Lincoln's Inauguration Journey - February 12, 1861

The second day of Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration Journey was his 52nd birthday, February 12, 1861. The next leg of this journey continued from Indianapolis through the eastern half of Indiana then traveled southward to the Ohio River city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Lincoln had spoken fairly frequently the first day of the trip and was already experiencing some minor hoarseness as the train pulled out of Indianapolis. Nonetheless, he still would meet the crowds and even offer brief remarks at the stops along the route to Cincinnati that day.

The train passed through small Indiana towns that day, and made a brief two-minute stop in Shelbyville, where Lincoln shook as many hands as he could before the train departed. It was his second visit to that town, the first being in 1859 during his return trip from a speech he gave in Cincinnati. On that occasion, Lincoln had spoken in Shelbyville for a short time, pointing his differences with Stephen A. Douglas and the Democrats over the issues of slavery.

At the longer stop in Lawrenceburg, Indiana this day, though, Lincoln had a longer time period in which to offer a few remarks to the crowd. He stated that "If the politicians and leaders of parties were as true as the PEOPLE (original source capitalization, not mine), there would be little fear that the peace of the country would be disturbed."

Upon arrival in Cincinnati that afternoon, Lincoln spoke a few lines upon a rousing welcome from the crowd at the depot. He told the people gathered that he would give his main speech later that day from the Burnet House (a hotel), a print of which is shown in the image I've included with this post.

At the Burnet House, Lincoln thanked the multitudes of people who had come to see him, a crowd estimated at approximately 10,000. He admitted that the people had not come to see him, but the President-Elect of The United States, a statement which caused much cheering and applause. He said it was as it should be, no matter if his other opponents had been elected instead of him. He was quick to point out that well that in his opinion no other country on Earth would've seen so many gather to welcome its new leader, and that the country owed this to the free institutions which had guaranteed freedom of assembly. He said that he hoped that the country would continue on such a path for centuries to come.

He then turned his attention to any Kentuckians who might be in the crowd. Yet again, Lincoln assured those who might be present that he had no intention to interfere with their "institution" (i.e., slavery) where it already existed. He said that other than their differing opinions on the issue of expansion of slavery, there was no difference between them. He reminded them again, that he was a fellow Kentuckian and had no personal intentions of bad against them. He closed his directed speech to the Kentuckians by saying he would treat them as the Founding Fathers had treated them.

Then speaking to the Ohioans again, Lincoln asked them to harbor no ill will towards their "friends" and "brethren" across the Ohio River in Kentucky. He expressed his hope that the country would yet again come together as one nation.

In those days (and even today), there was a large population of Germans in Cincinnati. Later after his main speech that day, Lincoln went to another location in the city to address a crowd of people of German heritage which included numerous recent immigrants from that country. Lincoln again declined to announce what course of action he would take once he assumed the presidency in the following month. But he did state to them that he would treat the Germans (who were facing much discrimination then) no better and no worse than Americans. He stated his support for a Homestead Law (passed in 1862) which would provide free Federal land (in return for working it for at least five years) to anyone who would want it. This was wildly popular among the German and other European immigrants at the time, who were fleeing famine, cramped conditions, and oppression in their native countries.

With these remarks, Lincoln was done appearing in public for that day. He and his family overnighted in Cincinnati. He would leave the next day for the state capital of Ohio, Columbus. That brief leg of the trip will be discussed tomorrow, the 150th anniversary.

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Lincoln's Inauguration Journey - February 11, 1861

The first day of Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Journey to Washington City (as it was called in those days) began with his famous Farewell Address he gave that morning to his friends and neighbors in Springfield. That was the subject of my previous post. This post will cover the rest of that first day's journey.

Lincoln appeared to the crowd that day as the photo above depicts. The pose was taken in photographer C.S. German's Springfield gallery only two days prior to departure, February 9, 1861. It shows the President-Elect with a full beard and somewhat shaggy hair. His wife Mary thought it made him look almost "saintly."

After Lincoln and his family departed Springfield, he briefly wrote some of the lines of his Farewell Address down on paper for posterity, then his personal secretary John Nicolay wrote out some more of the Address. Lincoln finished it, so the original manuscript of the Address is in both of their handwriting.

