a soldier boy for falling asleep on picket duty. Lincoln's Honesty If any one great virtue stands out in Lincoln more than another it is that of honesty. By his friends in Illinois he was called "Honest Abe." The stories of how he earned this name have been told time and again — how he failed to give eight ounces of tea for a half pound and upon discovering his mistake, took the remainder of the tea to the pur- chaser; how he charged too much for a purchase and that evening walked three miles to return the money ; how he left in his trunk the seventeen dol- lars due the government from the post-office re- ceipts, awaiting the time when it should be called 172 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER for and how he went to his old trunk and produced the money when the official came to collect it; how he went into business with another man and how the business failed and how Lincoln assumed all the debts of the firm, working fifteen years to pay them off. But this great sense of honesty did not spring full grown in the man Lincoln. It had been care- fully nurtured in the boy Lincoln in the hills of Southern Indiana. For every deed of honesty regis- tered for him as a man there is another deed of honesty performed by him as a boy. Without the latter there never could have been the former, for as "the twig is bent so the tree is inclined. " And to show that the twig was bent in the right way during the formative years of his life we not only have the evidence of his boyhood associates, who have stated that Lincoln was an honest young man, that his word could be depended upon, and that he was trusted by the people of his community, but we also have the record of the acts of honesty themselves. Here is the story of an act of honesty and truth- fulness that can match the Illinois stories: When Lincoln was fourteen years of age he attended the school kept by a Mr. Crawford. Over the door of the school room was a pair of antlers. On day Abe swung upon one of the prongs of the antlers and it broke with him. When the teacher inquired who did it, Lincoln instantly informed him that he was the guilty one, saying: "I did, sir. I did not mean to do it, but I hung on it and it broke. I wouldn't have done it if I'd thought it'd a broke." 11 Mr. Silas G. Pratt tells the following incident LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 178 showing the honesty of Lincoln: "One morning when Lincoln, with his ax over his shoulder, was going to work in the clearing, his stepsister, Matilda Johnston, who had been forbidden by her mother to follow him, slyly and unknown to her mother crept out of the house and ran after him. Lincoln was already a long distance from the house among the trees, following a deerpath and whistling as he walked along. He, of course, did not know that the girl was coming after him, and Matilda ran so softly that she made no noise to attract his atten- tion. When she came up behind, she made a quick spring and jumped upon his shoulders, holding with both hands and pushing her knees into his back, thus pulling him quickly to the ground. In falling, the sharp ax fell and cut her ankle very badly. As the blood ran out, the mischievous Matilda screamed with pain. Lincoln at once tore off some cloth from the lining of his coat to stop the blood from flowing and bound up the wound as well as he could. Tak- ing a long breath he said: Tilda, I am astonished. How could you disobey your mother so?' Tilda only cried in reply, and Lincoln continued: 'What are you going to tell mother about getting hurt?' Tell her I did it with the ax/ she sobbed. That will be the truth, won't it?' To which Lincoln re- plied manfully: 'Yes, that's the truth; but not all the truth. You tell the whole truth Tilda, and trust your good mother for the rest/ So Tilda went limping home and told her mother all the truth. The good woman felt so sorry for her that she did not even scold her." 12 The statements of Lincoln's boyhood associates bear witness to his honesty and truthfulness, but 174 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER some writers seem to think there is one story that runs counter. The story goes that young Lincoln wished to buy a pair of shoes on credit from Mr. Jones, the storekeeper at Gentryville. The Lincolns were getting ready to move to Illinois and Abe was in need of footwear. When he stated to Mr. Jones that he could not pay for the shoes until a certain date, Jones refused him. It is only fair to Mr. Jones to state that he denied refusing Lincoln credit for the shoes but said they were given to him when he asked for them. Then Lincoln's record is one hundred per cent. 13 Speaking of Lincoln, Samuel C. Parks, one of his colleagues, says: "For a man who was for a quarter of a century both a lawyer and a politician, he was the most honest man I ever knew. He was not only morally honest, but intellectually so. At the bar he was strong if convinced that he was in the right, but if he suspected that he might be wrong he was the weakest lawyer I ever saw." 14 How true Lincoln the man rang to Lincoln the boy ! Lincoln Never Drank Liquors or Used Tobacco We have the statements of Lincoln's boyhood associates that he never tasted intoxicating liquors of any sort or used tobacco in any form or made use of rude and immodest language, although it was the general custom among certain men and boys to do so. On this particular point Wesley Hall has given us direct information. Abraham Lincoln and his father worked for Wesley Hall's father in his tanyard and as carpenters. During good weather the noon meal was served on a table in the grove near the tanyard. Abe never went to the table with LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 175 the men but retired to himself and read while the men were eating. Mr. Wesley Hall offers the fol- lowing explanation of Abe's actions : "Certainly Abe et dinner, but don't you know he never drank, and them times the black bottle would be passed around purty often, so Abe would say to me, 'You see, Wes- ley, I don't drink and the rest of the men do, and if I was to eat when they do and not drink with them, they'd think maybe I was smart, and so I jest hit upon this plan of bringing along my book with me and reading while they eat. I eat after they get through — in plenty time to go to work when they do, and that a way I git to read some and at the same time I don't go against a custom that they think is all right even if I don't.' " 15 We have Lincoln's own words in this matter for in later life he said that "he had no desire for in- toxicating liquors and did not care to associate with drinking men." When the committee came to Springfield, Illinois, to notify Lincoln of his nomina- tion for President he addressed them as follows: "Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual health in the most healthful beverage God has given to man. It is the only beverage I have ever used or allowed in my family, and I cannot conscientiously depart from it on the present occasion. It is pure Adam's ale, just from the spring." 16 During his later life, Lincoln took a firm stand for temperance. Who can doubt that he received most valuable lessons from the lack of temperance among some of his acquaintances in Spencer County, Indiana? But let us say once for all that gambling, duelling, drunkenness, and debauchery were under the ban by the best class of people in Southern In- 176 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER diana and it was this class that had telling influence upon moulding the life of Abraham Lincoln. In 1842 Lincoln delivered a temperance address at Springfield, Illinois, saying : "Whether or not the world would be vastly benefitted by a total and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems to me not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and, I believe, all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts ! 17 ". . . And when the victory shall be complete — when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunk- ard on the earth — how proud the title of that land which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of both these revolutions that shall have ended in that victory." 18 Some of Lincoln's biographers, especially Lamon, have been fond of stating that Lincoln drank. La- mon tells how upon his defeat of William Grigsby "Lincoln drew forth a whiskey bottle and waved it dramatically above his head." This again simply shows that Lincoln's early biographers made little or no serious effort to get the facts of his life while he lived in Indiana. As a matter of fact Abraham Lincoln never drank, as will be shown by the follow- ing statements. He lived a clean, moral life not only in his boyhood but throughout his life ; so clean and so honorable that his most bitter political op- ponents, in the days of civil strife and discord, could not find one moral taint against him. At her bended knee Nancy Lincoln laid for him a deep Christian foundation upon which he built. T. G. Onstott was the son of Henry Onstott, who kept the tavern in New Salem, where Lincoln LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 177 boarded. Speaking of Lincoln's habits Mr. T. G. Onstott says: "Lincoln never drank liquor of any- kind and never chewed or smoked. We never heard him swear, though Judge Weldon said at the Salem Chautauqua that once in his life when he was ex- cited he said, 'By Jing!' " 19 Judge Gillespie, who knew Lincoln well, says: "As a boon companion, Lincoln, although he never drank liquor or used tobacco in any form, was with- out a rival." 20 Leonard Sweet, who was associated with Lincoln as a lawyer in Illinois for a number of years, said: "Lincoln never tasted liquor, never chewed tobacco or smoked." 21 This same statement, as regards the use of tobacco, was made by Lin- coln's son, Robert. 22 Mr. G. W. Harris, a clerk in Lincoln's law office in Springfield, Illinois, says that he heard Mr. Lin- coln say that he never knew the taste of liquor. 23 In 1838 Abraham Lincoln for a third time was a candidate for reelection to the State Legislature of Illinois. He made the canvass with one of his colleagues, Mr. Wilson, who spoke of the matter as follows: "Mr. Lincoln accompanied me, and being personally acquainted with everyone we called at nearly every house. At that time it was the univer- sal custom to keep some whiskey in the house for private use and to treat friends. The subject was always mentioned as a matter of politeness, but with the usual remark to Mr. Lincoln, 'We know you never drink but maybe your friend would like to take a little.' I never saw Mr. Lincoln drink. He often told me he never drank; had no desire for drink, nor for the companionship of drinking men." 84 178 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER When Abraham Lincoln was a member of Con- gress from Illinois, he was urged one day by an associate to take a drink. His reply was : "I prom- ised my precious mother only a few days before she died that I would never use anything intoxicat- ing as a beverage, and I consider that promise as binding today as it was on the day I made it." 25 In September, 1890, Joseph Gentry, in an inter- view with Charles Carleton Coffin, said that Abra- ham Lincoln did not drink intoxicating liquor. 26 Lincoln's attitude toward temperance is well shown in an affidavit by Major James B. Merwin which was published in the Christian Advocate, February 6, 1919. Major Merwin was an intimate associate of Mr. Lincoln's for ten years prior to his assassination and was holding a conversation with him just a few hours before the assassin's bullet laid him low. During this conversation President Lincoln said to Mr. Merwin: "Merwin, we have cleaned up a colossal job. We have abolished slav- ery. The next great movement will be the over- throw of the legalized liquor traffic, and you know my heart and my hand, my purse and my life will be given to that great movement. I prophesied twenty-five years ago that the day would come when there would not be a slave or drunkard in the land. I have seen the first part come true." Lincoln's Wit and Humor Lincoln's many stories were full of wit and hu- mor and sometimes tinged with satire. Should any one offend him, his reply was a good lampooning in private or public or the rendition of a bit of dog- gerel. The one classic of the latter is the Chronicles LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 179 of Reuben, spoken of elsewhere. John W. Lamar tells the following story of young Lincoln's dry wit and humor : "The first time I ever remember of see- ing Abe Lincoln was when I was a small boy and had gone with my father to attend some kind of an election. One of our neighbors, James Larkins, was there. Larkins was a great hand to brag on anything he owned. This time it was his horse. He stepped up before Abe, who was in the crowd, and commenced talking to him boasting all the while of his animal. " " 'I have got the best horse in the country,' " he shouted to his young listener. " 'I ran him three miles in exactly nine minutes, and he never fetched a long breath/ " " 'I presume,' said Abe, rather dryly, 'he fetched a good many short ones, though.' " 27 As a man Lincoln retained this characteristic and it forced him to accept a challenge to a duel. In 1841 he made a newspaper attack upon the Demo- crats of Illinois on account of the way they handled the finances of the state. He signed his communica- tion "Aunt Rebecca," a practice very common in those days. The article was resented by James Shields, Auditor of the State. Miss Todd, a very good friend of Lincoln's, and some of her friends thought they could have some merriment out of Shields, so they wrote and published some doggerel about him, signing it "Aunt Rebecca." Shields be- came enraged and demanded to know who "Aunt Rebecca" was. The editor of the newspaper asked Lincoln what he should do about it and Lincoln told him that he would take all the responsibility in order to protect the ladies. Shields challenged Lin- 180 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER coin to a duel. Lincoln did not approve of duelling and tried to get out of it but Shields would not let him. Lincoln had the right to select the weapons so he chose "cavalry broadswords of the largest size." It is quite evident that Shields would have stood little chance with a giant six foot four using such weapons. Fortunately the duel was stopped by the intercession of friends, arriving on the scene just in time, who made Shields understand that Lin- coln did not write the verses that he objected to so much. But Lincoln did write the attack upon the Democrats that angered Shields, which in turn led to Miss Todd's doggerel. 28 Lincoln's Courtship in Indiana Elsewhere we have recited the story told by Mrs. Polly Agnew which proves that Lincoln was the gal- lant who protected her and her mother, Mrs. Wil- liam Richardson, from the bears and wolves in the woods the first night of their stay in Indiana. And we now have another story to record from this same estimable woman. Let her tell it in her own words : "Yes, I was Abe's first sweetheart. He'd take me to spelling bees and play-parties and to meetin' and the like, but still I can't say that I wanted him to go with me though. Still Abe was always mighty good, and I never found any fault with him excep- ting he was so tall and awkward. All the young girls my age made fun of Abe. They'd laugh at him right before his face, but Abe never 'peared to care. He was so good and he'd just laugh with them. Abe tried to go with some of them, but no sir-ee, they'd give him the mitten every time, just because he was as I say so tall and gawky, and it LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 181 was mighty awkward I can tell you trying to keep company with a fellow as tall as Abe was. But still Abe was always so good and kind I never sacked him, but bein's I didn't have no other company them days when us young folks would all start to meetin' or somewhere else that away, I'd let Abe take me. I'd sometimes get right put out the way some of the girls treated him, a laughing and saying things, and so when we'd get off to ourselves, Fd give them a piece of my mind about it. And then they'd all say it is too bad the way we do, because Abe's so good, but they'd appear to forget all about it, for the very next time they'd do the same way. Abe wanted me to marry him, but I refused. I suppose if I had known he was to be President some day, I'd a took him." 29 Miss Ida D. Armstrong of Rockport, Indiana, tells the following stories about Lincoln's courtship and vouches for their truth: "During the winter of 1887-8 my sister, Kate Evelyn Armstrong, taught in the public schools at Lincoln City. A Mrs. Oskins, who enjoyed smoking a cob pipe, frequently came to the home where my sister boarded and often spoke of having known Abe Lincoln. On one occa- sion, Mrs. Oskins said, 'Well Abe used to go with me and Lord knows I never would 'a' sacked him, if I'd knowed he was goin' to be President some day.' . . ." "During the same winter, when my sister Kate was visiting in the home of Mrs. Mat Jones, an old lady named Lukins, who also loved a cob pipe, was sitting in a chair tipped against the wall, talking to my sister and spoke of knowing Abe Lincoln. Dur- ing the course of the conversation, Mrs. Lukins re- 182 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER moved her pipe from her mouth and said, 'I could a' been Abe Lincoln's wife, if I'd wanted to, yes sir- ree, I could a' ben first lady of the land/ Mrs. Jones said, 'Now, Sarah, what are you talking about, you know you couldn't/ 'I could, too,' said Mrs. Lukins. On being pressed further she said, 'Well Abe took me home from church oncet !' " 30 When the author was Professor of History in Evansville College, Evansville, Indiana, he organ- ized seminar classes in history and assigned topics for special work to different groups of students. During the years 1923-'24 and 1924-'25 the history seminar classes worked on the life of Abraham Lin- coln in Indiana. To one group of students during these years Lincoln's courtship in Indiana was as- signed as a topic. By personal visitation and by correspondence, the students got in touch with the descendants of the men and women of Southern In- diana who knew Abraham Lincoln. The net results of this work were that so many people were found who had relatives with whom Lincoln had kept com- pany and to whom he had proposed marriage that it was decided to discontinue that feature of the in- vestigation. No evidence could be produced, no letters shown; it was all hearsay and we decided that it was impossible to get any real facts. No doubt, most of these people, would in the final analy- sis have said : "Well Abe took me home from church oncet" or "Well, at any rate, I saw Abe at a party oncet." Lincoln Had No Confidants As a youth Lincoln had great confidence in him- self and believed that he was capable of becoming somebody. From his fifteenth year on he often LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 183 stated that "he didn't always expect to grub, dig and maul" and when asked what he was going to make of himself, replied : "I'll do something and be somebody; I'll be President I reckon." He did do something; he was somebody; he became President but we have his own words for it, given to his son Tad, that he would rather go back to his Indiana farm where he was happier digging potatoes for twenty-five cents a day than he was in the Presi- dency. 