ABE and Gentry returned from New Orleans some time in June, 1828, having
been gone not quite three months. How much longer he remained in the
service of Gentry, or whether he remained at all, we are unable to say;
but he soon took up his old habits, and began to work around among his
neighbors, or for his father, precisely as he had done before he got his
partial glimpse of the great world down the river.
In the fall of 1829, Mr. Wood saw him cutting down a large tree in the
woods, and whip-sawing it into planks. Abe said the lumber was for a new
house his father was about to build; but Tom Lincoln changed his
mind before the house was half done, and Abe sold his plank to Josiah
Crawford, "the book man," who worked them into the south-east room of
his house, where relic-seekers have since cut pieces from them to make
canes.
In truth, the continued prevalence of that dreadful disease, the
milk-sickness, with which Nancy Hanks and the Sparrows and the Halls had
all died, was more than a sufficient reason for a new removal, now in
contemplation by Thomas Lincoln. Every member of his family, from
the first settlement in Indiana, except perhaps Abe and himself,
had suffered with it. The cattle, which, it is true, were of little
pecuniary value, and raised with great ease and little cost, were swept
away by it in great numbers throughout the whole neighborhood. It was
an awful scourge, and common prudence suggested flight. It is wonderful
that it took a constitutional mover thirteen years to make up his mind
to escape from it.1
1 "What made Thomas Lincoln leave? The reason is this: we
were perplexed by a disease called milk-sick. I myself being
the oldest, I was determined to leave, and hunt a country
where the milk-sick was not. I married his eldest daughter.
I sold out, and they concluded to go with me. Billy, I was
tolerably popular at that time, for I had some money. My
wife's mother could not think of parting with her, and we
ripped up stakes, and started to Illinois, and landed at
Decatur. This is the reason for leaving Indiana. I am to
blame for it, if any. As for getting more land, this was not
the case, for we could have entered ten thousand acres of
the best land. When we left, it was on account of the milk.
Billy, I had four good milch cows, too, with it in one week,
and eleven young calves. This was enough to run me. Besides,
liked to have lossed my own life with it. This reason was
enough (ain't it?) for leaving."--Dennis Hanks.
In the spring of 1830, before the winter had fairly broken up, he and
Abe, and Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall, with their respective families,
thirteen in all, took the road for Illinois. Dennis and Levi, as already
stated, were married to the daughters of Mrs. Lincoln. Hall had one son,
and Dennis a considerable family of sons and daughters. Sarah (or Nancy)
Lincoln, who had married Aaron Grigsby, was now dead.
John Hanks had gone to the new country from Kentucky in the fall of
1828, and settled near Decatur, whence he wrote Thomas Lincoln all
about it, and advised him to come there. Dennis, whether because of the
persuasions of John, or some observations made in a flying trip on his
own account, was very full of the move, and would hear to no delay.
Lincoln sold his farm to Gentry, senior, if, indeed, he had not done so
before, and his corn and hogs to Dave Turnham. The corn brought only
ten cents a bushel, and, according to the pricelist furnished by Dennis
Hanks, the stock must have gone at figures equally mean.
Lincoln took with him to Illinois "some stock-cattle, one horse,
one bureau, one table, one clothes-chest, one set of chairs, cooking
utensils, clothing," &c. The goods of the three families--Hanks, Hall,
and Lincoln--were loaded on a wagon belonging to Lincoln. This wagon was
"ironed," a noticeable fact in those primitive days, and "was positively
the first one that he (Lincoln) ever owned." It was drawn by four yoke
of oxen,--two of them Lincoln's, and two of them Hanks's.
We have no particulars of the journey, except that Abe held the "gad,"
and drove the team; that the mud was very deep, that the spring freshets
were abroad, and that in crossing the swollen and tumultuous Kaskaskia,
the wagon and oxen were nearly swept away. On the first day of March,
1830, after fifteen days' tedious and heavy travel, they arrived at John
Hanks's house, four miles north-west of Decatur. Lincoln settled (if
any thing he did may be called settling) at a point ten miles west of
Decatur. Here John Hanks had cut some logs in 1829, which he now gave
to Lincoln to build a house with. With the aid of John, Dennis, Abe,
and Hall, a house was erected on a small bluff, on the north bank of the
north fork of the Sangamon. Abe and John took the four yoke of oxen and
"broke up" fifteen acres of land, and then split rails enough to fence
it in.