Train travel being what it was in the 1860's, meant frequent stops along the way for more water or wood or coal for the locomotives. This journey would be no different. At most of the stops, Lincoln would at least appear very briefly at the rear of the train and say a few appropriate remarks to the gathered villagers or townspeople. He saved his more important speeches along the journey for the large cities or state capitals of each state he traveled through.

The first stop that day was in the small town of Tolono, Illinois. He spoke only a couple of lines to the crowd, telling it that he hoped that "Behind the cloud the sun is still shining."

In Danville, Illinois, Lincoln no doubt was greeted at least briefly by some old friends. Lincoln often participated in court cases in that small town, and he had become quite close with two men there. Oliver Davis was Lincoln's floor manager at the Republican Convention in 1860 which nominated Lincoln. They had served on several cases together. Another friend in that town was Oscar Harmon, also a fellow lawyer and former Illinois state representative. Harmon was killed in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the Civil War. When Lincoln himself was later killed, a lock of his hair was given to Harmon's widow. You can read more about Lincoln's friends in Danville here.

Soon after, Lincoln's train reached the Indiana state line, where he spoke about having lived in that state from 1816 to 1830. He promised a bigger and better speech in Indianapolis at the state capitol. The next stop was in Lafayette, Indiana where he marveled at the speed he had traveled that day, remarking that in his youth, it was good if a person had been able to travel 30 miles. He went on to talk about the Union and how he felt that it would yet remain whole.

In Thorntown and Lebanon, Indiana, Lincoln tried to tell a humorous story about a slow horse to the crowds, but the train departed before he could finish the story. The point was basically that he wanted to make it to Washington prior to the Inauguration on March 4. This was a theme he repeated frequently on the journey.

He finally arrived in Indianapolis, the state capital later in the day. In response to a hearty welcome from the governor, Lincoln addressed a large assembly of people as he stood on the rear platform of the train. He told the crowd that the preservation of the Union was as much as their responsibility, if not more, than it was his own responsibility. That everyone who loved the Union must struggle to preserve it.

Later that day from the Bates House (a hotel) also in Indianapolis, Lincoln addressed another large crowd. In this speech, Lincoln spoke strongly against the southern states' claims that the northern states were trying to "invade" their territory. Lincoln replied or asked that if the Federal Government was simply trying to hold onto its property (i.e., forts being seized by the southern states), how could that, then, be invading? He also asked how could the "sacredness" of a given state be more important than that of the Union?

Thus ended a long first day of Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration Journey to Washington, February 11, 1861. He had said farewell to his beloved Springfield, and spoken at small towns and large ones as well, in both Illinois and Indiana. The next day was his 52nd birthday.

Won't you join the Abraham Lincoln Blog as I commemorate each day of his journey, on the 150th anniversary of each particular day? It will be a memorable trip.

I should mention that my source for this series of posts is primarily The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, published in 1953, Roy Blaser, editor. It is an indispensable resource for researching the life of Abraham Lincoln.

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Lincoln Record Changed At National Archives

According to a January 24, 2011 press release from The National Archives in Washington, D.C., a pardon signed by President Abraham Lincoln has been discovered to have been altered by a Lincoln researcher. Thomas Lowry has now admitted to this unbelievable deed during an investigation by the Archives and has forever been banned from using any research facility operated by that institution.

The pardon in question was for a Union soldier put to court-martial for desertion. Patrick Murphy, the soldier in question, was pardoned by President Lincoln on April 14, 1864 and spared punishment execution, due to Murphy's "insanity." But that date wasn't good enough for Lowry, who wrote a "5" over the "4" in "1864" to make it look like this act by Lincoln might have been the very last official act of his life on April 14, 1865. He did this in order to achieve notoriety and fame as having been the "discoverer" of perhaps the last thing Lincoln ever wrote. According to the press release and accompanying video, Lowry was also immediately "raised" to the "upper echelons" of Lincoln researchers and historians with this supposed discovery.

Lowry then parlayed this "discovery" into a book titled "Don't Shoot That Boy: Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice" which was published in 1999. He also went on to write other books, all resulting from this "fame."

Words fail me in trying to describe the damage Lowry has perpetrated here. Obviously he has physically altered, perhaps forever, a document written in Lincoln's hand. Specialists at the Archives are trying now to determine if this "5" can be removed without further damaging the pardon.

