LINCOLN SETTLES IN NEW SALEM.—HE BECOMES A GROCERY CLERK.—HIS POPULARITY
IN NEW SALEM.
The month in New Orleans passed swiftly, and in June, 1831, Lincoln and
his companions took passage up the river. He did not return, however, in
the usual way of the river boatman “out of a job.” According to his own
way of putting it, “during this boat-enterprise acquaintance with
Offutt, who was previously an entire stranger, he conceived a liking for
Abraham, and believing he could turn him to account, he contracted with
him to act as a clerk for him on his return from New Orleans, in charge
of a store and mill at New Salem.” The store and mill were, however, so
far only in Offutt’s imagination, and Lincoln had to drift about until
his employer was ready for him. He made a short visit to his father and
mother, now in Coles County, near Charleston (fever and ague had driven
the Lincolns from their first home in Macon County), and then, in July,
1831, he went to New Salem, where, as he says, he “stopped indefinitely,
and for the first time, as it were, by himself.”
[Illustration:
MAP OF NEW SALEM.—MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK.
Map drawn by J. McCan Davis, aided by surviving inhabitants of New
Salem. Dr. John Allen was the leading physician of New Salem. He was
a Yankee, and was at first looked upon with suspicion, but he was
soon conducting a Sunday-school and temperance society, though
strongly opposed by the conservative church people. Dr. Allen
attended Ann Rutledge in her last illness. He was thrifty, and,
moving to Petersburg in 1840, became wealthy. He died in 1860. Dr.
Francis Regnier was a rival physician and a respected citizen.
Samuel Hill and John McNeill (whose real name subsequently proved to
be McNamar) operated a general store next to Berry and Lincoln’s
grocery. Mr. Hill also owned the carding-machine. He moved his store
to Petersburg in 1839, and engaged in business there, dying quite
wealthy. Jack Kelso followed a variety of callings, being
occasionally a school-teacher, now and then a grocery clerk, and
always a fisher and hunter. He was a man of some culture, and when
warmed by liquor, quoted Shakespeare and Burns profusely, a habit
which won for him the close friendship of Lincoln. Joshua Miller was
a blacksmith, and lived in the same house with Kelso—a double house.
He is said to be still living, somewhere in Nebraska. Miller and
Kelso were brothers-in-law. Philemon Morris was a tinner. Henry
Onstott was a cooper by trade. He was an elder in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, and meetings were often held at his house. Rev.
John Berry, father of Lincoln’s partner, frequently preached there.
Robert Johnson was a wheelwright, and his wife took in weaving.
Martin Waddell was a hatter. He was the best-natured man in town,
Lincoln possibly excepted. The Trent brothers, who succeeded Berry
and Lincoln as proprietors of the store, worked in his shop for a
time. William Clary, one of the first settlers of New Salem, was one
of a numerous family, most of whom lived in the vicinity of “Clary’s
Grove.” Isaac Burner was the father of Daniel Green Burner, Berry
and Lincoln’s clerk. Alexander Ferguson worked at odd jobs. He had
two brothers, John and Elijah. Isaac Gollaher lived in a house
belonging to John Ferguson. “Row” Herndon, at whose house Lincoln
boarded for a year or more after going to New Salem, moved to the
country after selling his store to Berry and Lincoln. John Cameron,
one of the founders of the town, was a Presbyterian preacher and a
highly esteemed citizen.
]
The village of New Salem, the scene of Lincoln’s mercantile career, was
one of the many little towns which, in the pioneer days, sprang up along
the Sangamon River, a stream then looked upon as navigable and as
destined to be counted among the highways of commerce. Twenty miles
northwest of Springfield, strung along the left bank of the Sangamon,
parted by hollows and ravines, is a row of high hills. On one of these—a
long, narrow ridge, beginning with a sharp and sloping point near the
river, running south, and parallel with the stream a little way, and
then, reaching its highest point, making a sudden turn to the west, and
gradually widening until lost in the prairie—stood this frontier
village. The crooked river for a short distance comes from the east,
and, seemingly surprised at meeting the bluff, abruptly changes its
course, and flows to the north. Across the river the bottom stretches
out half a mile back to the highlands. New Salem, founded in 1829 by
James Rutledge and John Cameron, and a dozen years later a deserted
village, is rescued from oblivion only by the fact that Lincoln was once
one of its inhabitants. His first sight of the town had been in April,
1831, when he and his crew had been detained in getting their flatboat
over the Rutledge and Cameron mill-dam. When Lincoln walked into New
Salem, three months later, he was not altogether a stranger, for the
people remembered him as the ingenious flat-boatman who had freed his
boat from water (and thus enabled it to get over the dam) by resorting
to the miraculous expedient of boring a hole in the bottom.
