Abraham Lincoln; the true story of a great life

Front matter

Class Z

Book

V il«00lWAf*

Chapter I

Date and place of Lincoln's birth.— The interview with J. L. Scripps. — Lincoln's reference to his mother. — The Bible record.— The journal of William Calk.— The death of Abraham Lincoln, the President's grandfather. — Mordecai's revenge. — Thomas Lincoln, his marriage and married life. — Nancy Hanks, the President's mother. — Her sadness, her disposition and mental nature. — The camp-meeting at Elizabethtown 1_I2

( HAPTER II.

Sarah Lincoln.— She attends school with her brother Abraham.— The tribute by Helm to Abe, the little boy. — Boyhood exploits with John Duncan and Austin Gollahcr. — Dissatisfaction of Thomas Lincoln with Kentucky. — The removal to Indiana. — The "half-faced camp." — Thomas and Betsy Sparrow follow. — How Thomas Lincoln and the SparrOWl farmed. — Life in the Lincoln cabin. — Abe and David Turnham go to mill. — Appearance of the "milk sick " in the Pigeon Creek settlement. — Death of the Sparrows. — Death of Nancy Lincoln. — The widowerhood of Thomas Lincoln. — He marries Sarah Bush Johnston. — The Lincoln and Johnston children. — 'Tilda Johnston's indiscretion. — Attending school. — Abe's gallantry toward Kate Koby. — ** Blue-Nose" Crawford and the book. — Schoolboy poetry. — Abe's habits of study. — Testimony of his stepmother. I3-4 1

- CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Tagrs

Abe reads his first law-book.— The fight between John Johnston and William Grigsby.— Recollections of Elizabeth Crawford.— Marriage of Sarah Lincoln and Aaron Grigsby. —The wedding song.— More poetry.— Abe attends court at Booneville.— The accident at Gordon's mill.— Borrowing law-books of Judge Pitcher.— Compositions on Temperance and Government.— The journey with Allen Gentry to New Orleans.— Return to Indiana.— Customs and superstition of the pioneers.— Reappearance of the "milk sick."— Removal to Illinois.— Abe and his pet dog 42-59

Chapter IV

The settlement in Illinois.— Splitting rails with John Hanks.— Building the boat for Offut.— The return to Illinois—New Salem described.— Clerking on the elect ion board.— The lizard story.— Salesman in Offut's store.— The wrestle with Jack Armstrong. — Studying in the store— Disappearance of Offut.— The Talisman.— Oliphant's poetry — The reception at Springfield.— The Captain's wife.— Return trip of the Talisman. — Rowan Herndon and Lincoln pilot her through. — The navigability of the Sangamon fully demonstrated. — The vessel reaches Beardstown. . . . 60-82

Chapter V

The Black Hawk war. — Lincoln elected captain — Under arrest. — Protecting the Indian. — Recollections of a comrade. — Lincoln re-enlists as a private. — Return to New Salem. — Candidate for the Legislature. — The handbill. — First political speech. — The canvass. — Defeat. — Partnership in the store with Berry. — The trade with William Greene. — Failure of the business. — Law studies. — Pettifogging. — Stories and poetry. — Referee in rural sports. — Deputy surveyor under John Calhoun. — Studying with Mentor Graham. — Postmaster at New Salem. — The incident with (handler. — Feats of strength. — Second race for the Legislature. — Election ... 83-118

CONTENTS. xiii

Chapter VI. Pages

Lincoln falls in love with Anne Rutledge. — The old story. — Description of the girl. — The affair with John McNeil. — Departure of McNeil for New York. — Anne learns of the change of name. — Her faith under fire. — Lincoln appears on the scene. — Courting in dead earnest. — Lincoln's proposal accepted. — The ghost of another love. — Death of Anne. — Effect on Lincoln's mind. — His suffering. — Kindness of Bowlin Greene. — " Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" — Letter to Dr. Drake. — Return of McNamar ^9~ l 33

Chapter VII

An amusing courtship. — Lincoln meets Mary S. Owens. — Her nature, education, and mind. — Lincoln's boast. — He pays his addresses. — The lady's letters to Herndon. — Lincoln's letters. — His avowals of affection. — The letter to Mrs. Browning. — Miss Owens' estimate of Lincoln. . . 134-152

