and from this standpoint, and, as a result of this practice, he
studied the opposite side of every question in dispute, and hence
he was never surprised by the seeming strength of his opponents,
for he saw at once the moral and legal weakness of wrong and
untenable positions assumed. This it is that throws a flood
of light on his ready and unanswerable repartee by story and
statement. In fact, we have seen, often, that after his statement
of a proposition it needed no argument.
"Honorable Elihu B. Washburn, Lincoln's closest friend, wrote
before he died that 'when the whole truth is disclosed of Mr.
Lincoln's life during the years of 1854-55, it will throw a flood
of new light on the character of Mr. Lincoln, and will add new
luster to his greatness and his patriotism.'
"Mr. Lincoln had, as is well known, made up his mind to retire
from the political arena. He was annoyed, yea, more, he was
disgusted with the low plane on which the politicians, mere
politicians, not statesmen, were trying to conduct the affairs of
the nation.
"Mr. Lincoln was feeling his way up and out of the gloom,
despondency, and melancholy which had to so great an extent
affected his life. There came to him a new light, a new revelation
of destiny in those still creative, or rather recreative days, and
it is this phase of things to which Mr. Washburn refers in the
above lines.
"It is a well-known fact that Mr. Lincoln hesitated to show his
strength of conscience, as he did his wealth of goodness, lest it
be counted as ostentation. He said often in 1854-55, 'The saloon
and the liquor traffic have defenders—but no defense!' With him
men were neither great nor small—they were right or wrong. He
knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong. His expressions and
conduct on this question of the prohibition of the liquor traffic
and the saloon were so firmly anchored on his profound
convictions of right and wrong that they were immutable.
"In that memorable canvass, Mr. Lincoln and myself spoke in
Jacksonville, in Bloomington, in Decatur, in Danville, in
Carlinville, in Peoria, and at many other points.
"The gist of Mr. Lincoln's argument was contained in this fearless
declaration:
"'This legalized liquor traffic, as carried on in the saloons
and grogshops, is the tragedy of civilization. Good citizenship
demands and requires that what is right should not only be made
known, but be made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be
detected and defeated, but destroyed. The saloon has proved itself
to be the greatest foe, the most blighting curse of our modern
civilization, and this is why I am a practical prohibitionist.
"'We must not be satisfied until the public sentiment of this
State, and the individual conscience shall be instructed to look
upon the saloon-keeper and the liquor-seller, with all the license
each can give him, as simply and only a privileged malefactor—a
criminal.'
"Mr. Lincoln used, in advocating the entire prohibition of the
liquor traffic, nearly the same language, and in many instances
the same illustrations that he used later on in his arguments
against slavery. At another place he said:
"'The real issue in this controversy, the one pressing upon
every mind that gives the subject careful consideration, is that
legalizing the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicating liquors
as a beverage is a wrong—as all history and every development of
the traffic proves it to be—a moral, social, and political wrong.'
"It should be stated distinctly, squarely, and fairly, and
repeated often, that Mr. Lincoln was a practical total abstinence
man; wrote for it, worked for it, taught it, both by precept
and by example; and when, from a long and varied experience, he
found that the greed and selfishness of the liquor-dealers and
the saloon-keepers overleaped and disregarded all barriers and
every other restraint, and taught by the lessons of experience
that nothing short of the entire prohibition of the traffic and
the saloon would settle the question, he became an earnest,
unflinching prohibitionist.
"It has been said by those most competent to judge, that Mr.
Lincoln surpassed all orators in eloquence, all diplomats in
wisdom, all statesmen in foresight, and this makes him and his
name a power not to be resisted as a political prohibitionist.
"We do not say much about it, for it is not necessary, but there
were times and occasions when Mr. Lincoln came to be, in his
administration, greater than law—when his wisdom was greater than
the combined wisdom of all the people. The people, the law-makers
had never comprehended the conditions and the situation that
confronted him. He was as great as necessity, and our safety lay
in the fact that he was as just as he was great, and as wise as he
was just. Great in law, but greater in necessity.
"God be praised for the great gifts he showered upon him; God be
praised for the generous use he made of them. In the radiance of
God's light and in the sunshine of his love from out the gates of
pearl which were swung inward to his entrance by those who waited
to welcome him thither, there opened to him that vast and bright
eternity, vivid with God's love. We could wish for a moment the
veil might be parted and we, too, could have vision that such
labor shall be crowned with immortal rest. Hail, brother, and
farewell."
In a letter to me, of late date, Major Merwin writes:
"None of us can get too many views of the good and great Lincoln,
and the world grows better for all we know, or can learn of
him.... I spoke in New Haven last Sunday evening in one of the
largest churches in the old college town. The house was packed
with Yale students and others. The subject was, 'Lincoln, the
Christian Statesman,' emphasizing the religious phase of the
man, much to the surprise of many present. This was the real
source of his strength. He was larger than any or all so-called
'denominations,' and yet a multitude find both comfort and
strength in these various divisions, and Lincoln's heart was glad
it was so."
It should have been stated, in connection with Mr. Merwin's temperance
record in the army, that General Winfield Scott, after hearing several
addresses made by Mr. Merwin from President Lincoln's carriage, to the
regiments gathering in Washington, said to the President, "A man of
such force and moral power to inspire courage, patriotism, faith, and
obedience among the troops is worth more than a half-dozen regiments of
raw recruits."
As before stated, Mr. Merwin is now in his eightieth year, and resides
at Middlefield, Connecticut. In his last letter to me, dated January
14, 1909, referring to the above paragraph, he says, "I am not now
equal to 6,000 men, but am able to tell the story of the plain, great
man, whose name is now, and ever will be a glory on the nation's brow."
[Illustration: THE LINCOLN-BROONER GUN,
_Owned jointly by Abraham Lincoln and Henry Brooner in Indiana. Now
owned by John E. Burton, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin._]
[Illustration: RUTH JENNINGS HUFF,
_Daughter of Josiah Crawford, for whom Lincoln often labored as hired
hand in Indiana._]
[Illustration: DAVID TURNHAM AND WIFE.
_Mr. Turnham, as Constable, loaned Lincoln the Revised Statutes of
Indiana, the first law-book he ever studied._]
CHAPTER IX.
Lincoln and the Slavery Question
An Ancient Institution—The Evils of Slavery—Lincoln Always Opposed
to Slavery—Relic of "Cruel Slavery Days"—Discussions, Laws, and
Compromises—The Missouri Compromise—The Fugitive Slave Law—The
Kansas-Nebraska Bill—Lincoln Aroused—He Answers Douglas—R. L.
McCord Names Lincoln His Candidate for President—A New Political
Party—"Bleeding Kansas"—The Dred Scott Decision—"The Underground
Railroad"—The John Brown Raid—The Approaching Crisis.
It may be wondered what future generations will think when they read
the history of our country and learn that within the memory of many of
those who now live this Government tolerated and protected that "sum
of all villainies"—human slavery. Slavery arose at an early period
in the world's history out of the accident of capture in war. As an
institution it has existed in many countries for ages. Unfortunately,
in the first settling of the United States, slavery was tolerated, and
allowed to spread as the country developed. This was especially true of
the Southern States.
The many attendant evils of slavery cannot here be mentioned. Slaves
were largely kept in ignorance. In some States it was considered a
crime, with heavy penalties, for any white person to teach a colored
person to read or write.
The traffic in human beings, as it then existed, is awful to think of.
Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters were
often sold and separated never to meet again. When the master died, his
negroes were sold to the highest bidder, just like other property.
Abraham Lincoln was always opposed to slavery. When a young man he
witnessed the cruelties of a slave market in New Orleans, where men,
women, and children were sold like brutes. He then and there said, "If
I ever have a chance to hit that institution, I will hit it hard."
In 1837, when he was only twenty-eight years old, he heard a sermon
preached by a noted minister, in Illinois, on the interpretation of
prophecy in its relation to the breaking down of civil and religious
tyranny. The sermon greatly impressed Mr. Lincoln, and he at that
time said to a friend, "Odd as it may seem, when he described those
changes and revolutions, I was deeply impressed that I would be somehow
strangely mixed up with them."
Many slaveholders were otherwise good people, and their slaves
were well treated. Ministers of the gospel and church-members held
slaves. Some of the author's maternal relatives were slaveholders. He
remembers, when a small boy, during "cruel slavery days," hearing his
grandfather relate a conversation he had with a slave while on a late
visit to his slaveholding brothers in Kentucky. The slave, a young man,
was entering some complaint against slavery. Grandfather asked him,
"Is your master kind to you?" "Yes, sir," answered the slave. "Do you
have plenty to eat and wear?" "Oh, yes, sir." "Then why are you not
satisfied?" "Oh, Mr. Todd, freedom, freedom."