[Illustration:
WILLIAM G. GREENE.
William G. Greene was one of the earliest friends of Lincoln at New
Salem. He stood on the bank of the Sangamon River on the 19th of
April, 1831, and watched Lincoln bore a hole in the bottom of the
flatboat which had lodged on the mill-dam, so that the water might
run out. A few months later he and Lincoln were both employed by the
enterprising Denton Offutt as clerks in the store and managers of
the mill which had been leased by Offutt. It was William G. Greene
who, returning home from college at Jacksonville on a vacation,
brought Richard Yates with him, and introduced him to Lincoln, the
latter being found stretched out on the cellar door of Bowling
Green’s cabin, reading a book. Mr. Greene was born in Tennessee in
1812, and went to Illinois in 1822. After the disappearance of New
Salem he removed to Tallula, a few miles away, where in after years
he engaged in the banking business. He died in 1894, after amassing
a fortune.
]
Offutt’s goods had not arrived when Mr. Lincoln reached New Salem; and
he “loafed” about, so those who remember his arrival say, good-naturedly
taking a hand in whatever he could find to do, and in his droll way
making friends of everybody. By chance, a bit of work fell to him almost
at once, which introduced him generally and gave him an opportunity to
make a name in the neighborhood. It was election day. The village
school-master, Mentor Graham by name, was clerk, but the assistant was
ill. Looking about for some one to help him, Mr. Graham saw a tall
stranger loitering around the polling-place, and called to him, “Can you
write?” “Yes,” said the stranger, “I can make a few rabbit tracks.” Mr.
Graham evidently was satisfied with the answer, for he promptly
initiated him; and he filled his place not only to the satisfaction of
his employer, but also to the delectation of the loiterers about the
polls, for whenever things dragged he immediately began “to spin out a
stock of Indiana yarns.” So droll were they that years afterward men who
listened to Lincoln that day repeated them to their friends. He had made
a hit in New Salem, to start with, and here, as in Sangamon town, it was
by means of his story-telling.
His next work was to pilot down the Sangamon and Illinois rivers, as far
as Beardstown, a flatboat bearing the family and goods of a pioneer
bound for Texas. At Beardstown he found Offutt’s goods, waiting to be
taken to New Salem. As he footed his way home he met two men with a
wagon and ox-team going for the goods. Offutt had expected Lincoln to
wait at Beardstown until the ox-team arrived, and the teamsters, not
having any credentials, asked Lincoln to give them an order for the
goods. This, sitting down by the roadside, he wrote out; and one of the
men used to relate that it contained a misspelled word, which he
corrected.
[Illustration:
A NEW SALEM SPINNING-WHEEL.
]
IN CHARGE OF DENTON OFFUTT’S STORE.
The precise date of the opening of Denton Offutt’s store is not known.
We only know that on July 8, 1831, the County Commissioners’ Court of
Sangamon County granted Offutt a license to retail merchandise at New
Salem, for which he paid five dollars, a fee which supposed him to have
one thousand dollars’ worth of goods in stock. When the oxen and their
drivers returned with the goods, the store was opened in a little log
house on the brink of the hill, almost over the river.
[Illustration:
A NEW SALEM INTERIOR, SHOWING GENUINE NEW SALEM COSTUMES AND FURNITURE
STILL EXTANT.
Reproduced by permission from “Menard-Salem-Lincoln Souvenir Album,”
Petersburg, Illinois, 1893.
]
The frontier store filled a unique place. Usually it was a “general
store,” and on its shelves were found most of the articles needed in a
community of pioneers. But to be a place for the sale of dry goods and
groceries was not its only function; it was a kind of intellectual and
social centre. It was the common meeting-place of the farmers, the happy
refuge of the village loungers. No subject was unknown there. The
_habitués_ of the place were equally at home in discussing politics,
religion, or sports. Stories were told, jokes were cracked and laughed
at, and the news contained in the latest newspaper finding its way into
the wilderness was repeated again and again. Such a store was that of
Denton Offutt. Lincoln could hardly have chosen surroundings more
favorable to the highest development of the art of story-telling, and he
had not been there long before his reputation for drollery was
established.
THE CLARY’S GROVE BOYS.
But he gained popularity and respect in other ways. There was near the
village a settlement called Clary’s Grove. The most conspicuous part of
the population was an organization known as the “Clary’s Grove Boys.”