31 Lincoln associated with his boyhood friends; he entered into their sports; he was one of them, but he never confided in any of them. He never took any of them completely into his confidence. This trait of character he maintained throughout his life. It was very noticeable among the lawyers in Illinois. He was not prone to counsel with them and desired to work out his own line of legal action. 82 And in later life he never fully confided in any of his friends. He had learned to keep his own counsel. Lincoln Believed in Dreams and Tokens The pioneers of Southern Indiana held many pe- culiar beliefs. They were very superstitious, believ- ing in dreams and tokens and in signs, lucky and unlucky. Bad luck was sure to come to any house- hold through which an ax or hoe was carried. The breaking of a mirror meant death in the family. No new work should be started on Friday unless it could be finished the same day, for it was certain to end disastrously. A bird entering a house was a sign of sorrow. The farmers must plant when the moon is "right" — root plants, like potatoes, in the dark of the moon and those that were to make 184 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER heads, like cabbage, in the light of the moon. Nearly everyone believed in witches and feared them. These Hoosiers were quite sure that they could predict changes in the weather by the way their corns hurt them. An approaching snow storm could always be foretold by the way the backlog in the fireplace crackled. If the shucks on the corn were thick or if the squirrels were busy in the early fall, a cold, severe winter was sure to follow. They car- ried buckeyes in their pockets to keep the rheuma- tism away. They firmly believed that a child born when the sign was in the stomach would be strong and hearty, and wise if the sign was in the head. Everybody believed in the power of the water wizard to locate water and in the faith doctor and his ability to cure. Lincoln, like his neighbors, believed in these things. His pensive nature was affected by this at- mosphere of superstition, which, together with the fatalistic type of religious training he received in his youth, remained with him all the days of his life. Especially did Lincoln believe in dreams and he did not hesitate to tell his cabinet members that he did, although some of them looked upon this as a bit of weakness. 33 After the surrender of Lee, Grant met President Lincoln and his cabinet. He showed some anxiety about General Sherman but was answered by Lincoln in a vein of mysticism that Sherman was all right for he had dreamed last night his usual dream which preceded great vic- tories, that he was in a vessel that moved rapidly toward a dark shore. He had dreamed this before the battles of Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, LINCOLN'S CHARACTERISTICS 185 and Vicksburg. And Lincoln's dream again came true; Sherman had defeated Johnston. Estimate of the Character of Abraham Lincoln As a youth in Indiana, Lincoln's voice was al- ways to be found in defence of law and order. So it was when he became a man. As a lawyer in Illi- nois, Lincoln appeared in but few law cases in be- half of runaway slaves because he did not want to violate the fugitive slave law. He did not like the law but argued that it should not be violated as long as it was law, but that it should be repealed ! 34 Young Lincoln had a judicial mind: he was a seeker of the truth ; he wanted both sides of an ar- gument presented ; he wanted to know all the facts. On account of this turn of mind he was chosen to settle all the quarrels and disputes among the young men of his neighborhood, and when his decision was made no one ever doubted its fairness. If Lincoln found himself in the wrong, he was ever ready to change but not until then. He would have been called by his associates an obstinate youth only for the fact of his readiness to change whenever evi- dence was produced showing his position untenable. Nancy Lincoln saw in her young son those very characteristics for which later in life he became so noted, and she nourished them — sympathy for all that suffer, man or beast; impatience with things that are wrong; kindness of heart; a high regard for what was right. 35 Sally Bush Lincoln said of her stepson : "Abe was a good boy, and I can say what scarcely one woman — a mother — can say in a thousand : Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused, in fact 186 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER or appearance, to do anything I requested him. I never gave him a cross word in all my life . . . His mind and mine . . . what little I had — seemed to run together. He was here after he was elected President. He was a dutiful son to me always. I think he loved me truly. I had a son, John, who was raised with Abe. Both were good boys; but I must say, both now being dead, that Abe was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see." 30 Perhaps the greatest tribute to Lincoln has been paid by Dennis Hanks in his homely way: "Thar was just one thing Abe Lincoln didn't know; he didn't know how to be mean, to do a mean thing, or think a mean thought. When God made Old Abe he left that out fur other men to divide up among 'em." 37 CHAPTER XV LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Effect of the Indiana Environment on Lincoln "Humor quaint with pathos blent To his speech attraction lent." — Hamilton Schuyler. On May 25, 1922, Rev. Dr. William E. Barton of Oak Park, Illinois, a great student of Lincoln, wrote to Judge John E. Iglehart of Evansville, In- diana, another great Lincoln student and founder of the "Lincoln Inquiry" — the purpose of which is to write the true history of Abraham Lincoln from 1814 to 1830 by writing the true history of Southern Indiana for that period — the following question: "Would it have been as well for Lincoln if he had continued to live in Kentucky and gone from that state in 1830 to Illinois; or if in 1816 he had gone direct to Illinois from Kentucky ?" In reply to this inquiry, Judge Iglehart writes as follows : "That the curse of the slave code in Kentucky affected the development of an ambitious and cap- able youth (cannot be doubted). Under that code, manual labor such as Lincoln was destined to en- dure was the badge of servitude. Social surround- ings of the most humble character, out of which Lincoln arose . . . furnished a bar to that patron- age in public opinion and of leading men almost, if not entirely, necessary under southern ideals to great success in political life. Whether Lincoln, if reared in Kentucky as he was in Indiana, would have studied law as he did in Indiana or Illinois 187 188 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER no one can say, but I seriously doubt it. . . . The right and opportunity of the individual to rise to the full measure of his natural and acquired powers under conditions of social mobility did not exist in Kentucky in Lincoln's time, before the Civil War. "If Lincoln had taken the pathway of the legal profession in Kentucky as he did in Illinois, the wonderful opportunity and progress opened to him in the latter state were impossible to him in Ken- tucky. No person familiar with Kentucky and Illi- nois history during that period can doubt it. It was the aggressive struggle for expansion and ex- istence of the slave power, intrenched in free terri- tory, which gave the one great opportunity of his life to Lincoln. "Free speech and a free press were denied under the slave code — a curse which the best and the greatest representatives of the South in its liter- ature since the Civil War now freely concede, — make a southern literature impossible, before the Civil War. "Had Lincoln chosen the legal profession in Ken- tucky, he would in my judgment have been merely a vigorous, able lawyer, and a dangerous opponent in a jury trial, such as our western life of that period (as exists today), produced in nearly every judicial circuit; the representative of a class of men who when they are right and properly prepared in advance, cannot be overmatched in the battle for the truth." 1 Speaking in this same vein Rev. Mr. Murr says : "What period in the life of any man is of as much interest or ordinarily calculated to influence and shape the destiny as those years between seven and LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 189 twenty-one? What happened during those forma- tive years in Mr. Lincoln's life? Was his stay in Indiana a mere chance, one of the accidents in the fortune of a roving . . . father, or is there rather discerned a leading of Providence? "It may not be inappropriate here to raise the question, would his career have been what it after- ward became, had he spent these formative years elsewhere, even in the State of Illinois? Or, revers- ing the order of history, had he been born in In- diana, spending the first seven years there, remov- ing to the State of Kentucky, remaining there until attaining his majority and then going to Illinois as he did, would his career have been what it was? It is believed that certain influences would have pro- duced marked changes in him, and so much so as to have prevented Lincoln from becoming the great anti-slavery advocate and leader. Moreover, it can- not be doubted that had he spent all of these four- teen formative years in Kentucky, even though born in Indiana, his greatness would have almost wholly been attributed to a residence and rearing among Kentucky pioneers, and the accident of his birth would have doubtless received somewhat less consid- eration than it has. Unquestionably, had Mr. Lin- coln been reared elsewhere than in Indiana, parti- cularly in a slave state, the plans and purposes of his life might have been hindered or defeated al- together. In raising such questions we are not wholly in a field purely conjectural. " 2 Certain it is that Abraham Lincoln is not a typi- cal Kentuckian unless we are willing to accept the mountain type as the representative of the people of that state. Henry Clay may be taken as the typi- 190 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER cal Kentuckian — suave, graceful, elegant — yet these words do not describe Lincoln. Born in Kentucky of parents without social standing, Lincoln was not a Kentuckian, although no one can find fault with that great state for laying claim to him. The men- tal traits and characteristics found in Lincoln the man were acquired by Lincoln the boy in Southern Indiana where he lived from the age of seven to twenty-one, exactly one-fourth of his life — and those years that have most to do in moulding a character. In his private conversations, Lincoln often referred to his life in Indiana. His best stories — and there are many of them — are about Indiana life and scenes. The Hoosier dialect remained with him throughout life. He began his famous Cooper Institute address by saying "Mr. Cheerman" ; he al- ways said "crick" for creek. Rather let us say that Lincoln was a typical Hoosier, reared in the most characteristic of all the American states and in the section of the state that was inhabited by people of the best blood of our country — the pioneer blood that came into it from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, through Kentucky, sprinkled with a little blood from New England, and in Lincoln's imme- diate neighborhood with considerable blood from Great Britain. Lincoln's Adolescent Years "The child, born a savage, becomes a creature of civilization by gradual process. He begins to gather impressions in his earliest infancy, and continues to receive them throughout his life. It is out of these impressions that his nature is formed. It may be that he inherited some mental and moral tenden- LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 191 cies from his ancestors, but these at most are mere tendencies ; his nature is built, almost entirely, from that which he derives from his surroundings and from his contact with those about him as he grows up and matures. It is for this reason that one who seeks to ascertain the nature and character of a matured man and the processes by which these have been developed, must necessarily begin his inquiries at the beginning, and must pursue them to the end. This means that the fourteen years of the boyhood and adolescence of Abraham Lincoln, which he spent in Southwestern Indiana, and among its pioneer people, cannot be neglected by any one who seeks to learn, and to portray, the process of his building. There is probably no period of his eventful life which influenced more largely his nature in man- hood." 3 On December 12, 1920, Judge Robert W. Mc- Bride, who served in his youth in the cavalry body guard of Lincoln when President, delivered an ad- dress before the conference of the Historical So- cieties of Indiana, setting forth the influence of his Indiana life on Lincoln. He said: "I realize that the recital of any authentic incident connected with the life of Abraham Lincoln has interest but there are reasons why the people of Indiana should feel especial interest in anything relating to him, for he was essentially an Indiana product. When he was brought from Kentucky to Indiana, he was seven years of age. When he left Indiana for Illinois he was twenty-one years old — a man in years, in sta- ture, and in mentality. The fourteen years between seven and twenty-one are in large measure the for- mative years in a man's character. In those years 192 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER the boy Lincoln had become the man Lincoln. The foundation for the future lawyer, statesman and hu- manitarian, had been laid, direction and color had been given to the trend of his thoughts and inclina- tions, and that which followed was only develop- ment. It was the flowering and fruiting of a plant transplanted from Kentucky but grown on Indiana soil." 4 Many of Lincoln's "outstanding characteris- tics — his uncommon power of observation, his pene- trating mind, . . . his appreciation of the problems of those who must struggle and toil, his open mind and freedom of thought, his ruggedness of mind and tenderness of soul — were laid deep in his nature during the nascent period of his life when living in Indiana." 5 When he moved from Indiana to Illi- nois his character was formed. The foundation was laid. The superstructure was built upon a Hoosier base. That base was broad, ample, solid. It was a foundation of excellently mixed ingredients — knoweldge, honesty, humor. We have a volume of direct evidence from Wil- liam H. Herndon that the years Lincoln spent in Indiana had great influence upon his later life. ". . . It was in those backwoods of Indiana that the ambition of Lincoln was awakened. There . . . the sturdy nature of the child was woven, and there . . . the man was born, sprung from the very earth. The wild forest was his university, and it taught him more than many boys learn in academic groves, for it taught him to use his hand as well as his head, and to think and act for himself. His mental growth was slow and did not cease while he lived ; but morally, his character seemed to come LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 193 almost to its full stature in mere boyhood." 6 One day Lincoln remarked to Herndon that his religious code was the same as that of an old Hoosier who said : "When I do good, I feel good ; when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion." 7 In after years Lincoln never looked upon his boyhood life as mean or debased. In speaking of Lincoln's youth, Leonard Sweet says: "Mr. Lincoln told this story as the story of a happy childhood. There was nothing sad or pinched, and nothing of want, and no allusion to want in any part of it. His own description of his youth was that of a happy joyous boyhood. It was told with mirth and glee, and illustrated by pointed anecdotes, often inter- rupted by his jocund laugh." 8 Lincoln in Illinois is Lincoln the Hoosier In Illinois Lincoln went into business with a man by the name of Berry. The business did not prosper and finally failed. Berry left the country and died leaving Lincoln to pay the debts of the partnership. He went to work manfully to settle the obligations, his "national debt," as he called them, a task that took him fifteen years to finish. But he paid off the last dollar and fairly earned the title of "Honest Abe." But during his boyhood and young manhood days in Indiana, Lincoln could just as well have been called "Honest Abe" for we have incident upon incident to prove this. In his first political contest in Illinois, Lincoln drew heavily upon his Indiana experiences. In 1832 he became a candidate for election to the Illinois Assembly, running on a platform that favored the improvement of navigation of the Sangamon River. 