Abe was now over twenty-one. There was no "Uncle Wood to tell him that
his age was against him:" he had done something more than his duty by
his father; and, as that worthy was now again placed in a situation
where he might do well if he chose, Abe came to the conclusion that it
was time for him to begin life on his own account. It must have cost him
some pain to leave his good step-mother; but, beyond that, all the old
ties were probably broken without a single regret. From the moment
he was a free man, foot-loose, able to go where, and to do what, he
pleased, his success in those things which lay nearest his heart--that
is, public and social preferment--was astonishing to himself, as well as
to others.
It is with great pleasure that we dismiss Tom Lincoln, with his family
and fortunes, from further consideration in these pages. After Abraham
left him, he moved at least three times in search of a "healthy"
location, and finally got himself fixed near Goose Nest Prairie, in
Coles County, where he died of a disease of the kidneys, in 1851, at the
ripe old age of seventy-three. The little farm (forty acres) upon which
his days were ended, he had, with his usual improvidence, mortgaged
to the School Commissioners for two hundred dollars,--its full value.
Induced by love for his step-mother, Abraham had paid the debt, and
taken a deed for the land, "with a reservation of a life-estate therein,
to them, or the survivor of them." At the same time (1841), he gave a
helping hand to John Johnston, binding himself to convey the land to
him, or his heirs, after the death of "Thomas Lincoln and his wife,"
upon payment of the two hundred dollars, which was really advanced to
save John's mother from utter penury. No matter how much the land
might appreciate in value, John was to have it upon these terms, and no
interest was to be paid by him, "except after the death of the survivor,
as aforesaid." This, to be sure, was a great bargain for John, but he
made haste to assign his bond to another person for "fifty dollars paid
in hand."
As soon as Abraham got a little up in the world, he began to send his
step-mother money, and continued to do so until his own death; but it
is said to have "done her no good," for it only served to tempt certain
persons about her, and with whom she shared it, to continue in a life
of idleness. At the close of the Black Hawk War, Mr. Lincoln went to see
them for a few days, and afterwards, when a lawyer, making the circuits
with the courts, he visited them whenever the necessities of his
practice brought him to their neighborhood. He did his best to serve
Mrs. Lincoln and her son John, but took little notice of his father,
although he wrote him an exhortation to believe in God when he thought
he was on his death-bed.
But in regard to the relations between the family and Abe, after the
latter began to achieve fame and power, nobody can tell the truth more
clearly, or tell it in a more interesting and suggestive style, than our
friend Dennis, with whom we are now about to part forever. It will be
seen, that, when information reached the "Goose Nest Prairie" that Abe
was actually chosen President of the United States, a general itching
for public employment broke out among the Hankses, and that an equally
general disappointment was the result. Doubtless all of them had
expectations somewhat like Sancho Panza's, when he went to take the
government of his island, and John Hanks, at least, would not have been
disappointed but for the little disability which Dennis mentions in the
following extract:--
"Did Abraham Lincoln treat John D. Johnston well?" "I will say this much
about it. I think Abe done more for John than he deserved. John thought
that Abe did not do enough for the old people. They became enemies a
while on this ground. I don't want to tell all the things that I know:
it would not look well in history. I say this: Abe treated John well."
"What kind of a man was Johnston?"--"I say this much: A kinder-hearted
man never was in Coles County, Illinois, nor an honester man. I don't
say this because he was my brother-in-law: I say it, knowing it. John
did not love to work any the best. I flogged him for not working."
"Did Thomas Lincoln treat Abe cruelly?"--"He loved him. I never could
tell whether Abe loved his father very well or not. I don't think he
did, for Abe was one of those forward boys. I have seen his father
knock him down off the fence when a stranger would, ask the way to a
neighbor's house. Abe always would have the first word. The old man
loved his children."
"Did any of the Johnston family ask for office?"--"No! Thomas Johnston
went to Abe: he got this permit to take daguerrotypes in the army; this
is all, for they are all dead except John's boys. They did not ask for
any."
"Did you or John Hanks ask Lincoln for any office?"--"I say this: that
John Hanks, of Decatur, did solicit him for an Indian Agency; and John
told me that Abe as good as told him he should have one. But John could
not read or write. I think this was the reason that Abe did not give
John the place.
