Anecdotal Lincoln : speeches, stories and yarns of the "Immortal Abe" ...

Preface

In presenting this volume to the public the aim of its publishers has been to give the reader in a limited space the most interesting, entertaining, and concise work ever published on Lincoln.

The biography contained in this work was written by the Hon. Paul Selby, a personal friend of Lincoln, and for many years Editor of the State Journal at Springfield, 111., Lincoln's home.

The Stories, Anecdotes, and Yarns of Lincoln have been compiled from the most reliable sources, and are herein presented in an attractive form.

The Great Speeches- of Lincoln, which cannot fail to arouse the patriotism of the reader, are arranged in chronological order.

Contents

PAGE

CHAPTER I. His Birth and Ancestry— His Autobiography 13-18

CHAPTER XL

Life in Kentucky and Indiana 18-21

CHAPTER IIL Removal to Illinois — A second Flat-boat Voyage to New

, CHAPTER IV.

Enters Politics— Begins the Study of Law 24-29

CHAPTER V.

As a Lawyer and Political Leader 29-31

CHAPTER VI.

Organization of the Republican Party 31-34

CHAPTER VII.

House Divided against Itself Speech— The Lincoln-Douglas

CHAPTER VIII.

Election to the Presidency— Administration— Death 38-44

Abe's Rebuke 45

A Flat-boat Incident Illustrating Lincoln's Ready Ingenuity 63 An Incident from Lincoln's Experience on a Mississippi