Chapter VIII

Lincoln a member of the Legislature at Vandalia. — First meeting with Douglas. — The society of Vandalia.— Pioneer legislation. — Deputy surveyor under Thoma-. M. Neal. — Candidate for the Legislature again. — Another handbill. — Favors " Woman's Rights."— The letter to Col. Robert Allen.— The canvass— The answer to George Forquer — The election, Lincoln leading the ticket.— The "Long Nine."— Reckless legislation.— The " DeWitt Clinton" of Illinois. — Internal improvements. — The removal of the capital to Springfield. — The Committee on Finance. — The New England importation.— The Lincoln-Stone protest.— Return of the "Long Nine'' to Springfield— Lincoln removes to Springfield. — Licensed to practise law. — In partnership with John T. Stuart.— Early practice.— Generosity of Joshua F. Speed.— The bar of Springfield.— Speed's store. — Political discussions. — More poetry. — Lincoln addresses the "Young Men's Lyceum." — The debate in the xiv CONTENTS.

PACTS

Presbyterian Church.-Elected to the Legislature again.— Answering Col. Dick Taylor on the stump.-Rescue of Baker.-Last canvass for the Legislature.— The 'I nomas "skinning."— The Presidential canvass of 1840. . . 1 53-19°

Chapter IX

Lincoln still unmarried.— The Todd family .-Mary Todd. —Introduced to 'Lincoln.— The courtship.-The flirtation with Douglas.— The advice of Speed.— How Lincoln broke the engagement.— Preparations for marriage.— A disappointed bride.— A crazy groom.— Speed takes Lincoln to Kentucky.— Restored spirits.— Return of Lincoln to Illinois. —Letters to Speed.— The party at Simeon Francis's house. —The reconciliation.— The marriage.— The duel with James Shields.— The "Rebecca" letters.— " Cathleen " invokes the muse.— Whiteside's account of the duel.— Merryman's account.— Lincoln's address before the Washingtmiian Society. — Meeting with Martin Van Buren.— Partnership with Stephen T. Logan. — Partnership with William H. Hcrndon. — Congressional aspirations. — Nomination and election of John J. Hardin. — The Presidential campaign of 1844. — Lincoln takes the stump in Southern Indiana. — Lincoln nominated for Congress. — The canvass against Peter Cartwright. — Lincoln elected. — In Congress. — The "Spot Resolutions." — Opposes the Mexican war. — Letters to Herndon. — Speeches in Congress. — Stumping through New England. — A Congressman's troubles. — A characteristic letter. — End of Congressional term 191-280

Chapter X

Lincoln takes part in the campaign in Massachusetts in 1848. — The account of Edward L. Pierce. — Report of Boston Advertiser. — Speeches in Boston, Dorchester, Chelsea, Dedham, and Cambridge. — Lincoln's impression on the Whigs. — Meets Governor Seward. — Editorial in Lowell Journal and Courier. — Reminiscence of ex-Governor Gardner. — Recollections of George II. Monroe. . . 281

CONTEXTS.

Chapter XI. XV

PAGB*

Early married life.— Boarding at the " Globe Tavern."

A plucky little wife.— Niagara Falls.— The patent for lifting vessels over shoals. — Candidate for Commissioner of the Land Office. — The appointment of Butterfield. — The offer of Territorial posts by President Taylor. — A journey to Washington and incidents. — Return to Illinois. — Settling down to practice law. — Life on the circuit. — Story-telling. — Habits as lawyer and methods of study.— Law-office of Lincoln and Herndon. — Recollections of Littleheld. — Studying Euclid. — Taste for literature. — Lincoln's first appearance in the Supreme Court of Illinois. — Professional honor and personal honesty. — The juror in the divorce case. . . 295-33!

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. I.

FACING PAGE

Abraham Lincoln, from a photograph by Alexander Hesler, Chicago, 1858 Frontispiece

\V. II. Herndon

The Lincoln family record .......

Sarah Hush Lincoln

Lines written by Lincoln on the leaf of bis school-book in hi fourteenth year ........

I ItiUoC near Farmington, Ct>lc-> t 'mmty, Illinois, in which Thomas

Lincoln died .........

