2 Comments

The Year in Science Traveling -2021

  By

Lincoln at GettysburgLast year I started off my annual science traveling post with “Well, this shouldn’t take long.” Despite expectations, I could have started my 2021 post with: “Ditto.”

My year in traveling looks like my previous year’s “goals” list; just change the date and carry over everything to this year. Now I’ll be carrying most of it over to 2022. As with everyone else, I’ve grown exhausted by the continuing battle with COVID, in part due to its evolving variants, and in part due to the irresponsible choices of many to remain unvaccinated. And as with everyone else, it has crimped my traveling schedule. Luckily, I was too busy to travel in the first half of 2021, which I’ll talk more about in my annual “A Year in the Writing Life” that will come out next week.

I again planned to do a series of “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” road trips. Some were local (Richmond, Gettysburg, Washington DC), while others were a bit farther afield (Illinois, upstate New York, New England, California). All are now transferred to my 2022 plans. As usual, my goal was to get to five new countries this year. The reality is that the last trip I took out of the country was to Cuba in May 2019. Things started looking up in July when my brother proposed a two-week catamaran trip around the British Virgin Islands for November. Circumstances soon changed and that trip was cancelled. The idea of sailing around Spain and Portugal in November was put on the table, then removed literally the next day as both countries were added to the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list due to COVID. Okay, let’s do the Caribbean instead. Same problem. All of this was after foregoing a trip to the Galapagos because we thought we would be tied up at that time.

Around the time things were getting the most depressing, I saw that a writing acquaintance was doing a self-imposed “writer’s retreat” on Long Island. It was a lightbulb moment, and before long the plan became a mini vacation on Long Island on the way to New England for a Thanksgiving visit with my family. The trip was delightful. We had no trouble getting accommodations because it was off-season, although several restaurants on the coast were closed for the same reason. But we did get to see my 60th aquarium and visit some cool museums at the Vanderbilt estate, plus hiked the beautiful fall woodlands at Sands Point. Then there was the wine tasting at Lieb Cellars vineyard. All-in-all, a wonderful trip. As was the chance to see my family for the second time in a year, a treat given the continuing restrictions.

Looking back, it seems my entire traveling year was crammed into November. Prior to leaving for Long Island, I attended my one and only in-person conference in two years. The Lincoln Forum had gone virtual in 2020, but they were intent on holding an in-person event in 2021. All attendees were required to be fully vaccinated – and prove it – in order to be present. Everyone was required to wear masks for all lectures and meetings, although removal was okay (by necessity) during meals. Around 300 people enjoyed a mostly normal Forum, exchanging ideas and learning about ideas. I was elected to the Board of Advisors. I’m happy to say that a grand total of zero reports of COVID cases arose from the meeting. Luckily for us, the omicron variant didn’t show up until just after our conference. It was nice to be back with people.

There was one additional in-person event in 2021. The Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am now president, had a tour of a local battlefield in September. We car-pooled and masked to limit exposure, with the rest of the tour being completely outside. Again, we managed to do it with no reported cases before or after.

So, what’s the plan for 2022?

Largely, the 2022 plan is “see 2021 plan.” The uncertainly of the omicron surge in cases has already sunk several plans for the spring, but I’m hoping/praying/pleading that travel is back on the table. In fact, we’ve already booked a Windstar cruise for late September/October that begins and ends in Istanbul and bounces around the Black Sea. We’re hoping to book another major travel destination in the early spring or early summer, but the options are still open for that one. September will be a busy month, in part because of the Windstar trip but also because my new book is scheduled for release on September 1. I’m likely to go to New England at least three times, the July 4th and Thanksgiving holidays and on my “Chasing Abraham Lincoln – New England” tour. I expect to be doing some road trips to accommodate a speaking tour for the book. I’ll also be checking off as many of the “local” road trips I’ve been carrying for two years.