194 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER His plan was to straighten the channel of the river. His experience as ferryman on the Ohio at the mouth of Anderson creek and his trips on the Ohio and the Mississippi stood him in good stead. When Abraham Lincoln sought reelection to the State Legislature of Illinois he came out on a plat- form in favor of "admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females. " Admitting women to the suffrage was an advanced thought and nowhere in our country at that time was there an organized movement in favor of it. But, here, again, Lincoln was ringing true to his boyhood ideals in Indiana, where he, far in advance of his time, was, perhaps, influenced by the teachings of Robert Owen and the writings of Fanny Wright. One thing that stood out prominently in Lincoln as a boy in Indiana was his hatred for wrong and his desire for right. This characteristic he mani- fested in no uncertain terms. We find his boyhood ideals creeping out in the man while he was a mem- ber of the Illinois State Legislature. When that body denounced by joint resolution of both houses the agitation against slavery, the ideals of Lincoln were sorely tested. He and another legislator, Dan Stone of Sangamon County, went on record as say- ing "that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy. " The test had come. He did not flinch. He did not desert his boyhood teachings and his fight for the right. Lincoln the man was Lincoln the boy! In his campaign for election to the Illinois Legis- lature in 1834 Lincoln fell in with Major John T. Stuart who encouraged him to study law and lent LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 195 him law books. Lincoln had to travel twenty miles to Springfield to get the books but what of that? Had he not in Indiana traveled many miles in all directions from his cabin home and read every book he came across? His desire to read and study and his ability and willingness to travel to get books had been well formed in the Hoosier State. A trip of twenty miles to continue the reading of law in the study of which he had been encouraged by Judge Breckenridge in Boonville and Judge Pitcher in Rockport, Indiana, meant nothing to Lincoln. In 1858 Lincoln was nominated by the Repub- licans for the United States Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. In accepting the nomination, Lincoln delivered a famous speceh — "The House Divided Against Itself " speech. To one of his close friends, Jesse K. Dubois, Lincoln said: "I refused to read the passage about the house divided against itself to you, because I knew you would ask me to change or modify it, and that I was determined not to do. I had willed it so, and was willing, if necessary, to perish with it. That expression is a truth of all human experience: a house divided against itself cannot stand. I want to use some universally known figure expressed in simple language, that it may strike home to the minds of men, in order to arouse them to the peril of the times. I would rather be defeated with this expression in the speech, and to uphold and discuss it before the people, than to be victorious without it." 9 Here, again, Lincoln displayed that belief that he was right and that his friends would be wrong — a tendency so marked in him as a boy in Indiana. And again in these statements to Dubois is seen that 196 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER desire to tell the whole truth. He would not mince words, for he well knew that a half trtuh is no truth at all ; in fact it is worse than a lie because it can- not be run to earth. By mincing and twisting words about slavery, Lincoln felt he could be elected to the United States Senate over Douglas ; but that if he told the whole truth he would be defeated. He told the truth and lost the election to the Senate but won the Presidency of the United States. Lincoln the President is Lincoln the Hoosier As a boy Lincoln was superstitious, believing in signs, dreams, and omens and he continued to be- lieve in them all his life. In the year 1860, one day while resting upon a lounge, Lincoln saw re- flected in a mirror on the opposite side of the room two images of himself, one somewhat paler than the other. It alarmed him and he told Mrs. Lincoln about it. She, too, believed in dreams and thought it was "a sign that Lincoln was to be elected for a second term and that the paleness of one of the faces indicated that he would not see life through the last term.' ,1() Shortly before his assassination, Lincoln dreamed that in the East Room of the White House he saw a catafalque with the body of an assassinated man laying upon it. He inquired who was dead and was told that the President had been murdered. Elsewhere we have quoted Josiah Crawford and others of Lincoln's boyhood acquaintances saying that young Lincoln contended that he would some day be President. Here are the President's own words substantiating these statements : On an occa- sion during the war, when Mr. Lamon, who had LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 197 been appointed by Lincoln as Marshal of the Dis- trict of Columbia, went into the President's office, he found him in a disturbed state. The President was lying on a sofa and upon Mr. Lamon's approach jumped up and said to him: "You know better than any man living that from my boyhood days up my ambition was to be President. I am President of one part of this divided country at least; but look at me ! I wish I had never been born." 11 That Lin- coln was happier as a boy in Indiana than as Presi- dent in Washington we may infer from his own words: "I tell my Tad that we will go back to the farm where I was happier as a boy when I dug potatoes at twenty-five cents a day than I am now." William H. Herndon has recorded many in- stances in which Lincoln reverted to his boyhood in Indiana. The following story from the lips of Lin- coln himself shows that he had not forgotten his boyhood days and could make use of them to drive home a point. During his Presidency some of his friends feared that Secretary of the Treasury, Chase, wanted to be President and would be inclined to un- dermine Lincoln. They wanted the President to keep Chase away from the Republican Convention in Ohio. Replying to his friends, Lincoln said : "Oh, don't worry about Chase. He has just as good a right to want to be President as any man in Amer- ica, and if the people want Chase to be President, then I want him to be President. When I was a boy I worked on a farm. We ploughed corn, and I rode the horse and a neighbor boy held the plough. The horse was lazy. I pounded him with my heels and the neighbor boy threw clods at him, but he would not go much, till one day a blue-headed fly 198 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER lit on his back and began to get in his work. The horse could not switch him off, and started to run. The neighbor boy cried: 'Abe, Abe, knock off the fly.' I said: 'No you don't, isn't that just what we want?' If Chase has anything in his head that will make him work for the Republic, isn't that just what we want?" 12 The following is part of a conversation between President Lincoln and Mr. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury, during the Civil War: "That the Almighty does make use of human agencies, and intervenes in human affairs, is one of the plainest statements in the Bible. I have had so many evi- dences of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will, that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above. I frequently see my way clear to a deci- sion when I am conscious that I have not sufficient facts upon which to found it. But I cannot recall one instance in which I have followed my own judg- ment, founded upon such a decision, where the re- sults were unsatisfactory ; whereas, in almost every instance where I have yielded to the views of others, I have had occasion to regret it. I am satisfied that, when the Almighty wants me to do, or not to do, a particular thing, He finds a way of letting me know it. I am confident that it is His design to restore the Union. He will do it in His own good time. We should obey and not oppose His will." 18 Here we have in Lincoln's own words that mys- ticism and prophetic attitude so apparent in his boy- hood days in Indiana. As a boy he never took his associates into his full confidence; he held aloof from them and wanted to work out his own prob- LINCOLN THE HOOSIEK 199 lems in his own way. We have evidence from his associates in Indiana that on account of this pecu- liarity they would have looked upon young Lincoln as a bigot had he not been so fair and so honest in everything. As a man in Illinois he still held aloof from his fellow men and avoided their counsel. As President he did the same, saying that when he did give way to advice he nearly always made a mis- take ; but when he acted alone and followed his own judgment he never erred. But, let us remember, that judgment was always directed by the hand of God, so President Lincoln believed. Here, again, we see Lincoln the man but Lincoln the boy. His manhood is but a continuation of his boyhood. At the close of the Civil War President Lincoln and his cabinet members were discussing what should be done with Jefferson Davis and other Con- federate leaders. Most of the Cabinet members favored dire punishment for the leaders of the Con- federacy. When Lincoln was asked for his opinion, he replied with one of his numerous Indiana boy- hood stories. He said: ". . . When I was a boy in Indiana, I went to a neighbor's house one morning and found a boy of my own size holding a coon by a string. I asked him what he had and what he was doing. He says, 'It's a coon. Dad cotched six last night, and killed all but this poor little cuss. Dad told me to hold him until he came back, and I'm afraid he's going to kill this one too; and oh, Abe, I do wish he would get away!' 'Well, why don't you let him loose?' That wouldn't be right; and if I let him go Dad would give me hell. But if he would get away himself, it would be all right.' "Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "if Jeff Davis and those 200 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER other fellows will only get away, it will be all right. But if we should catch them, and I should let them go, 'Dad would give me hell/ " 14 Lincoln's melancholy disposition, which re- mained with him all his life, can to a large degree be traced back to his Indiana home. Tradition has it that before coming to Indiana his mother took him to a little spot in Kentucky and gave him a sad start for his new home when she poured out her tears over the grave of his little brother who was buried there. The death of his mother, whom he loved most dearly, soon followed and helped to bur- den his heart. Then he saw the struggle of his father to keep together in his home three sets of orphan children and how such a big family kept his father from getting on in the world. Soon his sis- ter died and another great sorrow fell upon him. Then came the departure from the old friends and the removal to a new land ; soon followed the death of the one woman that Lincoln loved — Ann Rut- ledge. 15 Then struggles, trials, heartaches. Soon came the Presidency and a great Civil war in which brother was arrayed against brother and section against section. Surely Lincoln's cup was filled with sorrow! Lincoln the Embodiment of the Pioneer Spirit of the Old Northwest In addressing an Indiana regiment of Civil War soldiers President Lincoln said: "I was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and now live in Illi- nois." Mr. Iglehart says : "The Lincoln type, in fig- ure, movement, features, facial make-up, simplicity of speech and thought, gravity of countenance, and LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 201 integrity and truthfulness of life, as it stands ac- credited by the vast number of writers on Lincoln, is in a substantial degree a Hoosier type in South- ern Indiana today. It may still be found in the judge on the bench, the lawyer at the bar, the preacher in the pulpit, and others descended from pioneer stock who are forceful and intelligent lead- ers of the common people. . . . The ideals operat- ing on Lincoln in his youth while he was a Southern Indiana Hoosier at the time, in the location we are considering, as compared with those then existing in slave territory, are thus stated by Turner' ' : "The natural democractic tendencies that had earlier shown themselves in the Gulf States were destroyed, however, by the spread of cotton culture and the development of great plantations in that re- gion. What had been typical of the democracy of the Revolutionary frontier and of the frontier of Andrew Jackson was now to be seen in the states between the Ohio and the Mississippi. As Andrew Jackson is the typical democrat of the former re- gion, so Abraham Lincoln is the very embodiment of the pioneer period of the Old Northwest. In- deed, he is the embodiment of the democracy of the West." "The pioneer life from which Lincoln came dif- fered in important respects from the frontier de- mocracy typified by Andrew Jackson. Jackson's democracy was contentious, individualistic, and it sought the ideal of local self-government and ex- pansion. Lincoln represents rather the pioneer folk who entered the forest of the great northwest to chop out a home, to build up their fortunes in the midst of a continually ascending industrial move- 202 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER ment. In the democracy of the southwest, indus- trial development and city life were only minor factors, but to the democracy of the northwest they were its very life. To widen the area of the clear- ing, to contend with one another for the mastery of the industrial resources of the rich provinces, to struggle for a place in the ascending movement of society, to transmit to one's offspring the chance for education, for industrial betterment, for the rise in life which the hardships of the pioneer existence denied to the pioneer himself, these were some of the ideals of the region to which Lincoln came. The men were commonwealth builders, industrial build- ers. Whereas the type of hero in the southwest was militant, in the northwest he was industrial. It was in the midst of these "plain people" as he loved to call them, that Lincoln grew to manhood. As Emer- son says: 'He is the true history of the American people in his time/ The years of his early life were the years when the democracy of the northwest came into struggle with the institution of slavery that threatened to forbid the expansion of the democratic pioneer life in the west." 16 No other writer has interpreted frontier life in its true meaning as has Dr. Frederick G. Turner. He makes Abraham Lincoln the embodiment of that life. Lincoln did not have his being nor live his life in that low class of people, as described in Eg- gleston's Hoosier Schoolmaster and Hall's New Pur- chase, which Dr. Turner properly calls "the scum that the waves of advancing civilization bore before them," 17 but rather in that higher plane as repre- sented by the Owenite settlement, the British settle- ment, and by men like Judge Pitcher. 18 lincoln the hoos1er 203 The Things That Were Found in Lincoln as a Man Were Found in Him as a Boy We can enumerate here only a few of those out- standing characteristics that were found in Lincoln the man and Lincoln the youth: 1. His love for the Union. 2. His hatred for the institution of slavery. 3. His rugged honesty, truthfulness, and sincerity. 4. His integrity and conscientiousness. 5. His humaneness. 6. His belief that "right is might." 7. His well known sense of fairness. 8. His abiding faith in Providence. 9. His freedom from bad habits. 10. His simplicity of life. 11. His democratic spirit. 12. His approachableness and sociability. 13. His great faith in the common people. 14. His great power of reasoning. 15. His intense veneration of the true and the good. 16. His cool, calculating logic. 17. His power with the pen. 18. His inimitable style in public addresses. 19. His quaint wit and humor. 20. His ability as a story teller. 21. His methods of original investigation. 22. His peculiar style in controversial questions. 23. His platform mannerisms. 24. His strange and weird melancholy. 25. His superstitious beliefs. 26. His Calvanistic fatalism. In the hills of Southern Indiana Abraham Lin- coln developed the above characteristics that make 204 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER up "the mosaic of his great character." They are not all that have gone into the fabric of this un- fathomed and unfathomable man but they suffice to justify the Hoosier's claim that Lincoln is Indiana's "Man of the Ages." But the Hoosier state cannot claim him wholly for he has outgrown the bound- aries of that great commonwealth and the bound- aries of all commonwealths to become the first great American ! But he is more than that — he is a citi- zen of the world. How Do We Account for Abraham Lincoln? Abraham Lincoln did not just happen. His gen- ius was made possible because he made it possible. He came into the world with certain gifts and en- dowments — good blood from both sides of his house. He read the best books, he talked with the most cultured people, he studied, he thought, he worked. The great deeds of his life have their origin in his preparation for them. We can account for the great deeds, the sublime thoughts, the superb speeches, and the classic writings of Abraham Lin- coln because it was in him to do those things. It was in him because he paid the price to make it so. Lincoln at fifty-five was the same man he was at twenty-one, ripened by experience. In his boyhood days in Southern Indiana there was laid that true foundation upon which his life rested. That In- diana environment — physical and intellectual — helped the man, who was willing to help himself, to mould a character strong enough and true enough to stand the shock of a great Civil War, to save the Union, and to bid a race go free ! CHAPTER XVI THE LINCOLNS MOVE TO ILLINOIS The Route Followed Son of the Western World! whose heritage Was the vast prairie and the boundless sky. — J. P. Baxter. In 1828 John Hanks, who had lived with the Lincoln family in Indiana for four years, but who was then in Kentucky, moved to Illinois. He wrote to the Lincolns, told them of his new home, and painted the picture so bright that Dennis Hanks went over to view the country. Dennis was so taken up with it that he came back and made prepara- tions to move. Mrs. Lincoln was induced to go along for she did not want to be separated from her daughters, Mrs. Dennis Hanks and Mrs. Levi Hall. Dennis Hanks, John Johnston, and Abraham Lincoln went in search of oxen needed for the trip. They secured two from Allen Brooner and two from Mr. Hall. The Lincolns spent their last night in Spencer County in the home of Mr. Gentry in Gen- tryville. There young Lincoln bought thirty dollars' worth of notions and trinkets. Speaking of this, Captain William Jones, son of the storekeeper for whom Lincoln worked, says: "A set of knives and forks was the largest item entered on the bill; the other items were needles, pins, thread, buttons, and other little domestic necessities. When the Lincolns reached their new home near Decatur, Illinois, Abraham wrote back to my father, stating that he had doubled his money on his purchases by selling 205 206 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana* — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The old Vincennes, Indiana, cathedral. This old structure, which is still standing, was one of the last bits of Indiana seen by young Lincoln as he left the Hoosier State for Illinois in 1830 them along the road. Unfortunately we did not keep that letter, not thinking how highly we would have prized it in years afterwards/' 1 The morning of their departure, in March, 1830, saw a great number of their old neighbors out to bid them good-bye and God speed. One of them in describing the scene, said that "Abe drove the oxen, having a rope attached to the horn of a lead THE LINCOLNS MOVE TO ILLINOIS 207 ox, and with a hickory 'gad' in his free hand." 2 Redmond D. Grigsby said: "I was twelve years old when the Lincolns left for Illinois. I helped to hitch the two yokes of oxen to the wagon, and went with them half a mile." They journeyed northward through Jasper and Petersburg to Vincennes. There young Lincoln saw his first printing press in the office of the Western Sun. He also saw the old cathedral and the mansion of William Henry Harrison, buildings that are still standing. Crossing the Wabash river not far from the home of Alice Roussillon in Alice of Old Vin- cennes, they journeyed to Lawrenceville. From there the route was as follows: Christian Settle- ment, Russellville, Palestine, Hutsonville, York, Darwin, Richwoods, McCann's Ford, Paradise, Mat- toon, Dead Man's Grove, Nelson, Decatur, 'Lincoln Farm/ Macon County. 