I have a letter, dated June 2, 1861, written to my grandfather by one
of his Kentucky brothers. I remember seeing this great uncle in 1865,
when he was visiting in Indiana. He had administered on a brother's
estate. The letter contains the following: "You wrote to know what
I had done with the negroes. I sold them last March, one year ago.
William Hocker bought Dicey and her youngest boy for $1,100. Franklin
Todd, the son of brother Peter, bought the oldest boy for $700. I
bought the second boy, the one born when you were here, for $535." My
great-uncle says, in the same letter, that, on account of governmental
affairs, "property" is not bringing its full value.
The people of the North were generally opposed to slavery, and great
bitterness of feeling was engendered between the Northern and Southern
States. Among the great leaders in the anti-slavery movement were
William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Wendell Phillips, John G.
Whittier, Joshua R. Giddings, William H. Seward, and Charles Sumner.
The institution of slavery had become a great power, and had interwoven
itself into the social, moral, religious, and political fabrics of the
country.
Whenever a territory sought admission into the Union as a State, a
great controversy arose as to whether it should be admitted as a free
or a slave State. The halls of Congress resounded with the eloquence
of great statesmen on both sides of the question, because "there were
giants in those days." A good portion of the time of Congress was taken
in discussing some phase of the slavery question. Bad temper was often
exhibited, and great interests were at stake. On some occasions Henry
Clay would propose a compromise, which being accepted, would have a
tendency to lull the storm which, sooner or later, was to burst forth
in all its fury. Anti-slavery, abolition, and various organizations
were formed.
In the North various opinions existed on the subject of slavery. Some
were opposed to its extension, but did not wish to interfere with it
where it already existed. Others were more ultra, chief of whom was
William Lloyd Garrison, whose motto was to destroy slavery or destroy
the Union. He finally came to the conclusion that the Constitution of
the United States favored slavery, and declared it to be "a covenant
with death and an agreement with hell."
In 1820 the territory of Missouri sought admission into the Union.
The question as to whether it should be admitted as a free or a slave
State was so warmly and violently discussed in Congress that many
were alarmed lest it would lead to the dissolution of the Union. The
territory was finally admitted as a slave State, but on the express
condition that slavery would forever be excluded from all that part of
the territory of the United States lying north of 36 degrees and 30
minutes. This provision was known as "the Missouri Compromise."
In 1850 the "Fugitive Slave Law" was passed by Congress, which was,
in part, to the effect that it was a penal offense to render any
accommodations, assistance, or show any favors whatever to runaway
slaves; also that officers were empowered to compel citizens, in the
North as well as in the South, to assist in the capture of such slaves.
As the Missouri Compromise forever excluded slavery from the
northwestern territories, the "forever" terminated when Congress, in
May, 1854, passed the celebrated Kansas-Nebraska Bill, introduced by
Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic Senator from Illinois. Its main
provision was that each territory seeking admission into the Union
might decide by vote of its inhabitants whether it should be admitted
as a free or a slave State. This virtually repealed the Missouri
Compromise, which Douglas had declared "to be sacred," and a law which
"no human hand should destroy." This act was considered such a flagrant
violation of a trust, breaking down all legal barriers to the possible
spread of slavery, that it aroused great indignation throughout the
North.
Mr. Lincoln, just prior to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as
already stated by Mr. Merwin in the last chapter, had become inactive
in politics, and had given himself more fully to the practice of law.
In furnishing a short biography of himself for a friend, in 1859,
he said, "I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise aroused me again." He now saw the great danger of
slavery enlarging its territory indefinitely, and was alarmed at the
serious nature of the situation.
When Mr. Douglas discovered the unpopularity of his famous bill, he
hastened to Springfield and other places in Illinois, to explain
matters. On the 4th of October, 1854, he spoke in the State House at
the time of the State Fair. It was expected that Lyman Trumbull, a
noted Whig politician of Illinois, would reply, but he did not appear.
Seeing the coast clear, Mr. Douglas spread himself, and made a great
speech. He was small in stature and somewhat bombastic in his style
of delivery. He was popularly known among his friends as the "Little
Giant." Mr. Lincoln had been urged to reply to Mr. Douglas, and, after
some persuasion, consented to do so. That day he made his first great
political speech. It is stated that "all the smothered fires of his
broody days and nights and years burst forth in a power and with an
eloquence which even those who knew him best had not so much as hoped
for." Among other things, he said:
"My distinguished friend, Douglas, says it is an insult to the
emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska to suppose that they are not
able to govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of
this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met
and answered. I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is
competent to govern himself, _but I deny his right to govern any
other person without that person's consent_."
I now introduce to my readers one who heard Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln
on that occasion, fifty-four years ago. It is Rev. R. L. McCord, now
in his seventy-ninth year. He is an intelligent and highly-respected
citizen of Lake City, Iowa, and one of my most valued parishioners. I
shall let Mr. McCord speak for himself:
"I was then twenty-four years of age, and in my second year as a
student in the Illinois Congregational College at Jacksonville,
thirty miles west of Springfield. Some of my college mates and I
heard Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln speak in the State House, in
the fall of 1854. The people were wearied with the lengthy speech
of Judge Douglas. When Mr. Lincoln began his reply, for about
fifteen minutes he kept the audience in an uproar of laughter and
applause. Then he waded into the subject of 'free speech, free
soil, and free men,' much to the confusion of the man who 'didn't
care whether slavery was voted up or down.' During Mr. Lincoln's
reply, Judge Douglas several times interrupted him, saying he
was misrepresented. Mr. Lincoln, in his good nature, allowed
him to explain a number of times. At one point he was very much
worked up, and, pointing his finger at Mr. Lincoln, vehemently
demanded a chance to explain. In a very excited manner, Judge
Douglas tried to set himself right, using about fifteen minutes
of Mr. Lincoln's time. After he was through, Mr. Lincoln spread
his mouth, and, with a broad smile, said, 'I believe the "Little
Giant" is somewhat agitated,' and, without further attention to
the judge, proceeded with his speech. I was so impressed with Mr.
Lincoln's speech that on leaving the State House, I said to my
college mates, 'Lincoln is my candidate for President at the next
election.' This was six years before Mr. Lincoln was nominated at
Chicago. The next evening, with my college mates, we called upon
Mr. Lincoln at his home and complimented him for his great speech.
He received us kindly, shook hands with us, and thanked us for our
call. This was my first meeting with Mr. Lincoln, but I met him
and heard him speak a number of times afterward."
This speech of Mr. Lincoln's was a noted one, and nearly all his
biographers mention it, but it has not been left on record, except
in small extracts. Mr. McCord's statement, made for this book, is
interesting, and all will be glad to see the picture of his friendly
and intellectual face as it now appears.
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and its effects was the means
of the destruction of the Whig party, to which Mr. Lincoln belonged,
the disruption of other party lines, and the organization of a new
party with Abraham Lincoln as its acknowledged leader, which in a few
years was to decide the destinies of the United States Government.
It also had the effect of bringing about a state of civil war in
Kansas. Thousands of pro- and anti-slavery people flocked to Kansas
to help decide the destiny of that territory. Illegal votes, bogus
legislatures, mobs, murders, incendiary acts, and general lawlessness
were some of the fruits of Mr. Douglas' famous bill for popular
sovereignty, better known as "squatter sovereignty."
In 1857, Chief-Justice Taney of the United States Supreme Court, with
a majority of his associates, decided on a test case, known as the
"Dred Scott Case," that when the Constitution of the United States
was formed and adopted, a negro slave was not a person, but simply a
piece of property,—a thing,—and that his master could lawfully take his
slaves anywhere he pleased, just as he could his horses and his cattle.
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Dred Scott
Decision greatly aroused the North. Some declared that the latter
two laws should not be carried out. This increased the hostility of
the South. Many persons in the North assisted in what was called the
"underground railroad"—secretly assisting slaves on their way to Canada
for freedom.
When a small boy, just beginning to read, I remember seeing at my
Grandfather Todd's, in southern Indiana, copies of the Louisville
_Journal_ (now the _Courier-Journal_) with whole columns of
short advertisements, offering rewards for runaway slaves. Such
advertisements could easily be recognized at a glance, for each one had
a small picture of a slave with a carpet-sack on his back making long
strides for liberty.
The leading opponents of slavery were bitterly hated and persecuted.
William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in the city of Boston, and it was
with great difficulty that his life was saved. Elijah P. Lovejoy, who
published an anti-slavery paper at Alton, Illinois, was shot down by a
mob while defending his property and pleading for free speech. Charles
Sumner, because of a speech he made, was brutally assaulted while
sitting in his chair in the United States Senate, and was so beaten
that he was compelled to give up his seat in Congress for four years.
