Portrait life of Lincoln; life of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest American

Front matter

portrait Htfe of Lincoln

Life of Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American, told from Original Photographs taken with His Authority during the Great Crisis through which He Led His Country — Treasured among the 7000 Secret Service War Negatives in the Brady-Gardner Collection at Springfield, Massachusetts, and in Private Collections, valued at $150,000 Collected by Edward Bailey Eaton

By

Part I

An Epigrammatic Philosophy on Life and Its Opportunities Drawn from the Early Experiences of Abraham Lincoln

The Road to Greatness 3

The Fullness of Life and Opportunity — Birth 4

The Joys and Sorrows of Living — Childhood 5

The Unfolding of Knowledge — School Days 6

The Revelation of Life’s Secrets — Boyhood 7

The Thrill of Ambition — Youth 8

The Discovery of Power — Citizenship 9

The Courage of Conviction — Manhood 10

Part II

A Photographic Narrative Which Interprets the Character and Life of Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American

The Foundation of Lincoln’s Character 12

The Influence of Love on Lincoln’s Life 14

The Political Principles of Lincoln 16

The Impulse that Held Lincoln Steadfast 18

The Rugged Honesty of Lincoln’s Heart 20

The Man Who First Made Lincoln Known 22

The Challenge that Tested Lincoln’s Strength 24

The Defeat that Made Lincoln Famous 26

The Appeal of Humanity that Lincoln Heard 28

The First Test of Lincoln’s National Greatness 30

The Inspiration of Lincoln’s Patriotism 32

Ti-ie Gathering of Humanity Under Lincoln 34

The Burden of a Nation on Lincoln’s Heart 36

The Affection of Lincoln for His Home 38

The Willingness of Lincoln to Give His Life 42

The Fortitude of Lincoln in Hour of Trial 44

The Crumbling Nation in Lincoln’s Arms . 46

The Determined Will of Lincoln Among Men. 48

The True Test of Lincoln’s Statesmanship 50

The Strength of Lincoln in a Nation’s Peril 52

The Faith of Lincoln in the Common People 54

The Ability of Lincoln to Overcome Defeat 56

The Hopefulness of Lincoln in Misfortune 58

The Might of Lincoln in His Country’s Crisis 64

The Hand of Lincoln on the Chain of Bondage 66

The Greatest Sacrifice of Lincoln’s Life 68

The Power of Lincoln to Conquer Himself 70

The Humility of Lincoln in Hour of Victory 72

The Sympathy of Lincoln for the Unfortunate 76

The Worth of a Man in Lincoln’s Judgment 78

CONTENTS

The Loyalty of Lincoln to His Life Work 80

The Insight of Lincoln into Human Nature 84

The Heart of Lincoln that Knew No Malice 86

The Fatherhood of Lincoln Among the Lowly 88

The Magnanimity of the Spirit of Lincoln 90

The Victory of Lincoln — A Re-united People 92

The Veil of Sorrow Over an Exultant Nation 94

Part III

A Revelation of the Last Scenes in the Closing Hours of Lincoln from Actual Photographs Taken at the Time

The Last Lingering Moments of a Noble Life 96

The Magnificence of Life’s Last Triumph 98

The Infamy of a Deed that Robbed a Nation 100

The Glory of a Man Who Loves His Fellowmen 106

Part IV

The Great Speeches that Mark the Rise of Abraham Lincoln as an Orator and Leader of the People

The First Public Speech of Abraham Lincoln 112

The First Great Patriotic Speech of Lincoln 113

The First Great National Speech of Lincoln 119

The Speeches in Lincoln’s Political Greatness 132

The Speech that Molded a Nation’s Future 133

The Greatest Speech in American History 139

The Last Public Speech of Abraham Lincoln 141

The Words of Wisdom From Lincoln’s Philosophy 144

Part V

A Chronology of the Historic Events in the Growth of the American Nation from the Birth to the Death of Lincoln

The Chronology of the Life of Lincoln 145

Part VI

A Handbook of the Famous Photographic Portraits of Abraham Lincoln Treasured in the Great American Collections

The Famous Portraits of Lincoln with Complete Index to All Photographs

Reproduced in This Volume 155

The Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln — The Hundred Greatest Books on His

Life 161

The Greatest Poem on Lincoln — O Captain! My Captain! — By Walt Whitman . 164

INTRODUCTORY

'S an American, who loves his country and his people, I believed that I knew Lincoln. Throughout my life I have read the anecdotes and biographies that make him familiar to the generations, but it was not until I looked upon his portraits that I began to understand the real character of the man. It was then, as Bartlett, the sculptor, has said, that I looked into a face in which is written the history of a nation and the hopes of its people — the face of democracy.

