Author: David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an Abraham Lincoln historian, a former scientist, and an avid traveler. He is the author of books on Abraham Lincoln, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
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Lincoln named “Best Lincoln Biography for Young People”

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Reading Lincoln book cover

 

 

Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, which was published by Fall River Press in 2017, has been named “Best Lincoln Biography for Young People” by Tom Peet and David Keck, authors of Reading Lincoln.

I’m back from my post-manuscript submission break. I took a week to decompress, which turned into a week of long-haul driving and visiting with family. I hadn’t seen my immediate family for over a year. I also met up with extended family and one friend I hadn’t seen since I was about 20 (in one case, probably a young teenager).

Immediately upon my return (driving through a tropical storm, no less), I ordered the Peet and Keck book. I had bought the first edition when it came out several years ago. The current volume is listed as the 3rd Edition, but Tom tells me that this edition as actually been revised six times since it was released. It now is a whopping 766 pages containing 550 reviews of books about Abraham Lincoln. I read a ton of Lincoln books – 25 to 35 a year – but this volume is an amazing achievement in itself. Unlike some reviewers who skim books, Peet and Keck read deeply into each book and write insightful reviews. I can appreciate their effort since I take copious notes on most Lincoln books I read and write book reviews for The Lincolnian (the Lincoln Group of DC newsletter) and the Lincoln Herald, as well as for Civil War Times and other outlets.

In their review, Peet notes that with the book I have “accomplished something never done before,” adding that I have “created the Swiss-army knife of Lincoln biographies and much, much more.” In reaching their recommendation as the best biography for young people, Tom notes “there are pictures, pictures, and more pictures. Hundreds of them (paintings, lithographs, newspapers, maps, tintypes, sketches).” He ends the review with:

“There is nothing like this book on the market and I highly recommend it.”

Tom also notes in his review a few lines that he thinks could be controversial, and indeed, two or three readers have referenced the same short paragraph near the end of the book. I’ve addressed this point before, and plan to revisit it a future post, but Tom notes that what I argue is “objectively true.”

The Peet and Keck volume, of course, reviews more than my book. With over 1,500 Lincoln books on my shelves as I write this, I’m eager to see how many they have reviewed that I’m missing. This volume is a wonderful resource to check before buying new Lincoln books. Tom mentions that its size has reached a maximum capacity for binding, but I’m hopeful he’ll start a new volume containing only books not already included in this edition. He can include my forthcoming book, tentatively due out in February 2022. More on that soon.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

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Catching Up on Lincoln, The Book

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David at Lincoln MemorialI often check The Lincoln Log to catch up on what was happening this day in Abraham Lincoln’s life. And today I can also update where things stand on my new Lincoln book.

Among other events listed for June 30, 1864 is that Lincoln abandons the idea of colonizing freed black men to Chiriqui, a coal region in what is now southwestern Panama. I discuss both colonization and the role of coal in the Civil War in my forthcoming book. I doubt whether it is truly accurate to say that Lincoln abandoned colonization on any given day, or that he even was as big a proponent of it that history has made him. I discuss that in the book too.

So what is the status of this book?

I submitted the full manuscript to the editor at Rowman & Littlefield last week. I’m currently in my “take a breather” phase, which means I’m desperately working to catch up on all the other obligations I backlogged while busy writing. With the July 4th holiday starting this weekend, the editor has told me that I won’t hear anything for a while. My guess is that by late July I’ll have the editor and copy editor’s edits (e.g., to edit sentences like this one). Barring any major disagreements, the book will be into cover design and layout by August. Our tentative plan is to release the book around February 2022. I’ll provide updates when the publisher settles on a date, and especially when the pre-ordering can begin. Some background on the book is in this earlier post. I’m hesitant to jinx myself by revealing more until the manuscript has been accepted, but expect more this summer. Stay tuned.

