LINE THE SIEII The Hoosier Lincoln learning wisdom be- tween the furrows of the field. Lincoln The Hoosier A restatement of some facts that too many folks seem to have forgotten ^ An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. —SHAKESPEARE DONE INTO PRINT AT INDIANAPOLIS in September 1927 Abraham Lincoln The Hoosier BRAHAM LINCOLN, the six- teenth President of the United States, came to Indiana when he was between seven and eight years of age. With his parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and his sister Sarah, he became a citizen of the state in the year 1816. Indiana remained his home until 1830. The fourteen years covering the most impressionable period of a man's life w^ere spent in Indiana. Lincoln was a Hoosier. This is steadily gaining in recog- nition. ^ The Lincoln family left Kentucky be- cause continual conflict over land titles made success in farming very difficult. They also wanted to get away from slav- ery. Contrary to a belief which has been current, Thomas Lincoln had not been [7] time before. He had staked out a quarter section of land. He raised a pile of brush on the four corners of his 160 acres to in- dicate to any chance passerby that it had been claimed under the laws of the time. Later he was to go to Vincennes where the Federal Land Office was located, and to secure a patent for his holdings. A rude log hut was hurriedly construct- ed before the mild winter of Southern Indi- ana could make life too uncomfortable. Even at this tender age, for Abraham was not eight until February 12 of the follow- ing year, an ax was put into his hands. Lincoln tells about this in a sketch which he v/rote in 1860. Rails which he split as a young man played an important part in his election to the Presidency, so it is small wonder that he tells this fact among the few acts of his youth, which he thought important. The Lincoln farm lies in what is nov/ Spencer County, about seventeen miles north of the Ohio River. Lincoln City now covers practically the entire tract of; land for which Thomas Lincoln got a gov- [10] The Hoosier cabin home of Abraham Lincoln from a drawing made in 1860 while the cabin was still standing. ernment patent some ten years after he had settled. Indiana became a state of the Union the same year that the Lincolns came to live in it. While the low rolling hills which [11] time before. He had staked out a quarter section of land. He raised a pile of brush on the four corners of his 160 acres to in- dicate to any chance passerby that it had been claimed under the laws of the time. Later he was to go to Vincennes where the Federal Land Office was located, and to secure a patent for his holdings. A rude log hut was hurriedly construct- ed before the mild winter of Southern Indi- ana could make life too uncomfortable. Even at this tender age, for Abraham was not eight until February 12 of the follow* ing year, an ax was put into his hands. Lincoln tells about this in a sketch which he v/rote in 1860. Rails which he split as a young man played an important part in his election to the Presidency, so it is small wonder that he tells this fact among the few acts of his youth, which he thought important. The Lincoln farm lies in what is nov/ Spencer County, about seventeen miles north of the Ohio River. Lincoln City now covers practically the entire tract of land for which Thomas Lincoln got a gov- [10] The Hoosier cabin home of Abraham Lincoln from a drawing made in 1860 while the cabin was still standing. ernment patent some ten years after he had settled. Indiana became a state of the Union the same year that the Lincolns came to live in it. While the low rolling hills which [11] they selected for their home were covered with virgin forest, there was a considerable number of people living in the state at that time. In 1820 the state had almost 150,000 people, largely clustered along the Ohio River. The first two years of Abraham's life in Indiana were of great importance to him. They were the last two years he was to know the guiding influence of his mother. Nancy Hanks Lincoln was in her early thirties when the family moved to Indiana. She had been three times a mother. Her second son she had left sleeping in a Ken- tucky burying ground. Sarah was two years older than the future President. Thanks to a few months at school, and to the efforts of the mother, Sarah and Abraham had learned to read and to write. The books in the simple home were indeed few, but they were of the sort which stamp their impress on a child's mind for life. First of all, was the Bible. Lincoln's writ- ings and his speeches throughout his life show his familiarity with the Scriptures, which he first learned to read and to know at his mother's knee in Southern Indiana. [12) A typical trail through the woods near Lincoln City probably unchanged since the boy Lincoln was a familiar figure of that vicinity. [13] One of the sentiments of Lincoln most frequently quoted is, "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." This testimony he gave when in the White House. The spring and summer of 1817 at least a portion of the farm was cleared and a small crop planted. At that time there was little in the way of diversion. It is safe to believe that many days and long days of labor were put in by father and son in the hard work of cutting down trees, using some of the logs in building the cabin, and in splitting up or otherwise disposing of the rest of them. Only in the evening could the hours be given to reading and study. It was at such times that the quiet cabin was lighted into the night by shavings and pine knots, for