Frontispiece
Titlepage
IN the following pages I have endeavored to give the life of Abraham Lincoln, from his birth to his inauguration as President of the United States. The reader will judge the character of the performance by the work itself: for that reason I shall spare him the perusal of much prefatory explanation.
At the time of Mr. Lincoln's death, I determined to write his history, as I had in my possession much valuable material for such a purpose. I did not then imagine that any person could have better or more extensive materials than I possessed. I soon learned, however, that Mr. William H. Herndon of Springfield, Ill., was similarly engaged. There could be no rivalry between us; for the supreme object of both was to make the real history and character of Mr. Lincoln as well known to the public as they were to us. He deplored, as I did, the many publications pretending to be biographies which came teeming from the press, so long as the public interest about Mr. Lincoln excited the hope of gain. Out of the mass of works which appeared, of one only—Dr. Holland's—is it possible to speak with any degree of respect.
Early in 1869, Mr. Herndon placed at my disposal his remarkable collection of materials,—the richest, rarest, and fullest collection it was possible to conceive. Along with them came an offer of hearty co-operation, of which I have availed myself so extensively, that no art of mine would serve to conceal it. Added to my own collections, these acquisitions have enabled me to do what could not have been done before,—prepare an authentic biography of Mr. Lincoln.
Mr. Herndon had been the partner in business and the intimate personal associate of Mr. Lincoln for something like a quarter of a century; and Mr. Lincoln had lived familiarly with several members of his family long before their individual acquaintance began. New Salem, Springfield, the old judicial circuit, the habits and friends of Mr. Lincoln, were as well known to Mr. Herndon as to himself. With these advantages, and from the numberless facts and hints which had dropped from Mr. Lincoln during the confidential intercourse of an ordinary lifetime, Mr. Herndon was able to institute a thorough system of inquiry for every noteworthy circumstance and every incident of value in Mr. Lincoln's career.
The fruits of Mr. Herndon's labors are garnered in three enormous volumes of original manuscripts and a mass of unarranged letters and papers. They comprise the recollections of Mr. Lincoln's nearest friends; of the surviving members of his family and his family-connections; of the men still living who knew him and his parents in Kentucky; of his schoolfellows, neighbors, and acquaintances in Indiana; of the better part of the whole population of New Salem; of his associates and relatives at Springfield; and of lawyers, judges, politicians, and statesmen everywhere, who had any thing of interest or moment to relate. They were collected at vast expense of time, labor, and money, involving the employment of many agents, long journeys, tedious examinations, and voluminous correspondence. Upon the value of these materials it would be impossible to place an estimate. That I have used them conscientiously and justly is the only merit to which I lay claim.
As a general thing, my text will be found to support itself; but whether the particular authority be mentioned or not, it is proper to remark, that each statement of fact is fully sustained by indisputable evidence remaining in my possession. My original plan was to verify every important statement by one or more appropriate citations; but it was early abandoned, not because it involved unwelcome labor, but because it encumbered my pages with a great array of obscure names, which the reader would probably pass unnoticed.
I dismiss this volume into the world, with no claim for it of literary excellence, but with the hope that it will prove what it purports to be,—a faithful record of the life of Abraham Lincoln down to the 4th of March, 1861.
Ward H. Lamon.
Washington City, May, 1872.
CONTENTSPREFACE.TABLE OF CONTENTS.LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.CHAPTER I.CHAPTER II.CHAPTER III.CHAPTER IV.CHAPTER V.CHAPTER VICHAPTER VIICHAPTER VIII.CHAPTER IXCHAPTER XCHAPTER XICHAPTER XIICHAPTER XIIICHAPTER XIVCHAPTER XVCHAPTER XVICHAPTER XVIICHAPTER XVIIICHAPTER XIX.CHAPTER XXAPPENDIX.ILLUSTRATIONSFrontispieceTitlepageMrs. Sarah Lincoln, Mother of the PresidentDennis HanksMr. Lincoln As a FlatboatmanMap of New SalemBlack Hawk, Indian ChiefJoshua F. SpeedJudge David DavisStephen T. LoganJohn T. StuartWilliam HerndonUncle John HanksMr. Lincoln's Home in Springfield, Ill.Norman B. JuddFacsimile of Autobiography 1Facsimile of Autobiography 2Facsimile of Autobiography 3
CONTENTS
PREFACE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX
APPENDIX.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece
Titlepage
Mrs. Sarah Lincoln, Mother of the President
Dennis Hanks
Mr. Lincoln As a Flatboatman
Map of New Salem
Black Hawk, Indian Chief
Joshua F. Speed
Judge David Davis
Stephen T. Logan
John T. Stuart
William Herndon
Uncle John Hanks
Mr. Lincoln's Home in Springfield, Ill.
Norman B. Judd
Facsimile of Autobiography 1
Facsimile of Autobiography 2
Facsimile of Autobiography 3
CHAPTER I.CHAPTER I.Birth.—His father and mother.—History of Thomas Lincoln and his familya necessary part of Abraham Lincoln's biography.—Thomas Lincoln'sancestors.—Members of the family remaining in Virginia.—Birth ofThomas Lincoln.—Removal to Kentucky.—Life in the Wilderness.—Lincolnssettle in Mercer County.—Thomas Lincoln's father shot byIndians.—Widow and family remove to Washington County.—Thomaspoor.—Wanders into Breckinridge County.—Goes to Hardin County.—Worksat the carpenter's trade.—Cannot read or write.—Personalappearance.—Called "Linckhom," or "Linckhera."—Thomas Lincoln asa carpenter.—Marries Nancy Hanks.—Previously courted SallyBush.—Character of Sally Bush.—The person and character of NancyHanks.—Thomas and Nancy Lincoln go to live in a shed.—Birth of adaughter.—They remove to Nolin Creek.—Birth of Abraham.—Removal toKnob Creek.—Little Abe initiated into wild sports.—His sadness.—Goesto school.—Thomas Lincoln concludes to move.—Did not fly from thetaint of slavery.—Abraham Lincoln always reticent about the history andcharacter of his family.—Record in his Bible... 1CHAPTER II.CHAPTER II.Thomas Lincoln builds a boat.—Floats down to the Ohio.—Boatcapsizes.—Lands in Perry County, Indiana.—Selects a location.—Walksback to Knob Creek for wife and children.—Makes his way throughthe wilderness.—Settles between the two Pigeon Creeks.—Gentryville.—Selects a site.—Lincoln builds a half-faced camp.—Clearsground and raises a small crop.—Dennis Hanks.—Lincoln builds acabin.—State of the country.—Indiana admitted to the Union.—Riseof Gentryville.—Character of the people.—Lincoln's patent for hisland.—His farm, cabin, furniture.—The milk-sickness.—Death of NancyHanks Lincoln.—Funeral discourse by David Elkin.—Grave.—Tom Lincolnmarries Sally Bush.—Her goods and chattels.—Her surprise at thepoverty of the Lincoln cabin.—Clothes and comforts Abe and hissister.—Abe leads a new life.—Is sent to school.—Abe's appearance anddress.—Learning "manners"—Abe's essays.—Tenderness for animals.—Thelast of school.—Abe excelled the masters.—Studied privately.—Did notlike to work.—Wrote on wooden shovel and boards.—How Abe studied.—Thebooks he read.—The "Revised Statute of Indiana."—Did not read theBible.—No religious opinions.—How he behaved at home.—Touchingrecital by Mrs. Lincoln.—Abe's memory.—Mimicks the preachers.—Makes"stump-speeches" in the field.—Cruelly maltreated by his father.—Worksout cheerfully.—Universal favorite.—The kind of people he livedamongst.—Mrs. Crawford's reminiscences.—Society about Gentryville.—His step-mother.—His sister.—The Johnstons and Hankses.—Abe aferryman and farm-servant.—His work and habits.—Works for JosiahCrawford.—Mrs. Crawford's account of him.—Crawford's books.—Becomesa wit and a poet.—Abe the tallest and strongest man in thesettlement.—Hunting in the Pigeon Creek region.—His activity.—Love oftalking and reading.—Fond of rustic sports.—Furnishes theliterature.—Would not be slighted.—His satires.—Songs andchronicles.—Gentryville as "a centre of business."—Abe and otherboys loiter about the village.—Very temperate.—"Clerks" for Col.Jones.—Abe saves a drunken man's life.—Fond of music.—Marriage of hissister Nancy.—Extracts from his copy-book.—His Chronicles.—Fight withthe Grigs-bys.—Abe "the big buck of the lick."—"Speaking meetings"at Gentryville.—Dennis Hanks's account of the way he and Abe became solearned.—Abe attends a court.—Abe expects to be President.—Goingto mill.—Kicked in the head by a horse.—Mr. Wood.—Piece ontemperance.—On national politics.—Abe tired of home.—Works forMr. Gentry.—Knowledge of astronomy and geography.—Goes to NewOrleans.—Counterfeit money.—Fight with negroes.—Scar on his face.—An apocryphal story...........19CHAPTER III.CHAPTER III.Abe's return from New Orleans.—Sawing planks for a new house.—Themilk-sickness.—Removal to Illinois.—Settles near Decatur.—Abe leaveshome.—Subsequent removals and death of Thomas Lincoln.—Abe's relationsto the family.—Works with John Hanks after leaving home.—Splittingrails.