It was well known that neither moral suasion nor the ordinary political
methods would ever do away with the curse of slavery. The people of
the North debated, prayed, preached, and voted against slavery, while
the people of the South were equally zealous in defending slavery,
contending it was a divine institution.
While matters were in such an unsettled condition a great explosion
occurred in the fall of 1859 which startled the entire nation. John
Brown, who had rendered valuable service in keeping slavery out of
Kansas, with an armed force of seventeen men, made a raid upon Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, captured the United States arsenal, and for some time
held the United States army at bay before he was captured. He had
planned for a general insurrection among the slaves, believing that
their emancipation depended largely upon themselves. Brown's plans were
forced before he was ready. It was a rash act, and was not approved
by the North, but strongly condemned. Brown and others who survived
the conflict were executed for inciting an insurrection, murder, and
treason. Brown was a brave and sincere man, but fanatical. As the
explosion of the _Maine_ hastened the Spanish-American War, so the John
Brown raid was an important link in the chain of events to hasten the
downfall of slavery. Seward's "irrepressible conflict" was at hand, and
his "higher law" was soon to prevail.
CHAPTER X.
The Lincoln and Douglas Debates
Candidates for the United States Senate—Seven Joint Debates—The
Paramount Issue—The "Divided House"—"Acts of a Drama"—Douglas
Charged Lincoln with Selling Whisky—Lincoln's Denial—A
Discovery—Site of the Old Still House in Indiana—Douglas
Elected—Lincoln, the Champion of Human Liberty.
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were candidates for the
United States Senate from Illinois. Mr. Douglas, who was a Democrat,
had already served as Senator, and was a candidate for reëlection.
Mr. Lincoln was the Republican nominee. Both had had considerable
experience in politics. Arrangements were made between them to jointly
discuss the political issues at seven different places, namely, Ottawa,
August 21; Freeport, August 27; Jonesboro, September 15; Charlestown,
September 18; Galesburg, October 7; Quincy, October 13, and Alton,
October 15.
These were the most noted public debates in American history. The
slavery question, with its various side issues, was the chief topic
of discussion. These debates were listened to by immense concourses
of people, and excited the interest of the whole country. Mr. Lincoln
assumed that slavery was wrong, and opposed the extension of it, while
Mr. Douglas, without considering the moral phase of the question, was
in favor of leaving to the vote of the inhabitants of a territory
whether it should become a State with or without slavery.
Mr. Lincoln's "divided house" argument, first used at Springfield, in
June, when he was nominated for Senator, was one of the strongest
applications of scripture ever given. He said:
"We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated
with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end
to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that
agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.
In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been
reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'
I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do
not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either
the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push
it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States,
old as well as new—North as well as South."
In the course of the debates, Mr. Lincoln said of slavery:
"The real issue in this controversy—the one pressing upon every
mind—is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon
the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that
does not look upon it as a wrong.... Because we think it wrong, we
propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong. We
deal with it as any other wrong, in so far as we can prevent it
from growing any larger, and so deal with it that in the run of
time there may be some promise of an end to it."
Because of the great principles involved, and the wide notoriety of
these debates, Mr. Lincoln said, at Quincy:
"I was aware, when it was first agreed that Judge Douglas and I
were to have these seven joint discussions, that they were the
successive acts of a drama—perhaps I should say, to be enacted,
not merely in the face of audiences like this, but in the face
of the nation, and, to some extent, by my relation to him, and
not from anything in myself, in the face of the world; and I am
anxious that they should be conducted with dignity and in good
temper, which would be befitting the vast audiences before which
it was conducted."
In the first debate, at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas said, in reference to the
early career of himself and Mr. Lincoln in Illinois:
"I have known him for nearly twenty-five years. There were many
points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. We
were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in
a strange land. I was a school teacher in the town of Winchester,
and he a flourishing grocery-keeper in the town of Salem."
It has been stated, in Chapter VII., that in those days to be a
"grocery-keeper" implied the selling of whisky. In his reply, Mr.
Lincoln, using the third person, said:
"The judge is woefully at fault about his early friend Lincoln
being a 'grocery-keeper.' I don't know as it would be a great sin
if I had been; but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery
anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the latter
part of one winter in a little still-house up at the head of a
hollow."
Here Lincoln plainly denies ever keeping a grocery, but the query
arises, Where did he "work the latter part of one winter in a little
still-house, up at the head of a hollow"? In all the numerous Lincoln
biographies I have ever examined I have never seen any reference to its
location. But I have located the place.
Reference has been made to Henry Brooner, one of Lincoln's early
associates in Indiana. At the time of giving the other items, more than
twenty years ago, already mentioned, "Uncle Henry" made this statement,
written at the time, the original still preserved:
"When I was about twenty-five years old [1829], Abraham Lincoln
came to my house, where I now live, and left an article of
agreement for me to keep. At that time, one mile north of here,
there was a distillery owned by John Dutton. He employed John
Johnston, Lincoln's step-brother, to run it that winter, and
Lincoln left the article of agreement between the parties for me
to keep."
"Oh, Uncle Henry," said I, "find that paper, and I will give you ten
dollars for it." He said his house burned afterward, and all his
papers were destroyed. He afterward built a brick house near the same
foundation.
When "Uncle Henry" gave me this item, I had not read the celebrated
Lincoln and Douglas debates, and, therefore, knew nothing of Lincoln's
statement that he had worked at a still-house. When I read the debates,
fifteen years later, and saw Lincoln's reference to his having "worked
the latter part of one winter at a little still-house, up at the head
of a hollow," I was at once struck with what "Uncle Henry" had told me.
This certainly decides the fact that Lincoln had reference to the time
when he worked at the Dutton distillery, when his step-brother, John
Johnston, run it the winter before the Lincolns left for Illinois, in
1830.
John Kemp, my old friend and a highly-respected citizen, now
sixty-three years old, who was born and reared on a farm adjoining
Henry Brooner, told me in July, 1903, in Washington, Indiana, that
north of the old Brooner farm there is an old farm still known as
the "Dutton farm," and that he remembered seeing, often, when a small
boy, near a spring, an old, dilapidated building called the "old
still-house." He had never heard of John Johnston or of Abraham Lincoln
working there, for that was before he was born. "Uncle Henry" had been
dead thirteen years, but I had the record of the statement he made to
me.
On a bright afternoon, September 7, 1903, Mr. Kemp took me in his buggy
to see the place. The farm was then owned by John and Harmon Steineker,
and is on the old Fredonia and Princeton highway, four miles southwest
of Huntingburg, Dubois County, Indiana. Here is the "Dutton farm," and
here is a spring in the barn lot. Just across the road, to the right,
is where the old "still-house" stood, and there is the "hollow" running
down through the forest. As I viewed the scene, I felt something within
me akin to what old Archimedes felt when he discovered the solution to
an important mathematical problem, and exclaimed, "Eureka! Eureka!" ("I
have found it! I have found it!").
In the joint debates between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, the latter
carried the most popular applause, but the former made the deeper and
more lasting impressions. Douglas was greeted with the loudest cheers,
but when Lincoln closed, the people seemed sober and serious. As a
result of the canvass, Mr. Lincoln had a majority of four thousand of
the popular vote of the State, but it is stated that the legislative
districts were so construed that Douglas received a majority of the
ballots in the legislature, and was, therefore, returned to the United
States Senate. The debates brought Mr. Lincoln to the front as an able
and eloquent champion of human liberty and prepared the way for his
nomination and election to the presidency of the United States.
[Illustration: WILLIAM D. ARMSTRONG,
_Of the Armstrong Case. Defended by Lincoln in 1858. This picture was
taken late in life, as an every-day farmer._]
[Illustration: HANNAH ARMSTRONG,
_Wife of Jack Armstrong, and mother of "Duff," whom Lincoln defended._]
[Illustration:
HONORABLE WILLIAM WALKER.
HONORABLE LYMAN LACEY, SR.
_These lawyers were associated with Mr. Lincoln in the celebrated
Armstrong Case. Mr. Lacey is still living at Havana, Illinois. Mr.
Walker died several years ago._]
CHAPTER XI.
Lincoln Nominated and Elected President
Rival Candidates—Great Enthusiasm—Lincoln's Temperance Principles
Exemplified—Other Nominations—A Great Campaign—Lincoln's
Letter to David Turnham—Lincoln's Election—Secession—Lincoln
Inaugurated—Douglas.
Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate for President
of the United States, at Chicago, Illinois, May 18, 1860. Salmon P.
Chase, William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, William L. Dayton, and Edward
Bates were the opposing candidates for the nomination. Mr. Lincoln
was nominated on the third ballot. The nomination was afterward made
unanimous. The nomination was made amid great applause. It has been
said that the scene baffled all human description. Mr. Lincoln was the
second Republican candidate for the Presidency, General John C. Fremont
being the first, who was nominated in 1856.