The aforementioned backlog included the first Lincoln Group of DC Board meeting I’ve chaired as President. While I’ve been president of scientific organizations four times in my career, this is the first Abraham Lincoln organization for which I’ve carried that responsibility. Luckily, the Lincoln Group Board is exceptionally capable of making the process as efficient as it is active. We have some big issues on the table. First, there is the return to in-person dinner/lunch lectures, which we tentatively are working on to accomplish in October with none other than renowned Lincoln expert Ron White. Second, we are beginning to plan our own Lincoln Memorial Centennial for next May. And we won’t forget all those who have been able to join us on our monthly virtual events – expect to see a continuing schedule of virtual lectures, discussions, and possibly even some hybrid events. You can keep up on Lincoln Group events and Lincoln news on our website at Lincolnian.org.

This summer should also bring more books to review for the Abraham Lincoln Institute book award. I serve on that committee and act as Treasurer for ALI. Unless there is a major COVID setback, we plan to go back to our normal in-person full-day symposium at Ford’s Theatre in March 2022. Videos of previous symposia speakers can be found on the ALI website.

I’m also looking forward to getting in some travel again after more than a year’s hiatus. More on that as it happens.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln Sues the Railroad Hand That Feeds Him

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Abraham Lincoln photoOn June 23, 1857, Abraham Lincoln sued the Illinois Central Railroad. The Railroad had hired him on many occasions to defend their interests, but on this occasion they balked at the unusually high fee Lincoln charged – $5000. Lincoln had served the railroad well over many years, often taking limited fees, for example he had drawn only $150 for a year’s worth of work encompassing “at least fifteen cases (I believe one or two more) and I have concluded to lump them off at ten dollars a case.” This time, the McLean County Tax Case, he wanted to get paid the value of the work.

After jockeying around to ensure Lincoln was free to represent them, the railroad had paid him a retainer to get him started. The case was complicated, involved several trials, including the Illinois Supreme Court. Lincoln won the case and submitted his bill for $5,000, an amount more than the annual salary of the Illinois governor. After a week he wrote to the railroad’s counsel requesting status, who indicated it had been sent to the company president and attorney, who refused to pay it. Lincoln sued. Knowing he needed to justify such a large amount, Lincoln included an affidavit providing for the depositions of other prominent lawyers, all of them his friends—Norman Judd, Isaac Arnold, Grant Goodrich, Archibald Williams, and his former law partner, Stephen T. Logan—each of whom vouched for the appropriateness of the fee.

In his own brief, Lincoln wrote:

“Are, or not the amount of labor, the doubtfulness and difficulty of the question, the degree of success in the result; and the amount of pecuniary interest involved, not merely in the particular case, but covered by the principle decided, and thereby secured to the client, all proper elements, by the custom of the profession to consider in determining what is a reasonable fee in a given case.

That $5000 is not an unreasonable fee in this case.”

When the case came up for trial, no representative for the railroad was present and the judge awarded Lincoln the five thousand dollars. John Douglass, the Illinois Central railroad’s attorney, did show up the next day and begged for a new trial, which Lincoln did not resist. Setting aside the earlier verdict, they retried the case and the jury again decided for Lincoln. This time they awarded him $4,800 because Lincoln had received $200 as a retainer (in fact, the records show he had received $250). As with all fees received by the firm, Lincoln shared this fee equally with William Herndon.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book, due out in February 2022]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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A House Divided – Lincoln Takes a Stand

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Lincoln Douglas DebatesAbraham Lincoln lost his 1856 Senate campaign, but in 1858 he had another opportunity to run for Senate, this time against his old rival Stephen A. Douglas. In June Lincoln gave what is perhaps one of his most cited oratories, the “House Divided” speech. Once again he warned that the Kansas-Nebraska Act had opened the country to expansion of slavery—not just in the territories, but throughout the nation. Beginning with a paraphrased line from the Bible (Mark 3:25), Lincoln notes:

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the states, old as well as new—North as well as South.

Lincoln was not using hyperbole; he firmly believed slavery was in danger of becoming a national institution. The Kansas-Nebraska Act could allow all of the remaining territories to welcome slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act required the federal government and all states to actively capture any slaves who had escaped into free states and return them to the South. And the Dred Scott decision had effectively invalidated any rights of citizenship even for free blacks, no matter where they lived. One more Supreme Court decision like Dred Scott could result in the right of slave owners to move to any free state and legally bring their slaves, thus making all of the United States open to slavery.