—Makes a speech on the improvement of the Sangamon River.—Secondvoyage to New Orleans.—Loading and departure of the boat.—"Sticks" onNew Salem dam.—Abe's contrivance to get her off.—Model in the PatentOffice.—Arrival at New Orleans.—Negroes chained.—Abe touched by thesight.—Returns on a steamboat.—Wrestles with Daniel Needham.........73CHAPTER IV.CHAPTER IV.The site of New Salem.—The village as it existed.—Thefirst store.—Number of inhabitants.—Theirhouses.—Springfield.—Petersburg.—Mr. Lincoln appears a second timeat New Salem.—Clerks at an election.—Pilots a boat toBeardstown.—Country store.—Abe as "first clerk."—"Clary's GroveBoys."—Character of Jack Armstrong.—He and Abe become intimatefriends.—Abe's popularity.—Love of peace.—Habits of study.—Waylayingstrangers for information.—Pilots the steamer "Talisman" up and downthe Sangamon.......85CHAPTER V.CHAPTER V.Offutt's business gone to ruin.—The Black Hawk War.—Black Hawk crossesthe Mississippi.—Deceived by his allies.—The governor's call fortroops.—Abe enlists—Elected captain.—A speech.—Organization of thearmy.—Captain Lincoln under arrest.—The march.—Captain Lincoln'scompany declines to form.—Lincoln under arrest.—Stillman'sdefeat.—Wasting rations.—Hunger.—Mutiny.—March to Dixon.—Attemptto capture Black Hawk's pirogues.—Lincoln saves the life ofan Indian.—Mutiny.—Lincoln's novel method of quellingit.—Wrestling.—His magnanimity.—Care of his men.—Dispute with aregular officer.—Reach Dixon.—Move to Fox River.—A stampede.—CaptainLincoln's efficiency as an officer.—Amusements of the camp.—CaptainLincoln re-enlists as a private.—Independent spy company.—Progress ofthe war.—Capture of Black Hawk.—Release.—Death.—Grave.—GeorgeW. Harrison's recollections.—Duties of the spy company.—Companydisbanded.—Lincoln's horse stolen.—They start home on foot.—Buya canoe.—Feast on a raft.—Sell the boat.—Walk again.—Arrive atPetersburg.—A sham battle........98CHAPTER VI.CHAPTER VI.The volunteers from Sangamon return shortly before the Stateelection.—Abe a candidate for the Legislature.—Mode of bringingforward candidates.—Parties and party names.—State and nationalpolitics.—Mr. Lincoln's position.—Old way of conductingelections.—Mr. Lincoln's first stump-speech.—"A general fight."—Mr.Lincoln's part in it.—His dress and appearance.—Speech at IslandGrove.—His stories.—A third speech.—Agrees with the Whigs in thepolicy of internal improvements.—His own hobby.—Prepares an address tothe people.—Mr. Lincoln defeated.—Received every vote but three castin his own precinct....121CHAPTER VII.CHAPTER VII.Results of the canvass.—An opening in business.—The firm of Lincoln& Berry.—How they sold liquor.—What Mr. Douglas said.—The store afailure.—Berry's bad habits.—The credit system.—Lincoln's debts.—Hegoes to board at the tavern.—Studies law.—Walks to Springfield forbooks.—Progress in the law.—Does business for his neighbors.—Otherstudies.—Reminiscences of J. Y. Ellis.—Shy of ladies.—Hisapparel.—Fishing, and spouting Shakspeare and Burns.—Mr. Lincolnannoyed by company.—Retires to the country.—Bowlin Greene.—Mr.Lincoln's attempt to speak a funeral discourse.—John Calhoun.—Lincolnstudies surveying.—Gets employment.—Lincoln appointed postmaster.—Howhe performed the duties.—Sale of Mr. Lincoln's personal property underexecution.—Bought by James Short.—Lincoln's visits.—Old Hannah.—Ah.Trent.—Mr. Lincoln as a peacemaker.—His great strength.—Thejudicial quality.—Acting second in fights.—A candidate for theLegislature.—Elected.—Borrows two hundred dollars from ColemanSmoot.—How they got acquainted.—Mr. Lincoln writes a little book oninfidelity.—It is burnt by Samuel Hill........135CHAPTER VIII.CHAPTER VIII.James Rutledge.—His family.—Ann Rutledge.—John McNeil.—Is engagedto Ann.—His strange story.—The loveliness of Ann's personand character.—Mr. Lincoln courts her.—They are engaged to bemarried.—Await the return of McNeil.—Ann dies of a brokenheart.—Mr. Lincoln goes crazy.—Cared for by Bowlin Greene.—The poem"Immortality."—Mr. Lincoln's melancholy broodings.—Interviews withIsaac Cogdale after his election to the Presidency.—Mr. Herndon'sinterview with McNamar.—Ann's grave.—The Concord cemetery...159CHAPTER IX.CHAPTER IX.Bennett Able and family.—Mary Owens.—Mr. Lincoln falls in love withher.—What she thought of him.—A misunderstanding.—Letters from MissOwens.—Mr. Lincoln's letters to her.—Humorous account of the affair ina letter from Mr. Lincoln to another lady......172CHAPTER X.CHAPTER X.Mr. Lincoln takes his seat in the Legislature.—Schemes of internalimprovement.—Mr. Lincoln a silent member.—Meets Stephen A.Douglas.—Log-rolling.—Mr. Lincoln a candidate for re-election.—Thecanvass.—"The Long Nine."—Speech at Mechanicsburg.—Fight.—Reply toDr. Early.—Reply to George Forquer.—Trick on Dick Taylor.—Attemptsto create a third party.—Mr. Lincoln elected.—Federal and Statepolitics.—The Bank of the United States.—Suspension of speciepayments.—Mr. Lincoln wishes to be the De Witt Clinton ofIllinois.—The internal-improvement system.—Capital locatedat Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln's conception of the duty of arepresentative.—His part in passing the "system."—Beginshis antislavery record.—Public sentiment against theAbolitionists.—History of antislavery in Illinois.—TheCovenanters.—Struggle to amend the Constitution.—The "blackcode."—Death of Elijah P. Lovejoy.—Protest against proslaveryresolutions.—No sympathy with extremists.—Suspension ofspecie payments.—Mr. Lincoln re-elected in 1838.—Candidate forSpeaker.—Finances.—Utter failure of the internal-improvement"system."—Mr. Lincoln re-elected in 1840.—He introduces a bill.—Hisspeech.—Financial expedients.—Bitterness of feeling.—Democrats seekto hold a quorum.—Mr. Lincoln jumps out of a window.—Speech by Mr.Lincoln.—The alien question.—The Democrats undertake to "reform" thejudiciary.—Mr. Douglas a leader.—Protest of Mr. Lincoln andother Whigs.—Reminiscences of a colleague.—Dinner to "The LongNine."—"Abraham Lincoln one of nature's noblemen."..........184CHAPTER XI.CHAPTER XI.Capital removed to Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln settles there to practiselaw.—First case.—Members of the bar.—Mr. Lincoln's partnership withJohn T. Stuart.—Population and condition of Springfield.—Lawyersand politicians.—Mr. Lincoln's intense ambition.—Lecture before theSpringfield Lyceum.—His style.—Political discussions runhigh.—Joshua F. Speed his most intimate friend.—Scene in Speed'sstore.—Debate.—Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn, and Thomas, against Lincoln,Logan, Baker, and Browning.—Presidential elector in 1840.—Stumpingfor Harrison.—Scene between Lincoln and Douglas in the Court-House.—Afailure.—Redeems himself.—Meets Miss Mary Todd.—She takes Mr. Lincolncaptive.—She refuses Douglas.—Engaged.—Miss Matilda Edwards.—Mr.Lincoln undergoes a change of heart.—Mr. Lincoln reveals to Mary thestate of his mind.—She releases him.—A reconciliation.—Every thingprepared for the wedding.—Mr. Lincoln fails to appear.—Insane.—Speedtakes him to Kentucky.—Lines on "Suicide."—His gloom.—Returnto Springfield.—Secret meetings with Miss Todd.—Suddenmarriage.—Correspondence with Mr. Speed on delicate subjects.—Relicsof a great man and a great agony.—Miss Todd attacks James Shields incertain witty and sarcastic letters.—Mr. Lincoln's name "given up"as the author.—Challenged by Shields.—A meeting and anexplanation.—Correspondence.—Candidate for Congressionalnomination.—Letters to Speed and Morris.—Defeat.. 223CHAPTER XII.CHAPTER XII.Mr. Lincoln a candidate for elector in 1844.—Debates withCalhoun.—Speaks in Illinois and Indiana.—At Gentryville.—Lincoln,Baker, Logan, Hardin, aspirants for Congress.—Supposedbargain.—Canvass for Whig nomination in 1846.—Mr. Lincolnnominated.—Opposed by Peter Cartwright.—Mr. Lincoln called adeist.—Elected.—Takes his seat.—Distinguished members.—Opposedto the Mexican War.—The "Spot Resolutions."—Speech of Mr.Lincoln.—Murmurs of disapprobation.—Mr. Lincoln for "Old Rough" in1848.—Defections at home.—Mr. Lincoln's campaign.—Speech.—Passagenot generally published.—Letter to his father.—Second session.—The"Gott Resolution."—Mr. Lincoln's substitute..............274CHAPTER XIII.CHAPTER XIII.Mr. Lincoln in his character of country lawyer.—Public feeling atthe time of his death.—Judge Davis's address at a bar-meeting.—JudgeDrummond's address.—Mr. Lincoln's partnership with John T.Stuart.—With Stephen. T. Logan.—With William H. Herndon.—Mr.Lincoln "a case-lawyer."—Slow.—Conscientious.—Henry McHenry'scase.—Circumstantial evidence.—A startling case.—Mr. Lincoln'saccount of it.—His first case in the Supreme Court.—Could not defend abad case.—Ignorance of technicalities.—The Eighth Circuit.—Happyon the circuit.—Style of travelling.—His relations.—Young Johnsonindicted.—Mr. Lincoln's kindness.—Jack Armstrong's son triedfor murder.—Mr. Lincoln defends him.—Alleged use of a falsealmanac.—Prisoner discharged.—Old Hannah's account of it.—Mr.Lincoln's suit against Illinois Central Railway Company.—McCormickReaping Machine case.—Treatment by Edwin M. Stanton........311CHAPTER XIV.CHAPTER XIV.Mr. Lincoln not a candidate for re-election.—Judge Logan's defeat.—Mr.Lincoln an applicant for Commissioner of the Land Office.—Offered theGovernorship of Oregon.