Mr. Lincoln was at his home in Springfield, Illinois, when he was
nominated. His strong temperance principles were again exemplified
when the committee formally notified him of his nomination. Some of
his Springfield friends, knowing that he did not keep or use liquors,
thought he would have nothing of the kind on hands to refresh the
committee, and offered to furnish what was needed. Mr. Lincoln thanked
them for their offer, and said, "Gentlemen, I cannot allow you to do
what I will not do myself."
After the committee had notified him of his nomination, and he had
responded, accepting the nomination, he said that, as an appropriate
conclusion to an interview so important and interesting as that which
had transpired, he supposed good manners would require that he should
treat the committee with something to drink. Soon a servant entered
bearing a large waiter containing several glasses, and a large pitcher
in the midst, and placed it on the center-table. Mr. Lincoln arose and,
gravely addressing the company, said: "Gentlemen, we must pledge our
mutual healths in the most healthy beverage which God has given to man.
It is the only beverage I have ever used or allowed in my family, and
I cannot conscientiously depart from it on the present occasion—it is
pure Adam's ale from the spring." And, taking a glass, he touched it to
his lips, and pledged them his highest respects in a cup of cold water.
The Democratic party was divided. The Northern Democrats nominated
Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln's old political rival. The Southern
Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky. A third party,
called the "Union party," nominated John Bell, of Tennessee. The
campaign that followed was a remarkable one. "The magic words, 'Old
Abe' and 'Honest Old Abe,' were on thousands of banners."
During the campaign, Mr. Lincoln wrote a letter to his old friend,
David Turnham, the constable of Spencer County, Indiana, from whom he
borrowed the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," mentioned in Chapter III.
This letter is now given to the general public for the first time:
"SPRINGFIELD, ILLS., Oct. 23, 1860.
"_David Turnham_, _Esq._,
"MY DEAR OLD FRIEND: Your kind letter of the 17th is received. I
am indeed very glad to hear you are still living and well. I well
remember when you and I last met, after a separation of fourteen
years, at the Cross Road voting place, in the fall of 1844. It is
now sixteen years more, and we are both no longer young men.
"I suppose you are a grandfather, and I, though married much later
in life, have a son nearly grown.
"I would much like to visit the old home, and old friends of my
boyhood, but I fear the chance of doing so soon is not very good.
"Your friend and sincere well-wisher,
"A. LINCOLN."
The election was held on the sixth of November, 1860, and the result
showed a popular vote for Lincoln of 1,857,600; for Douglas, 1,365,976;
for Breckenridge, 847,953, and for Bell, 590,631. In the electoral
college, Lincoln received 180 votes, Breckenridge, 72, Bell 39, and
Douglas 12.
Because of an election of a Northern man for President, and fearing
their "peculiar institution" was in danger, the Southern States began
the organization of the Southern Confederacy, and when Mr. Lincoln was
inaugurated, March 4, 1861, seven Southern States had passed ordinances
of secession, followed later by four other States. Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi, was chosen President of the Southern Confederacy.
Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address was noted for its sentiments of good
will and forbearance, yet he strongly indicated his purpose to maintain
the Union. He stated that he had no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
interfere with slavery where it then existed, and that the people of
the South could have no war unless they became the aggressors.
Stephen A. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln's old political rival, and who was
also a presidential candidate at the time of Mr. Lincoln's election,
held Mr. Lincoln's hat while he read his inaugural address, and stated
to those near him, "If I can't be President, I can hold his hat."
James Parton, the historian, said of Mr. Douglas: "On the breaking
out of the Rebellion, in 1861, Stephen A. Douglas gave his hand to
President Lincoln and engaged to stand by him in his efforts to save
the country. But his days were numbered. During his herculean labors of
the previous year he had sustained himself by deep draughts of whisky;
and his constitution gave way at the very time when a new and nobler
career opened up before him." He died in Chicago, June 3, 1861, at the
age of forty-eight years, and only three months after Mr. Lincoln's
inauguration.
CHAPTER XII.
President Lincoln and the Civil War
The Beginning—Personal Recollections—The War Spirit—Progress of
the War—The Emancipation Proclamation—A Fight to
Finish—Lincoln's Kindness—He Relieves a Young Soldier—He Names
Triplets Who Are Still Living—His Reëlection—The Fall of
Richmond—Appomatox—Close of the Rebellion.
On the 12th of April, 1861, after Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, the
first outbreak of the Civil War was the bombardment of Fort Sumter on
the part of the South. President Lincoln at once called for volunteers
to suppress the rebellion.
Although but a small boy at the time, I remember when the war began.
It was the greatest civil war in human history, and will always be
associated with Abraham Lincoln. I remember the excitement it produced
where I resided in southern Indiana and throughout the whole country.
I recall the floating flag, the mournful sound of the drum, and the
plaintive music of the fife when volunteers were enlisting for the
defense of the nation. The neighbors talked war, the newspapers were
filled with war news. The war spirit entered into the plays of the
children. Elder fifes, old tin wash-boilers for drums, wooden guns and
bayonets, and rudely-constructed flags were much in evidence in the
mimic drilling and marching. How patriotically the little boys sang, as
did some of their sires in the sunny South:
"The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the stars,
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom!"
How the schoolboys played war in the autumn! The forts were made of old
fence rails and logs, and how they were bombarded with cannon-balls of
green walnuts, and how the "rebels" were routed and some captured! In
the winter-time how the snow-balls would fly as the two armies stood in
battle array!
What a sad day it was when the news came that our "circuit rider,"
a young minister, who had so often been in our home, and who had
enlisted, was killed at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in May, 1863.
Early in 1865, I saw my name in print for the first time by writing a
letter for publication in the _Children's Friend_, published at Dayton,
Ohio, in which I made the statement, "I am a Union boy fourteen years
old, and wish the war was over."
After the war had continued a year and a half, with victories and
defeats on both sides, the President, on the 22d of September, 1862,
issued the provisional Emancipation Proclamation, which was to the
effect that the South would be given from that time up to the first
of January, 1863, to lay down their arms, keep their slaves, and find
their proper places in the Union, otherwise a proclamation would be
issued to set at liberty their slaves. The South did not accept the
overtures of President Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued. It was issued as a war measure, upon military necessity, and
on the condition that the traitor forfeits his property. After this
the war, upon the part of the North, was not only to suppress the
rebellion, but for the purpose of abolishing slavery, and the South
fought not only to preserve the Confederacy, but for the institution of
slavery itself. It was now a fight to finish upon both sides, and to
settle great principles and interests.
Those were times that tried men's souls, but none were so tried as was
the soul of him who stood at the helm and guided the ship of state in
that stormy period of our country's history.
Throughout the war Mr. Lincoln was very kind and forbearing in his
dealings with all classes of men. Many a deserter owed his life to the
pardoning power of President Lincoln, one of whom I knew personally
for many years. Besides his heavy duties as President, under such
extraordinary circumstances, he went to extra trouble in relieving
persons in many cases who came to him for help. George W. Wolf, an
upright and influential citizen, who resides near Georgetown, Floyd
County, Indiana, was corporal of Company C, of the Eighty-first Indiana
Regiment, in the Civil War, and afterward sergeant of the Seventh
Veteran Reserve Corps. At his home, November 26, 1904, he related to me
the following incident, which came under his observation, showing the
kind nature of President Lincoln:
"A young soldier, about twenty years of age, belonging to an
Illinois regiment, was taken sick on the field, and sent to a
hospital. For some time after his partial recovery he was not able
for field service, and was put in the First Battalion Reserve
Corps, which was in camp in the rear of the President's mansion.
He came to me one day and said: 'Sergeant, what would you do if
you had been sent from your company to a hospital, and then sent
here, and could draw no money from the paymaster on account of not
having a descriptive roll?'
"'I would send for it,' said I.
"'I have sent for it two or three times, but it never came,' said
he.
"'Then I would go and see Uncle Abe,' said I.
"'What,' said he, 'a private soldier go up and see the President?
Would he notice me?'
"'Yes,' I replied, 'and I will go with you.'
"The next morning we secured a pass, and went to see the
President. The young man was very nervous. After waiting a few
minutes, we were admitted to the President's room. Mr. Lincoln,
after dropping his feet from a table, said, 'Well, soldiers, what
can I do for you?'
"Before entering, I told the young man he must do his own talking,
but I answered, 'This soldier wants to see you about getting pay
for his service.'
"Mr. Lincoln, after a short conversation, wrote the name of the
soldier, his regiment, when he enlisted, that he had received but
one payment, that he had tried more than once, and had failed.
Then Mr. Lincoln said, 'I will see to it.'