"As for myself, I did not ask Abe right out for an office, only this: I
would like to have the post-office in Charleston; this was my wife that
asked him. He told her that much was understood,--as much as to say that
I would get it. I did not care much about it."
"Do you think Lincoln cared much for his relations?"--"I will say this
much: when he was with us, he seemed to think a great deal of us; but I
thought sometimes it was hypocritical, but I am not sure."
Abe left the Lincoln family late in March, or early in April. He did not
go far away, but took jobs wherever he could get them, showing that he
had separated himself from the family, not merely to rove, but to
labor, and be an independent man. He made no engagement of a permanent
character during this summer: his work was all done "by the job." If he
ever split rails for Kirkpatrick, over whom he was subsequently elected
captain of a volunteer company about to enter the Black Hawk War, it
must have been at this time; but the story of his work for Kirkpatrick,
like that of his making "a crap of corn" for Mr. Brown, is probably
apocryphal.1 All this while he clung close to John Hanks, and either
worked where he did, or not far away. In the winter following, he was
employed by a Major Warrick to make rails, and walked daily three miles
to his work, and three miles back again.
1 See Holland's Life of Lincoln, p. 40.
"After Abe got to Decatur," says John Hanks, "or rather to Macon (my
country), a man by the name of Posey came into our neighborhood, and
made a speech: it was a bad one, and I said Abe could beat it. I
turned down a box, or keg, 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 the speech was through,
took Abe aside, and asked him where he had learned so much, and how he
did so well. Abe replied, stating his manner and method of reading, and
what he had read. The man encouraged Lincoln to persevere."
In February, 1831, a Mr. Denton Offutt wanted to engage John Hanks
to take a flatboat to New Orleans. John was not well disposed to the
business; but Offutt came to the house, and would take no denial; made
much of John's fame as a river-man, and at length persuaded him to
present the matter to Abe and John Johnston. He did so. The three
friends discussed the question with great earnestness: it was no slight
affair to them, for they were all young and poor. At length they agreed
to Offutt's proposition, and that agreement was the turning-point in
Abe's career. They were each to receive fifty cents a day, and the round
sum of sixty dollars divided amongst them for making the trip. These
were wages such as Abe had never received before, and might have tempted
him to a much more difficult enterprise. When he went with Gentry, the
pay was only eight dollars a month, and no such company and assistance
as he was to have now. But Offutt was lavish with his money, and
generous bargains like this ruined him a little while after.
In March, Hanks, Johnston, and Lincoln went down the Sangamon in a canoe
to Jamestown (then Judy's Ferry), five miles east of Springfield. Thence
they walked to Springfield, and found Mr. Offutt comforting himself at
"Elliott's tavern in Old Town." He had contracted to have a boat ready
at the mouth of Spring Creek, but, not looking after it himself, was, of
course, "disappointed." There was only one way out of the trouble: the
three hands must build a boat. They went to the mouth of Spring Creek,
five miles north of Springfield, and there consumed two weeks cutting
the timber from "Congress land." In the mean time, Abe walked back to
Judy's Ferry, by way of Springfield, and brought down the canoe which
they had left at the former place. The timber was hewed and scored, and
then "rafted down to Saugamon-town." At the mouth of Spring Creek
they had been compelled to walk a full mile for their meals; but at
Sangamon-town they built a shanty, and boarded themselves. "Abe was
elected cook," and performed the duties of the office much to the
satisfaction of the party. The lumber was sawed at Kirkpatrick's mill, a
mile and a half from the shanty. Laboring under many disadvantages like
this, they managed to complete and launch the boat in about four weeks
from the time of beginning.
Offutt was with the party at this point. He "was a Whig, and so was Abe;
but he (Abe) could not hear Jackson wrongfully abused, especially where
a lie and malice did the abuse." Out of this difference arose some
disputes, which served to enliven the camp, as well as to arouse Abe's
ire, and keep him in practice in the way of debate.
In those days Abe, as usual, is described as being "funny, jokey,
full of yarns, stories, and rigs;" as being "long, tall, and green,"
"frequently quoting poetry," and "reciting proselike orations." They
had their own amusements. Abe extracted a good deal of fun out of the
cooking; took his "dram" when asked to, and played "seven up" at night,
at which he made "a good game."