A quick note on the “Year in Science Traveling” title. This website was originally called “Science Traveler” to reflect my intent to delve into the science of worldwide traveling. That was the plan when I left my last science job in 2013, the same year my first book came out (on Nikola Tesla, followed a few years later by Thomas Edison). I continue to travel and have plans for more science travel-related content, but regular readers will notice that I’ve renamed the website with my author name to reflect my divergent interests. Abraham Lincoln had always been my side-gig, but it’s clear to anyone reading this that Lincoln is now my main job and science traveling is the side-gig. I’m planning to revamp the website in early 2022 to make it more modern and functional. Stay tuned.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

[Photo credit: David J. Kent, 2021, Detail of “Return Visit” sculpture]

2 Comments

Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2021

  By

Books 2019The biggest feature of my Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions for 2021 is that most of the books I acquired aren’t even mine. As usual, I begin my annual “Year in the Life” posts with my Lincoln book collection. You can read last year’s post here. My shelves are getting fuller, but my garage and basement are now also filled with boxes of books, piles of books, and random books. In a sense, I’ve become a temporary storage facility.

This new role started in the spring. I had already become the holder of the Lincoln Group of DC‘s (LGDC) paper archive, big cabinets full of files, brochures, newsletters, and even some old photos, CDs, and VHS tapes. These cabinets were moved in a couple of years ago when the previous holder had to remove them from the borrowed space in a non-profit office downtown. Because of the limitations of travel due to COVID in 2020, the previous president of the Lincoln Group decided to move permanently to Denver so he and his wife could see more of their family. He was holding quite a few Lincoln books that belonged to LGDC, and since I was taking over as the organization’s president, I agreed to take them until we could get them to members. At this same time, the long-time secretary of the organization also decided to downsize, and 20-years of stored books from her basement shifted to my basement. We then had two members pass away, leaving instructions that their collections should be donated to LGDC.

All of this has led to the aforementioned boxes and stacks of books currently swamping my space. All told, there are many hundreds of books that belong to LGDC. To push the situation from the sublime to the ridiculous, or at least a bit overwhelming, I had already reached a critical point in shelf space, thus necessitating a bit of a purge of duplicate books. Those duplicates have joined the LGDC books and effectively are another donation to the Lincoln Group. The plan, if you could call it that, is to make as many as possible available to LGDC members. The continuing restrictions on in-person meetings due to COVID is making it hard to get them out to members, so they remain in my possession for the time being. That said, they will NOT be in my garage and basement for the next 20 years (or 2).

Beyond that, I have actually acquired quite a few Lincoln books this past year. While I limited my purchases of new books, I did pick up a few carefully selected used books from a variety of places, including two local used book stores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. As with last year, I also received books from publishers for review in the Lincolnian, the Lincoln Herald, and elsewhere. The majority were related to my role on the book award committee of the Abraham Lincoln Institute (ALI), which I’m diligently trying to finish reading before our decision during the first week in January. I also won two book giveaways on Goodreads (one of which was a Lincoln book), received one book in a giveaway by a Civil War Round Table, and got seven books from my insurance company using points accrued. Thirty-eight of the books were published in 2021, while others have more time under their covers. The oldest book was published in 1865, and its poor condition reflects that fact. I was able to get several of the new books signed by their authors at the only in-person event that actually occurred in-person this year, the annual Lincoln Forum (of which I recently was elected to the Board of Advisors).

Among the books I acquired was one I purchased because it relates somewhat to my own forthcoming book – The Science of Abolition by Eric Herschthal. Several prominent Lincoln scholars were well represented. Michael Burlingame had two books come out this year. The first was An American Marriage, which turned out to be quite controversial as it describes the marriage of Abraham and Mary Lincoln in dramatically stark terms. Later in the year he published The Black Man’s President. The title is based on a quote from Frederick Douglass and in the book, Burlingame delves into the racial sentiments and experiences of Lincoln. In my personal opinion, it is one of the most important Lincoln books in many years. Another important book is James Oakes’s The Crooked Path to Abolition, which focuses on Lincoln’s belief – and the belief of most northern Americans – that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document.

The Oakes book was discussed in LGDC’s Study Forum, our group within the group that intently studies Lincoln’s life and times through books. The Study Forum is now working on another new book I added to my collection, Michael S. Green’s Lincoln and Native Americans. Lincoln’s role in Native American relations during the war, in particular the Dakota War in Minnesota, has been a topic of heavy discussion this past year. I did a presentation in April (summarized here) and have been familiarizing myself with the issues. Green’s concise book gives a solid overview and should be read in conjunction with other books on the topic I’ve read lately. Two other notable books this year were Ronald C. White’s Lincoln in Private, which deals with the 111 fragments Lincoln wrote to himself, and Getting Right With Lincoln by Ed Steers, which examines a dozen “knowns” about Lincoln that are either myths or still highly debated.