The night before giving his speech, Lincoln asked Republican friends to read it and offer advice. Unanimously they begged him to tone down the passage cited above, fearing it was too inflammatory. Lincoln listened, then told them he would keep it in: “I think the time has come to say it, and I will let it go as is.” Those who felt slavery was wrong had been compromising for decades, with all compromises resulting in continued political strength to slave owners. For Lincoln, the time had come to make a stand.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Lincoln Sees a New Weapon He Likes

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Lincoln testing a SpencerAbraham Lincoln had an interest in technology, and on June 10, 1861 he sees a new weapon he likes. I write about this and other incidents in my forthcoming book:

A few weeks into the war, he pressed Captain James Dahlgren on a new gun presented by Orison Blunt. After encouraging Dahlgren to “please see Mr. Blunt,” Lincoln wrote “What do you think of it? Would the government do well to purchase some of them?” When Dahlgren replied positively the same day, Lincoln endorsed the envelope with another prod for action: “I saw the gun myself, and witnessed some experiments with it,” Lincoln wrote, adding “I really think it worthy the attention of the government.” Presumably these were the Enfield-patterned rifles Blunt made for the Army a year later.

Pursuing another promising new rifle, Lincoln wrote to Ripley “to introduce you to Mr. Strong who has what appears to be an ingenious and useful Carbine” and asked Ripley to give it a service test. Strong was an unlikable man with dubious ethics, but his breechloading carbine provided the advantage of faster loading at the base of the shorter barrel compared to the longer barreled, muzzle loading muskets most commonly in use. Ripley was unimpressed. While admitting that the new system was “novel and ingenious,” he told Lincoln that it was no better than any of the other breechloading rifles available, which Ripley found to be too complicated to employ in service. Keep it simple was Ripley’s motto, and he preferred old muskets to simplify supply of guns and ammunition to thousands of green troops.

The above is just a teeny snippet from the new book. I’m doing the final editing for submission to the publisher within the next few weeks. Over the next several months I’ll have more information to release about the book, including a stellar Foreword by a well-known author, a cover reveal, and much more.

Stay Tuned!

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

 

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Stephen A. Douglas Dies

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Stephen A. DouglasAt 9:10 am on Monday, June 3, 1861, Stephen A. Douglas died in Chicago at the age of forty-eight. Thus ended a remarkable life, both as a leader in the antebellum Democratic party and as a foil to Abraham Lincoln’s rise. Douglas had fallen ill weeks before while headed back to Illinois to lobby for Democratic support of the newly elected President Lincoln once the Civil War started. Lincoln immediately directs that government offices be close on the day of the funeral and that the Executive Mansion (aka, the White House) and departments be draped on mourning for thirty days. On June 4th, Secretary of War Simon Cameron issues a circular to Union armies, announcing “the death of a great statesman…a man who nobly discarded party for this country.”

Douglas’s legacy is a complicate one. He rose to great influence in the Senate, perhaps single-handedly pushing through passage of a series of bills that became known as the Compromise of 1850. He also pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which voided the Missouri Compromise of 1820, thus putting the United States on a path to ultimate civil war. He was a horrific racist, who used blatant racism as a tool to defeat Lincoln in the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates during his Senate reelection campaign. He became the catalyst of the split between northern and southern Democrats in the 1860 election. As I wrote in Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America:

As expected, northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas. Because of Lincoln’s clever positioning on slavery during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates—especially coaxing Douglas into the Freeport Doctrine—the Democratic Party had split into two factions, and Douglas represented only the North. Southern Democrats from the eleven slave states nominated their own candidate, John C. Breckinridge, the sitting Vice President under James Buchanan. To split the vote further, John Bell was nominated for a new Constitutional Union party, the main goal of which was that everyone just get along.

 

Lincoln again stayed in Springfield, as it was considered inappropriate for candidates to personally hit the campaign trail. Instead, Seward, Davis, and others made the case for him. Stephen A. Douglas, in contrast, campaigned extensively, spending a large amount of time in the South warning against disunion. Douglas race-baited as usual, insisting that government was “made by white men for white men” forever, but did try to convince southerners that they were better off working within the Union than trying to separate.