A juggler gave an exhibition at Sangamontown, in the upper room of Jacob
Carman's house. Abe went to it, dressed in a suit of rough blue jeans.
He had on shoes, but the trousers did not reach them by about twelve
inches; and the naked shin, which had excited John Romine's laughter
years ago in Indiana, was still exposed. Between the roundabout and
the waist of the trousers, there was another wide space uncovered;
and, considering these defects, Mr. Lincoln's attire was thought to be
somewhat inelegant, even in those times. His hat, however, was a great
improvement on coon-skins and opossum. It was woollen, broad-brimmed,
and low-crowned. In this hat the "showman cooked eggs." Whilst Abe was
handing it up to him, after the man had long solicited a similar favor
from the rest of the audience, he remarked, "Mister, the reason I didn't
give you my hat before was out of respect to your eggs, not care for my
hat."
Loaded with barrel-pork, hogs, and corn, the boat set out from
Sangamontown as soon as finished. Mr. Offutt was on board to act as
his own merchant, intending to pick up additions to his cargo along the
banks of the two Illinois rivers down which he was about to pass. On the
19th of April they arrived at New Salem, a little village destined to
be the scene of the seven eventful years of Mr. Lincoln's life, which
immediately followed the conclusion of the present trip. Just below New
Salem the boat "stuck," for one night and the better part of a day on
Rutledge's mill-dam,--one end of it hanging over the dam, and the other
sunk deep in the water behind. Here was a case for Abe's ingenuity, and
he exercised it with effect. Quantities of water were being taken in at
the stern, the lading was sliding backwards, and every thing indicated
that the rude craft was in momentary danger of breaking in two, or
sinking outright. But Abe suggested some unheard-of expedient for
keeping it in place while the cargo was shifted to a borrowed boat, and
then, boring a hole in that part of the bottom extending over the dam,
he "rigged up" an equally strange piece of machinery for tilting and
holding it while the water ran out. All New Salem was assembled on
shore, watching the progress of this singular experiment,--and with one
voice affirm that Abe saved the boat; although nobody is able to tell
us precisely how.1 The adventure turned Abe's thoughts to the class of
difficulties, one of which he had just surmounted; and the result of his
reflections was "an improved method for lifting vessels over shoals."2
Offutt declared that when he got back from New Orleans, he would build a
steamboat for the navigation of the Sangamon, and make Abe the captain;
he would build it with runners for ice, and rollers for shoals and dams,
for with "Abe in command, by thunder, she'd have to go."
1 Many persons at New Salem describe in full Abe's conduct
on this occasion.
2 "Occupying an ordinary and commonplace position in one of
the show-cases in the targe hall of the Patent Office, is
one little model which, in ages to come, will be prized as
at once one of the most curious and one of the most sacred
relics in that vast museum of unique and priceless things.
This is a plain and simple model of a steamboat, roughly
fashioned in wood, by the hand of Abraham Lincoln. It bears
date in 1849, when the inventor was known simply as a
successful lawyer and rising politician of Central Illinois.
Neither his practice nor his politics took up so much of his
time as to prevent him from giving much attention to
contrivances which he hoped might be of benefit to the
world, and of profit to himself.
"The design of this invention is suggestive of one phase of
Abraham Lincoln's early life, when he went up and down the
Mississippi as a flat-boatman, and became familiar with some
of the dangers and inconveniences attending the navigation
of the Western rivers. It is an attempt to make it an easy
matter to transport vessels over shoals and snags, and
sawyers. The main idea is that of an apparatus resembling a
noiseless bellows, placed on each side of the hull of the
craft, just below the water-line, and worked by an odd but
not complicated system of ropes, valves, and pulleys. When
the keel of the vessel grates against the sand or
obstruction, these bellows are to be filled with air; and,
thus buoyed up, the ship is expected to float lightly and
gayly over the shoal, which would otherwise have proved a
serious interruption to her voyage.
