STARTING OUT FOR HIMSELF
HIS FATHER AND HIS "FREEDOM SUIT"
According to his own account, Abe had made about thirty dollars as a
peddler, besides bearing the brunt of the labor of the journey, though
there were four grown men in the combined family. As he had passed his
twenty-first birthday on the road, he really had the right to claim
these profits as his own. His father, who had, for ten years, exacted
Abraham's meager, hard-earned wages, should at least have given the boy
a part of that thirty dollars for a "freedom suit" of clothes, as was
the custom then.
But neither Thomas Lincoln nor his son seems to have thought of such a
thing. Instead of entertaining resentment, Abraham stayed by, doing all
he could to make his father and stepmother comfortable before he left
them altogether. Mrs. Lincoln had two daughters and sons-in-law, besides
John Johnston, so Abe might easily have excused himself from looking
after the welfare of his parents. Though his father had seemed to favor
his stepchildren in preference to his own son, Mrs. Lincoln had been
"like an own mother to him," and he never ceased to show his gratitude
by being "like an own son to her."
The first work Abe did in that neighborhood was to split a thousand
rails for a pair of trousers, at the rate of four hundred rails per yard
of "brown jeans dyed with walnut bark." The young man's breeches cost
him about four hundred rails more than they would if he had been a man
of ordinary height.
But Abraham hovered about, helping clear a little farm, and making the
cabin comfortable while he was earning his own "freedom suit." He saw
the spring planting done and that a garden was made for his stepmother
before he went out of ready reach of the old people.
One special reason Thomas Lincoln had for leaving Indiana was to get
away from "the milksick." But the fall of 1830 was a very bad season in
Illinois for chills and fever. The father and, in fact, nearly the whole
family left at home suffered so much from malaria that they were
thoroughly discouraged. The interior of their little cabin was a sorry
sight--Thomas and his wife were both afflicted at once, and one married
daughter was almost as ill. They were all so sick that Thomas Lincoln
registered a shaky but vehement resolve that as soon as they could
travel they would "git out o' thar!" He had been so determined to move
to Illinois that no persuasion could induce him to give up the project,
therefore his disappointment was the more keen and bitter.
The first winter the Lincolns spent in Illinois was memorable for its
severity. It is still spoken of in that region as "the winter of the big
snow." Cattle and sheep froze to death or died of exposure and
starvation.
BUILDING THE FLATBOAT
Early in the spring after "the big snow," John Hanks, Lincoln and John
Johnston met Denton Offutt, a man who was to wield an influence on the
life of young Lincoln. Offutt engaged the three to take a load of
produce and other merchandise to New Orleans to sell. John Hanks, the
most reliable member of the Hanks family, gave the following account of
the way he managed to bring Abe and his stepbrother into the
transaction: "He wanted me to go badly but I waited before answering. I
hunted up Abe, and I introduced him and John Johnston, his stepbrother,
to Offutt. After some talk we at last made an engagement with Offutt at
fifty cents a day and sixty dollars to make the trip to New Orleans. Abe
and I came down the Sangamon River in a canoe in March, 1831, and landed
at what is now called Jamestown, five miles east of Springfield."
Denton Offutt spent so much time drinking in a tavern at the village of
Springfield that the flatboat was not ready when the trio arrived to
take it and its cargo down the river. Their employer met them on their
arrival with profuse apologies, and the three men were engaged to build
the boat and load it up for the journey.
During the four weeks required to build the raft, the men of that
neighborhood became acquainted with young Lincoln. A man named John Roll
has given this description of Abe's appearance at that time:
"He was a tall, gaunt young man, dressed in a suit of blue homespun,
consisting of a roundabout jacket, waistcoat, and breeches which came to
within about three inches of his feet. The latter were encased in
rawhide boots, into the tops of which, most of the time, his pantaloons
were stuffed. He wore a soft felt hat which had once been black, but
now, as its owner dryly remarked, 'was sunburned until it was a combine
of colors.'"