More importantly, Lowry actually rewrote history for at least the past 12 years. By claiming Lincoln wrote something on April 14, 1865 when that was not true, Lowry misled the public, other researchers, and news organizations.

Lowry, through this act of greed and selfishness, has obliterated his reputation. If he was willing to do such a terrible thing to one document, then who knows what else he did in producing "research" for his own gain? Please don't think that I feel sorry for him, because I don't. What he did was utterly reprehensible.

The National Archives itself has to accept some of the responsibility for not catching this alteration far earlier. The video provided in the press release specifically mentions the The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln as the reference which was used to prove that this pardon was written in 1864, and not 1865. That set of 9 volumes has been in existence since 1953 and is the best reference for everything which Lincoln ever wrote. Why did no National Archives historian consult this resource immediately to confirm what Lowry claimed back in the 1990's? This pardon had not been "lost" to history. It was documented in the Collected Works when the reference set was published. I just found it in my own copy of the reference set in a manner of seconds. Had some care been taken, this alteration of an historic document could have been found immediately.

Unfortunately, Lowry cannot be prosecuted for his crime(s). According to the press release, the statute of limitations has expired, and all the National Archives can do is take the action I mentioned earlier in this post.

Historians, professional and amateur alike, must always strive for accuracy. This lone "researcher," Thomas Lowry, was permitted to alter history for more than a decade. What he did was unconscionable. But it is also unthinkable that he got away with this act of deception for so long. Hopefully, the National Archives will learn to have better controls in the future on researchers so nothing like this ever happens again.

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Join Abraham Lincoln On Facebook

Greetings and Happy New Year from The Abraham Lincoln Blog. As this blog enters its fourth year, I am grateful to all of my readers for their continued support of this endeavor. Without your readership, questions, and comments, there would be no purpose for this blog to continue.

This new year of 2011 of course marks the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the American Civil War. Already events are being scheduled throughout the United States, North and South, to remember the bloodiest war in our nation's history. Re-enactments, parades, symposia, and a flood of books will be just some of the ways we Americans will remember this critical part of our history.

Becoming somewhat overlooked by the hoopla surrounding the war's commemorations is the fact that 2011 is also the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration as the 16th President Of The United States. The National Park Service is going to stage a re-creation of Lincoln's Inaugural Journey from Springfield to Washington next month, but most of the focus seems to be on the war anniversary. For example, my own hometown of Canton, OH has established a committee to stage events commemorating the war itself, but thus far, no one in town seems to have an interest in Lincoln's role in the events leading up to and including the Civil War.

Therefore, I have decided to create a project which will hopefully give insight into Lincoln's actions, thoughts, and activities as he entered the remaining months prior to becoming President during a time of national crisis.

Using the social network Facebook, I have created a page where people can receive status updates from "Abraham Lincoln" as he deals with the stress of seceding states, office seekers, preparing for the move to Washington, and relates his concerns. These updates will be written as if they are coming from Lincoln himself in 1861. I will be the sole writer of the updates and I will remain in character as "Lincoln." The updates will be "real time" in that "Lincoln" will not realize that there will be a Civil War in just a few months. "He" can comment about his past, but not about his future or about the events of our time.

This Facebook page is titled "HonestAbraham Lincoln". The name is a bit hokey, but Facebook wouldn't permit me to simply use his name. The link or URL for this page is quite simple:

http://facebook.com/HonestAbrahamLincoln

The Facebook page is NOT replacing this blog, nor am I ending the blog. It's simply meant to be another way I can help others to have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for Abraham Lincoln and his legacy. The Facebook page actually will complement the blog.

Please consider giving this new Facebook page of "HonestAbraham Lincoln" a try. Already 111 people are "liking" it and receiving updates from Mr. Lincoln. Why not join us in this new endeavor?

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Merry Christmas From The Abraham Lincoln Blog

I want to take a few moments today, Christmas Eve 2010, to wish all of my readers a very blessed Christmas and best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous New Year. The holiday season can be stressful with so much to do; presents to wrap, trips to take, and parties to attend. Sometimes it's easy to get so buried with the work of the season that we don't often experience the love and wonder of it. My hope for each of you is that you feel the joy far more than the stress.