—Views concerning the Missouri Compromiseand Compromise of 1850.—Declines to be a candidate for Congress in1850.—Death of Thomas Lincoln.—Correspondence between Mr. Lincolnand John Johnston.—Eulogy on Henry Clay.—In favor of voluntaryemancipation and colonization.—Answer to Mr. Douglas's Richmondspeech.—Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.—Mr. Lincoln's viewsconcerning slavery.—Opposed to conferring political privilegesupon negroes.—Aroused by the repeal of the MissouriCompromise.—Anti-Nebraska party.—Mr. Lincoln the leader.—Mr. Douglasspeaks at Chicago.—At Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln replies.—Agreat speech.—Mr. Douglas rejoins.—The Abolitionists.—Mr.Herndon.—Determined to make Mr. Lincoln an Abolitionist.—They refuseto enter the Know-Nothing lodges.—The Abolitionists desire to forceMr. Lincoln to take a stand.—He runs away from Springfield.—Heis requested to "follow up" Mr. Douglas.—Speech atPeoria.—Extract.—Slavery and popular sovereignty.—Mr. Lincoln andMr. Douglas agree not to speak any more.—The election.—Mr. Lincolnannounced for the Legislature by Wm. Jayne.—Mrs. Lincoln withdraws hisname.—Jayne restores it.—He is elected.—A candidate for United-StatesSenator.—Resigns his seat.—Is censured.—Anti-Nebraska majority inthe Legislature.—The balloting.—Danger of Governor Matteson'selection.—Mr. Lincoln advises his friends to vote for JudgeTrumbull.—Trumbull elected.—Charges of conspiracy and corruptbargain.—Mr. Lincoln's denial.—Mr. Douglas imputes to Mr. Lincolnextreme Abolitionist views.—Mr. Lincoln's answer.............333CHAPTER XV.CHAPTER XV.The struggle in Kansas.—The South begins the struggle.—The North meetsit.—The Missourians and other proslavery forces.—Andrew H. Reederappointed governor.—Election frauds.—Mr. Lincoln's views onKansas.—Gov. Shannon arrives in the Territory.—The Free State menrepudiate the Legislature.—Mr. Lincoln's "little speech" to theAbolitionists of Illinois.—Mr. Lincoln's party relations.—Mr. Lincolnagrees to meet the Abolitionists.—Convention at Bloomington.—Mr.Lincoln considered a convert.—His great speech.—Conservativeresolutions.—Ludicrous failure of a ratification meeting atSpringfield.—Mr. Lincoln's remarks.—Plot to break up the Know-Nothingparty.—"National" Republican Convention.—Mr. Lincoln receivesa hundred and ten votes for Vice-President.—National DemocraticConvention.—Mr. Lincoln a candidate for elector.—Hiscanvass.—Confidential letter.—Imperfect fellowship with theAbolitionists.—Mr. Douglas's speech on Kansas in June, 1857.—Mr.Lincoln's reply.—Mr. Douglas committed to support of the LecomptonConstitution.—The Dred Scott Decision discussed.—Mr. Lincolnagainst negro equality.—Affairs in Kansas.—Election of a newLegislature.—Submission of the Lecompton Constitution tothe people.—Method of voting on it.—Constitution finallyrejected.—Conflict in Congress.—Mr. Douglas's defection.—Extract froma speech by Mr. Lincoln........366CHAPTER XVI.CHAPTER XVI.Mr. Douglas opposes the Administration.—His course inCongress.—Squatter sovereignty in full operation.—Mr. Lincoln'sdefinition of popular sovereignty and squatter sovereignty.—Mr.Douglas's private conferences with Republicans.—"Judge Trumbull'sopinion.—Mr. Douglas nominated for senator by a DemocraticConvention.—Mr. Lincoln's idea of what Douglas might accomplish atCharleston.—Mr. Lincoln writing a celebrated speech.—He is nominatedfor senator.—A startling doctrine.—A council of friends.—Samedoctrine advanced at Bloomington.—The "house-divided" speech.—Mr.Lincoln promises to explain.—What Mr. Lincoln thought of Mr.Douglas.—What Mr. Douglas thought of Mr. Lincoln.—Popular canvass forsenator.—Mr. Lincoln determines to "kill Douglas" as aPresidential aspirant.—Adroit plan to draw him out on squattersovereignty.—Absurdities of Mr. Douglas.—The election.—Success of Mr.Douglas.—Reputation acquired by Mr. Lincoln..................389CHAPTER XVII.CHAPTER XVII.Mr. Lincoln writes and delivers a lecture.—The Presidency.—Mr.Lincoln's "running qualities."—He thinks himself unfit.—Nominated by"Illinois Gazette."—Letter to Dr. Canisius.—Letter to Dr. Wallaceon the protective tariff policy.—Mr. Lincoln in Ohio and Kansas.—Aprivate meeting of his friends.—Permitted to use his name forthe Presidency.—An invitation to speak in New York.—Choosing asubject.—Arrives in New York.—His embarrassments.—Speech in CooperInstitute.—Comments of the press.—He is charged with mercenaryconduct.—Letter concerning the charge.—Visits New England.—Styleand character of his speeches.—An amusing encounter with a clericalpolitician...421CHAPTER XVIII.CHAPTER XVIII.Meeting of the Republican State Convention.—Mr. Lincoln present.—JohnHanks and the rails.—Mr. Lincoln's speech.—Meeting of the RepublicanNational Convention at Chicago.—The platform.—Combinations to secureMr. Lincoln's nomination.—The balloting.—Mr. Lincoln nominated.—Mr.Lincoln at Springfield waiting the results of the Convention.—Howhe received the news.—Enthusiasm at Springfield.—Officialnotification.—The "Constitutional Union" party.—The DemocraticConventions at Charleston and Baltimore.—The election.—Theprinciple upon which Mr. Lincoln proposed to make appointments.—Mr.Stephens.—Mr. Gilmore.—Mr. Guthrie.—Mr. Seward.—Mr. Chase.—Mr.Bates.—The cases of Smith and Cameron.—Mr. Lincoln's visitto Chicago.—Mr. Lincoln's visit to his relatives in ColesCounty.—Apprehensions about assassination.—A visit from HannahArmstrong... 444CHAPTER XIX.CHAPTER XIX.Difficulties and peculiarities of Mr. Lincoln's position.—A generalreview of his character.—His personal appearance and habits.—His houseand other property.—His domestic relations.—His morbid melancholyand superstition.—Illustrated by his literary tastes.—His humor.—Histemperate habits and abstinence from sensual pleasures.—Hisambition.—Use of politics for personal advancement.—Love of powerand place.—Of justice.—Not a demagogue or a trimmer.—His religiousviews.—Attempt of the Rev. Mr. Smith to convert him.—Mr. Bateman'sstory as related by Dr. Holland.—Effect of his belief upon his mind andcharacter...........466CHAPTER XX.CHAPTER XX.Departure of the Presidential party from Springfield.—Affecting addressby Mr. Lincoln to his friends and neighbors.—His opinions concerningthe approaching civil war.—Discovery of a supposed plot to murderhim at Baltimore.—Governor Hicks's proposal to "kill Lincoln and hismen."—The plan formed to defeat the conspiracy.—The midnight ridefrom Harrisburg to Washington.—Arrival in Washington.—Before theInauguration.—Inauguration Day.—Inaugural Address.—Mr. Lincoln'sOath.—Mr. Lincoln President of the United States.—Mr. Buchanan bidshim farewell............505
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.Birth.—His father and mother.—History of Thomas Lincoln and his familya necessary part of Abraham Lincoln's biography.—Thomas Lincoln'sancestors.—Members of the family remaining in Virginia.—Birth ofThomas Lincoln.—Removal to Kentucky.—Life in the Wilderness.—Lincolnssettle in Mercer County.—Thomas Lincoln's father shot byIndians.—Widow and family remove to Washington County.—Thomaspoor.—Wanders into Breckinridge County.—Goes to Hardin County.—Worksat the carpenter's trade.—Cannot read or write.—Personalappearance.—Called "Linckhom," or "Linckhera."—Thomas Lincoln asa carpenter.—Marries Nancy Hanks.—Previously courted SallyBush.—Character of Sally Bush.—The person and character of NancyHanks.—Thomas and Nancy Lincoln go to live in a shed.—Birth of adaughter.—They remove to Nolin Creek.—Birth of Abraham.—Removal toKnob Creek.—Little Abe initiated into wild sports.—His sadness.—Goesto school.—Thomas Lincoln concludes to move.—Did not fly from thetaint of slavery.—Abraham Lincoln always reticent about the history andcharacter of his family.—Record in his Bible... 1
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.Thomas Lincoln builds a boat.—Floats down to the Ohio.—Boatcapsizes.—Lands in Perry County, Indiana.—Selects a location.—Walksback to Knob Creek for wife and children.—Makes his way throughthe wilderness.—Settles between the two Pigeon Creeks.—Gentryville.—Selects a site.—Lincoln builds a half-faced camp.—Clearsground and raises a small crop.—Dennis Hanks.—Lincoln builds acabin.—State of the country.—Indiana admitted to the Union.—Riseof Gentryville.—Character of the people.—Lincoln's patent for hisland.—His farm, cabin, furniture.—The milk-sickness.—Death of NancyHanks Lincoln.—Funeral discourse by David Elkin.—Grave.—Tom Lincolnmarries Sally Bush.—Her goods and chattels.—Her surprise at thepoverty of the Lincoln cabin.—Clothes and comforts Abe and hissister.—Abe leads a new life.—Is sent to school.—Abe's appearance anddress.—Learning "manners"—Abe's essays.—Tenderness for animals.—Thelast of school.—Abe excelled the masters.—Studied privately.—Did notlike to work.—Wrote on wooden shovel and boards.—How Abe studied.—Thebooks he read.—The "Revised Statute of Indiana."—Did not read theBible.—No religious opinions.—How he behaved at home.—Touchingrecital by Mrs. Lincoln.—Abe's memory.—Mimicks the preachers.—Makes"stump-speeches" in the field.—Cruelly maltreated by his father.—Worksout cheerfully.—Universal favorite.—The kind of people he livedamongst.—Mrs. Crawford's reminiscences.—Society about Gentryville.—His step-mother.—His sister.—The Johnstons and Hankses.—Abe aferryman and farm-servant.—His work and habits.—Works for JosiahCrawford.—Mrs. Crawford's account of him.—Crawford's books.—Becomesa wit and a poet.—Abe the tallest and strongest man in thesettlement.—Hunting in the Pigeon Creek region.—His activity.—Love oftalking and reading.—Fond of rustic sports.—Furnishes theliterature.—Would not be slighted.—His satires.—Songs andchronicles.—Gentryville as "a centre of business."—Abe and otherboys loiter about the village.—Very temperate.—"Clerks" for Col.Jones.—Abe saves a drunken man's life.—Fond of music.—Marriage of hissister Nancy.—Extracts from his copy-book.—His Chronicles.—Fight withthe Grigs-bys.—Abe "the big buck of the lick."—"Speaking meetings"at Gentryville.—Dennis Hanks's account of the way he and Abe became solearned.—Abe attends a court.—Abe expects to be President.—Goingto mill.—Kicked in the head by a horse.—Mr. Wood.—Piece ontemperance.—On national politics.—Abe tired of home.—Works forMr. Gentry.—Knowledge of astronomy and geography.—Goes to NewOrleans.—Counterfeit money.—Fight with negroes.—Scar on his face.—An apocryphal story...........19