As always, collecting these books means I do a lot of reading. While I can’t claim to have read all of them, I have read many of them and plan to read the rest over time. And, of course, acquire even more. Note to publishers: I’m always open to receiving books in return for an honest review via my various venues, including Goodreads and Amazon.

We’re now on the cusp of 2022, and contrary to previous years, I hope to offload as many books as I acquire. I hope to remain on the ALI book award committee and expect to pick up selected Lincoln books as I deem necessary, but mostly I’m looking to cull my collection. That means sorting out any duplicates I may have and disposing of them through listings on eBay and Amazon, selling to local used bookstores, and donating to the local library (or to LGDC members). I plan to do the same with the LGDC books, with the focus on getting them in members’ hands at in-person events (which omicron might put in jeopardy). I hope to end 2022 with a significant net reduction in books. That’ll be a change.

One book I’m looking forward to having in my hands in 2022 is my own new book. I submitted the manuscript to the publisher in late June 2021 with the expectation that it would come out in February. The continuing COVID pandemic had other plans, however, as the supply chain issues that we all hear about has affected the publishing industry as well. Books in the pipeline were delayed, and the publisher pushed my book release date to September 2022. I’ve already seen a cover and the title is now settled, so I’ll start to release that information in January as the final countdown progresses. Stay tuned!

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Lincoln the Philanthropist

  By

Emancipation Proclamation with LincolnFew people know that Abraham Lincoln was also a philanthropist. We remember him for saving the union and the Emancipation Proclamation, but he also was a big donator to charity. On December 17, 1863, he sent a letter thanking the Sanitary Commission of Chicago for a watch that was sent to him for his contributions. He wrote:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 17, 1863
To James H. Hoes
My Dear Sir,

I have received from the Sanitary Commission of Chicago, the Watch which you placed at their disposal, and I take the liberty of conveying to you my high appreciation of your humanity and generosity, of which I have unexpectedly become the beneficiary. I am very truly yours

A. LINCOLN

So why was he receiving a watch?

The managers of the Northwestern Soldier’s Fair at Chicago had earlier written to Lincoln, noting:

`Among the many remarkable incidents of our recent Fair, not one has been more pleasant, than the duty that devolves upon us, of consigning to you, on this National Thanksgiving Day, the accompanying watch; of asking you to accept it, as a memorial of the Ladies N. Western Fair. During the progress of the Fair, Mr. James H. Hoes, Jeweller of Chicago, a most loyal and liberal man, after giving very largely himself, in order to stimulate donations from others, proposed through the columns of the Tribune, to give a gold watch to the largest contributor to the Fair. . . . Emancipation Proclamation . . . was sold for $3,000, the largest benefaction of any individual. . . .”

In a nutshell, Lincoln had handwritten a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation to donate to the Fair. The two-week fair was the first of many Sanitary Fairs designed to raise money to support the care of wounded and sick soldiers. The fair was entirely organized by women, and the managers that sent the letter to Lincoln were indeed Mrs. Abraham H. Hoge and Mrs. David P. Livermore. Most of the crafts, food, and entertainment for sale at the fair were created and provided by women. Dignitaries such as Lincoln donated documents, lithographs, and other items for sale and auction. The Chicago Fair brought in $80,000 (roughly $1.7 million today). Many hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised in subsequent fairs held around the country through the end of the war.

Lincoln’s contribution garnered the greatest gain for the Fair, hence the watch. What became of the watch is unknown, but perhaps he donated to the next Sanitary Fair.

On a related note, a printed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation but signed by Lincoln was sold at auction in 2012 for $2.1 million. The buyer was modern philanthropist David Rubinstein, who has donated millions of dollars to renovations of Lincoln-related buildings around Washinton, D.C. A total of 48 printed copies were made in 1863, with Lincoln signing all of them and donating them to the Sanitary Commission for auction.

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity andEdison: 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.

One Comment

Lincoln and John Dahlgren, Weapons Guy

  By

John DahlgrenLincoln liked John A. Dahlgren, his weapons guy, of sorts. On December 8, 1862, Lincoln sent a telegram to the Washington Navy Yard with the succinct request: “Will Capt. Dahlgren please call and see me at once?”