"The model, which is about eighteen or twenty inches long,
and has the air of having been whittled with a knife out of
a shingle and a cigar-box, is built without any elaboration
or ornament, or any extra apparatus beyond that necessary to
show the operation of buoying the steamer over the
obstructions. Herein it differs from very many of the models
which share with it the shelter of the immense halls of the
Patent Office, and which are fashioned with wonderful nicety
and exquisite finish, as if much of the labor and thought
and affection of a lifetime had been devoted to their
construction. This is a model of a different kind; carved as
one might imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle,
strongly, but not smoothly, and evidently made with a view
solely to convey, by the simplest possible means, to the
minds of the patent authorities, an idea of the purpose and
plan of the simple invention. The label on the steamer's
deck informs us that the patent was obtained; but we do not
learn that the navigation of the Western rivers was
revolutionized by this quaint conception. The modest little
model has reposed here sixteen years; and, since it found
its resting-place here on the shelf, the shrewd inventor has
found it his task to guide the Ship of State over shoals
more perilous, and obstructions more obstinate, than any
prophet dreamed of when Abraham Lincoln wrote his bold
autograph on the prow of this miniature steamer."--
Correspondent Boston Advertiser.
Over the dam, and in the deep pool beyond, they reloaded, and floated
down to Blue Bank, a mile above the mouth of Salt Creek, where Offutt
bought some more hogs. But the hogs were wild, and refused to be driven.
Abe again came to the rescue; and, by his advice, their eyes were sewed
up with a needle and thread, so that, if the animals fought any more,
they should do it in the dark. Abe held their heads, and John Hanks
their tails, while Offutt did the surgery. They were then thrown into a
cart, whence Abe took them, one by one, in his great arms, and deposited
them on board.
[Illustration: Mr. Lincoln as a Flatboatman 108]
From this point they sped very rapidly down the Sangamon and the
Illinois. Having constructed curious-looking sails of plank, "and
sometimes cloth," they were a "sight to see," as they "rushed through
Beardstown," where "the people came out and laughed at them." They swept
by Alton and Cairo, and other considerable places, without tying up, but
stopped at Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez.
In due time they arrived at New Orleans. "There it was," says John
Hanks, "we saw negroes chained, maltreated, whipped, and scourged.
Lincoln saw it; his heart bled, said nothing much, was silent from
feeling, was sad, looked bad, felt bad, was thoughtful and abstracted.
I can say, knowing it, that it was on this trip that he formed his
opinions of slavery. It run its iron in him then and there,--May, 1831.
I have heard him say so often and often."
Some time in June the party took passage on a steamboat going up the
river, and remained together until they reached St. Louis, where Offutt
left them, and Abe, Hanks, and Johnston started on foot for the interior
of Illinois. At Edwardsville, twenty-five miles out, Hanks took the road
to Springfield, and Abe and Johnston took that to Coles County, where
Tom Lincoln had moved since Abraham's departure from home.
Abe never worked again in company with his friend and relative, good
old John Hanks. Here their paths separated: Abe's began to ascend the
heights, while John's continued along the common level. They were in the
Black Hawk War during the same campaign, but not in the same division.
But they corresponded, and, from 1833, met at least once a year, until
Abe was elected President. Then Abe, delighting to honor those of his
relatives who were worthy of it, invited John to go with him to see
his step-mother. John also went to the inauguration at Washington, and
tells, with pardonable pride, how he "was in his [Abe's] rooms several
times." He then retired to his old home in Macon County, until the
assassination and the great funeral, when he came to Springfield to look
in the blackened face of his old friend, and witness the last ceremonies
of his splendid burial.
Scarcely had Abe reached Coles County, and begun to think what next to
turn his hand to, when he received a visit from a famous wrestler, one
Daniel Needham, who regarded him as a growing rival, and had a fancy
to try him a fall or two. He considered himself "the best man" in the
country, and the report of Abe's achievements filled his big breast with
envious pains. His greeting was friendly and hearty, but his challenge
was rough and peremptory. Abe valued his popularity among "the boys"
too highly to decline it, and met him by public appointment in the
"greenwood," at Wabash Point, where he threw him twice with so much ease
that Needham's pride was more hurt than his body. "Lincoln," said he,
"you have thrown me twice, but you can't whip me."--"Needham," replied
Abe, "are you satisfied that I can throw you? If you are not, and must
be convinced through a threshing, I will do that, too, for your sake."
Needham had hoped that the youngster would shrink from the extremity
of a fight with the acknowledged "bully of the patch;" but finding him
willing, and at the same time magnanimously inclined to whip him solely
for his _own good_, he concluded that a bloody nose and a black
eye would be the reverse of soothing to his feelings, and therefore
surrendered the field with such grace as he could command.