3 Speaking of the removal of Thomas Lincoln from Indiana to Illinois, the Indiana Commission says in its report: ". . . The emigrant party com- prised thirteen persons and included Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln, their two sons, Abraham Lin- coln and John D. Johnston; Squire Hall, his wife, Matilda Johnston, and son, John ; Dennis Hanks, his wife, Elizabeth Johnston, and four children: Sarah J., Nancy M., Harriet A., and John T. Hall and Hanks had married the two daughters of Mrs. Lincoln. "The journey was long and tedious, the streams swollen and the roads muddy to the point of im- passability. The rude wagon with its primitive wooden wheels creaked and groaned as it crawled through the woods and now and then stalled in the 208 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER mud. Many were the delays, but none ever dis- turbed the equanimity of its passengers. They were cheerful in the face of adversity, hopeful and deter- mined ; but none of them more so than the ungainly youth in buckskin breeches and coonskin cap who wielded the gad and urged the patient oxen forward. As they entered the new State little did the curious people in the various towns and villages through which they passed dream that the obscure and pen- niless driver who yelled his commands to the dumb Pen drawing by Miss Constance Forsyth, Indianapolis, Indiana — Courtesy Indiana Lincoln Union. The William Henry Harrison mansion at Vincennes, Indiana, as it appears today and as it looked to young Lincoln in 1830 when he saw it on his way to hi* Illinois home THE LINCOLNS MOVE TO ILLINOIS 209 oxen was destined to become the Chief Magistrate of the greatest nation of modern times." 4 Writing of their departure for Illinois, Lincoln says: ". . . They reached the county of Macon, and stopped there some time within the same month of March. His father and family settled a new place on the north side of the Sangamon River, at the junction of the timber land and prairie, about ten miles westerly from Decatur. Here they built a log cabin, into which they removed, and made sufficient of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke the ground, and raised a crop of sown corn upon it the same year." 5 To those people who have spent their lives pes- tering the soul of Thomas Lincoln about his earthly shiftlessness, let it be said that when he left Indiana for Illinois he paid up his debts and departed from the state with more personal property than he had when he moved into it. Not all pioneers did nearly so well. 6 After the Lincolns were gone, James Gentry planted a cedar tree in memory of Abraham Lin- coln. It is still standing near the old Lincoln home- stead, although its lower limbs are broken away by souvenir hunters. Some people contend that Mr. Gentry planted the tree the same day or the next day after the Lincolns moved away, but Rev. Mr. Hobson says that James Gentry told him in an interview in September, 1903, that he planted the cedar tree in the year 1858, twenty-eight years after the Lincolns left Indiana. 7 In the Republican National Nominating Conven- tion held in Chicago in 1864, the chairman of the Illinois delegation stood in his place and said : "The 210 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER people of the State of Illinois present to the people of the United States as candidate for the Presidency the name of Abraham Lincoln — God bless him!" In closing his little booklet, Lincoln the Greatest Man of the Nineteenth Century, Mr. Charles Rey- nolds Brown says: "I would present to you as can- didate for the place of highest honor in the Nine- teenth Century, the name of Abraham Lincoln — God bless him!" In ending this work, the author wishes to close with these words : I would present to you as candi- date for the place of highest honor in all past time, next after that of the Lowly Nazarene, the name of Abraham Lincoln — God bless him! "Now he belongs to the Ages." Courtesy Mrs. J. T. Hobson, Odon, Indiana. Hon. James Gentry, son of the proprietor of Gentryville, Indiana Courtesy Mrs. J. T. Hobson, Odon. Indiana. Captain John W. Lamar, who knew Abraham Lincoln in Spencer County, Indiana Courtesy Mrs. J. T. Hobson, Odon, Indiana. Elizabeth Grigsby, one of the brides of the double wedding which caused Lincoln to write the "Chronicles of Reuben" Court est/ Mrs. J. T. Hobson, odon, Indiana. Jacob S. Brother of Kockport, Indiana APPENDIX Joseph Hanks's Will "In the name of God, Amen, I Joseph Hanks of Nelson County State of Kentucky being of sound Mind and Memory, but weak in body and calling to Mind the frailty of all Hu- man Nature do make and Devise this my last Will and Testament in the Manner and Form following To Wit Item I Give and bequeath unto my Son Thomas one Sor- rel Horse called Major. Item I Give and bequeath unto my son Joshua one Grey Mare called Bonney. Item I Give and bequeath unto my son William one Grey Horse called Gilbert. Item I Give and bequeath unto my son Charles one Roan Horse called Dove. Item I Give and bequeath unto my son Joseph one Sor- rel Horse called Bald. Also the Land whereon I now live containing one hundred and fifty Acres. Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth one Heifer Yearling called Gentle. Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughter Polly one Heifer Yearling called Lady. Item I give and bequeath unto my daughter Nancy one Heifer Yearling called Peidy. Item I Give and bequeath unto my Wife Nanny all and Singular my whole Estate during her life, afterwards to be equally divided between all my Children. It is my Will and Desire that the whole of the Property above bequeathed should be the property of my Wife during her life. And lastly I constitute ordain and appoint my wife Nanny and my Son William as Executrix and Executor to this my last Will and Testament. Signed Sealed and Delivered In Presence of Us this eighth his day of January one thousand seven John x Hanks hundred and ninety three. mark Isaac Lansdale John Davis (Seal) Peter Atherton 211 212 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER At a Court begun and held for Nelson County on Tuesday the fourteenth day of May 1793. This last Will and Testament of Joseph Hanks dcd was produced in Court and sworn to by William Hanks one of the Executors therein named and was proved by the Oaths of Isaac Lansdale and John Davis subscribing witnesses thereto and Ordered to be Recorded. Teste Ben Grayson Co. CK." The Marriage Return of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks The following is the return of marriages including that of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, by Rev. Jesse Head. It was copied from the original in the office of the County Clerk in Springfield, Washington County, Kentucky. I do hereby certify that the following is a true list of the Marriages Solemnized by me the subsciber from the 28th of April 1806 untill the date hereof. June 26th Joined together in the Holy Estate of Matri- mony agreeable to the rules of the M. E. C. Morris Berry & Peggy Simms Nov 27th 1806 David Mige (?) & Hannah Xten (?) March 5th 1807 Charles Ridge & Anna Davis March 24th 1807 John Head & Sally Clark Marh 27th Benjamin Clark & Dolly Head Jan 14th Edward Pyle & Rosannah McMahon Dec 22nd 1806 Silas Chamberlin & Betsey West June 17th 1806 John Springer & Elizabeth Ingram June 12th 1806 Thomas Lincoln & Nancy Hanks September 23rd 1806 John Cambion & Hanah White October 2nd 1806 Anthony Lykey & Keziah Putte October 23rd Aaron Harding & Hannah Rottet April 5 1807 Daniel Payne & Christiana Pierre July 26 1806 Benjamin Clark & Polly Clark May 1806 Hugh Haskins & Betsey Dyer September 25 1806 John Graham & Catherine Jones Given under my hand this 22nd day of April 1807 Jesse Head, D. M. E. C. APPENDIX 213 Marriage Bond of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks The following is a copy of the marriage bond of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks taken from the original at Spring- field, Washington County, Kentucky. Know all men by these presents that we Thomas Lincoln and Richard Berry are held and firmly bound unto his Ex- cellency the governor of Kentucky for the Just and full sum of fifty pounds current money to the payment of which well and truly to be made to the said governor and his successors we bind ourselves and our heirs &c Jointly and severally firmly by these presents sealed with our seals and dated this 10th day of June, 1806. The Condition of the above Obliga- tion is such that whereas there is a marriage shortly in- tended between the above bound Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks for which a license has issued now if there be no law- ful cause to obstruct the said marriage then this obligation to be Void or else to remain in full force & virtue in law. Thomas Lincoln (Seal) Richard Berry (Seal) Witness, John H. Parrott. Affidavit of Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham The following affidavit was made by a physician and scientist, Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham at Evansville, Indiana, when he was visiting there in the home of J. W. Wartmann, Deputy Clerk of the United States Circuit Court. "I, Christopher C. Graham, now of Louisville, Kentucky, aged ninety-eight years, on my oath say: That I was present at the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks in Washington County, near the town of Springfield, Kentucky; that one Jesse Head, a Methodist preacher of Springfield, Kentucky, performed the ceremony. I knew the said Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks well, and know the said Nancy Hanks to have been virtuous and respectable, and of good parentage. I do not remember the exact date of the mar- riage, but was present at the marriage aforesaid ; and I make this affidavit freely, and at the request of J. W. Wartmann to whom, for the first time, I have this day incidentally stated the fact of my presence at the said wedding of Presi- 214 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER dent Lincoln's father and mother. I make this affidavit to vindicate the character of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, and to put to rest forever the legitimacy of Abraham Lin- coln's birth. I was formerly proprietor of Harrcdsburgh Springs; I am a retired physician, and am now a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. I think Felix Grundy was also present at the marriage of said Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, the father and mother of Abraham Lincoln. The said Jesse Head, the officiating minister at the marriage aforesaid, afterward removed to Harrodsburgh, Kentucky, and edited a paper there and died at that place." Christopher Columbus Graham. Subscribed and sworn to before me this March 20, A. D. 1882. N. C. Butler, clerk United States Circuit Court, First District, Indiana, by J. W. Wartmann, Deputy Clerk. Statement of Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham Two years after making the above affidavit Dr. Graham made a more extended statement about the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. It was published in the Louisville Courier-J ournal. The following are excerpts from it: "I, Christopher Columbus Graham now in my hundredth year, and visiting the Southern Exposition in Louisville, where I live, tell this to please my young friend Henry Cleve- land, who is nearly half my age. ... I am one of the two living men who can prove that Abraham Lincoln or Link- horn, as the family was miscalled, was born in lawful wed- lock, for I saw Thomas Lincoln marry Nancy Hanks. . . . He was born at what was then known as the Rock Spring Farm — it is now called the Creal Place — three miles south of Hodgenville, in La Rue County, Kentucky. . . . Nancy lived with the Sparrow family a good bit. ... I was hunt- ing roots for my medicines, and just went to the wedding to get a good supper, and got it. . . . Before a license could be had, a bond and security was taken of the bridegroom, and the preacher had to return to the court all marriages of the year. . . . Tom Lincoln was a carpenter, and a good one for those days, when a cabin was built mainly with the ax, and not a nail or bolt or hinge in it, only leather and pins to the APPENDIX 215 door, and no glass, except in watches and spectacles and bottles. Tom had the best set of tools in what was then and now Washington County. La Rue County, where the farm was settled, was then Hardin. Jesse Head, the good Methodist preacher that married them, was also a carpenter or cabinet maker by trade, and as he was then a neighbor, they were good friends. . . . The preacher Jesse Head often talked to me on religion and politics, for I always liked the Methodists. I have thought it might have been as much from his free-spoken opinions as from Henry Clay's American-African Coloniza- tion scheme in 1817, that I lost a likely negro man, who was leader of my musicians. . . . Tom Lincoln and Nancy, and Sally Bush were just steeped full of Jesse Head's notions about the wrong of slavery and the right of man as explained by Thomas Jeffer- son and Thomas Paine. Abe Lincoln the Liberator was made in his mother's womb and father's brain and in the prayers of Sally Bush; by the talks and sermons of Jesse Head, the Methodist Circuit rider, assistant county judge, printer-edi- tor, and cabinet-maker. Little Abe grew up to serve as a cabinet-maker himself two Presidential terms. . . . I will say that I saw Nancy Hanks Lincoln at her wed- ding, a fresh loking girl, I should say over twenty. Tom was a respectable mechanic and could choose, and she was treated with respect. ... I was at the infare, too. . . . We had bear meat (that you can eat the grease of, and it not rise like other fats) ; venison, wild turkey and ducks; eggs, wild and tame (so common that you could buy them at two bits a bushel) ; maple sugar, swung on a string, to bite off for coffee or whiskey ; syrup in big gourds ; peach-and-honey ; a sheep that two families barbecued whole over coals of wood burned in a pit, and covered with green boughs to keep the juices in; and a race for the whiskey bottle. . . . Our table was of the puncheons cut from solid logs, and on the next day they were the floor of the new cabin. It is all stuff about Tom Lincoln keeping his wife in an open shed in a winter when the wild animals left the woods and stood in the corners next to the stick-and-clay chimneys, so as not to freeze to death; or if climbers, got on the roof. 216 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER The Lincolns had a cow and calf, milk and butter, a good feather bed, for I have slept in it (while they took the buffalo robes on the floor because I was a doctor). They had home- woven "kiverlids," big and little pots, a loom and wheel; and William Hardesty, who was there too, can say with me that Tom Lincoln was a man and took care of his wife." Christopher Columbus Graham in my lOOdrth year. Wm. E. Barton on the Statements of Mr. Graham Rev. Dr. Wm. E. Barton, one of the most accurate of the writers on Lincoln, severely criticises the affidavit made by Mr. Graham. He says: "Doctor Graham was then ninety-eight years old, so it is not surprising that the old man forgot to tell that he had been present when Jesse Head married Doctor Graham him- self to Theresa Sutton, October 8, 1820. Instead, he fancied that he had been present at the marriage of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. The more he was interviewed, the more he remembered. His affidavit issued in his one-hundredth year elaborated considerably the original statement, and the final form of his story was he had been present at the marriage of Abraham Lincoln himself. "If Doctor Graham had actually been present at the mar- riage of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, there was a period of several years in which he could have rendered a most valuable service by telling of the fact. He did not publish it then, nor until his story was practically valueless as evidence. At every point where he attempted to enlarge upon the informa- tion which the records gave, his statement was untrue. He probably never saw the Lincolns. Miss Tarbell has not as- sisted us in her wide-spread publication of Doctor Graham's story. He was an old man in his dotage, in the hands of men some of whom had their own reasons for wanting him to testify as he did. And it is this man's testimony that furnishes much of the information in the tablets upon the walls of the Lincoln memorial at Hodgenville. "It is discouraging to have these fabrications wide-spread by authors who intend to be truthful, and then accepted by a public that has all too little discrimination. Doctor Gra- APPENDIX 217 ham, in his garrulous romancing, told that Jesse Head was an ardent abolitionist, Graham himself being a slave-holder and a southern sympathizer; that Thomas Lincoln and both of his wives were 'chockfull of the liberty-loving principles' which Head had derived from Thomas Paine and others, and that thus Thomas Lincoln became and Abraham Lincoln was born, an abolitionist. He further said that Jesse Head could have afforded slaves, but did not own them. He might better have said that Jesse Head could not afford slaves, but did own them. Both in Washington and Mercer Counties, Jesse Head was a slave-owner. . . . "On the question of slavery, Jesse Head was neither in advance of nor behind his own generation. He was a good man, a worthy and faithful pioneer preacher; but none of the things that Christopher Columbus Graham tells of him are true." 1 Now let us say at the beginning of our criticism of Rev. Dr. Barton's attack upon the statements of Christopher Col- umbus Graham that the author respects the great ability of Rev. Dr. Barton as a research scholar and writer and wishes to state that historians owe him a great debt of gratitude for his painstaking efforts, but Rev. Dr. Barton may be wrong just as well as the rest of us and when he is wrong or when he makes statements, not supported by evidence, he, too, should be called to account and just as bluntly as he calls Miss Tarbell or Mrs. Hitchcock or Mr. Herndon or Mr. Lamon when they are mistaken as to fact. Now it is a pretty strong statement to say that Mr. Graham "probably never saw the Lincolns." True it is Mr. Graham was old when he gave his statement about the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. But is it not true that many statements made about the life of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks in Kentucky and about the boyhood of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky and Indiana have been made by old men and women but have not been so questioned as Rev. Dr. Barton has questioned those of Mr. Graham? We may rest assured that the state- ments Rev. Dr. Barton secured from Mr. Francis X. Rapier in 1920 in regard to the life of the Lincolns in Kentucky came from the lips of an old man. Rev. Dr. Barton does not ques- tion them, although he says that this was the first time Mr. 218 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Rapier was ever interviewed about the Lincolns, thus show- ing us at once that his statements have never had a chance to be cross-examined in the bright light of publicity. Are the statements of some old people to be accepted wholly and others rejected wholly? The author knows personally the Wartmann family and if Rev. Dr. Barton had this family in mind when he said "He was an old man in his dotage, in the hands of men some of whom had their own reasons for wanting him to testify as he did," the author believes Rev. Dr. Barton is mistaken. Rev. Dr. Barton rather infers that Mr. Graham was somewhat wrong in fact and inconsistent when he said that Rev. Head was an abolitionist. Rev. Dr. Barton is right in stating that Rev. Head was a slave owner, but that does not mean that Mr. Graham need be wrong when he calls Rev. Head an abolitionist. History attests that some of the strongest abolitionists were slave owners and some of them the greatest men our country has produced. But if Mr. Graham is inconsistent in calling Rev. Head an abolitionist because he was a slave owner then in what posi- tion does Rev. Dr. Barton find himself when he says in his book, The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, on page 48, the follow- ing: "Mr. Head was not only a minister, but a justice of the peace, an anti-slavery man, and a person of strong righteous character." And again he says in the same book on page 240 the following: "Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were married by a Methodist preacher, Rev. Jesse Head. He is known to have been a foe of slavery, and there is some reason to think that the Lincoln family derived some part of its love of freedom from him." Now does not Rev. Dr. Barton appear to be about as inconsistent as Mr. Graham? Or, in which of his books is Rev. Dr. Barton right about Rev. Head? When he wishes to discredit Mr. Graham and Miss Tarbell he says in his Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. 