The most significant Christmas fact I've ever been able to find associated with Abraham Lincoln comes from his final Christmas in 1864. On December 22, General William Tecumseh Sherman wrote to President Lincoln the following message:

"I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns, plenty of ammunition, and about 25,000 bales of cotton."

The photo above is the original transcription of the telegraph which Sherman sent to the president. The capture of Savannah by Union forces marked the end of Sherman's "March To The Sea" when his forces cut a swath of destruction across Georgia, effectively demoralizing the heart of the Confederacy.

Lincoln's reply was heartfelt, expressing "many, many thanks" for the gift. He also admitted that he had been fearful of Sherman's success, especially when Sherman proposed to divide his army during the campaign. He sent the letter to Sherman on December 26, 1864.

That Christmas of 1864 saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Union and Confederate, away from their loved ones and families as they continued the struggle for the direction of the United States. As we celebrate Christmas 2010, let us not forget the brave soldiers of today who are far away from their families as they are stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other foreign lands.

We are forever in their debt.

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Spielberg Selects Daniel-Day Lewis for "Lincoln"

The major news out of Hollywood today is that director Steven Spielberg has selected two-time Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis to star in his long-delayed film about Abraham Lincoln. The story has been announced on several sites, but I'm getting the information from this site courtesy of several Twitter followers of mine.

The actor Liam Neeson had long been the favorite to portray the nation's Civil War president, but he finally withdrew from the project earlier this summer, claiming he was too old at 58 to do the role. Day-Lewis is 53, which is closer to Lincoln's age of 56 at the time of his assassination in 1865.

The movie will apparently not be a biography after all as some have long assumed, but instead will be based on historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team Of Rivals, her best-selling account of Lincoln's clashes with his cabinet.

Today's news is apparently a huge surprise to Hollywood insiders, who figured Spielberg's "Lincoln" film was on the back burner with the withdrawal of Neeson. Additionally, Day-Lewis is considered to be one of the choosiest actors in Hollywood, frequently turning down scripts and going for years between acting roles.

I think Daniel Day-Lewis is a superb choice. His facial structure resembles that of Lincoln's, and his height (around 6'1") is close enough to Lincoln's. More importantly, is that Day-Lewis is a brilliant actor who does a great deal of research and preparation for his roles. He is a "method" actor who is known to stay in character even off camera while working on a film.

Spielberg is of course one of the greatest movie directors of all time. Let's hope, though, that he doesn't imbue this film with sentimentality or sappiness. One site I read has it that Disney's Touchstone label will be the distributor. Tony Kushner (Angels In America) will author the script.

With these three men teaming up for this film, there might be at long last an excellent film made about Abraham Lincoln. Filming is scheduled to get under way next year, with release in the final quarter of 2012. Let's hope it comes to fruition.

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The New Battle Of Gettysburg

Seven score and seven years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln gave a brief two minute speech at the occasion of the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The 271 words he spoke in barely two minutes redefined our nation when it declared that all people are created equal, and that it stands as a symbol for freedom and democracy to the world. His Gettysburg Address is in my opinion his greatest speech, and is perhaps the single greatest speech in the English language. The story behind this speech is a poignant one, which you may read here.

Now we are engaged in another Battle of Gettysburg, only this time the fight is not between armies. Instead, the battle is between commercial interests who want to build a casino only 1/2 mile from the edge of the Gettysburg National Military Park, and those who consider such a project to be an insult to the memory of those who there gave their lives that our nation might live.

I was contacted this week by Mr. Jeff Griffith, a filmmaker who has produced and directed several videos to fight the proposed casino project. Mr. Griffith asked me to help publicize one video in particular, which enlists the talents of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, esteemed historian David McCullough, actors Sam Waterston, Matthew Broderick, and Stephen Lang, and Medal Of Honor recipient Paul W. Bucha as they recite the Gettysburg Address. The music for this moving video was contributed by multiple-Oscar winner John Williams.

Please take the brief two minutes to watch the video and help the fight against a casino coming to the edge of the battlefield where so many men who fought for freedom are buried. The organization leading this fight is nocasinogettysburg.org. Go and register your support!

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