There is always something about an old photograph that is intensely human. In it still lives one who has been long absent; the expression on the face, the light in the eyes, the kindness and the firmness of the mouth. One can almost feel the heart that beat beneath it. So it was that, in these photographs, I found the living Lincoln. My acquaintance with him before had been only through the various estimates of his character. I believe that there are more than two thousand of them, including many masterly biographies, in which one listens to the men who knew him and hears reminiscences of his drollery and wit.

But it is in these time-stained photographs that the man comes back to us. About them gather all the events of his life. Look at that familiar picture of the old log cabin where he was born. In your imagination you can see the great forests, and the sunshine in the trees; you can see the little creeping figure before the door; it is a baby; it laughs and cries. Look, look again; now it is a boy; he runs and jumps and shouts; he is standing at the opening of the woods; he is shielding his eyes with his hands and looking this way; he is calling to us; he is waving his arms; he is coming down the forest path, under the great trees, nearer and nearer. Look again — he stands right before us; he is a man!

And now, taking up his first photograph, look into the youthful face filled with hope and courage. In it you can see the storms that are gathering about his life. One by one these old portraits unfold the life story of the man who gave his personality to them — they are all that remain of the physical Lincoln.

Sit down with me and turn these pages in reverie. In your mind’s eye you can see the gaunt figure in the law office; you sit with him as he pores over his books during that long, weary period of a lawyer’s life — waiting for clients; you fight with him as a captain in the Black Hawk War; you take your letters to him as the village postmaster; you cast your ballot for him as a member of the state legislature; you see him take his first stand against slavery. Now you are listening to his convincing oratory against the great Douglas for the senate; those ringing words are dropping from his lips: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

In this reverie over these old portraits you can hear the cheering; he

INTRODUCTORY is being nominated for the presidency. You are standing beside him as he receives the news that he has been elected to the highest political honor in the gift of mankind — the leadership of the American people; you listen to his farewell speech to his friends at Springfield; you go with him to Washington and sit with him in the White House; you hear the news of the first shot at Fort Sumter; you hear the clank of the cavalry and the tramp of regiments of marching men offering their lives on the altar of civilization; you sit silent with him in the gloom of defeat; you catch the gleam of light in the din of victory; you gaze bewildered upon him as he issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Now you are going with him to Antietam, to Gettysburg, to Richmond; you are standing beside him as he hears the news of the surrender at Appomattox. The soldiers are passing through the streets of Washington on their homeward march, and your foot beats time to the strains of the “Star Span “ Dixie.”

The pages are now nearly turned. The last portrait is before you. A shot rings in your ears; a figure falls prostrate to the floor; you linger by his bedside through the long hours; Seward is whispering: “Now he belongs to the ages.” You stand over the bier and look upon the kindly face that you have learned to love; you heap his grave with flowers. This is the “Portrait Life of Lincoln.”

In simple words I have endeavored to gather about these old portraits the scenes in which the living Lincoln stood at the time that the photographs were taken. I have neither the desire nor the ability to make this volume a biography of Lincoln nor. a history of the times in which he lived. It is but a series of word-pictures and life-portraits in which you may look upon Lincoln and come to your own conclusion regarding his strength of character and his greatness as a man.

It has seemed to me, after looking upon them, that in this man we find the strongest character that American civilization has produced. I know no other man in American history who has been called upon to meet such overwhelming obstacles and who has overcome them with truer courage, finer fortitude, and greater self-sacrifice. This is the man who led his people through the greatest crisis that the American Nation has known. I believe that when one considers that the United States exist today largely through the faith and hope and indomitable will of this man, he may justly be entitled “The Greatest American.”

It is not my privilege, however, to fix the historical position of Lincoln. I shall be satisfied if my humble service is but to bring the generations into personal acquaintance with him, for it is in his character that they will find the whole secret of the power of common manhood. The strength with which he faced the problems of life is an inspiration to all men; it is the hope of the future; the convincing proof of the ability of the common man gled Banner” and

INTRODUCTORY to rise above his surroundings and make his way in the world through the courage of his convictions. It is the very simplicity of Lincoln as a man that brings him so close to us. He is the most companionable ot men. In him you find many of your own characteristics — the common qualities of human nature. To know Lincoln is to know yourself. He is the common heritage of the American people.