1, page 18, that none of the things that Mr. Graham tells of Rev. Head are true, such as being an ardent abolitionist and having liberty loving principles. But when he wishes to establish another point in which he is much interested he says in the Soul of Abra- ham Lincoln, the Lincolns were influenced by this Methodist minister, Rev. Head, who was the foe of slavery. APPENDIX 219 Extracts from the "Old Blue Back" Speller We have no absolute proof that young Lincoln was in- fluenced by the following reading material or other similar material in the "Old Blue Back" Speller but we do know that he read it at a time when his mind was plastic. And we do know that this material touched upon those very questions that made a deep impression upon Lincoln and upon which he spent much time and study as a youth — the Bible, honesty, temperance, truthfulness, helpfulness, courtesy, piety, affec- tion, obedience. Then, too, we feel satisfied that the morals in the several fables given in the speller were not lost upon Lincoln. The story of the life of Lincoln the youth and Lincoln the man could almost be written from a study of these good and wise sayings in the "Old Blue Back" Speller. The figures following the extracts refer to the pages from which they are taken. 1. Do not go in the mob. (20) 2. We love just and wise men. (24) 3. The Holy Bible is the book of God. (26) 4. To filch is to steal; we must not filch. (27) 5. Strong drink will debase a man. (28) 6. Idle men often delay till tomorrow things that should be done today. (28) 7. Good men obey the laws of God. (29) 8. Wise men employ their time in doing good to all around them. (29) 9. A good son will help his father. (33) 10. Good boys will use their boooks with care. (37) 11. No man can make a good plea for a dram. (40) 12. The man who drinks rum may soon want a loaf of bread. (40) 13. If you do a bad trick you should own it. (45) 14. Strong drink leads to the debasement of the mind and body. (49) 15. Men devoted to mere amusement misemploy their time. (50) 16. Washington was not a selfish man. He labored for the good of his country more than for himself. (50) 17. We pity the slavish drinkers of rum. (51) 220 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 18. The drunkard's face will publish his vice and his dis- grace. (51) 19. There is a near intimacy between drunkenness, poverty, and ruin. (52) 20. A witness must give true testimony. (52) 21. Paternal care and maternal love are great blessings to children, and should be repaid with their duty and af- fection. (54) 22. You must be good, or you can not be happy. (61) 23. Rum, gin, brandy, and whiskey are destructive enemies to mankind. They destroy more lives than wars, fam- ine and pestilence. (67) 24. The drunkard's course is progressive; he begins by drinking a little, and shortens his life by drinking to excess. (67) 25. Children should respect and obey their parents. (72) 26. The chewing of tobacco is a useless custom. (74) 27. Intemperance is the grievous sin of our country. (75) 28. Confess your sins and forsake them. (76) 29. Never equivocate nor prevaricate, but tell the plain truth. (77) 30. Never retaliate an injury, even on an enemy. (77) 31. Liquors that intoxicate are to be avoided as poison. (77) 32. A pious youth will speak the truth. (85) 33. Drunkards are worthless fellows, and despised. (85) 34. To be useful is more honorable than to be showy. (88) 35. We should emulate the virtuous actions of great and good men. (104) 36. Good manners are always becoming; ill manners are evidence of low breding. (105) 37. Do nothing that is injurious to religion, to morals, or to the interest of others. (113) 38. Those who enjoy the light of the gospel, and neglect to observe its precepts, are more criminal than the heathen. (115) 39. The love of whiskey has brought many a stout fellow to the whipping-post. (120) 40. How happy men would be if they would always love what is right and hate what is wrong. (136) APPENDIX 221 Extracts from Weems's Life of Washington The author firmly believes that Weems's Life of Washing- ton had a great effect upon Lincoln in his boyhood days. He has gone over the book in a very careful way and has selected a few extracts that he thinks left a lasting impression upon him. The figures, following the extracts, refer to the pages from which they are taken. Washing tan Taught Honesty "Never did the wise Ulysses take more pains with his beloved Telemachus, than did Mr. Washington with George, to inspire him with an early love of truth. 'Truth, George,' said he, 'is the loveliest quality of youth. . . . Hard, indeed, would it be to me to give up my son, whose little feet are always so ready to run about with me, and whose fondly looking eyes, and sweet prattle make so large a part of my happiness. But still I would give him up, rather than see him a common liar. . . . George, you know I have always told you, and now tell you again, that, whenever, by accident, you do anything wrong, which must often be the case, as you are but a poor little boy yet, without experience and knowl- edge, you must never tell a falsehood to conceal it; but come bravely up, my son, like a little man, and tell me of it; and, instead of beating you, George, I will but the more honour and love you for it, my dear.'" (14 f.) Here, certainly, Abraham Lincoln received a simple and plain lesson on honesty. George Washington an Umpire "A very aged gentleman, formerly a school mate of his, has assured me . . . that nothing was more common, when the boys were in high dispute about a question of fact, than for some little shaver among the mimic heroes, to call out, 'well boys! George Washington was there; George Washing- ton was there. He knows all about it; and if he don't say it was so, then we will give it up.' — 'Done,' said the adverse party. Then away they would trot to hunt for George. Soon as his verdict was heard, the party favored would begin to crow, and then all hands would return to play again." (23). Like Washington, Lincoln in his youth, was the umpire and referee of all disputed points among the boys of his neigh- borhood and his decisions were final because they were fair. 222 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER The Hand of God in History "Braddock had fallen — his aids and officers, to a man, killed or wounded — and his troops, in hopeless, helpless de- spair, flying backwards and forwards from the fire of the Indians, like flocks of crowding sheep from the presence of their butchers. Washington alone remained unhurt! Horse after horse had been killed under him. Showers of bullets had touched his locks or pierced his regimentals. But still protected by heaven — still supported by a strength not his own, he had continued to fly from quarter to quarter, where his presence was most needed." (44.) In this extract young Lincoln could read the hand of God into history and believe Washington to be what he always thought he was — a super- man. Washington Values Character "It is worthy of remark, because it happens but to few, that though he often failed of success, he never once lost the confidence of his country. Early aware of the importance of character, to those who wish to be useful, he omitted no honest act, thought no pains, no sacrifice of ease too great, to procure and preserve it. In the whole of that stupidly- managed war, as also another subsequent war, which was not much better conducted, he always took care to keep the public well informed as to the part which he had acted, or wished to act, in the affair." (57). And throughout his career, Abraham Lincoln never failed to know the importance of character nor did he fail to take the people into his confi- dence. Washington Wins Over His Enemies "Such was the effect of Washington's policy; the divine policy of doing good for evil. It melted down his iron enemies into golden friends. It caused the Hessian soldiers to join with the American farmers! — not only so, but to write such letters to their countrymen, that they were constantly break- ing loose from the British to run over to the Americans — insomuch that in a little time the British would hardly trust a Hessian to stand sentinel!" (96). It was one of the car- dinal policies throughout the life of Lincoln to do good for evil — to plant a flower and pluck a thorn. APPENDIX 223 Washington's Kindness to His Enemies "Poor Donop (a Hessian colonel) was mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. The attentions of the American officers, and particularly the kind condolence of the godlike Washing- ton, quite overcame him; and his last moments were steeped in tears of regret, for having left his native land to fight a distant people who had never injured him." (101). Kind- ness to his enemies was a passion in the breast of Abraham Lincoln ! Washington on the Preservation of the Union "In his address to the people of the United States, de- livered in September, 1796, Washington said: The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence; the support of your tran- quility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your property ; of that very liberty which you so highly prize . . . it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union, to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming your- selves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may sug- gest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alien any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.'" (160). It is very easy to see that from this paragraph young Lincoln could receive an early lesson on the value of the preservation of the Union. Washington on Respect for the Constitution "This government, the offspring of your own choice, . . . adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its author- ity, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true 224 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER liberty. The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and alter their constitutions of govern- ment. But the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all." (164). From this para- graph Lincoln could easily have taken the material that he used in his later speeches on respect for our Constitution. Washington on Religion and Morality "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports .... Let it be simply asked, where is the security for prop- erty, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obliga- tions desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investi- gation in the courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be obtained with- out religion. . . . 'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government." (168 f.). These tenets were held by Abraham Lincoln throughout his life. The People Looked upon Washington as an Immortal "If the prayers of millions could have prevailed, Wash- ington would have been immortal on earth. And if fullness of peace, riches, and honours could have rendered that im- mortality happy, Washington would have been blessed in- deed." (180). Lincoln in his later life said that he had always looked upon Washington as a God-like character. Washington an Obedient Son "At the giddy age of fourteen ... he felt a strong de- sire to go to sea; but, very opposite to his wishes, his mother declared that she could not bear to part with him. . . . Re- ligion whispered 'honour thy mother, and grieve not the spirit of her who bore thee.' Instantly the glorious boy sacrificed inclination to duty — dropt all thought of the voyage — and gave tears of joy to his widowed mother, in clasping to her bosom a dear child who could deny himself his fondest wishes to make her happy. . . . Now see here, young reader; and learn that He who prescribes our duty, is able to reward it. Had George left his fond mother to a broken heart, and gone off to sea, 'tis next to certain that he would never have taken that active part in the French and Indian War, which, by APPENDIX 225 securing him the hearts of his countrymen, paved the way for all his future greatness." (192 f.). There never was a more obedient son than Abraham Lincoln. Washington Industrious "Early smitten with the love of glory; early engaged in the noble pursuit of knowledge, of independence, and of use- fulness; he had no eyes to see bad examples, nor ensnaring objects; no ears to hear horrid oaths, nor obscene language; no leisure for impure passions nor criminal amours. Hence he enjoyed that purity of soul, which is rightly called its sunshine; and which impressed a dignity on his character, and gave him a beauty and loveliness in the eyes of men, that contributed more to his rise in the world than young people can readily conceive. And what is it that raises a young man from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to never- dying fame? What, but industry? See, Washington, born of humble parents, and in humble circumstances — born in a narrow nook and obscure corner of the British plantations! Yet lo! What great things wonder-working industry can bring out of this unpromising Nazareth. While but a youth, he manifested such a noble contempt of sloth, such a manly spirit to be always learning or doing something useful or clever, that he was the praise of all who knew him." (229 f.). These words seem to be written to describe Lincoln. Lincoln's Neighbors in Southern Indiana In Princeton, county seat of Gibson County, lived Colonel James Evans, a wool carder, to whom Abraham Lincoln took his wool once a year to have it carded. Tradition has it that Lincoln met and fell in love with a daughter of James Evans but she pased him by on account of his awkward appearance. James Evans of Princeton had a brother, General Robert M. Evans, who lived at New Harmony and was postmaster there in the year 1827 and for some time later. "General Evans was an interesting character and figured much in the news- papers in Evansville, New Harmony, and Vincennes, and it is altogether probable that his brother, the wool carder at Princeton, had the newspapers of the day, for so eager an inquirer for "news" and a customer as Lincoln is shown dur- ing that period to have been." 2 The influence of Robert M. Evans extended over the entire state of Indiana. 226 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER General Washington Johnston was born in Virginia in 1776, and in 1793, at the age of seventeen, settled in Vin- cennes, Indiana. He entered politics, and, although living in a pro-slavery neighborhood, stood opposed to the introduc- tion of slavery into Indiana. As a member of the territorial legislature, Johnston made a report against slavery that prevented the introduction of the institution into the new state. Johnston's report is dated October 18, 1808, and is published in full in the Western Sun of December 17, 1808, the year before the birth of Abraham Lincoln and eight years before the Lincolns moved to Indiana. In 1816 Indiana was admitted into the Union as a free state but it was the common belief that the Constitution did not affect the pre- existent slavery in the territory. At least after statehood there was slavery in Indiana and four years after the Con- stitution went into effect there were one hundred and ninety slaves in the state, mostly in the Southwestern counties — Knox, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Owen, Perry, Pike, Sulli- van, Spencer, and Warrick. Slaves were bought and sold in Indiana after statehood and the Western Sun carried ad- vertisements of the sale of slaves under the dates of October 12, 1816, February 8, 1817, September 6, 1817, June 27, 1819, and October 15, 1819. With slavery existing in his county and at the time when Lincoln lived there, we may feel sure that the question came to his attention. And if we may infer that it did, we may in reason assume that young Lin- coln knew of General Washington Johnston and his fight against the institution of slavery. Johnston was a highly educated man. He had a wide reading knowledge of history ; he knew the classics. He was fair in Latin and spoke French fluently. He was a noted orator and lawyer and practiced law until his death in 1833 — three years after the Lincoln's moved from Indiana. 