What they discussed on that particular occasion is unknown, but Lincoln often conferred with Dahlgren about the war effort. A few weeks into the war, he had pressed 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.

Not long before the mysterious 1862 telegram, Lincoln had visited Dahlgren at the Navy Yard along with Secretary of State William Seward, and Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase. Dahlgren took the group down to the banks of the Anacostia River to witness testing of the Hyde rocket. Instead of shooting off across the river as planned, the rocket exploded, nearly sending shrapnel into the group of distinguished leaders, all of whom escaped unharmed. Lincoln skipped the next trial two days later when the rocket flew out of control and landed on the roof of a nearby blacksmith shop.

Lincoln had also consulted with Dahlgren to discuss the veracity of claims by one of Lincoln’s old friends, Isaac Diller, who had proposed “a new and secret art of making gunpowder.” Diller was acting as an agent for a German developer of a chlorate-based gunpowder as an alternative to that based on saltpeter (potassium nitrate). Satisfied with Dahlgren’s assessment, Lincoln entered into an agreement with Diller authorizing additional secret testing in a rented building on Timber Creek in New Jersey.

Dahlgren was such an asset to Lincoln that after Lincoln signed into existence the new National Academy of Sciences, Dahlgren was assigned as one of the fifty charter members, alongside another Lincoln science advisor, Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. It was no surprise then that Lincoln and Mary’s carriage ride on April 14, 1865, took them to the Navy Yard to talk strategy with Dahlgren, who by that time had risen to the rank of Admiral. While there, Lincoln viewed three ironclad ships recently damaged in action at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, including the Passaic-class monitor, USS Montauk. After touring the vessels and talking with Navy Yard staff, the Lincolns returned to the White House and shortly thereafter set out again for what they had hoped would be a relaxing night at the theater. Our American Cousin, a comedy, should lift their spirits as this long grueling Civil War appeared to be coming to an end.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, due out in September 2022]

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

2 Comments

Lincoln on the Importance of Education

  By

Lincoln reading by firelight“Upon the subject of education,” Abraham Lincoln wrote in his Communication to the People of Sangamo County in 1832, “I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”

True to his word, on December 2, 1840, during his tenure in the Illinois state legislature, Lincoln offered a resolution: “That the committee on education…inquire into the expediency of providing by law for examination as to qualifications of persons offering themselves as school-teachers, that no teacher shall receive any part of the public school fund who shall not have successfully passed an examination.” This resolution is embodied in sec. 81 of common school code adopted at this session.

Up to that point, teachers on the frontier weren’t required to have any qualifications beyond “readin, writin, and cipherin’ to the Rule of Three.” The state of education on the frontier was so limited that “if a straggler supposed to understand Latin, happened to so-journ in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard.” Even with his limited access to formal education, Lincoln quickly outclassed his occasional teachers in capability, mostly because he did what he could to “pick up from time to time under the pressure of necessity” any other education. To give him proper credit, that included teaching himself English grammar, Euclid geometry, surveying, and the law.

In fact, a closer look at Lincoln’s ciphering book (often referred to as his “sum book”) shows that Lincoln was less than forthcoming about his educational achievements, intentionally downplaying his expertise for political expediency. The ciphering book includes an additional page covering his practice with the double rule of three, a slightly more complicated skill than he suggested. There are also several fragmented pages in which he practices both simple and compound interest, and calculation of a discount rate. Based on these few entries, only a fraction of the original 100-page volume, Lincoln clearly gained more intense mathematical knowledge than suggested in his biographical sketch. Early twentieth century researcher M.L. Houser went so far as to suggest Lincoln received a “collegiate education” before he was 18 years old. Taking Lincoln at his word that he ciphered clear through Pike’s Arithmetick, with additional study in Daboll’s book, he would have covered more advanced skills such as reduction (converting unlike numbers), vulgar (simple) fractions, decimals (called decimal fractions), duodecimals, and the inverse rule of three. He likely studied square and cube roots (and their extraction), permutations, and involutions. The two books also provided instruction in practical mathematics that he would find useful in his later life as a store clerk, including gauging the volume of casks used for liquid goods, ways to calculate payments, and general bookkeeping skills. Pike’s provides information on mechanical powers of levers, an introduction to physics that Lincoln would have found useful in loading and unloading flatboats. From Daboll’s he could have learned geometrical progression, or how to determine the sum of the terms in any series of numbers increasing or decreasing by one common multiplier.