even candles were not to be burned except on rare occasions. It is these hours that have delighted romancer and historian alike. Fancy pictures the mother smooth- ing the way as far as she might for the tall young son, whose ambition to know was so unusual, when compared with youths of the countryside. Probably [14] Nancy Hanks Lincoln never knew how well derived was her boy's love of knowl- edge. Only in late years has che Lincoln lineage been well established. This mother who meant so much lo the future President was one of several victims of an epidemic which laid its hand on the community in the fall of 1818. The dis- ease was known as **milk sickness." It seems to have come from drinking milk from the animal which had eaten a poison- ous plant. Its visitation was swift and terrible. Nancy Hanks Lincoln was ill only a ievv days. She knew that death was near, so she called her children to her. She told them that she was going away and asked them to grow up trusting in God and lov- ing one another. Lincoln was always tender hearted. This trait did not desert him even in the trying days as President. One may imag- ine how his young heart grieved at the sudden death of his mother, and how his anguish v/as aggravated by the fact that he himself had to assist in all the prepara- tions for the funeral. A rude coffin was [15] made from lumber cut out of logs by a whip-sav/ and put together with wooden pegs. They buried Nancy Hanks Lincoln on a hill. It is a mark of respect which peo- ple in simple times always have paid to their dead — to bury them on the top of a hill. There was no ceremony at the house ; there was no ceremony at the grave. This was not through any lack of respect, not to any lack of desire. There were few preachers in the country in those days. In that sad hour none was at hand. Young as he was, Abraham felt the need and the propriety of some memorial cere- mony. He contrived a letter to a preacher he had known in Kentucky, asking that he come to their home and preach a sermon in memory of his mother. It was not until the following spring that this was possible. In the meantime the dread malady had claimed several other victims and there were other mounds clustered around that of Nancy Lincoln, on the knoll about a quarter of a mile to the south of where the cabin stood. Friends gathered 'round from all the coun- [18J An artist's conception of the funeral services of Nancy Hanks Lincoln conducted several months after her burial in the fall of 1818. 117] tryside. They could not know that in years to come men and women from all oarts of the world would stand with heads uncov- ered, above this simple grave, and pay a silent tribute to the memory of the mother and her remarkable son. The simple rec- ognition of Nancy Hanks Lincoln by friends and neighbors on that day has be- come a nation-wide tribute in this. The death of his mother was the first of many tragedies that cast a lengthening shadow across Lincoln's life. As a healthy boy he recovered in time the natural poise of his mind, but at intervals, as long as he lived, he had moods of deep melancholy. There vv^as a period during which his sister made a valiant struggle to take the place of her mother. Probably she did not quite succeed in the management of house- hold affairs. It is certain, however, that brother and sister continued to live as their mother had prayed they might. The up-hill struggle continued about a year and then Thomas Lincoln returned for a brief visit to Kentucky. When he came back he brought a new wife, Sarah Bush Lincoln, who had been previously [181 r\^'l A sketch of what is called "The Lincoln MilV near his Indiana home. 119] married to a man named Johnston. She brought her own family with her. From then on, the household was larger, the in- fluences were more varied, and life a little easier. The new Mrs. Lincoln brought with her a few comforts and conveniences which the home had not enjoyed to that time. Here again the Lincoln history proved the exception, for the stepmother both loved and was loved by the Lincoln children. Mrs. Lincoln lived to see her stepson elected President of the United States, The father died in 1851. There are a number of anecdotes told of young Lincoln. One which he recounts, relates to shooting a wild turkey. It was, he says, the largest game he ever killed. As a matter of fact, he was too tender hearted to make a good hunter. There was much game in the neighborhood. Bearskins, deerskins, and other spoils of the chase were among the articles sent out of the country in payment for those things which the pioneers could not make for themselves. An incident which might have changed (3«] Cliffs above Rockport where Lincoln worked as a young man. 121] the face of American history was an acci- dent to Abraham which occurred when he was kicked by a horse he was riding at a mill to which he had carried some grain to be ground. He was unconscious for a long while and there seems to have been some doubt whether or not he would recover. From time to time there were a few short weeks of school. Lincoln says that nothing more than a knowledge of read- ing, writing, and an ability to cipher to the rule of three, ever was expected. Anyone v/ho knew the least bit of Latin was con- sidered a marvel. All accounts make out Lincoln to have been exceptionally quick as a student. He says that his schooling scarcely amounted to a year, taken all to- gether. Yet he did learn to read, wrote an unusually good hand, and had more than an average knowledge of mathematics. As time went on, he borrowed every book of which he heard. The earlier books which he