While a clerk in a general store at New Salem, Ill., Lincoln gained the
reputation of being a skillful and powerful wrestler. Near New Salem
was a settlement known as Clary’s Grove, in which lived an organization
known as “Clary’s Grove Boys.” They were rude in their manners and rough
and boastful in their ways, being what would to-day be called “a set of
rowdies.”
The leader of this organization, and the strongest of the lot, was a
young man named Armstrong. It had been said that Lincoln could easily
outdo any one of the Clary Grove boys in anything and the report
naturally touched the pride of the Armstrong youth. He felt compelled to
prove the truth or falsity of such a story, and accordingly a wrestling
match was arranged between Lincoln and himself.
It was a great day in the village of New Salem and Clary’s Grove. The
match was held on the ground in front of the store in which Lincoln
had been clerking. There was much betting on the result, the odds being
against Lincoln. Hardly, however, had the two wrestlers taken hold of
each other before the Armstrong youth found that he had “met a foe worthy
his steel.” The two wrestled long and hard, each doing his utmost to
throw the other but to no avail. Both kept their feet; neither could
throw the other. The Armstrong youth being convinced that he could not
throw Lincoln, tried a “foul.” This resort to dishonest means to gain an
advantage inflamed Lincoln with indignation, and he immediately caught
young Armstrong by the throat, held him at arm’s length and “shook him
like a child.”
Armstrong’s friends rushed to his rescue, and for a time it seemed as
if Lincoln would be mobbed. But he held his own bravely and all alone,
and by his daring excited the admiration of even those whose sympathies
were with young Armstrong. What at one time seemed to result in a general
fight resulted in a general handshake, even “Jack” Armstrong declaring
that Lincoln was “the best fellow who ever broke into camp.”