But there is so much more about Lincoln’s education that I discuss in my book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

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.

No comments

Lincoln’s Day at Gettysburg

  By

Gettysburg AddressMost people know what Lincoln was doing on November 19, 1863 because they had to memorize the Gettysburg Address in school. But the rest of the day itself is less known. Looking at The Lincoln Log, which is an expanded online version of a book called “Lincoln Day-by-Day,” provides some fascinating detail. Keep in mind that Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg the evening before, taking time to touch up the final passages at David Wills’s house on the square in downtown Gettysburg. The following is what he did almost hour by hour on November 19th, according to The Lincoln Log (the sources are listed at the end of each entry):

 

Thursday, November 19, 1863.

Gettysburg, PA and Washington, DC.

According to Nicolay’s account, after breakfast at Wills house, Lincoln retires to his room, where Nicolay joins him, and completes preparation of his speech. John G. Nicolay, “Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” The Century Magazine 25:598.

About 10 A.M. President, dressed in black, wearing white gauntlets and usual crepe around hat in memory of Willie, leaves Wills house to join procession. Receives round after round of “three hearty cheers,” and shakes many hands as crowd gathers. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Thousands welcome President in Gettysburg. Weather fine. Flags in Washington at half-mast in honor of dead in cemetery at Gettysburg. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 19 November 1863, 2d ed., 2:6.

Gov. Curtin (Pa.), who arrived last evening with numerous important people on special train from Harrisburg, Pa., remarks to Lincoln about serenade given Gov. Seymour (N.Y.), and Lincoln replies: “He deserves it. No man has shown greater interest and promptness in his cooperation with us.” Rice, 514.

President mounts “a magnificent chestnut charger.” Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.

Rides in procession to cemetery. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Procession delayed; starts to move about 11 A.M. LL, No. 1425.

Head of procession arrives at speaker’s platform inside cemetery at 11:15 A.M. President receives military salute. President and members of cabinet, with group of military and civic dignitaries, occupy platform. “The President was received with marked respect and a perfect silence due to the solemnity of the occasion, every man among the immense gathering uncovering at his appearance.” Washington Chronicle, 20 November 1863.

Lincoln shakes hands with Gov. Tod (Ohio), who introduces Gov.-elect John Brough (Ohio), and takes his place between chairs reserved for Sec. Seward and Edward Everett, orator to make principal address. At 11:40 A.M. Everett arrives, is introduced to President, and program music begins. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Once during Everett’s two-hour oration Lincoln stirs in his chair. “He took out his steel-bowed spectacles, put them on his nose, took two pages of manuscript from his pocket, looked them over and put them back.” Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.

About 2 P.M. Lincoln “in a fine, free way, with more grace than is his wont” delivers Gettysburg Address. He holds manuscript but does not appear to read from it. John G. Nicolay, “Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” The Century Magazine 25:602; Dennett, Hay Diaries and Letters, 121; Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, 19 November 1863, CW, 7:22-23.

Pronounces his “r” plainly, does not speak like Southerner. Henry B. Rankin, Intimate Character Sketches of Abraham Lincoln (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1924), 285.

On platform, after speech, President remarks to Marshal Lamon: “Lamon, that speech won’t scour! It is a flat failure and the people are disappointed.” Lamon, Recollections, 173.

John R. Young, recording speech in shorthand for Philadelphia “Press,” leans across aisle and asks President if that is all. Lincoln replies, “Yes, for the present.” John R. Young, Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences, 2 vols., edited by May D. Russell Young (New York: F. T. Neely, 1901), 1:69.

President decides to hear address by Lt. Gov.-elect Charles Anderson (Pa.) at 4:30 P.M. in Presbyterian Church. Meets “old John Burns, the soldier of 1812, and the only man in Gettysburg who volunteered to defend it.” Burns accompanies him and Sec. Seward to hear Anderson speak. President’s special train leaves Gettysburg about 7 P.M. and arrives in Washington at 1:10 A.M. on Friday. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Lincoln returns from Gettysburg with a mild form of smallpox (varioloid) and remains under half quarantine in White House for nearly three weeks. Bates, Diary, 30 November 1863; Welles, Diary, Dec.