3 There was a Cassidy settlement in Spencer County at this period. The founder of this settlement distinguished himself during the American Revolution at Detroit, where he was arrested and imprisoned by the British. He settled in Pennsylvania and founded a town which he named for his native place in Ireland. His sons were surveyors. They moved to Indiana, and thence westward. One of them was APPENDIX 227 the sole delegate from Arkansas to the first meeting of the Missouri Territorial Legislature, when Arkansas was a county of Missouri. Mr. T. E. Cassidy of New Rochelle, New York, who is collecting data on this family, when asked whether any of them ever met Lincoln, writes laconically "Luke Cassidy played marbles with Abe." Daniel Grass migrated to Spencer County about 1803 and settled at Hanging Rock, now Rockport. He was justice of the peace in 1812. The next year he became associate judge for Warrick County which then contained more than half of what is now Spencer County. He represented Warrick County in the Constitutional Convention at Corydon and the Counties of Warrick, Perry, and Posey as Senator in the first Indiana State Legislature. He was elected as a member of the State Legislature in 1819 and again in 1820 from Spen- cer County. In 1821 he was elected to the State Senate from Spencer, Perry, Dubois, and part of Warrick. He was re- elected for every session and served until 1827." Daniel Grass was a man of culture and refinement and exerted great influence in his county. John Morgan removed to Spencer County from Pennsyl- vania about the same time that the Lincolns came from Ken- tucky. He was the first clerk of Spencer County, serving from 1818 to 1825. Morgan was well educated. His descen- dants retain his characteristics and are noted for their in- tellectual brilliancy and good citizenship. It would, indeed, be quite strange if Abraham Lincoln had not come into con- tact with the county clerk of his county, especially since Rockport, the county seat, was only about fifteen miles from his home and Lincoln was a frequent visitor there. "Hon. John W. Graham . . . was born March 11, 1791, in Nelson County, Kentucky, and was a soldier of the War of 1812. July 12, 1817, he wedded Mary Duncan, and two years later he and wife removed to Spencer County, Indiana, Mr. Graham joining the Methodist Episcopal Church the year following his settlement here. Of an uncommonly well bal- anced mind and of excellent judgment, he soon became one of the foremost men of the county, and his views and opin- ions were often sought far and near. He was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature from Spencer County, 228 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER and for about fourteen years was an Associate Judge of this circuit. He was never known to have done a dishonorable act, and his intercourse with neighbors and acquaintances was one of harmony and happiness. . . . An earnest worker in the cause of Christianity, he died in the Methodist Epis- copal faith February 20, 1855, honored and respected by all who knew him." 5 Mr. Graham was judge at Rockport during those years in which Abraham Lincoln was in search of legal knowledge. Young Lincoln frequently attended court at Rockport and we may be reasonably sure that he knew Judge Graham. Certainly he was acquainted with Graham's work as judge. Hon. James Gentry, Sr., moved from Kentucky to Indiana in 1818, locating on a tract of land of one thousand acres and afterwards purchased several hundred more. Mr. Gen- try was noted for his thrift, energy, and industry. His in- terest in his neighbors and the community at large was deep and abiding. He had eight children: Matthew; Agnes, who married Benjamin Romine; Allen, who married Anna Robey; Hannah, who married John Romine; Joseph; Sarah, who married Madison Hall; Elizabeth, who married Enoch Lane; and James. 6 The Gentry family was one of the leading and influential families of Spencer County, noted for its strict honesty and uprightness of character. Young Lincoln came into close contact with the Gentry boys and there is no doubt that his life was greatly influenced by them. 7 Thomas P. Britton and brother Alexander removed from Virginia to Spencer County about 1825. They were both very highly cultured and educated men. The latter was post- master at Rockport during the 1820's and took a leading part in the religious and social life of the town. Thomas P. Britton spoke several languages fluently and was a noted penman. He was clerk and recorder of Spencer County for a number of years. 8 John Greathouse was born in Kentucky in 1797. When about twenty-one years of age he settled in Spencer County where he worked at his trade as tanner and farmer. He had quite a large library and was a highly educated man. Are we not to believe that Lincoln at least peeped in on this library? 8 APPENDIX 229 Dr. Stephen P. Cissna lived at Rockport and rode for miles about administering to the sick. He was often in the Lincoln neighborhood and, no doubt, in the Lincoln home. 10 Thomas Langdon, a lawyer of Spencer County, was a brilliant man with a college education. 11 John Proctor, who graduated from Harvard University in 1813, settled in Spencer County in 1818 and was one of the most cultured of its citizens." John McK. Barnett and family moved from Kentucky to Indiana and settled in Ohio township, Spencer County, in 1816. Mr. Barnett was a Methodist minister, a magistrate, and an associate judge of the probate court. He was well and favorable known by the pioneers of Southern Indiana. 13 The Hackleman family moved to Spencer County in 1819 and in December of that year Absolom was born. He "was one of the foremost men in the county during his day. A man of sound judgment and proper discretion, he was often called upon to officiate in some capacity of honor and trust, and for twelve or fifteen years was a commissioner of the county." His son, Francis M. Hackleman, became quite a noted physician in Rockport and Spencer County. 14 Samuel Hammond left the state of Maryland with his father and stepmother and settled with them in 1811 near the present site of the town of Grand View. Samuel was a progressive tanner and opened a tanyard in Spencer County which he operated in connection with his farm work until 1847 when he retired. 15 John Naney moved to Spencer County from Kentucky about 1820. He settled southwest of Rockport and soon after- wards entered two hundred six acres of land. Mr. Naney was a prominent man of his neighborhood, a leading Whig, and held various township and county offices. 16 John W. Lamar was born in Spencer County, December, 1822, the eldest son of John and Elizabeth (Woolen) Lamar. The Lamars were cultured and refined people. We have had occasion to refer to them and their relation to Lincoln sev- eral times throughout this book. 17 William Richardson removed with his family from Ken- tucky to Indiana in 1817 and settled near the Lincoln home- stead. The Richardsons were well educated and highly re- 230 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER spected citizens. Elsewhere we told the story how Abraham Lincoln protected the women folk all night long against the wild animals of the woods during their first night in Indiana and how the young Miss Richardson claimed to be Lincoln's sweetheart. We have also told the story of Mr. Richardson's relations with Lincoln. 18 George Statelar removed from Kentucky to Indiana in 1818 and settled in Ohio township, where his son, William, was born, March 1, 1820. The Statelars have always been good Christian people and highly respected by all their neigh- bors. 19 Isaac Veatch settled in Luce township, Spencer County, in 1825, moving from Meade County, Kentucky. The Veatch family was highly educated and took a very active part in politics. 20 Jeffy Wright was born in Kentucky and migrated with his parents to Spencer County in 1808, locating about two and a half miles below the present site of Rockport. He was for a number of years associate judge of the probate court. 21 Jacob Young was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, in 1801. He removed to Spencer County about 1813 and lived with his brother-in-law, Barney Miller, until his marriage. Mr. Young was known throughout the country as an honest, upright citizen. 22 Levi Hale and family moved from Kentucky to Spencer County in 1819, settling in Grass Township. The Hales were known far and wide as honest, upright and industrious citi- zens. 23 Rev. Allen Brooner was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, October 22, 1813. When the boy was one year old his parents, Peter and Nancy (Rusher) Brooner moved to Spencer County, locating near the present site of Lincoln City. Here Peter Brooner grew to manhood. He has held acceptably various offices of trust. Mrs. Brooner was a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Cooper) Cox, and her grandfather Cooper was General Washington's secretary dur- ing the Revolutionary War. 24 David Turnham was born August 2, 1803, near Lebanon, Tennessee. About the year 1818 he came to Spencer County and settled near Grand View. He became one of the foremost APPENDIX 231 men of his community, honored and respected. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican. We have referred to him time and again in his relation to Lincoln and especially to his lending Lincoln The Revised Statutes of Indiana. 26 Aquila Huff removed with his family from Kentucky in 1815 and settled in Spencer County in what is now Huff township, which was named for him. Mr. Huff reared a large family of children who have reflected credit upon their community. 29 The Hart family were pioneers, prominent in Warrick and Gibson Counties. David Hart was presiding judge of the fourth judicial circuit, composed of Dubois, Pike, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Perry, and Craw- ford Counties, in 1818 and 1819. His successor was Richard Daniel of Princeton who held the office from 1819 to 1822. Daniel was succeeded by James R. E. Goodlett, who continued as judge until 1831. We have every reason to believe that Abraham Lincoln at least knew of the legal work of these men. Amos Clark and Charles I. Battell were prosecuting at- torneys of Spencer County during the young manhood of Lincoln and we feel that he knew of their legal activities. We may feel assured that Lincoln followed the work of the state legislature during the last few years of his Indiana residence and that this placed him in a position to know of the activities of Isaac Veatch, Samuel Frisby, Richard Polk, Daniel Grass, and John Daniel who represented his county either in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. Joseph Lane was one of the most prominent men of South- ern Indiana, taking a very active part in politics. Later he was appointed Governor of Oregon and became United States Senator from that state. In 1860 he was a candi- date for Vice-President on the Breckenridge ticket against Lincoln and Hamlin. Lincoln had ample opportunities to know Lane in Indiana. It is quite probable that Lincoln knew Elisha Harrison, a second cousin of William Henry Harrison. Elisha Harrison was a very influential man in Southern Indiana from 1816 to 1825 and took an active part in politics. 232 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Another great character of Southern Indiana was Judge Lemuel Quincy De Bruler whom Abraham Lincoln knew per- sonally. Mr. De Bruler was a noted lawyer and judge, hon- ored and respected by all who knew him. 27 Levi Iglehart, Sr., moved to Warrick County in 1823. He located about eight miles from Boonville, and was twenty miles distant from the Lincoln home. He was elected judge of the circuit court and held court in Boonville where the famous lawyers, Pitcher and Breckenridge, pleaded cases be- fore him. He was no doubt judge at the time Lincoln walked to Boonville to attend court. 28 Samuel Scott, representative of Warrick County in the legislature, was a very able man, highly educated and public spirited. Besides the above list of highly educated men most of whom Lincoln knew and the rest of whom we feel safe in saying that he knew, reasoning from the law of probabilities, there are many others who came into his life and helped to mould it. The list is so long that we can merely mention a few of their names. These men were all highly cultured and educated — real pioneer aristocrats: Everton Kennerly, Richard Carlisle, the Pricketts, Fairchilds, Garretts, Med- calfs, Snyders, Bunners, Berrys, Rays, Browns, Logsdons, Montgomerys, Boyds, Mattinglys, De Weeses, Whittinghills, Crooks, Kellams, Cottons, Grigsbys, Roberts, Taylors, Car- ters, Lindseys, Wilkinsons, Huffmans, Dorseys, Lucas, Park- ers, Meeks, Gwaltneys, and Castleberrys. The above, then, is a partial list of men, Lincoln's neigh- bors, who helped to make him what he was. In this list are public officials, ministers, lawyers, judges, doctors, teachers, and business men. Included are county, state and national office-holders, college and university graduates, and linguists of national fame. But the list is not complete. Lincoln had other neighbors besides those of Spencer County. We doubt not that he came into contact with many educated men in all of the sur- rounding counties. We add the names of a few of his neigh- bors of Gibson County: In 1800 David Robb moved to what is now Gibson County and settled on lands south of Hazelton; he reared a large APPENDIX 233 family, entered politics, was elected to the legislature, and helped to frame the Constitution of the State of Indiana. In 1803 came the Hargroves, the Stewarts, the Milburns, and the Heinmans. These good people took a very active part in all social and political questions and were all highly respected and honored citizens. In 1804 the Archer family moved to Gibson County, fol- lowed the next year by the Johnsons, the Neeleys, the Evans, the Montgomerys, and the McClures. All of these people were highly respected as are their descendants today. In 1808 came the Wilkinsons, the Stricklands, and the Smiths against whom naught has been said. Better people never lived. In 1811 Joshua Embree moved to Gibson County from Kentucky. Two years later he died. His son, Elisha, be- came a very prominent man. He located in Princeton, prac- ticed law there, was elected to the state legislature, was cir- cuit judge for two years, and was elected to Congress, at the same time that Abraham Lincoln was a member of that body from the State of Illinois. William Prince, for whom the city of Princeton was named, was a highly respected and honored citizen. At the time of his death in 1824 he represented his district in Con- gress. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Samuel Hall, who was a circuit judge, and at one time Lieutenant-governor of Indiana. No state can boast of better people than the Princes and the Halls. Then there were the Brownlees, the Jeraulds, the Cock- rums, and the Bensons, all moving to Gibson County about the time the Lincolns moved to Spencer County. These peo- ple were all of the highest type, cultured and refined. 29 Men and Women of the Owenite Settlement Robert Dale Owen was a great social reformer. He was born in Scotland in 1801 and came to America with his father. In 1827 he established at New York in conjunction with Fanny Wright, The Free Inquirer, a Socialist publica- tion. In 1832 he returned to Indiana and three years later was elected on the Democratic ticket as a member of the state legislature. He was elected to Congress in 1843 and 234 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER again in 1845. He took a leading part in the founding of the Smithsonian Institute, 1845, and helped to remodel the Indiana Constitution, 1850. He was a strong abolitionist and a firm believer in spiritualism, having written in his later days several interesting books on this subject. Thomas Say, a great naturalist, was born in Philadelphia in 1787. He became, in 1812, one of the founders of the Academy of Natural Sciences and was its first curator. In 1818 he was a member of a scientific expedition to the coasts of Georgia and Florida and the next year was zoologist to Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Say col- lected many kinds of insects and mollusks and his descrip- tion of them is the beginning of entomology and conchology in America. In 1825 he joined Robert Owen in his colony at New Harmony where he died in 1834. During the years Abraham Lincoln was craving an education, this great na- turalist was working in his neighborhood. Gerard Troost, a great American geologist, was born in Holland in 1776. He was educated in the University of Ley- den. He came to the United States in 1810 and settled in Philadelphia. There he became a member of the Academy of Natural History and was elected its first president, which office he held until 1817. He became with Thomas Say, in 1825, a member of the Owenite settlement at New Harmony. The mineral collections of Troost were the largest in the United States. William Maclure, "father of American geology," was born in Scotland, 1763. He acquired a fortune in business in London. He came to the United States in 1796, and in 1803 served as one of the commissioners to settle the French spol- iation claims of American citizens. On his return to Amer- ica he began a geological survey of the entire country during which he visited nearly every part of the country and crossed the Allegheny mountains fifty times. He became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences soon after it was or- ganized in 1812 and was its president from 1817 until his death in 1840. He gave his library of five thousand volumes to the society and enriched its museum with his specimens, making it unequalled in the United States. He joined the Owenite movement along with Say and Troost and for three APPENDIX 235 years put his talent and his money into that scheme to make possible a new social order. He was especially inter- ested in the education of the lower classes, mentally, morally, and physically. Charles Alexander Lesueur was born in France in 1778. In 1800 he accompanied a government expedition sent out by the Institute of France to make scientific observations in the southern parts of the eastern hemisphere. The expedi- tion visited Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape of Good Hope. After four years' time the expedition re- turned with a collection of more than 100,000 zoological speci- mens, including more than 2,500 new species. In 1815 Le- sueur accompanied William Maclure to the United States by way of the West Indies where these scientists carried on their researches. In 1816 Maclure and Lesueur settled in Philadelphia where the latter taught drawing and painting. There Lesueur became a member of the American Philosophi- cal Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1826 he came with Maclure on "The Philanthropist" to New Har- mony, where he continued his research work. He remained in New Harmony until 1837. Lesueur takes high rank as a zoologist. Fanny Wright was born in Scotland in 1795. She traveled in the United States, 1818-1820, returning to England where she wrote articles of her views on American life. She re- turned to this country in 1825. She purchased two thou- sand four hundred acres of land in Tennessee where she es- tablished a colony of emancipated slaves, hoping to be able to elevate their social condition. Her plan conflicted with the laws of Tennessee and the emancipated negroes were sent to Haiti. She became associated with Eobert Owen and edited the New Harmony Gazette. Fanny Wright fearlessly attacked slavery and other social institutions, raising her voice against the wrongs and injustice of the old social order. It would, indeed, be strange if young Abraham Lincoln did not know of the teachings of Fanny Wright when she was so close to him and when the Gazette was circulated far and wide, advertising to the people of Indiana the purpose of the Owenite Settlement. This remarkable woman fought for women's rights by speech and through the press, and in a 236 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER short time after Lincoln moved to Illinois we find him ad- vocating woman suffrage. It would not require a great stretch of the imagination to believe that Lincoln got his ideals, in some measure, from Fanny Wright. Besides the above eminent people there were in the Owen- ite Settlement, William Phiquepal d'Arusmont and Mme. Marie Duclos Fretageot, Pestalozzian teachers; Dr. Samuel Chase, chemist; Oliver Evans, Jr., who made the first cast plows in the state of Indiana; John Beal, cabinet maker; Cornelius Tiebout, printer and engraver, and his daughter, Caroline, who helped Mrs. Say paint the plates for Say's Conchology; John Speakman, scientist; Miss Lucy Way Sis- taire (Mrs. Thomas Say), artist; and Belthazar Obernasser, Swiss artist. REFERENCES Chapter I 1. Durrett, Muster Roll, Chronological Files, 1795. 