There was a sawmill in Sangamontown, and it was the custom for the "men
folks" of the neighborhood to assemble near it at noon and in the
evening, and sit on a peeled log which had been rolled out for the
purpose. Young Lincoln soon joined this group and at once became a great
favorite because of his stories and jokes. His stories were so funny
that "whenever he'd end 'em up in his unexpected way the boys on the log
would whoop and roll off." In this way the log was polished smooth as
glass, and came to be known in the neighborhood as "Abe's log."
A traveling juggler came one day while the boat was building and gave an
exhibition in the house of one of the neighbors. This magician asked for
Abe's hat to cook eggs in. Lincoln hesitated, but gave this explanation
for his delay: "It was out of respect for the eggs--not care for my
hat!"
ABE LINCOLN SAVES THREE LIVES
While they were at work on the flatboat the humorous young stranger from
Indiana became the hero of a thrilling adventure, described as follows
by John Roll, who was an eye witness to the whole scene:
"It was the spring following 'the winter of the deep snow.' Walter
Carman, John Seamon, myself, and at times others of the Carman boys, had
helped Abe in building the boat, and when we had finished we went to
work to make a dug-out, or canoe, to be used as a small boat with the
flat. We found a suitable log about an eighth of a mile up the river,
and with our axes went to work under Lincoln's direction. The river was
very high, fairly 'booming.' After the dug-out was ready to launch we
took it to the edge of the water, and made ready to 'let her go,' when
Walter Carman and John Seamon jumped in as the boat struck the water,
each one anxious to be the first to get a ride. As they shot out from
the shore they found they were unable to make any headway against the
strong current. Carman had the paddle, and Seamon was in the stern of
the boat. Lincoln shouted to them to head up-stream and 'work back to
shore,' but they found themselves powerless against the stream. At last
they began to pull for the wreck of an old flatboat, the first ever
built on the Sangamon, which had sunk and gone to pieces, leaving one of
the stanchions sticking above the water. Just as they reached it Seamon
made a grab, and caught hold of the stanchion, when the canoe capsized,
leaving Seamon clinging to the old timber and throwing Carman into the
stream. It carried him down with the speed of a mill-race. Lincoln
raised his voice above the roar of the flood, and yelled to Carman to
swim for an elm tree which stood almost in the channel, which the action
of the water had changed.
"Carman, being a good swimmer, succeeded in catching a branch, and
pulled himself up out of the water, which was very cold, and had almost
chilled him to death; and there he sat, shivering and chattering in the
tree.
"Lincoln, seeing Carman safe, called out to Seamon to let go the
stanchion and swim for the tree. With some hesitation he obeyed, and
struck out, while Lincoln cheered and directed him from the bank. As
Seamon neared the tree he made one grab for a branch, and, missing it,
went under the water. Another desperate lunge was successful, and he
climbed up beside Carman.
"Things were pretty exciting now, for there were two men in the tree,
and the boat gone. It was a cold, raw April day, and there was great
danger of the men becoming benumbed and falling back into the water.
Lincoln called out to them to keep their spirits up and he would save
them.
"The village had been alarmed by this time, and many people had come
down to the bank. Lincoln procured a rope and tied it to a log. He
called all hands to come and help roll the log into the water, and,
after this had been done, he, with the assistance of several others,
towed it some distance up the stream. A daring young fellow by the name
of 'Jim' Dorell then took his seat on the end of the log, and it was
pushed out into the current, with the expectation that it would be
carried down stream against the tree where Seamon and Carman were.
"The log was well directed, and went straight to the tree; but Jim, in
his impatience to help his friends, fell a victim to his good
intentions. Making a frantic grab at a branch, he raised himself off the
log, which was swept from under him by the raging waters and he soon
joined the other victims upon their forlorn perch.
"The excitement on the shore increased, and almost the whole population
of the village gathered on the river bank. Lincoln had the log pulled up
the stream, and, securing another piece of rope, called to the men in
the tree to catch it if they could when he should reach the tree. He
then straddled the log himself, and gave the word to push out into the
stream. When he dashed into the tree he threw the rope over the stump of
a broken limb, and let it play until he broke the speed of the log, and
gradually drew it back to the tree, holding it there until the three now
nearly frozen men had climbed down and seated themselves astride. He
then gave orders to the people on shore to hold fast to the end of the
rope which was tied to the log, and leaving his rope in the tree he
turned the log adrift. The force of the current, acting against the taut
rope, swung the log around against the bank and all 'on board' were
saved.