In these introductory words I desire to express my appreciation to those who have assisted .in giving me a clear understanding of the man whose portraits are here presented in photograph and text. I am especially indebted to Honorable Robert Todd Lincoln, of Chicago, Illinois, who has advised me regarding the sources for original investigation, and to Mr. Edward Bailey Eaton, of Hartford, Connecticut, who, in his untiring historical research, has collected these photographs and has collaborated with me in preparing “The Portrait Life of Lincoln.”

I further desire to give credit to the collectors who have rendered assistance. The Frederick H. Meserve Collection of Americana, in New York, and the Fay Collection of photographs of historic personages, in Illinois, are among the most valuable collections in America. The Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial Collection, which now occupies the historic house in which Lincoln died, at Washington, is a shrine that should be visited by every American. Among its treasures are nearly twenty thousand exhibits relating to the life of the great American. The Lambert Collection, in Philadelphia, is the work of one of the leading authorities on Lincolniana. Many original negatives are treasured in the Handy and the Rice Collections in Washington.

The largest collection of original Civil War negatives is the famous Brady-Gardner Collection, in Springfield, Massachusetts, which contains more than seven thousand negatives taken under the protection of the Secret Service during the American Crisis. The only other collection of its magnitude is deposited in the War Department at Washington, where it is held as official documentary evidence of this great epoch in American history. In these collections can be found practically everything pertaining to the life and character of Abraham Lincoln.

The author takes pleasure in commending these collections to the American people and acknowledging the valuable services extended by all who have co-operated in preparing this volume, which we trust may bring the generations closer to the heart and ideals of the world’s greatest apostle of common manhood — Abraham Lincoln.

Francis Trevelyan Miller

“Buena Vista ”

Hartford, Connecticut

Dedicated to the United States of America, the only land on earth where a man can rise from a cabin to the palace within the hearts of a Great People

Part I

An Epigrammatic Philosophy on Life and Its Opportunities drawn from the Early Experiences of Abraham Lincoln

The Life-Mask of Abraham Lincoln

This bronze doth keep the very form and mold

Of our great martyr's face. Yes, this is he;

That brow all wisdom, all benignity;

That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that nold Like some harsh landscape all the summer’s gold;

That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea For storms to beat on; .the lone agony Those silent, patient lips too well foretold.

Yes, this is he who ruled a world of men

As might some prophet of the elder day —

Brooding above the tempest and the fray With deep-eyed thought and more than mortal ken.

A power was his beyond the touch of art Or armed strength — his pure and mighty heart.

— From poems of Richard Watson Gilder.

THE ROAD TO GREATNESS

Philosophy of the Life of Lincoln

E Greatest Man in the W orld is not the man who accumulates M I the most money or the most power; it is not the man who takes the most out of life; it is the man who gives the most to life. The world is a great harvest-house ol man’s bounteous industry. Death garners the crops which he has sown. His true riches are estimated, not by that which he leaves to his sons, but by that which he leaves to his fellow-men as a heritage for the generations to come.

Life is a journey between the starting point of Decision and the faraway mountain heights of Ambition. The path is long and tortuous. It leads down through the dark and dismal swamps of Indecision, and over the rough and stony hills of Disappointment. There loom in the pathway the jagged cliffs of Discouragement that seem almost impossible to climb. Below them is the deep abyss of Lost Hope. There are crossroads ol Temptation; and rivers of Sorrow to ford.

It takes a strong man to make the journey; one who knows the forests, who has been hardened to the storms; who knows Nature because he has lived close to its heart. It is the rugged country boy, with his face tanned by the winds, his muscles strengthened by hard labor, and his heart full of sunshine and cheerfulness as its own beacon light, that makes the most courageous journeyman. It needs one whose will has been beaten into steel on the forge of life; one who knows the sweet peace of the rest that follows fatigue and suffering; one who has no fear because he has many times met danger face to face — and overcome it. He knows that just beyond the gloomy clouds the golden light of life still shines; he knows the truth of the old adage, that it is darkest just before the dawn.

The abyss of Time holds the millions that have been too weak for the journey; those who wandered in the glamour of luxury and ease — only to be lost. Far beyond, on the pinnacles that pierce the sky, where the glorious sun casts a halo about them, are the strong who have gained the heights and live forever in the sublime light of Immortality. Among them are many who were without worldly possessions and were counted poor on earth. Few, indeed, are there who were rich and powerful. Not one is among them who purchased his way with tributes of gold and silver.

Courage, Fortitude, Sacrifice, Sympathy, Love — these are the price of Immortal Greatness; they lie in the heart of man.