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.Abe's return from New Orleans.—Sawing planks for a new house.—Themilk-sickness.—Removal to Illinois.—Settles near Decatur.—Abe leaveshome.—Subsequent removals and death of Thomas Lincoln.—Abe's relationsto the family.—Works with John Hanks after leaving home.—Splittingrails.—Makes a speech on the improvement of the Sangamon River.—Secondvoyage to New Orleans.—Loading and departure of the boat.—"Sticks" onNew Salem dam.—Abe's contrivance to get her off.—Model in the PatentOffice.—Arrival at New Orleans.—Negroes chained.—Abe touched by thesight.—Returns on a steamboat.—Wrestles with Daniel Needham.........73
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.The site of New Salem.—The village as it existed.—Thefirst store.—Number of inhabitants.—Theirhouses.—Springfield.—Petersburg.—Mr. Lincoln appears a second timeat New Salem.—Clerks at an election.—Pilots a boat toBeardstown.—Country store.—Abe as "first clerk."—"Clary's GroveBoys."—Character of Jack Armstrong.—He and Abe become intimatefriends.—Abe's popularity.—Love of peace.—Habits of study.—Waylayingstrangers for information.—Pilots the steamer "Talisman" up and downthe Sangamon.......85
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.Offutt's business gone to ruin.—The Black Hawk War.—Black Hawk crossesthe Mississippi.—Deceived by his allies.—The governor's call fortroops.—Abe enlists—Elected captain.—A speech.—Organization of thearmy.—Captain Lincoln under arrest.—The march.—Captain Lincoln'scompany declines to form.—Lincoln under arrest.—Stillman'sdefeat.—Wasting rations.—Hunger.—Mutiny.—March to Dixon.—Attemptto capture Black Hawk's pirogues.—Lincoln saves the life ofan Indian.—Mutiny.—Lincoln's novel method of quellingit.—Wrestling.—His magnanimity.—Care of his men.—Dispute with aregular officer.—Reach Dixon.—Move to Fox River.—A stampede.—CaptainLincoln's efficiency as an officer.—Amusements of the camp.—CaptainLincoln re-enlists as a private.—Independent spy company.—Progress ofthe war.—Capture of Black Hawk.—Release.—Death.—Grave.—GeorgeW. Harrison's recollections.—Duties of the spy company.—Companydisbanded.—Lincoln's horse stolen.—They start home on foot.—Buya canoe.—Feast on a raft.—Sell the boat.—Walk again.—Arrive atPetersburg.—A sham battle........98
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.The volunteers from Sangamon return shortly before the Stateelection.—Abe a candidate for the Legislature.—Mode of bringingforward candidates.—Parties and party names.—State and nationalpolitics.—Mr. Lincoln's position.—Old way of conductingelections.—Mr. Lincoln's first stump-speech.—"A general fight."—Mr.Lincoln's part in it.—His dress and appearance.—Speech at IslandGrove.—His stories.—A third speech.—Agrees with the Whigs in thepolicy of internal improvements.—His own hobby.—Prepares an address tothe people.—Mr. Lincoln defeated.—Received every vote but three castin his own precinct....121
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.Results of the canvass.—An opening in business.—The firm of Lincoln& Berry.—How they sold liquor.—What Mr. Douglas said.—The store afailure.—Berry's bad habits.—The credit system.—Lincoln's debts.—Hegoes to board at the tavern.—Studies law.—Walks to Springfield forbooks.—Progress in the law.—Does business for his neighbors.—Otherstudies.—Reminiscences of J. Y. Ellis.—Shy of ladies.—Hisapparel.—Fishing, and spouting Shakspeare and Burns.—Mr. Lincolnannoyed by company.—Retires to the country.—Bowlin Greene.—Mr.Lincoln's attempt to speak a funeral discourse.—John Calhoun.—Lincolnstudies surveying.—Gets employment.—Lincoln appointed postmaster.—Howhe performed the duties.—Sale of Mr. Lincoln's personal property underexecution.—Bought by James Short.—Lincoln's visits.—Old Hannah.—Ah.Trent.—Mr. Lincoln as a peacemaker.—His great strength.—Thejudicial quality.—Acting second in fights.—A candidate for theLegislature.—Elected.—Borrows two hundred dollars from ColemanSmoot.—How they got acquainted.—Mr. Lincoln writes a little book oninfidelity.—It is burnt by Samuel Hill........135
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.James Rutledge.—His family.—Ann Rutledge.—John McNeil.—Is engagedto Ann.—His strange story.—The loveliness of Ann's personand character.—Mr. Lincoln courts her.—They are engaged to bemarried.—Await the return of McNeil.—Ann dies of a brokenheart.—Mr. Lincoln goes crazy.—Cared for by Bowlin Greene.—The poem"Immortality."—Mr. Lincoln's melancholy broodings.—Interviews withIsaac Cogdale after his election to the Presidency.—Mr. Herndon'sinterview with McNamar.—Ann's grave.—The Concord cemetery...159
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.Bennett Able and family.—Mary Owens.—Mr. Lincoln falls in love withher.—What she thought of him.—A misunderstanding.—Letters from MissOwens.—Mr. Lincoln's letters to her.—Humorous account of the affair ina letter from Mr. Lincoln to another lady......172
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.Mr. Lincoln takes his seat in the Legislature.—Schemes of internalimprovement.—Mr. Lincoln a silent member.—Meets Stephen A.Douglas.—Log-rolling.—Mr. Lincoln a candidate for re-election.—Thecanvass.—"The Long Nine."—Speech at Mechanicsburg.—Fight.—Reply toDr. Early.—Reply to George Forquer.—Trick on Dick Taylor.—Attemptsto create a third party.—Mr. Lincoln elected.—Federal and Statepolitics.—The Bank of the United States.—Suspension of speciepayments.—Mr. Lincoln wishes to be the De Witt Clinton ofIllinois.—The internal-improvement system.—Capital locatedat Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln's conception of the duty of arepresentative.—His part in passing the "system."—Beginshis antislavery record.—Public sentiment against theAbolitionists.—History of antislavery in Illinois.—TheCovenanters.—Struggle to amend the Constitution.—The "blackcode."—Death of Elijah P. Lovejoy.—Protest against proslaveryresolutions.—No sympathy with extremists.—Suspension ofspecie payments.—Mr. Lincoln re-elected in 1838.—Candidate forSpeaker.—Finances.—Utter failure of the internal-improvement"system."—Mr. Lincoln re-elected in 1840.—He introduces a bill.—Hisspeech.—Financial expedients.—Bitterness of feeling.—Democrats seekto hold a quorum.—Mr. Lincoln jumps out of a window.—Speech by Mr.Lincoln.—The alien question.—The Democrats undertake to "reform" thejudiciary.—Mr. Douglas a leader.—Protest of Mr. Lincoln andother Whigs.—Reminiscences of a colleague.—Dinner to "The LongNine."—"Abraham Lincoln one of nature's noblemen."..........184
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.Capital removed to Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln settles there to practiselaw.—First case.—Members of the bar.—Mr. Lincoln's partnership withJohn T. Stuart.—Population and condition of Springfield.—Lawyersand politicians.—Mr. Lincoln's intense ambition.—Lecture before theSpringfield Lyceum.—His style.—Political discussions runhigh.—Joshua F. Speed his most intimate friend.—Scene in Speed'sstore.—Debate.—Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn, and Thomas, against Lincoln,Logan, Baker, and Browning.—Presidential elector in 1840.—Stumpingfor Harrison.—Scene between Lincoln and Douglas in the Court-House.—Afailure.—Redeems himself.—Meets Miss Mary Todd.—She takes Mr. Lincolncaptive.—She refuses Douglas.—Engaged.—Miss Matilda Edwards.—Mr.Lincoln undergoes a change of heart.—Mr. Lincoln reveals to Mary thestate of his mind.—She releases him.—A reconciliation.—Every thingprepared for the wedding.—Mr. Lincoln fails to appear.—Insane.—Speedtakes him to Kentucky.—Lines on "Suicide."—His gloom.—Returnto Springfield.—Secret meetings with Miss Todd.—Suddenmarriage.—Correspondence with Mr. Speed on delicate subjects.—Relicsof a great man and a great agony.—Miss Todd attacks James Shields incertain witty and sarcastic letters.—Mr. Lincoln's name "given up"as the author.—Challenged by Shields.—A meeting and anexplanation.—Correspondence.—Candidate for Congressionalnomination.—Letters to Speed and Morris.—Defeat.. 223