read included, besides the Bible, Aesop's Fables, Murray's English Reader, Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and later Weem's Life of Washington, History [22J of the United States, and a book of the Revised Statutes of the State of Indiana. None of these hardly could be called ex- citing. All, however, were a fine back- ground for the more diversified reading he was to do later in life. What was decidedly unusual in those days, was a teacher who attempted to give lessons in manners and deportment, as well as in reading and writing. Long years afterward, they delighted to tell stories about Lincoln's awkwardness in attempt- ing to make himself to do what were con- sidered the polite things in those days. As Lincoln grew older and the farm, with the aid of the boys, got into better shape, Abraham's services were required by other neighbors. The usual wage for this sort of work was $.25 a day. Thomas Lincom had been a carpenter as well as a farmer in Kentucky, and at least some of the skill he tried to pass on to his son. Thus, whether it was splitting rails, or acting as a carpenter, or plowing the field, Lincoln's services were in good demand. It is during this period that they tell stories of his reading books between plow- [23] ing rows of corn or later at night by the light of shavings, after others had gone to bed. There are still in Southern Indi- ana cabins for which Lincoln is supposed to have hewn the logs, sawed the floors, or built part of the furniture. Research has proved that many of these claims are more or less imaginary. Very little of the original Lincoln-day construction now remains. The very shores on which Lincoln landed in Indiana have been washed into the middle of the Ohio. The several court- houses which he visited as a boy, Boones- ville, Rockport, and Troy, have burned or been pulled down. Here and there are trees, particularly cedars, of sufficient age that Lincoln may have seen them. At Rockport the nohle sandstone bluffs that rise more than a hundred feet from the river's edge must be today as Lincoln sav/ them, fo* they have not changed in hun- dreds of years. As a boy of fourteen years, Lincoln be- gan to imitate the preachers and public speakers he had heard. His playmates used to get him to make stump speeches. [24J '^4'/, ^^yf' The site of Jones* store and first Indiana school att&nded by Lincoln near Gentryville. At that early age he began to talk against cruelty to animals and to men. Before he left Indiana, he had made speeches in fa- vor of temperance, and written an article on it for a publication in Ohio. As he grew older, Lincoln showed a great interest in the proceedings at the sev- t25) eral courthouses, which he could reach by- walking or riding fifteen or twenty miles. At Boonesville, he first heard a brilliant young lawyer, by name Breckenridge, but not to be confused with the statesman of the same name in Kentucky. Lincoln's first actual contact with the law seems to have come about 1826. At that time he was acting as a ferryman at Anderson Creek. To accommodate some people who wanted to get on board a steamer out in the Ohio River, he rowed them out in his boat. As they got aboard the larger craft, he inquired rather diffi- dently what he was to have for his pains and one of them threw a silver dollar into the bottom of the boat. Lincoln says it was the largest sum he had ever received for himself up to that time. The event, however, was not to be with- out its sting. Lincoln was Ferved with papers from a Kentucky Justice of Peace. Ke was charged by the Dill Brothers with operating a ferry without a license. The case is recorded in the Kentucky courts. Lincoln seems to have been his own at- torney and to have gone free on the de- [28] Site of the ferry landing at Rockport where Lincoln embarked for his first fiat boat trip to New Orleans, [27] fense that he did not ferry anyone across the Ohio River, but only out into the mid- dle of the stream. This did not require him to have a Kentucky license. This is the first court record in which the name of Abraham Lincoln appears. While living in the Anderson Creek val- ley, Lincoln undoubtedly cut wood to serve as fuel for the passing steam-boats. He also is said to have raised a crop of tobacco and sold it for the New Orleans trade. Here, too, Lincoln must have heard about and possibly may have seen the great General La Fayette. For La Fay- ette's boat was wrecked in the Ohio River at Rock Island, just a few miles above Troy in the year 1825. Rockport is only a few miles down the river from Troy. During Lincoln's day it became the county seat and grew rapidly in importance as the result. Here Lincoln came with produce for shipment, brought from the interior. Here he came to know one of the great lawyers of his day, John Pitcher. Here also he came to know the 128} Gentryville as it must have been during Lincoln's young manhood. [2i)] first of several young women who had an influence on his life. This young woman was Ann Robey. It was only a school boy's interest, but the refining and stimulating power made itself felt. In after years Miss Robey was fond of telling how Lincoln by pointing to his eye, had helped her in spelling the v/ord "defied" in a spelling contest. Lincoln had the reputation of being the finest speller in all Southern Indiana. So, too, Lincoln explained to Miss Robey that it was not the sun and moon which set, but that the earth's revolving make them seem to set. Thus, apparently, Lincoln had arrived at some knowledge of astronomy, which certainly was not taught in any of the schools of his day. If Miss Robey is correct