Flat-boat 59

An Unsuccessful Venture as a Merchant in New Salem 71

A Wrestling Match 64

Books Read by Lincoln in His Early Life 45

6 CONTENTS.

Cool Under Difficulties 79

"Honest Abe" as Village Postmaster 6i

How Lincoln Became a Captain in the Black Hawk War 72

How Lincoln Earned His First Dollar 52

How Lincoln Obtained the Name of "Honest Abe" 50

How Lincoln Thrashed a Bully and Made a Life-long Friend 58

Incident in the Black Hawk War 79

Lincoln Applies for a Patent 74

Lincoln Carries a Drunkard Eighty Rods on His Back 51

Lincoln's Entrance into Public Life 75

Lincoln's Name Good for a Bed 68

Lincoln's Lizard Story 47

Lincoln's Prophecy 57

Lincoln the Tallest of the Long Nine 74

No Vices — Few Virtues 57

"Thank you, I Never Drink" 80

The First Meeting of a Future President and Governor 67

The Lincoln-Shields Duel 80

Young Lincoln Narrowly Escapes Death 54

Young Lincoln Pulls Fodder Two Days for Damaged Books.. 53

"Adam's Ale," Lincoln's Only Beverage 125

A Distinction with a Difference 88

Advice to a Young Lawyer 90

A Noted Horse Trade in which Lincoln Confessed that He

Got the Worst of It 99

A Pathetic Story of Lincoln's Disappointment in Failing to

Secure the Support of the Springfield Ministry 100

A Visit to the Five Points of Industry in New York 129

Colonel Baker Defended by Lincoln no

Considerations Shown to Relatives 99

Crocodile and Negro ii5

Defeated by a Still-Hunt 107

First Echoes from' Chiacgo Convention 123

"Hold On, Breeze" no

"Honest Old Abe" I33

How Lincoln Invested His First Five Hundred Dollars for

the Benefit of His Step-Mother 87

CONTENTS. 7

How Lincoln Won the Nomination for Congress 107

How Mrs. Lincoln Surprised Her Husband 98

"I Am Not Fit for the Presidency" 128

Incidents of Lincoln's Home Life 104

Lincoln and Finance < 93

Lincoln as a Lawyer 91

Lincoln Defends a Widowed Pensioner with Success 97

Lincoln Defends the Son of an Old Friend Indicted for

Murder 94

Lincoln's Knowledge of Human Nature 93

Lincoln's Last Interview with Douglas 116

Lincoln Rescues a Pig from a Bad Predicament 84

Lincoln, the Student 83

Mr. Lincoln's Vision 123

"Nothing to Wear" 104

Pen Picture of Lincoln, and His Speech in New York City... 116

Remarks Uttered by Lincoln, 1858 119

Six-Foot-Three Committee Man 128

Slavery 120

Stanton's First Impression of Lincoln 126

That Stage-coach Ride 89

The House Divided Against Itself 120

The Old Sign, "Lincoln and Herndon" ;. 133

The Ugliest Man 130

Trent Affair 119

"Trusted Till Britchen Broke" '. 115

Two Entertaining Anecdotes Illustrating Lincoln's Good

Nature 126

"Well, Speed, I'm Moved" 83

"Whole Hog Jackson Man" 113

INCIDENTS FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CAREER

OF LINCOLN 135-167

An Incident in Lincoln's Second Inauguration 165

A Petitioner's Sudden Change of Mind 151

Cabinet Reconstruction 162

Death of Lincoln's Favorite Son 159

General Fiske's Story of the "Swearing Driver" 142

Hearty Welcome of Dennis Hanks at the White House 147

"He's All Right, but a Chronic Squealer" 163

8 CONTENTS.

How Young Daniel Webster Escapes a Flogging, as Related

by Lincoln i6o

Kindness of Heart x66

Lincoln's Hair i53

Lincoln's Modesty 165

Lincoln's Unconventionality in Receiving Old Friends at the

White House 140

"Mother, He's Just the Same Old Abe" 161

Lincoln's Great Love for Little Tad 155

Mr. Lincoln's Tact 152

"Oh, Pa, He Isn't Ugly" i53

Remarkable Memory of Lincoln 141

Secretary Stanton's Uncomplimentary Opinion 164

Simplicity i54

The Hardest Trial of Lincoln's Life 156

The Inauguration, March 4, 1861 i35

The Interviev?s 148

The Presidency Not a Bed of Roses 149

The President's Mind Wandered 144

The President Wields an Ax at the Washington Navy Yard.. 150

The Old Lady and the Pair of Stockings 150

Thorough 152

"Time Lost Don't Count" 162

Unhealthy Group of Office Seekers 150

A Case Where Lincoln Thought Shooting Would Do No Good 176

Advises an Angry Officer 191

Among the Wounded i75

A Story Illustrating Lincoln's Impatience at McClellan's

Slow Movements 190

A Touching Song Influences Lincoln to Pardon a Rebel

Prisoner 169

Bailing Out the Potomac River 182

Brigadier Generals More Plentiful than Horses 202

Bumside Safe 199

Dangers of Assassination 217

Fright a Cure for Boils 202

"Grant's Whisky" the Right Kind 199

CONTENTS. 9

Hardtack Wanted, not Generals i68

"Help Me Let This Hog Go" 196

How Lincoln Pacified Disappointed Office Seekers 207

Incident in Lincoln's Last Speech 218

"Let Jeff Escape, I Don't Want Him" 213

"Let the Elephant Escape" 201

■Lincoln and Little Tad 200

Lincoln and Tad 185

Lincoln Fulfills His Vow ^ 212

Lincoln Defends His Use of the Word "Sugar-coated" in a

Public Document 181

Lincoln's Glimpse of War 210

Lincoln's High Compliment to the Women of America 172

Lincoln ' s Influence with the Administration 179

Lincoln's Last Afternoon 218

Lincoln's Love of Soldier Humor 191

Lincoln's Plan of War 172

Lincoln Refuses Pardon to a Slave Stealer 178

Lincoln's Summing Up of McClellan 190

Lincoln's Tenderness 206

"Making a Fizzle, Anyhow" 189

"Massa Linkun" Worshiped by the Negroes 203

Mr. Lincoln as Historian 186

Mr. Lincoln's Military Talent 188

New Instructions to Generals 177

Righteous Indignation 171

Tad, the Commissioned Officer , , 186

That Savage Dog 195

The Biter Bit 205

The Colored People's New Year's Reception 214

The Colored People of Richmond Honor Lincoln 204

The Hon. Frederick Douglass Tells of an Interview with

Lincoln 183

The Little Drummer Boy 176

The Millionaires Who Wanted a Gun-boat 173

The President and Fighting Joe 187

The President and the Monitor 192

The President Making Generals 168

The President Obeying Orders 173 lo CONTENTS.