"The next day, about noon, the young soldier was ordered to go to
the paymaster and draw his money. He received all his pay, and a
bounty beside, for he had been without pay for two years. After
receiving his money he joyfully took off his cap, threw it up in
the air, and exclaimed, 'Boys, if they don't treat you right, go
to Old Abe, and he will make it right.'"
In the _Farm and Fireside_, published at Springfield, Ohio, of March
7, 1906, appeared an article written by J. L. Graff, concerning a
set of triplets, yet living, who were named by President Lincoln.
The family name is Haskins. The picture of the triplets appeared in
connection with the article. The names given by Mr. Lincoln were Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, and
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. Recently I wrote a
letter addressed to the triplets, in care of Abraham Lincoln Haskins,
enclosing the article and their picture, asking for the verification of
the facts stated and for other information. In due time I received the
following letter:
"BARABOO, WISCONSIN, January 17, 1909.
"REV. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—I received a letter from you asking
if I was one of the Haskins triplets. Yes, sir; I am. We were born
May 24, 1861, and named by Abraham Lincoln. We are all alive and
well. I am sorry to say that I have no picture of us three, and
never had them taken but once in our lives, and the one that I
had I sent to Mr. J. L. Graff, of Chicago. One brother is here in
Baraboo, the other is in Coleman, Michigan, whose name is Simon.
That picture you sent is an exact picture of us. A Mr. Cole,
editor of the Baraboo _News_, tried to find the letter that Mr.
Lincoln wrote to my folks. All that he could find out was that it
was in some museum in Washington. I wish we could get it, for I
would highly prize it. We boys never saw it. He wrote to my father
and asked him if it was true that he was the father of three
boys of the same age. He wrote and told him it was so; then Mr.
Lincoln wrote again, saying that he would be pleased to name us.
Father wrote and told him that he would be pleased to have him
name us. He said the first should be named Abraham Lincoln, the
second Gideon Welles, and the third Simon Cameron. We were born
in Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont. My mother's name, before
she was married, was Louisa E. Grace, and if there ever was a
Christian she was the very best one. If there is anything more I
can do for you I will be very glad to do so. I feel proud of my
name, and try hard to honor it in every respect.
"Yours, with respect,
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN HASKINS."
I feel sure the reader will be pleased to see in this book the picture
of the triplets, yet living, who were named by President Lincoln.
Mr. Lincoln was reëlected President of the United States, November 8,
1864, and entered upon his second term March 4, 1865. General George
B. McClellan was the Democratic candidate. The London _Spectator_
declared the second inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln to be the noblest
political document known to history.
In the meantime the war was being industriously prosecuted. Important
victories, with some reverses, came to the North from time to time. The
rebellion finally collapsed in the fall of Richmond, Virginia, April 3,
and the surrender of General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Court
House, April 9, 1865.
Mr. Nichols, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says:
"The spontaneous and universal rejoicings of the people of the
country at the complete overthrow of the rebellion were such as
had never been witnessed before on any continent. Men laughed,
cried, shouted, shook hands with each other; there were parades
by day and at night. America was illuminated by discharge of
fireworks and thousands of torchlight processions. The war was
over. Peace stretched her white wings over our beloved land."
CHAPTER XIII.
Death of President Lincoln
Personal Recollections—The Tragic Event—Mr. Stanton—A Nation in
Sorrow—The Funeral—The Interment at Springfield, Illinois—The
House in Which President Lincoln Died—Changed Conditions—The
South Honors Lincoln—A United People—A Rich Inheritance.
On the 15th of April, 1865, my father came hurriedly into the house
with the exclamatory interrogation, addressed to mother, "Guess who's
dead!" Mother at once thought of her old father, and asked if it were
he. Then came the startling news, "Lincoln is killed!" What a shock
it was to our family, as it was to thousands of others. We looked at
the little two-year-old boy of the household who bore the President's
name, and, with childish superstition, wondered if he would suffer any
disadvantages because of the murder of President Lincoln.
On Friday evening, April 14, the President was in attendance at
Ford's Theater, on Tenth Street, in Washington, D. C. The proceeds of
the entertainment were to be given to a charity benefit, and it was
widely advertised that the President and wife, with General Grant and
others would be present. John Wilkes Booth, a fanatic and Southern
sympathizer, shot the President in the head at 10:15. He at once became
unconscious, and never regained consciousness. He was carried across
the street to a house, where he died the next morning at 7:23. Mrs.
Lincoln, the son Robert T., Private Secretary John Hay, several members
of the cabinet, surgeons, Rev. Dr. Gurley, Senator Charles Sumner, and
others were present when the end came.
No one, outside of the family, was so deeply moved at the striking
down of the President as was Mr. Stanton. It will be remembered that
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton first met in 1857, at the trial of the
McCormick Reaper Patent case, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and that at the
trial Stanton slighted Mr. Lincoln and made uncomplimentary remarks
about him. Four years later, President Lincoln chose Mr. Stanton a
member of his cabinet, making him Secretary of War. Their relations
were very close during the war period up to the time of Mr. Lincoln's
death.
F. B. Carpenter, in his book, "Six Months at the White House," says:
"A few days before the President's death, Secretary Stanton
tendered his resignation of the War Department. He accompanied the
act with a heartfelt tribute to Mr. Lincoln's constant friendship
and faithful devotion to the country, saying, also, that he, as
secretary, had accepted the position to hold it only until the war
should end, and that now he felt his work was done, and his duty
was to resign.
"Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the secretary's words, and,
tearing in pieces the paper containing his resignation, and
throwing his arms about the secretary, he said, 'Stanton, you have
been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not
for you to say when you will no longer be needed here.' Several
friends of both parties were present on the occasion, and there
was not a dry eye that witnessed the scene."
When Lincoln fell, Stanton was almost heart-broken, and as he knelt by
his side was heard to say to himself: "Am I indeed left alone? None may
now ever know or tell what we have suffered together in the nation's
darkest hours." When the surgeon-general said to him that there was
no hope, he could not believe it, and passionately exclaimed, "No, no,
general; no, no!"
When Lincoln expired, and just after prayer by Doctor Gurley, Stanton
was the first to break the silence, saying, "Now he belongs to the
ages."
At the death of President Lincoln the nation was suddenly turned from
demonstrations of great joy, on account of the closing of the war, to
intense grief and unutterable horror. W. O. Stoddard says, "It was as
if there had been a death in every home throughout the land." J. H.
Barrett says:
"Never before was rejoicing turned into such sudden and
overwhelming sorrow. A demon studying how most deeply to wound
the greatest number of hearts, could have devised no act for
his purpose like that which sent Abraham Lincoln to his grave.
No man's loss could have been so universally felt as that of a
father, brother, friend. Many a fireside was made lonely by this
bereavement. Sadness and despondency seized upon all. Men ceased
business, and workmen returned home with their dinner buckets
unopened. The merchants left their counting-rooms for the privacy
of their dwellings. A gloom, intensified by the transition from
the pomp and rejoicing of the day before, settled impenetrably on
every mind. Bells sadly tolled in all parts of the land. Mourning
drapery was quickly seen from house to house on every square of
the national capital; and all the chief places of the country
witnessed, by spontaneous demonstration, their participation in
the general sorrow. In every loyal pulpit, and at every true altar
throughout the nation, the great public grief was the theme of
earnest prayer and discourse on the day following. One needs not
to dwell on what no pen can describe, and on what no adult living
on that day can ever forget."
Funeral services were conducted in the East Room of the White House
on Wednesday, April 19, by Doctor Gurley, of the Presbyterian Church.
Andrew Johnson, the successor of President Lincoln, by proclamation,
recommended that memorial services be held that day throughout the
United States. I kept my first diary that year, and made the following
entry for that day:
"Abraham Lincoln's funeral preached; order to hold meeting at
every church in the U. S. Heard David Swartz preach in Clear
Spring. 2 Samuel, 3 chapter, 38 verse. The minister was a
Methodist, and the words of the text were, 'Know ye not that there
is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?'"
The remains of President Lincoln were taken to his old home,
Springfield, Illinois, for interment. An address was there delivered by
Mr. Lincoln's highly-esteemed friend, Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. A large monument, appropriate to the memory of him
who "bound the nation and unbound the slave," marks the place where his
body lies in Oak Ridge Cemetery.
The three-story brick building in which President Lincoln died in
Washington City is still standing. The lower story is used by Mr. O. H.
Oldroyd, containing the Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial Collection, consisting
of more than three thousand articles pertaining to the martyred
President. I visited this house, May 23, 1901. In some pictures of the
house in which Lincoln died there is a flag floating from a window in
the second story, and in others the third story, with the statement
that the flag indicates the room in which President Lincoln died.
Neither is correct. He died in a small room on the first floor, in the
rear part of the building.