They exercised a veritable terror over the neighborhood, and yet they
were not a vicious band. Mr. Herndon, who had a cousin living in New
Salem at the time, and who knew personally many of the “boys,” says:
“They were friendly and good-natured; they could trench a pond, dig a
bog, build a house; they could pray and fight, make a village or create
a State. They would do almost anything for sport or fun, love or
necessity. Though rude and rough; though life’s forces ran over the edge
of the bowl, foaming and sparkling in pure deviltry for deviltry’s sake,
yet place before them a poor man who needed their aid, a lame or sick
man, a defenceless woman, a widow, or an orphaned child, they melted
into sympathy and charity at once. They gave all they had, and willingly
toiled or played cards for more. Though there never was under the sun a
more generous parcel of rowdies, a stranger’s introduction was likely to
be the most unpleasant part of his acquaintance with them.”
[Illustration:
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF NEW SALEM HILL.
]
Denton Offutt, Lincoln’s employer, was just the man to love to boast
before such a crowd. He seemed to feel that Lincoln’s physical prowess
shed glory on himself, and he declared the country over that his clerk
could lift more, throw farther, run faster, jump higher, and wrestle
better than any man in Sangamon County. The Clary’s Grove Boys, of
course, felt in honor bound to prove this false, and they appointed
their best man, one Jack Armstrong, to “throw Abe.” Jack Armstrong was,
according to the testimony of all who remember him, a “powerful
twister,” “square built and strong as an ox,” “the best-made man that
ever lived;” and everybody knew the contest would be close. Lincoln did
not like to “tussle and scuffle;” he objected to “woolling and pulling;”
but Offutt had gone so far that it became necessary to yield. The match
was held on the ground near the grocery. Clary’s Grove and New Salem
turned out generally to witness the bout, and betting on the result ran
high, the community as a whole staking their jack-knives, tobacco-plugs,
and “treats” on Armstrong. The two men had scarcely taken hold of each
other before it was evident that the Clary’s Grove champion had met a
match. The two men wrestled long and hard, but both kept their feet.
Neither could throw the other, and Armstrong, convinced of this, tried a
“foul.” Lincoln no sooner realized the game of his antagonist than,
furious with indignation, he caught him by the throat and, holding him
out at arm’s length, “shook him like a child.” Armstrong’s friends
rushed to his aid, and for a moment it looked as if Lincoln would be
routed by sheer force of numbers. But he held his own so bravely that
the “boys,” in spite of their sympathies, were filled with admiration.
What bade fair to be a general fight ended in a general hand-shake, even
Jack Armstrong declaring that Lincoln was the “best fellow who ever
broke into the camp.” From that day, at the cock-fights and horse-races,
which were their common sports, he became the chosen umpire; and when
the entertainment broke up in a row—a not uncommon occurrence—he acted
the peacemaker without suffering the peacemaker’s usual fate. Such was
his reputation with the “Clary’s Grove Boys,” after three months in New
Salem, that when the fall muster came off he was elected captain.
[Illustration:
MENTOR GRAHAM.
Mentor Graham was the New Salem school-master. He it was who assisted
Lincoln in mastering Kirkham’s Grammar, and later gave him valuable
assistance when Lincoln was learning the theory of surveying. He
taught in a little log schoolhouse on a hill south of the village,
just across Green’s Rocky Branch. Among his pupils was Ann Rutledge,
and the school was often visited by Lincoln. In 1845 Mentor Graham
was defendant in a lawsuit in which Lincoln and Herndon were
attorneys for the plaintiff, Nancy Green. It appears from the
declaration, written by Lincoln’s own hand, that on October 28,
1844, Mentor Graham gave his note to Nancy Green for one hundred
dollars, with John Owen and Andrew Beerup as sureties, payable
twelve months after date. The note not being paid when due, suit was
brought. That Lincoln, even as an attorney, should sue Mentor Graham
may seem strange; but it is no surprise when it is explained that
the plaintiff was the widow of Bowling Green—the woman who, with her
husband, had comforted Lincoln in an hour of grief. Justice, too, in
this case was clearly on her side. The lawsuit seems never to have
disturbed the friendly relations between Lincoln and Mentor Graham.
The latter’s admiration for the former was unbounded to the day of
his death. Mentor Graham lived on his farm near the ruins of New
Salem until 1860, when he removed to Petersburg. There he lived
until 1885, when he removed to Greenview, Illinois. Later he went to
South Dakota, where he died about 1892, at the ripe old age of
ninety-odd years.