 

Because the Democratic Party had split, Republicans felt confident that Lincoln would win the election. Indeed, he won with about 40 percent of the popular vote and 180 of the 303 electoral votes available; 152 were needed to win. He won all the northern states plus the two new states of California and Oregon. John Breckinridge came in second, gaining 72 electoral votes from most of the southern slave states. Bell got 39 electoral votes by capturing the three border slave states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Douglas, once considered the likely winner, received only 12 electoral votes from the two states of Missouri and New Jersey. Lincoln was president-elect.

 

And yet, after the election, and after the Civil War began, it was Stephen A. Douglas who tried to rally the country to support Lincoln’s efforts to retain the Union. His life would come to an early end, but Douglas was a major influence – for good and for bad – on the antebellum nation. Douglas is buried in Chicago.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

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Lincoln and the Black Hawk War

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Lincoln Black Hawk War Kent ILOn May 27, 1832, Captain Abraham Lincoln’s company is mustered out of U.S. service by Nathaniel Buckmaster, Brigade major. Lincoln writes the muster roll of his company, certifying that remarks on activities of several members are accurate and just. He then enrolls in company of Capt. Elijah Iles for service in 20-day regiment.

Black Hawk was a chief of the Sauks, a Native American tribe that had crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois from the Iowa Indian Territory. Black Hawk was planning to resettle land that the U.S. government had taken as part of an 1804 treaty. Black Hawk felt the treaty was unjust. With him were about 450 warriors and 1,500 women and children. The government called on Illinois to form a militia to repel what they considered a hostile act.

Lincoln volunteered with sixty-seven other men from the New Salem area to join the battle. Once he arrived at the muster site, Lincoln’s friends pushed him to run for the position of captain. Soldiers voted by forming a line behind one of two candidates, Lincoln or the prosperous sawmill owner William Kilpatrick. To Lincoln’s great surprise, more men lined up behind him, and he became Captain of the Volunteers. In his presidential campaign autobiography, he characterized this event as “a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since.”

Lincoln saw no action during the brief war, which was fortunate given how little he knew about military strategy or terminology. At one point he needed to get his men through a gate in a fence but “could not for the life of me remember the proper word of command for getting my company endwise so that it could get through the gate, so as we came near the gate I shouted ‘The company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will fall in again on the other side of the gate.’”

After one month of largely uneventful service, the 1,400-member volunteer army disbanded. Given that he had no job to return to, Lincoln re-enlisted along with about 300 others, this time as a private. A young Lieutenant Robert Anderson mustered Lincoln back into service. Three decades later Anderson was in command of Fort Sumter, whose shelling by the Confederate army started the Civil War. In June, Lincoln re-enlisted again, this time as a private in Dr. Jacob Early’s Independent Spy Company. These few months were the extent of Lincoln’s military experience, and while he saw no action, he did witness some of the brutality of war during several incidents in which his company came across dead and scalped soldiers. After his service, Lincoln headed back to New Salem to find gainful employment.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

[Photo by author, Kent, IL]

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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Becoming President…and Other Goings-On

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David at Lincoln MemorialThis week I officially became President! So much has been going on that I figured a quick professional update was in order.

I am now President of the Lincoln Group of DC. The previous president, John O’ Brien, shepherded us through a pandemic-induced upheaval of our usual routine, shifting us to a Zoom-based virtual format for our monthly formerly-dinner lectures in a DC restaurant. The virtual meetings actually let us reach members now spread across the country who had been missing out. Our challenge now is to resurrect our in-person dinners while maintaining a more far-reaching virtual program. John also took charge of moving us from our old website platform to a new Wix-based one, a process that is still ongoing. One of the best features of our new site, Lincolnian.org, is a news blog where we can update people on upcoming events of the group, plus Lincoln news from around the country. In addition to my own author website (this one) and my experimental/opinion webite (Hot White Snow), I’ve been writing much of the content for the Lincolnian.org blog, writing book reviews for the Lincolnian newsletter, writing occasional articles for the newsletter, and maintaining and posting on the Lincoln Group’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

As President I’ll have the privilege of working with a great group of Vice Presidents and other Board members to provide service to our members and the community. There are big plans already in the works, including the aforementioned in-person dinners, our ongoing Study Group, next year’s Lincoln Memorial Centennial commemoration, a four-part short-course on Lincoln for ENCORE in the fall, battlefield tours, possible silent auctions, and an expanded national presence. We’ll be looking for additional opportunities to collaborate with other groups, like the “Teaching Lincoln” panel in January for a private club’s Civil War Roundtable and the “Case for Honoring Lincoln” panel for the Illinois State Society, the latter of which included discussions of Lincoln’s Native American and African American policies.