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.Mr. Lincoln a candidate for elector in 1844.—Debates withCalhoun.—Speaks in Illinois and Indiana.—At Gentryville.—Lincoln,Baker, Logan, Hardin, aspirants for Congress.—Supposedbargain.—Canvass for Whig nomination in 1846.—Mr. Lincolnnominated.—Opposed by Peter Cartwright.—Mr. Lincoln called adeist.—Elected.—Takes his seat.—Distinguished members.—Opposedto the Mexican War.—The "Spot Resolutions."—Speech of Mr.Lincoln.—Murmurs of disapprobation.—Mr. Lincoln for "Old Rough" in1848.—Defections at home.—Mr. Lincoln's campaign.—Speech.—Passagenot generally published.—Letter to his father.—Second session.—The"Gott Resolution."—Mr. Lincoln's substitute..............274
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.Mr. Lincoln in his character of country lawyer.—Public feeling atthe time of his death.—Judge Davis's address at a bar-meeting.—JudgeDrummond's address.—Mr. Lincoln's partnership with John T.Stuart.—With Stephen. T. Logan.—With William H. Herndon.—Mr.Lincoln "a case-lawyer."—Slow.—Conscientious.—Henry McHenry'scase.—Circumstantial evidence.—A startling case.—Mr. Lincoln'saccount of it.—His first case in the Supreme Court.—Could not defend abad case.—Ignorance of technicalities.—The Eighth Circuit.—Happyon the circuit.—Style of travelling.—His relations.—Young Johnsonindicted.—Mr. Lincoln's kindness.—Jack Armstrong's son triedfor murder.—Mr. Lincoln defends him.—Alleged use of a falsealmanac.—Prisoner discharged.—Old Hannah's account of it.—Mr.Lincoln's suit against Illinois Central Railway Company.—McCormickReaping Machine case.—Treatment by Edwin M. Stanton........311
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.Mr. Lincoln not a candidate for re-election.—Judge Logan's defeat.—Mr.Lincoln an applicant for Commissioner of the Land Office.—Offered theGovernorship of Oregon.—Views concerning the Missouri Compromiseand Compromise of 1850.—Declines to be a candidate for Congress in1850.—Death of Thomas Lincoln.—Correspondence between Mr. Lincolnand John Johnston.—Eulogy on Henry Clay.—In favor of voluntaryemancipation and colonization.—Answer to Mr. Douglas's Richmondspeech.—Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.—Mr. Lincoln's viewsconcerning slavery.—Opposed to conferring political privilegesupon negroes.—Aroused by the repeal of the MissouriCompromise.—Anti-Nebraska party.—Mr. Lincoln the leader.—Mr. Douglasspeaks at Chicago.—At Springfield.—Mr. Lincoln replies.—Agreat speech.—Mr. Douglas rejoins.—The Abolitionists.—Mr.Herndon.—Determined to make Mr. Lincoln an Abolitionist.—They refuseto enter the Know-Nothing lodges.—The Abolitionists desire to forceMr. Lincoln to take a stand.—He runs away from Springfield.—Heis requested to "follow up" Mr. Douglas.—Speech atPeoria.—Extract.—Slavery and popular sovereignty.—Mr. Lincoln andMr. Douglas agree not to speak any more.—The election.—Mr. Lincolnannounced for the Legislature by Wm. Jayne.—Mrs. Lincoln withdraws hisname.—Jayne restores it.—He is elected.—A candidate for United-StatesSenator.—Resigns his seat.—Is censured.—Anti-Nebraska majority inthe Legislature.—The balloting.—Danger of Governor Matteson'selection.—Mr. Lincoln advises his friends to vote for JudgeTrumbull.—Trumbull elected.—Charges of conspiracy and corruptbargain.—Mr. Lincoln's denial.—Mr. Douglas imputes to Mr. Lincolnextreme Abolitionist views.—Mr. Lincoln's answer.............333
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.The struggle in Kansas.—The South begins the struggle.—The North meetsit.—The Missourians and other proslavery forces.—Andrew H. Reederappointed governor.—Election frauds.—Mr. Lincoln's views onKansas.—Gov. Shannon arrives in the Territory.—The Free State menrepudiate the Legislature.—Mr. Lincoln's "little speech" to theAbolitionists of Illinois.—Mr. Lincoln's party relations.—Mr. Lincolnagrees to meet the Abolitionists.—Convention at Bloomington.—Mr.Lincoln considered a convert.—His great speech.—Conservativeresolutions.—Ludicrous failure of a ratification meeting atSpringfield.—Mr. Lincoln's remarks.—Plot to break up the Know-Nothingparty.—"National" Republican Convention.—Mr. Lincoln receivesa hundred and ten votes for Vice-President.—National DemocraticConvention.—Mr. Lincoln a candidate for elector.—Hiscanvass.—Confidential letter.—Imperfect fellowship with theAbolitionists.—Mr. Douglas's speech on Kansas in June, 1857.—Mr.Lincoln's reply.—Mr. Douglas committed to support of the LecomptonConstitution.—The Dred Scott Decision discussed.—Mr. Lincolnagainst negro equality.—Affairs in Kansas.—Election of a newLegislature.—Submission of the Lecompton Constitution tothe people.—Method of voting on it.—Constitution finallyrejected.—Conflict in Congress.—Mr. Douglas's defection.—Extract froma speech by Mr. Lincoln........366
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.Mr. Douglas opposes the Administration.—His course inCongress.—Squatter sovereignty in full operation.—Mr. Lincoln'sdefinition of popular sovereignty and squatter sovereignty.—Mr.Douglas's private conferences with Republicans.—"Judge Trumbull'sopinion.—Mr. Douglas nominated for senator by a DemocraticConvention.—Mr. Lincoln's idea of what Douglas might accomplish atCharleston.—Mr. Lincoln writing a celebrated speech.—He is nominatedfor senator.—A startling doctrine.—A council of friends.—Samedoctrine advanced at Bloomington.—The "house-divided" speech.—Mr.Lincoln promises to explain.—What Mr. Lincoln thought of Mr.Douglas.—What Mr. Douglas thought of Mr. Lincoln.—Popular canvass forsenator.—Mr. Lincoln determines to "kill Douglas" as aPresidential aspirant.—Adroit plan to draw him out on squattersovereignty.—Absurdities of Mr. Douglas.—The election.—Success of Mr.Douglas.—Reputation acquired by Mr. Lincoln..................389
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.Mr. Lincoln writes and delivers a lecture.—The Presidency.—Mr.Lincoln's "running qualities."—He thinks himself unfit.—Nominated by"Illinois Gazette."—Letter to Dr. Canisius.—Letter to Dr. Wallaceon the protective tariff policy.—Mr. Lincoln in Ohio and Kansas.—Aprivate meeting of his friends.—Permitted to use his name forthe Presidency.—An invitation to speak in New York.—Choosing asubject.—Arrives in New York.—His embarrassments.—Speech in CooperInstitute.—Comments of the press.—He is charged with mercenaryconduct.—Letter concerning the charge.—Visits New England.—Styleand character of his speeches.—An amusing encounter with a clericalpolitician...421
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.Meeting of the Republican State Convention.—Mr. Lincoln present.—JohnHanks and the rails.—Mr. Lincoln's speech.—Meeting of the RepublicanNational Convention at Chicago.—The platform.—Combinations to secureMr. Lincoln's nomination.—The balloting.—Mr. Lincoln nominated.—Mr.Lincoln at Springfield waiting the results of the Convention.—Howhe received the news.—Enthusiasm at Springfield.—Officialnotification.—The "Constitutional Union" party.—The DemocraticConventions at Charleston and Baltimore.—The election.—Theprinciple upon which Mr. Lincoln proposed to make appointments.—Mr.Stephens.—Mr. Gilmore.—Mr. Guthrie.—Mr. Seward.—Mr. Chase.—Mr.Bates.—The cases of Smith and Cameron.—Mr. Lincoln's visitto Chicago.—Mr. Lincoln's visit to his relatives in ColesCounty.—Apprehensions about assassination.—A visit from HannahArmstrong... 444
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.Difficulties and peculiarities of Mr. Lincoln's position.—A generalreview of his character.—His personal appearance and habits.—His houseand other property.—His domestic relations.—His morbid melancholyand superstition.—Illustrated by his literary tastes.—His humor.—Histemperate habits and abstinence from sensual pleasures.—Hisambition.—Use of politics for personal advancement.—Love of powerand place.—Of justice.—Not a demagogue or a trimmer.—His religiousviews.—Attempt of the Rev. Mr. Smith to convert him.—Mr. Bateman'sstory as related by Dr. Holland.—Effect of his belief upon his mind andcharacter...........466
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.Departure of the Presidential party from Springfield.—Affecting addressby Mr. Lincoln to his friends and neighbors.—His opinions concerningthe approaching civil war.—Discovery of a supposed plot to murderhim at Baltimore.—Governor Hicks's proposal to "kill Lincoln and hismen."—The plan formed to defeat the conspiracy.—The midnight ridefrom Harrisburg to Washington.—Arrival in Washington.—Before theInauguration.—Inauguration Day.—Inaugural Address.—Mr. Lincoln'sOath.—Mr. Lincoln President of the United States.—Mr. Buchanan bidshim farewell............505
ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born on the twelfth day of February, 1809. His father's name was Thomas Lincoln, and his mother's maiden name was Nancy Hanks. At the time of his birth, they are supposed to have been married about three years. Although there appears to have been but little sympathy or affection between Thomas and Abraham Lincoln, they were nevertheless connected by ties and associations which make the previous history of Thomas Lincoln and his family a necessary part of any reasonably full biography of the great man who immortalized the name by wearing it.