The President Refuses to Sign Twenty-four Death Warrants 174

The Son of Lincoln Displays a Rebel Flag 211

Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Passes to Richmond 211

Whipped and Then Ran 169

Why Mr. Lincoln Hesitated before Signing the Emancipation Proclamation 188

MISCELLANEOUS STORIES AND INCIDENTS 219-253

Autobiography of Lincoln in a Single Paragraph 220

Concerning Mr. Lincoln's Religious Views 222

Death of Lincoln's Mother 221

Henry J. Raymond's Reminiscences of Lincoln 228

Important Letter from J. Wilkes Booth 232

Indictment of the Conspirators — Charges and Specifications.. 245

Lincoln's Definition of Biography 224

Lincoln's Favorite Poem 225

Lincoln's Religion 224

Lincoln's Religious Belief .' 221

Reward Offered by Secretary Stanton 244

Song Composed by Abraham Lincoln 219

Walt Whitman's Vivid Description of Lincoln's Assassination 238

Affectionate Son 254

Instructions to Major Robert Anderson 262

Letter to August Belmont 264

Letter to Colfax 261

Letter to Gen. Duff Green 259

Letter to Maj.-Gen. Hooker 267

Letter to Mrs. Armstrong 254

Letter to Mrs. Gurney, Wife of Eminent English Preacher,

of the Society of Friends 271

Letter to Seward 262

Lincoln's First Letter of Acceptance 258

Lincoln's Idea of the Slavery Conflict, in 1855 255

Lincoln Writes to His Step-Mother 255

Mr. Lincoln's First Public Letter after His Election 260

Mr. Lincoln's Reply to the Poet Bryant 259

Partial Reply to Censure on the Arrest of Vallandigham,

CONTENTS. II

Presentation of a Gold Medal to Lieut. -Gen. Grant by President Lincoln 271

The President's Letter to Hon. Jas. C, Conklin, August 16,

1863 268

The President on the Negro Question , 265

A Great Congressional Speech 281

A Humorous Speech — Lincoln in the Black Hawk War 332

Douglas's Seven Questions — Lincoln's Position Defined on

the Questions of the Day 327

Emancipation Proclamation 450

Extracts Upon which Seward Based His "Irrepressible Conflict Platform" 447

First Speech after His Nomination 415

First Talk after His Nomination 422

Joint Debate Between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln 333

Lincoln's First Political Speech 273

Lincoln's First Inaugural Address 425

Lincoln's First Speech in the Senatorial Campaign — The

House Divided Against Itself Speech 315

Lincoln's Speech at Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 13th, 1861 520

Lincoln's Speech at Indianapolis, Feb. 12th, 1861 417

Lincoln's Speech at Washington, Feb. 27th, 1861 421

Lincoln's Temperance Speech 298

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech 458

Mr. Douglas's Reply 374

Mr. Lincoln's Reply , 350

National Bank vs. Sub. Treasury 277

President Lincoln's Adieu to Springfield 416

President Lincoln's Last Speech 462

Proclamation by the President 420

Reply to the Committee from the Virginia Convention, April

20, 1861 438

Response to Serenade from Marylanders, Washington, Nov.,

1864 458

12 ILLUSTRATIONS.

Second Nomination _457

Speech Delivered at Cincinnati, Feb. 12th, 1861 417

The Ballot vs. the Bullet 312

The Emancipation Question in Missouri 445

The Perpetuity of Our Free Institutions 273

The President to Lieutenant-G eneral Grant 456

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

"And Couldn't Ye Put a Little Brandy In All Unbeknown

to Myself? 313

Chicago Wigwam Where the Convention of i860 Was Held .. 137

Campaign Badge 131

Campaign Badges 121

Colored People's Reception, New Year's, 1865 215

Dinner Given to the President-elect at Harrisburg, Feb. 22,

House in which Lincoln Died, Washington, D. C 239

Lincoln and Son Tad i57

Lincoln as a Rail Splitter 55

Lincoln Getting the Worst of a Horse Trade 105

Lincoln's Early Home, EHzabethtown, Ky 65

Lincoln's First Home in Illinois 77

Lincoln's Home in Springfield 77

Lincoln Defending Armstrong 95

Lincoln's Death 242

Lincoln Reading by a Pine Knot 47

Lincoln Rescues a Pig 85

Lincoln Receiving Dennis Hanks i45

Listening, but Not Convinced 383

Parlor in Lincoln's Home, Springfield, 111 iii

Reception Given by Lincoln 423

Second Inaugural Address of President Lincoln 459

State House in Springfield, 111. — Now Courthouse 117

The Fretting Questions of Even a Great War Seemed to

Perish Until "Tad" Had Completed His Romp 197

Abraham Lincoln.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.