in her recollec- tions, and there is no good reason to doubt it, Lincoln at that tim.e had access to un- usual books or had gained the knowledge from newspapers. Rockport and Gentryville were among the communities which Lincoln visited on his return to Indiana in 1844. He was then making speeches for Henry Clay, can- [30] didate for President. In these places he found friends of his boyhood days. In Rockport the old hotel where he spent the night still stands. At the points where he had friends, there was great rejoicing. The fourteen years that had passed had not lessened Lincoln's love for Indiana. Those friends were real friends. The boy- hood efforts at speaking had developed into the skill of the trained orator. Mem- ory of these things still lingers in the hills of Southern Indiana. It was this visit and the memories which it brought back to him that moved Lincoln to one of the very few efforts at verse which are authentically recorded. They were published under the heading, "Mem- ory." These stanzas selected from the en- tire poem, will shov/ its trend: "My childhood's home I see again, And sadden with the viev/; And still, as memory crowds my brain. There's pleasure in it too. O Memory! thou midway world 'Twixt earth and paradise. Where things decayed and loved ones lost In dreamy shadows rise, (311 And, freed from all that's earthly vile. Seems hallowed, pure, and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle All bathed in liquid light. 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. 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 range the fields with pensive tread. And pace the hollow rooms, And feel (companion of the dead) I'm living in the tombs." Finally, it was at Rockport that the first great adventure of his life became possible. He vi^as engaged by a neighbor to assist his son to take a flatboat down to New Or- leans. Even today, with towns and vil- lages along the entire route, this is a considerable trip not without adventure. 132] Scene of the old grave yard at Little Pigeon church, the burial place of Sarah, sister of AbrOr- ham Lincoln. [33] How much more thrilling must it have been in the days before 1830, when the only means of propelling the boat were a couple of hand sweeps and when for days together, they might not see anyone with whom they could exchange greetings. This is the trip when Lincoln made that first-hand acquaintance with slavery and particularly with the selling of slaves, which made him the undying foe of that institution until he was able to do away with it by the "Emancipation Proclama- tion." Of slavery he was later to say, "If I ever get a chance to hit that thing, I will hit it hard." One of the points of influence in Lin- coln's life whilre he lived as a citizen of Indiana has now completely passed away. This was the settlement known as Jones- boro, about two and one-half miles from the Lincoln cabin. Here was a store, and here was a school; and one of the cross- state roads passed near by. To the store and one close by at Gentryville, in the eve- ning came the men and boys of the neigh- borhood. Here gossip was exchanged. Here public questions were debated as in 1341 i(l//r/]i The old cathedral at Vincennes, one of the last bits of Indiana seen by Lincoln as he crossed the Wabash for the Illinois shore in 1830. It ."till stands. [35] all country stores in all the small commu- nities of this land. Here Lincoln learned the give and take of political argument. Here he occasionally acted as a clerk. Here he had access to the regular news- papers of the larger communities, particu- larly Louisville. In the meantime, his sister had grown up, had married Aaron Grigsby, and had died in 1828. Her body rests today in the little yard of the Baptist Church at Old Pigeon Creek — a church which her father and her brother had helped to build. Lincoln had almost grown to manhood. He was, as he says, almost six feet four inches in height. In trials of strength with those of his age and older, he had proved himself a superior man. His father had relinquished to the Gov- ernment part of his farm and now held but eighty acres. Brilliant reports were coming to them of the fertility of land in Illinois. Thomas Lincoln probably did not know that for four generations the Lincolns had been born in one state, mar- ried in another, and died in a third. Thomas Lincoln was only preparing for [56] The William Henry Harrison tnansion at Vin- cennes as it looks today and as it looked in 1830 to Lincoln enroute to his new Illinois home. 1371 the fulfillment of the destiny of his race. So a contract of sale was drawn up and the Gentrys later came into possession of what is historically known as the Lincoln Farm, the farm which for fourteen years was the home of the sixteenth President, the home where the various influences that make character were steadily at work. The family prepared to leave the familiar scenes and the little knoll to the south of the cabin, where sleeps Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and her neighbors, victims of that peculiar malady. A team of oxen and an ox-cart sufficed for the family on its pilgrimage. The neighbors gathered round and said a sad farewell. The Lincolns had become gen- uinely liked. Slowly they took their way westward and northward. At Vincennes they stopped for the last time in Indiana. There Lincoln could not have failed to see the new cathedral, its tall thin spire standing out high above all the other buildings of that time. Here also he must have visited the home of General William Henry Har- rison, a building of such magnificence and [38] >fe