Thomas Lincoln's ancestors were among the early settlers of Rockingham County in Virginia; but exactly whence they came, or the precise time of their settlement there, it is impossible to tell. They were manifestly of English descent; but whether emigrants directly from England to Virginia, or an offshoot of the historic Lincoln family in Massachusetts, or of the highly-respectable Lincoln family in Pennsylvania, are questions left entirely to conjecture. We have absolutely no evidence by which to determine them, Thomas Lincoln himself stoutly denied that his progenitors were either Quakers or Puritans; but he furnished nothing except his own word to sustain his denial: on the contrary, some of the family (distant relatives of Thomas Lincoln) who remain in Virginia believe themselves to have sprung from the New-England stock. They found their opinion solely on the fact that the Christian names given to the sons of the two families were the same, though only in a few cases, and at different times. But this might have arisen merely from that common religious sentiment which induces parents of a devotional turn to confer scriptural names on their children, or it might have been purely accidental. Abrahams, Isaacs, and Jacobs abound in many other families who claim no kindred on that account. In England, during the ascendency of the Puritans, in times of fanatical religious excitement, the children were almost universally baptized by the names of the patriarchs and Old-Testament heroes, or by names of their own pious invention, signifying what the infant was expected to do and to suffer in the cause of the Lord. The progenitors of all the American Lincolns were Englishmen, and they may have been Puritans. There is, therefore, nothing unreasonable in the supposition that they began the practice of conferring such names before the emigration of any of them; and the names, becoming matters of family pride and family tradition, have continued to be given ever since. But, if the fact that Christian names of a particular class prevailed among the Lincolns of Massachusetts and the Lincolns of Virginia at the same time is no proof of consanguinity, the identity of the surname is entitled to even less consideration. It is barely possible that they may have had a common ancestor; but, if they had, he must have lived and died so obscurely, and so long ago, that no trace of him can be discovered. It would be as difficult to prove a blood relationship between all the American Lincolns, as it would be to prove a general cousinship among all the Smiths or all the Joneses.1
1 At the end of this volume will be found a very interesting account of the family, given by Mr. Lincoln himself. The original is in his own handwriting, and is here reproduced in fac-simile.
1 At the end of this volume will be found a very interesting account of the family, given by Mr. Lincoln himself. The original is in his own handwriting, and is here reproduced in fac-simile.
A patronymic so common as Lincoln, derived from a large geographical division of the old country, would almost certainly be taken by many who had no claim to it by reason of descent from its original possessors.
Dr. Holland, who, of all Mr. Lincoln's biographers, has entered most extensively into the genealogy of the family, says that the father of Thomas was named Abraham; but he gives no authority for his statement, and it is as likely to be wrong as to be right. The Hankses—John and Dennis—who passed a great part of their lives in the company of Thomas Lincoln, tell us that the name of his father was Mordecai; and so also does Col. Chapman, who married Thomas Lincoln's step-daughter. The rest of those who ought to know are unable to assign him any name at all. Dr. Holland says further, that this Abraham (or Mordecai) had four brothers,—Jacob, John, Isaac, and Thomas; that Isaac went to Tennessee, where his descendants are now; that Thomas went to Kentucky after his brother Abraham; but that Jacob and John "are supposed to have" remained in Virginia.1 This is doubtless true, at least so far as it relates to Jacob and John; for there are at this day numerous Lincolns residing in Rockingham County,—the place from which the Kentucky Lincolns emigrated. One of their ancestors, Jacob,—who seems to be the brother referred to,—was a lieutenant in the army of the Revolution, and present at the siege of Yorktown. His military services were made the ground of a claim against the government, and Abraham Lincoln, whilst a representative in Congress from Illinois, was applied to by the family to assist them in prosecuting it. A correspondence of some length ensued, by which the presumed relationship of the parties was fully acknowledged on both sides. But, unfortunately, no copy of it is now in existence. The one preserved by the Virginians was lost or destroyed during the late war. The family, with perfect unanimity, espoused the cause of the Confederate States, and suffered many losses in consequence, of which these interesting papers may have been one.
1 The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by J. G. Holland, p. 20.
1 The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by J. G. Holland, p. 20.
Abraham (or Mordecai) the father of Thomas Lincoln, was the owner of a large and fertile tract of land on the waters of Linnville's Creek, about eight miles north of Harrisonburg, the court-house town of Rockingham County. It is difficult to ascertain the precise extent of this plantation, or the history of the title to it, inasmuch as all the records of the county were burnt by Gen. Hunter in 1864. It is clear, however, that it had been inherited by Lincoln, the emigrant to Kentucky, and that four, if not all, of his children were born upon it. At the time Gen. Sheridan received the order "to make the Valley of the Shenandoah a barren waste," this land was well improved and in a state of high cultivation; but under the operation of that order it was ravaged and desolated like the region around it.
Lincoln, the emigrant, had three sons and two daughters. Thomas was the third son and the fourth child. He was born in 1778; and in 1780, or a little later, his father removed with his entire family to Kentucky.
Kentucky was then the paradise of the borderer's dreams. Fabulous tales of its sylvan charms and pastoral beauties had for years been floating about, not only along the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, but farther back in the older settlements. For a while it had been known as the "Cane Country," and then as the "Country of Kentucky." Many expeditions were undertaken to explore it; two or three adventurers, and occasionally only one at a time, passing down the Ohio in canoes. But they all stopped short of the Kentucky River. The Indians were terrible; and it was known that they would surrender any other spot of earth in preference to Kentucky. The canes that were supposed to indicate the promised land—those canes of wondrous dimensions, that shot up, as thick as they could stand, from a soil of inestimable fertility—were forever receding before those who sought them. One party after another returned to report, that, after incredible dangers and hardships, they had met with no better fortune than that which had attended the efforts of their predecessors, and that they had utterly failed to find the "canes." At last they were actually found by Simon Kenton, who stealthily planted a little patch of corn, to see how the stalk that bore the yellow grain would grow beside its "brother" of the wilderness. He was one day leaning against the stem of a great tree, watching his little assemblage of sprouts, and wondering at the strange fruitfulness of the earth which fed them, when he heard a footstep behind him. It was the great Daniel Boone's. They united their fortunes for the present, but subsequently each of them became the chief of a considerable settlement. Kenton's trail had been down the Ohio, Boone's from North Carolina; and from both those directions soon came hunters, warriors, and settlers to join them. But the Indians had no thought of relinquishing their fairest hunting-grounds without a long and desperate struggle. The rich carpet of natural grasses which fed innumerable herds of buffalo, elk, and deer, all the year round; the grandeur of its primeval forests, its pure fountains, and abundant streams,—made it even more desirable to them than to the whites. They had long contended for the possession of it; and no tribe, or confederacy of tribes, had ever been able to hold it to the exclusion of the rest. Here, from time immemorial, the northern and southern, the eastern and western Indians had met each other in mortal strife, mutually shedding the blood which ought to have been husbanded for the more deadly conflict with a common foe. The character of this savage warfare had earned for Kentucky the appellation of "the dark and bloody ground;" and, now that the whites had fairly begun their encroachments upon it, the Indians were resolved that the phrase should lose none of its old significance. White settlers might therefore count upon fighting for their lives as well as their lands.
Boone did not make his final settlement till 1775. The Lincolns came about 1780. This was but a year or two after Clark's expedition into Illinois; and it was long, long before St. Clair's defeat and Wayne's victory. Nearly the whole of the north-west territory was then occupied by hostile Indians. Kentucky volunteers had yet before them many a day of hot and bloody work on the Ohio, the Muskingum, and the Miami, to say nothing of the continual surprises to which they were subjected at home. Every man's life was in his hand. From cabin to cabin, from settlement to settlement, his trail was dogged by the eager savage. If he went to plough, he was liable to be shot down between the handles; if he attempted to procure subsistence by hunting, he was hunted himself. Unless he abandoned his "clearing" and his stock to almost certain devastation, and shut up himself and his family in a narrow "fort," for months at a time, he might expect every hour that their roof would be given "to the flames, and their flesh to the eagles."
