During the time the enemies of General Grant were making their bitterest
attacks upon him, and demanding that the President remove him from
command, “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,” of June 13, 1863, came
out with the cartoon reproduced. The text printed under the picture was
to the following effect:
OLD ABE: “Greeley be hanged! I want no more new brooms. I begin to think
that the worst thing about my old ones was in not being handled right.”
The old broom the President holds in his right hand is labeled “Grant.”
The latter had captured Fort Donelson, defeated the Confederates at
Shiloh, Iuka, Port Gibson, and other places, and had Vicksburg in his
iron grasp. When the demand was made that Lincoln depose Grant, the
President answered, “I can’t spare this man; he fights!” Grant never
lost a battle and when he found the enemy he always fought him.
McClellan, Burnside, Pope and Hooker had been found wanting, so Lincoln
pinned his faith to Grant. As noted in the cartoon, Horace Greeley,
editor of the New York Tribune, Thurlow Weed, and others wanted Lincoln
to try some other new brooms, but President Lincoln was wearied with
defeats, and wanted a few victories to offset them. Therefore; he stood
by Grant, who gave him victories.
GOD WITH A LITTLE “g.”
Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen
he will be good
but god Knows When
These lines were found written in young Lincoln’s own hand at the bottom
of a page whereon he had been ciphering. Lincoln always wrote a clear,
regular “fist.” In this instance he evidently did not appreciate the
sacredness of the name of the Deity, when he used a little “g.”
Lincoln once said he did not remember the time when he could not write.
“ABE’S” LOG.
It was the custom in Sangamon for the “menfolks” to gather at noon and
in the evening, when resting, in a convenient lane near the mill. They
had rolled out a long peeled log, on which they lounged while they
whittled and talked.
Lincoln had not been long in Sangamon before he joined this circle. At
once he became a favorite by his jokes and good-humor. As soon as
he appeared at the assembly ground the men would start him to
story-telling. So irresistibly droll were his “yarns” that whenever he’d
end up in his unexpected way the boys on the log would whoop and roll
off. The result of the rolling off was to polish the log like a mirror.
The men, recognizing Lincoln’s part in this polishing, christened their
seat “Abe’s log.”
Long after Lincoln had disappeared from Sangamon, “Abe’s log” remained,
and until it had rotted away people pointed it out, and repeated the
droll stories of the stranger.