That isn’t the only Lincoln organization I’ve taken on new responsibilities for. In March I joined the Executive Committee and took over as Treasurer for the Abraham Lincoln Institute, another non-profit whose mission is to promote the scholarship of Abraham Lincoln. I’ve been on the Board for the last four years and now will be managing the finances. I’m also on the Book Award review committee, which means reading a dozen or more new Lincoln books a year and winnowing them down to a single award winner. I’ll also be more involved with a third organization, the Lincoln Forum, whose annual three day symposium I’ve attended for the last seven years. As we come back from a virtual year to a planned in-person event in November, I’ve been asked to join their Board of Advisors.

And then there is the book. Midway through May I have completed the draft of my new book examining Lincoln’s commitment to science. I’m in the editing process now and will be submitting the manuscript to the publisher next month. The planned release is February 2022, give or take. Once the manuscript is accepted I’ll start to talk more about its content, reveal the cover, reveal the prominent public figure who wrote the Foreword, and other news specifically about the book. Stay tuned.

This year should also see a return to travel. With the pandemic (hopefully) receding (fingers crossed), I’m looking forward to resuming my “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” travel. This summer I have plans to visit my family in New England for the first time in over a year. I’m already booked to join my brother on a catamaran sailing excursion in the British Virgin Islands this November (returning just in time to head to Gettysburg for the Lincoln Forum).

And of course there will be book marketing in preparation for the new book’s release. Plus I’ll be finishing up a second work in progress, working on two others in progress, and starting the research for yet another book I hope to get a proposal out on before the end of the year.

Onward!

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

 

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Introducing the New Lincoln Group of DC Website

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The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, aka the Lincoln Group of DC, aka the Lincoln Group, aka LGDC, has a new website! Here’s a preview (see below the photo for more):

Lincolnian.org website

Our new URL is https://www.lincolnian.org/

The old Lincoln Group of DC website served us well for many years, but advancements in website technology led to a much needed change. Many thanks to former LGDC president and long-time website guru Karen Needles for building and maintaining the old website. Outgoing LGDC president John O’Brien took responsibility for finding an outside website developer, making the sometimes-painstaking transition from our old to the new provider, and maintaining the superstructure of the new Wix-based site. The result is a beautiful visual upgrade. We’re still transitioning the “members only” functions to the new site, so please have a bit more patience until the site is fully functional, but do take advantage of some of the new features.

Our biggest change – besides the obvious visual interface – is the addition of a Lincoln News Blog (“News” on the menu bar). We’ll have news about what the Lincoln Group is doing, about what is happening with Lincoln in the DC area, and important Lincoln news from around the country. It’s well worth checking out daily to keep up on new events.

Another feature is our Study Forum page (“Study Forum” on the menu bar). For many years we’ve had a book discussion group that meets on Saturday morning once a month at the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership directly across the street from the historic Ford’s Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) and next door to the Petersen House (where Lincoln died). That book discussion group has evolved into a study group for all things Lincoln, although we still focus on a book as our vehicle for that study. We’ve moved online via Zoom during the past pandemic year, which has allowed Lincoln Group members who live outside the DC area to join us.

Study Forum page

 

Another important section of the new website is the Events page (“Events” on the menu bar). You’ll find brief highlights and bios of upcoming speakers and other events organized by the Lincoln Group. We’ve continued our monthly “dinner” meetings (previously held at Maggiano’s restaurant in the Friendship Heights area of DC) via a series of monthly Zoom meetings. Lincoln Group members have also been featured in events sponsored by the Cosmos Club, the Illinois State Society, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and other venues. We’ll continue to work with other Lincoln organizations like ALI, Ford’s Theatre, President Lincoln’s Cottage, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives on future events. We’ve done so much and have plans to do much more, including participating in the Lincoln Memorial Centennial commemorations scheduled for May 2022.