A perennial charm attaches to the name and memory of Abraham Lincoln. Among those who knew him personally in the intimacy of private life, his simplicity and geniality of character, his intense humanity, and an absolute confidence in his personal integrity won him friends; with the nation — including many who had been his bitterest political foes — his exalted patriotism and the part w: 'ch he played in the preservation of his country and ihe emancipation of a race commanded respect and admiration ; with the world at large, all these characteristics, and the place which he filled with such unswerving uprightness, ability, and success, during one of the most perilous and dramatic crises in all history, made him the most important and conspicuously historic figure of his time. While the lineage of such a man may be a matter of comparative indifference, in the light of what he accomplished for his country and mankind, his life-history becomes of the most absorbing interest not only to his own countrymen, but in all lands where the virtues of pert onal integrity, unselfish patriotism and far-reaching political sagacity are appreciated and held in proper esteem — a fact attested by the avidity with which each new volume dealing with his public or private career, and every incident, event, or anecdote connected with his life, is caught up and absorbed by those of whom he was accustomed to speak as "the plain common people. "

There could be no more appropriate place than this to introduce what Mr. Lincoln himself had to say of his own and his family history, in a letter to his friend, the Hon. Jesse W. Fell, of Bloomington, 111., under date of December 20, 1859 — the year preceding his election to the Presidency, and about the time his friends were beginning to think seriously of his nomination for that office. He then said:

HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

"I was born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams and others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 1781 or 1782, where, a year or two later, he was killed by Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the fore^st.

His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

"My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union (181 6). It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', writin', and cipherin' ' to the Rule of Three. If a straggler, supposed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

"I was raised to farm-work, which I continued until I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois and passed the first year in Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. Then came the Black Hawk War.

i6 LIFE OF LINCOLN.

and I was elected a captain of volunteers — a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went through the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature in the same year (1832), and was beaten — the only time I have ever been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this legislative period, I had studied law and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Congress, but was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig electoral ticket making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

"If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and gray eyes. No o{her marks or brands recollected.

"Yours truly,

"A. Lincoln."

Soon after his nomination for the Presidency in i860, Mr. Lincoln wrote out a somewhat more elaborate sketch of his life for the use of his friends in preparing a campaign biography for the canvass of that year, but it contained little or nothing in reference to his early life in addition to what is supplied, with such characteristic modesty and frankness, mingled with quaint humor in its closing paragraph, in the sketch just quoted. It would be difficult to comprise within smaller space what was then known of his genealogy and early life. As he himself said, "My early life is characterized in a single line of Gray's Elegy: 'The short and simple annals of the poor.' " Yet subsequent research seems to have settled the fact beyond a doubt, that Abraham Lincoln belonged to a historic family of which Samuel Lincoln, who came from England about 1637, settling first at Salem and afterwards at Hingham, Mass., was the American progenitor. To the ,same source has been traced the ancestry of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Revolutionary fame, who received the sword of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1 781; two early Governors of Massachusetts (both named Levi Lincoln) ; Gov. Enoch Lincoln of Maine, besides others of national reputation. Mordecai Lincoln, the son of Samuel, lived and died in Scituate, near Hingham, Mass.; Mordecai II., his son, emigrated first to New Jersey and then to what afterwards became Berks County, Pennsylvania, as early as 1720 to 1725. John, his son, removed to Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1758; his son Abraham, the father of Thomas (who was the father of the subject of this sketch), settled in Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where he was killed by Indians in 1784, leaving Thomas, the father of the future President, a child of the age of six years. This will account for the hardships which the family of Thomas Lincoln endured in that frontier region, in the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present century, and the modesty i8 LIFE OF LINCOLN.

of the surroundings amid which Abraham Lincoln was born.

IL

LIFE IN KENTUCKY AND INDIANA.