It is now nearly forty-four years since Abraham Lincoln died. There have
been great changes in our country during that time. The South now
vindicates Lincoln, and realizes that he was their friend. Peace and
good will now prevail between the North and the South, cemented by the
blood of Lincoln.
Joseph H. Bradley, chaplain National Soldiers' Home of Virginia, in
a communication to the _Ram's Horn_, quotes from a letter written by
General William G. Webb, a Christian ex-Confederate:
"Abraham Lincoln was a great and good man, and was raised up by
God to preserve this nation as one and indivisible, and to give
freedom to the slaves. As a Confederate, I could not see it;
and after our defeat it took me some time to grasp it; but it
became very plain to me after a while. God has a great work for
this nation to do, and Mr. Lincoln was, like Washington, one of
his instruments to prepare the people for this mission which the
United States is to accomplish toward the enlightenment, freedom,
and Christianization of the world."
I heard a lecture on Abraham Lincoln at Corydon, Indiana, March 17,
1899, by Henry Watterson, the talented editor of the Louisville
_Courier-Journal_ and ex-Confederate, in which he said, "If Lincoln
was not inspired of God, then there is no such thing on earth as
special providence or the interposition of divine power in the affairs
of men."
In 1903, the State of Mississippi, the second State to pass an
ordinance of secession, and the home of Jefferson Davis, President of
the Southern Confederacy, requested Honorable Robert T. Lincoln to
furnish a picture of his father to hang in the new capitol building at
Jackson. The request was as follows:
"We of the South now realize the greatness and the goodness of the
character of Abraham Lincoln, and would honor his memory. Nothing
that we could do would add to his fame. We can, however, show our
respect and love for him. Permit me, therefore, in the name of the
State, to invite you to place a portrait of President Lincoln in
the new capitol of Mississippi; that it may symbolize his love for
his country, his devotion to duty, and his heartfelt sympathy for
the Southern people."
Abraham Lincoln loved the South. He was Southern born. At his last
cabinet meeting, on the date of his death, he advised that forbearance,
clemency, and charity should be the controlling principles in dealing
with difficult problems awaiting practical solution.
What a rich inheritance we have in the example and deeds, the pen and
voice of Abraham Lincoln. What an inspiration his noble life should
be to struggling young men who trace the footsteps in his eventful
history, and learn the motives that prompted him in all his actions.
Not long since I received a communication from a stranger, a poor
orphan boy in far-away Turkey. He lives in Konia, the ancient Iconium,
mentioned in the New Testament. He says: "I have read in some books
about Lincoln. I love and admire him as one of the greatest men that
ever have been lived on earth." His appeal for an opportunity to know
more about Lincoln was pathetic.
Many years ago a young man said:
"I was only a child when Abraham Lincoln died, but I cannot think
of his death without feeling the same pain I would feel if it had
been my father. I never saw him, and yet it seems that I knew him
and loved him personally. I am sure I am a better man because
Lincoln lived. His straightforward, simple, truthful life puts all
meaner lives to shame."
O. H. Oldroyd, editor of the "Lincoln Memorial Album," says:
"His fame is world-wide and stands in history more lasting than a
monument of brass. His words will continue to sound through the
ages as long as the flowers shall bloom or the waters flow."
Another writer says:
"We hear Lincoln's words in every schoolhouse and college, in
every cabin, and at every public meeting. We read them in every
newspaper, school-book, and magazine, and they are all in favor
of right, liberty, and truth, and of honesty and reverence for
God. His words, some of them as familiar as the Bible, are on the
tongues of the people, shaping the national character."
Bishop Newman said:
"There is no name more deserving of imperishable fame than Abraham
Lincoln. He is embalmed in song, recorded in history, eulogized
in panegyric, cast in bronze, sculptured in marble, painted on
canvas, enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, and lives in
the memories of mankind."
[Illustration: GEORGE W. TURNHAM,
_Of Evansville, Indiana, son of the Indiana constable who loaned
Lincoln the Revised Statutes of Indiana. Mr. Turnham has a letter
written to his father by Lincoln in 1860, and printed in this volume._]
[Illustration: MOSES MARTIN.
_Mr. Martin signed a temperance pledge presented by Abraham Lincoln in
1847. Mr. Martin resides at Edinburg, Illinois, and is eighty years of
age._]
[Illustration: MAJOR J. B. MERWIN,
_Who canvassed Illinois with Lincoln for State Prohibition in 1854-55,
and was associated with Mr. Lincoln till the day of his death. Major
Merwin now resides at Middleburg, Conn._]
[Illustration: REV. R. L. McCORD,
_Of Lake City, Iowa, who named Lincoln as his candidate for President
after hearing him speak at Springfield, Illinois, in 1854._]
CHAPTER XIV.
Unpublished Official Documents
A Discovery—Documents of Historic Value—Lincoln Owned Land in
Iowa—Copy of Letters Patent from United States, under James
Buchanan, to Abraham Lincoln, in 1860—Copy of Deed Executed by
Honorable Robert T. Lincoln and Wife in 1892—Other Transfers—The
Present Owner.
A few months ago I learned through a newspaper that Abraham Lincoln, at
the time of his death, owned land in the State of Iowa, by virtue of
his having served in the Black Hawk War of 1832. He was given a land
script, good for one hundred and twenty acres, which he located in what
is now Crawford County, Iowa. Having never heard of this before, I went
to Denison, the county-seat, and, through the law and abstract office
of Shaw, Sims & Kuehnle, obtained the information where the records
could be found in the county recorder's office. The above-named Shaw is
the Honorable Leslie M. Shaw, ex-Governor of Iowa and ex-Secretary of
the United States Treasury under President Roosevelt.
Through the kindness of the county recorder, W. E. Terry, I was allowed
to copy the records in the case. Probably Abraham Lincoln never saw the
land, but because of their historical value the records are here given.
The first is the letters-patent from the United States to Abraham
Lincoln. Record D, page 18. Original Entry, page 125.
"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
"_To All Whom, These Presents Shall Come, Greeting_:
"WHEREAS, In pursuance of the Act of Congress, approved March
3, 1855, entitled An Act, in addition to certain Acts, Granting
Bounty Land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged
in the military service of the United States, There has been
deposited in the General Land Office, Warrant No. 68645, for
120 acres of land in favor of Abraham Lincoln, Captain Illinois
Militia, Black Hawk War, with evidence that the same has been duly
located upon the east half of the northeast quarter, and northwest
quarter of the northeast quarter of section eighteen, in Township
eighty-four, north of Range thirty-nine west, in the district of
Lands subject to sale at Council Bluffs, Iowa, containing one
hundred and twenty acres, according to the official plat of the
survey of the said land returned to the General Land Office by the
Surveyor General, the said tract having been located by the said
Abraham Lincoln.
"Know ye, That there is, therefore, granted by the United States
unto the said Abraham Lincoln, heirs, and assigns forever.
"In Testimony, whereof, I, James Buchanan, President of the United
States of America, have caused these Letters to be made Patent,
and the seal of the General Land Office to be hereto affixed.
"[SEAL.]
"Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the tenth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Sixty, and of the Independence of the United States the
Eighty-fifth.
"By the President: JAMES BUCHANAN.
"By J. B. LEONARD, _Sec._
"G. W. GRANGER, _Recorder of the General Land Office_.
"Recorded vol. 468, page 53."
The following copy of the warranty deed from Robert T. Lincoln and
wife to Henry Edwards is recorded in Deed Record 13, page 208. Robert
T. Lincoln at this time was minister from the United States to Great
Britain, under President Benjamin Harrison's administration:
"WARRANTY DEED.
"Filed April 26, A. D. 1892, at 2:10 P.M., W. W. Cushman, Recorder.
"_Know All Men by These Presents_:
"That we, Robert T. Lincoln and Mary H. Lincoln, his wife, of
Cook County, and State of Illinois, in consideration of the sum
of Thirteen Hundred Dollars ($1,300) to us in hand paid by Henry
Edwards, of Crawford County, and State of Iowa, do hereby sell
and convey unto the said Henry Edwards the following described
premises, situated in the County of Crawford, and State of Iowa,
to-wit:
"The east half of the northeast quarter, and the northwest quarter
of the northeast quarter of section eighteen (18) in Township
eighty-four (84), north of Range thirty-nine (39), west of the
Principal Meridian.
"And we covenant with the said Henry Edwards that we hold said
premises by good and perfect title, that we have good right and
lawful authority to sell and convey the same, that they are
free and clear of all liens and all encumbrances, whatsoever,
excepting the taxes levied, or to be levied, for the year 1892,
and excepting also a lease of said land expiring on or about the
fourth day of May, A. D. 1894, and we covenant to warrant and
defend the title to said premises against the lawful claims of
all persons, whomsoever, excepting as against the said taxes, and
the said lease, the obligation and discharge of both of which are
hereby assumed by the said Henry Edwards.