Mary S. Owens .........

Springfield Court-House. Stuart and Lincoln's office, in 1839

Item-, from Lincoln's fee ■book, in hi-> handwriting

First Presbyterian Church, Springfield ....

Joshua Fry Speed and wife .......

The Edwards residence, Springfield, in which Lincoln and Mary

Todd were married, and in which the latter died .

General James Shields .......

U. S. Court Building, Springfield, 1850-1S60. Lincoln and

Lincoln and Heilldon's law-oftiee in 1S60 ....

Mary Todd Lincoln, Rev. Petei Cartwright, Stephen T. Logan

177 183 195

215 237

250 257 271

The Globe favern, Springfield ...... 295

Introduction

I WAS called upon during the lifetime of Mr. Herndon to write for the second edition of this work a chapter on the Lincoln-Douglas campaign of 1858. After this had been done and the book had been revised for the press, I was requested by the publishers to add something in the nature of a character sketch of Mr. Lincoln as I knew him before his fame had spread much beyond the confines of Illinois, and to tell what were those qualities that made him so attractive then. Of course, they were the same qualities which made him attractive afterward on a wider scale. The popular judgment of him is, in the main, correct and unshakable. I say in the main, because there is in this judgment a tendency to apotheosis which, while pardonable, is not historical, and will not last.

At the time when he was preparing himself unconsciously to be the nation's leader in a great crisis the only means of gaining public attention was by public speech. The press did not exist for him, or for the people among whom he lived. The ambitious young men of the day must make their mark by oratory, or not at all. There was no division of labor between the speaker and the m Vf.

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A good test of this trait in his character was furnished in my own experience. When I was first thrown into his society I was just out of college, and was as callow and as self-confident as boys usually are at that time of life. Mr. Lincoln was at the maturity of his powers. I was often with him when he had no other companion. In our intercourse he always paid marked deference to my opinions, and if we differed he would argue the point with me as earnestly as though I had been the opposing counsel in a lawsuit. And this he would do with anybody, young or old, ignorant or learned. I never heard him express contempt for any man's honest errors, although he would sometimes make a droll remark or tell a funny story about them. Deference to other peopl opinions was habitual to him. There w.is no < aiculation, no politics in it. It was part and parcel of his sense of equal rights. His democrat of the unconscious kind — he did not know anything different from it. Coupled with this wa habit of unselfishness and kindly temper most engaging to all who knew him or had any drain with him. At the same time he knew when be was imposed upon, and it was unsafe for anybody to presume upon his good nature or to take him for a flat.

But more than intellectual gifts, more than goodfellowship, did the sense of justice give him his hold on others. That was a magnetic field wh influences could not be escaped. He carried i' unconsciously as he carried his hair. The Athcni-

INTRODUCTION, xxv

ans would never have ostracized him — indeed, they would never have called him the Just. They would have taken him as they took the bees on Hvmettus — as one naturally searching after sweet things.

To say that Mr. Lincoln was a man who had the courage of his convictions would be rather an under-statement. This was part and parcel of his sense of justice. He wore it as he wore his clothes, except that it fitted him much better than his garments usually did. At the time I first knew him it was irksome to very many of his friends to be told that there ought to be an efficient fugitive slave law. But it was his conviction as a lawyer that there ought to be one. and he never failed to i when interrogated, or when occasion required that that subject should be touched upon. And it is a fad that abolitionists like Lovejov and Codding would take this from Lincoln without murmuring, when thev would not take it from anybody else. He never would echo the popular cry, " No more - . Stat Whenever this sub-

ject was discussed he would say that it a Territory having the requisite population and belonging to US should apply for admission to the Union without fraud or constraint, yet with slavery, he could not any other disposition to be made of her

than to admit her. And when he had said this, even to an audience of radical antislavery men, there would be no protestations. Those who were not convinced would observe a respectful silence. Mr. Lincoln's facial expression when in repose xxv j INTRODUCTION.

and when animated presented most remarkable contrasts. I have before me a photograph of him taken at Pittsfield, Illinois, during the campaign of 1858. It looks as I have seen him a hundred times, his lantern jaws and large mouth and solid nose firmly set, his sunken eyes looking at nothing yet not unexpressive, his wrinkled and retreating forehead cut off by a mass of tousled hair, with a shade of melancholy drawn like a veil over his whole face. Nothing more unlike this can be imagined than the same Lincoln when taking part in a conversation, or addressing an audience, or telling a story. The dull, listless features dropped like a mask. The melancholy shadow disappeared in a twinkling. The eye began to sparkle, the mouth to smile, the whole countenance was wreathed with animation, so that a stranger would have said : " Why, this man, so angular and somber a moment ago, is really handsome."