]
Lincoln showed soon that if he was unwilling to indulge in “woolling and
pulling” for amusement, he did not object to it in a case of honor. A
man came into the store one day when women were present, and used
profane language. Lincoln asked him to stop; but the man persisted,
swearing that nobody should prevent his saying what he wanted to. The
women gone, the man began to abuse Lincoln so hotly that the latter
finally said, “Well, if you must be whipped, I suppose I might as well
whip you as any other man;” and going outdoors with the fellow, he threw
him on the ground, and rubbed smart-weed in his eyes until he bellowed
for mercy. New Salem’s sense of chivalry was touched, and enthusiasm
over Lincoln increased.
[Illustration:
MODEL OF FIRST PLOUGH MADE IN MENARD COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Reproduced by permission from “Menard-Salem-Lincoln Souvenir Album,”
Petersburg, Illinois, 1893.
]
His honesty excited no less admiration. Two incidents seem to have
particularly impressed the community. Having discovered on one occasion
that he had taken six and a quarter cents too much from a customer, he
walked three miles that evening, after his store was closed, to return
the money. Again, he weighed out a half-pound of tea, as he supposed. It
was night, and this was the last thing he did before closing up. On
entering in the morning he discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales.
He saw his mistake, and, closing up shop, hurried off to deliver the
remainder of the tea. This unusual regard for the rights of others soon
won him the title of “Honest Abe.”
[Illustration:
A NEW SALEM CHAIR.
This chair is now in the collection of Mr. Louis Vanuxem of
Philadelphia. It was originally owned by Caleb Carmen of New Salem,
and was once repaired by Abraham Lincoln.
]
LINCOLN STUDIES GRAMMAR.
As soon as the store was fairly under way, Lincoln began to look about
for books. Since leaving Indiana, in March, 1830, he had had, in his
drifting life, little leisure or opportunity for study, though he had
had a great deal for observation. Nevertheless his desire to learn had
increased, and his ambition to be somebody had been encouraged. In that
time he had found that he really was superior to many of those who were
called the “great” men of the country. Soon after entering Macon County,
in March, 1830, when he was only twenty-one years old, he had found he
could make a better speech than at least one man who was before the
public. A candidate had come along where John Hanks and he were at work,
and, as John Hanks tells the story, the man made a speech. “It was a bad
one, and I said Abe could beat it. I turned down a box, and Abe made his
speech. The other man was a candidate, Abe wasn’t. Abe beat him to
death, his subject being the navigation of the Sangamon River. The man,
after Abe’s speech was through, took him aside, and asked him where he
had learned so much and how he could do so well. Abe replied, stating
his manner and method of reading, what he had read. The man encouraged
him to persevere.”
He had found that people listened to him, that they quoted his opinions,
and that his friends were already saying that he was able to fill any
position. Offutt even declared the country over that “Abe” knew more
than any man in the United States, and that some day he would be
President.
Under this stimulus Lincoln’s ambition increased. “I have talked with
great men,” he told his fellow-clerk and friend Greene, “and I do not
see how they differ from others.” He made up his mind to put himself
before the public, and talked of his plans to his friends. In order to
keep in practice in speaking he walked seven or eight miles to debating
clubs. “Practising polemics” was what he called the exercise. He seems
now for the first time to have begun to study subjects. Grammar was what
he chose. He sought Mentor Graham, the school-master, and asked his
advice. “If you are going before the public,” Mr. Graham told him, “you
ought to do it.” But where could he get a grammar? There was but one,
said Mr. Graham, in the neighborhood, and that was six miles away.
Without waiting for further information, the young man rose from the
breakfast-table, walked immediately to the place, and borrowed this rare
copy of Kirkham’s Grammar. From that time on for weeks he gave his
leisure to mastering its contents. Frequently he asked his friend Greene
to hold the book while he recited, and when puzzled he would consult Mr.
Graham.
Lincoln’s eagerness to learn was such that the whole neighborhood became
interested. The Greenes lent him books, the school-master kept him in
mind and helped him as he could, and the village cooper let him come
into his shop and keep up a fire of shavings sufficiently bright to read
by at night. It was not long before the grammar was mastered. “Well,”
Lincoln said to his fellow-clerk Greene, “if that’s what they call a
science, I think I’ll go at another.”
Before the winter was ended he had become the most popular man in New
Salem. Although he was but twenty-two years of age in February, 1832;
had never been at school an entire year; had never made a speech, except
in debating clubs or by the roadside; had read only the books he could
pick up, and known only the men of the poor, out-of-the-way towns in
which he had lived, yet, “encouraged by his great popularity among his
immediate neighbors,” as he says, he announced himself, in March, 1832,
as a candidate for the General Assembly of the State.