"The said Robert T. Lincoln hereby declares that his title to said
land is wholly by descent, and derived as follows, namely:
"That Abraham Lincoln, the patentee of said land, died on the 15th
day of April, 1865, intestate, leaving heirs surviving, his widow,
Mary Lincoln, and his two sons, Robert T. Lincoln and Thomas
Lincoln, and no other heirs; that said Thomas Lincoln died on the
15th day of July, A. D. 1871, in the nineteenth year of his age,
intestate, and unmarried, leaving him surviving as his only heirs
his mother, said Mary Lincoln, and his brother, said Robert T.
Lincoln; that said Mary Lincoln died on the 16th day of July, A.
D. 1882, intestate, and a widow, leaving her surviving as her sole
heir, said Robert T. Lincoln; and that the estate of said Abraham
Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Mary Lincoln were successively duly
administered according to law in the county court of Sangamon
County, in the State of Illinois, and that all claims against them
were duly paid and discharged.
"Signed the twenty-second day of March, A. D. 1892.
"ROBERT T. LINCOLN.
"MARY H. LINCOLN.
"UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
"Legation of the United States of America at London on this 22d
day of March, A. D. 1892, before me Larz Anderson, a secretary of
the Legation of the United States of America at London, aforesaid,
came Robert T. Lincoln and Mary H. Lincoln, his wife, personally
to me known to be the identical persons whose names are affixed
to the above instrument as grantors thereof, and acknowledged the
execution of the same to be their voluntary act and deed for the
purpose therein expressed.
"Witness my hand and the seal of said Legation the day and year
last above written.
"The Legation of the United States of America to Great Britain.
LARZ ANDERSON,
"_Secretary of Legation_."
On the 20th of April, 1892, the above-named Henry Edwards sold the land
to Enoch T. Cochran, consideration $1,500. Recorded May 2, 1892, Deed
Book 12, page 624.
On the 20th of October, 1892, Enoch T. Cochran sold the land to the
present owner, Peter F. Jepsen, consideration $1,925. Recorded October
24, 1892, Deed Book 15, page 135.
I copied the foregoing records in the recorder's office, in Dennison,
Crawford County, Iowa, in the afternoon of May 22, 1908. Mr. Jepsen,
the present owner of the land, is a retired German farmer and resides
in Denison. I called at his home after I had copied the records. He
came to the United States in 1867, and is proud of the fact that he
is the owner of the land that Abraham Lincoln owned. The land joins
another farm which Mr. Jepsen owns, where he formerly resided, in
Goodrich Township, about seven miles northwest of Denison. The present
veteran county surveyor, Moses Henry, told me that he surveyed the land
Lincoln owned, and that it is now valued at one hundred dollars per
acre.
[Illustration: THE OLD STILL-HOUSE SITE
_In Indiana, where Lincoln worked the latter part of the winter before
going to Illinois, in March, 1830._]
[Illustration:
GIDEON WELLS HASKINS
ABRAHAM LINCOLN HASKINS
SIMON CAMERON HASKINS
_Triplets named by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. They are still living._]
[Illustration: HOUSE IN WHICH LINCOLN DIED]
[Illustration: LINCOLN'S MILL]
CHAPTER XV.
Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of Lincoln's Birth
Preparations—General Observance—President Roosevelt Lays
Corner-stone of Lincoln Museum at Lincoln's Birthplace—Extracts
from Addresses at Various Places—Closing Tribute.
Never, perhaps, in the history of mankind has such general recognition
been given to the anniversary of any man's birth as was given to
the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on Friday,
February 12, 1909. For weeks in advance the newspapers, both religious
and secular, and the magazines were decorated with his pictures, and
other pictures illustrating many scenes in his life. The recollections
of personal friends and acquaintances, war incidents, stories,
anecdotes, and his personal traits were placed on record, with various
announcements and programs for the coming anniversary, showed the great
interest attached to his name and his history.
The day was made a national holiday by Congress and the proclamation
of the President, supplemented by legislatures and governors of many
States. The event was celebrated, almost without exception, by all
the common schools, colleges, and universities throughout the nation.
Churches, Grand Army posts, Young Men's Christian Associations,
the various temperance organizations, clubs, trades unions, and
almost every form of organized bodies celebrated the day. Courts
and legislatures adjourned and joined in the general anniversary
exercises, or held separate exercises. The wheels of the general
Government at Washington, D. C., stopped to recognize the great
memorial day. Business in many places was practically suspended in
honor of the day. In every community, town, and city the praises of
Lincoln were heard.
Orations delivered by great and undistinguished men and women,
pertaining to many phases of Lincoln's life and character, were given.
Prayers, religious and patriotic songs were heard. Pictures, flowers,
flags, parades, and banquets were greatly in evidence. The Gettysburg
address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the second inaugural address,
Lincoln's favorite poem, "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be
proud?" with many other selections, were recited and read.
The Southern people, as well as the Northern, joined in the general
exercises of the day. The colored people were enthusiastic in showing
their appreciation of what Mr. Lincoln had done for their race. In many
cities in foreign countries, including London, Berlin, Honolulu, and
Rome, the anniversary was observed.
The center of attraction was the celebration at Lincoln's birthplace,
on the farm three miles from Hodgenville, Larue County, Kentucky. A
large tent had been erected for the occasion, with a platform inside
for the speakers. In front of the platform was placed a rebuilt little
cabin, sixteen feet square, which had itinerated in many parts of the
country and exhibited as the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born.
The little cabin, set in flowers contributed by the school children
of Kentucky, and decorated with the national colors, very fitly
illustrated the kind of a cabin in which the great emancipator was
born. When Lincoln was born in a log cabin on that spot, no one could
imagine that a future President was born there, and that a hundred
years later another President would stand on the same spot to assist in
celebrating his birth.
Five extra trains came from Louisville to Hodgenville, bearing persons
from various points in the United States. These were conveyed by
carriages to the place of celebration. The day there was rainy, but the
foreign and local attendance was estimated at eight thousand. Among the
distinguished persons present were President Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt,
and daughter, Miss Ethel; Mr. Loeb, the President's private secretary;
Ex-Governor Joseph Folk, of Missouri, president of the Lincoln Farm
Association; Governor A. E. Willson, of Kentucky; General James G.
Wilson, and Luke E. Wright, Secretary of War.
There were various committees, guards and police. Good order
prevailed. All lines of the North and the South were blotted out in
representation, men of both sections taking part in the exercises.
Twenty-six negro citizens, appointed by Governor Willson, as a
reception committee, represented their race.
After prayer, Ex-Governor Folk, of Missouri, president of the Lincoln
Farm Association, said, in part:
"Here, on this farm, one hundred years ago to-day, was born the
strongest, strangest, gentlest character the republic has ever
known. His work was destined to have a more far-reaching influence
than any that went before him. Until recently this spot which
should be hallowed by every American, was unnoticed and abandoned.
Inspired by the idea that due regard for the apostle of human
liberty who sprang from this soil demanded the preservation of
his birthplace, a few patriotic men organized the Lincoln Farm
Association, to purchase this property and to erect upon it a
memorial to that simple, but sublime life that here came into the
world. This association is purely patriotic in its purposes, and
the movement has met with a ready response from every section of
the nation. In revering the name of Lincoln, there is now no North
or South, or East or West. There is but one heart in all, and that
the heart of patriotic America. So the memorial to be erected
here, by South as well as North, will not only be in memory of
Lincoln, but it will be a testimony that the fires of hatred
kindled by the fierce civil conflict of nearly half a century ago,
are dead, and from the ashes has arisen the red rose of patriotism
to a common country and loyalty to a common flag."
President Roosevelt, in behalf of the nation, said, in part:
"He lived in days that were great and terrible, when brother
fought against brother for what each sincerely deemed to be the
right. In a contest so grim the strong men who alone can carry
it through are rarely able to do justice to the deep convictions
of those with whom they grapple in mortal strife. At such times
men see through a glass darkly; to only the rarest and loftiest
spirits is vouchsafed that clear vision which gradually comes to
all, even to the lesser, as the struggle fades into distance, and
wounds are forgotten, and peace creeps back to the hearts that
were hurt. But to Lincoln was given this supreme vision. He did
not hate the man from whom he differed. Weakness was as foreign as
wickedness to his strong, gentle nature; but his courage was of
a quality so high that it needed no bolstering of dark passion.
He saw clearly that the same high qualities, the same courage and
willingness for self-sacrifice, and devotion to the right as it
was given them to see the right, belonged both to the men of the
North and to the men of the South. As the years roll by, and as
all of us, wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal pride in the
valor and self-devotion alike of the men who wore the blue and the
men who wore the gray, so this whole nation will grow to feel a
peculiar sense of pride in the man whose blood was shed for the
union of his people, and for the freedom of a race. The lover of
his country and of all mankind; the mightiest of the mighty men
who mastered the mighty days, Abraham Lincoln."