2. Warren, Louis A., Haycaft & Berry Account Book. 3. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 43. 4. Ibid. 5. Tax Book, 1799, Washington County Section, Kentucky Historical Society. 6. Tax Book, 1800, Washington County Court. 7. Tax Book, 1801, Washington County Court. 8. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 46. 9. Tax Book, 1803, Hardin County Section, Kentucky His- torical Society. 10. Order Book, Quarter Session, October 19, 1803, Hardin Circuit Court. 11. Public Claims, Bundle 1803, Hardin County Court. 12. Order Book, Quarter Session, April 19, 1804, Hardin Circuit Court. 13. Road Petitions, Bundle Before 1805, Hardin County Court. 14. Order Book B, 17, Hardin County Court. 15. Tax List, 1807, Hardin County Section, Kentucky His- torical Society. 16. Haycraft, History of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, p. 74. 17. Judgments and Other Papers, Bundle 1811-1812, Hardin County Court. 18. Judgments and Other Papers, Bundle 1808-1809, Hardin County Court. 19. Ibid. 20. Order Book C, 119 and 194, Hardin Circuit Court. 21. Tax Book, 1808, Hardin County Section, Kentucky His- torical Society. 22. Equity Bundle, 24, Hardin Circuit Court. 23. Order Book C, 144, Hardin County Court. 24. Marriage Bonds, 1816, Hardin County Court. 25. Order Book C, 311, Hardin County Court. 237 238 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 26. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 56. 27. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, pp. 142 f. 28. Marriage Certificates and Permits, 1801, Washington County Court. 29. Warren, Louis A., Haycraft Promissory Notes, 1803. 30. Road Petitions, Bundle Before 1805, Hardin County Court. 31. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 50. 32. Ibid., p. 11. 33. Wilson, Woodrow, Division and Reunion, p. 216. 34. Lamon, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 8. 35. Ibid., p. 9. 36. Ibid., p. 10. 37. Ibid., p. 11. 38. Carver, Thomas Nixon, Principles of Political Economy, pp. 182 f. 39. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, p. 45. Chapter II 1. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 42. 2. Marriage Register A, Mercer County Court. 3. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 36 f. 4. Ibid., p. 36. 5. Barton, William E., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 63 f. 6. Herndon, William H., Life of Lincoln, I, 13 f. 7. Atkinson, Eleanor, "Lincoln's Boyhood," American Magazine, February, 1908, p. 361. 8. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 13. 9. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln, Man of God, p. 322. 10. Irelan, John Robert, The Republic, pp. 26 f; Lamon, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln from his Birth to his Inauguration as President, p. 32; Leland, Charles Godfrey, Abraham Lincoln and the Abolition of Slavery REFERENCES 239 in the United States, p. 20; Jones, Major Evan Rowland, Lincoln, Stanton, and Grant, p. 4; Hapgood, Norman, Abraham Lincoln, the Man of the People, p. 8; Lewis, E. I., in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 12, 1899. 11. Danville, Illinois, News, February 12, 1904. 12. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, p. 27. 13. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln, Man of God, p. 14. 14. Bruno, Frank J., in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 6, 1926. Chapter III 1. Lamon, Ward H., Life of Lincoln, p. 16. 2. Cathey, James H., The Genesis of Lincoln, pp. 81 f. 3. Boyd, Lucinda Joan, The Sorrows of Nancy, pp. 6 f. Chapter IV 1. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 102. 2. Barton, William E., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 100. 3. The Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, Francis D. Tandy Company, p. 7. 4. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 14 f. 5. Ibid., pp. 11 f. 6. Barrett, Joseph H., Abaham Lincoln and His Presidency, I, 16 ff. 7. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 21. 8. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, p. 20. 9. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, pp. 17 f. 10. Lamon, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 31 f. 11. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 22 f. Chapter V 1. Iglehart, John E., "Inaugural Address," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, October, 1922, p. 93. 2. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, pp. 41 f. o. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, pp. 13 f. 240 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 4. Lamon, Ward H., Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865, pp. 13 f. 5. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, p. 31. Chapter VI 1. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 25. 2. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 17. 3. Tarbell, Ida M., Boy Scouts' Life of Lincoln, p. 38. 4. The Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, Francis D. Tandy Company, pp. 33 f. 5. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, pp. 22 f. 6. Tarbell, Ida M., The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 78. Chapter VII 1. Armstrong, Ida D., "The Lincolns in Spencer County," Proceedings of the Southwestern Historical Society, Bul- letin No. 18, p. 56. 2. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 45. 3. Tarbell, Ida M., Boy Scouts' Life of Lincoln, pp. 38 f. 4. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, p. 180. 5. Nicolay, John, A Short History of Abraham Lincoln, p. 13. 6. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 33. 7. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 44. 8. Ibid., p. 69. 9. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 8. 10. Atkinson, Eleanor, "Lincoln's Boyhood," American Magazine, February, 1908, p. 365. 11. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, pp. 134 f. 12. Ibid., p. 264. 13. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, pp. 20 f. 14. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, p. 29. REFERENCES 241 15. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 4, December, 1917, p. 344. 16. Ibid., p. 341. 17. Dodge, Daniel Kilham, Abraham Lincoln — Master of Words, p. 174. 18. Lambn, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 67. 19. Gulliver, John Putnam in The Independent, September 1, 1864. 20. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, pp. 150 f. 21. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, pp. 298 f. Chapter VIII 1. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 22. 2. Ibid., p. 23. 3. Barton, William E., Abraham Lincoln and His Books, p. 8. 4. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 23. 5. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 23 ff. 6. Ibid., p. 25. 7. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 98. 8. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 33. 9. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 4, December, 1917, p. 325. 10. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XXII, No. 2, June, 1926, p. 220. 11. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, p. 141. 12. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 107. 13. Ibid., p. 129. 14. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 145. 15. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 25 f. 16. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, pp. 265 f. 17. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, pp. 15 f. 242 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 18. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, pp. 46 f. 19. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 139. 20. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 16. 21. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, p. 45. 22. Iglehart, John E., "Methodism in Southern Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 2, June, 1921, p. 145. Chapter IX 1. Ehrmann, Bess V., "The Lincoln Inquiry," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XXI, No. 1, March, 1925, pp. 3 f. 2. Esary, Logan, "The Pioneer Aristocracy," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 3, September, 1917, pp. 276 f. 3. Iglehart, John E., "Methodism in Southern Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 2, June, 1921, footnote p. 147. 4. Hanby, Mrs. Alice L. Harper, "The Lincoln Inquiry — John Pitcher," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, 1922, pp. 54 ff. 5. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 130. 6. Cox, John E., "Judge John Pitcher," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 18, 1923, pp. 93 f. 7. Raleigh, Eldora Minor, "John A. Breckenridge," Pro- ceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, pp. 62 f. 8. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, pp. 160 f. 9. Barker, William L., "Ratliff Boone," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, p. 73. 10. Ibid., p. 77. 11. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 17. 12. Thwaites, R. G., Early Western Travels, X, 19 ff. 13. Ibid., XI, 234. REFERENCES 243 14. Iglehart, John E., "The Life and Times of John Shra- der," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 1, March, 1921, pp. 36 f. 15. Ibid., pp. 39 f. 16. Thwaites, R. G., Early Western Travels, XI, 240. 17. Scott, The Indiana Gazateer, p. 103. 18. Iglehart, John E., "The Coming of the English to In- diana in 1817 and their Hoosier Neighbors," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XV, No. 2, June, 1919, p. 96. 19. Ibid., p. 98. 20 Ibid., p. 103. 21. Ibid., p. 107. 22. Ibid., pp. 109 f. 23. Ibid., pp. 128 f. 24. Edinburgh Review, XXX, 136. 25. Lindley, Harlow, Indiana Seen by Early Travelers, pp. 473 ff. 26. Iglehart, John E., "The Environment of Abraham Lin- coln in Indiana," Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1925, p. 168. 27. Elliott, History of Vanderburgh County, p. 93; p. 96. 28. Fortune, Warrick County Prominent People, p. 36. 29. Evansville Gazette, June 18, 1825. 30. Iglehart, John E., "The Environment of Abraham Lin- coln in Indiana," Indiana Historical Society Publica- tions, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1925, p. 153. 31. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 29 ff. Chapter X 1. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 67 f. 2. Ibid., p. 68. 3. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, p. 49. 4. Lamon, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 62. 5. Ibid., p. 63. 6. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 48. 7. Iglehart, John E., "Corespondence between Lincoln His- torians and this Society," Indiana Historical Commis- sion, Bulletin No. 18, October, 1923, pp. 83 ff. 8. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 26 f. 244 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 9. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 56. 10. Lamon, Ward H., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 60 f. Chapter XI 1. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. XVIII. 2. Ibid., p. 12. 3. Jackson, S. Trevena, Lincoln's Use of the Bible, pp. 7 f. 4. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 19. 5. Jackson, S. Trevena, Lincoln's Use of the Bible, p. 35. 6. Wod, Leonard, in John Wesley Hill's Abraham Lincoln —Man of God, p. VIII. 7. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 238 f. 8. Ibid., p. 50. 9. Armstrong, Ida D., "The Lincolns in Spencer County, Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical So- ciety, Bulletin No. 18, October, 1923, p. 62. 10. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 144. Chapter XII 1. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 18 f. 2. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, p. 39. 3. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, pp. 50 f. 4. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 232. 5. Ibid., p. 324. 6. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 22. 7. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1916, p. 20. Chapter XIII 1. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 56. 2. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 9. 3. Nicolay, John, A Short History of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 14 f. REFERENCES 245 4. Tarbell, Ida M., The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 40. 5. Nicolay, John, A Short History of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 15 f. 6. Lamon, Ward Hill, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 511. 7. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, pp. 26 f. 8. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, pp. 154 f. 9. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 71 f. 10. Ibid., pp. 34 f. 11. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 27. 12. Nicolay, John, A Short History of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 17 f. 13. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, pp. 22 f. 14. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 32. 15. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Abra- ham Lincoln, p. 9. 16. Ibid., pp. 83 f. 17. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 38 f. 18. Ibid., p. 24. Chapter XIV 1. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 25. 2. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 38. 3. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, p. 182. 4. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, pp. 35 f. 5. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 25. 6. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, p. 46. 7. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 53 f. 8. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 59. 9. Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, A History, I, 36. 246 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 10. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 4, December, 1917, p. 314. 11. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 43. 12. Ibid., p. 45. 13. Ibid., p. 48. 14. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 128. 15. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 52. 16. Carpenter, Frank B., Six Months at the White House, p. 146. 17. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 192. 18. Ibid., p. 262. 19. Onstott, T. G., Lincoln and Salem, p. 73. 20. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Lin- coln, p. 83. 21. Hobson, J. T., Footprints of Abraham Lincoln, p. 54. 22. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 194. 23. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Lincoln, p. 130. 24. Ibid., p. 85. 25. Hobson, J. T., Footprints of Abraham Lincoln, p. 51. 26. Coffin, Charles Carleton, Abraham Lincoln, p. 35. 27. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, I, 45 f. 28. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, p. 245. 29. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 57. 30. Armstrong, Ida D., "The Lincolns in Spencer County," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical So- ciety, Bulletin No. 18, October, 1923, p. 59. 31. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana, Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, p. 30. 32. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 59. 33. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 4, December, 1917, pp. 336 f. 34. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, p. 198. 35. Coffin, Charles Carleton, Abraham Lincoln, p. 26. 36. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 44. REFERENCES 247 37. Atkinson, Eleanor, "Lincoln's Boyhood," American Magazine, February, 1908, p. 369. Chapter XV 1. Iglehart, John E., "Correspondence between Lincoln His- torians and this Society," Proceedings of the Southwest- ern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 18, pp. 80 f. 2. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918, pp. 29 f. 3. Embree, Lucius C, "Morris Birbeck's Estimate of the People of Princeton in 1817," Indiana Magazine of His- tory, Vol. XXI, No. 4, December, 1925, p. 290. 4. Iglehart, John E., "Methodism in Southern Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 2, June, 1921, footnote, pp. 145 f. 5. Kiper, Roscoe, "Lincoln's Environment in Indiana," In- diana Magazine of History, Extra Number, December, 1925, p. 95. 6. Morgan, James, Abraham Lincoln — The Boy and the Man, pp. 17 ff. 7. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 60. 8. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 46 f. 9. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, p. 116. 10. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 234 f. 11. Lamon, Ward H., Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865, p. 180. 12. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, pp. 296 ff. 13. Chittenden, L. E., Recollections, pp. 448 ff. 14. Lamon, Ward H., Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865, pp. 243 f. 15. Warren, Louis A., "The Mystery of Lincoln's Melan- choly," Indiana History Bulletin, Extra Number, Decem- ber, 1925, pp. 53 ff. 16. Turner, F. G., "Contributions of the West to American Democracy," Atlantic Monthly, XCI, 89. 248 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 17. Turner, F. G., "Significance of the Frontier in Amer- ican History/' American History Association, 1893, p. 223, note. 18. Iglehart, John E., "Methodism in Southern Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 2, June, 1921, p. 149. Chapter XVI 1. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 48. 2. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIV, No. 2, June, 1918, pp. 165 f. 3. Report of the Lincoln Highway Commission to Gover- nor Ralston, December, 1916. 4. Weik, Jesse, The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, pp. 48 f. 5. Nicolay, John, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 20. 6. Barton, William E., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 139. 7. Hobson, J. T., Footprints of Abraham Lincoln, p. 33. Appendix 1. Barton, William E., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, I, 17 f. 2. Iglehart, John E., "The Coming of the English to In- diana in 1817 and their Hoosier Neighbors," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XV, No. 2, June, 1919. 3. Wilson, George R., "General Washington Johnston," In- diana Magazine of History, Vol. XX, No. 2, June, 1924, p. 132. 4. Wright, Laura Mercy, "Daniel Grass," Indiana History Bulletin, Extra Number, 1925, pp. 7 ff. 5. Brant and Goodspeed, History of Warrick, Spencer, and Perry Counties, p. 455. 6. Ibid., p. 452. 7. Ehrmann, Mrs. Bess, "Lincoln's Neighbors," a paper read before the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society at Princeton, Indiana, November 17, 1925. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. REFERENCES 249 13. Brant and Goodspeed, History of Warrick, Spencer, and Perry Counties, p. 441. 14. Ibid., p. 457. 