THE FULLNESS OF LIFE AND OPPORTUNITY— BIRTH is with this measure of a man that we look upon the American 48I boy who journeyed from the humblest log home, along the road of — BB life, to an everlasting abiding-place in the heart of humanity; who overcame the greatest obstacles that can beset man; who carried on his shoulders a burden that weighed down the world.

There is not one who reads these lines who was born in humbler circumstances than Abraham Lincoln; not one whose opportunities in life are so limited as those which surrounded him; and yet he became one of the greatest of men. His life proves to all generations the power of an indomitable will and a resolute purpose; that man, when he conquers himself, can conquer the world.

Do you remember that old homestead where you were born ? It was a mansion compared with that rough log cabin in the Kentucky wilderness where Abraham Lincoln began life on that cold winter day on the twelfth of February, in 1809.

Do you remember the dear old village where you spent your childhood days; its long country roads, shaded with towering maples and elms, along which you romped and shouted and played on your way to school — those good old days in the country ? It was a great world of light and laughter, of pleasure and friendship, of wonderful opportunities, compared with that forest home of Abraham Lincoln where only the growl of the bear echoed along the trail, where the ring of the ax was the only sound of civilization, and desolation and poverty were his only friends — and they were staunch friends.

Every American is rich today in comparison with the worldly possessions of Abraham Lincoln during his childhood, his youth, and his early manhood — rich in surroundings of home; rich in the comforts of life; rich in the opportunities for learning and education. There is not an American youth who is not a millionaire in the possibilities of vast success in life, compared to the possibilities that were within the grasp of Abraham Lincoln on the day that he left his father’s roof to go out into the great world, of which he knew only the knowledge that comes from the school of the woods and the motherhood of Nature. There was one thing that he did not know and never learned — and that was Fear. He learned early that man is his own master; that with a strong arm, a strong heart, and a strong will, there is no power on earth that he need fear; that with his conscience clear and hi? mind clean the future will take care of itself and even Death is conquered.

THE JOYS AND SORROWS OF LIVING— CHILDHOOD

ME safest capital on which to begin life is good health and £ B sound morals. With these, permanent failure is almost impossible. There is not money enough in the banks of the world to buy them. In partnership with Industry and Thrift, they must succeed. Any man who possesses them has the wealth of the world within his reach. Education, social position, political power, financial credit — all these, then, but await your desire.

This is the capital upon which Abraham Lincoln began. His father was a woodsman who could neither read nor write; his mother was an orphan girl. His cabin home of rough-hewn logs sheltered but a single room; but here, on the banks of Nolen Creek, in desolate Hardin County, he started on life’s journey.

Do you remember the first time that you left home ? How you bade good-by to the old scenes ? How you turned and looked back for one last lingering glance at the old place that you loved — and then wiped a tear away ? You know, then, what it meant to the seven-year-old Lincoln when, with his little sister, he trudged behind his father and mother from the Kentucky wilds into southern Indiana, where, with an ax, they cut their way through the dense forests to start life anew.

Here, in the savage wilds of Little Pigeon Creek, they felled the trees for a new cabin. The bare earth, which turned to mud in the winter thaws, was its floor. There were no windows to let in the sunlight and not even a skin to hang over the doorway to shut out the sleet and snow. The little lad fell asleep on the heap of loose leaves — and he called it home.

Do you remember the first great sorrow that came into your life ? The loved one whose lips you kissed for the last time ? Whose eyes were never to look again into yours ? Whose hand as you clasped it in your own was cold and white ? You know, then, the grief that lay in the heart of this lad as he knelt sobbing beside his dying mother. You can feel, then, the touch of her hand as she laid it on his young head and whispered the last message from those loving lips: “Be good to your father and sister. Be kind to one another — and worship God.” Your heart goes out to him as they lay her away in a rough box, hewn from the pine forest, and tenderly lower her to the resting place on the knoll where the sunlight pours its golden wreaths upon her grave. You know what was in his heart when in after years he bowed his head and called her “My angel mother.”

THE UNFOLDING OF KNOWLEDGE— SCHOOL DAYS

IFE’S lessons are not all learned in a university. Poverty, toil, suffering— these are the schools of discipline, and the man who passes through them has an education that all the universities of the earth could not give. The book of Nature does not teach the conjugation of verbs; it teaches the conjugation of life. It may not master the tongues of dead languages, but it does master the tongues of the thousand living languages — the language of the Heart, of the Hand, of Common Sense. It may not lead to a doctorate in science, but it does lead to the highest degree within the power of man — the degree of strong character.