Governor Willson, in behalf of Kentucky, for her greatest son, said, in
part:
"We have met here on this farm where he was born, in memory of
Abraham Lincoln, to know for ourselves and to prove to the world,
by a record made to endure, and deep graven on these acres, that
the love of country and of its nobly useful citizens are not
dreams, nor idle words, but indeed living, stirring, and breathing
feelings. Abraham Lincoln is claimed by all humanity and all time
as the type of the race best showing forth the best in all men in
all conditions of life.
"Here are met to-day, with equal zeal to do him honor, soldiers
of the war for and against the Union, heroes of the Union and the
Confederacy, Americans all, no one less pledged than the other,
not only by the bond of the covenant of our law, but alike by the
dearest feelings of his heart and fervor of his blood, to our
united country and its beautiful flag."
General James G. Wilson, of New York, who was in the Union Army, spoke
fitting words in behalf of the Union, while General Luke E. Wright, who
was in the Confederate Army, now Secretary of War, spoke fitting words
in behalf of the Confederacy.
President Roosevelt laid the corner-stone of the Lincoln Museum, which
is to be built of limestone and white marble. He spread white cement
with a silver trowel where the stone was to set. The stone, weighing
three thousand pounds, was placed in position with a derrick. A number
of articles were deposited in a leaden box placed in the stone before
it was set, among which was the life of Lincoln written by President
Roosevelt and the speeches delivered on the occasion.
In connection with the depository of articles, an aged negro, Isaac T.
Montgomery, of Mississippi, said to have been at one time a slave of
Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, was assigned
the appropriate honor of depositing in the box a copy of President
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. In doing this he made a brief
speech, in which he referred to himself "as one of the former millions
of slaves to whom Lincoln gave freedom, and the representative of
10,000,000 grateful negro citizens."
The cabin in which it is alleged Abraham Lincoln was born will be
kept in the memorial building. It is expected that the building will
be dedicated in April, by William H. Taft, who will be inaugurated
President of the United States, March 4, 1909.
The spot where Abraham Lincoln was born will, for coming ages, be the
most sacred shrine in all this great country, whose government he died
to save.
At Lincoln City, Spencer County, Indiana, where the Lincolns lived
fourteen years after moving from Kentucky, and before moving to
Illinois, and where Abraham's mother lies buried, exercises were held.
The school children of Evansville, Indiana, raised money to purchase a
flag, and the school children of Indianapolis sent a wreath of flowers,
both of which were placed on Mrs. Lincoln's grave. A procession of one
hundred school children of Lincoln City, headed by Principal Curtis Cox
and the other teachers, marched to the grave, where the exercises were
held.
At Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln's old home, and where his body
rests in the great monument erected to his memory, imposing exercises
were held in various places well worthy of the man. Mr. Lincoln was
instrumental in having the State capital moved from Vandalia to
Springfield. Ambassador Jusserand of France, Senator Dolliver of Iowa,
Ambassador Bryce of England, and William J. Bryan were among the
distinguished visitors, and who delivered addresses. A most impressive
feature of the occasion was the scene at Lincoln's tomb, when Robert T.
Lincoln, son of the martyred President, stood beside the sarcophagus in
which the body of his great father rests. Here his mother, brothers,
and a son named Abraham Lincoln are also entombed. He stood in silent
meditation with tear-dimmed eyes, with Ambassadors Jusserand, Bryce,
Senator Dolliver, W. J. Bryan, and many other distinguished persons
gathered about. In his speech, Ambassador Bryce said, in part:
"Of the personal impression he made on those who knew him, you
will hear from some of the few yet living who can recollect
him. All I can contribute is a reminiscence of what reached us
in England. I was an undergraduate student in the University
of Oxford when the Civil War broke out. Well do I remember the
surprise when the Republican National Convention nominated him
as a candidate for the presidency, for it had been expected that
the choice would fall upon William H. Seward. I recollect how it
slowly dawned upon Europeans in 1862 and 1863 that the President
could be no ordinary man, because he never seemed cast down by the
reverses which befell his arms, because he never let himself be
hurried into premature action, nor feared to take so bold a step
as the Emancipation Proclamation was when he saw that the time had
arrived. And, above all, I remember the shock of awe and grief
which thrilled all Britain when the news came that he had perished
by the bullet of an assassin....
"To you, men of Illinois, Lincoln is the most famous and worthy of
all those who have adorned your commonwealth. To you, citizens of
the United States, he is the President who carried you through a
terrible conflict and saved the Union. To us in England he is one
of the heroes of the race whence you and we sprung. We honor his
memory as you do; and it is fitting that one who is privileged
here to represent the land from which his forefathers came should
bring on behalf of England a tribute of admiration for him and of
thankfulness to the Providence which gave him to you in your hour
of need.
"Great men are the noblest possession of a nation, and are potent
forces in the molding of national character. Their influence lives
after them, and if they be good as well as great, they remain as
beacons lighting the course of all who follow them. They set for
succeeding generations the standards of public life. They stir the
spirit and rouse the energy of the youth who seek to emulate their
virtues in the service of the country."
At Washington City all Government and leading business houses were
closed. The Senate adjourned until Monday, but in the House, Lincoln's
famous Gettysburg speech was read by Representative Boutell, of
Illinois. Appropriate exercises were held at Howard University, where
a large negro student body witnessed the unveiling of a large painting
of the "Underground Railroad." Secretary of the Interior Garfield and
other speakers were on the program.
In Boston, the city sometimes called the literary "hub of the
universe," Senator Lodge gave an address on the life and work of Mr.
Lincoln before the Massachusetts Legislature. At a meeting held in the
evening in Symphony Hall, John D. Long, former Secretary of the Navy,
gave an address, and Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of
the Republic," read a poem she had written for the occasion, depicting
Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the leader of the nation.
In Chicago, the metropolis of Lincoln's adopted State, fifty public
meetings were held in his honor. The city was fairly buried beneath
flags, buntings, and pictures of Lincoln. Show-windows were filled with
war relics and Lincoln mementoes. Streets were crowded with marchers
and military bands. Standing bareheaded in Lincoln Park, in sight of
the Lincoln Statue, a group of Civil War veterans fired a presidential
salute. Dexter Pavilion, at night, was crowded, while a chorus of one
thousand voices sang patriotic songs.
At Gettysburg, where Lincoln delivered his classic address dedicating
the national cemetery, November 19, 1863, the day was duly observed.
The principal exercises were held on the campus of Gettysburg College,
near Seminary Ridge, where much of the first and second days' fighting
occurred during the great battle. Lincoln's Gettysburg address was read
by Judge Samuel McSwope.
At Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Vice-President Fairbanks said, in part:
"Who, among all the men of his day, has produced utterances so
classic and lofty and which will survive so long as many of the
speeches of Mr. Lincoln? It is impossible to think that schools,
colleges, or universities could have increased the intellectual
or moral nature of Lincoln. He was the marvelous product of the
great school of nature. He kept close to nature's heart, close to
the people, close to the soul.... His life was spent in the field
of conflict. In his youth he struggled with nature. At the bar he
contended for the rights of his clients. In the wider field of
politics he fought with uncommon power to overthrow the wrong and
enthrone the right. He fought not for the love of contest, but for
the love of truth. By nature he was a man of peace. He did not
like to raise his hand against his fellow-man. He instinctively
loved justice, right, and liberty. His soul revolted at the
thought of injustice and wrong. His conscience impelled him to
uphold the right wherever it was denied his fellow-man. He could
not do otherwise."
In New York City the celebration was the most hearty and widespread of
its kind ever seen there. The city's official celebration was held in
Cooper Union, in the hall in which Lincoln made his great speech called
the "Cooper Union Speech," delivered in 1860. Addresses were delivered
by Joseph H. Choate and Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott. At a great club meeting,
Booker T. Washington delivered an address, and referred to himself as
"one whom Lincoln found a piece of property and made into an American
citizen."
In closing this little volume as an humble tribute to the memory of
Abraham Lincoln, I desire to say that, while Mr. Lincoln possessed so
many excellent traits of character, the most significant and worthy one
was his constant anxiety, as he expressed it, to know and do the will
of God. This, in the providence of God, is what made him truly great.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ Transcriber's Note: ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved to the end ¦
¦ of chapters. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like ¦
¦ this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, ¦
¦ =like this=. ¦
¦ ¦
¦ References added to the list of illustrations: House in which ¦
¦ Lincoln died and Lincoln's mill. ¦
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
End of Project Gutenberg's Footprints of Abraham Lincoln, by J. T. Hobson