Miss Tarbell, in her "Early Life of Abraham Lincoln," has presented conclusive documentary proofs of the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks in Washington County, Kentucky, June 12, 1806. Born the second child of this marriage ( a younger brother died in infancy), his early life was, undoubtedly, similar to that of other children of that region and period. There is reason to believe that there has been a disposition on the part of two classes of writers to exaggerate the picture of the squalor and wretchedness about the early Lincoln home — on the one hand, by those who had an object in seeking to magnify the popular impression regarding the meanness of his origin; on the other hand, by those who sought to elevate him in public estimation by contrasting the modesty of his early beginnings with the exalted position to which he finally attained. While the former is unjust to his memory, the latter is unnecessary to a true estimate of his character. As. a rule, the pioneers of Kentucky, as in other portions of the West, at that time, and even at a later date, usually lived in a log-cabin of one room but scantily furnished. Those who had two or more rooms were considered fortunate, if not absolutely wealthy. At that time Abraham's father lived in what is now La Rue (then a part of

Hardin) County, Here Abraham spent his childhood until he had passed his seventh year. He went to school a little, but the total could not have been over a few months. Few stories are told of his life in Kentucky, because, by the time he had achieved a national reputation, there were few associates of his early childhood to tell them.

When Abraham was in his eighth year (18 16), his father removed with his family to what is now Spencer County, Indiana. Here there is reason to believe their mode of life was ruder even than it was in Kentucky, as the country was newer and they settled in an unbroken forest. Mr. Lincoln himself says, in the paper already referred to as having been prepared as the basis for a campaign biography in i860, that "this removal was partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land-titles in Kentucky." For a lime, the family are said to have lived in a sort of camp or cabin built of logs on three sides and open at one end, which served as both door and windows. A story told by Lincoln himself about his life here gives his first, if not his only, experience as a hunter. "A few days before the completion of his eighth year, in the absence of his father, a flock of wild turkeys approached the new log-cabin, and Abraham, with a rifle gun, standing inside, shot through a crack and killed one of them. He has never since pulled a trigger on any larger game."

Another story connected with his life in Indiana is that told by Austin Gollaher, a school- and play-mate of Abraham's — though somewhat older — who claims to have rescued the future President from drowning in consequence of his falling into a stream which they were crossing' on a log, while hunting partridges near Gollaher's home. The same claim of having saved Lincoln's life has been set up by Dennis Hanks, both presumably referring to the same event. In his own sketches, Mr. Lincoln makes no reference to this incident, though there is believed to have been some b^isis of truth in the story, as told so graphically and circumstantially by Gollaher.

Here Abraham again went to school for a short time, but, according to his own statement, "the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year." According to the statement of his friend Gollaher, he "was an unusually bright boy at school, and made splendid progress in his studies. Indeed, he learned faster than any one of his schoolmates. Though so young, he studied very hard. He would get spice-wood brushes, hack them up on a log, and burn them two or three together, for the purpose of giving light by which he might pursue his studies. ' ' An ax was early put into his hands, and he soon became an important factor in clearing away the forest about the Lincoln home. Two years after the arrival in Indiana, Abraham's mother died, and a little over a year later his father married Mrs. Sarah Johnston, whom he had known in Kentucky. Her advent brought many improvements into the Lincoln home, as she possessed some property and was a woman of strong character. Between her and her step-son sprang up a warm friendship which lasted through life. His devotion to her illustrated o'ne of the strong points in Mr. Lincoln's character.

In 1826, at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Lincoln spent several months as a ferryman at the mouth of

Anderson Creek, where it enters the Ohio. According to a story told by him to Mr. Seward in Washington, after he became President, it was here he earned his first dollar by taking two travelers, with their baggage, to a passing steamer in the Ohio. It was here, too, probably, that he acquired that taste for river life which led, at the age of nineteen, to his taking his first trip to New Orleans as a hired hand on board a flatboat loaded with produce, belonging to a Mr, Gentry, a business man of Gentryville, Ind., for which he received eight dollars per month and his passage home again. An almost tragic incident connected with this trip, told by Mr. Lincoln himself, was an attack made upon the boat and its crew by seven negroes for the purpose of robbery, and possibly murder, one night while the boat was tied to the shore along "the coast" on the lower Mississippi. The intended robbers were beaten off, but not until some of the crew had been wounded in the assault.