The backwoods is the university that made Lincoln. Here he learned a lesson that few men ever learn — how to bear the burdens of life without complaint, and how to overcome them.

At ten years of age, he was walking nine miles a day to and from the little log schoolhouse in the woods. At night, he lay before the fireplace ciphering on a wooden shovel ancf scrawling his name on the logs of the cabin. A new world had been revealed to him — the world of knowledge. Within his humble home there had never been a newspaper or a story book, but now he had made the first great discovery of his life. He had found that within the covers of books lay the secrets that unlock the mysteries of the earth; that through them you can sit in the comradeship and listen to the wisdom of the wise men of the ages; that with them you cannot be alone, for the intimate friendship of the world’s greatest men is yours.

This is the education that is within the reach of every man, woman and child in America today — the university of outdoor life and of books.

Do you remember the first book that you ever read ? Possibly it was iEsop’s Fables or Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” or “Robinson Crusoe.” These were the books that kindled the flame of desire in Lincoln’s mind, until, at nineteen years of age, although his total schooling was less than a year, he had read every book that he could borrow within fifty miles of his home.

This was Lincoln’s education. There he stood, long, lank, swarthy; six feet four inches tall; strong as a giant, a heart like the oak, and a head full of Common Sense — ready and eager to fight it out with Destiny.

THE REVELATION OF LIFE’S SECRETS— BOYHOOD

CHOOSING an occupation is the first great crisis in life. Many a good farmer is spoiled in the making of a lawyer, and so it is through all the trades and life professions. There is in each one of us some natural tendency toward certain lines of work, and success depends largely upon giving heed to this warning. Whatever line of work you may choose there is always some opportunity to reach the top.

Abraham Lincoln did not choose his calling; he allowed it to choose him. He passed the apprenticeship of hard work and answered the call of duty wherever he found it. He was a wood chopper and a farm hand; he swung the ax and the scythe, slaughtered hogs and wielded the flail. A day’s work was from sunrise to sunset. The pay, which was a quarter of a dollar, went to his father, to whom he owed all his time until noon of his twenty-first birthday. A ferryman offered thirty-seven cents a day for his services, on the deck as a bow hand, to help pole the craft down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. This was his first real revelation of the great channels of trade and commerce. He realized for the first time that he lived in a great world of throbbing humanity in which every man is trying to make the most of his short journey through it. He began to feel the beat of the human heart and the pulse of life itself. The great brotherhood of man, with its laughter and tears, gripped at his heart; and he found himself a man among men.

Do you remember the thrill that you felt when you earned the first dollar that was to be your very own ? No matter what success may come to you, or whatever fortune you may accumulate, you will never be as rich as that again. It was this same feeling that Lincoln felt when in after life he told the story,

“I was about ighteen years of age,” he said. “Two men hailed me and asked me to take their trunks to a steamer which waited for them in midstream. I sculled them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted the trunks and put them on the deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out, ‘You have forgotten to pay me.’ Each of them took from his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on the bottom of my boat. You may think it was a very little thing, and in these times it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.”

THE THRILL OF AMBITION- YOUTH

€VERY man must make his own place in the world „ There is no one who will do it for him. It takes good grit to hew your way to the front. Abraham Lincoln started out into the world with an ax over his shoulder. An ox team had drawn the family and its scanty possessions from Indiana to Illinois. The wagon wheels were but round blocks of wood cut from the trunk of an oak tree, with a hole in the center for the axle. He was now twenty-two years of age, and, having helped build the new home in the wilderness, he bid good-by to his father and stood alone in the world — his own master and his own servant.

Look — far down the road you can see that tall, gaunt, sad-faced youth; his coat ragged; his hat battered; his trousers of torn and patched homespun — and, as he passes from view, you feel that one not wholly unlike yourself has passed by; that if he, with only struggle behind him and struggle ahead of him, has the courage to fight it out with the might of manhood, then you cannot stand by as an idler and a coward.

The experiences that Lincoln met were those that we all meet in the necessity of earning a livelihood. He took whatever honest occupation came to him; he split rails; he became a flatboatman; he worked in the country store at New Salem, a village of twenty log houses, — and more than all, he left kindness wherever he went. He watched with the sick; if a w'idow were in need of firewood he would cut it for her; if he made a mistake in weight or change, he did not sleep until he had corrected the error — and through this he received the first and highest honor of his life, the title of “Honest Abe.,T