To make matters worse, "the western country," and particularly Kentucky, had become the rendezvous of Tories, runaway conscripts, deserters, debtors, and criminals. Gen. Butler, who went there as a Commissioner from Congress, to treat with certain Indian tribes, kept a private journal, in which he entered a very graphic, but a very appalling description of the state of affairs in Kentucky. At the principal "points," as they were called, were collected hungry speculators, gamblers, and mere desperadoes,—these distinctions being the only divisions and degrees in society. Among other things, the journal contains a statement about land-jobbing and the traffic in town lots, at Louisville, beside which the account of the same business in "Martin Chuzzlewit" is absolutely tame. That city, now one of the most superb in the Union, was then a small collection of cabins and hovels, inhabited by a class of people of whom specimens might have been found a few months ago at Cheyenne or Promontory Point. Notwithstanding the high commissions borne by Gen. Butler and Gen. Parsons, the motley inhabitants of Louisville flatly refused even to notice them. They would probably have sold them a "corner lot" in a swamp, or a "splendid business site" in a mud-hole; but for mere civilities there was no time. The whole population were so deeply engaged in drinking, card-playing, and selling town lots to each other, that they persistently refused to pay any attention to three men who were drowning in the river near by, although their dismal cries for help were distinctly heard throughout the "city."
On the journey out, the Lincolns are said to have endured many hardships and encountered all the usual dangers, including several skirmishes with the Indians. They settled in Mercer County, but at what particular spot is uncertain. Their house was a rough log-cabin, their farm a little clearing in the midst of a vast forest. One morning, not long after their settlement, the father took Thomas, his youngest son, and went to build a fence, a short distance from the house; while the other brothers, Mordecai and Josiah, were sent to another field, not far away. They were all intent about their work, when a shot from a party of Indians in ambush broke the "listening stillness" cf the woods. The father fell dead; Josiah ran to a stockade two or three miles off; Mordecai, the eldest boy, made his way to the house, and, looking out from the loophole in the loft, saw an Indian in the act of raising his little brother from the ground. He took deliberate aim at a silver ornament on the breast of the Indian, and brought him down. Thomas sprang toward the cabin, and was admitted by his mother, while Mordecai renewed his fire at several other Indians that rose from the covert of the fence or thicket. It was not long until Josiah returned from the stockade with a party of settlers; but the Indians had fled, and none were found but the dead one, and another who was wounded and had crept into the top of a fallen tree.
When this tragedy was enacted, Mordecai, the hero of it, was a well-grown boy. He seems to have hated Indians ever after with a hatred which was singular for its intensity, even in those times. Many years afterwards, his neighbors believed that he was in the habit of following peaceable Indians, as they passed through the settlements, in order to get surreptitious shots at them; and it was no secret that he had killed more than one in that way.
Immediately after the death of her husband, the widow abandoned the scene of her misfortunes, and removed to Washington County, near the town of Springfield, where she lived until the youngest of her children had grown up. Mor-decai and Josiah remained there until late in life, and were always numbered among the best people in the neighborhood. Mordecai was the eldest son of his father; and under the law of primogeniture, which was still a part of the Virginia code, he inherited some estate in lands. One of the daughters wedded a Mr. Krume, and the other a Mr. Brumfield.
Thomas seems to have been the only member of the family whose character was not entirely respectable. He was idle, thriftless, poor, a hunter, and a rover. One year he wandered away off to his uncle, on the Holston, near the confines of Tennessee. Another year he wandered into Breckinridge County, where his easy good-nature was overcome by a huge bully, and he performed the only remarkable achievement of his life, by whipping him. In 1806, we find him in Hardin County, trying to learn the carpenter's trade. Until then, he could neither read nor write; and it was only after his marriage that his ambition led him to seek accomplishments of this sort.
Thomas Lincoln was not tall and thin, like Abraham, but comparatively short and stout, standing about five feet ten inches in his shoes. His hair was dark and coarse, his complexion brown, his face round and full, his eyes gray, and his nose large and prominent. He weighed, at different times, from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety-six. He was built so "tight and compact," that Dennis Hanks declares he never could find the points of separation between his ribs, though he felt for them often. He was a little stoop-shouldered, and walked with a slow, halting step. But he was sinewy and brave, and, his habitually peaceable disposition once fairly overborne, was a tremendous man in a rough-and-tumble fight. He thrashed the monstrous bully of Breckinridge County in three minutes, and came off without a scratch.
His vagrant career had supplied him with an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, which he told cleverly and well. He loved to sit about at "stores," or under shade-trees, and "spin yarns,"—a propensity which atoned for many sins, and made him extremely popular. In politics, he was a Democrat,—a Jackson Democrat. In religion he was nothing at times, and a member of various denominations by turns,—a Free-Will Baptist in Kentucky, a Presbyterian in Indiana, and a Disciple—vulgarly called Campbellite—in Illinois. In this latter communion he seems to have died.
It ought, perhaps, to be mentioned, that both in Virginia and Kentucky his name was commonly pronounced "Linck-horn," and in Indiana, "Linckhern." The usage was so general, that Tom Lincoln came very near losing his real name altogether. As he never wrote it at all until after his marriage, and wrote it then only mechanically, it was never spelled one way or the other, unless by a storekeeper here and there, who had a small account against him. Whether it was properly "Lincoln," "Linckhorn," or "Linckhern," was not definitely settled until after Abraham began to write, when, as one of the neighbors has it, "he remodelled the spelling and corrected the pronunciation."
By the middle of 1806, Lincoln had acquired a very limited knowledge of the carpenter's trade, and set up on his own account; but his achievements in this line were no better than those of his previous life. He was employed occasionally to do rough work, that requires neither science nor skill; but nobody alleges that he ever built a house, or pretended to do more than a few little odd jobs connected with such an undertaking. He soon got tired of the business, as he did of every thing else that required application and labor. He was no boss, not even an average journeyman, nor a steady hand. When he worked at the trade at all, he liked to make common benches, cupboards, and bureaus; and some specimens of his work of this kind are still extant in Kentucky and Indiana, and bear their own testimony to the quality of their workmanship.
Some time in the year 1806 he married Nancy Hanks. It was in the shop of her uncle, Joseph Hanks, at Elizabethtown, in Hardin County, that he had essayed to learn the trade. We have no record of the courtship, but any one can readily imagine the numberless occasions that would bring together the niece and the apprentice. It is true that Nancy did not live with her uncle; but the Hankses were all very clannish, and she was doubtless a welcome and frequent guest at his house. It is admitted by all the old residents of the place that they were honestly married, but precisely when or how no one can tell. Diligent and thorough searches by the most competent persons have failed to discover any trace of the fact in the public records of Hardin and the adjoining counties. The license and the minister's return in the case of Lincoln and Sarah Johnston, his second wife, were easily found in the place where the law required them to be; but of Nancy Hanks's marriage there exists no evidence but that of mutual acknowledgment and cohabitation. At the time of their union, Thomas was twenty-eight years of age, and Nancy about twenty-three.
Lincoln had previously courted a girl named Sally Bush, who lived in the neighborhood of Elizabethtown; but his suit was unsuccessful, and she became the wife of Johnston, the jailer. Her reason for rejecting Lincoln comes down to us in no words of her own; but it is clear enough that it was his want of character, and the "bad luck," as the Hankses have it, which always attended him. Sally Bush was a modest and pious girl, in all things pure and decent. She was very neat in her personal appearance, and, because she was particular in the selection of her gowns and company, had long been accounted a "proud body," who held her head above common folks. Even her own relatives seem to have participated in this mean accusation; and the decency of her dress and behavior appear to have made her an object of common envy and backbiting. But she had a will as well as principles of her own, and she lived to make them both serviceable to the neglected and destitute son of Nancy Hanks. Thomas Lincoln took another wife, but he always loved Sally Bush as much as he was capable of loving anybody; and years afterwards, when her husband and his wife were both dead, he returned suddenly from the wilds of Indiana, and, representing himself as a thriving and prosperous farmer, induced her to marry him. It will be seen hereafter what value was to be attached to his representations of his own prosperity.
Nancy Hanks, who accepted the honor which Sally Bush refused, was a slender, symmetrical woman, of medium stature, a brunette, with dark hair, regular features, and soft, sparkling hazel eyes. Tenderly bred she might have been beautiful; but hard labor and hard usage bent her handsome form, and imparted an unnatural coarseness to her features long before the period of her death. Toward the close, her life and her face were equally sad; and the latter habitually wore the wo-ful expression which afterwards distinguished the countenance of her son in repose.
By her family, her understanding was considered something wonderful. John Hanks spoke reverently of her "high and intellectual forehead," which he considered but the proper seat of faculties like hers. Compared with the mental poverty of her husband and relatives, her accomplishments were certainly very great; for it is related by them with pride and delight that she could actually read and write. The possession of these arts placed her far above her associates, and after a little while even Tom began to meditate upon the importance of acquiring them. He set to work accordingly, in real earnest, having a competent mistress so near at hand; and with much effort she taught him what letters composed his name, and how to put them together in a stiff and clumsy fashion. Henceforth he signed no more by making his mark; but it is nowhere stated that he ever learned to write any thing else, or to read either written or printed letters.