What more can be said of the qualities that first made Mr. Lincoln attractive to his contemporaries? These were debating power, honesty of purpose, a child-like temper, purity of life, and courage of conviction. All these traits will be seen in the following pages, rising, unfolding, expanding in a regular, orderly, human way as the young Lincoln grew to mature years.

What Mr. Lincoln was after he became President can be best understood by knowing what he was before. The world owes more to William H. Herndon for this particular knowledge than to

INTRODUCTION. XXVli

all other persons taken together. It is no exaggeration to say that his death, which took place at his farm near Springfield, Illinois, March 18, 1 89 1, removed from earth the person who, of all others, had most thoroughly searched the sources of Mr. Lincoln's biography and had most attentively, intelligently, and also lovingly studied his character. He was generous in imparting his information to others. Almost every life of Lincoln published since the tragedy at Ford's Theatre has been enriched by his labors. He was nine years the junior of Mr. Lincoln. Their partnership began in 1843, an d ft continued until it was dissolved by the death of the senior member. Between them there was never an unkind word or thought. When Mr. Lincoln became President, Mr. Herndon could have had his fortunes materially advanced under the new Administration by saying a word. He was a poor man then and always, but he chose to remain in his more humble station and to earn his bread by his daily labor.

Some six years ago Mr. Herndon conceived the project of writing a series of magazine articles intended to portray the youth and early manhood of Lincoln. Being somewhat infirm, he called Mr. Weik to his assistance, as he has explained in his preface. The magazine articles expanded insensibly to the present volumes. Lincolniana is increasing and is destined to increase. It has been enriched within recent years by the indispensable but too massive work of Nicolay and Hay, by the masterly essay of Schurz, and by the posthumous xxv jiJ IN TROD UCTION.

lecture of Greeley, which latter, being in reality if not in terms a hearty, ungrudging confession that he had underestimated Lincoln in his lifetime, is doubly welcome. As a portraiture of the man Lincoln — and this is what we look for above all things in a biography — I venture to think that Mr. Herndon's work will never be surpassed.

Horace White.

New York, February, i8q2.

THE LIFE OF LINCOLN.

Chapter I

Beyond the fact that he was born on the 12th day of February, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky, Mr. Lincoln usually had but little to say of himself, the lives of his parents, or the history of the family before their removal to Indiana. If he mentioned the subject at all, it was with great reluctance and significant reserve. There was something about his origin he never cared to dwell upon. His nomination for the Presidency in i860, however, made the publication of his life a necessity, and attracted to Springfield an army of campaign biographers and newspaper men. They met him in his office, stopped him in his walks, and followed him to his house. Artists came to paint his picture, and sculptors to make his bust. His autographs were in demand, and people came long distances to shake him by the hand. This sudden elevation to national prominence found Mr. Lincoln unprepared in a great measure for the unaccustomed demonstrations that awaited him. While he was easy of approach and equally courteous to all,

A yet, as he said to me one evening after a long day of hand-shaking, he could not understand why people should make so much over him.

Among the earliest newspaper men to arrive in Springfield after the Chicago convention was the late J. L. Scripps of the Chicago Tribune, who proposed to prepare a history of his life. Mr. Lincoln deprecated the idea of writing even a campaign biography. " Why, Scripps," said he, " it is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of me or my early life. It can all be condensed into a single sentence, and that sentence you will find in Gray's Elegy,

* The short and simple annals of the poor.'

That's my life, and that's all you or anyone else can make out of it."

He did, however, communicate some facts and meagre incidents of his early days, and, with the matter thus obtained, Mr. Scripps prepared his book. Soon after the death of Lincoln I received a letter from Scripps, in which, among other things, he recalled the meeting with Lincoln, and the view he took of the biography matter.