15. Ibid., p. 457. 16. Ibid., p. 475. 17. Ibid., pp. 521 f. 18. Ibid., pp. 482 f. 19. Ibid., p. 486. 20. Ibid., p. 489. 21. Ibid., pp. 493 f. 22. Ibid., p. 495. 23. Ibid., p. 532. 24. Ibid., p. 557. 25. Ibid., p. 562. 26. Ibid., p. 573. 27. Iglehart, John E., "The De Bruler Family as Typical Pioneers," Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1925, pp. 176 ff. 28. Iglehart, John E., "The Life and Times of John Shra- der," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 1, March, 1921, p. 41. 29. Embree, Lucius C, "Morris Birbeck's Estimate of the People of Princeton in 1817," Indiana Magazine of His- tory, Vol. XXI, No. 4, December, 1925, pp. 296 ff. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Armstrong, Ida D., "The Lincolns in Spencer County," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical So- ciety, Bulletin No. 18, October, 1923. 2. Arnold, Isaac N., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, A. C. McClure and Co., Chicago, 1896. 3. Atkinson, Eleanor, "Lincoln's Alma Mater," Harper's, May, 1913. 4. Atkinson, Eleanor, The Boyhood of Lincoln, The Mc- Clure Company, New York, 1908. 5. Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, Francis D. Tandy Co., New York, 1905. 6. Barker, William L., "Ratliff Boone," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, 1922. 7. Barrett, Joseph H., Abraham Lincoln and His Presi- dency, The Robert Clarke Company, Cincinnati, 1904. 8. Barrett, Joseph H., Life of Abraham Lincoln, Moore, Wilstach and Baldwin, Cincinnati, 1865. 9. Barton, William E., Abraham Lincoln and His Books, Marshall Field and Company, Chicago, 1920. 10. Barton, William E., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1925. 11. Barton, William E., The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln, George H. Doran Co., New York, 1920. 12. Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, George H. Doran Company, New York, 1920. 13. Boyd, Lucinda Joan, The Sorrows of Nancy. 14. Brant and Goodspeed, History of Warrick, Spencer, and Perry Counties, Goodspeed Brothers, Boston. 15. Brown, Charles Reynolds, Lincoln, The Greatest Man of the Nineteenth Century, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1923. 16. Browne, Francis Fisher, The Every-Day Life of Lincoln. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1914. 17. Bruno, Dr. Frank J., in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Feb- ruary 6, 1926. 18. Butterworth, Hezekiah, In the Boyhood of Lincoln, D. Appleton and Co., 1892. 250 BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 19. Carpenter, Frank B., Six Months at the White House, Hurd and Houghton, New York, 1867. 20. Carver, Thomas Nixon, Principles of Political Economy, Ginn and Co., Boston, 1919. 21. Cathey, James H., The Genesis of Lincoln, H. T. Rogers, Asheville, North Carolina, 1899. 22. Chittenden, L. E., Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration, Harper and Bros., New York, 1891. 23. Coffin, Charles Carleton, Abraham Lincoln, Harper and Bros., New York, 1899. 24. Coggins, J. C, Abraham Lincoln a North Carolinian, Advocate Publishing Co., Asheville, North Carolina, 1925. 25. Cox, John E., "Judge John Pitcher," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 18, 1923. 26. Dodge, Daniel Kilham, Abraham Lincoln — Master of Words, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1924. 27. Edinburgh Review, Vol. XXX. 28. Ehrmann, Bess V., "Lincoln's Neighbors," a paper read before the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society at Princeton, Indiana, November 17, 1925. 29. Ehrmann, Bess V., "The Lincoln Inquiry," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XXI, No. 1, March, 1925. 30. Elliott, History of Vanderburgh County. 31. Embree, Lucius C, "Morris Birbeck's Estimate of the People of Princeton in 1817," Indiana Magazine of His- tory, Vol. XXI, No. 4, December, 1925. 32. Esary, Logan, "The Pioneer Aristocracy," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 3, September, 1917. 33. Evansville, Indiana, Gazette, June 18, 1825. 34. Fortune, Warrick County Prominent People. 35. Gore, J. Rogers, The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln, The Bobbs, Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1921. 36. Grierson, Francis, Abraham Lincoln — The Practical Mystic, John Land Co., New York, 1918. 37. Gulliver, John Putnam in The Independent, September 1, 1864. 252 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 38. Hanby, Mrs. Alice L. Harper, "The Lincoln Inquiry — John Pitcher," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, 1922. 39. Hapgood, Norman, Abraham Lincoln, The Man of the People, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1899. 40. Herndon and Weik, Hemdon's Lincoln, The True Story of a Great Life, D. Appleton and Co., 1896. 41. Hill, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln — Man of God, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1920. 42. Hitchcock, Caroline Hanks, Nancy Hanks, The Story of Abraham Lincoln's Mother, Doubleday and McClure Co., New York, 1899. 43. Hobson, J. T., Footprints of Abraham Lincoln, The Ot- terbein Press, Dayton, Ohio, 1909. 44. Hughes, Mrs. S. C, "Terre Haute Register Mailing List," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XXII, No. 2, June, 1926. 45. Iglehart, John E., "Correspondence between Lincoln Historians and This Society," Indiana Historical Com- mission, Bulletin No. 18, October, 1923. 46. Iglehart, John E., "Inaugural Address," Proceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, October, 1922. 47. Iglehart, John E., "Methodism in Southern Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 2, June, 1921. 48. Iglehart, John E., "The Coming of the English to In- diana in 1817 and Their Hoosier Neighbors," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XV, No. 2, June, 1919. 49. Iglehart, John E., "The De Bruler Family as Typical Pioneers," Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1925. 50. Iglehart, John E., "The Environment of Abraham Lin- coln in Indiana," Indiana Historical Society Publica- tions, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1925. 51. Iglehart, John E., "The Life and Times of John Shra- der," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XVII, No. 1, March, 1921. 52. Irelan, John Robert, The Republic, Fairbanks and Pal- mer Publishing Co., Chicago, 1888. BIBLIOGRAPHY 253 53. Jackson, S. Trevena, Lincoln's Use of the Bible, Eaton and Mains, New York, 1909. 54. Jones, Major Evan Rowland, Lincoln, Stanton, and Grant, Frederick Warne and Co., London, 1875. 55. Kiper, Roscoe, "Lincoln's Environment in Indiana," In- diana History Bulletin, Extra Number, December, 1925. 56. Lamon, Ward Hill, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 18U7-1865, A. C. McClurg and Co., Chicago, 1895. 57. Lamon, Ward Hill, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, James R. Osgood and Co., Boston, 1872. 58. Leland, Charles Godfrey, Abraham Lincoln and the Abolition of Slavery in the United States, Merrill and Baker, New York, 1879. 59. Lewis, E. T., in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 12, 1899. 60. Lindley, Harlow, Indiana as Seen by Early Travelers, Indiana Historical Commission, Indianapolis, 1916. 61. Mabie, Hamilton W., "Lincoln's Self-Education," The Chautauquan, Apil, 1900. 62. Mabie, Hamilton W., "The Education of Lincoln," The Outlook, February 20, 1904. 63. Morgan, James, Abraham Lincoln, The Boy and the Man, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1908. 64. Murr, J. Edward, "Lincoln in Indiana," Indiana Maga- zine of History, Vol. XIII, No. 4, December, 1917; Vol. XIV, No. 1, March, 1918; No. 2, June, 1918. 65. Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, A History, The Cen- tury Company, New York, 1890. 66. Nicolay, John G., A Short History of Abraham Lincoln, The Century Co., New York, 1902. 67. Onstott, T. G., Lincoln and Salem, T. G. Onstott, For- est City, Illinois, 1902. 68. Pickering, Governor William, in Danville, Illinois, News, February 12, 1904. 69. Raleigh, Eldora Minor, "John A. Brackenridge," Pro- ceedings of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, Bulletin No. 16, 1922. 70. Report of the Lincoln Highway Commission to Gover- nor Ralston, 1916. 71. Rothschild, Alonzo, Honest Abe, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1917. 254 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER 72. Scott, The Indiana Gazateer. 73. Stoddard, W. O., The Boy Lincoln, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1905. 74. Tarbell, Ida M., Boy Scouts' Life of Lincoln, The Mac- Millan Co., New York, 1921. 75. Tarbell, Ida M., In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, Har- per and Brothers, New York, 1924. 76. Tarbell, Ida M., The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln, S. S. McClure, New York, 1896. 77. Tarbell, Ida M., The Life of Abraham Lincoln, The Mac- Millan Co., New York, 1917. 78. Thayer, William M., The Pioner Boy, Walker and Wise, Boston, 1863. 79. Thwaites, R. G., Early Western Travels, A. H. Clark, 1904. 80. Turner, F. G., "Contributions of the West to American Democracy," Atlantic Monthly, XCI. 81. Turner, F. G., "Significance of the Frontier in Ameri- can History," American History Association, 1893. 82. Walker, Joseph Wheeler, "Hoosier Pioneers," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XX, No. 2, March, 1924. 83. Warren, Louis A., Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, The Century Company, New York, 1926. 84. Warren, Louis A., "The Mystery of Lincoln's Melan- choly," Indiana History Bulletin, Extra Number, De- cember, 1925. 85. Webster, Noah, The Elementary Spelling Book, D. Ap- pleton and Co., New York, 1866. 86. Weems, M. L., The Life of George Washington, J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1859. 87. Weik, Jesse W., The Real Lincoln, A Portrait, Hough- ton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1922. 88. Wilson, George R., "General Washington Johnston," In- diana Magazine of History, Vol. XX, No. 2, June, 1924. 89. Wilson, Woodrow, Division and Reunion, Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1909. 90. Wood, Leonard, in John Wesley Hill's Abraham Lin- coln — Man of God, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1920. 91. Wright, Laura Mercy, "Daniel Grass," Indiana History Bulletin, Extra Number, 1925. INDEX Aesop's Fables, influence on Lincoln, 90 f. Anthony, James, 116. Armstrong, Bertha Cox, 115. Armstrong, Ida D., 136, 181 f . Atkinson, Eleanor, 13, 48. Baker, Charles T., on Lin- coln's schooling in Indiana, 59. Battell, Charles I., 231. Barnett, John McK., 229. Barton, William E., on the illegitimacy of Nancy Hanks, 19; on the descrip- tion of Nancy Hanks, 21; on Lincoln's environment in Indiana, 55; on the books Lincoln read, 87; on Lincoln's appearance, 167 f ; on the statements of Christopher Columbus Gra- ham, 216 ff. Bible, influence on Lincoln, 85 ff. "Blue Back Speller," influ- ence on Lincoln, 90, 219 f. Blue Grass Settlement, 115. Books, read by Lincoln, 82 ff; their influence on him, 87 ff. Boone, Ratliff, influence on Lincoln, 106 ff. Breckenridge, John, pleads murder case attended by Lincoln, 105 f. Breckenridge, John A., influ- ence on Lincoln, 105. Britton, Alexander, 228. Britton, Thomas P., 228. British Settlement, 109 ff. Brooner, Allen, 205, 230. Brown, Charles Reynolds, 210. Cartwright, Peter, 133. Cassidy, Luke, 226 f. Cawson, James, brought li- brary from England to British Settlement, 115. Chittenden, L. E., on the in- fluence of the Bible on Lin- coln, 133 f. "Chronicles of Reuben," 126, 178 f. Coffin, Charles C, on Lin- coln's schooling in Ken- tucky, 58. Coggins, J. C, 32. Coles, Edward, 140 f. Cox, Rev. John E., on Judge Pitcher on Lincoln, 104 f. Cissna, Dr. Stephen P., 229. Clark, Amos, 231. Crawford, Andrew, Lincoln's school teacher, 64. Crawford, Josiah, 66 ; on Lin- coln's education, 70, 94. Crawford, Mrs. Josiah, on Lincoln's courtesy, 64; on Lincoln's politics, 106 f. Davis, David, on the books Lincoln read, 87. De Bruler, Lemuel Quincy, 232. Eggleston, Edward, 49 f. Ehrmann, Mrs. Bess, on Lin- coln's neighbors in Indiana, 100 f. Embree, Elisha, 233. Evans, James, 225. Evans, Robert M., 225. Gentry, James, 209. Gentry, James, Sr., 228. Gentry, Joseph, 79,178. Gentry, Kate, 166. 255 256 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER Graham, Christopher Colum- bus, affidavit of, 213 f; statement of, 214 ff. Graham, John W., 227 f. Grant, Luke, 116. Grass, Daniel, 227. "Gray Goose Case," 79 ff. Greathouse, John, 228. Grigsby, Nathaniel, on Lin- coln's education, 69, 74. Grigsby, Redmond, 207. Grigsby, William, 162 f. Gulliver, John Putnam, 77. Hackelman, Absolom, 229. Hale, Levi, 230. Hall, Baynard Rush, 49 f. Hall, Judge James, on the culture of Indiana pion- eers, 115. Hall, Wesley, 85 f, 174 f. Hammond, Samuel, 229. Hanby, Mrs. Alice L. Harper, on the influence of Judge Pitcher on Lincoln, 102 ff. Hanks, Dennis, on the legiti- macy of Nancy Hanks, 19; on the description of Nan- cy Hanks, 22; on Sally Bush Lincoln, 48; on Lin- coln's education, 69, 72; on the way Lincoln learned, 75 f ; on the books Lincoln read, 84; on Aesop's Fa- bles, 90 f; on Lincoln's knowledge of the Owenite Settlement, 120 f; on Lin- coln's river trips, 143; on Lincoln's sports and recre- ation, 158 f; on Lincoln's personal appearance, 166 f ; estimate of Lincoln, 186. Hanks, John, 19, 21, on Lin- coln's education, 68 f, 205. Hanks, Joseph, 16, 17, 20, 211 f. Hanks, Nancy, 2, 13, mar- riage of, 16. Harrison, Elisha, 231. Hart, David, 231. Haycraft, Samuel, 45; on Lincoln's schooling in Ken- tucky, 58. Hazel, Caleb, Lincoln's school teacher in Kentucky, 56. Herndon, William H., on the illegitimacy of Lincoln's mother, 18; did not know the real environment of Lincoln in Indiana, 51 ff; influence of Indiana train- ing, 192 f. Hitchcock, Mrs. Caroline Hanks, 15. Hobson, Rev. J. T., 209. Hornbrook, Saunders, 110. Huff, Aquila, 231. Iglehart, John E., on the classes of society in South- ern Indiana, 49; on Hall's New Purchase, 50; on the Revised Statutes of In- diana, 95 f; on the influ- ence of Judge Pitcher on Lincoln, 101 f; on the British Settlement, 109 ff; on Birbeck's account of the common people of Southern Indiana, 114 f; influence of Indiana environment on Lincoln, 187 ff; the Lin- coln type is a Hoosier type, 200 f. Iglehart, John, 110 f. Iglehart, Levi, Sr., 232. Johnston, John D., Lincoln's stepbrother, 152 f. Johnston, Sarah Bush, 13; description of, 46 ff. Johnston, Washington, 226. Jones's store in Gentryville, 153. Kentucky Preceptor, influ- ence on Lincoln, 94. Kidd, T. W. S., on Lincoln's romance, 129. INDEX 257 Lamar, John, on Lincoln's education, 67; on Lincoln's wit and humor, 179. Lambert, William H., Lin- colniana, 61. Lamon, Ward H., 18; on Sa- rah Bush Johnston, 47; on Lincoln's early environ- ment, 53 f. Lane, Joseph, 231. Langdon, Thomas, 229. Lincoln, Abraham, grandfa- ther of the President, 1. Lincoln, Abraham, birth of, 2; estimate of his mother, 22 f ; stories of his illegiti- mate birth, 26 ff; his life in Kentucky, 41; schooling in Kentucky, 56 ff; schooling in Indiana, 58 ff; education of 65 ff; his opportunities for an education, 76 f ; in- terested in law, 78 f; his first public address, the "Gray Goose Case," 79 f; books he read, 82 ff; news- papers he read, 86 ; a Jackson Democrat, 107 ; writings of, 123 ff ; attitude toward music, 131; relig- ious beliefs, 133 ff; favo- rite Bible quotation, 135; views on the slavery ques- tion, 140 ff ; as a story tel- ler, 160 f; his boyhood fights, 162 ff; dress, 165 f ; personal appearance, 166 f ; his kindness, 168 ff; his honesty, 171 ff; never drank liquor or used to- bacco, 174 ff; his wit and humor, 178 ff; courtship in Indiana, 180 ff; had no confidants, 182 f; believed in dreams and tokens, 183 ff; influence of Indiana en- vironment, 187 ff; adoles- cent years, 190 ff; reverts to his boyhod days, 197 f ; his mysticism, 198 f; em- bodiment of the pioneer spirit of the Old North- west, 200 ff; Lincoln the man is Lincoln the boy, 203 ; his neighbors in Southern Indiana, 225 ff. Lincoln, Edward, 1. Lincoln, John, 1. Lincoln, Josiah, 2. Lincoln, Mordecai, 1, 2, 4. Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, influ- ence on Abraham, 23 f; death of, 24. Lincoln, Sally Bush, a Chris- tian woman, 22; influence upon Lincoln, 23; on Lin- coln's education, 67; opin- ion of Lincoln, 185 f. Lincoln, Samuel, 1. Lincoln, Thomas, birth of, 2; description of, 3 ; his youth, 3; occupations of, 4 ff; as a farmer, 6; as a citizen, 7; as a church member, 7 f ; education of, 8; ancestry of, 8 f; mis- taken opinions of biogra- phers on, 9 ff; moves to Indiana, 43; marriage of to Sarah Bush Johnston, 45 f. Lesueur, Charles Alexander, 235. McBride, Robert W., Lincoln an Indiana product, 191 f. Maidlow, Edward, 110. Marriage bond of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, 213. Marriage return of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, 212. Merwin, James B., 178. Morgan, James, 227. Murr, Rev. J. Edward, on the books Lincoln read, 85 f; on the culture of South- ern Indiana, 108 f ; on Lin- 258 LINCOLN THE HOOSIER coin's insight into the insti- tution of slavery, 142; proves that Lincoln was not lazy, 156; on Lincoln's fight with William Grigs- by, 163; influence of In- diana environment upon Lincoln, 188 f. Naney, John, 229. Newspapers, read by Lincoln, Onstott, T. G., 176 f. Owen, Robert, 117 f, 194. Owen, Robert Dale, 233 f. Owenite, Settlement, 117 ff, 233 ff. Parrett, Robert, 111. Pate, Squire, acquits Lincoln in his first law case, 78 f. Pitcher, Judge John, on Lin- coln's education, 104; influ- ence on Lincoln, 102 ff; views on the Federal Con- stitution, 141. Pratt, Silas G., 172 f. Prince, William, 233. Proctor, John, 229. Raleigh, Mrs. Eldora Minor, on the influence of Judge Breckenridge on Lincoln, 105. Reid, Rev. Isaac, on the cul- ture of Indiana pioneers, 115. Revised Statutes of Indiana, influence on Lincoln, 95 ff. Richardson, William, on Lin- coln's strength, 146 f. Riney, Zachariah, Lincoln's school teacher in Kentucky, 56. Robb, David, 232 f. Robey, Anna, on Lincoln's ed- ucation, 70 f. Saundersville, 110. Say, Thomas, 234. Scott, Samuel, 117, 232. Sister Melania (Buckman), Lincoln's first teacher, 57. Statelar, George, 230. Tarbell, Ida M., on Lincoln's view on slavery, 144 f. Taylor, Green B., on Lin- coln's education, 70. Taylor, James, employs Lin- coln, 149. Todd, Mary, 179 f. Troost, Gerard, 234. Turner, F. G., on Lincoln as the embodiment of the pi- oneer spirit of the Old Northwest, 201 f. Turnham, David, his Revised Statutes of Indiana read by Lincoln, 95 ff; on Lincoln's mental growth, 167; 230 f. Varner, Louis, 137. Veatch, Isaac, 230. Warren, Louis A., on the le- gitimacy of Nancy Hanks, 20, 21 ; on Lincoln's melan- choly disposition, 200. Weems's Life of Washington, influence on Lincoln, 91 ff; 221 ff. Weik, Jesse, on Lincoln's en- vironment in Indiana, 52 f. Wheeler, Richard and Joseph, 111 f. Wood, William, lends Lincoln his papers, 123 f. Wright, Fanny, influence on Lincoln, 194, 235. Wright, Jeffy, 230. Young, Jacob, 230. *»v :., ISM flllfl iW s£«s® a«$ 1HHBB liii wmm ^^H 1111 IBn