Events page

 

There is much more to see on the new Lincolnian.org website, so click on over and take a look around. And check back regularly for News and other important updates.

One more thing. In a few days I will be taking over as the new president of the Lincoln Group of DC. Our outgoing president, John O’Brien, has done a superhuman job “herding cats” (as one Lincoln Group Board member put it) for the last three years. His guidance and fortitude was especially needed during this past “Year of the COVID.” I’ll have big shoes to fill, but luckily for me and the Lincoln Group, John will be keeping touch with us from “the other DC” (aka, Denver, Colorado). So take a moment to thank John for his leadership. I am personally indebted to him and hope to carry on in his image.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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A Busy Day in Abraham Lincoln’s Life

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Lincoln MemorialPeriodically I check a website called The Lincoln Log to see what was going on in Lincoln’s life on this day throughout his life. Today was an especially busy day.

The Lincoln Log arose out of a long-term project beginning with Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, a series of three volumes published in 1960 cataloging the life of Lincoln. The third volume was made possible in part by volunteer work of the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am a current officer. The Lincoln Log was later augmented by information from the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project, with a special emphasis on Lincoln’s legal work. More information is added periodically. It’s a fun and useful resource.

Which gets to today, May 7th. This date seems to hold several important events in Lincoln’s life over the years.

1832: Lincoln is en route to Rock River in Illinois serving in the Black Hawk War.

1833: Lincoln is appointed postmaster at New Salem by President Andrew Jackson. Lincoln is already identifying himself as a Whig and Jackson is a Democrat more likely to give patronage to party members, Lincoln believes the post office position is “too insignificant to make his politics an objection.”

1837: Lincoln the romantic? Probably not. On this date in 1837 he writes to Mary Owens, whom he has committed to marry despite reservations by both parties. He writes: “I … wish you would think seriously before you decide. . . . My opinion is that you had better not do it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than you now immagine.” Lincoln adds, “Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I can immagine, that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort.”  [At least now he is still free to meet Mary Todd…and Joshua Speed]

1852: Jury begins deliberation in Johnston v Jones and Marsh, a case in which Lincoln later serves an attorney. More familiarly known as the “Sand Bar” case, Lincoln deftly handles the environmental and technical aspects of sand accumulating after a rock wall is built, thus affecting the property owned by two Lake Michigan lakeside owners.

1858: Lincoln defends Duff Armstrong, the son of an old friend from his New Salem days, in a murder trial that becomes known as the “Almanac Trial” due to Lincoln’s use of an almanac to dispute the testimony of a key witness. I visited the site of the trial in Beardstown, Illinois.

1861: Lincoln acknowledges a letter from the Republic of San Marino conferring citizenship upon him. He now has dual citizenship.

1862: The presidential party arrives at Fort Monroe, Virginia and boards the USS Monitor. The Monitor was undergoing repairs after its battle with the Confederate ironclad Virginia (formerly the Merrimack). Lincoln confers with General Wool and visits the yacht Vanderbilt, donated by its namesake millionaire to the Union cause.

1863: Lincoln and General Halleck spend the day with General Joseph Hooker and the Army of the Potomac. After returning to Washington he frantically telegraphs Secretary of War Stanton: “Have you any news?” He then writes Hooker to ask him what he plans to do next. Hooker has spent the last several days failing miserably during the Battle of Chancellorsville, one of Robert E. Lee’s best military wins. Stonewall Jackson is wounded by his own men in a “friendly fire” incident and dies soon after.

1864: Lincoln receives first-hand report on the Wilderness campaign from H.E. Wing, who arrives about 2 a.m. on a special locomotive. Lincoln also transmits to the Senate the opinion of his attorney general on the “rights of colored persons in the army or volunteer service.” Lincoln is working to get more equal treatment of black troops.

All of this on May 7th.

I discuss many of these points in my forthcoming book. More on that shortly.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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