" Lincoln seemed to be painfully impressed," he wrote, " with the extreme poverty of his early surroundings, and the utter absence of all romantic and heroic elements. He communicated some facts to me concerning his ancestry, which he did not wish to have published then, and which I have never spoken of or alluded to before."

What the facts referred to by Mr. Scripps were we do not know ; for he died several years ago without, so far as is known revealing them to anyone.

On the subject of his ancestry and origin I only remember one time when Mr. Lincoln ever referred to it. It was about 1850, when he and I were driving in his one-horse buggy to the court in Menard county, Illinois. The suit we were going to try was one in which we were likely, either directly or collaterally, to touch upon the subject of hereditary traits. During the ride he spoke, for the first time in my hearing, of his mother, dwelling on her characteristics, and mentioning or enumerating what qualities he inherit* ed from her. He said, among other things, that she was the daughter of Lucy Hanks and a well-bred but obscure Virginia farmer or planter ; and he argued that from this last source came his power of analysis, his logic, his mental activity, his ambition, and all the qualities that distinguished him from the other members and descendants of the Hanks family.

In only two instances did Mr. Lincoln over his own hand leave any record of his history or family descent. One of these was the modest bit of autobiography furnished to Jesse W. Fell, in 1859, * n which, after stating that his parents were born in Virginia of " undistinguished or second families," he makes the brief mention of his mother, saying that she came " of a family of the name of Hanks." * The other record was the register of marriages, births, and deaths which he made in his father's Bible. The

* If anyone will take the pains to read the Fell autobiography they will be struck with Lincoln's meagre reference to his mother. He even fails to give her maiden or Christian name, and devotes but three lines to her family. A history of the Lincolns occupies almost an entire page.

latter now lies before me. That portion of the page which probably contained the record of the marriage of his parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, has been lost ; but fortunately the records of Washington county, Kentucky, and the certificate of the minister who performed the marriage ceremony — the Rev. Jesse Head — fix the fact and date of the latter on the I2th day of June, 1806.

On the 10th day of February in the following year a daughter Sarah * was born, and two years later, on the 1 2th of February, the subject of these memoirs came into the world. After him came the last child, a boy — named Thomas after his father — who lived but a few days. No mention of his existence is found in the Bible record.

Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the President, emigrated to Jefferson county, Kentucky, from Virginia, about 1780, and from that time forward the former State became an important one in the history of the family, for in it was destined to be born its most illustrious member. About five years before this, a handful of Virginians had started across the

* Most biographers of Lincoln, in speaking of Mr. Lincoln's sister, call her Nancy, some — notably Nicolay and Hay — insisting that she was known by that name among her family and friends. In this they are in error. I have interviewed the different members of the Hanks and Lincoln families who survived the President, and her name was invariably given as Sarah. The mistake, I think, arises from the fact that, in the Bible record referred to, all that portion relating to the birth of " Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln," down to the word Nancy has been torn away, and the latter name has therefore been taken erroneously for that of the daughter. Reading the entry of Abraham's birth below satisfies one that it must refer to the mother.

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mountains for Kentucky, and in the company, besides their historian, William Calk, — whose diary recently came to light, — was one Abraham Hanks. They were evidently a crowd of jolly young men bent on adventure and fun, but their sport was attended with frequent disasters. Their journey began at " Mr. Priges' tavern on the Rapidan/' When only a few days out " Hanks' Dog's leg got broke." Later in the course of the journey, Hanks and another companion became separated from the rest of the party and were lost in the mountains for two days ; in crossing a stream " Abraham's saddle turned over and his load all fell in Indian creek" ; finally they meet their brethren from whom they have been separated and then pursue their way without further interruption. Returning emigrants whom they meet, according to the journal of Calk, " tell such News of the indians " that certain members of the company are " afrade to go aney further." The following day more or less demoralization takes place among the members of this pioneer party when the announcement is made, as their chronicler so faithfully records it, that " Philip Drake Bakes bread without washing his hands." This was an unpardonable sin, and at it they revolted. A day later the record shows that " Abram turns Back." Beyond this we shall never know what became of Abraham Hanks, for no further mention of him is made in this or any other history. He may have returned to Virginia and become, for aught we know, one of the President's

ancestors on the maternal side of the house ; but if 3 so his illustrious descendant was never able to establish the fact or trace his lineage satisfactorily beyond the first generation which preceded him. He never mentioned who his maternal grandfather was, if indeed he knew.

His paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln,* the pioneer from Virginia, met his death within two years after his settlement in Kentucky at the hands of the Indians ; " not in battle," as his distinguished grandson tells us, " but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest." The story of his death in sight of his youngest son Thomas, then only six years old, is by no means a new one to the world. In fact I have often heard the President describe the tragedy as he had inherited the story from his father. The dead pioneer had three sons, Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas, in the order named. When the father fell, Mordecai, having hastily sent Josiah to the neighboring fort after assistance, ran into the cabin, and pointing his rifle through a crack between the logs, prepared for defense. Presently an Indian came stealing up to the dead father's body. Beside the latter sat the little boy Thomas. Mordecai took deliberate aim at a silver crescent which hung suspended from the Indian's breast, and brought him to the ground. Josiah returned from the fort with the desired relief, and

*"They [the Lincolns] were also called Linkhorns. The old settlers had a way of pronouncing names not as they were spelled, but rather, it seemed, as they pleased. Thus they called Medcalf * Medcap,' and Kaster they pronounced ' Custard.' " — MS. letter, Charles Friend, March 19, 1866.

the savages were easily dispersed, leaving behind one dead and one wounded.

The tragic death of his father filled Mordecai with an intense hatred of the Indians — a feeling from which he never recovered. It was ever with him like an avenging spirit. From Jefferson county he removed to Grayson, where he spent the remainder of his days. A correspondent * from there wrote me in 1865 : " Old Mordecai was easily stirred up by the sight of an Indian. One time, hearing of a few Indians passing through the county, he mounted his horse, and taking his rifle on his shoulder, followed on after them and was gone two days. When he returned he said he left one lying in a sink hole. The Indians, he said, had killed his father, and he was determined before he died to have satisfaction." The youngest boy, Thomas, retained a vivid recollection of his father's death, which, together with other reminiscences of his boyhood, he was fond of relating later in life to his children to relieve the tedium of long winter evenings. Mordecai and Josiah,f both remaining in Kentucky, became the heads of good-sized families, and although never known or

*W. T. Claggett, unpublished MS.

t " I knew Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln intimately. They were excellent men, plain, moderately educated, candid in their manners and intercourse, and looked upon as honorable as any men I have ever heard of. Mordecai was the oldest son, and his father having been killed by the Indians before the law of primogeniture was repealed, he inherited a very competent estate. The others were poor. Mordecai was celebrated for his bravery, and had been in the early campaigns of the West."-Henry Pirtle, letter, June 17. 1865, MS.

heard of outside the limits of the neighborhoods in which they lived, were intelligent, well-to-do men. In Thomas, roving and shiftless, to whom was " reserved the honor of an illustrious paternity," are we alone interested. He was, we are told, five feet ten inches high, weighed one hundred and ninetyfive pounds, had a well-rounded face, dark hazel eyes, coarse black hair, and was slightly stoop-shouldered. His build was so compact that Dennis Hanks used to say he could not find the point of separation between his ribs. He was proverbially slow of movement, mentally and physically ; was careless, inert, and dull ; was sinewy, and gifted with great strength ; was inoffensively quiet and peaceable, but when roused to resistance a dangerous antagonist. He had a liking for jokes and stories, which was one of the few traits he transmitted to his illustrious son ; was fond of the chase, and had no marked aversion for the bottle, though in the latter case he indulged no more freely than the average Kentuckian of his day. At the time of his marriage to Nancy Hanks he could neither read nor write ; but his wife, who was gifted with more education, and was otherwise his mental superior, taught him, it is said, to write his name and to read — at least, he was able in later years to spell his way slowly through the Bible. In his religious belief he first affiliated with the Free-Will Baptists. After his removal to Indiana he changed his adherence to the Presbyterians — or Predestinarians, as they were then called — and later united with the Christian — vulgarly called Campbellite—