 

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

2 Comments

Lincoln’s Scientific Approach to Military Strategy

  By

Lincoln testing a SpencerLincoln took a scientific approach to military strategy. The Anaconda plan’s focus was on securing the coastlines and the Mississippi River. Recognizing New Orleans as the hub of the cotton trade and commerce, Lincoln saw it as the first port to be targeted for blockade. He also hoped to block southern ship traffic from Charleston, South Carolina to cut off Confederate attempts to woo Great Britain and France to their side. Helping him make this happen was Alexander Dallas Bache and the Coast Survey. The Coast Survey had been authorized by Thomas Jefferson, and Bache, who was Benjamin Franklin’s great-grandson, was quick to send nautical charts of the Chesapeake Bay to Lincoln. He also forwarded two terrestrial maps produced by the Survey that had far-reaching influence on Lincoln’s decisions on emancipation and military strategy.

The first map was of the state of Virginia. A relatively new technique of color-coded shading was used to show the percentage of enslaved population in each county based on the 1860 census. The darker shaded counties reflecting higher percentages of enslaved persons were primarily in the tidewater region and toward the southern part of the state. The mountainous western counties held only small percentages of enslaved. That told Lincoln the western counties were less likely to support the insurrection, and indeed, those counties rejoined the Union as the new state of West Virginia.

The second map showed the entire slaveholding portion of the country. Lincoln quickly recognized that the four “border” states—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware—had relatively few slaves in most of their counties. That fact helped inform Lincoln’s strategies to retain the border states in the Union, including proposals for gradual compensated emancipation in an effort to stimulate the process of freeing the enslaved. The map also clearly showed that eastern Tennessee had relatively few slaves, which again allowed him to target that region for initial military and diplomatic forays in the hope many of the residents would retain their Union sentiments. Also clear was that the highest densities of enslaved populations were in the cotton belt of the deep South and along the Mississippi River borders of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, where over 90 percent of the populations of some counties were enslaved. The map reinforced the importance of capturing New Orleans to cut off the main supply and transport line for the Confederate economy. Controlling the Mississippi was the key to the war, which “could never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” It also reinforced the belief that the deep South was so dependent on slavery it would never willingly give it up. Lincoln found this second map especially fascinating, according to Francis Carpenter, who spent six months at the White House preparing his famous painting, “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln.” Carpenter added the southern slavery map to the lower right corner of his painting, reflecting its significance to the decision-making process.

But there is more…much more!

[Adapted from my book, The Fire of Genius, coming from Rowman & Littlefield in 2022]

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

3 Comments

If Destruction Be Our Lot…We Must Ourselves be its Author and Finisher – Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address

  By

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

If destruction is our lotAbraham Lincoln spoke these words in a speech generally referred to as  the Lyceum Address. Given on January 27, 1838 and more formally titled “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” the speech shows a surprising level of insight for a 28-year-old man who had spent the first three-quarters of his lifetime to date as a frontier farmer and railsplitter. He had passed the bar to become a lawyer less than two years before but had been a Whig member of the Illinois state legislature for half of the four terms he would serve. He was young, with limited political experience, but he was also a deep thinker.

Ostensibly, Lincoln was talking about how the rule of law was critical to the continuation of democratic institutions. Recent violence had led to the murder of Presbyterian minister, journalist, and abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois. Right wing mobs had destroyed Lovejoy’s warehouse, thrown his printing press in the river (for the third time), and killed him. In a second murder, a racist mob had attacked, lynched, and set fire to a free black man for no reason. Lincoln argued that mob rule cannot replace the rule of law in a legitimate society.

Lincoln’s speech goes further. He was concerned about the irreparable effects of division in the nation. Although our country is diverse in national origins, religions, and political ideologies, we needed a unified democracy to function properly as a nation. Our democratic institutions are fragile, and Lincoln warned that political concerns could only be properly addressed through the law. Mob action ultimately damages the rule of law, and with it the Constitution and democracy itself. He noted that as a nation we are strong enough to repel any foreign enemy. Our destruction will be because of our own divisions. If we are honest and hard-working, we will prosper. If we give ourselves to division, it is akin to dying by suicide.