"The excited people who had watched the dangerous expedition with
alternate hope and fear, now broke into cheers for Abe Lincoln, and
praises for his brave act. This adventure made quite a hero of him along
the Sangamon, and the people never tired of telling of the exploit."
"DOWN THE RIVER"
The launching of that flatboat was made a feast-day in the neighborhood.
Denton Offutt, its proprietor, was invited to break away from the
"Buckhorn" tavern at Springfield to witness the ceremonies, which, of
course, took a political turn. There was much speech-making, but Andrew
Jackson and the Whig leaders were equally praised.
The boat had been loaded with pork in barrels, corn, and hogs, and it
slid into the Sangamon River, then overflowing with the spring "fresh,"
with a big splash.
The three sturdy navigators, accompanied by Offutt himself, floated away
in triumph from the waving crowd on the bank.
The first incident in the voyage occurred the 19th of April, at
Rutledge's mill dam at New Salem, where the boat stranded and "hung"
there a day and a night.
HOW ABE GOT THE FLATBOAT OVER THE DAM
New Salem was destined to fill an important place in the life of Abraham
Lincoln. One who became well acquainted with him described him as the
New Salemites first saw him, "wading round on Rutledge's dam with his
trousers rolled up nine feet, more or less."
One of the crew gave this account of their mode of operations to get the
stranded raft over the dam:
"We unloaded the boat--that is, we transferred the goods from our boat
to a borrowed one. We then rolled the barrels forward; Lincoln bored a
hole in the end (projecting) over the dam; the water which had leaked in
ran out then and we slid over."
Offutt's enthusiasm over Abe's simple method of surmounting this great
obstacle was boundless. A crowd had gathered on a hillside to watch
Lincoln's operations.
AN IMPROBABLE PROPHECY
For the novelty of the thing, John Hanks claimed to have taken young
Lincoln to a "voodoo" negress. She is said to have become excited in
reading the future of the tall, thin young man, saying to him, "You will
be President, and all the negroes will be free." This story probably
originated long afterward, when the strange prophecy had already come
true--though fortune tellers often inform young men who come to them
that they will be Presidents some day. That such a woman could read the
Emancipation Proclamation in that young man's future is not at all
likely.
Another story is told of Abraham Lincoln's second visit to New Orleans
that is more probable, but even this is not certain to have happened
exactly as related. The young northerner doubtless saw negroes in
chains, and his spirit, like that of his father and mother, rebelled
against this inhumanity. There is little doubt that in such sights, as
one of his companions related, "Slavery ran the iron into him then and
there."
"I'LL HIT IT HARD!"
But the story goes that the three young fellows--Hanks, Johnston and
Lincoln--went wandering about the city, and passed a slave market, where
a comely young mulatto girl was offered to the highest bidder. They saw
prospective purchasers examine the weeping girl's teeth, pinch her flesh
and pull her about as they would a cow or a horse. The whole scene was
so revolting that Lincoln recoiled from it with horror and hatred,
saying to his two companions, "Boys, let's get away from this. If ever I
get a chance to hit that thing"--meaning slavery--"_I'll hit it hard_!"
In June the four men took passage up the river on a steamboat for the
return trip. At St. Louis, Offutt got off to purchase stock for a store
he proposed to open in New Salem, where he planned to place young
Lincoln in charge.
WRESTLING WITH THE COUNTY CHAMPION
The other three started on foot to reach their several homes in
Illinois. Abe improved the opportunity to visit his father's family in
Coles County, where Thomas Lincoln had removed as soon as he was able
to leave their first Illinois home near Decatur.
Abe's reputation as a wrestler had preceded him and the Coles County
Champion, Daniel Needham, came and challenged the tall visitor to a
friendly contest. Young Lincoln laughingly accepted and threw Needham
twice. The crestfallen wrestler's pride was deeply hurt, and he found it
hard to give up beaten.
"Lincoln," said he, "you have thrown me twice, but you can't whip me."
Abe laughed again and replied:
"Needham, are you satisfied that I can throw you? If you are not, and
must be convinced through a thrashing, I will do that, too--_for your
sake_!"