III. Iiemoval To Illinois— A Second Flatboat Voyage To New Orleans

In March, 1830, Abraham Lincoln — having just i-rached his majority — removed with his father's family to Illinois, thus becoming identified with the State to which his name has given such luster. This removal was brought about largely through the influence of John Hanks, who had married one of Abraham's stepsisters, and had preceded the family to Illinois by two years. The first location was made on the banks of the Sangamon River, near the present village of Harristown, in the western part of Macon County. Here he set to work assisting his father to build their first home in Illinois and open a farm, splitting some of the rails which aroused so much enthusiasm when exhibited in the State Convention at Decatur, which preceded his nomination for the Presidency in i860. A year later we find him engaging himself, in conjunction with John Hanks and one or two others, to build a flatboat, on the Sangamon River near Springfield, for Daniel Offutt, which he accompanied to New Orleans with a load of produce. During a stay of one month in the "Crescent City," he had his first opportunity of seeing the horrible side of the institution of slavery, and there is reason to believe that he then became imbued with those sentiments which bore such vast results for the country and a race a generation later. According to the testimony of his friend Herndon, "he saw 'negroes in chains — whipped and scourged. ' Against this inhumanity his sense of right and justice rebelled, and his mind and conscience were awakened to a realization of what he had often heard and read. No doubt, as one of his companions has said, 'Slavery ran the iron into him then and there.' One morning, in their rambles over the city, they passed a slave auction. A vigorous and comely mulatto girl was being sold. She underwent a thorough examination at the hands of the bidders; they pinched her flesh and made her trot up and down the room like a horse to show how she moved, as the auctioneer said, that 'bidders might satisfy themselves' whether the article they were offering to buy was sound or not. The whole thing was so revolting that

Lincoln moved away from the scene with a deep feeling of 'unconquerable hate.' Bidding his companions

follow him, he said: ' Boys, let's get away from

this. If ever I get a chance to hit that thing' (meaning slavery), 'I'll hit it hard.'" Mr. Herndon says this incident was not only furnished to him by John Hanks, but that he heard Mr. Lincoln refer to it himself.

After his return from New Orleans, he entered the service of Offutt as clerk in a store at New Salem, then in Sangamon County, but now in the county of Menard, a few miles from Petersburg. While thus employed, he began in earnest the work of trying to educate himself, using a borrowed "Kirkham's Grammar" and other books, under the guidance of Mentor Graham, the village school-teacher. Later, with Graham's assistance, he studied surveying in order to fit himself for the position of a deputy to the County Surveyor. How well he applied himself to the study of the English language is evidenced by the clearness and accuracy with which he was accustomed to express himself, in after years, on great national and international questions — as he had no opportunity of study in the schools after coming to Illinois.

The year after locating at New Salem came the Black Hawk War, when he enlisted and was elected captain of his company — a result of which, previous to his election to the Presidency, he said, he had not since had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction. His company having been disbanded, he again enlisted as a private under Captain Elijah lies. He remained in the service three months, but participated in no battle.

The early part of this year was made memorable in the history of Central Illinois by the arrival of the steamer "Talisman" from Cincinnati, in the Sangamon River, which it ascended to the vicinity of Springfield. The event produced the wildest enthusiasm through that region, as it was the first steamer to attempt the ascent of that stream, and was regarded as demonstrating its navigability. Mr. Lincoln and Rowan Herndon piloted the vessel out of the river, and it never attempted a second trip, nor has any other tried the experiment.

After returning from the Black Hawk War, Mr. Lincoln made his first entry into business for himself as the partner of one Berry in the purchase of a stock of goods, to which they added two others by buying out local dealers on credit. To this, for a time, he added the office of Postmaster. In less than a year, they sold out their store on credit to other parties, who failed and absconded, leaving a burden of debt on Lincoln's shoulders which lasted until his retirement from Congress in 1849.

It was during his stay at New Salem that occurred the romance connecting the names of Lincoln and the amiable but short-lived Anne Rutledge, destined to end in her early death, which has furnished so touching a theme for his biographers.

IV. Enters Politics— Begins The Study Of Law

The year of the Black Hawk War (1832) saw Lincoln's entrance into politics as a candidate for Representative in the General Assembly from Sangamon County, in opposition to Col. E. D. Taylor, who afterwards became Receiver of Public Moneys at Chicago by appointment of President Jackson, and died there in 1 89 1, at the age of nearly ninety years. Taylor was elected, Lincoln then sustaining the only defeat of his life as a candidate for office directly at the hands of the people. He took a just and natural pride in the fact that, although he was an avowed supporter of Henry Clay, and General Jackson, a few months later, carried the New Salem precinct by a majority of 115 votes, he received 277 out of the 284 votes cast at his home precinct at the earlier election.