If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.

Are we paying attention? Are we willingly allowing destruction of our democracy through violence and perpetual lies?

Will we live through all time, or die by suicide?

This has happened before. And even more recently on January 6, 2021.

Democracy is fragile. The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present.

Lincoln was confident we would survive the times and grow as a nation and a democracy.

Can we be so confident today?

 

Fire of Genius

 

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

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.

2 Comments

Lincoln and McClellan’s Fatigued Horses

  By

Tired and Fatigued horsesI have just read your dispatch about sore tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything? A. LINCOLN

General George B. McClellan was at it again. Or not at it, in a sense. McClellan had a habit of overestimating the enemy troop numbers and underestimating his own ability to attack. Lincoln was constantly frustrated.

In September 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into western Maryland. Following their victory at a second battle of Bull Run, Lee moved his army north to a point near Sharpsburg, alongside Antietam Creek, where they took up defensive positions. With surprising aggressiveness, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac attacked Lee’s forces on September 17. The first assault came from Union General Joseph Hooker on Lee’s left flank, while General Ambrose Burnside later attacked the right. A surprise counterattack from Confederate General A.P. Hill helped push back Union forces. Eventually, Lee’s troops withdrew from the battlefield first. He moved his remaining army back across the Potomac into the safety of Virginia.

Always overly cautious, McClellan made no effort to follow. Lee had committed all of his 55,000 men, while McClellan only ordered a portion of his larger 87,000-man force into the fray. This numerical imbalance allowed Lee to create and exploit tactical advantages he should not have had. When questioned by Lincoln about his failure to pursue Lee, McClellan complained that his army and horses were sore-tongued and fatigued, and thus required rest. Lincoln responded tersely by telegram:

Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?

Antietam was destined to be the single bloodiest day of battle in American history. The casualties for both armies totaled a staggering 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.

Despite Lincoln’s frustration, Antietam stood out as an important battle in the fight for freedom. Although essentially a draw, the fact that Lee withdrew from the battlefield first allowed the North to record Antietam as a victory, something that Lincoln had been needing for some time. A few days later, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

[Adapted from Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Lincoln at the Exhibition

  By

Lincoln at the moviesTechnically, Lincoln didn’t attend the exhibition, but on this date, October 14, 1861, a committee of commissioners for the industrial exhibition in England visits President Lincoln in the White House and asks use of a government vessel to transport American contributions to the fair. Lincoln had supported United States participation.

Eying an opportunity to showcase American science, Lincoln appointed Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry (an informal science adviser to the President) to yet another Commission, this one organizing American participation in the International Exhibition scheduled for London in 1862. Lincoln approved the Commission’s recommendations in December 1861 and the House Ways and Means Committee endorsed an appropriation of $35,000 for expenses.

Lincoln had always had an eye for scientific and technological advancement, which had been rapid leading up to his nomination. The canal system had opened up the Midwest and railroads were stringing themselves in all directions, creating towns and economies as they spread. Steamships were regular features on the Great Lakes and the great rivers like the Ohio and Mississippi. American reaping machines amazed visitors to the Paris World’s Fair in 1855 with their ability to cut an acre of grain in a third of the time of European models. By 1860, the United States had become the fourth largest manufacturing country in the world. George Perkins Marsh, perhaps America’s first environmentalist, approved of industrialization but also warned of the dangers of deforestation. Marsh began writing his now classic treatise, Man and Nature, as Lincoln accepted the nomination; once President, Lincoln appointed Marsh minister to Italy. Long-standing Whig principles would become part of Lincoln’s presidential platform.

Yet neither the full House nor Senate could pass a bill and the lack of political and financial support discouraged many companies from participating. The lost opportunity probably hackled Lincoln as the Exhibition showcased such industrial advances as the electrical telegraph, submarine cables, and a new thermoplastic called Parkesine, later renamed Celluloid, which became the basis of Thomas Edison’s motion picture film.

Lincoln quickly moved on to other more pressing matters as the Civil War settled into what would be four years of constant turmoil. But the only president with a patent never gave up on his vision of empowering science and technology in the federal government.

[The above is adapted from my forthcoming book due out in 2022]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!