Nancy Hanks was the daughter of Lucy Hanks. Her mother was one of four sisters,—Lucy, Betsy, Polly, and Nancy. Betsy married Thomas Sparrow; Polly married Jesse Friend, and Nancy, Levi Hall. Lucy became the wife of Henry Sparrow, and the mother of eight children. Nancy the younger was early sent to live with her uncle and aunt, Thomas and Betsy Sparrow. Nancy, another of the four sisters, was the mother of that Dennis F. Hanks whose name will be frequently met with in the course of this history. He also was brought up, or was permitted to come up, in the family of Thomas Sparrow, where Nancy found a shelter.
Little Nancy became so completely identified with Thomas and Betsy Sparrow that many supposed her to have been their child. They reared her to womanhood, followed her to Indiana, dwelt under the same roof, died of the same disease, at nearly the same time, and were buried close beside her. They were the only parents she ever knew; and she must have called them by names appropriate to that relationship, for several persons who saw them die, and carried them to their graves, believe to this day that they were, in fact, her father and mother. Dennis Hanks persists even now in the assertion that her name was Sparrow; but Dennis was pitiably weak on the cross-examination: and we shall have to accept the testimony of Mr. Lincoln himself, and some dozens of other persons, to the contrary.
All that can be learned of that generation of Hankses to which Nancy's mother belonged has now been recorded as fully as is compatible with circumstances. They claim that their ancestors came from England to Virginia, whence they migrated to Kentucky with the Lincolns, and settled near them in Mercer County. The same, precisely, is affirmed of the Sparrows. Branches of both families maintained a more or less intimate connection with the fortunes of Thomas Lincoln, and the early life of Abraham was closely interwoven with theirs.
Lincoln took Nancy to live in a shed on one of the alleys of Elizabethtown. It was a very sorry building, and nearly bare of furniture. It stands yet, or did stand in 1866, to witness for itself the wretched poverty of its early inmates. It is about fourteen feet square, has been three times removed, twice used as a slaughter-house, and once as a stable. Here a daughter was born on the tenth day of February, 1807, who was called Nancy during the life of her mother, and after her death Sarah.
But Lincoln soon wearied of Elizabethtown and carpenter-work. He thought he could do better as a farmer; and, shortly after the birth of Nancy (or Sarah), removed to a piece of land on the south fork of Nolin Creek, three miles from Hodgensville, within the present county of La Rue, and about thirteen miles from Elizabethtown. What estate he had, or attempted to get, in this land, is not clear from the papers at hand. It is said he bought it, but was unable to pay for it. It was very poor, and the landscape of which it formed a part was extremely desolate. It was then nearly destitute of timber, though it is now partially covered in spots by a young and stunted growth of post-oak and hickory. On every side the eye rested only upon weeds and low bushes, and a kind of grass which the present owner of the farm describes as "barren grass." It was, on the whole, as bad a piece of ground as there was in the neighborhood, and would hardly have sold for a dollar an acre. The general appearance of the surrounding country was not much better. A few small but pleasant streams—Nolin Creek and its tributaries—wandered through the valleys. The land was generally what is called "rolling;" that is, dead levels interspersed by little hillocks. Nearly all of it was arable; but, except the margins of the watercourses, not much of it was sufficiently fertile to repay the labor of tillage. It had no grand, un violated forests to allure the hunter, and no great bodies of deep and rich soils to tempt the husbandman. Here it was only by incessant labor and thrifty habits that an ordinary living could be wrung from the earth.
The family took up their residence in a miserable cabin, which stood on a little knoll in the midst of a barren glade.
A few stones tumbled down, and lying about loose, still indicate the site of the mean and narrow tenement which sheltered the infancy of one of the greatest political chieftains of modern times. Near by, a "romantic spring" gushed from beneath a rock, and sent forth a slender but silvery stream, meandering through those dull and unsightly plains. As it furnished almost the only pleasing feature in the melancholy desert through which it flowed, the place was called after it, "Rock Spring Farm." In addition to this single natural beauty, Lincoln began to think, in a little while, that a couple of trees would look well, and might even be useful, if judiciously planted in the vicinity of his bare house-yard. This enterprise he actually put into execution; and three decayed pear-trees, situated on the "edge" of what was lately a rye-field, constitute the only memorials of him or his family to be seen about the premises. They were his sole permanent improvement.
In that solitary cabin, on this desolate spot, the illustrious Abraham Lincoln was born on the twelfth day of February, 1809.
The Lincolns remained on Nolin Creek until Abraham was four years old. They then removed to a place much more picturesque, and of far greater fertility. It was situated about six miles from Hodgensville, on Knob Creek, a very clear stream, which took its rise in the gorges of Muldrews Hill, and fell into the Rolling Fork two miles above the present town of New Haven. The Rolling Fork emptied into Salt River, and Salt River into the Ohio, twenty-four miles below Louisville. This farm was well timbered, and more hilly than the one on Nolin Creek. It contained some rich valleys, which promised such excellent yields, that Lincoln bestirred himself most vigorously, and actually got into cultivation the whole of six acres, lying advantageously up and down the branch. This, however, was not all the work he did, for he still continued to pother occasionally at his trade; but, no matter what he turned his hand to, his gains were equally insignificant. He was satisfied with indifferent shelter, and a diet of "corn-bread and milk" was all he asked. John Hanks naively observes, that "happiness was the end of life with him." The land he now lived upon (two hundred and thirty-eight acres) he had pretended to buy from a Mr. Slater. The deed mentions a consideration of one hundred and eighteen pounds. The purchase must have been a mere speculation, with all the payments deferred, for the title remained in Lincoln but a single year. The deed was made to him Sept. 2, 1813; and Oct. 27, 1814, he conveyed two hundred acres to Charles Milton for one hundred pounds, leaving thirty-eight acres of the tract unsold. No public record discloses what he did with the remainder. If he retained any interest in it for-the time, it was probably permitted to be sold for taxes. The last of his voluntary transactions, in regard to this land, took place two years before his removal to Indiana; after which, he seems to have continued in possession as the tenant of Milton.
In the mean time, Dennis Hanks endeavored to initiate young Abraham, now approaching his eighth year, in the mysteries of fishing, and led him on numerous tramps up and down the picturesque branch,—the branch whose waters were so pure that a white pebble could be seen in a depth of ten feet. On Nolin he had hunted ground-hogs with an older boy, who has since become the Rev. John Duncan, and betrayed a precocious zest in the sport. On Knob Creek, he dabbled in the water, or roved the hills and climbed the trees, with a little companion named Gallaher. On one occasion, when attempting to "coon" across the stream, by swinging over on a sycamore-tree, Abraham lost his hold, and, tumbling into deep water, was saved only by the utmost exertions of the other boy. But, with all this play, the child was often serious and sad. With the earliest dawn of reason, he began to suffer and endure; and it was that peculiar moral training which developed both his heart and his intellect with such singular and astonishing rapidity. It is not likely that Tom Lincoln cared a straw about his education. He had none himself, and is said to have admired "muscle" more than mind. Nevertheless, as Abraham's sister was going to school for a few days at a time, he was sent along, as Dennis Hanks remarks, more to bear her company than with any expectation or desire that he would learn much himself. One of the masters, Zachariah Riney, taught near the Lincoln cabin. The other, Caleb Hazel, kept his school nearly four miles away, on the "Friend" farm; and the hapless children were compelled to trudge that long and weary distance with spelling-book and "dinner,"—the latter a lunch of corn-bread, Tom Lincoln's favorite dish. Hazel could teach reading and writing, after a fashion, and a little arithmetic. But his great qualification for his office lay in the strength of his arm, and his power and readiness to "whip the big boys."
But, as time wore on, the infelicities of Lincoln's life in this neighborhood became insupportable. He was gaining neither riches nor credit; and, being a wanderer by natural inclination, began to long for a change. His decision, however, was hastened by certain troubles which culminated in a desperate combat between him and one Abraham Enlow. They fought like savages; but Lincoln obtained a signal and permanent advantage by biting off the nose of his antagonist, so that he went bereft all the days of his life, and published his audacity and its punishment wherever he showed his face. But the affray, and the fame of it, made Lincoln more anxious than ever to escape from Kentucky. He resolved, therefore, to leave these scenes forever, and seek a roof-tree beyond the Ohio.
It has pleased some of Mr. Lincoln's biographers to represent this removal of his father as a flight from the taint of slavery. Nothing could be further from the truth. There were not at the time more than fifty slaves in all Hardin County, which then composed a vast area of territory. It was practically a free community. Lincoln's more fortunate relatives in other parts of the State were slaveholders; and there is not the slightest evidence that he ever disclosed any conscientious scruples concerning the "institution."
The lives of his father and mother, and the history and character of the family before their settlement in Indiana, were topics upon which Mr. Lincoln never spoke but with great reluctance and significant reserve.
In his family Bible he kept a register of births, marriages, and deaths, every entry being carefully made in his own handwriting. It contains the date of his sister's birth and his own; of the marriage and death of his sister; of the death of his mother; and of the birth and death of Thomas Lincoln. The rest of the record is almost wholly devoted to the Johnstons and their numerous descendants and connections. It has not a word about the Hankses or the Sparrows. It shows the marriage of Sally Bush, first with Daniel Johnston, and then with Thomas Lincoln; but it is entirely silent as to the marriage of his own mother. It does not even give the date of her birth, but barely recognizes her existence and demise, to make the vacancy which was speedily filled by Sarah Johnston.1
1 The leaf of the Bible which contains these entries is in the possession of Col. Chapman.
1 The leaf of the Bible which contains these entries is in the possession of Col. Chapman.